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SERMON GM14-024
SERIES: Christian Living in a World of Chaos &
Contradiction
SETTING: North Kelso Baptist Church
SERVICE: Sunday AM
SUBTITLE: The Test of Sonship (Part
3)
SCRIPTURE: 1 John 3:4-8
SUBJ: The problems of Sonship (Theme/Topic)
SUMMARY: I propose to you that as Sons of
God believers do not practice sin since it is
incompatible with their Sonship
(Thesis)
SCHEME: That Christians rely on God as they
resist the temptation to consistently sin against God. (Objective)
CHRISTIAN LIVING IN
A WORLD OF CHAOS
The
Christian Life is Viewed as Son-ship
The Test of
Sonship
1 John 3:4-8
(Part 3)
INTRODUCTION
A.
Passing the Test
The world famous artist,
Paul Gustave Dore (1821-1883) lost his passport
while traveling in Europe. When he came to a border crossing, he explained his predicament to one of the guards. Giving
his name to the official, Dore hoped he would be recognized and allowed to pass. The guard, however, said
that many people attempted to cross the border by claiming to be
persons they were not.
Dore insisted that he was the man he
claimed to be. "All right," said the
official, "we'll give you a test, and if you pass it we'll allow you to go through." Handing him a pencil and a
sheet of paper, he told the artist to
sketch several peasants standing nearby. Dore did it so quickly and skillfully
that the guard was convinced he was indeed who
he claimed to be. His work
confirmed his word!
(Our
Daily Bread, January 6, 1993.)
B.
Many times various people claim to be Christians, they claim to be Sons
of God. There is an undeniable and unrelenting truth that I think automatically
attaches itself to any such claim. The claim of being a son of God can be and
should be tested.
Tested in order to pass the test.
Tests to prove the claim. Just as Dore was
able to proof he was who he said he was by being able to sketch, those who make the claim to being Sons of God
should be able to prove their
claim.
Our theme is: “Sonship affects daily living”
This
is a good reminder for us all that Sonship affects our daily lifestyle by
diminishing the practice of sin.
Proposition: I propose to you that as Sons of God believers do not practice sin.
Interrogative Sentence: So, we have to ask
ourselves, why do genuine Sons of God not practice sin in their daily life or
as a lifestyle?
Transitional Sentence: In our text, John identifies
three (3) reasons why genuine Sonship is incompatible with the regular practice
of sin.
[But
before we begin examining those three reasons, let’s take a minute and…]
REVIEW
We
are reminded that our claim of being a Son or child of God is tested by
practical and measureable means.
[We began this section by seeing that …]
1A SONSHIP IS TESTED BY PRACTICAL GROUNDS (2:29-3:24)
In this section Sonship is
being submitted to the test of behavior. Whether
a person has been born into the family of God can be known by the presence of family likeness in that person’s life.
I guess you could say it
like this, “Like God the Father, like Child of God.”
If you are a child or son of God you will manifest God likeness.
This brings us to our first practical
test. That is…
1B Sonship demands the
practice of righteousness (2:29-3:10)
This test begins in 2:29 and
runs through 3:10. In this section John clearly demonstrates that the practice of righteousness is an identifying mark of the children of God.
[First
thing John does is that…]
1C He States the
Principle of Sonship (2:29)
“If you know [since you know] that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices
righteousness has been born of him.”
[Second, thing John does…]
2C He Suggests the Privileges
of Sonship (3:1-3)
“See, what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God;
and so we are. The reason why the
world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we
are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know
that when he appears we shall be like him,
because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes
in him purifies himself as he is pure.”
So,
there are four beneficial privileges of Sonship. We are called the children of
God, we are destined to be like Christ, we are being developed into the
likeness of Christ in this life and we will one day see Christ.
