1 John 2.28-3.10
Practice Righteousness
A sermon on 1 John 2:28-3:10 preached at Christ the King Church on 3/5/06
Prayer: Our Father in heaven, as we open your Word, send now your Spirit to enlighten our minds, to strengthen our wills, and to sanctify our souls, all to the glory of Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
Introduction: “Happy Mardi Gras!” That was the greeting I received on Tuesday morning as I walked into a local coffee shop. Wearing colored beads around their necks and bright smiles upon their faces, the two ladies behind the counter, greeted each customer with the same greeting I received, as well as with the same suggestive joke, a joke that reflects accurately the present atmosphere of New Orleans.
“Mardi Gras” is French for “Fat Tuesday.” Fat Tuesday, with its gluttonous feasting, is a distortion of the season of Lent and the fasting that goes along with it. According to the Western Church Calendar, Lent began this past Wednesday, on what is traditionally called “Ash Wednesday.” Excluding Sundays, Lent lasts for 40 days, and has been viewed customarily as a time of preparation, a time of prayer and fasting, a time of repentance before the resurrection, a time of abstinence before the expectant day of Easter.
Now, those who take to heart this church tradition, call the day before Ash Wednesday, not Fat Tuesday but “Shrove Tuesday.” Shrove or to shrive means to cleanse or purify.[1] So, on this day the faithful are encouraged to prepare their bodies and souls for the season of Lent, and ultimately for Good Friday and Easter, by confessing and repenting of their sins.
Now, I know not the history of how the shriving of sins (the cleansing of sins) de-evolved into the consumption of sin, how this purifying became partying, how this fasting became feasting. But what I do know is just how predictable it is in this fallen world that ‘things fall apart.’ Fat Tuesday is but another example among a thousand examples of the law of moral entropy: how that which is pure changes to impure, that which is virtuous turns into vice, and that which is sacred somehow becomes sinful.
Over time our world has a way of turning white into black, turning that which is good and right and noble into that which is evil and wrong and ignoble. Now, whether the season of Lent is good and right and noble I have divided options upon. I see its beauty, but I also see (and have experienced) its bondage. Yet whether the gospel of Jesus Christ is good and right and noble I have no division of heart. For the gospel is the greatness good of this world. And so, when it is distorted, when it is changed from white to black, from right to wrong, from noble to ignoble; when the gospel itself becomes the means or the motivation to sin, then all has turned upside down, then all in the world is somehow spinning opposite upon its axis.
Now, this very reversal, the reversal of the divine law of the gospel- the gravity of the gravity of sin and its relationship to the saving work of Christ- that was what the apostle John was experiencing as he penned his First Epistle.
Throughout this Letter, John has been warning the church of false teachers and their false teaching. And here in our passage, if you look especially at 3:7, we see again that some deceivers have been seeking to deceive. And in essence their claim was that one could still be a Christian and live like the Devil. One could still be a child of God and live like a son of Satan.
And so, John, as a loving father, as a protective parent, writes to Christians, to those who, like toddlers in a large department store are prone to wander from his fatherly fingers. He writes to them, and he says (v.7), “Little children, let no one deceive you”- Let know one deceive you in regards to the effects, the life-changing effects of the gospel, the gospel you have heard and received. Don’t let the shriving against sin be replaced by the shoving-in of lawlessness. For no one who is ‘born of God’ lives godlessly. There is a clear difference (he teaches them and teaches us) between the ‘child of the devil’ and the ‘child of God’- the one practices sin, the other ‘practices righteousness.’
It is a Fact
I invite you now to open your Bibles and look along with me as I open to you God’s Word. Now, as a way of reminder, I ask you to open your Bibles, so that you might test what I am about to say. Any authority I have as a preacher comes from the Bible. When I contradict it, I should lose my credibility. But when I uphold it and explain it, then I have fulfilled my calling in Christ, I have been a faithful minister of the gospel. So, please do open that Book and make sure I’m not just making things up, I’m not just tickling your ears.
