An Elaboration Of The Moral Test Series

Scripture

Let’s read 1 John 3:4-10:

4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; 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 keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:4-10)

Introduction

When I served in my previous pastorate, I was asked by one of the evangelical campus ministries to participate in a panel of pastors for an evangelistic outreach meeting. I agreed to do so and I commended the campus ministry for their evangelistic zeal. The evening was advertised as “Ask a Pastor Any Question,” or something like that. Including me, about five local pastors were on the panel. I think there were perhaps one hundred students in attendance. I assume that most of them were Christians but I am sure that there were also some unbelievers in the crowd. When the program began, students asked questions along the following lines: “Why is Jesus the only way of salvation?”; “Why is the Bible to be believed?”; “What happens when we die?”; and so on.

I only really recall one question from that evening. It was, “What happens to people who have never heard the gospel?” I was shocked by the answers given by my fellow panel members. They said, “People who have never heard the gospel will be saved by the light that they have. God will not hold them accountable because they never had a chance to hear about Jesus.” It was awkward for me because I did not want to disagree with the other panelists and have unbelievers think that we do not agree on such an important question. But I had to say that if people who have never heard the gospel are saved by the light that they have, then we should immediately stop sending missionaries to them. If they are saved apart from Jesus, the worst thing we can do is tell them about Jesus.

Friends, God does not have two standards: one for those who have heard of Jesus but rejected him and those who have never heard of Jesus. The truth is that all people have broken God’s law and deserve eternal punishment. Jesus is the only remedy for sinful lawbreakers, and that is why sending missionaries all over the world is so important.

I wonder what the Apostle John would have thought about such a contemporary misunderstanding of the gospel. He wrote his first letter to correct the false teaching that was being taught by false teachers. He set out three tests to evaluate whether one has a relationship with God: the test of obedience (in 1 John 2:3-6), the test of love (in 1 John 2:7-11), and the test of doctrine (in 1 John 2:18-27).

John now once again set out three tests by elaborating on them. He set out the test of obedience (in 1 John 2:28-3:10), the test of love (in 1 John 3:11-18), and the test of doctrine (in 1 John 4:1-6).

Today, we continue examining the test of obedience in 1 John 3:4-10. In John’s elaboration of this moral test, he shows how Jesus’ first advent was to deal with sin and enable holy living. He repeats his argument in verses 4-7 and 8-10, each time with a different emphasis.

Lesson

First John 3:4-10 teaches us about the indispensable necessity for holy living.

Let’s use the following outline:

1. Two Truths about Sin (3:4, 8a)

2. Two Purposes for Christ’s Appearing (3:5, 8b)

3. Two Conclusions about the Christian Life (3:6, 9)

4. Two Appeals for Righteousness (3:7, 10)

I. Two Truths about Sin (3:4, 8a)

John was writing to encourage his beloved flock in their assurance of salvation. The false teachers taught that their souls had a relationship with God and so it did not matter what they did with their bodies. According to them, sin did not touch their souls. So John set down two truths about sin.

The first truth about sin is that the nature of sin is lawlessness. John wrote in verse 4, “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.” The New International Version states verse 4 as follows, “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” John is stating a universal truth: everyone sins. There is no escape from this truth and there is no exception to this truth.