SERMON GM14-025
SERIES: The Christian Life Viewed as Sonship
SETTING: North Kelso Baptist Church
SERVICE: Sunday AM
SUBTITLE: The Test of Sonship (Part
4)
SCRIPTURE: 1 John 3:9-10a
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 3:9-10a
(Part 4)
INTRODUCTION
A.
I am Not What I Once Was
John Newton once said, “I am not what I might be, I am
not what I ought to be, I am not
what I wish to be, I am not what I hope to be.
But
I thank God I am not what I once was, and I can say with the great apostle, "By the grace of God I am what I
am.
B.
Is this Your Testimony?
So it is with every genuine child of God! We may not be
what we could be, nor are we what we
should be, we may not even be what we want
to be or hope to be. But we ought to be able to say with confidence we are not what we use to be.
[Let me illustrate this
statement with a story…]
A young girl who had been converted applied for membership in a
local church.
"Were you a sinner before you
were saved by the Lord Jesus Christ?" Asked
a deacon. "Yes, sir," she replied. "Well, are you still a
sinner?"
"To tell you the truth, I feel
I'm a greater sinner than ever." "Then what real change have you experienced?" "I don't quite
know how to explain it," she
said, "except I used to be a sinner
running after sin, but now that I am
saved. I'm a sinner running from sin!" she was received into the fellowship of the church, and she
proved by her consistent life that
she was truly converted.
Our theme continues to be: “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, once again, 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 identified
three (3) reasons why genuine Sonship is incompatible with the regular practice
of sin.
[But
before we continue to look at the next two reasons, let’s take a minute and…]
REVIEW
We
are again 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.
We have said 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.
That brought 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)
[Second,
thing John does…]
2C He Suggests the Privileges
of Sonship (3:1-3)
[The Third thing that John does, is that…]
3C He
Supplies the Problems 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.
We
were able to look at the first problem last week.
[The first problem John supplied
for us, is that…]
1D The
incompatibility of Sin with Sonship (3:4-8)
[Sonship is incompatible for
at least three (3) reasons:]
1E …Sonship is incompatible with the nature of Sin (4)
Sin is lawlessness – a
willful rejection of God’s standards.
Genuine son of God does
not reject God’s standards
2E Sonship
is incompatible with nature of the Savior (5-7)
The Savior came to seek and
to save that which was lost. He
came to redeem and then to transform them into His own image.
Sin is
not the image of Christ.
3E Sonship is incompatible with the nature of
Satan (8)
Satan rejects the standards
of God and willfully rebels
against them. A genuine son of God would not do so.
[This
now brings us to our…]
TRUTH FOR TODAY
So,
we move from the first problem that John supplied to a second problem that is supplied
by John.
[The second problem that John supplies is…]
2D …the
impossibility of sin because of Sonship (9)
[Let’s look at…]
1E John’s Statement of Impossibility
“Whoever
has been born of God does not sin…”
Our Greek sentence begins
with the word “all.” The sentence
reads, “All born from God do not sin.”
[Let’s
stop right here for a minute and unpack what John means by this sentence.]
First
of all, John does not mean that it is now impossible for
a genuine Christian to sin. We still sin.
So
what is John saying? John is saying that it is
impossible for a genuine child of God to continue to live in or to
practice sin.
John
is not ruling out individual acts of sin. John does
rule out the consistent living in sin.
[I
want to at this same time point out to critical truths to you…]
First
– We, believers/Christians are not called Sons of God
in John’s letter.
Believers/Christians
are called tekna, children of God. Small difference but it is significant.
Second
thing I want to point out to you is that John is emphasizing
the fact that we who are Christians enter the family of
God by
birth.
tekna emphasizes “children by
birth.” The child of
God is “born of God.” So the child of God shares the
character traits of his or her parents. And in this case
our parent is God.
As
a child of God the believer is a recipient of the
divine nature of God.
The
doctrine or the teaching of regeneration is a key
theme in John’s letter. The nature of the regenerated person now
responds to positively to divine input from God.
Even
though depravity is still present the governing
disposition of the soul is made holy. The power of sin no longer
dominates the
life of the child of God.
This
is what John meant when he wrote, “born of God.”
For
the person, the child, born of or from God the practice of
sin on a continuing or consistent basis is impossible.
The
child of God states that the regenerated person
does not continually engage in sin.
The
Child of God does not imitate or follow the
example of the Devil.
[Why
is this concept possible? Why does it matter so much?] The answer leads us
into…]
John
gives us to reasons to support his tremendous statement.
1E John’s Support of Impossibility
“…for His
[God’s] seed remains in him…”
The reason why the
regenerated or born again, born from
above, person does not practice sin on an on-going basis is
that God’s
“seed” continues to be present in the child
of God on an on-going basis.
The
“seed” carries the life principle as well as
hereditary characteristics.
In
the same manner, the “thing” that God uses to impart
spiritual life and spiritual characteristics of God remains in,
abides, in, lives
in a consistent and on-going manner.
ARGUMENTATION
Joh 1:13
who were born, not of blood
nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man,
but of God.
