Turn to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. Let me get the right set of notes
out. Let me read starting in verse
7. through verse 13. And we'll pray. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as Christ is righteous. He that committeth
sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning.
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might
destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot
sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are
manifest, revealed, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth
not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother. For this is the message that you have heard from the
beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who
was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew
he him, because his own works were evil, and his brother's
righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the
world hate you. Let's pray. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Our Father, we pray for the spirit
of worship, the spirit of understanding. Teach us by thy spirit. Enable
me to handle thy word, this morning, to rightly divide it. Lord, send
Thy Word forth this morning in power to the heart of Your children.
Instruct us. Our Father, we thank You for
all Your mercies. Thank You for all the temporal blessings. We
recognize that all that we have, our Heavenly Father has given
to us. And we thank You for it. Most of all, we thank You for
the Lord Jesus Christ. All that we need to stand in
Your presence complete, we have in Him. And we thank you for
it. Help us this morning. Be with
us. In Christ's name we pray, and
amen. I titled this lesson, Who is
your father? Who is your father? Now John
starts out here and he says, let no man deceive you. Many false preachers have gone
out into the world. That's what John has told us.
That's why John says in chapter 4, try the spirits. He calls
them spirits. Because whoever's standing here
is not standing here alone. I'm telling you. You're either
of Satan or you're of God. Now, it's either the Spirit of
God, the Holy Spirit, or it's the Spirit of Satan. That's why
he said, try the spirits, whether they be of God. Not everyone
carrying a Bible is telling the truth. Paul said they will come
preaching another Jesus, another gospel. And so we are to listen,
and we are to take the word of God, and we are to try what they
are saying. That's how we try the spirits.
We try it with the word of God. I remember when I first heard
Henry preach the Gospel, I heard him on television, and I knew.
I kept telling someone where I was going at that time. I said, there's something missing.
I just knew there was something missing, but I couldn't put my
finger on it. Christ was missing. That's exactly what was missing.
And when I heard him preaching, I told Henry, I said, what you
said matched what I was reading. It came together like a puzzle.
And I could see. I could understand. And I understood
this. Christ was the missing note.
He was the one missing. And that's why John says, let
no man deceive you. Don't fall for everything now.
Don't just fall for everything because a man takes a Bible and
stands in a pulpit. And their deception will be about
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. They will use His
name, but they will not preach His true character as God and
as man. They'll not do it. Look over
in 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11. I'll tell you the verse when I get there. Look in verse 13. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ, claiming to be apostles of Christ, claiming to be called
of God to preach. A man told me a few years ago,
he said, God's called me to preach. I said, no, he hasn't. I told
him, I said, no, he hasn't. And I know you're gonna think,
well, how could you be so sure? Because the gospel, which is
not the gospel, but what he claimed to preach was not the gospel,
and God doesn't call men to preach a lie. And I told him that. I
said, God doesn't call men to preach what you're gonna preach.
I said, God didn't call you to preach. And he got, well, he
got upset. He naturally got upset about
it, but that man has never stepped in a pulpit since. God did not
call him to preach. He doesn't know the gospel. Transforming
themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, don't
be surprised at this, for Satan himself is transformed into an
angel of light. You know, when you think of wickedness
and sin, you think of all the stuff that goes on out there
in the world, there's more wickedness, there's more sin that goes on
in a pulpit than any dive in this world. Any. Satan transforms
himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers,
listen, of righteousness, self-righteousness, not the righteousness of Christ.
They do not preach the righteousness of Jesus Christ. It's self-righteousness.
Don't you let God save you. If you take the first step, God
will do the rest. That's ministers of self-righteousness, whose
end shall be according to their works. So John says, let no man
deceive you. Try the spirits. Be careful. Be like the Bereans. Go home
and search the Scriptures and see if these things be so. Now,
he's going to give us the evidence here of sonship. He says, let
no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous. That's why He does righteousness.
He is righteous even as Jesus Christ is righteous. Every believer
here and every believer in this world is as righteous as Jesus
Christ. And every believer has a nature,
and this is what we're going to deal with, because that's
what this deals with. It deals with the nature of God's
children, And the nature of the devil is going to deal with that. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous. A tree is known by its fruit. An apple tree produces apples,
doesn't it? That's all it ever produces,
apples. That's all it ever produces. A person who is born of God is
righteous. He has a righteous nature. He
has a holy nature. Therefore, He does righteousness.
