1 John 3:1-10

[0:00] Good evening. Good evening. In the New Testament, almost to the end of the New Testament tonight, the book of 1 John, chapter 3.

[0:13] I do appreciate praying for us when we go elsewhere to preach and teach and evangelize and different things.

[0:30] I believe firmly that makes a difference, as the prayers of God's people. So I do appreciate that.

[0:42] The book of 1 John, I actually had the privilege of teaching all five chapters of this book, I don't know, two or three years ago, in an adult Sunday school class.

[0:53] It took several weeks to do it, needless to say, but it's a very good book. It's very good for doctrine. And that's what John spends the first two chapters doing, writing doctrine.

[1:08] We're going to be in chapter 3 tonight. But chapter 3 begins with the word, Behold. He says, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.

[1:19] The very first words of chapter 3. So he's gone from writing two chapters worth of doctrine to spontaneous worship of God in this letter that he is writing here.

[1:33] And honestly, we could learn something from that as far as spontaneous worship goes. We think everything's got to be a set way.

[1:43] Now, I'm not for things getting out of order within a church service at all. As long as it falls within Scripture, though, I'm all for it. You know, somebody wants to raise a hand.

[1:54] Somebody wants to shout. Anything along those lines, God bless them. I'm all for it. But these opening words that John has here in 1 John chapter 3, I said, Considering what he has written in the previous two chapters, which was pure doctrine, other than the first few verses of chapter 1.

[2:16] Chapter 1, the first few verses, you see John telling his audience in this letter of 1 John, telling them, Listen to what I'm saying. I'm an eyewitness of Jesus Christ.

[2:28] I handled Jesus Christ. I touched Him. I dwelt with the man for over three years. I know what I'm saying. You can trust what I'm saying is what John's saying in the first few verses of chapter 1.

[2:42] And then he starts getting into the doctrine of the matter. He talks about how we are to live in the lie. He talks about the confession of sin. On into chapter 2, he talks about several different things.

[2:55] But it's all doctrine that he's talking about. And then he breaks out into this, like I said, spontaneous worship of God in this opening line.

[3:07] So that being said, we'll read the first ten verses of chapter 3 of 1 John. So 1 John chapter 3 beginning with verse 1. It says, It says,

[4:17] He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil. For the devil sinneth from the beginning.

[4:29] For this purpose was the Son of God. I'm sorry. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.

[4:42] For his seed remaineth in him. And he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil.

[4:54] Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God. Neither he that loveth not his brother. Back to verse 1 in chapter 3.

[5:05] Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

[5:15] Again, John here, breaking out after writing a couple of chapters worth of doctrine, worth of very good doctrine, that it would do us good. It would behoove us to read those first couple of chapters of 1 John, and learn from those.

[5:32] But he breaks out into this worship, and he says, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. I want you to notice here that John says, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.

[5:50] Folks, there's all kinds of different love as far as the world goes, as far as the world's standards is concerned. There's a vague love. There's a deep love. There's a so-so love.

[6:02] There's an on-the-fence love. There's a lot that some people consider love. There's all kinds of different loves. But here John says, Behold, what manner of love that God has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.

[6:18] And this is the manner of love that it is, that we should be called the sons of God. And ladies, I don't want to leave you out here. This is just the way that it's phrased here. But that we should be called the sons and the daughters of Almighty God.

[6:30] If you're sitting here tonight and you are a born-again child of Almighty God, you've been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. You have been redeemed. You are a child of God, whether you're male or whether you're female.

[6:44] But here he says, What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Folks, this isn't some generic love that we are talking about here.

[6:57] This is the love of Almighty God. This is covenantal love that we're talking about here. And the phrase that he uses here when he says that we should be called the sons of God.

[7:07] That's a legal term that he is using there for sons. So he is talking about a legal, something that is legal here. We have been adopted in to the family of Almighty God.

[7:18] Not by nature. You and I had no rights to the family of God. We had no promise to the family of God. You look all throughout the Old Testament. I understand that there are many passages in the Old Testament where God says the Gentiles are going to be brought in.

[7:34] The Gentiles will worship me. The Gentiles will sing praises unto me. But the promises that were made to specific people were made to the nation Israel.

[7:45] You and I have been grafted in. You and I, not as an afterthought, because Almighty God knew before the foundation of the world was ever laid what His plan was.

