1 John 3:1-10 The Love that Changes Everything

Scripture: Dave L

Intro

Prayer & Fasting

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1 John talks a lot about love

John takes love far beyond what we often think

He shows us how God loves his children

Today we are going to see how that love changes everything

In Roman law, an adopted son had a remarkable status.

All his previous debts were legally cancelled.

His old family had no claim on him.

He was considered born anew into his new family and could not be disowned—his position was more secure than a biological child who could be disinherited.

When John speaks of being called "children of God," his first-century readers would have understood: this is permanent, unbreakable, identity-transforming adoption.

The love that makes us God's children also transforms how we live—true spiritual identity always produces visible spiritual fruit.

Who you ARE determines how you LIVE—if you're truly a child of God, it will show.

The theological movement of this passage is striking: Identity → Destiny → Conduct

John establishes who we are (children of God, vv.1-2), then reveals what we will become (like Him, v.2), and finally explains  how we should live (purifying ourselves, practicing righteousness, vv.3-10).

This morning we are going to look at a love that changes everything

God’s Love gives us a New Identity vs. 1

The first way that God’s love changes us is that He gives us a new identity

John reveals who we have become in Christ

We are now God’s children

John opens with an exclamation that should stop every reader in their tracks: "Behold!"

The ESV misses this but it is still there

John is changing the subject of his letter and he wants to get our attention

This is not passive observation but active wonder. 

John is blown away by being a child of God

John 1:12–13 ESV

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

The phrase "what manner of love" suggests love of a foreign origin—love from another world entirely.

This is love that human beings could never manufacture.

Consider the orphan who, through no merit of his own, is adopted by the king and given the royal name.

He does not earn his place at the table by good behavior—he receives it by sovereign love.

But having been so loved, having been given such dignity, would he then drag the family name through the mud of the street?

The child of the king walks as a child of the king—not to earn his adoption, but because he has received it.

Romans 8:14–15 ESV

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

That phrase “Abba! Father!) means Daddy Daddy

It is the most endearing phrase in Hebrew

Pharisees were shocked when Jesus used that towards God the Father

The Spirit verifies we are Children of God

Not only sons, but heirs

We are in line to inherit all the God has

And He loves to shower us with His blessings

The world doesn't understand us (v. 1b), and frankly, we shouldn't be surprised.

They didn't understand Jesus either.

If your life is indistinguishable from the watching world, one of two things is true: either you're not really a child of God, or you're a child who has wandered very far from home.

Either way, the remedy is the same—come to the Father.

God’s Love gives us a New Destiny vs. 2

The second way that God’s love changes us it that He gives us a new destiny

John reveals what we will become

People love to talk about their destiny

A lot of pastors love to declare that God will help you discover and grab hold of your destiny

That’s because people want to know where they are going, what they are going to become

John lays out what we will become

Two things:

We are going to become like Him

We are going to spend eternity with Him

Philippians 2:12–13 ESV

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

God is doing a work in you

He is transforming you

He is making you more like Jesus

We need to submit to that plan and let the Holy Spirit work it out

Colossians 3:3–4 ESV

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

You are not your old self if you have accepted Jesus

You have died to that old life and are now hidden with Christ

That word hidden doesn’t mean to live in a commune away from the real world

It means you are covered, safe, and protected by Christ

Your new destiny in Christ is for right now and the future

Focus on becoming more like Jesus and yearning for His return

God’s Love Changes Our Conduct vs. 3-10

The final way that God’s love changes us is that He changes our conduct

John explains how we should live

We see three ways that he changes our conduct

Purifies our hope

Trained in Righteous living

Gives us love for our brothers

Purifying Hope

The first change in our conduct is a purifying hope

Hope changes a person

When a person is filled with hope they feel like they can do anything

Putting our hope in Jesus does that

For everyone who puts their hope in Jesus purifies themselves

The difference between a hope in Jesus and something else is that His hope purifies us

Titus 2:11–13 ESV

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

Righteous Living vs. 4-9

The second change in our conduct we are trained in righteous living

Titus 2:11-12 tell us what that is

Renounce ungodliness & worldly passions, Love self-controlled upright lives

Verse 6 states, "Whoever abides in Him does not sin."

The doctrinal stakes are high.

The tension in verses 6 and 9 ("does not sin," "cannot sin") has troubled many readers.

The Greek present tense is crucial here—John is speaking of habitual, continuous, lifestyle sin, not occasional failures.

This does not teach sinless perfection, which would contradict 1:8-10.

Rather, John distinguishes between the occasional sin of the genuine believer (for which provision is made in 2:1-2) and the habitual, unrepentant practice of sin that characterizes the unregenerate.

The point is that a genuine child of God cannot be comfortable in ongoing, unrepentant sin.

The new birth produces a new nature that wars against the old patterns.

Verse 8 gives us a second purpose statement for Christ's incarnation "that He might destroy the works of the devil."

The word "destroy" (luō) means to loose, to untie, to break apart.

Jesus came to dismantle Satan's kingdom piece by piece.

Love for Your Brother

The final change in our conduct is a love for our brother

1 John 3:17 ESV

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?