Child of God or Child of Satan

 

 

"⁴ Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. ⁵ You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. ⁶ No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. ⁷ Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; ⁸ the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. ¹⁰ By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother." 

I John 3:4-10

Good Morning my beloved,

 

Welcome to worship this Lord's day! We're so pleased to have you here with us today. We continue to lift all of you up in our prayers. We respectfully ask that you would pray for this ministry to continue to reach the lost, the broken and the hopeless. And for us. We are so grateful for those of you who have been sharing the ministry website with all of your family and friends. Your faithfulness to share God's Word with others has brought about tremendous results. Where will God's Word be heard today? With your help, and God's blessing, it will reach those that need it most. May God richly bless you for helping spread His Word.

 

One of the biggest misconceptions affecting the church today, is that there is no turning from sin is required for salvation. That disobedience and prolonged sin are no reason to doubt one’s salvation. Repentance is not an essential part of salvation. All who claim Christ by faith as Savior, including those involved in continued, prolonged sin, are assured that they belong to God. "Surely, God understands that I’m only human. After all, He made me."

I am absolutely astonished that anyone who has ever read the Bible could come up with such shocking statements, much less a teacher of God's Word. People who supposedly know the Scriptures. There is a grave danger occurring within the churches of our day, and that is the minimizing of the serious nature of sin, resulting in easy believism, cheap grace, believing in Jesus in a moment in time which has virtually no effect on the rest of your life. We should anticipate this because Satan has always wanted to attack the true gospel.

It is impossible for the Christian whose life has been transformed, to continue in sin the same as when he was not born of God. Christians do not go on sinning without conflict and confession. Christians see it, hate it, confess it and fight against it. And as they grow in Christ, they do so with increasing bellicosity. Those who have experienced the miracle of the new birth need to deal with their own sinfulness.

 

If you do not have a biblical view of the seriousness of sin, there is not anything you need nearly as desperately as a Savior, because sin is serious rebellion against God! You need to understand that Jesus Christ is your only hope. The idea that if God is not so holy then I’m not so sinful is a damning theology!

Let us pray

Heavenly Father,

Father, we thank You for Your Word for us today, there is so much that needs to be said about salvation is a transformation, a change of lifestyle. Salvation is a dramatic life changing transformation. Lord, thank You for this reminder, that even though we sin, we are to manifest a righteous response. Thank You, Lord, for saving us from the bondage of sin. Thank You for giving us new life in Christ. Break our hearts when we violate Your commands.

 

Lord, we pray for those who are yet lost, may Your Spirit awaken their hearts to the truth. That they would realize their true spiritual condition and in true repentance, turn to Christ, and receive new life. We thank You for that work in us. Lord, we pray that You might use this message today, mightily, powerfully, we trust You to speak someone’s heart who desperately needs to hear it. All for Your glory and for Christ's sake.

In Christ's name we pray

Amen

 

Today's Message: Child of God or Child of Satan

 

Throughout redemptive history, Satan has been working against the truth of God. False teachers were infiltrating the early church and they still are even today. Peddling their demonic doctrine that you can have a wrong view of God, you can have a wrong view of Jesus Christ, you can have a wrong view of the Holy Spirit, and you are still ok. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is, that if your doctrine isn’t right, you can’t be a Christian. You must have the right view of God, you must have the right view of Jesus Christ and you must have the right view of the Holy Spirit. What they may have right, doesn't matter, because of what they have wrong. Because wrong doctrine equals damnation.

 

The reality is if you are enslaved by some habitual sin, and you knowingly and willfully continue in that sin, you cannot truly love God. Sin is pursuing your own desires, rather than desiring to please God. Sin is lawlessness. God hates sin. Sin is living like you want rather than living as God's Word says. 

 

I John 2:4 says "The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

 

Knowing Christ has immense implications, you cannot know Him and not keep His commandments. If Satan can convince Christians that the wrong doctrine is right, then he will have succeeded in his deception. It is, of course, a fatal deception! So many churches meet today for the purpose of being entertained rather than to worship the One True Living God. As we gather together today, let us worship Him and give honor to Him by hearing His Word.

As we begin our study of the Word of God, open with me your Bibles to I John chapter three, verses four through ten. It is very important for us to understand what John is teaching us here. It is very foundational to things that will arise later in the epistle, as it relates to the relationship between a true Christian and sin. Though there seems to be a tremendous amount of confusion in modern evangelism,

I do not believe that there is anything here that in unclear or obscure.

I invite you to follow along with me as I again read to you the entire passage to set the text in our minds, while we prepare our hearts for what the Spirit of God has is saying to each of us. Listen for the voice of our Lord. I John 3:4-10.

"Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother."

 

Because I John is more than a series of tests that validate one’s profession of faith, it is most often mangled by those who hold that view. John also gives a series of doctrinal tests, in fact, he is very concerned about these doctrinal tests.

