Sin Doesn’t Belong Here | In light of love | 1 John 3:4–10 | Ep.10

Welcome to Preaching from Bryanson Bible Church, located in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa.

It is our prayer that this teaching would bless you, deepen your love for God's Word, and encourage you as you follow Jesus.

And if you're not a Christian, we pray that this message would encourage you as you explore the Christian faith.

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness.

Sin is lawlessness.

You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning.

No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

Let no one deceive you.

Whoever practices righteousness is righteous because he is righteous.

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.

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.

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.

Good morning, Chino.

I am very tempted this morning to begin the sermon by saying, Hello, it's me again with yet another difficult passage to have to explain to you this morning.

It seems like every single time we come to difficult passages as a team and we're thinking to ourselves, what are we going to do with this particular text when I'm not looking some of my name makes it onto the preaching roster for some reason?

Because last week, Pastor Mark over here, he got to preach one of the most beautiful exhortations in the whole of scripture.

1 John 3, verses 1.

1 John 3:1

See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God and serve we are.

What a beautiful text to preach from, right?

See how much God loves you, see who He has made you, see how much you are children of God, and that's who you are.

And then I come this week, right?

And the apostle John said uh says something along the line: whoever makes a practice of sin is of the devil.

Just what the doctor ordered on a Sunday morning, right?

But on the most serious note, we've got to ask ourselves as we come to our takes this morning, and knowing what last week's takes all about, we've got to ask ourselves the question how did we go from seeing how much the father loves us to whoever practices sin is of the devil?

Why is John using such strong language in this particular juncture of a text?

Now, throughout the whole of John's letter, he has been speaking to us, uh, warning us about sin.

But it seems like when he gets to chapter three, it takes a bit of a turn.

It feels like he's wanting to draw nearer to us and say, listen up.

I really want to make sure that you understand this, that you really grasp the seriousness of sin.

And so then what we have in our particular text this morning is one of the strongest and most confronting words that John uses throughout his letter.

But, but there is much comfort that we ought to take in as we're pressing into this particular portion of the text.

Why?

Because John does not use uh this intense language as he's speaking about about sin, out of a sense like he has amnesia of verse uh uh verse one, and that he completely has forgotten about the fact that he has just been declaring about the love of God.

No, the reason why John intensifies his language here is precisely because of the love of God, precisely because of the love of God.

And so John wants us to understand that yes, the Father has loved us, the father has brought us into his family, and so that is why we ought to lead lives that resemble the very family we are a part of.

And so that's what sin is serious and something we ought to really reflect upon and truly understand and understand.

And so then we don't get to arrive to this particular portion of the text and just skim over it, right?

Because it makes us somewhat uncomfortable.

No.

But then also, neither should we uh feel like if we are a Christian who is currently struggling with sin in our lives, feel like some eyes we read this portion of the text and feel like, oh, because I am sinning, it then means that I am not a child of God.

Now, John cannot possibly be saying that.

How do we not?

Because you all remember in chapter one, what did he say?

He said that if anyone claims to be without sin, they do what?

Deceive themselves, deceive themselves, and then later in chapter two, what does he say to us?

If we are caught into sin, we ought to remember that we have an advocate before the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one.

And so John is not speaking in this particular portion of the text about somebody, a Christian, who falls into sin, hates it, confesses it, turns from it.

He's not speaking to that particular group.

Instead, who is he speaking to?

He's speaking to people who have decided to make their home in sin, to settle into it, to protect it, to defend it, refuse to turn from it, failing to see that you cannot be participating in sin while still claiming that you are a child of God or belong to the family of God.

That's who he is addressing.

And so then last week, Mike paused and drew our attention on that one word that kicks off this particular chapter, and it's the word see.

See, see what kind of love the Father has given to us.

It is as if John was saying, stop for a moment, look at this, take it in.

The love that God has shown towards us.

Fully understand it.

But then as he continues into our text from verse 4 onwards, John is saying to us, listen, friends, I do not want you to just understand the love that God has for you.

But you've got to grasp the kind of life that must flow from that love.

And so our passage this morning is not simply asking us the question, do you ever sin?

That's not what the passage is trying to do.

The passage is asking us to examine our lives, to examine our lives, to see whether the kind of lives we lead flows from the kind of grace and love that we have experienced from the Father.

