Salvation Means Conversion
Truth Taught- The Christian not only experiences a changed status but also a changed life
In our human fallen nature, there is the temptation to listen to other people rather than listen to God in His Word. Our interests are sometimes piqued by some new idea or thought. This is why the internet is so successful.
This is exactly the issue when the Apostle John writes this letter or preaches this sermon to his Church. There were opponents of truth teaching, starting and stirring up false ideas about Jesus and about what the Christian life is and what it looks like.
If you remember these false teachers have been called secessionists because they left John’s Church. It’s important for us to remember what they were teaching that was not in line with God’s Word and why their teaching may have been attractive to some within the Church. They were teaching false ideas about the person of Christ, that He was not fully divine nor fully human and they were teaching that one’s faith changes his status but does not change how he lives.
John labels these opponents of the Gospel and of true theology and those who deny many things about Christ as Anti-Christs.
1 John 2:18–23 (ESV)
18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
John writes that he knew who these trouble makers were and he desires that the Church should also see who they are. They were the ones who left John’s Church because they were not really part of them. They also were considered by John to be liars because they deny that Jesus is the Christ. They denied the Father and the Son and were teaching these heresies.
Today in our passage, John shows us that there was something else that they were teaching that was a false doctrine. As we see this, it makes our interpretation of what John writes easier and clearer.
They were teaching that since our righteousness comes from Christ (which is correct) then we have no responsibility to live in righteousness. They were teaching righteousness comes from Christ but their lives were not exhibiting righteousness.
There were those false teachers who came along espousing that they knew God, that they were the possessors of eternal life, even though their lives were characterized by patterns of unbroken sin. They wanted to say that salvation was just a change in status, not nature. It was a change in eternal destination, not desires.
But John is very clear that true believers are transformed in mind and they are transformed in emotion and they are transformed in will. That regeneration, conversion, salvation has such a dramatic effect that one has a new nature, a new disposition, new attitudes, new motives, new longings, new desires, new loves, new hates, new goals and new behavior.
Please Stand:
1 John 3:7–10 (ESV)
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.
1. Those Who are in Christ Are Made New (3:7)
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.
Isn’t it a wonderful truth that Jesus makes us new? We are not the same as we once were. We are new creations in Christ the old has passed away and the new has come. Beloved, this is who we are in Christ. We are not the same as we were before Christ.
John opens with a warning…Do not be deceived. Don’t allow the false teacher who would influence you to think that because we receive Christ’s imputed righteousness that it does not matter how we live. That’s what these Anti-Christs were teaching the people in John’s Church. Our lives and how we live do matter. We must have as our goal, practicing righteousness and teaching others to practice righteousness as well. Moral behavior matters for the Christian.
The caution also is that what John is speaking of here is not just doing a few good things but as we have been saved by Christ, we are different than we were before Christ.
I’ve often thought about those who just mimic things they have heard. One example is the standard cry for the Southern Baptist is once saved always saved. That is true but it never gives us a license to sin. We must seek to live righteous and holy lives before God. Since we are saved, we cannot make that a free pass to sin but because we are saved, we must seek to bring glory to God with our lives.
1 John 2:5–6 (ESV)
5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
Here in this earlier verse, John is reminding us that it does matter how we live and our lives must reflect the Gospel and our Savior. Since we are born of Him our lives will begin to change and be more and more like Christ.
Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.
John is not saying we will ever be as righteous as Jesus but we will possess righteousness of the same kind because we are born of Him. Being born of God means we have a little bit of His DNA, if you will.
2. No One Born Again Continues Living in Their Former Life of Sin (3:8-9)
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.
In verse 8 we see that John is showing that the Christian will not continue in their former life of sin and that the one who does claim to be a Christian and yet continues in their former life is really not in Christ but of the devil. The reason is that sin not righteousness marks their lives and sin not righteousness marks the devil’s life.
Here’s Paul’s exhortation for all Christians…
Colossians 3:1–17 (ESV)
3 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Being in Christ and continuing in your former life of sin are incompatible and this scenario is impossible. The reason John gives is that… The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
What works of the devil did Jesus destroy?
The works of the devil are to undo what God made as good. His objective is to first and foremost attack mankind who is made in God’s image. We see his work in the Garden of Eden when he tempted Adam and Eve. Satan’s work is to plunge the human race into sin and destruction.
How then, did Jesus destroy the works of the devil? By our Lord’s atoning sacrifice, He removed sin, guilt and condemnation. Because of Christ, the devil’s accusations against God’s people don’t hold water. Satan can condemn away but none are effective because Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and destroyed, they are.
I pray you understand and live with this truth in mind. Your sins are gone and God’s wrath removed. You are not guilty before God. Listen to me…it does not matter what anyone says or what the devil does or even those times when we may even want to bring those feelings of guilt back to the surface…in Christ you are free.
Because Christ has destroyed the works of the devil, we are now called by God to live differently than we did before we were saved. So, don’t be led astray by those who would tell you that behavior does not matter.
This is exactly what John tells us in verse 9…
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.
Here we see the reason why the Christian cannot continue in their former way of life…he is born of God.
John 3:3–8 (ESV)
3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Being born of God means brought to a new spiritual life by the will of God and through the agency of His Holy Spirit.
The change has taken place because we have the Holy Spirit now residing within us.
God’s seed abides in him
The seed John speaks of here is the Holy Spirit. We are born again through God’s seed. The New Birth is brought about through the work of the Holy Spirit and by the fact that the Holy Spirit remains within us. We are new creations; therefore, we will not continue living our old lives before we were brought from death to life and before we were given the Holy Spirit.
3. Who Are the Children of God? (3:10)
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.
John begins here…in this it is evident. There is clear evidence who are God’s children and who are still in their sins and following their father the devil.
John shows us here two markers of true believers.
-Practices righteousness and does not continue in their old life of sin
And then the second point sets us up for the next section of Scripture.
-Loves their fellow believers
Conclusion:
I am so thankful for you all because I see true marks that your salvation is genuine. I see those who fight for righteousness and seek to do what’s right. I see you making hard choices because what God desires is more important to you than taking the easy way out. I see you going the extra mile and doing what God asks you to do.
I am also thankful for you all because I see you loving one another. Even when there is a cost involved. You truly care for each other and not only want the best for your fellow Church member but you help them. You roll your sleeves up and truly get involved when they need help.
Thank you for your efforts that show who you are.
This text is also a call for the one who does not know Christ. This is the call for the one who is still in their sins and still living in their old life style. For you, come to Christ, repent and believe the Gospel.
Resources Used:
Letters of John by Kruze
1 John by Pierce
1 John by Kistemaker
Words of Blessing
Leave a Reply