Special Delivery Series

Special Delivery

Text: 1 Jn. 3:4-9

Introduction

1. Illustration: I love to see the UPS man pull into the driveway. It’s usually an indication that something good is about to happen. Either something that I have ordered has arrived or someone has sent me a present. This is always a good thing.

2. However, even greater than the UPS guy is the special delivery that Jesus brings us. Jesus delivery does two things for us:

a. It delivers us from sin and the power of Satan.

b. It delivers to us new and eternal life.

3. Read 1 Jn. 3:4-9

Proposition: The children of God have been set free from the power of sin.

Transition: The first thing that we must see in this text is...

I. The Need for Deliverance (4-5)

A. Lawlessness

1. John begins by giving us a definition of sin and sinners. He says "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness."

a. ἀíïìίá, áò f: to behave with complete disregard for laws or regulations —Louw & Nida: NT Greek-English Lexicon

b. John is talking about deliberate rebellion against God and His laws.

2. The people John was writing to seemed to think that sin was no big deal; they were indifferent to it (Marshall, NICNT: The Epistles of John, 176).

3. Few people like to be called a sinner. Some people even react to the statement that men are sinners. There is a reason for this.

a. To most people sin is thought to be the gross sins of society, the crimes that make the headlines of our newspapers and telecasts.

b. The sins committed by most people are not thought to be that serious.

4. The sins committed by most people are not thought to be that serious. Most people think that what little wrong they do could never be interpreted as sin. Therefore, to them they only commit...

a. A mistake

b. A shortcoming

c. A bad decision

5. This is not what sin is, not to God and not to the Bible. Sin is the transgression of the law. It is violating the law of God.

a. Sin is choosing to go one’s own way in life, doing one’s own thing instead of doing what God says.

b. Sin is living like one wants instead of living like God says.

c. Sin is disbelieving God instead of believing what God says.

6. Man is not only a sinner, he is sinful. The reason he is sinful is that he has transgressed God’s law.

a. If he had never transgressed the law of God, then he would have dwelt in the perfect nature of God.

b. He would have always obeyed God; therefore, he would have lived in the glory of God and never come short of God’s will and nature.

c. Rom. 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

d. Therefore, sin is transgression, disobeying God’s law, coming short of what God says.

B. Take Away Our Sin

1. Illustration: When you have nothing left but God, then for the first time you become aware that God is enough.—Maude Royden

2. We had a need to be delivered from sin, but we have a God who can deliver.

3. John reminds us that Jesus was "manifested to take away our sins..."

a. It was the reason He came.

b. It was His mission.

c. Jn. 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

4. How is this possible? How is it possible for Christ to actually remove our sins and take them away so that God can accept us? By living a sinless life.

a. Note the words of the verse: "in Him is no sin." When Jesus Christ came to earth as a Man, He lived a sinless life.

b. He was perfectly righteous, the very embodiment of righteousness.

5. Because Jesus lived a perfect life and sacrificed himself for our sins, we can be completely forgiven. We can look back to his death for us and know that we need never suffer eternal death.

a. This is the great love of God for man, the giving of His Son to die for the sins of man.

b. If a person truly loves God, then that person bows in humble adoration before God’s Son.

c. The person loves God because God sacrificed His own Son in order to save man.

d. This is the test of our love for God: Have we turned from sin to God’s Son?

Transition: This leads us to...

II. The Proof of Deliverance (6-7)

A. Whoever Abides In Him

1. The first proof that John gives us that we have been delivered is "Whoever abides in Him does not sin."