Now,
let’s move on to the third thing that John does as he talks about the fact that
Sonship demands the practice of righteousness in our daily lives, and that is
our…
TRUTH FOR TODAY
3C He
Supplies the Problem of Sonship (3:4-10)
From this portion of our passage we can see that
John supplies at least three (3) problems
that prove that the practice of righteousness is essential
to pass the test of Sonship.
[The first problem John supplies
is that…]
1D Its
incompatibility with Sonship (3:4-8)
[Sonship is incompatible for
at least three (3) reasons:]
[First Reason] 1E …Sonship is incompatible with the nature of
sin (4) pas o poiwn thn amartian kai thn anomian poiei, kai h amarti a estiv h anomia
“Everyone who makes a
practice of sinning also practices lawlessness;
sin is lawlessness.” (1 John 3:4, ESV)
Explanation: (What does this mean?)
[First
of all… John
clearly makes a significant contrast with this verse.
Those who seek to cleanse themselves from all sin are
set in contrast to those who continue to consistently sin
which,
by the way, continues to defile them and
separate them from God.
John
uses the word “everyone” in 2:29; 3:3- 4, 6, and
9.
In
verses 29 and verse 4 John uses a present tense
participle for “practice.” This is used to show a contrast
between those who are acts of righteousness with those who
are practicing
acts of sin or lawlessness.
John
has in mind the habitual or consistent, the
continuing practice of righteousness or lawlessness. The fact
that a believer is born of God shows itself and
proves itself by the consistent practice of righteousness.
He
also has in mind to show that the practice of sin is
incompatible with regeneration, or being born of God, or with
Sonship. Sin
is lawlessness. Sin by its very nature is lawlessness.
Sin means to miss a mark, a failure
to hit what one was aiming at.
The
word anomia is
a much stronger word. It refers
to the purposeful disregard of God’s laws
or standards.
Sin
is not just a mere failure to measure up to God’s
standards or a weakness, or a flaw, but sin is an
active and purposeful refusal to conform to the law or
standards of God.
The
reason that Sonship is incompatible with sin is simply
because it is incompatible with the very nature of sin,
which is to willfully reject God’s standards.
God’s children
or sons of God will not consistently reject
God’s standards.
Argumentation: (Why should you believe this?)
(Psalm 5:4). “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in
wickedness; no evil dwells with You”
(Isaiah 6:3) “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts.
God
hates sin because He is holy; holiness is the most exalted of all His
attributes; His holiness totally saturates His being. His holiness
epitomizes His moral perfection and His absolute freedom from blemish of any
kind (Psalm
89:35; 92:15; Romans 9:14)
Illustration: (Let me show you what this
looks like)
When
a child throws a temper tantrum, what they are really doing is they are
willfully and purposefully rejecting your directions or standards and their
rejection as willful and purposeful is seen by several things:
·
Holding their breath
·
Clenching their teeth and
jaws
·
Clenching their fists
·
Tightening of their little
body
·
The closing of their eyes
·
Rolling & kicking on the
floor
·
Screaming at the top of our
voice
And
so it is with us, when we practice sin, we are practicing lawlessness. We are
holding our breath, clenching our fists, tightening our bodies, kicking and
screaming against God’s standards because we want to practice our own
standards.
Robert Law wrote: “In other words, to sin is to assert one’s own will
as the rule of action against the absolutely good will of God.” [1]
The
point John is trying to make is that the false
teachers were first of all, indifferent toward acts of sin, and second,
actually encouraging acts of sin. They were
teaching that
you could be involved in various acts of sin
and still be in fellowship with God.
John
said no way! John is saying a genuine child of
God cannot be indifferent to sin nor can a true child of
God determine to do what they want to do rather than what is
clearly revealed as God’s standards.
No
one, no genuine child of God is relieved from the obligation and duty of obeying
the revealed standards of God.
So,
the nature of sin or lawlessness opposes the nature of God and His standards. Sonship
is incompatible with the nature of sin.
Our theme is: “Sonship affects daily living”
This
is a good reminder for us all that Sonship affects our daily lifestyle by
diminishing the practice and frequency of sin.