[7:56] He knew that He planned to bring the Gentiles into the picture and make them part of His family. And John said, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.

[8:10] But again, this isn't a generic love. This is the love of God. And because of His love, and because of His grace, and because of His perfect plan, and His perfect wisdom, Almighty God has elected to have us brought into His own family that you and I could be His children.

[8:29] Hallelujah! Hallelujah! For the perfect plan of God. And it is His love. That is the manner of the love that has been bestowed upon us.

[8:40] And it is by grace that that love was and is bestowed upon us. Folks, there's two sides to God, whether we like it or not. There's the loving side. There's the merciful side.

[8:50] There's the patient side. There's the long-suffering side. And there's also the wrathful side. There's the vengeful side. There's the side that is full of fury. So therefore, God could have used His wrath.

[9:02] God could have come on us in all of His fury. God could have come on us with all manner of what we would consider evil. But God chooses not to do that.

[9:12] God chose to send His Son into this world. Jesus said, I came to seek and to save that which was lost. Jesus Christ came to seek you and I to seek us out, to show us right from wrong, show us good from evil.

[9:26] The Holy Spirit picks our heart with conviction when the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached. And God elects to save souls. Hallelujah! And we are brought into His family.

[9:37] Legally, we are brought into His family. He says that we should be called the sons of God. Then that verse continues. Therefore, the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.

[9:53] It tells us what's going on. The world knoweth us not. Then it tells us the why. Because it knew Him not. Folks, the world may know us.

[10:04] They may know who we are. They may know my name. They may know where I live. They may know where I work. They may know all kinds of things about me. But to really know me.

[10:16] To know me on the level that Jesus Christ knows me. The world does not know that. And the world does not know me on that level. Or in that kind of depth.

[10:28] Because the world has never known Jesus Christ. They have rejected Jesus Christ. They have rejected His gospel. And if they reject Christ, they will reject His people.

[10:40] And it has ever been that way. And it ever will be that way. You can read. We didn't get to it tonight. But you can read here in this exact same chapter that we are in here tonight. 1 John chapter 3.

[10:50] Where it's talking about Cain. And it talks about how Cain slew Abel. We all know that account from Genesis chapter 4. He didn't slay Abel because Abel done him wrong.

[11:02] He didn't slay Abel because Abel did this or did that to him. He slayed him over envy. He slayed him over jealousy. He slayed him because his outside religion concealed an unconverted heart.

[11:17] His outside religion concealed that he really wasn't in right relationship with God to begin with. That is why Cain killed Abel. Folks, and the world would do the same thing to us.

[11:31] The world would do the same thing to us. And they may not try and physically kill us. They may not try to remove the life from our body. But they will try to slander us. They will try to libel us.

[11:42] They will do all manner of evil against us. Why? Because our life, if we live righteously, as these scriptures teach it, we're going to get into here in just a few moments.

[11:54] If we live righteously, our lives are a testimony against them. And that is why the world does not know Christ. And that is why the world does not truly know us.

[12:05] Verse 2. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. We can stop right there. First, he refers to them as beloved. A very endearing term that Brother John uses here.

[12:16] But he says, now are we the sons of God. What did he say in verse 1? He says that we could be called the sons of God. But he says, now are we the sons of God. Folks, I praise Almighty God that I don't have to wait until I die to be considered a son of the Most High God.

[12:33] I don't have to wait until the breath leaves my body. I don't have to wait until my last breath is drawn. I don't have to wait until my heart beats its last time. The scripture says it. And I believe it.

[12:44] That right now, as I stand before you, I am a child of God. He says, now are we the sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him.

[12:59] I'm a child of God. Right now, as I stand before you, if you are born again, you are a child of God. Right now, you don't have to wait to be that. When God saved your soul and the Holy Spirit moved in, you became His child.

[13:13] Amen. Covenantally and legally, you became His child. But it goes on to say, it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

[13:29] Folks, this almost mirrors what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, where he says, now we look through a glass darkly. We can't hardly see Him.

[13:41] But folks, that will not ever be the case. One of these days, my Jesus is coming back for me. One of these days, it is promised in the Scriptures, I will be with Him, and He will be with me.

