May God add his blessing to the reading, preaching, and hearing of his Word today.

Here in December in our Christian churches we have just celebrated the incarnation of the Son of God into human history as he took upon himself our human nature in the womb of the virgin Mary. It has been wonderful to rehearse those great events we read about in the early pages, especially of Luke’s Gospel, when the angels announced to the shepherds, ““Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11

Why did God the Father send his Son into the world? Our passage today gives two reasons:

v. 5 – He sent his Son to “take away sins.”

v. 8 – The Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil.

Let’s ask God’s help as we study this passage today.

Prayer:

Our Father in heaven, teach us today how your Son took away our sins and how this has affected our lives. Teach how he came to destroy the works of the devil and what this means for us. Grant us the help of your divine Spirit as we open up and seek to learn your Word today. We ask in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

Chapter 3 of the Book of 1 John talks about the appearing of the Son of God. This is what Avent is all about: Jesus’ first and especially his second coming. Verse 2 of chapter three gives us this great promise, “when he appears[a] we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” Here’s one thing that’s going to happen when he appears! We know how holy and righteous Jesus our Lord is, a man of tender compassion as well as “tough love.” One day we are going to be like him. When we see him at his second coming, his holy presence, his nature, his character emanating out of his person, this will somehow engulf us and change us and we shall be like him. No more sin, no more anxiety, no more distress. We shall rest in peace and joy in him. The scripture says in verse 3 that “everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” So it seems even this future hope of Christ’s appearance has a purifying effect on our lives today. We read about this in 2 Pet. 3:11-12, 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God…”

So coming into union with Jesus Christ by faith in him has great effect on his people. It is so dynamic, so fundamentally life-changing, that it forms a people who are distinct in their personal standards of morality and righteousness, they are distinctively different from the people of the world. They take on more and more the nature of God, of Jesus Christ, and they think and speak and act less and less like they used to in their former lives. They have a dynamic power within their lives that is renovating them and renewing them and changing them more and more to be like Jesus Christ.

Verse 4 presents a contrast of other people with these believers in Jesus Christ. Look at what verse 4 says, “ Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 

Let’s take note of this phrase “makes a practice of sinning.” John describes people’s behavior with careful wording. He uses words like “practices sinning or practices righteousness,” or “keeps on sinning or keeps on doing righteousness,” or “makes a practice of sinning” or ”makes a practice of righteousness” to describe individuals’ lifestyles, their behavior, their morality. He classifies people according to the habitual practice of their lives – the habitual practice of their moral and spiritual lives reveals what is in their hearts – what kind of people they are, actually what is their relationship to God.

You have to get a panoramic view of a person’s life to know what kind of person they are. You can’t just take a snapshot of their behavior or responses to a specific situation at a specific time on a specific day. In other words, you may indeed see a Christian committing a sin at a certain time on a certain day, but that is just a small part of their overall life, a life which is likely devoted to serving God and being faithful to him.

So the key concept that John uses is the idea of “habitual practice” in describing Christians and non-Christians – habitual practice reveals what is in a person’s heart. Jesus said, “By your fruit you will know them” – you’ll know the good people and the bad people, the believers in God verses the unbelievers in God – by what their lives produce – by the good works or bad works of their lives.

Verse 9 says, “9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's[a] seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.”

William Barclay says, that [God] “…is demanding a life which is ever on the watch against sin, a Ife which ever fights the battle of goodness, a life which has never surrendered to sin, a life in which sin is not the normal accepted way, but the abnormal moment of defeat.”

But let’s also keep in mind that lifestyle and personal standards of morality are not the only way to determine true believers from unbelievers. Another key mark that we have seen of a true believer in Christ is correct doctrinal beliefs. John tells us that no one can be a Christian who does not believe that the Son of God became flesh and lived among us. Belief in correct doctrine means belief in what God has revealed in his Word about himself and about his Son. If we reject this revelation, we are rejecting God himself. We are setting our own standards of what God is alike above what God has revealed of himself.

So both doctrine and practice reveal who is a true Christian. This particular passage today focuses on behavior, on morality, on conduct. These ways of thinking, speaking, and acting reveal what is in a person’s heart. Verse 4 says, “ Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. The GK, literally – says, the one “doing” sin [= pres. participles =], i.e., active engaging in sin. It is not referring to doing a particular sin but to the characteristic or habitual practice of sin.

