Sermon Tone Analysis

A sword with two purposes

Longswords are fascinating weapons.

They are typically used with both hands, so the wielder usually did not have a shield.

The sword was used for both defense and offense.

One weapon with dual purpose.

The passage that we are going to look at together in this session is not unlike a longsword.

On one hand, we will use it to attack the idea that someone, having claimed Christ, could thus live however he pleases.

But we must also, on the other hand, use it to defend against the swings of the enemy that would make us question our own salvation in light of these truths.

1 John is a challenging book.

It causes you to look intently into your own life, and it exhorts you to forsake sin and to obey the Savior.

If you’re not careful, you can fall into a pit of despair reading the book.

“I am still a sinner!

I’m clearly not a Christian!”

But this is propaganda from the enemy camp.

The devil wants you to think that you are not good enough to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

But Christ wants you to know that, it’s true, you are not good enough to be a follower of Jesus Christ, but He is good enough, and He died so that you didn’t have to be good enough.

If you’re not careful, you can fall into a pit of despair reading the book.

“I am still a sinner!

I’m clearly not a Christian!”

But this is propaganda from the enemy camp.

The devil wants you to think that you are not good enough to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

But Christ wants you to know that, it’s true, you are not good enough to be a follower of Jesus Christ, but He is good enough, and He died so that you didn’t have to be good enough.

In fact, John wants you to know that, as well.

His goal in writing the book is not to shake anyone’s faith, but rather to strengthen it.

He writes,

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .

But the problem is that one could take that doctrine and twist it so that they convince themselves and try to convince others that since Jesus paid it all, it doesn’t matter how they live.

That’s what John is addressing in this passage, and that’s what you may need to address when you are ministering to someone, whether on the street, or at work, or at a family reunion, or whatever situation God has put you in to speak the truth in love.

And so we have one sword, two purposes, and we will seek by God’s grace to use it faithfully.

Let us read the passage in its entirety, then we will defend against the devil’s lies, and then we will attack the them.

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

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.

Defending against the devil’s lies

So, we read this passage and it can be convicting and confusing.

“I sin!

There have been times in my life you could say I have made a practice of sinning.

I keep on sinning.

John says that no one who abides in him keeps on sinning.

I look at my life and it sure doesn’t look like I practice righteousness.

I look at my brothers and I fail to love them almost all the time.”

How can we read this passage and have any assurance whatsoever?

What do you think?

Admittedly, this is not the main question at hand in this lesson.

Our goal is to look at what to say when someone is on the other side of the spectrum, saying they’re in Christ and it doesn’t matter how he lives.

But we need this.

Many Christians wrestle with this.

They know that salvation is through Christ alone, but they also know that someone who truly has faith in Jesus will live accordingly, and they look at their own lives, and they don’t measure up.

What are we to do with that?

And the danger of it is that we have a tendency to transition from one works-righteousness to another.

First, we believed that if we could be good enough, God would let us into heaven.

Now, we know that only through faith in Christ is someone saved, but now we have a tendency to wonder whether we are good enough to prove that we have believed.

Our faith gets put on the fruit, rather than being fixed on Christ.

So, again, we need this.

We need to look at this closely to see how to handle this high view of Christ-like living with our low-view of self.

First, we need to know that John himself, in this very letter, doesn’t suggest that a Christian can be perfectly righteous and sinless.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

So, John himself teaches that anyone who claims they don’t sin is deceiving themselves.

But we must confess our sins to Him, and when we do that, He forgives us, not in the sense of being justified, but in the sense of a parent forgiving his child and restoring the closeness of the relationship.

If we say we haven’t sinned, we’re saying God is a liar, and we clearly don’t know what He has said.

We’re not supposed to sin, but if we do sin, Jesus Christ advocates for us with the Father.

He is the righteous One and He advocates for us.

He’s the propitiation for our sins.

In other words, He paid the penalty that our sins deserve.

Then, he talks about how we know we have come to know Him if we keep His commandments.

But that’s in the same letter that he just conceded that we often don’t keep His commandments.

So, what we can conclude here is that John is not talking about perfect obedience, but rather obedience in general.

Someone who truly knows Jesus will desire to obey His commandments and will, to some extent, obey His commandments.

It’s not a requirement.

It’s a promise.

On the other hand, someone who says he knows Him but doesn’t care about His commandments, doesn’t seek to obey them, doesn’t think he needs to obey them, that person is a liar.

Again, John isn’t writing this to make you question your faith, but rather to strengthen it.

Look at what he writes later in chapter 2:

I am writing to you, little children,

because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.

I am writing to you, fathers,

because you know him who is from the beginning.

I am writing to you, young men,

because you have overcome the evil one.