Series: 1 John
Week: 12
Passage: 1 John 3:7-10
Title: Which Father are you Following?
Focus: Christian Living
STORY: When I was in high school my parent’s and I got into the worst fight recorded in history. There was yelling and screaming for almost an hour straight. After the dust settled it was agreed that I could go to a friend’s house and spend the night to cool off a little bit. Upon arrival I called my parents to let them know I had arrived safely and would see them tomorrow. When I got home after school the next day I say down with my Dad and talked to him about what had happened. My dad tried to explain that he was giving me time to relax and then proceeded to discuss the concepts of grace and love (mostly God’s love).
My dad stressed the importance of me choosing not to live in darkness but live in the light (Christ). I looked at my dad right in the eyes and told him “I want to do what is right so bad… I just don’t know how to do it.”
INTRODUCTION: If we believe in Jesus Christ, we must understand that we are sealed in our salvation (it cannot be taken away). The saving grace of Christ means that there are no works involved (thief on the cross). 1 John 3:7-10 is a dangerous theological text. We need to pray for clarity and correct theology in our unpacking of the passage, as this is often misunderstood.
I believe that w all want to be in fellowship with God, regardless of whether or not they will admit it. There is no other hope or direction in a life lived without Jesus. If life is going to have purpose or meaning then we will do it in fellowship with God. That will get us through. John invites the entire congregation into fellowship God through the concept of works and pointing people back to the faith. Why?
There are those in our midst, the anti-Christ’s, who are doing things to keep us out of the fellowship with God. The anti-Christ’s wanted to lead the people astray because it points people away from God. There are people out there who are trying to lead us astray. SOMEONE wants to lead you astray. If we want to live in the light, which I believe we do, we must admit at times we don’t know how to do it and look to the Word for help.
SCRIPTURE: “Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he (issue for debate) is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.” 1 John 3:7-10
PRAYER
TITLE: Which Father are you Following? (1 John 3:7-10)
Point #1: Children of God should act like their Heavenly Father (1 John 3:7)
• Explanation: There are no people who have simply glided into holiness (a relationship with Christ). As John stated, the antichrists were constantly pushing people away from a relationship with God. However, God whispers those to him in various situations and circumstances and gives us a chance to respond. Christians are intentional about becoming children of God. We desire fellowship with God and thus ask for his relationship through the blood on the cross. It’s never automatic.
• Illustration: Earthly Fathers and Heavenly Fathers - Sometimes our earthly father (or fathers depending on the family you come from) can give us a bad perception of our heavenly father. With earthly perceptions we often act toward God the way we act/have acted to our earthly fathers. We MUST separate our earthly relationships with our eternal ones. We must think differently about the relationship we can have with our heavenly father.
• Application: This is powerful motivation for a Christians “works”. If we can acknowledge our heavenly father then we are going to want to respond to our heavenly father and do as he does. Your spiritual father wants him to act like him and do as he does because he is righteous. We act like him for two reasons:
o ONE: We are righteous - There is a part of us who have been born of God (verse 9) that cannot sin. God has regenerated and transformed a part of us that is born of God and cannot sin.
• Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
• If Christ is in you living your life out for you through the power of the Holy Spirit then that means that part of you where God dwells cannot sin.
o Romans 7 illustrates the struggle with sin. This is where we get spiritual warfare. We KNOW the right thing to do as Christians because we have been declared righteous that knows the right thing for us to do. Most people know the right thing to do, they just don’t want to do it.
o Church Illustration: People leave the church when we do the right thing. Hurts, but it happens.
o TWO: God is Righteous – If the part of me that has been born of God is perfect then God is righteous as well (Only righteousness springs from a righteous nature). God, being righteous, has given me the ability to know what that is but the problem. However, the problem is that I often don’t want to do it.