[13:51] Not just spiritually, not just Him dwelling on the inside, but I am talking about a physical face-to-face contact with Jesus Christ. I am talking about physically living with Him, and then I shall see Him as He truly is.

[14:06] But not only that, folks, I am promised a glorified body. I will be likened in fashion as unto the Son of Man. I will have everything that Jesus Christ has, because I am an heir to God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

[14:20] I stand to have it all. Amen. I believe we preached that not too awful long ago, didn't we? Hallelujah. When He shall appear, we shall be like Him. How is He?

[14:32] If we shall be like Him, how is He? Folks, He is perfect. He is perfect. And I am not perfect right now. And you are not perfect right now.

[14:42] But we will be perfect one day. If we will be like Him, as He is, we will be perfect. Folks, you know what that means.

[14:53] You understand the weight of what John is saying here. Not only will we be free from sin in that body, not only will we be free from sin in that city that we are going to, it will be completely impossible for us to even commit sin.

[15:10] Just as it is impossible for Christ to commit sin. Can you imagine that kind of freedom? Now listen, I believe the Scripture. And the Scripture teaches that if Jesus makes us free, we are free indeed.

[15:23] I understand that. And I am free in Jesus Christ. But folks, we are still sinful creatures. We are still sinful creatures while we are here in this flesh. But we don't live for sin.

[15:34] And we don't live to sin. We are going to get into that here in a few more verses as well. But folks, when He appears, we shall see Him as He is. And we shall be like Him.

[15:45] And He is completely sin-free. Always has been and always will be. And from that point on, I will be completely sin-free. And I will be incapable.

[15:58] Incapable of sinning. It's not that I won't want to commit sin. I won't want to commit sin. But that's not what John is getting at here. It's that I will not be able to commit sin.

[16:09] There will be no temptation in that land that we're going to. There will be no temptation. There will be no demons whispering in our ear. There will be no evil thoughts for somebody pulling out in front of us. There will be none of that in the land that we're going to.

[16:24] It's going to be perfect. And it's going to be wonderful. Verse 3, And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

[16:35] A lot of folks don't like this verse, but folks, it's right here in the Bible. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself. It doesn't say every man that hath this hope in him waiteth upon God to purify him.

[16:50] Every man that has this hope in him purifieth himself. What is this saying, folks? We will never be completely purified here. And that's not what I'm getting at and that's not what John is getting at.

[17:02] But folks, we strive to live holy lives. If we are children of God, we strive to live holy. We strive to live righteous. We strive to live a life that is pleasing unto the very one that saved our unworthy souls.

[17:17] And to do that. Folks, we're not talking about legalism here. I'm not talking about you either do this or do that or you're going to burn in hell forever and ever. That's not what John's getting at. That's not what I'm getting at.

[17:29] But folks, we live a righteous life because we have righteousness dwelling on the inside of us. And if righteousness dwells on our inside, that should provoke us and propel us to live righteously.

[17:43] Just as Christ is righteous. We will never live in this world, in this world that we are in right now, in our human bodies that are decaying, in our human bodies that are corrupt, in our human bodies, our flesh, the very flesh that we wear is sinful.

[18:00] Everything about us is sinful. We will not be completely pure. But in that land and in that body that we're getting, we will be. Every man that hath this hope in him, do you have that hope in you?

[18:11] If you have that hope in you, purify yourself. Purify yourself, folks. We're not talking about purification for justification. We're talking about purification because we have been justified.

[18:25] Because God has saved our souls, we should strive to live as pure of a life as we possibly can. Verse 4, Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law.

[18:38] For sin is the transgression of the law. Folks, this is simply a definition here in Scripture of what sin is.

[18:49] Because this world will tell you what sin is and the definition that the world will give you is not correct. It's not correct at all. There's so many variances and so many differences of what the world will tell you.

[19:03] They'll say, Well, you shouldn't murder. But it's okay if you want to murder an unborn baby. You shouldn't kill somebody that's 30 years old. But it's alright if you want to kill one that's eight months in the womb.

[19:16] Folks, it's murder either way you look at it. But that is the type of definition that the world will give you. The world will tell you that love is love regardless of if it's between a man and a woman.

[19:29] If it's between a man and a man or a woman and a woman. Or three men and one woman for that matter. The world will tell you that that's perfectly alright because love is love. Folks, that is not Scripture.