That's his burden in this particular text.

And so John does not just want us to see the Father's love, but as we dive into the text, there are three further things that John wants us to see.

And yeah, they are one, see sin for what it is, two, see why Jesus came, and then three, see what new birth produces.

And so let's jump into the first one see sin for what it is.

And so look at what John says, verse four.

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness.

Sin is lawlessness.

Now that's not the kind of language, right, we use these days when it comes to talk about sin.

Even as Christians, we tend to use softer ways, right?

To describe sin.

And so we describe sin as simply a mistake, a lapse in judgment, a moment of weakness, or simply uh or simply messing up.

And yet John would not have us.

Would not have us.

Think about sin solidly.

He says in this day, sin is lawlessness.

It's lawlessness.

And so what lawlessness means is that it's it does not simply mean that we have fallen short of God's standard.

What lawlessness means is that we are refusing to allow God the right to set the standard in the first place.

Refuse God's right to set the standard in the first place.

And so we come to the word of God, we come to God's instruction, we come to God's way of life, life that He's calling us to live by.

And our response to that is you, God, will not rule over me.

That's lawlessness.

I will choose to decide for myself the way in which I will follow.

God will not rule over me.

That is what lawlessness in this particular text means.

And so then John is writing to appeal to us whenever we're walking in that particular way to realize where it actually comes from.

That sense of lawlessness.

Because however we want to excuse or explain it, beneath every sin, act of sin that we fall into is this that lawless, lawless, uh, lawless um impulse underneath it.

And it is essentially saying that God has spoken, and yet in that moment, I will fulfill my own desires.

I will uh will follow my own wisdom or follow my own way above God Himself.

That's the heart of lawlessness, and so God will not rule over me, is what we're saying.

And John wants us to understand where that comes from, where that comes from and why it is so serious and dangerous, and so that's why he connects this kind of persistent living in sin, refusing to surrender, uh surrender to God's way, he connects it to the devil.

And so look at what he says in ver uh later on in the text in verse 8 whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil.

Why?

For the devil has been sinning from the beginning, has been sinning from the beginning, and so here's what John is saying in this particular uh in this particular portion.

He's saying, friends, we need to wake up and understand that the family trait of the uh uh of the devil's family is rebelliousness, rebellion from the very beginning.

The devil's posture towards God has been one that says, God will not rule over me.

That's his posture, and so then every single time we give ourselves to persistent sinning, refusing to repent and turn from the sinning, then John is saying, you are resembling more and more, or carrying the family trait of the evil one, rather than resembling or carrying or living out the family trait of God Himself.

And so, therefore, listen, sin is not harmless.

It is not harmless, it is not this private thing that gets to stay in some dark corner of our lives where we think to ourselves, oh, it's not affecting anything else.

That's not what sin is.

Sin is a refusal of God's rule over you by participating in the works of the one who opposes God in the first place.

And that's what John is already wanting to engage us in, to call us about and warn us not to be easily deceived by the reality of sin.

And so that's why before he made even this connection with the devil in verse 8, he lovingly warns us in verse 7.

Look at what he says.

Little children, there's again his term of endearment towards his readers, little children.

Let no one deceive you.

Why?

Because we can easily become deceived when it comes to sin.

And so do not become deceived by a culture that celebrates sin as freedom.

Do not be deceived by your own heart that may tell you, oh, I'll just repent of that later.

Do not become deceived by any teaching that uses grace as a permission for sinning.

Do not be deceived.

That's why John will cause it.

Because the seriousness of sin is seen in the fact that it took the Son of the Living God to come and die.

To bear the judgment of our sin, to break its power over our lives and to free us from it.

Which then brings us to the second reality that the Apostle John uh wants us to see, and it is to see why Jesus came.

See why Jesus came.

And so twice in this particular passage, the Apostle John refers to Jesus appearing, and so he first refers to it in verse 5 when he says, uh says, You know that he, Jesus, appeared in order to take away sins.

And then again in the second part of verse 8, he writes this the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

And so, why did Jesus Christ come?

The Apostle John gives us two answers.

The first, to take away sins, and then the second to destroy the works of the devil.

And so, the first, Jesus came to take away sins.

And so, realize that for a moment.

