If you would take out your Bibles and turn to the book of 1 John. First John chapter 3. We’re studying through this little book on Sunday nights and we come to the third chapter this evening. You can find it on page 1022 in the pew Bibles.
Someone has said that sometime around the third week of November that it is the official beginning of, “Let’s circle back after the holidays” season. There are just some meetings, some projects that it would be too hard to get people together and nobody really wants to do it anyway. With all of the busyness of Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years, that it would be better just to wait until the first week or so of January. So, “Let’s just circle back after the holidays.”
Well, one of the things that we’ve noticed so far in 1 John is that John is good about circling back to topics and ideas that he has already covered, and then he expounds them from a different perspective or with a different emphasis. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why it’s hard to pick up a structure for this book. It’s hard to outline the book of 1 John. One commentator, in fact, says that, he goes so far as to say that, “Any paragraph could be removed from its place in this book and reinserted somewhere else with no perceived effect on the overall message of 1 John.” Now surely that’s more of an exaggeration to make a point, but there is a lot of repetition of themes throughout this book.
Someone else says that John writes in a cyclical manner or with a spiral form of argument that “works with a comparatively small number of themes which are introduced many times and are brought into every possible relation to one another.” And he says that, “Righteousness, love and belief are the three key themes that provide tests for the reader to use in order to gain assurance.” Righteousness, love and belief. In fact, we’ve already seen righteousness, love and belief in our study of 1 John and we are going to see them again in these verses that we are covering tonight. And so let’s circle back; let’s circle back to these themes in the first ten verses of 1 John chapter 3.
And we’re going to focus on three things tonight. We are going to see first, the love of God, secondly, the hope of glory, and then third, a life of godliness. The love of God, the hope of glory, and a life of godliness. Before we read these verses, let’s pray and ask God’s help.
Father, as we come before Your Word this evening, we are well aware that we are forgetful people and that we need much repetition, we need much encouraging in the life of faith as we seek to follow Christ. And so we ask that You would, again, remind us tonight, that You would open our ears, open our hearts. Give us a willingness and a readiness to understand, to hear what You have to say to us, that we would be ready to take these truths, these beautiful truths and realities of the Gospel, and to take them deep into our hearts and that they would come out in our lives as we glorify You wherever we go. We pray for Your Spirit tonight to do the work that You promised that You will do. And help us to see Jesus. Speak Lord, for Your servants listen. We pray all of this in Jesus’ name, amen.
First John chapter 3, verse 1:
“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.”
The grass withers and the flowers fall but the Word of our God endures forever.
Well these verses, they begin and end with love. They begin and end with the Greek word “agape.” First, there is the love of God in verse 1, and then there is also the love of brothers in verse 10. And of course those two things are related, aren’t they? In verse 1, is one of the great statements in the Bible, isn’t it? C. H. Spurgeon, he quotes a preacher who said that, “There is a chapter in every word and a sermon in every letter.” And we know it best, don’t we, from the way it reads in the King James Version. “Behold, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called sons of God.” What manner of love. What manner of love that, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” What manner of love that, “I took them up by their arms and healed them. I led them with cords of kindness and with bands of love. And I became to them as one that eases the yoke on their jaws and I bent down to them and fed them.” What manner of love that, “Those who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness. And I have loved you with an everlasting love, and I have continued My faithfulness to you.” What manner of love that, “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, made us alive together with Christ.” A love that surpasses knowledge. What manner of love. What manner of love that, “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” What manner of love. This is a beautiful word that comes to us in 1 John 3:1.
But do you know what I think might be the worst word in the Bible? The worst word in the Bible may be what is found in the book of Hosea. It’s the name of Hosea’s third child. His name was “Lo-Ammi.” And the Lord said, “Call his name Lo-Ammi (not My people), for you are not My people and I am not your God.” Is there anything more devastating than that? Could there be anything more devastating as a judgment on the people of God to say, “You are not My people and I am not your God”? And yet what is it that God said to Hosea later in that book? God said to Hosea in a promise of grace and an expression of His great love, “In the place where it was said to you, ‘You are not My people,’ it shall be said to them, ‘You are children of the living God.’”
Here is the wonder of God’s love for the guilty and the rebellious and the unworthy. It is that we are changed from sinners to saints. That we are brought from being slaves to friends. We are “not My people” to now “people of God.” From orphans to sons and daughters of the Lord. J.I. Packer calls it “the best part of the Gospel.” Adoption is the highest privilege of the Gospel. It is even higher than that of justification because it is one thing to be made right with God who is the Judge of all things; it is another thing to be brought into a relationship with God as our Father. “In adoption,” Packer says, “God brings us into His family and fellowship and establishes us as His children and heirs.” At the heart of this relationship there is a closeness and an affection, a generosity. There is a love and a care of God as the Father forever and ever. “Behold, what manner of love. See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God. And so we are.”