[19:40] God is the one that ordained marriage. God is the one that ordained it between one man and one woman. It is God's design and man has no right to change it. And man cannot change it.

[19:53] As a matter of fact, although they try. They can write it into as many laws as they want to. But folks, the Constitution of the United States of America does not supersede what the Holy Bible says.

[20:04] It does not supersede what this book says. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law. For sin is the transgression of the law. Sin is the transgression of the law.

[20:16] Of what law? Of the law that God has put forth. And I'm not just talking about the Ten Commandments that we read about in Exodus chapter 20. Although that is the moral law, that is the moral code that God gave the Israelites in the Old Testament.

[20:29] And it's a wonderful law that we should do our very best to live by. Folks, we are talking about anything that God says in this book is wrong. Or for that matter, anything in this book that God says is right.

[20:41] Because there is also the sin of omission. The sin of us not doing something that we know that we should. Folks, all these things are sin. It is transgressing the law of God.

[20:53] It is rebelling against God. This is sin. This is the nature of sin. This is the type of people that we are talking about here, though, are the ones that live constantly in sin.

[21:06] They haven't truly repented. They haven't truly made a confession or a profession in Jesus Christ. That's who we're talking about here. And that's the line in the sand that John is drawing with these verses that we are in right now.

[21:22] It's those who claim Christ and those who truly have Christ. That's who we're talking about here. But he says, he says, whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law.

[21:34] Folks, that includes you. And that includes me. Anytime that we sin, we are transgressing the law. It is simply a transgression of the law.

[21:44] It is rebellion against God. But the folks that John is particularly talking about here in this section, these are the ones that shake their fist at the very throne of God. These are the ones that say, I will not have you rule over my life.

[21:59] Those of us that have been redeemed. Those of us, as it says in verse 1, that have the right to be called the sons of God. We want God to rule over our lives.

[22:10] Although we may not exhibit it sometimes. We may not exhibit that sometimes. But folks, if Christ's seed is placed in us, if the Spirit of God is placed in us, righteousness has been placed in us.

[22:26] Right. And if righteousness is there, if holiness is there, then we, we, deep down inside, we want God to rule over us. Why do you think, why do you think, you know, we say, we pray to God.

[22:40] Why do you say, have your way with me, God? Why do you say all these things in Scripture? It's because that's what you want. And why do we want that? Folks, I didn't have that attitude before I was saved. I could have cared less about what God wanted me to do.

[22:54] Right. But now it's different. Now it's different. I have no desire to transgress the law of God or to sin against God. Do I do it? Absolutely. I sin against God and I sin against my fellow man.

[23:05] And you do too. Right. But we don't do it habitually. Right. If we are born again, we don't do it habitually. Verse 5, And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins.

[23:16] And in Him is no sin. It says, And ye know He was manifested to take away our sins. Grasp the hold of that. The Old Testament sacrifices.

[23:29] What was their purpose? They were to point forward to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Well, Jesus Christ, according to the book of Hebrews, Jesus Christ went once and for all.

[23:42] He suffered, He bled, and He died once and for all. There is no more sacrifice available. There is no more sacrifice needed. He is it.

[23:52] But the Old Testament sacrifice, where the priest would go in, you read about it in Leviticus chapter 16, on the Day of Atonement, and He would slaughter an innocent animal, and He would take the blood, and He would pour it out, and He would dab it upon the horns of the altar.

[24:08] He would do this and do that, but it did not take away sin. It just pushed it back a little bit. It pushed it back with the blood of Jesus Christ.

[24:19] The Scripture here says, He was manifest. He was manifest. He was, what does that mean? He became a human. What do we learn in John chapter 4?

[24:31] God is a spirit, and those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. A spirit has no flesh. A spirit has no bone. A spirit has no blood.

[24:42] It was necessary for Jesus Christ to manifest here amongst us, which is what God wanted to begin with. It was God's desire in the garden.

[24:54] In the garden. It was God's desire to commune with His creation, to commune with Adam, to talk with Him, to have fellowship with Him.

[25:05] You learn later on, when God's given instruction for the tabernacle, it was God's desire to tabernacle with His people, to live amongst them. And that continued on into the New Testament where they had the temple.