That Jesus Christ did not come to overlook our sin.

Jesus Christ did not come to make us feel less guilty about our sin.

He did not come so that we could become better at managing our sins.

That's not why he came.

He came to take away sins.

To take away sins.

That's why Jesus Christ came.

And so at the cross, the living Son of God, sinless Son of God, hung in the place of guilty sinners like us.

Hang in our place.

He took on, carried our condemnation, bore our iniquity so that we may be welcomed into the family of God.

That's what Christ Jesus has done for us at the cross.

And so Jesus did not stand at a distance and looked at us and yelled, Yo, sort yourselves out, right?

Clean yourselves up a bit better, and then perhaps you may be welcomed into the family of God.

That's not what Christ Jesus did.

Instead, He came and took our place, bore us in, so that we would be welcomed into the family of God as children.

And so it is the sufficiency of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that gives us great confidence in the presence of God.

That's what Jesus Christ appeared to do.

And then the second thing we're told that Jesus Christ appeared to do, he came so as to destroy the works of the devil.

Now, what John means here is not that the devil is now rendered useless, right?

Inactive.

That's not what he means.

Because we and I know that temptation is still real, right?

That deception still happens, that evil still wounds, destroys, right?

And so that's not what he means.

And so, what is he meaning?

Here's what the apostle John means.

He means that bar the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the devil's power to keep us captive through sin has been decisively broken.

That's what he means.

That's what Jesus Christ came to do.

And so Jesus Christ did not just simply come to forgive you of your sins.

He came to break its power over your life.

Came to break his power over your life.

And so, therefore, that's why you and I cannot, friends, cannot keep stay close and tightly to the very things that Jesus Christ came to destroy.

That's why we cannot simply say, Thank you, Jesus, for forgiving me while still holding tightly to the very thing He came to free you from.

And so the gospel cannot be reduced to I know that I've been forgiven in Jesus Christ, and so therefore it doesn't know it no longer matters how I live.

Cannot be reduced to that.

Instead, the gospel declares to us that you have indeed been forgiven, you have indeed been liberated, and you have now been placed under the rule of a new king.

A new king over your life.

And so then Jesus Christ came not only, friends, to forgive us or to free us from the power uh from the pre uh presence of sin, but from the power and its mastery over our lives.

That's what Christ Jesus came to do.

Now I know that when I say that, that there may be some of us in the room that hear that and immediately we feel deeply discouraged.

Why?

Because perhaps there is a particular sin in your life that you have been struggling with for a very long time.

You have prayed for it, you have confessed it multiple times.

You have sought counsel over it, you have even put safeguards in place to prevent you from it, and yet you keep finding yourself falling into it.

And so you may be sitting there thinking to yourself and asking to yourself, if Jesus Christ did indeed come to destroy the work of the devil, of sin, then why do I keep on struggling with it so bad?

Why do I keep on struggling so much with sin in my life?

Friends, the answer is this that though Christ's victory over sin is the Sasa, the Sasa, we still await his return to experience its full and complete effects.

That's why.

And so until then, sin will still be present in our lives, in the world, and yet, and yet, while still uh while sin still remains, it no longer reigns.

It no longer reigns.

And so sin is present, yes, for sure.

But sin is no longer your master.

Christ Jesus is now your king, and because Christ reigns, we fight against sin.

And that is the Christian life.

The Christian life is not a life free from struggle and wrestle against sin.

That's not the Christian life.

The Christian life is a life where we refuse to surrender to sin.

Why?

Because we now belong to Jesus.

That's the Christian life.

Life.

And so we fight against sin.

And so, whenever we find ourselves having fallen into sin, we do not just make a peace, make a bed in sin.

No.

Instead, we repent.

We turn to the very forgiveness that Christ Jesus has purchased for us at the cross.

And then we choose to get up and by the power of the Spirit fight.

Fight against sin.

Listen, just because sin is present, a present reality of our existence does not mean that we surrender to it.

Does not mean at all.

The reason why we choose not to surrender is because we understand Christ's victory over sin.

And so while sin may remain, it no longer reigns.

But Christ reigns.

Christ reigns.

And because he reigns, we can no longer comfortably embrace the very thing he came to destroy.

Amen.

And so that then leads us to the third reality that the apostle John wants us to see, and it is see what new birth produces.