Mr. Hiebert writes how the New Testament describes sin:

[sin is not passive] “…but it is positive and active – denoting the determination of human nature in hostility to God. It is deliberate deviation from and infraction of the standard of right, a willful rebellion, arising from the deliberate choice of the sinner. …it is the greatest tragedy of the entire universe. It is actually rebellion against God. Thus, by its nature sin has the character of lawlessness.” I think it’s RC Sprout that calls it “cosmic treason.” It sees the entire human race as a crew on a sailing ship who are mutinying against the captain of the ship and trying to throw him overboard.

What are some examples of lawlessness in our society? There’s narco traffickers – they intentionally break the laws of the US to make money, meanwhile destroying lives. Human traffickers do the same thing.

Another example of lawlessness can be seen in what happened on Nov. 5 of this year: a Dallas Cowboys football player was involved in a high-speed police chase, reaching speeds up to 160 mph on the Dallas North Tollway. He deliberately and willfully broke the law in an attempt to escape capture by the police. But he crashed his car and ended up committing suicide.

The last phrase of verse 4 says that “sin is lawlessness.” These two words are interchangeable: “sin” is “lawlessness” and “lawlessness” is “sin.”

What was it that let to Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden? It was their sin of listening to another voice than that of God, another voice instead of God.

Centuries later, what was it that led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the carrying off of the choice people of the nation into Babylonian captivity? It was their sin of idolatry, the worship of false gods and serving them and their abominable practices, instead of remaining true to Yahweh and his holy law and will, as delivered to them by Moses.

The first commandment in Exodus 20:3 says, 3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.” If people worship some other god besides Yahweh, the Creator of heaven and earth, they are committing sin. They are lawless. They are breaking God’s laws.

Romans 1:21 says of humanity that universally they refuse to acknowledge the existence of God despite the fact that his power and divine nature is revealed in all of his creation 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him….They are committing sin against God; they are lawless, criminals, if you please, in the eyes of God.

A person who commits adultery is breaking God’s law and is a law-breaker, a lawless person. In our old western movies we had “outlaws” – men who went outside the law in order to commit crimes such as bank robbery and stealing horses and cattle.

Sin and lawlessness began in the garden of Eden and it has been passed down from generation to generation. We read in Gen. 6:11-12, “11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.’

Such was the state of humanity until something happened about 5 or 6 BC. Look at verse 5, 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

The “he” here refers to the Son of God. Here is the first great reason our text says the Son of God appeared: to take away sins. The original Greek verb tense used here indicates a decisive, once for all action by Christ. John the Baptist recognized who Jesus of Nazareth was and declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

The second half of verse 5 tells us why Jesus had to take away sin: because “in him there is no sin.” Sin is contrary to the very nature, the very essence of Christ.

There was something in his universe that was anathema to him, that was repulsive to him, that was an offense to his holy nature, and he came down from heaven to deal with it, to get rid of it. And where was it found? It wasn’t floating around in the sky or on the ocean, but it was in the hearts and minds of his people. This was something he could not tolerate. He was determined to bring these people into his fellowship, into his presence, but not until their sin was removed and they were cleansed from all its defilement.

This is why verse 6 says, “6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 

No one who abides in Christ, who remains in him, who is in union with him, can keep on sinning. In Jesus is no sin, so to abide in him, is to abide in the sinless one. It is to take of his nature. When I lived in north Louisiana for a number of years, I picked up the local accent without even realizing it. It was because I was immersed and exposed constantly to the language that I began to imbibe it. So if we abide in Christ we will begin to take on ourselves his nature, his virtues, his holiness.

But on the other hand, if a person keeps on sinning, if they continue to commit the same old sins of idolatry and lying and coveting and lying and stealing and being jealous and envious and selfish, they have never come into a relationship with Jesus Christ. They have never really drawn near enough to him to be changed by his nature. They’ve remained at a distance. The text says here, they have never really “seen him or known him.” They have never seen him with the eyes of saving faith or known him personally in love and devotion.