[25:19] Folks, it was still God's desire to tabernacle and to live amongst His people. But there's a better temple now. Amen. There's a better temple. God lives inside each and every person that has repented of their ways and believed on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[25:36] There's an even better temple than that that we have in Jesus Christ. You can read about that in the book of Hebrews. We won't get into that this evening. But it says, And ye know, ye know, He was manifest to take away our sin.

[25:51] But then He reiterates to them what the offering was. You know, He was manifested to take away our sins and in Him is no sin.

[26:04] What was the requirements of the Old Testament offerings? They had to be without spot. They had to be without blemish. You couldn't go out and get the hawk calf.

[26:15] You couldn't go out and get the maimed lamb or the broken goat or any of these other things. You couldn't get an injured turtle dove and take it. No.

[26:26] It had to be perfect. Or at least as perfect as they could find. And that was the Old Testament offerings. Here it says, And in Him is no sin.

[26:38] In Christ is no sin. The Bible says, No guile was ever found in His mouth. He was the perfect sacrifice. And that's why, as I said earlier, in the book of Hebrews it says He went in.

[26:50] He went once and for all and offered up His own blood on behalf of rebel sinners. That's the most amazing part of the entire Bible is that Christ offered His life up that you and I could have life.

[27:06] He offered His own life, a perfect life, a sinless life, born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, died of a character, a glorious death in your stead and in my stead. Was placed in the tomb.

[27:17] Was raised the third day. And a sin ascended to the Father. The same Christ. The same Christ gave Himself for you. And He had no sin.

[27:28] The Bible says, He that knew no sin became sin. He became sin because sin must be punished. And the punishment of God, the wrath of God, the fury of God, the anger of God towards sin, Christ bore that on your behalf.

[27:42] But not only that, He also bore the guilt for your sin. He bore the shame of your sin. He bore all of this for you and for me and for everyone that would repent of their sin and come to Him.

[27:54] Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him. Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not.

[28:06] My goodness. We're all in trouble. If you just glance over this, we're all in trouble. Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not.

[28:17] Do we abide in Him? Do you abide in Him? What is it to abide? Well, this is to walk in the newness of life. And only a born-again child of God can and does do that.

[28:30] Whoever abides in Him. What did Jesus say in John chapter 15 when He's talking about the vine and the branches He says, I am the vine. You are the branches. He says, if you abide in Me, you'll produce much fruit.

[28:43] Without Me, you can do nothing. We must be abiding in Christ. What is it to abide? It is to walk with Christ. It is to walk in communion with Christ.

[28:53] It is to be in constant communion with Christ. To abide somewhere is to live somewhere. I want to live with Christ. I want to live with Him in every second of my life. And if you're born again, you should want the same.

[29:06] But it says, Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not. Well, Spencer, you just said a little while ago, we all see Him and we do. What you've got to pay attention to here is the tense of these verbs that we're looking at, of these words.

[29:22] Whosoever abideth, that's perfect tense. Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth, that's perfect tense.

[29:33] hath not seen Him, neither known Him. In other words, we're talking about a perpetual state. And only born again Christians can abide with Christ in a perpetual state.

[29:47] An everlasting state. But on the flip side of that token, whosoever sinneth, that being perfect tense, hath not seen Him, neither known Him.

[29:59] That's perfect tense. Whosoever sins, whosoever continually sins, and I know I've used this as an example here before, or explained this here before, that for something to be perpetual, continual, means that, you know, they wake up in the morning thinking about how they're going to sin throughout the course of the day.

[30:22] And they go and they commit that sin. And they go home, they take a shower, they have supper, they go to bed that night thinking about the sin that they committed the last few hours, wondering about the sin they're going to commit the next day.

[30:33] That's the life that I lived before I was a child of God. And I didn't even consider it sin. But that's how I lived and that's how I thought. Was I was wondering what I was going to do.

[30:45] And most of what I did was sinful. Folks, we cannot live in habitual, perpetual sin. Unrepentant sin.

[30:56] Right. And claim Christ as our Savior. Amen. We cannot do that. We can come to Him. Praise God. We can come to Him as a perpetual sinner. We can come to Him as a habitual sinner.

[31:09] We can come to Him as a habitual thief, a habitual liar, a habitual adulterer, or any other number of things that you can think of. We can come to Him like that. And He will redeem us.

[31:20] And He will not leave us in that state. Right. Amen. That's sanctification. He'll save us. And then we grow. Then we grow. He will not leave us in that sin.

