A Faithful Commitment
Notes
Transcript
Title- A Faithful Commitment
Passage- 1 John 3:6-10
Attention-
How many of you remember the moment you looked into the eyes of your spouse
Introduction-
I remember when I first laid eyes on my wife
Got a phone call to help an acquaintance move his fiance into a different apartment
Had my sleep interrupted
Answered before my brain engaged
Somehow remembered the address of where to meet them
Then I looked into her eyes!!!
It was just for a split second
I can still see that moment in my memory
It’s frozen in time
I knew at that moment I wanted to marry her
Can’t explain it but I just knew
But as the weeks and months of us spending time together and gaining knowledge of her I was never more convinced
I was even happily giving up time with things I once loved because of the love I had for her
Main truth-
This week John will share how it looks when the knowledge of the person and work of Jesus turn into the adoration of the person and work of Jesus
That love and adoration ought to then turn into service and sacrifice for Him
Transition #1-
What is being taught? (Explain the passage and draw out the 1st century truth)
Little children...
-Fellow believers
“let no man deceive you”
-This is a good reading but one thing to note is that in the original text there is no word for “man”
-It was added by the translators
-It is a good addition
-But the word could have been translated nothing
-In the context the addition of “man” works and makes sense but it literally is saying let nothing
No man
No spiritual being
No animal
No part of creation
No thoughts that come to you
The force of this so far is do not let anything lead you astray!!!
Why?
“he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous”
-”doeth” is a present participle which tells us that this is an ongoing action.
-In other words, like we saw two weeks ago, it is not if you sin once, twice, or more.
-It is referring to a habitual sin
-Something that is coming forth from the heart
-Here John is referring to righteous acts
-Those that line up with the moral standard of God
-There are sins we commit from time to time because we still have a sin nature
-There are other sins we continually commit because they have taken root in our hearts
-There are righteous acts that we do from time to time, there are acts that appear righteous that can come from ANYONE
-But there are also those who live righteously because righteousness has transformed their hearts and they have protected their hearts
Keep thy heart with all diligence;
For out of it are the issues of life.
These are who John is referring to
-Those who live righteously in a seemingly habitual way
-The seemingly habitual acts are what is flowing from the depths of their hearts
-Whether righteousness or sin
Righteousness that is consistent and habitual is a display of a heart that has been transformed by the power of the gospel and protected by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.
*John then gives the flip side
Those that habitually display sin have hearts ruled by sin?
How do we know?
Because from the beginning, when Satan chose to doubt God and desired to become god, from that moment until now he is filled with sin
Again, sin being the reality that we miss the moral standard that God has set.
“for this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil”
This is why Jesus came
To show us our moral insufficiency and make a way for us to meet that moral standard
That is the defeat of the works of the devil
The works of the devil are what we discussed in 1 John 2:15-17
Satan wants us to continue to live in a moral state where we fall short of God’s standard
Jesus coming makes a way for that work of the devil to become nothing
Now John will start at the source, God, and work back in the same argument that those from God ought not to live in habitual sin
“Whoever is born of God doth not commit sin”
Little children…brethren…beloved
Those who go by these titles are the children of God,,,those who are “born” of Him
These individual do not commit sin
Commit here is a similar form to “commit” in verse 8 and “doeth” in verse 7
Habitual
Why is it habitual? Because His seed remains in him.
Who’s seed? God’s seed, meaning what?
I am of the seed of my parents
Because of that I act a lot like them
My wife is the seed of her parents and therefore she acts a lot like them
*That phrase “The apple didn't fall far from the tree”
We are the seed of God and the apple ought not to fall far from the tree
What is the result of being the seed of God?
“and he cannot sin”…that person is unable to habitually sin
Why not? Because they are born of God.
-The Holy Spirit resides in them and guides and directs them
“In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil”
John is drawing a line in the sand
-Before we get to that line in the sand John is NOT saying that it is all about works
_He is not saying that righteousness is about works
-He is saying that your works display your righteousness or lack thereof
That is why Satan tried all through the life of Jesus, from Herod’s slaughter if the innocents to the temptation all the way to the crucifixion, Satan was trying to silence the truth that Jesus was coming to proclaim
That we can once again meet that moral standard and because of the righteousness that Jesus displayed in contrast to the darkness of sin it is now revealed who we belong to.
Finally John gets back to something from the beginning of the epistle
Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
This starts among believers
How we treat one another
We are called to a Holy Spirit type of love
Sacrifical love displayed on the cross of Calvary
The type of love described in 1 Corinthians 13
A love that in and of ourselves we cannot give
In order to give a love like that we need the seed of God, we need to be His children
Transition #2-
How do we understand this in our context? (Bridge 1st century truth to today)
John is about to launch into his next thought and ends this with a recap of what we have seen so far in the epistle.
Chapter one he recapped the importance of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Chapter two he contrasted the works of Jesus with the works of Satan and the world system.
Here in chapter three he has progressively gotten practical in how it looks when the knowledge of the person and work of Jesus turn into the adoration of the person and work of Jesus
As much as it is about the person and work of Jesus it is just as much about the choices that we make on a regular basis.
John is dealing with the 18” it takes to turn that mental understanding of Jesus into a love and service to Him.
Transition #3-
How do we live this out in our context? (Application of the biblical truth to us personally)
How should this change my thinking. (Mental understanding and/or reasoning?)
The understanding of the person and work of Christ, as much as it is a mental understanding essentially needs to be more.
James 2:19 tells us that even the demons believe
So as much as believing the Jesus was born, lived a sinless life, died, and rose again there needs to be more than a mental understanding
Our hearts need to be inclined towards Him as well
Our emotions and desires need to be in line with a love for him
How should this change my heart? (What do I love?)
The reality is that your heart is ALWAYS in the promise of loving
Even when we are angry with someone else it is often because we love ourselves more than we ought to
The question becomes whether we love Christ more than our stuff
More than our relationships
More than this world or this life
Do we love Him more than ourselves
This is important because whatever controls our hearts controls our lives
How should this change my whole being? (Behavioral change)
So what is the motivation behind why I do or do not behave in certain ways?
My understanding of who I am when standing in my own righteousness when compared to the righteousness of Christ compels me to accept His free gift of salvation
That free gift frees me from the power of sin and empowers me to live a life that meets the moral standards of God
I strive to live to that standard because of my love for the Savior
The knowledge of Jesus leads to a love for Him and a biblical love is a self-sacrificing love of service.
Paul in Romans 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
There is a progression
Knowledge leads to love and adoration
That leads to more knowledge…that biblical love is self-sacrificial and marked by service
A part of our reasonable service it to live a life that is morally acceptable to God
Can we do this? No…but through the death of Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we are enabled to make decisions that are pleasing to God
Conclusion
Lets take that step of faith...
Maybe for someone it’s placing your faith in Jesus sacrifice for your sins
For someone else it may be the need to recommit to developing that relationship and growing your love for your Savior
In either case it takes that initial step of faith
Then it takes the subsequent steps to continue in that relationship
This week we are going to celebrate yet another New Year’s
This year let’s commit to growing in our faith
Growing in our love for Jesus
Growing in our service to Him
Let’s commit to be faithful to Him.
Closing song-
190- There Is a Redeemer
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