Proposition: I propose to you that as Sons of God believers do not practice sin.
[Sonship is incompatible for
a second reason.]
[Second reason] 2E Sonship
is incompatible with nature of the Savior (5-7)
EXPLANATION
kai
oidate oti ekeinos efanerwqh ina tas amartias arh
“And you know that He
appeared in order to take
away sins…”
John again appeals to the
universal knowledge that all
Christians have because of the indwelling HS and
apostolic teaching. John says, “You know!”
Christ
was revealed in the incarnation for the express purpose
of taking away sin. John makes it clear that sins are removed
or taken away
by Christ. John is making specific reference
to the acts of sin that Christ came to remove. The reason that I make this
statement
is due to the reference of John in verses
4, 6, 8, & 9 that speak of “the practice of sin.”
John’s
point is simple, Christ came to take away sins.
Once again John makes it clear that the consistent
or habitual practice of sin is incompatible with the
nature of the Savior. Jesus came to take away sin
not to allow sin to remain.
But
look at what else John says:
kai
amartia en autw ouk estin
…”and
in Him there is no sin.”
For
the record the word order is this – “and sin in him there is not.”
This
is important. John is not simply saying that Jesus did not commit sin, John’s
denial is much deeper and stringent. John is asserting that Jesus did not
possess a sin nature.
So,
the conclusion is this: if God’s son was altogether sinless, then the children
of God, or, those who claim fellowship and Sonship should not have anything to
do with sin and do not practice sin.
Sin
is not compatible with Jesus’ nature; it is not compatible with the family –
the father and the sons- of God.
John
goes on to say in verse six: pas o en autw menwn ouc amartanei
ARGUMENTATION:
Luk 19:10 For the Son of Man came
to seek and to save the lost."
Joh 3:17 For God did not send his
Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might
be saved through him.
1Ti 1:15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full
acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom
I am the foremost.
Pe 3:18 For
Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in
the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
“No one who abides in Him
keeps on sinning…”
This conclusion is the
logical deduction from verse 5. Since Jesus came to remove
sin and because no sin is in him, then it is true that
the one who lives in,
or remains in and dwells in him will not practice
habitual sin.
Keep in
mind this is a contrast between those who are saved and those
who are not saved. This is not a contrast between those who
are “spiritual” and those who are not “spiritual.” John is
not talking about two levels of Christianity.
John is
showing you how you can tell if you are a Christian or not.
Here is the proof of salvation. Do you practice sin regularly or
do you not practice sin regularly. Do you ignore God’s
standards in order
to do your own thing or do you submit to his standards?
For the
record John is not talking about the non- sense called “sinless perfection.”
That would contradict what John taught in chapter
one and verse
8. John is not teaching that Christians don’t sin
or perform individual acts of sin.
John is
saying that since sin is incompatible with the nature of the Savior,
Jesus Christ, those who are his children do not habitually or regularly practice sin.
Look at this next
phrase: “…no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or know him.”
Let that sink in. See how
serious this is?
2Co 3:14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day,
when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted,
because only through Christ is it taken away.
2Co 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded
the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the
image of God.
Eph 4:18 They are darkened in their understanding,
alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them,
due to their hardness of heart
If you dwell in
Christ, live in Christ, and abide in Christ that is the same thing
as seeing him and knowing him.
Relax – a
single act of sin does not mean you do not know God or
that you are not saved. But continuing to sin, practicing sin,
does mean that you
do not know God.
This
means that you can “pray a prayer and ask Jesus in your heart” in 6th
grade Sunday school class and then grow up to cheat on your wife, your taxes,
do drugs, become an alcoholic, be proud, angry, and mean, die and expect those
who might attend your funeral to say, “well at least he is in heaven.”
Why?
Because of the two verbs that John uses. He uses has seen and
has known. To see someone means to view a person’s external
likeness, but to know someone is to be familiar with
their characteristics and personality.