Let me talk straight with you. This passage is full of difficult verses, verses that are hard to understand and perhaps harder to accept. Yet, whatever difficulties we find, what I like so much about this text is that its overall message is quite evident. For its basic message is repeated so many times that even the son of a poor Irish immigrant, such as myself, can see and comprehend it. So, allow me illustrate the obvious.
Look at 2:29: “If you know that he [Christ] is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.” Look next at 3:3: “And everyone who thus hopes in him [Christ] purifies himself as he [Christ] is pure.” Then look down at 3:7b: “Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he [Christ] is righteous.” With those three verses John makes his point positively.
Then, with at least four other verses, he makes the same point negatively. Look at 3:6: “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.” Then move down to the first part of v.8: “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil,” and verse 9, “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.” And then 3:10 summarizes all this quite well. The second part of the verse moves us on to the next section, which speaks of love. But look at the first part of this last verse: “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.”
I hope you noticed two things about all these similar verses. First, that righteousness (this moral righteousness) is a fact, a reality that is true in all true followers of Christ. Second, that this righteousness comes from one’s continued relationship with Jesus.
So, notice first (and we will spend a little time here) notice first that this righteousness or purity is a fact. Look, for example, at 3:3. It reads, “Everyone who thus hopes in [Christ] purifies himself as [Christ] is pure.” Do you see here that John is not expressing a wish? He does not say, “May everyone who hopes in Christ purify himself.” And do you also see that John is not presenting a possibility? He does not write, “Everyone who hopes in Christ might purify himself.” And then finally, do you see that John is not offering a command? He does not exhort his readers, saying, “Everyone who hopes in Christ ought to purify himself.”[2] No, what John is doing here and throughout this passage is simply stating a fact: “Everyone who hopes in [Christ] purifies himself.” That is the fact of the matter. John Calvin succinctly summarizes the teaching here in this way: “No one is born of Christ but those who live righteously.”[3]
So, the idea here is similar to what Paul taught in Galatians 5:24, where he says, “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Or what he teaches in Romans 6:17-18: “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” The New Testament teaches that in the faithful the fruit of righteousness is a fact!
In the backyard of the house where I grew up there is a lovely-looking apple tree. It is lovely as a tree, for it is strong and shapely (I hope I can call a tree ‘shapely’). It is a nice little tree. Yet, it wasn’t a nice little apple tree. For, you see, for years it produced no fruit, no fruit whatsoever. And when it finally did produce some fruit, a bit of fruit, the fruit was ugly and awful. It was not edible.
I fear there are many people in this world and in the church who resemble that apple tree. They say they are Christian, but they either produce no fruit or the fruit they do produce is ugly and awful. It is not lovely, but rather lawless!
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said of the false prophets: “You will recognize them by their fruits.” I think the same can be said of false professors, those who profess to be Christians but live anti-Christianly. Jesus said, “Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many (‘many’- that’s a scary word, ‘many’) will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of [what?] lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:16-23).
What does it mean to be a true Christian? That is the very question John’s First Epistle deals with, and deals with over and over and over again. And here one of the marks of genuine conversion, genuine regeneration, is righteousness or moral purity- a righteousness and a purity that reflects the law of God as written in His Word and the Son of God, who Himself “is pure.”
I just finished reading one of the best books I have ever read, Richard Baxter’s classic work, The Reformed Pastor. The title does not describe one’s theological perspective, but what Baxter saw to be in his time (the 17th century) a necessity, the reform or reformation of pastors, of clergymen. So, throughout this book Baxter stresses how the pastor needs to have his hand on the spiritual pulse of each and every member of the local church. And he strongly advocates that the pastor accomplish this goal by spending one or two days a week meeting with each household, half an hour per family. Now, in order to assist the pastor in implementing this goal, Baxter gives, at the end of his book some helpful suggestions of what to talk about during that time together. He provides, for example, some questions that a pastor can ask each individual.
This morning, though I am behind this pulpit and you sitting at a safe distance, I wanted to ask you his first two questions, questions, that in typical Puritan fashion are long-winded, but also heart revealing as they cut to the chase.