 

In chapter 4, verses 2-3, he says "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world."

 

I'd like you to notice that in verse 2, you have God, Christ, the Holy Spirit all in the same verse. Having the right doctrine is very important. Today, as in John's day, they didn't bother with an accurate biblical theology. They denied any necessity of obedience, of holy living, any necessity of loving others. They denied the necessity of righteousness an  penitence, and they denied sin. 

 

John's aim then, is to lay down a series of tests by which someone’s spiritual condition can be determined. False teachers have been confusing and corrupting the Christian community by saying it doesn’t matter what your theology is and it doesn’t matter what your behavior is for centuries. This  aberrant theology does not conform to a biblical understanding of the true nature of God. Nor does it conform to a biblical understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

Verse 4, "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness." Many scholars say that the Greek word translated "lawlessness" has a much wider range of meaning than that in the Septuagint. I do not believe that John is talking about breaking God's specific laws, rather that the one who practices sin is in rebellion against God. Many people today, say they’re Christians but if you look at their lives, there is an unbroken pattern of sin. Sin is incompatible with the work of Christ. As Christians, we do sin, but it matters. It matters to God, therefore, it needs to matter to us. If we say that we don’t sin, God's Word say we lie.There are some who would argue that God doesn’t regard sin as sin anymore. 

 

When I sin, I sin and I acknowledge that sin. It does not come from the new life of God in me, rather it comes from the fallen person in me. However, a true Christian does not, cannot habitually and persistently sin. Though he will occasionally sin, he will not sin relentlessly, habitually and persistently. Your mind is set on the Spirit of God. The ruling principle of the believers life is opposition to sin, so that he hates sin and he sees it in his own life. There is the absence of the habitual ongoing practice of sin.This is in contrast to the unregenerate, unsaved people who live in habitual sin. They sin in their thoughts, in their words and in their actions. Even if there is no other sin is going on in the life of an unbeliever, there is the sin of unbelief. 

 

John gives us three reasons why Christians do not habitually practice sin. The first reason is because sin is incompatible with the Law of God. The original text literally says "Everyone doing sin is doing lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness." John is saying that lawlessness is an attitude. It’s living as if there is no Law. And far worse, it's living as though there were no law giver.  Everyone who is practicing sin is engaged in practicing lawlessness. Obviously, John learned this truth from the Lord Jesus Himself. 

 

In Matthew 7:23, Jesus said "And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness." In other words, you may confess, "Lord, Lord, we did this, we did that, to which Jesus will respond, because you live in a condition of disregard for the Law of God, I never knew you. Depart from Me. You practice lawlessness." This is the universal truth that characterizes the unregenerate, the unsaved, the unconverted, who are living in rebellion against God. Every unconverted person lives in a condition of lawlessness. 

John is really hitting the truth of sin, at its core. To practice sin is to be in revolt, an open rebellion against God Himself. Sin is not doing what God says to do. Though we all work toward that goal, no one is sinless. We strive to be as much like Christ as we can, however, we have not reached that goal. At the root of all saving Christianity, is a right knowledge of sin. Accepting the fact that we need to be delivered from sin. Only then will we truly understand the provision for that deliverance. That Christ came to take away our sin.

 

In Romans 3:23, Paul says "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

 

That brings us to verse 5, "You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin."

 

Like John's readers, we already know this, however, we need to be reminded. In chapter 2:28 and chapter 3:2, John used the word "appears" to refer to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Here, however, he uses it to refer to His first coming. The reason for coming was to take away sins by bearing the penalty that we deserved in His own body on the cross. 

 

Notice that at the end of the verse, that John adds, "and in Him there is no sin." Because the only way that He could do this, was to be completely sinless Himself. Jesus lived in complete obedience to God. Because Jesus' death was the perfect sacrifice for our sins, God accepted Jesus’ death as the perfect sacrifice for sin. Jesus Christ offered Himself as a lamb, unblemished and spotless, the final and complete sacrifice for our sins.

 

Verse 6, "No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him." John’s conclusion is inescapable, true Christians, those who abide in Him and do not sin. If someone continues to live in sin, it demonstrates that he has not seen Jesus as He revealed Himself, and does not know Him as Savior. I'd like you to note, there aren’t any exceptions here, lawlessness is proof that you’re outside the kingdom of God. That's why Jesus said, "Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness, I never knew you."

 

We should never underestimate sin, lawlessness is open rebellion and defiance toward God. Living in sin defines the very nature of the unredeemed heart. An unconverted person exists in an ongoing practice of sin. Because if you are a true Christian, you no longer live as if there is no God. You will no longer practice habitual sin. That's the point. You will deny all of the lusts and desires and longings and things that once satisfied and fulfilled you. You submit yourself to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

 

Matthew 16:24, "Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me."