To know
Christ comes by experiencing his presence. So John
is saying that the habitual sinner has never seen nor come to know Jesus.
Just
as it is impossible to “loose” or forfeit salvation, it is impossible for
someone to claim to be a son of God, a child of God and then continue to live
sinfully.
tekna
mhdeis planatw umas
“Little children, let no one
deceive you…”
At this point in John’s
writing he is going to make an application for
his readers. John commands them to not allow anyone, primarily
these false teachers
to “lead them astray, to lead them away from
the truth into error.”
Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered them, "See that no one leads you astray.
Co 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not
inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,
1Co 6:10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Eph 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for
because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Th 2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way.
“Whoever
practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous.”
This is the basis of John’s
application. This is why John does not want
his readers to be led astray or away from the truth.
Just like
verse 29, John is not dealing with a single or particular act
of sin, but with the continued practice of righteousness, or
conforming to the standards
of God.
Because of
the article in the original, John is making a reference to the
righteousness of Christ. This is the birth mark of the family
member of God.
ILLUSTRATION:
So
when the Mormons, or some church members, friends or acquaintances happen to do
moral works – they may give of themselves selflessly, they may sing “Christian
songs”, they may give money, they may serve the needy but it is not according
to God’s standards in attitude or activity.
They
are deceived and blinded and do not know God.
By
the way, this is how you tell the practice of righteousness from the practice
of morality. The works that the children of God do are according to the
standard of God – both in attitude and action. The morality that the unsaved do
is not according to God’s standards in either attitude or actions.
Also,
by the way, it is not the practice of righteousness that makes someone
righteous, someone who is righteous does the practice of righteousness.
Righteous
conduct is the sign or the mark of righteous character. So God just expects His
children to be and to do righteousness.
John
probably made and emphasized this point because the false teachers were
teaching that just having knowledge, their secret and special knowledge would
make them “righteous.” But their life was marked by the practice of sin which
showed that they were not righteous.
The
one who is righteous will continue to perform righteous deeds. Righteousness is
a way of life for the genuine children of God.
So,
the first proof of Sonship is seen in the Son ship’s incompatibility with the
nature of sin and seen in its incompatibility with the nature of the savior.
Our theme is: “Sonship affects daily living”
This
is a good reminder for us all that Sonship affects our daily lifestyle by
diminishing the practice of sin.
Proposition: I propose to you that as Sons of God believers do not practice sin.
Well,
thirdly, and we will stop after this point, Sonship is also incompatible
Third reason 3E Sonship is incompatible with the nature of Satan (8)
Explanation: (What does this mean?)
o poiwn poiwn thn amartian
ek tou diabolou estin, oti apo
·
arcns o diabolos amartanei
“Whoever makes a practiced
of sinning is of devil, for the devil has been
sinning from the beginning.
The person whose whole
course of action is the expression of sin belongs to
the Devil. You cannot belong to God and practice sin
consistently.
Satan is
the spiritual source of the person who consistently practices sin.
Don’t forget the practice of
sin was introduced to the human race by the Devil.
What is
very sobering right here is the fact that unsaved people are not merely
children of the devil because they imitate him by the
practice of sin, but because
unsaved people are indwelt by the same principle
or nature of sin that the Devil has.
This is
what is so serious and sobering. Prior to salvation we are born with
sin nature. They only thing that we can do is sin, we cannot
due any works
of righteousness because our nature is sin.
For those
who are the elect, those who are saved, their old man, is
crucified and put to death, and they are created a new man. This new
man then is what causes us to be obedient, live
for God, and to be
released from the bondage and slavery of sin.
Those who sin regularly sin
regularly because they are a slave to sin and are in
bondage to sin and still are
controlled by the sin nature. They belong to Satan.
ARGUMENTATION:
This
is why it is so crucial to preach the gospel accurately and not to peddle the
gospel as some “cure” for a bad or unhappy life.
Let
me try to explain it this way. Let’s start at salvation and work backwards.
