INTRODUCTION
• Have you looked out in nature and noticed that apple trees always produce apples?
• When you plant an apple tree, you do not hope that it produces a few oranges do you? You are not hoping for a mix of lemons and apples are you?
• When I see an apple tree, I see apple pies and apple turnovers!
• Have you ever walked under an apple tree and see a bunch of lemons lying under it?
• SLIDE #1 When you stand under the apple tree, you find that the apple does not fall far from the tree.
• When an apple falls from the tree, it stays close to the tree. In the orchard, you can tell which apples came off of which trees by their proximity to a tree.
• As we live our lives, after a while it becomes evident which tree we fell off of.
• There are only two trees in the orchard of life, the tree of God or the tree of the devil. We can all become a part of the tree of God if we want to.
• Just claiming that we are from the tree of God does not make us a part of that tree. We can say we are an apple all we want, but if we have the look, smell, taste, and feel of a lemon, we are not an apple. We are not a lemon.
• Last week we finished the message by seeing that everyone who has their hope fixed on Jesus and what He will do for us will purify themselves.
• God wants to take us from being lemons to becoming apples.
• When we become a born again, things change for us. Today we are going to look at three principles that will help us to grow to be more Christ-like, three things we need to understand so that we can purify ourselves for Jesus!
• Let’s read 1 John 3:4-12 together this morning.
SLIDE #2
SERMON
I. LEMONS CANNOT FALL OUT OF APPLE TREES. (4-6,9)
Habitual sin and the child of God are incompatible.
SLIDE #3
1. Sin is lawlessness. (4)
• Verse four tells us that everyone who PRACTICES sin PRACTICES lawlessness.
• Sin is missing the mark. It is as though God put a target out there for us to hit, and we keep missing it.
• The passage is correctly translated “PRACTICES” sin. We are not speaking of committing a sin or even struggling with sin, we are speaking of a lifestyle of sinning.
• It is a habitual way of life, a willful act by the guilty party.
• Lawlessness is a purposeful disregard for God’s law.
• Little Judy was riding in the car with her father. She decided to stand up in the front seat. Her father commanded her to sit down and put on the seat belt, but she declined. He told her a second time, and again she refused. “If you don’t sit down immediately, I’ll pull over to the side of the road and spank you!” Dad finally said, and at this the little girl obeyed. But in a few minutes she said quietly, “Daddy, I’m still standing up inside.”
• There are too many who are still standing inside.
CLICK #3
2. Jesus came to take away sin. (5)
• This is another reason that a lifestyle of sin is not compatible with a child of God. Jesus came to take sin away, He came to take away the effects that sin has on us. SLIDE #4
• John 8:34 says when we commit a sin we are a slave to sin. Jesus came
• To “take away” means to destroy, kill, and remove. How can we habitually willfully sin when Jesus came to destroy sin?
SLIDE #5
3. There is no sin in Jesus. (5)
• Sin and Jesus do not mix, it is like oil and water; they do not go together.
CLICK #5
4. Living a life of sin shows one has not seen and does not know God. (6)
• Verse 6 is a logical conclusion to verse 5.
• If we abide in Jesus, we will not habitually sin, if we find ourselves habitually sinning, willfully sinning on a consistent basis, it shows we have not seen God with the eyes of our heart. It shows we do not have an inward spiritual knowledge. We do not really believe what Jesus has promised to us.
• The structure of verse 6 indicates the person who continues to sin has never seen or never known Jesus.
CLICK #5
5. Our new life gives us the desire not to habitually sin. (9)
• Verse 9 also shows us why you will not find lemons falling out of an apple tree.
• It tells us that if we are born of God, then His seed is in us which keeps us from habitually sinning. SLIDE #6
• Psalm 119:11 EXPLAIN
• The seed spoken of is most likely a combination of the Word of God which abides in us along with the new life we have in Christ, which also includes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us.
6. Sin is so opposed to what God is about; it shows us that lemons cannot come from an apple tree. A person lives in habitual sin, cannot be a child of God.
SLIDE #7
II. THE APPLE DOES NOT FALL FAR FROM THE TREE. (7-8,10)
Conduct reveals who we truly belong to.
SLIDE #8
1. If you practice righteousness, you are righteous! (7)
• If it looks like an apple, smells like and apple, feels like and an apple, tastes like an apple, it is an apple!
• False teachers were aggressively going after the flock trying to convince them that how they lived did not matter.
• Righteousness is used to denote one’s standing before God, justification, declared NOT GUILTY by God.
• The other use of the word concerns one’s conduct; this is how John uses the word.
• Works of righteousness does not save us; it is a mark of one who is saved.
• Because the child is in a family that practices righteousness, the child is expected to do the same.
CLICK #8
2. If you practice sin, you are of the devil. (8)
• If is looks like a lemon, smells like a lemon, feels like a lemon, tastes like a lemon, it is a lemon.
• If we live a life of sin; then we are not of God, we are a child of the devil.
• We are told that the devil has sinned from the beginning. This means from the first sin he committed that caused his downfall.
CLICK #8
3. An apple is obviously an apple. (10)
• Verse ten restates what is in verse eight. John says it is obvious which tree we feel off of.
• A previous condition is now being brought to knowledge.
• The life the one who habitually sins, live there life derived from the devil.
• John is telling us that it will be easy to tell who belongs to whom.
• What do you practice, sin or righteousness?
• Haven’t you been around people you just knew were Christians? Do people know you are a Christian?
SLIDE #9
III. A LEMON MASQUERADING AS AN APPLE. (11-12)
The example of Cain and Abel, what is in the heart will show itself.
SLIDE #10
1. If we are an apple that falls from the apple tree, we will love one another.
• Here it is again, this loving one another. This is one of the ways we can tell if we are a part of God’s family. SLIDE #11
John 13:35 (NASB) 35“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
• John sure does talk about that a lot doesn’t he? I guess it must be important for us to do.
• The love we have must come from the depths of our soul. We cannot pretend to love someone. Our love must be real.
• John says this is a message we have heard from the beginning! We are to keep on loving one another.
• Do you really love your brothers and sisters in Christ? SLIDE #12
2. Our true identity will show itself eventually.
• If you are faking it, at some point your true heart will show itself.
• When times get tense, your true feelings will show through. If you are having trouble loving people, YOU are the problem, not the other people.
• DO you know how much better life is when you start loving people? Give it a try, your relationship with God demands it. CLICK #12
3. Cain was a lemon masquerading as an apple.
• In Genesis 4:1-8 we have the story of Cain and Abel; it is the first recorded murder in the Bible.
• You know how churches get upset over styles of worship? It began with Cain and Abel.
• Cain killed Abel over an issue involving worship of all things.
• Why did Cain kill Abel? John says it is because Cain’s deeds were evil and Abel’s were righteous.
• Here is the argument given
o Cain’s works were evil
o We know this because he murdered his brother.
o The act showed the hated that was hidden in his heart
o Cain is an example of one who did not love his brother.
o Cain is an example of a person who was not doing righteous deeds.
o You actions show whose family you are truly a part of.
CONCLUSION
• The apple does not fall far from the tree.
• If we belong to God, our life should show it.
• People should see the difference Jesus is making in our lives.
• We can tell people how much we love God, but our live will really show where we are at.
• It is so important for us to realize that SIN has no place with Jesus, sin and Jesus does not mix.
• We will all struggle, we will all sin, but there is a difference between one who habitually willfully sins and one who is struggling with sin.
• The one who does it habitually has no struggle; they just do it because they want to.
• If you have sin you are willfully engaging in, it is time to stop, it is time to pray, it is time to give it over to God.
• Don’t be a lemon.
