1 John chapter (3:1-18)

Introduction

Well, good morning New Life. Another day in the house of The Lord Amen. Excited to be up here once again, and I am also very grateful to have this opportunity as well. Pastor Love has given Jeremiah and I such a great blessing and a mostly rare blessing being able to preach once a month. And the truth is that he allows us to even though he doesn’t have to. And here we are on another Lords day eager to worship God Amen. With that being said we know that within the previous few weeks Jeremiah has been doing a sermon series on the book of Colossians and I have been working through the book 1 John. Todays message we begin a brand new a chapter in our series, that is chapter 3. Chapter 3 of 1 John is amazing because throughout studying it ive seen it in brand new ways, that I never thought of before. Essentially in Chapter 3 John is restating a vast majority of what Jesus has already said. In the Gospel of John 3:1-5 Jesus makes out the distinction that in order to enter the kingdom of heaven one person must be born again. This idea of being born again is what I John is calling back to in 1 John 3:1-18. Being born again isn’t heard much of anymore in the Christian lingo, however it is one of the most important aspects of being a Christian. That is due to the fact that being born again is essential to becoming a disciple of Jesus, one cannot proclaim to be a disciple of Jesus and not be born again. It can be said that being born again is the watermark of a genuine Christian. What is being born again then exactly? That is what we will discuss in todays message, what is being born again all about? And how can we be sure that we ourselves are born again Bible believing Christians? We will go over what being born again is about in the book of 1 John and how its a direct reflection to what Jesus already said in the Gospels. The point of todays message is really self examination, and after we learn what being born again is all about before we exit those doors, we should be asking ourselves and be able to determine wether or not we are truly born again. With that being said let us jump into todays message. So if you could grab your phones, tablets or Bibles and flip or scroll to 1 John 3:1-18

1 John 3:1–18 (CSB)

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.

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. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as 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.

For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Praise God for the reading and hearing of His word shall we pray?

God’s Children (1-3)

Point number one “God’s Children” this point is titled God’s children because in the very first word’s of chapter 3 John invites his readers to look and “see” what type of love God has poured out into our hearts and what sort of love he displays. John just straight up tells us that we are God’s Children without hesitation. Remember back on previous chapters we discussed when we talked about God having already given us victory over our sin by way of Jesus Christ. Well that same atoning sacrifice also provides for us a way to become and be called Gods children. And like we discussed previously Christians that have been born again are separated from the world, and no longer live for the world. Experiencing this love that causes one to be born again should change you, not change you into perfectionism but rather should change you to become more Christlike. And furthermore John say’s that this change will result in the world not knowing us. Let me give you an example of that. I was talking to a couple of friends about Church membership, and we were discussing about how participating in taking the class on Church membership. I also believe that it is pretty a pretty foundational doctrine that when joining a Church you should participate in new Church membership programs as such. So as my friend and I were talking about it, another friend comes up to us and says “you don’t need to that, you just need to go to Church”. And we can agree to disagree on that, but the reason I tell you that is that because its sort of like the point John is making in verse 1. That the world doesn’t understand why Christians do the things they do. Why do Christians go to Church every Sunday, why do they go to Bible study every week, or why Pastor Love and Jeremiah and I meet up every Friday morning for coffee. Well our answer to that questioned can be summed as us having experienced the love of God which caused us to be born again, turning us into disciples and followers of Jesus. Look at what else John says in verses 2-3, he says that now that we are God’s children what we will be has not been revealed. Because the love that God has poured out into our hearts is expressed by giving us a new birth. Despite all the Sunday morning sermons, despite all the Bible study and even though we are born again we have not fully been converted to our eternal selves. John continues on by saying that because we have a new birth and have been adopted into God’s family the hope of seeing Jesus as he is, helps us to purify ourselves. Maybe not in the sense that we must purify ourselves to gain hope but rather we already have hope because God has promised to purify us and present us blameless to himself via way of Jesus Christ according to Jude 1:20-25. Experiencing God’s love is apart being a Christian as a matter of fact it is how we get to to our next two points. Knowing the love of God that comes through Jesus’s atoning sacrifice is the first step to becoming born again. This is the love that allows us to call ourselves God’s children and also have the hope that he will one day purify us and make us blameless and faultless.

Practicing Righteousness (4-10)