·
To be saved you must be saved from something.
·
To be saved – Romans 10:13 you must call out to God for salvation
·
To call out you must be convinced and be crushed under the weight of
sin
·
To be crushed under sin and to be convinced or convicted you must under
the nature of sin and that your sin has condemned you
·
To understand sin and the fact that it has condemned you, someone must
explain it to you from the scripture
·
To explain it you must preach the gospel, the good news accurately.
·
To explain it accurately you must show the bad news which requires the
good news
To
many times the gospel is preached as something that will make you happy, a
better person, a better dad/husband, a better wife/mother, provide you with
heaven, prevent you from going to hell, and on and on it goes.
No
doubt these things are ultimately true. But these things aren’t the reason or
motivation to be saved or to go to heaven. These things can continue to condemn
you to hell.
When
we share the gospel we must tell people why it is good news. The reason Jesus
Christ died on the cross, was buried, and then rose again from the dead is that
you are in absolute bondage or slavery to sin and God has condemned you to an
eternal death in hell because he hates sin. The HS must produce conviction of
this realization and once he does the natural response is to cry to God to save
you from that awful conviction of condemnation.
This
is why a number of people in the church can pray a prayer and go on sinning
regularly or consistently – they never cried out to the God of the bible for
mercy because they never felt the burden and weight of their sin. Someone just
convinced them that they didn’t want to go to hell and that they should want to
go to heaven and they asked for heaven without ever repenting of their sin.
This
is why then people go on sinning, why they practice sin they are children of
the devil. Praying the so-called “sinner’s prayer” is no guarantee of
salvation.
John
adds – “…for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son
of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”
From
the very beginning of his first act of rebellion against God, Satan has been
“sinning” against God and continues to sin.
But
John clearly details the purpose for the first coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus
came to remove sin and destroy sin. Jesus came to destroy the sins that would
have destroyed people.
John
means to say that Jesus came to undo whatever the Devil had done and to destroy
whatever he tried to do.
So,
Sonship is incompatible with the nature of Satan. Satan’s nature is to sin, or
to revel against God.
Our theme is: “Sonship affects daily living”
This
is a good reminder for us all that Sonship affects our daily lifestyle by
diminishing the practice of sin.
Proposition: I propose to you that as Sons of God believers do not practice sin.
Well, we are looking at the
Test of Sonship. We are looking at the first test of Sonship which is Sonship
requires the practice of righteousness.
We examined the principle that John laid out and we
looked at the privileges afforded by
Sonship. We have started looking at the problem
with Sonship. The first problem is its incompatibility.
Sonship is incompatible with
the nature of sin, the nature of the savior, and the nature of Satan.
But for now, what do you say
we wrap this up?
CONCLUSION
John
Henry Jowett wrote in The
Grace Awakening:
Sin
is a blasting presence, and every fine power shrinks and withers in the
destructive heat.
Every
spiritual delicacy succumbs to its malignant touch...
Sin impairs the sight, and works toward blindness.
Sin benumbs the hearing and tends to make men deaf.
Sin perverts the taste, causing men to confound the sweet with the bitter, and the bitter with the sweet.
Sin hardens the touch, and eventually renders a man "past feeling."
All
these are Scriptural analogies, and their common significance appears to be
this--sin blocks and chokes the fine senses of the spirit; by sin we are
desensitized, rendered imperceptive, and the range of our correspondence is diminished. Sin creates callosity. It hoofs the
spirit, and so reduces the area of our exposure to pain.
Exhortation: I
exhort you to cry to God and beg God to show you the sinfulness of sin in order
see how incompatible it is with your Sonship so that you might recoil from it
in horror and awe.
Paul wrote in Romans 3:23; 6:23, 10:13 (ESV)
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…for the
wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life…for everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (ESV)
Let’s
pray! J
1 comment:
I thought only myself had hiccups with post Gregg, It look fine to me and really enjoyed what you wrote.
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