And as children of God, we not only know this great love of God, but we also are given a great hope. And verse 2 says, “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.” So first, there is this love of God. It is to be enjoyed right now and always. But it also gives us this sense of anticipation, of expectation for what God will do into the future. It gives us, secondly, the hope of glory. And I think there is a tension here in these verses. John says we are God’s children now, but we are not what we will be. He says we are God’s children now, but sometimes it doesn’t seem like it, does it? Think about family likeness. I remember holding our children when they were babies and people would come up to see them and they would do that thing that was very normal, very standard to do, ask that question that everyone asks about your children – “Who do they look like? Who does he look like? Who does she look like?” And they’d start to kind of compare face to face – look at the baby’s face to my face. And I’d want to say, “Don’t do that! Please! Don’t compare this face to this face. Don’t compare this soft, spotless, beautiful perfection to the tired and sharp features on my own.” It’s not fair.
Well, it’s almost the exact opposite with the children of God. What we find in this book, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” The Father is truth and love and Jesus, the Son of God, is eternal life manifested. He is Jesus Christ the righteousness. He is Jesus Christ the spotless Lamb of God. And then here we are, children of God, and one of these things is not like the other because John has already said that, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” We have sinned; we continue to have sin. And even in writing these things, John is acknowledging, he is confronting the fact that God’s children are prone to wander and we need encouragement in conflict. We need correction in error. We need the exhortation not to shrink back in shame because we are not what we will be yet. But, but when Christ appears, we will be like Him.
What is Jesus like? What does Jesus look like? You know when you think about most biographies, especially those that were written before there were many images of the person that is being written about, you almost always find a detailed description of that person’s physical features – their clothes, their appearance. In fact, I pulled one biography off my bookshelf that was written, published in 1906. And here’s how it describes that person’s physical appearance. “He was under medium height, slight in build, though deep in the chest and somewhat stooped as age came on. His head was small. His forehead, however, was relatively ample.” Same! “His mouth was the most conspicuous feature of his face, suggestive of eloquence and strength. Taking the entire face into view, one saw written there on great kindliness, alertness and force.” You get the point. It goes on like that, a little bit longer.
But do you know when it comes to the New Testament, do you know what we get about Jesus? We get basically nothing. Basically nothing about the physical description of Jesus Christ. We don’t know how tall He was. We don’t know the color of His hair. We don’t know the color of His eyes. We don’t know what He wore, except perhaps the swaddling cloths that He was wrapped in as a baby and maybe the sandals that John was unworthy to untie. There’s nothing about Jesus’ physical appearance except, except in a couple of places. And one is at the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew chapter 17, and we are told that “He was transfigured before them and His face shone like the sun and His clothes became white as light.” Or what about in the book of Revelation when Jesus appeared in a vision to John on the Island of Patmos, and we are told that, “Jesus was clothed in a long robe with a golden sash around His chest. The hairs of His head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were a flame of fire; His feet like burnished bronze.” This is symbolic language, of course, but this is Jesus as He is. It is purity, holiness, radiance, glory.
Do you know what we find at the end of the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 19, the marriage supper of the Lamb and the bride, the Church of God presented to Christ? And it says in Revelation 19:8, “It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure.” That’s talking about the church, talking about God’s people. God’s children are made like Christ. Filthy rags are traded in for a wedding dress. Sin is completely washed away, never to be an issue again. Made perfectly righteous, holy, clean and pure. It seems almost too good to be true. It’s more than we could ever imagine in this life, and yet, and yet this is the wonder of the Gospel. This is the hope of glory for all those who are in Christ Jesus. And that hope does not disappoint, because what does Paul say in Romans chapter 8? “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us.” First John 3:2, “We know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.” How amazing is that?
And for those who hope like that, there is a whole new way to live. So we see the love of God, the hope of glory, and then thirdly, a life of godliness. Verse 3, “Everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.” It costs to be a real Christian. There are enemies to overcome, battles to be fought, sacrifices to be made. There is an Egypt to be forsaken, a wilderness to be passed through, a cross to be carried and a race to be run. “You see, conversion, it is not putting a man in an armchair and taking him easily to heaven. No, it is the beginning of a mighty conflict. It’s a conflict which will cost him much to win the victory. In fact, it will cost a man his sins. He must be willing to give up everything and to give up everything which is against God’s law. He must set his face against it and quarrel with it, break off from it, fight with it, crucify it, labor to keep it under – whatever the world around him may say or think, there must no separate truce with any special sin which he loves. He must count all of his sins deadly enemies and hate every false way, whether little or great, open or secret. All of his sins must be thoroughly renounced. And they may struggle hard with them every day, and sometimes almost get mastery over him, but he must never, ever give way to them. ‘Cast away from you all your transgressions,’ Ezekiel 18:31. ‘Break off thy sins and iniquities,’ Daniel 4:27. ‘Cease to do evil,’ Isaiah 1:16. To be a Christian will cost a man his sins.”