 

When you become a Christian, you submit to the lordship of Christ, you obey His commands willingly, lovingly, eagerly, and gladly. You no longer love sin, but rather you love the Law of God.

 

Paul tells us in Romans 6:16, "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?" 

 

You traded in slavery to sin for slavery to God. I don't believe it can be any clearer than that! When you become a Christian, the Word of God becomes precious to you. You love the Law of God.

 

When you submit to His lordship, you begin to understand Psalm 119:11, "Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You." Psalm 119 is the longest psalm in the Bible, having 176 verses with one main theme that is emphasized; meditation on and the love of the law of the Lord.

 

John is disconnecting Christians from the flesh. The flesh didn’t really matter to Jesus, what mattered was that He was the Christ, there was no real union of the pre-existent Christ and the physical man Jesus. When we are born again, there is no real union between that new creation and our physical life. Therein lies the struggle. You do have to be perfect to affirm the goodness, the holiness, the righteousness of the Law, but when you sin, you are grieved over your sin and you repent and confess your sin, you are affirming the goodness of the Law that you have just violated.

The Apostle Paul understood this, as he describes the struggle, in Romans chapter 7, when he wrote "For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me."

 

Paul longs to do what is right but then he finds himself falling into sin, that which is not what he wants to do. Verses 23-24, "the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members  Wretched man that I am!"

 

Even though he is unable to perfectly keep the Law that he loves, therein comes conviction, penitence,  brokenness and confession. Because as the redeemed, we have dwelling in us the life of God and a new creation, we have been given the ability to obey God's Law. That is the purpose of God chastening us when we disobey. We are no longer under the domination of sin, we are under the domination of God's Law. Therefore, we are to hate the sin we see in ourselves. Severely grieved over our sin, with a desire to obey the Law of God.  We long to honor Christ with our obedience. If there is no longing, there is every reason to assume there is not the life of God in that soul.

 

That takes us to verses 7-8, "Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil."

 

Whenever the Bible warns us not to be deceived, we need to pay attention. The error that John warns against here is rampant in our day. John is speaking about those that teach that you can accept Christ as Savior without submitting to Him as Lord. This is the fruit of bad theology working in people’s lives. John clearly states, "The one who practices sin is of the devil." 

 

The key to understanding John’s meaning lies at the end of the verse, "For the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil." Anyone who habitually sins, who continually demonstrates a pattern of sin, is not a child of God. If there is ongoing disobedience, with no longing to obey God, does not belong to God.

 

John really drives his point home in verse 9, "No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."

 

Regeneration in Jesus Christ, liberates and frees the enslaved to be able to obey God and longing to do so. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. There is a decisiveness to obey God and become a servant of righteousness. After your salvation you’re dominated by righteousness. You have ceased to associate with the person you were before salvation. 

 

Because you now have the mind of Christ. Raised into a new life of righteousness. As you can imagine, this verse has generated a lot of controversy in the modern church. John is not saying that walking with the Lord has not lessened my ability to commit sin, because believers are certainly capable of committing sin. He is talking about sinning as a way of life. Committing sin is not the habitual pattern of the believers life. He's not talking about random, isolated acts of sin.   If that were the case, he wouldn't have said in chapter 2 verse 1, "And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

 

Verse 10, "By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother."

 

This verse is crucial to understanding the entire passage: John wants us to be able to identify the children of God and the children of the devil by observing their behavior. You cannot possibly be the same after the Holy Spirit has regenerated you. A true Christian, then, is manifestly recognizable by characteristic patterns of righteous behavior. You're looking at a pattern that is present in the life of a believer, regeneration should be absolutely obvious. Their attitude towards obedience to God's Law has changed. They long for it, the desire it, they live for it.

 

In Closing..

 

You need to understand whether you’re a real Christian or not. It's not a matter of perfection but a matter of direction. If there is new life present, it doesn't mean it happens over night, but it does however bear the continual evidence of new growth. When you do fall into sin, you will recognize that you cannot go on living in it. The Holy Spirit will convict you of it and you will immediately repent and return to walk in righteousness. 

 

The modern church has fallen into serious deception on this crucial matter of sin. Today, it's easy to say "I believe in Jesus." you can accept Jesus as Savior, but you don’t need to follow Him as Lord. So I encourage you to look at your life, with careful examination of your behavior. If you aren't practicing righteousness, if you're not living in obedience to God’s Word, especially with regard to love, your claim is false.

 

You can enjoy the pleasures of sin now, and face eternal life in hell. Or you can surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ as your Savior. Make sure no one deceives you, that you can accept Christ as Savior and not as Lord. There is no plan "B." You need to understand that your own soul is at stake. 

 

Becoming a Christian in not merely a change in your status, it's a complete change in your life!

 

May it be so..

 

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

 

 

 

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