The first question is this: “Can you truly say, that all the known sins of your past life are the grief of your heart, and that you have felt that everlasting misery is due to you for them; and that, under a sense of this heavy burden, you have felt yourself a lost man, and have gladly entertained the news of a Saviour, and cast your soul upon Christ alone, for pardon by his blood?”[4] In other words, have you recognized yourself to be a sinner, a damnable sinner, and thus come freely and joyfully to Jesus, the Savior of the world, for the forgiveness, the saving of your sins?
The second question follows. And it is this: “Can you truly say, that your heart is so far turned from sin, that you hate the sins which you once have loved, and love that holy life which you had no mind to before; and that you do not now live in the willful practice of any known sin? Is there no sin which you are not heartily willing to forsake whatever it cost you; and no duty which you are not willing to perform?”[5] This second question is the question of our text. And it is the question I bring to you today: Are you holy? Not, “Are you all-holy?” for Christ alone is perfectly pure as John makes perfectly plain!
But, are you righteous positionally (that is, through faith in Christ) and also righteous practically (that is, do you abhor and avoid sin and abound in love and in obedience to Christ)?
Now, “it is important to remember that John is not for one moment saying that a true Christian never sins.”[6] If you turn back to 1:8 and 10, you will see that he already warned us against this kind of thinking. What does he say in 1:8? He writes, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” So a Christian can and does sin. And what, do you remember, are we to do when we sin? 1:9 provides the answer: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Confession provides cleansing! It is the means available for the restoration of our relationship with God. So, don’t get me wrong here. “John is not setting before us a terrifying perfectionism; but he is demanding a life which is ever on the watch against sin, a life in which sin is not the normal accepted way but the abnormal moment of defeat.”[7]
So you can miss the whole point of this passage if you are asking the wrong question or questions. “How pure is pure, how righteous is righteous? Do I need to be as holy as Jesus was to get into heaven?” Those are the wrong questions for this text. Those are not the questions or question John is addressing. He knows we are not absolutely pure. He knows that we are not absolutely righteous. And he has told us as much in Chapter One. He knows, as Paul so clearly taught in Romans and Galatians and Ephesians, that no sinful human being (as we all are) is saved based upon his/her own merit. We are saved neither by good works nor by perfect obedience to the law of God or the commandments of Christ.
We are saved by grace through faith in Christ. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone! And the moment we believe in Jesus, truly trust in Him as our Savior and Lord, that very moment we stand ‘righteous’ before God, that very moment the Holy Spirit indwells us and seals us from the day of redemption. The theologians call this kind of righteousness, imputed righteousness. What that means is that Christ’s righteousness is imputed or accredited to us. And so we through faith stand perfectly pure before the holy throne of judgment, not based on our own virtue, but upon the virtue of God’s Son and Him alone.
So, I know it can all get quite confusing. But here is an important distinction to make. John, in this passage of Scripture, is talking a lot about righteousness, but he is not talking about this imputed righteousness that comes through faith. He is talking about sanctification not justification. He is talking about an infused righteousness, a grace-infused righteousness; that is, a righteousness that comes from God after a person has trusted in Christ that gradually and actually changes the way we think and act.
The Westminster Confession of Faith says it far better than I have. In its section on sanctification, the Confession gives this precise statement: “They, who are once effectually called, and regenerated, having a new heart, and a new spirit created in them, are further sanctified, really and personally, through the virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection, by his Word and Spirit dwelling in them: the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified; and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces, to the practice of true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” So, the basic question today is not, “Am I perfectly pure?” but rather, “Has my life been changed by Christ, changed so that I now practice righteousness?”