Someone asked me recently, “What are the five books that every Christian should read?” The Pilgrim’s Progress, Mere Christianity, Knowing God, Calvin’s Institutes. Everyone will have different books on their own lists, but one of them that comes up quite a bit in lists like that is, Holiness by J.C. Ryle. And I have just quoted from chapter 5 of J.C. Ryle’s Holiness on the importance of counting the cost and forsaking sin because sin is deadly. And sin has no place among the children of God. And as much as John has said here about the love of God, and as much as John has said here about the hope of glory that awaits the children of God, just look at how much he has to say about putting away our sin and living a life of godliness. He says in verse 4, “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness.” “No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning,” verse 6. Verse 8, “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil.” Verse 9, “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning.” Verse 10, “Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God nor is the one who does not love his brother.” John is serious about sin, isn’t he, because it is a serious problem.
But what can we do about it? What can be done about our sin? We have to remember our sin has been dealt with. Our sin has been dealt with fully and finally on the cross if you have been forgiven. If you are in Christ Jesus, you have been forgiven of every sin; your sins have been separated from you “as far as the east is from the west.” They have been cast into the depths of the sea, never to be addressed again, because Jesus has dealt with your sins finally and fully on the cross. And yet, there is sin that remains in our hearts that we have to tend to. And I think there are four steps towards dealing with that sin that we can take from these verses in 1 John chapter 3. These four things – love the law, keep close to Christ, watch out for the evil one, and remember your witness.
Number one – love the law. John says that sin is lawlessness in verse 4, and part of combatting sin is to be able to say to God with the psalmist, “I love your law and I rejoice at Your Word like one who finds great spoil.” It’s remembering what God said to Joshua. He said, “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will find success.” If we go with what’s acceptable to the world around us, if we go with what our sinful hearts find attractive, then we will surely end up calling good “evil” and evil “good.” We will surely go and make darkness “light” and light for “darkness.” We have to know what we believe. We have to know what God’s Word tells us is good and lawful. And we have to love it. Love the law because sin is lawlessness.
Number two – keep close to Christ. And it’s so easy to drift, isn’t it? A new stage of life, it’s busy at work, there are sports on the calendar, it’s time to travel, there are grandkids to visit, you just don’t feel very well. And gradually, there is less and less time to spend with Christ and with His people. Verse 6 says, “No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning.” Watch your heart. Remember, remember the love and the beauty of Jesus and abide in Him. Keep close to Him. Keep Him close. Walk by faith, not by sight. Walk by the Spirit, not by the flesh. “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.” Keep close to Christ.
And number three – watch out for the evil one. Verse 7 says, “Little children, let no one deceive you.” John says in verse 8 that sin is “of the devil.” And you know what Peter says that the devil, “your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Resist him. And we have to be on the lookout, don’t we? We have to be on the lookout for temptation. We have to be aware of the places of weakness. We have to be aware of the times and the occasions where we are most vulnerable to temptation. The Puritan, Thomas Watson, said, it was basically the last words he said to his congregation before he was removed from his congregation by the authorities. And the great objection he said, “Watch. If this is the last word that I could say to you, watch.” Don’t be ignorant. Don’t be ignorant to the reality of spiritual warfare. Don’t let your guard down. Do not trifle with sin. “Let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”
Love the law. Keep close to Christ. Watch out for the evil one.
Number four, lastly – remember your witness. Verse 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.” And what John is saying is it matters how you live and what it says about being a follower of Christ and a child of God. What sort of witness is it if we say one thing and practice another? What sort of reputation do we give to our brothers and sisters in Christ, what sort of reputation do we give to Christ Himself if we call ourselves born of God and then fail to practice righteousness and fail to love our brothers and sisters in Christ? Our lives and how we fight sin, it has an accountability to one another and a witness to the watching world.
So love the law, keep close to Christ, watch out for the evil one, and remember your witness as you put away sin and practice righteousness. “Beloved, we are children of God. We are God’s children now. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself.” Jesus told a story, a parable, in Luke chapter 12. It was about these men who were waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast. And they were waiting so that they could open the door when he came and knocked. And Jesus said, “Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.” You see, we have received this great love of God, we have this great hope of glory, now let’s find ourselves awake and ready and watching when He comes. And Jesus says this, “Truly I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and He will come and serve them.” That’s more than I can take in, but that’s the hope of glory that we have before us. Let’s now live and be ready to do what He calls us to do, when He calls us to do it, as He calls us to do it, for His glory and for our own good and joy. Let’s pray.
Our Father, we praise You and give You thanks for Your great love and for the great hope that we have in Christ. Would You help us to watch and to be ready and to live in a way that would bring You honor and glory and that would demonstrate the goodness of Your transforming grace in all of our lives. We pray all of this in Jesus’ name, amen.