1 John 3:1-10 - See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him. 2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. 4 Everyone who commits sin practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he was revealed so that he might take away sins,, and there is no sin in him. 6 Everyone who remains in him does not sin;,everyone who sins has not seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the devil’s works. 9 Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because his seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God. 10 This is how God’s children and the devil’s children become obvious. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister.
vv. 1-3“Born of God” – Speaks of one inheriting a certain nature. It was common in Ancient cultures to believe that a person’s character and behaviour was given to them by the seed of their father.
· Galatians 4:4-7 - When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then God has made you an heir.
“We are now what we will become later”
· John 15:18-19 - “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.
Our hope that we will see Christ one day drives our desire to live like Christ today.
vv. 4-10v. 6 - Everyone who remains in him does not sin;, everyone who sins has not seen him or known him.So the Question is…· Do you remain in sin?· Do you remain in the Son?“Remain” – Abide -> The key to remaining is actually connected to returning. We remain by returning to the source. If we find ourselves always turning to something outside of Christ when things get tough, then we are remaining in sin. If we find ourselves turning towards Christ when we sin or when things get difficult, then we are remaining in Jesus.
Where we turn reveals our devotion.
Howard Marshall –“The best counsel for a person who is faced by temptation to sin may well not be “Don’t do it,” which directs the person’s mind toward the temptation itself, but rather, “Live in Christ” which turns the person’s attention positively toward His Savior and diverts it from the temptation.”v. 9 - Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because his seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God.
“Seed” – σπέρμα sperma – The seed that God deposits into our lives is the Holy Spirit. It is the person of the Holy Spirit in us that will…