2Co 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is
a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
1Pe 1:23 since you have been born again, not of
perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and
abiding word of God;
2Pe
1:4 Whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be
partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
ILLUSTRATION
[So,
first all, believers do not sin because they are born of God. Now John supports
his statement with this truth…]
“…and
he cannot keep on sinning because he has
been born of God.”
John is pretty bold! He goes
even further than his last
sentence.
First,
John makes it clear that a believer does not consistently
commit or live in sin, John says that a believer
cannot consistently sin.
John
is not saying that a Christian cannot commit a single act
of sin or even engage in a sinful behavior for a
short period of time.
The believer is unable to
continually engage in a
practice of on-going sin. Sin cannot become
the pattern of his life.
And
once again the reason is simple!
The
Christian is born of God! It is the new life principle implanted in the child
of God by regeneration that keeps the believer from continually engaging in
sin.
Why
is this? Because that new life principle, that seed of God provides motivation toward righteousness. The believer practices
righteousness because the seed of God motivates him to do so.
[So, John makes a very bold and confident statement when he supplies us
with the second problem inherent with Sonship…]
That second problem is the
impossibility of sin because of Sonship (9)
“Whoever has been born of God does not sin…”
Our theme continues to be: “Sonship affects daily living”
This
is a good reminder for us all that Sonship affects our daily lifestyle by
diminishing the practice of sin.
[Finally, John supplies a
third problem and that is…]
3D …the
inconceivability of sin because of Sonship (3:10a)
John is giving a distinguishing
test that anyone can see who the children of God
are and who the children of the devil are.
This is
the test of true and genuine character.
It is
inconceivable to John that genuine children of God practice sin because
those who practice sin belong to the devil.
“In
this is the children of God and the children of the
devil are manifest…”
Our word for “manifest” is
the Greek word that means to make known, to make
evident, and to reveal.
The
identity of the children of God and the children of the
devil are made known by what they practice.
Acts
13:10 tells us – “…O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy
of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the
Lord?” (Acts 13:10, NKJV)
We
read in John 8:
Joh 8:33 They
answered him, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to
anyone. How is it that you say, 'You will become free'?"
Joh 8:34 Jesus
answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you,
everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
Joh 8:35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son
remains forever.
Joh 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Joh 8:37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to
kill me because my word finds no place in you.
Joh 8:38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what
you have heard from your father."
Joh 8:39 They
answered him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the
works Abraham did,
Joh 8:40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth
that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.
Joh 8:41 You are doing the works your father did." They
said to him, "We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one
Father—even God."
Joh 8:42 Jesus
said to them, "If God were your Father, you would
love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he
sent me.
Joh 8:43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you
cannot bear to hear my word.
Joh 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your
father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in
the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his
own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
A
life of sin, a life of bondage to sin is proof that one is a child of the devil
and not a child of God.
That is
pretty sobering. I guess it is sobering if you are claiming to be a
Christian and you want people to
think you are a Christian but you consistently reject
God’s standards and live pretty much according
to sin.
To John, it is inconceivable
that a genuine child of God would
live in the same manner as someone who belongs to Satan.
So,
the family member of God practices righteousness and the family member of the
devil practices unrighteousness.
What
do we learn from this? I think we learn seven (7) important principles:
1) Divine qualities and
characteristics, or divine likeness proves that one is a genuine child of God.
2) John establishes the
principle that sin cannot be taken lightly
3) The tolerance of sin
contradicts the purpose of the incarnation
4) There is no sin in Christ
and those in Christ are not in bondage to sin
5) Righteousness and
righteousness behavior is consistent with genuine salvation
6) Sin and unrighteousness is
of the devil
7)
Genuine child of God shares the divine nature which enables the genuine
child of God to be motivated towards the practice of righteousness.
Well,
it is inconceivable to John that anyone can claim to be a believer and make a
consistent practice of sin. As a matter of fact that it what John has shown us
in this section of verses 4-10.
Our theme continues to be: “Sonship affects daily living”
This
is a good reminder for us all that Sonship affects our daily lifestyle by
diminishing the practice of sin.
But for now, what do you say
we wrap this up?
CONCLUSION
This
brings us to an end of this first part of The Christian Life Viewed as Sonship.
This section dealt with the fact that Sonship can be tested on practical
grounds. As a matter of fact, there are three practical tests proving genuine
Sonship. This first test dealt with the fact that:
Sonship
demands the practice of righteousness. The reason that Sonship demands the
practice of righteousness is:
·
Righteousness is incompatible with sin
·
Righteousness is impossible to practice sin
·
Righteousness makes it inconceivable to sin
Lord
willing, next we will look at the second practical test of the claim of Sonship
and that is Sonship demands the practice of love. We will see that in 3:10b-24.
Exhortation: I
exhort you to examine your claim of being a Son or child of God in order to
make certain that you are not practicing a life of consistent sin showing you
the incompatibility with Sonship so that you might recoil from it in horror and
awe.
John wrote in 1 John 3:7 (ESV)
“Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices
righteousness is righteousness, just as He is righteous. (NKJV)
Let’s
pray! J
1 comment:
Most thought provoking post Gregg, I always return later in the evening to your post like this one so I can give extra thought to what you have written.
Yvonne.
Post a Comment