[31:32] And He will not leave us to continue in that sin. If we do continue in that sin, that's when the question of if we ever got saved or not arises.

[31:44] Little children, this is quite the amazing verse here. John anticipates false teachers in this verse. Little children, let no man deceive you.

[31:55] He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He says, little children, let no man deceive you. Why would He say this? For the very thing that I said just a few minutes ago.

[32:07] Because the world has its own definition of sin, but the Bible's sin is superior to the world. Or the Bible's definition of sin is superior to the world's definition.

[32:19] The Bible's definition is in His transgression of the law of Almighty God. But the world will have deceivers in it. And it does have deceivers in it.

[32:29] And say, you can continue like this. You may have friends that say, oh, that's alright. I think God is going to be okay with that. God will just sweep that under the rug. He won't pay no attention to that sin. He won't pay attention to that.

[32:41] Folks, that is not the case. That is not the case. If it was the case, we would have a weak God. And I do not have a weak God. I have got a God that is master and maker of this entire universe.

[32:53] I have got a God that is completely holy. He is completely righteous. He is completely everything that we would ever need. That's my God. And He is the God of the Scriptures.

[33:05] He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the God of Christ. He is the God of salvation. The Lord is salvation and salvation is of the Lord. He is the God of it all.

[33:16] He is not a weak God. Amen. So, little children, let no man deceive you. And I'll add to that, not adding to Scripture, but I'll add to that. Don't deceive yourselves either.

[33:28] Don't deceive yourselves. We went over that not too awful long ago. Self-deception is the worst deception that there is and it's the hardest deception to get out of. Let no man deceive you.

[33:39] He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. So, we read just a few verses ago that we are to purify ourselves because He is pure.

[33:53] And here we're told that He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous, even as Christ is righteous.

[34:04] Folks, are you that righteous? And am I that righteous? No. But we strive to be. We strive to be that righteous. Again, we will not do it this side of eternity.

[34:19] We will not do it. But we should have a desire to. Folks, that's why, that's why Christ said in the Beatitudes, Matthew chapter 5, He said, He said, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

[34:31] I've done an entire lesson slash sermon on that at a youth conference one time. Because I thought, you know what? It does no good to tell these kids that they should be hungry and thirst after righteousness if they don't know what righteousness is.

[34:47] God is righteousness. Christ is righteousness. God is holy and He is righteous and He is those things personified. And we need to hunger and thirst after Him.

[35:00] Little children, let no man deceive you that He that doeth righteousness is righteous. Are you doing righteousness? What is righteousness? Are you doing the things of God?

[35:10] Are you doing the things that God would have you to do? And I'm not talking about doing, like I said earlier, having an external religion of some kind. I'm not talking about knowing church terminology.

[35:22] I'm not talking about knowing when to amen the preacher or when to nod your head in agreement when the sermon's being preached. I'm talking about have you been born again? Do you have the seed of Christ inside of you which is the Holy Ghost of God and is He propelling you to live righteously?

[35:39] If that's the case, then you are righteous. Amen. Not as righteous as we'd like to be, but we are righteous. He that doeth righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous.

[35:50] Verse 8, He that committeth sin is of the devil. Folks, that's plain and simple. That's pure black and white. Ain't no getting around that. He that committeth sin, and again, this word committeth, that's perfect tense.

[36:05] That's continual. That's perpetual. He that committeth sin is of the devil. For the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose was the Son of God. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.

[36:20] He that committeth sin, again, perfect tense, is of the devil. If you are constantly and habitually committing sin, and you are unrepentant of it, and you have no remorse for it whatsoever, the Bible says you are of the devil.

[36:40] Right. But praise God for the flip side of that coin. Amen. If that's not the case, folks, there's only two sides. We'll get to that in verse 10. There's only two sides of this whole thing.

[36:51] There's those that are saved and those that are lost. Here in verse 8, He that committeth sin is of the devil. He that continually does this with no remorse and no repentance.

[37:02] But the flip side of that would be He that doesn't commit sin continually. He that repents of the sin when he does commit it. We're not of the devil. Praise God.

[37:14] We're of God if that's the case. For the devil sinneth from the beginning. Folks, the devil has sinned from the very get-go. I understand that God created him. I understand that God created him a beautiful angel.