See what new birth produces.

And so look at verse 9.

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him and her, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

Now, if we have to be very careful with this verse, because here's what our minds will do, it would invert the logic of this verse to say something like this in amans.

In our months, that no one born of God makes a practice of sinning, and then we're like, uh-oh.

But I still sin.

Therefore, am I truly born of God?

That's what Amands may immediately look to do.

And friends, but that's not what this verse is intending to say.

Far from it, this verse carries in it two of the most encouraging truths we could ever come, uh come to grasp, uh grasp in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And so here's the first encouraging truth.

When you are born of God, you're not bear the resemblance of God's family.

That's what this verse is saying.

You're not bear the resemblance of God's family family.

And so look at the second part of the verse.

He or she cannot keep on saying why?

Because he has been born of God.

God, you bear the resemblance of God's family.

Now, do you understand it?

Think about it this way.

Have you ever met a kid?

And before anyone tells you about who their parents are, you immediately can just see it, right?

You can see something in their face, you can see by the way they talk, you can see through a mannerism or an expression, right?

And you immediately think, ah, I know.

Who that kid belongs to.

Have you ever been in a situation like that, right?

And so when you think about it, think about it for a moment.

That family resemblance is uh unmistakable, and yet that family resemblance is not what makes that kid part of that family.

No, the family resemblance is simply displaying, simply revealing the family that that kid already belongs to, really belongs to, and that's the point that John is making in this verse that when you are born of God, you will begin to bear the resemblance of the family of God, and so it's the being born of God that comes first, and then the resemblance follows, is what John is saying, not the other way around, that we look out for the resemblance and then decide whether that person is from God.

That's not what he is saying.

When you're born of God, you will already resemble, resemble God, that's what he is saying.

Say, he's saying to us, listen, when God breathes his life within us, he does more than just give us life, but he begins to work his own character within us.

That we become a people that become more, they begin to visibly show more and more who our father truly is.

Isn't that amazing to think about that God will love us that much, love us that much to make us resemble, visibly show more and more something of his character, of who he truly is.

Isn't that amazing to realize?

Now, when you think about it, now or ask the question, well, what is the thing we ought to resemble or to show, to display?

What is the family resemblance of God in a sense?

John tells us in this text, first he tells us in verse uh in verse 7 that whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he God is righteous.

And then later on in verse 10 he says, Brothers, uh brothers, it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.

Whoever does not practice, uh whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

The family resemblance of God is seen through birthness and love.

Through birth righteousness and love.

Righteousness, meaning that those who are truly born of God, they increasingly display what is right before God.

That's what righteousness means in this face.

And they increasingly go on to lead their love, showing more and more love towards the people that God has placed around them.

Righteousness and love and love is displayed more and more and more and more as they bear the family resemblance of God.

But then maybe you're sitting in there, and this question may come in my in your mind.

And it is this.

I need the question.

There we go.

Is the family resemblance of God becoming increasingly visible in me?

Is the family resemblance of God becoming increasingly visible in me?

And so you're asking yourself the question, sure, when I observe my own life, I don't see much righteousness and love in increasing degrees.

And so if that's what you ask yourself the question, then look at the second beautiful thing in verse 9.

And so he says, as no one born of God makes a practice of sinning.

Why we've got to ask ourselves why?

Why for?

Because God's seed abides in him and her.

God's seed abides in him and her.

And so, what is John saying to us?

He's saying, listen, you can never produce the family resemblance of God, it needs to be planted in you, it needs to be planted in you.

You cannot manufacture it, you cannot simply decide to bear righteousness and love all on your own, it needs to be planted within you, within you, and so then if you're sitting here this morning and you're asking yourself the question, sure, I see much sin in my life, and I'm wondering to myself, do you actually belong to the family of God?

The answer is not drama harder to display the characteristics of a child of God.

That's not the answer.

The answer is Christ.

That's the answer.

Because you cannot manufacture the righteousness of God, you cannot bear the love that God has displayed into all creation.

That righteousness, that love needs to be given to you, and it is given to you through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's that.

And so as you embrace the Lord Jesus Christ, as you surrender yourself to Jesus Christ, then God begins the work of transformation in you through the gospel.

