I John 3:3-10

The children of God & the children of the devil

Would you open your Bibles to…

Pray

Intro

√ New section of 1^st John!

You'll remember that John's letter has two main sections…

The tests of true fellowship Chapter 1:1 - 2:27

The tests of true sonship Chapter 3:1 - 4:19

So, we continue the second section in which John shares with us the distinction between the…

Child of God

Child of the devil

Ap. Discernment needed in the Last Days!

The Bible is very clear that spiritual deception would be one of the marks of the Last Days forming the foundation for the false religious system of the Antichrist.

The nature of God's children (vs. 3-6)

1Jo 3:3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

1Jo 3:4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

1Jo 3:5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.

1Jo 3:6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

√ The nature of God's children

You’ll remember that John has two main purposes for which he is writing this letter to Christians…

To encourage them in their faith

To warn them false teachers and their false doctrine

Having just established in vs. 1 & 2 that we who believe in Christ are the children of God…

…he now warns us to be discerning regarding those who claim to be God's children - because not everyone who says that they are a Christian - is one.

How? John tells us to look at their lives…

"Do they walk the talk?"

Ex. Be a fruit inspector – look at the spiritual fruit of their lives!

Jesus warned His disciples to be discerning.

Mat. 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, (that is, they "look" like Christians) but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

Mat. 7:16 “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?

Mat. 7:17 “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

Mat. 7:18 “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

Mat. 7:19 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Mat. 7:20 “Therefore by their fruits you will know them."

Many Christians (and non-Christians) wrongly believe that we are not supposed to judge other people because Jesus said…

“Judge not, lest you be judged” - Mat. 7:1

What they fail to recognize is the context in which Jesus spoke those words.

Ap. Remember…

"A text without a context is a pretext"

…for excusing sin or coming to a wrong conclusion.

The context of Jesus' message in Matthew 7 is that…

He was rebuking the Pharisees for their hypocrisy because they liked to point out sin in other’s lives while they themselves were greater sinners.

But, read the rest of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 7 and you’ll find that Jesus then exhorted us to judge – but without hypocrisy!

So, we find Jesus teaching us how to judge the spiritual fruit in other peoples lives so that we will not be fooled by the…

False prophet

False teacher

Antichrist

False brethren

…right in the same breath in which He said…

“Judge not, lest you be judged” - Mat. 7:1

That's why context is so important!

Back to the nature of the children of God - what fruit do they have in their lives?

1) They have His heart

The first distinction between the child of God and the child of the devil is found in their heart…

…that is, their motivation in life.

1Jo 3:3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

J.B. Phillips…

1Jo 3:3 Everyone who has at heart a hope like that keeps himself pure, as Christ is pure.

The point is that the child of God has within his/her heart the desire to do what is right so that they might please Jesus.

That doesn’t mean they’re perfect, or sinless, rather that because of their love for Jesus they really want to do what is right.

Ex. The child of God vs. the child of the devil

The child of God looks for ways to avoid sin and temptation and is truly broken if they do sin.

The child of the devil is that person who may claim to be a believer, but is always looking for ways to excuse their sin and is only sorry about being caught.

So, we can discern the child of God by their attitude toward sin.

2) They follow His life style

The second distinction by which we can tell the difference between the child of God and the child of the devil is by their life style…

…is their life marked by righteousness or by sin?

1Jo 3:4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

1Jo 3:5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.

1Jo 3:6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

Note that John tells us in vs. 6 that the distinction between the true child of God and the false is seen by the practice of sin in their life.

“But”, you may be thinking – I still have sin in my life…

…does that mean that I’m not a child of God! I mean – it says right there in vs. 6

“Whoever abides in Him does not sin”

Great observation, but wrong conclusion. You’ll remember that at the beginning of John’s letter he told us that…

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

So, John can’t be telling us that we must manifest a sinless life before we claim to be a child of God. Rather, I believe that John is telling us that the child of God and the child of the devil are discerned by the practice of sin in their life.

Is sin habitual in their life?

Does sin mark their life style?

Once again J.B. Phillips brings this out in his translation of vs. 6…

1Jo. 3:6 The man who lives “in Christ” does not habitually sin. The regular sinner has never seen or known him.

The distinction then between the child of God and the child of the devil is not one of sinlessness…

…both are sinners.

The distinction is that…

The child of God does not practice sin

(make a habit of sin)

The child of the devil practices sin

(habitual sinner)

This is the same thought that Paul teaches in his letters to the Galatians and the Romans (especially Rom. 7 & 8) where we find Paul speaking of the war within him between his flesh and his spirit.

So, we can discern whether or not a person is a child of God by their attitude toward sin and whether or not sin is the practice of their life.

Look for consistent good spiritual fruit.

The nature of Satan's children (vs. 7-10)

1Jo 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.

1Jo 3:8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

1Jo 3:9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

1Jo 3:10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

√ Bad to the bone

John now turns his attention to the false teachers who were trying to infiltrate the church with their false teaching. Note vs. 7…

“Little children, let no one deceive you”

…the deceivers were those antichrists of whom John had warned, who claimed to be Christian, but were not.

John’s instruction for discerning the true nature of a person is really very practical and is summed up in vs. 10…

1Jo 3:10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest (made known or revealed): Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

That is, it doesn’t matter how spiritual a person sounds, or claims to be…

…John says - look at what they actually do! If they practice sin (habitual sinner) – they’re a phony!

Ex. Pot smoking cults

Every once in a while I run into these people who claim to be a Christian and yet are total pot-heads.

They'll try and use a number of scriptures to prove that it’s okay to smoke pot and to justify their sin.

For example…

Ge 1:30 “Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so.

And…

1Tim 4:4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving;

There are a number of problems with their logic.

First of all, the Genesis verse was given before the fall and God’s curse upon the earth. There are many plants that exist today that are harmful to human beings that are here as a result of the curse - never intended for human consumption.

The second problem with their logic is that if we are to abandon reason and simply follow their logic to justify eating (or smoking) any green plant - does that mean it would be smart to eat or smoke poison ivy?

Obviously not! There are many things in this world that are not healthy or good for us to partake of.

Thirdly, the Bible specifically identifies drug use as a work of flesh (Gal. 5:20 - "sorcery" is the Greek word "pharmakia"). Drug use related to sorcery and witchcraft because of its mind altering characteristics.

Ex. Dakota Indian's use of Peyote in the Sun Dance and vision quest.

Use of Marijuana & alcohol by voodoo priests.

Yet, in total disregard for the scriptures these people try to justify their sinful behavior by taking scripture out of context and ignoring those verses which directly contradict their view.

So, John tells us that we’re to use our brains – that good ole common sense that He placed within us. He says…

…don't be fooled by smooth talkers - take a look at how they live.

If they're a child of God then you'll know it because they practice righteousness.

If they're a child of the devil then you'll know it because they practice sin!

Bottom line is that the child of the devil is known by the sin in their life. They act just like the devil does because they have his nature!

Close

√ Don't be fooled!

There are many people today who claim to be a child of God. Many of them even have a very convincing handle on the Bible!

Yet, we must take God's warning to heart and recognize that not everyone who claims to be a Christian is one.

Corrie Ten Boom's father

"Just because you find a mouse in the cookie jar doesn't make the mouse a cookie!"

Make sure that they…

"Walk the talk"