[37:27] I get all that. I've read Isaiah. I've read Ezekiel. I've read the descriptions of Lucifer. And I get all that. But the Bible plainly says he sinneth from the beginning.

[37:39] What was his sin? It was pride. It was pride. And it was much like Cain too. It was envy and jealousy. But that envy and jealousy stemmed from pride. I deserve to be above God.

[37:51] I deserve the worship that God's getting. I deserve the things that God has. And that pride got him in trouble. Proverbs says pride goeth before destruction and the Holy Spirit before a fall.

[38:02] And that's a beautiful picture of that. For the devil sinneth from the beginning for this purpose. For what purpose? What did we just read? He that committed sin is of the devil.

[38:15] For the devil sinneth from the beginning for this purpose. What's the purpose? Because people who are continually sinning need a Savior. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.

[38:33] What are the works of the devil? It just said He sinneth from the beginning. The works of the devil are sin. And it is sin. It always has been sin. It always will be sin.

[38:44] There is no salvation for Satan. There is no salvation for Lucifer. There is no salvation for any demon that fell with him. There is no salvation for any of them.

[38:55] There is sinners from the beginning. From the very get-go. But folks, we... There is hope for us. There is hope for us. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested.

[39:06] That He might destroy the works of the devil. That He might destroy the works of sin. And where has that sin worked? It has worked in the lives of human beings. It has worked in the lives of God's creation.

[39:19] And Jesus Christ was manifested to destroy those works. But not only the works of sin, the works of death, which Christ has conquered. Yeah. The works of evil.

[39:31] The works of principalities. The works of the prince and the power of the air. All of these things. Christ was manifested to destroy those things. And He has.

[39:42] And He will for good at some point in the future. But He has destroyed or He has defeated death, hell, and the grave. That's Scripture. There ain't no getting around that.

[39:53] But folks, it's going to be completely done away with. I read in the Old Testament where Satan is finally thrown into the lake of fire. And death and hell are cast into the lake of fire to burn forever and ever and ever and I understand that we are not to want people to ever go to hell.

[40:12] But folks, I tell you now, it makes me a happy person to know that Satan is going to burn forever and ever and ever one of these days. He has been my enemy.

[40:23] He has been your enemy. But even more importantly, He has been Almighty God's enemy. He is going to get the punishment that He deserves one of these days. Amen. And we are going to be glorifying God in Heaven when that happens.

[40:38] When Satan is cast in and when death is cast in and hell is cast into the lake of fire, we will be glorifying God with praise in Heaven. That is not what I think is going to happen.

[40:50] That is what the Scripture teaches is going to happen. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Boy, that's a heavy one. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.

[41:02] Folks, I have heard it preached and I have heard it taught that once we are born again, we never commit sin again. Most of us have committed sin since we walked through the church house doors this evening.

[41:15] There's no getting around it. Folks, I said earlier, your flesh is sinful. Everything about us is sinful. We are sinful creatures. We are by nature children of wrath.

[41:26] But the child of wrath must have the second birth that Christ talks about to Nicodemus in John 3. And after the second birth, we are moved from the status of a child of wrath into that adoption that we were talking about in verse 1 of this chapter that we're in here tonight.

[41:42] We are made a child of God. We have been moved from a child of wrath into being one of God's very own children. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! But it says, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.

[42:02] Because who is born of God? Well, we are born of God. But what's the gist of this verse here? Whosoever is born of God doth, whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed, Christ's seed, remaineth in him, and he cannot sin.

[42:20] Who cannot sin? I cannot sin? No. I can sin, and I do sin, and you sin, and we all sin. Who cannot sin?

[42:31] It's got to be the seed that we're talking about here. What is the seed? Who is the seed? That's the Holy Spirit of God. That's Christ's seed. That's Christ himself. I mean, you've got God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

[42:42] It is God himself. And God cannot sin. That is why, when we are born again, well, let me back up just a second. That is why, before I was born again, sin didn't bother me.

[42:58] I'd go out and sin all day long, it didn't bother me. I'd go out and talk any way I wanted to, use language that would melt this building to the ground, do all manner of sin, and I'd lay my head down and sleep just fine at night.

[43:10] But folks, since I've been born again, I've got something on the inside that cannot sin, and that does not sin, and that does not tolerate sin, does not get along with sin.