In 1 Corinthians the apostle Paul wrote to a group of young believers who came from all walks of life. Listen to what he writes in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (which is both a warning and an encouragement). He writes, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” Now, listen to v.11, this beautiful verse: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
I know many of you. I have heard your testimonies. I know this church is filled with people who we might call (to give an awkward but appropriate title), “and such were some of yous.” For I know that some of you were sexually immoral (I was), and some of you were adulterers, and some of you were idolaters (you ran after all this world had to offer) and some alcoholics, some drug addicts, some of you were thieves and swindlers, so greedy for money, greedy for money but not greedy for God. But what happened to you? What happened to me? Ah, we were washed! Weren’t we?
I’m talking deep cleaning. I’m talking the Spirit of God killing the old man and rising like a Phoenix from his ashes a new man, a man made not in the likeness of Adam, but in the likeness of Christ. I’m talking about the Spirit of God changing a leopards spots.[8] I’m talking about an old man being born again. I’m talking about dry bones rising to life. I’m talking about a dead tree growing new roots and producing fruits of righteousness, lovely fruits of righteousness.
Abiding in Him
My brothers and sisters, righteousness is a fact. And that is the first component of this passage I want us to see and I want us to know whether we have it or don’t have it. The second is this: This fruit of righteousness comes from Christ. Jesus Christ, the Righteous One produces righteous ones!
This is the point Jesus Himself makes in His famous analogy found in the 15th chapter of John’s Gospel. Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit…. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Here in our text, the apostle John makes the same point. He does this especially in two verses. First, look at 3:9: “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, [why, what gives one the power to turn away from perpetual sin?] for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.” So, it is due to God’s seed in us, what is also called here being “born of God,” that enables obedience. So, just as salvation is all of grace, so too is sanctification. God doesn’t save us from our sin, and then say, “Okay, now I’ve done my part, you have to do the rest. Now, it’s your turn. Stay holy by your own volition. Use your own will-power (that same mighty will-power you use for diets and so forth), use that mighty will-power to resist the devil and avoid sin.” No. Salvation and sanctification- they are both of grace, both works of God in our lives. Those whom God births, He does not abandon!
Now, the other verse (the last verse) I want you to see is the first verse of our passage, 2:28. “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.” Because God abides in us, in those who are true believers, we can and ought to “abide in Him,” that is, in Christ.
Behind me are three panes of stain-glass. The one on your right depicts Jesus’ death. And then the one on your left, with Jesus in the clouds, depicts either Jesus’ Ascension or His Second Coming. As a help to my sermon, let’s say for today it depicts the Second Coming. Now, those two pictures of Jesus (and of these key events in His life) are precisely the same two pictures John shows us in this passage. He calls Christians to abide in the present because of what Christ has done in the past and what He will do in the future. You see in 3:8b, for example, he speaks of Christ’s death: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” And here in 2:28, he speaks of Christ’s return: “Abide in him, so that when he appears [comes again] we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.” If God abides in you, you will abide in Christ, and you will then have confidence on the last day, the day when Christ returns.
Our souls, we know, when he appears
Shall bear his image bright;
For all his glory, full disclosed,
Shall open to our sight.
A hope so great, and so divine,
May trials well endure;
And purge the soul from sense and sin,
As Christ himself is pure.[9]
It is 40 days until Easter. And there is no better time to make this the Lent of your life, that is, the time of confession, the time of repentance, the time to finally get right with God. Now, is the day to put Mardi Gras behind you, all those Fat Tuesdays of your life, and to live anew by the power of God, for the one who died to destroy the works of the devil, and for the one who will come again to reign in power and glory forever. Amen.
Prayer:
Benediction: Philippians 1:9-11 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Now, let me briefly illustrate all this in the life of the apostle Paul. At the end of his life, in his very last Epistle, Paul called himself, “the chief of sinners.” You see Paul recognized he was sinful, so inherently and actually sinful when compared to the purity of Christ. Yet, at this same time in Paul’s life he recognizes, in his own words, that he has “fought the good fight,” he has “finished the race,” and he has “kept the faith.” And “henceforth,” as he writes in 2 Timothy 4:8 (listen to what he says), “there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”
Paul was a holy man, a man who walked by the Spirit, not in the flesh. His life was marked by purity, not impurity. When he came into connect with Christ his life was radically changed. And that’s the issue at stake today.