And so then far from this text calling us to observe ourselves and see if we're bearing the fruits of righteousness and love.

This text is calling us to return to Jesus, to go to the gospel.

And so if you're sitting here this morning and you're wondering to yourself and saying, Man, I want to embody the righteousness and love of love of God, and I know that I've not yet embraced Christ Jesus, then your only hope to be able to live in this way is to come to Jesus.

You've been invited to come to Jesus.

And for those of us who have come to Jesus Christ and we're recognizing as I look at my life, I don't see the fullness of righteousness and love playing itself out as it should.

Then the goal here is not to go and work it out apart from Christ.

No, the goal is to return to Christ, return to the gospel, abide in him, as verse 6 tells us.

That no one who abides in him keeps on sinning, that no one who keeps on sinning has either seen or known him, and still know him, see him, embrace him, abide in him.

That's uh you're able to live this life of righteousness and love as you return to Christ Jesus.

We've been invited back to the Lord to Jesus Christ.

And so the righteousness and the love that John is writing about, calling us towards, is not a righteousness and love that we manifest on our own.

We receive from the Lord Jesus Christ.

We receive from the Lord Jesus Christ, it's not a price that we pay so that we will become children of God or so that we will prove ourselves to be children of God.

No, it is the fruit that God produces in those whom God has called in Jesus Christ to be his own.

That's what it is.

That's what it is.

And so we go back, return to Christ, embrace Christ, abide in Christ, so that we will live, bear the family resemblance of God.

Now, as we look to try to wrap this all text up, John is not simply writing to us so that we would somehow have a vague sense that sin is serious and that we ought to uh to avoid it.

That's not what he's writing, he's writing so that we will come abide in Christ, step in the light where Christ is, remain in Christ Jesus.

And so, as we look to wrap it up, I want us to really spend a moment where we will do two things this morning.

The first will be to reflect, to reflect, and then the second to choose to decide.

And so when I say reflect, here's what I want us to reflect on.

Reflect.

What is one habitual sin that I have been minimizing in my life?

What is that one habitual sin that I've been minimizing in my life?

Not someone else's sin.

Not a general cultural struggle or brokenness, I see.

But the one sin that I am excusing.

That I am defending.

That I am refusing to embrace repentance over.

Would you name it this morning?

Before the presence of God and reflect over it.

And then the second thing I would ask us to do is to act, to act, bring that sin into the light this week.

Bring it into the light this week.

And by that I don't just mean confess and bring it into the light before God.

I mean bring it into the light before another mature Christian brother or sister whom you trust, who will be able to pray for you.

Will be able to challenge and support you through it.

Because you see, sin grows in secrecy.

And so that's why the word of God calls us to bring it into the light.

Because when we bring it into a light, it begins to lose its power.

It begins to lose its power.

So will you bring it into the light with somebody this week?

Now, for those of us who may not have someone like that, or you simply cannot wait for the week to actually do that, then I want to invite you this morning that it will be our elders.

Some of our elders, some of our pray team members after the service who will be right up front here.

You can come and bring it to them.

And you don't have to have the right words to say or even know where to begin or what to say perfectly.

All you need to do to come and say to them, Hey, I need help to bring something into the light and allow them to help you do that.

Now, for those of us this week who may be on the receiving end of someone's confession to us, let us realize that just the seriousness of that moment.

Because somebody has is choosing in that moment to trust you enough.

One of the most difficult and vulnerable steps in their journey of faith.

Don't respond in shock.

Don't use what you hear as gossip.

Don't rush to want to change them before you have truly listened to them.

I would appeal to you, embrace them with the same grace that you yourself have received before the Lord Jesus Christ.

And what kind of grace was that?

Was the kind of grace that embraced you in such a way that it kept you from running back into the darkness to hide in shame and guilt.

We want to be the kind of church family where people can come forward with the truth and know and know that they will receive grace and they will receive help to change.

And so as the worship team comes up this morning, let's spend some time to reflect.

And let's spend some time to decide to act.

And then after a moment, JFA worship leader will lead us in a prayer.

And then the worship team will lead us in a response form this morning.

Thanks for listening to the sermon from BBC.

If you have questions about what you've heard or would like to find out more about the Christian faith, we'd love to hear from you.

You can visit our website or reach out using the contact details below.

God bless you.