Point #2: Children of God should not act like a “Fake” Father (1 John 3:8)
• Explanation: Since there is a part of us (our righteousness) that cannot sin, the question is: Is there a part of us that can? If we were honest, we would declare that we all struggle and wrestle with sin. This passage is hard because some people say that a Christian who habitually sins is not a believer or even saved. ALL Christians continue to sin daily and until they’re dead. We should not make the mistake that Christians will not sin once they come to know the Lord and use ones sin as a measurement for one’s salvation. Satan, our fake father (the deceiver), wants us to believe that he is truly our in the spiritual realm and act like him. Two implications from this understanding.
o ONE: Satan HATES this accusation because he loves being undercover. He hates when people say there is a devil because this acknowledges what he truly is (against Christ).
o TWO: When we admit there is a devil the world portrays us as idiots. When we acknowledge that there is a force behind evil the world hates it just as much as it hated Christ because it acknowledges that which is satanic in nature. It says that those who sin take part in Satan’s activity and opposes the work of God.
• Illustration: God positions us to minister to those in scary times and call out what is evil and what is good. (Fred winters situation – Pastors work = good, shooter = evil.)
• Application: We must understand that even the smallest sin runs counter to the work of Christ. Believers are to OVERCOME “the evil one” (1 John 2:13-14) and not PARTICIPATE in what Satanic. The devil knows he cannot steal your salvation. Salvation is God’s work, not yours. Satan wants you to act like he is your father. This comes in our preferences, our attitudes, our assumptions, etc.
o NOTE: If one who sins is unsaved then everyone is unsaved (acknowledge the spiritual war raging within the Christian). God created a world where evil could exist and Satan comes in all the cracks full force because we choose to sin (go against God in the beginning).
• If we are involved in sin as Christians, we are acting like a father who is not our own. We do not want those we come in contact with to think we are associated with the devil.
• REMEMBER: A regenerate person can be called a child of the devil (Peter in Matthew 12:23). Satan is constantly pursuing us and he wants us to give into temptation. Satan can’t take your salvation but man can he seduce to get us to act like him.
Point #3: Your Actions Point to Either God or Satan (1 John 3:9)
• Explanation: Which father are you following? John stresses the point that the child partakes of the nature of his parent. As children are we choosing to live in light or remain in darkness? All sin is from Satan (1 John 3:8) and does not show or point to our new nature. John seeks to prove false a idea about sin. Sin is not, nor ever can be, anything but satanic. It can never spring from what a Christian truly is at the level of his salvation state.
• Illustration:
• Application: Listen, God never tells anyone he’s your father, he lets you do it. The only time when God tells people he is there father is Jesus baptism. The rest of the time it is our opportunity to share Christ and point people to who our father is.
o How do we tell the world about Jesus?
• People are judging by our actions every day. Words may be powerful but actions speak loud too. There must be a balance.
o There are people in the church that are living sinful lives and by doing this they are pointing to the devil and not to God and in five years they will regret it.
CONCLUSION: I’m committing or recommitting my life to point to Christ, not the devil. (The Gospel)
TRANSLATION
7. Children, let no one decieve you! The one doing righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.
8. The one practicing sin is from the devil, because from the beginning the devil sins. For this was revealed to the sons of God, in order to destroy the works of the devil.
9. Everyone who is born out of God does not practice sin, because his seed remains in him, and he is not able to sin, since he is born out of God.
10 In this he is shown the child of God or the child of the devil; everyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
EXEGSIS
7.
decieve – “lead astray from the truth”
let no one decieve you – imperative verb – emphatic statement
- John calls for the believers t stand firm and not be tricked and let astray by the antichrists (2:22) or those who follow him/the devil (3:4, 6)
He – points back to God – see string of pronouns in v1b-6, which find their head noun in “Father” in verse 1
8.
from the beginning the devil sins
Origin of Satan -
John 8:44 - “44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Rev. 12:9 – “…that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world…”
revealed – here John refers to the incarnation – Jesus Christ (Son of God) was made known (revealed) that he might do away with (destroy) sin (the works of the devil)
destroy – “do away with” or “put an end to”
works of the devil - sin
9.
born out of God – John speaks of the theological geneology of the believer. Our eternal family is not of flesh and blood, but of spirit – we are born of God.
abide – John’s “buzz word” in this letter, he keeps coming back to show/question where the believer dwells, where he makes his stand – is it in God or is it in the devil?
10.
practice righteousness/love your brother –
John once again comes back to the greatest commandment and the one like it (Matthew 22:34-30)