This morning, we confessed, in the Apostles’ Creed, that we believe in “one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.” I believe an apostolic church, a church founded and grounded on the apostolic teaching. I believer in a catholic church, not a Roman Catholic church, but a genuine catholic church, one that holds universally (throughout the world and throughout the ages) to the same truths about Jesus. And I believe in a holy church. J.C. Ryle speaks of the church’s sanctity in this way. He writes, “Its members are all holy. They are not merely holy by profession, holy in name, and holy in the judgment of charity. They are holy in act, and deed, and reality, and life, and truth. They are all more or less conformed to the image of Jesus Christ…. No unholy man belongs to this church.”[10]
If there is one word from that teaching of Jesus that stands out to me, it is the word, “many.” Do you see it in v.22? “On that day many will say to me….” At times that word “many” can bring great comfort, such as in Mark 10:45, “the Son of Man came not be serve but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Other times, however, it can be quite frightening, such as (Matthew 7:13): “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many,” and Luke 13:24, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”
It is hard to find someone today who claims to be a Christian who will deny Christmas (that Jesus was born), but quite easy to find someone who claims to be a Christian who denies Easter (that Jesus miraculously rose from the dead). And it is hard to find someone today who claims to be a Christian who says that morality is not important, but easy to find someone who claims to be a Christian whose definition of immorality is as broad as his own imagination.
And that’s why I think it is necessary, in this day and age, to have some terms here clarified. For you see, someone can agree
What does “righteousness” mean or look like?
I used to think, that is before I starting reading and believing the Bible, that Christianity was easy.
*Handle the difficulties
Introduction: Iconoclast controversy (See Herrin, c. page 325)
· Pictures of Saints? Pictures of Jesus?
· Have you every noticed the lack of physical description of Jesus in the NT
· Here we have a picture of Jesus- not one we are venerate, but to emulate
What is said about Christ?
· Context: What was the focus on 2:10-27? Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God
· Here it focuses on His two comings
o His Second Coming: “It has been observed by some that in the NT one verse in twenty-five deals with the Lord’s return. It is mentioned 318 times in the 260 chapters of the NT” (Boice, 78)
o His Incarnation
· In speaking of the Incarnation is focuses on His character and work
o He is without sin (illustration: the purity of Christ)
§ Compared to all human figures (see Everlasting Man)
§ Reading biographies of great Christian men is depressing/Popes, Saints and Sinners should just be sinners!
§ The fruits of the spirit are a perfect picture of Christ (Gal 5)
§ “The first coming of Jesus is seen by John to be God’s remedy for the problem of human sin” (Stott, 87)
o He came to came to destroy the work of the devil (sin)
§ “The taking away of the sins can be accomplished only by one who is himself sinless” (Bruce in Boice, 86)- “Behold, the lamb of God…” (John 1:29)
§ “Christ not only pays the penalty for sin, but he does more than the law requires: he accepts the sinner unto himself, adopting that person into his family as a brother or sister” (Kistemaker)
§ “John defines the purpose of the incarnation as destructive” (Stott, 93)
§ See Stott, “the Cross of Christ” in Why; Aulen, Christus Victor
§ The cross like a prism (McGrath, Intellectuals)
§ “My song is love unknown” (in Stott, 82)
· The response to Him: The world did not know Him (3:1; cf. John 1)
· Yet, what is to be our response to Him…? We are to be like Him because we shall be like Him
o Family Traits: Like father, like son/like son, like sons or children “but to those….” (John 1)
What is said about Christians?