[43:22] And that is God himself, in the form of the Holy Spirit. That is the seed of Christ that has moved in. And again, if you don't have that remorse over your sin, there's something bad wrong.

[43:36] If you do, folks, rejoice in that. That's Almighty God! But if you don't have it, folks, you have no reason to rejoice. You're on the broad road, you're headed toward the wide gate, and according to what I read in Scripture, that wide gate leadeth to destruction.

[43:54] You're on that road to destruction. But while you've got breath in your body, you can repent of your ways. You can repent of your ways, repent of your sin, repent of your evil deeds, repent of your rebellion against the Word of God, believing the Gospel, believing that you are a sinner, but God is a wonderful Savior.

[44:12] He is able and willing to save your soul. You believe these things, repent of your sins, and thou shalt be saved. Confess the Lord Jesus Christ with thy mouth, believing in your heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, and thou shalt be saved.

[44:25] Amen. You can do this. If you are here, and you don't have that remorse, it can still happen. As long as we've got breath in our bodies, and He cannot sin because He is born of God.

[44:38] In this, the children of God are manifest. Now folks, this is the line that we've been getting to. He's been hinting at this line all through these first nine verses.

[44:49] The line between those that are saved, and those that may claim to be saved, but aren't. In this, the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil.

[45:03] In what? In what we've been reading up to this point. In these first nine verses of Scripture is what we're talking about. Now, this is a transitional verse because it not only ends verses one through nine, but it begins verses 11 through 17, which we won't get into tonight.

[45:22] But, it's ending verses one through nine. In this, it says, in this the children of God are manifest. In what? In our works of righteousness. In our works of holiness.

[45:33] In our striving to live a holy life unto God. A pleasing life unto God. In our striving to be cross-like, in other words. In that, in that, the children of God are manifest.

[45:50] But, in the opposite things. In the perpetual sin. In the having no remorse for sin. In the continuing into sin.

[46:02] The children of the devil are manifest in that. Folks, there is no third category listed here. In this, the children of God, that's one category, are manifest.

[46:15] And the children of the devil, that's the second category. There's no third category. There's no on the fence category. There's no, I'm almost there category.

[46:27] Folks, you're either saved or you're lost. Right. You're either on your way to heaven or on your way to hell. You're either going to live forever with Almighty God, glorifying Him and singing praise unto Him, or you're going to burn in hell.

[46:40] Right. For all of eternity. And quite frankly, according to the Scriptures, that glorifies God too. Either way, His Word has come true and God gets glory out of it.

[46:50] Right. There's no other classifications of people listed here. And there's no other classification of people on the entire planet Earth that we live on.

[47:01] In this, the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God. Neither he that loveth not his brethren.

[47:12] Do you love the people of God? We've been through righteousness. We've been through holiness. I'm not going to go through that anymore this evening. But folks, there's another, there's another exhibition that we can give that we have been born again.

[47:27] Do you love the brethren? Here in this very same book, it says, we know we have passed from death into life because we love the brethren. Do you love the brethren?

[47:38] Do you love to gather with the brethren? Do you love fellowship with the brethren? Do you love singing with the brethren? Do you love exhorting the brethren? Do you love encouraging the brethren? Do you love the brethren? Amen.

[47:49] Or do you just come? Because that's what you think you're supposed to do. I've heard people say that. Well, I go to church on Sunday because that's what I do on Sundays. Hope said, well, we should come to church on Sunday.

[47:59] We should come to church to worship God. We should come to church to fellowship with fellow believers. There should be a reason to come to church other than, well, I got nothing better to do on Sunday.

[48:13] I come to church because that's where the brethren are. And I love the brethren. We should have a desire to come to the house of God. In this, the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil.

[48:27] Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God. Neither he that loveth not his brother. Do you love the brethren? Do you do righteousness?

[48:40] Do you live a holy life? As much so as you can. Rejoice in that. Rejoice in that if that's the case. If those things are not the case, you should tremble.

[48:54] You should tremble if you don't love the brethren. You should tremble if you don't strive to righteousness. Strive to live a righteous life. Strive to live a pleasing life unto God. That should cause us to, as the saying goes around here, shaking our boots.

[49:09] God bless you all. That's the message for this evening. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.