Verse 7 says, 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Here was the problem in the historical setting to which John was writing. There were people in that culture, there had even been people in those churches, likely in Ephesus, who were propagating what’s known as “gnostic heresies.” The word “gnostic” means “knowledge” and these people were saying something to the effect that if you get this knowledge that they were teaching, nothing else matters. How you live doesn’t matter. Standards of morality don’t matter.

John is saying that that is wrong. It does matter how you live, what your standards of morality are - you must lead a life with a high standard of morality as reflected in the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Because Jesus is absolutely righteous in all his moral character within himself, so his followers, his disciples, must reflect that same righteousness. It won’t be a perfect righteousness like his, but it will be of the same nature and quality as Christ’s righteousness.

Verse 8 reveals the other side of the story, “ Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.”

So we see this principle here: People’s standards of morality and behavior reflect the Master and Ruler and god of their lives. Those who are in union with Jesus Christ reflect his character and righteousness more and more in their lives. And those who are in line with the devil, who are subject to his rule and leading over their lives, reflect in their lives his wicked agenda, his evil schemes, his mindset, his cruelty, his abuse, his lying, his deception.

From the very beginning of creation, the devil has been sinning. Sinning is his natural habitat – what he is comfortable and good at doing. He can’t really do anything else but sin. The word “devil” means slanderer. He accuses the people of God before God.

So here is the devil, the ruler of the evil powers of the air, wrecking havoc in the lives of people, trying all he can to undermine the authority of God, trying as hard as he can to deceive people and turn them away from God, hating God and hating people – and the Son of God has to come and deal with him and put him down, disable him, and ultimately destroy him. So the text says in v. 8, 2nd half, The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. Here’s the 2nd reason our passage says that Jesus Christ our Lord came to earth – to destroy the works of the devil. He came not just to hamper, not just to disrupt, not just to interfere, but to destroy the works of the devil. Make no mistake, the devil is the great arch enemy of God and God’s people and he cannot just be given a life sentence in prison, he is so wicked and evil that he deserves death and destruction and that’s what the Son of God will do to him.

Heb. 2:14 says- 14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise (A)partook of the same things, that (B)through death he might (C)destroy (D)the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

How did Christ defeat the devil? Primarily through his work on the cross, through his death. Jesus said in Luke 11:18, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

Verse 9 of our passage says, 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's[a] seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 

What is the great secrete and power of the Christian life? What makes the Christian person so different from the non-Christian person? It is that the Christian has ben “born of God,” he or she has experienced the new birth, a power from above, the entrance of the very Spirit of God into their breasts, and so in place of spiritual death they have been given spiritual life – the power and stranglehold of sin over their wills and thinking is broken – they are set free to follow and obey God. What they had no power or will or desire to do before, has now been given them. They are born again. Born from above. They are new men and women, boys and girls – they are not the same as they used to be. Something radical has happened deep within their hearts and minds and souls. The very Holy Spirit of God has entered their lives who wasn’t there before. It’s like a time-release atomic bomb of righteousness and holiness and love for God has begun to erupt in their lives – it is slow but powerful and continue to release its power all of their lives.

The scripture says that for this person, “he cannot keep on sinning…” This is an amazing statement! Do you really mean this John? Are you sure you heard the Holy Spirit correctly?

What does John mean here? He is not saying that a Christian will never commit sin. He’s already acknowledged earlier in the letter that Christians do sin and they need to confess their sin to God. But the great difference between the pre-conversion and post – conversion life of a believer is that they cannot continue any longer living a living dominated by sin gushing forth from the volcano of their hearts. That volcano of sin has been removed and replace by a fount of sweet, cool water, the water of the Holy Spirit. The volcano of sin that had been there before produced envy and slander and hatred and lust and covetousness and pride and lying and cheating and stealing and deception and every other kind of sin. But it is removed and taken away forever. In its place is given the fountain of holiness, righteousness, peace and joy and very virtue of the Holy Spirit.

In addition, the text says that love for the brethren will be an accompanying virtue of the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit.

Christ’s appearing will thus result in God’s people being transformed into his image, the removal of their sins, and the destruction of the works of the devil.

So let us rejoice in his great salvation and serve him with joy and faithfulness all the days of our lives.