· There are certain aspects of Jesus person/life/ministry that we cannot and ought not to emulate
o He is the Christ, the Son of God (which was the focus of 2:10-27)
o His sacrificial death: He came to destroy the work of the devil
o He will come again in glory: John repeats the ideas from chapter two, here set in the context of the Second Coming
· “Why happens when a Christian actually understands that Jesus is returning and that he must give an account before him? The answer is that the ‘purifies himself’ even as Christ is pure” (Boice, 79)
· “Chrysostom, in a sermon on how to bring up children, advises parents to give their boy some great scriptural name, to teach him repeatedly the story of the original bearer of the name, and so to give him a standard to live up to when he grows to manhood” (In Barclay, 73)
· We can, however, and we are called here to emulate at least one aspect of His personhood, and that is His righteousness: We are to “practice righteousness” (see nearly every verse: 2:29; 3:3,4; 3:6,7, 9,10)
o Then there where some deceiving the church (3:7) – we all sin, it doesn’t matter, etc.
§ “Little children are easily led astray” (Stott, 91)
o The Reformed camp emphasizes the first (He is holy) but not the second (We are holy)
· What does this mean? Can we be righteous like Jesus was and is righteous, when there is none righteous, no not one?
o What is doesn’t mean (not saved by works)/might mean/does mean
o Augustine: Posse Non
o Jesus defines righteousness
o Whatever it means, it surely means not making a practice of sinning
§ Basic truths about sin: what sin is, what sin does, why sin is, whence sin comes, how sin is conquered (Barclay, 77)
o See WCF, XVII: III
o See J.C. Ryle, “the Church” in Knots Untied, 228- “No unholy man…”
o Examples of righteous people in the Bible (Noah, etc.)- see how it is applied in Luke 1
o Examples of change (see Stott, 95)
Looking like our parents- “Likeness is the proof of relationship” (Stott, 80)
Westminster Shorter Catechism: What is sin? “Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God”/the idea of a crooked line/missing the mark/lawlessness = a deliberate rejection of God’s standards (law) and a resort to one’s own desires (Guthrie in Kistemaker)
“The world provides its own definition of sin … not taken seriously….” (Kistemaker)
“Everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34)
“For the devil made no man, begat no man, created no man: but whoso imitates the devil, that person, as if begotten of him, becomes a child of the devil; by imitating him, not literally by being begotten of him” (Augustine, Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John, in Kistemaker)
Elsewhere, righteousness is defined in terms of faith, what is called "positional righteousness" (Faith = righteousness; E.g, Rom 5); Here, it mostly defined in terms of morality or behavior ("no one who abides in him keeps on sinning," 3:6; that is "makes a practice of sinning," 3:8)
“Right behavior provides the visible proof of being a Christian…. Good deeds cannot produce salvation (see Ephesians 2:8-9), but they are necessary proof that true faith is actually present (James 2)” (Barton, 59)
“To sin is human; but to persevere in sin is not human but altogether satanic” (Chrysostom)
“For the faithful, who are as yet tempted by the lusts of the flesh, are not to be deemed guilty of iniquity, though they are not pure or free from sin; but as sin does not reign in them, John says that they do not sin” (Calvin, 55)
“It is in vain to claim faith in Christ and knowledge of him unless there is newness of life. Christ is never dormant where he reigns, but the Spirit makes his power effective. It may rightly be said of him that he puts sin to flight, just as the sun drives away its own brightness” (Calvin, 56)
“Many people would gladly persuade themselves that they have this righteousness buried in their hearts, even though iniquity occupies their feet and hands and tongue and eyes” (Calvin, 57)
Devil or God: “there is no middle condition” (Calvin, 57)
The error of the early church: baptism = cleansed from sin (so don’t get baptized until death)/our error today is worse (sin after you become a Christian is no problem/not an issue)
“The Pelagians and the Cathars made a wrong use of this passage when they imagined that the faithful are endued with angelic purity in this world; and some of the Anabaptists revived this idea. But all who dream of a perfection of this kind show clearly enough what dull consciences they must have” (Calvin, 58)
“Chief of sinners” (progression in Paul’s thought)
“The purpose of regeneration is to destroy sin” (Calvin, 59)
“The present tense, purifies, is significantly chosen too, indicating a continuous process which is to be taking place at this moment” (Stott, 85)
“In short, the apostle ascribes to the Spirit a sovereign presence in the elect; by his power he represses sin and does not allow it to rule and reign…. The hearts of the godly are so effectually governed by the Spirit of God that through an inflexible disposition they follow his guidance…. The power of the Spirit is so effectual that it necessarily keeps us in continual obedience to righteousness” (Calvin, 59)
A real Christian (Stott, 90)
“What is righteousness? John’s answer is clear and unequivocal. To be righteous is to love our brother men” (Barclay, 82)
· “The righteous produces the righteous” (Bengel in Kistemaker)
· “To be righteous is the equivalent to being holy. It implies doing the will of God, obeying his commands, and loving him and one’s neighbor. In short, ‘righteous’ is a term that stands for being free from sin” (Kistemaker)
· “Being righteous is really being like Jesus” (Stott, 78).
“The translators of the NIV have tried to reflect the Greek verb tenses by adding extra words. They write, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin….he cannot go on sinning.” This is an acceptable interpretation of John’s intention. In Greek, the verbs express continued action, not a single occurrence. Therefore, by using the present tenses of the Greek verbs, John is saying that the believer cannot practice habitual sin. ‘The thought being conveyed … is not that one born of God will never commit a sinful act but that he will persist in sin’ (Kistemaker)
“The devil made me do it”
“But here a question arises: Can the fear and love of God be extinguished in anyone who has been regenerated?” (Calvin, 60)
Illustrations of Change (see Stott, 95-96/share own story/stories of others in this church)
· (v.28) 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
o How? By abiding in Him (2:28; 3:6; six times in pervious verses)
§ “We see that the secret of Christian perseverance is to remain in Christ” (Stott, 78)- “How then are we to fulfill the responsibility? John points us to the Lord Jesus. Not that he purified himself, for he is pure.” (Stott, 86)
§ John 15:1-8 (we can do nothing without Him)
§ Saved by grace/sanctified by grace
§ Our identity is in Him (we are loved by God, children of God, born of God)
§ (3:3) play on words: “God’s children should have paressia (confidence) at his parousia (appearing)” (Stott, 78)
o Why? So that we might have confidence, and not be ashamed in His second coming
o What fuels holiness: not fear but love (3:1) or gratitude (Herbert poem)/expectation or hope
§ (3:3) the link between hope and holiness
§ “Think of the dedication of a world-class athlete, the degree of sacrifice, the output of resources, to achieve fleeting fame and perhaps fortune (see 1 Cor 9:24-27). These goals are not only difficult to attain, they are impossible to keep. Yet the Christian’s hope, by contrast, is secure and unfading, ‘an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade- kept in heaven for you’ (1 Peter 1:3). Ought not our motivation to be correspondingly great?” (Stott, 86)
§ “Don’t give me the fire and brimstone- the love of God will win you (Moody)
§ Scottish poem (see Barclay, 72)
§ Love- “God’s grace is not conditioned by whether or not we have scored a B+ for our Christian lives this week” (Stott, 83; cf. Deut 7:7-8)
Conclusion: Stained glass
· How it pictures Jesus- All that is in our passage: He is “holy” with the halo, His second coming, death
· How it pictures Jesus’ disciples: below Him, holy
1 John 2:28 - 3:10 28 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. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. 3:1See 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. 2 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. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 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. 9 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. 10 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.
Practice Righteousness
A sermon on 1 John 2:28-3:10
1 John 2:28 - 3:10 28 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. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. 3:1See 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. 2 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. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 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. 9 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. 10 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.
28 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. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. 3:1See 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. 2 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. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 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. 9 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. 10 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.
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[1] For this information, see St. James Daily Devotional, Winter 2005-2006, p.46.
[2] See Kistemaker.
[3] Calvin, 50.
[4] Baxter, 247.
[5] Ibid., 247-248.
[6] Stott, 88.
[7] Barclay, 81.
[8] Jeremiah 13:23 23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.
[9] In Barclay, 72.
[10] J.C. Ryle, “The Church,” in Knots United, 228.