This lesson is about the children of God and the children of the
devil. The new man and the old man and
the difference between them. There's a difference. There's
a difference. The children of God are born
of God. Now, you go back to Genesis and
it says, like beget like, doesn't it? Every time he talks about
the animals, they beget after their own kind. And that which
is born of God is like God. And that which is born of the
devil, those who are the children of the devil are like him. He
said, you're like your father the devil. So the children of
God are born of God. God is their father. Our Lord
said to His disciples, when you pray, pray, our Father. That's why He's not titled this,
who is your Father? Our Father which art in heaven.
Christ said, I go to my Father and your Father. Those born of God are made partakers
of the divine nature. Turn over to 2 Peter. over in 2 Peter 1. In 2 Peter 1, look in verse 4. "...whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by
these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped
the corruption that is in the world through lust, When we are
born of God, when a sinner is born of God, he is a partaker
of the divine nature. He's like his father, isn't he? He's like his father. They truly
have a nature that is holy, it is righteous, and that new
nature that's born of God does not sin. It can't. Look in verse 9. We'll get to
this in a minute. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin.
I know the popular exposition on that is that it doesn't practice
sin, it doesn't go into sin, it doesn't live in sin, and there's
a truth to that. But that's not what it's saying.
That's not what it's saying. Whosoever is born of God does
not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot
sin. because he is born of God. We truly have a nature that is
holy and righteous. The child of God is truly righteous. Now, our experience, our experience
is this. The reason that it's hard to
grasp is because of what we live with daily, what we live with
daily. Turn over to Romans chapter 7. Now listen to this, here is a
man that's born of God, the Apostle Paul, he's born of God. And this
is his experience, now listen, and this is our experience. This
is our experience. When you read this, you can identify
Paul. Just like when you read Psalm
51, that Psalm of repentance of David, you can identify David.
You can just feel it. In verse 14, for we know that
the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin by nature. That which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not.
But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that is good. Now then, it is no more
I that do it, but sin. It is a nature, it is that old
Adamic nature in me that I still have. but sin that dwelleth in me."
It's that wretched nature I have. For I know that it's in me, that
it's in my flesh, and he clarifies this, because the Holy Spirit
is in us. Dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good, I find not. I find not. For the good that I would do,
for the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would
not, that I do. Now if I do that, I would not,
it is no more I that do it, but sin. The nature of sin, that
old Adamic nature of sin that dwells in me. I find then a law,
a principle, that when I would do good, evil is present with
me, it always rises up. When I would do good, that nature
that's born of God would do good. It does nothing
but good. But when I would do good, when's that? When I would
pray. I would stand here and preach.
I would do good, I could stand here and preach without sin. When I would do good, when I
would worship God, He said, well, when I would do good, Now if I do that, I would not.
It's no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find
then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man."
Who's that inward man? It's that man born of God. That's
who that inward man is. I delight in the law of God after
the inward man. But I see another law in my members
What was it James said that warred in our members? Where'd that
warfare come from, he says, in our members? It's that old nature.
Warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members. There's a struggle
going on here. There's a civil war going on
here. There's a civil war going on in every person that's born
of God. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord." That's who. That's who's going to deliver
me from this warfare. That's who's going to deliver
me from this indwelling sin, this corrupt nature that I was
born with. That's our experience, isn't
it? That's our experience. What man is that? He says, Paul
said in Romans 7, 21, I delight in the law, the law of God, the
word of God after the inward man. What man is that? It's that
new man. It's that new nature. That's
born of God. It wasn't there before. It was
not there before. That old man never delights in
God's Word. He never delights in anything
that's of God. Never. And this new man does righteousness
in Christ, and Christ is that new man's righteousness. He is
my righteousness. It's the nature of Christ, isn't
it? That new man. That's what he's made up of.
And the only thing the unregenerate can do is sin. For he has only
an evil nature. Look in verse 8. He that committeth sin is of
the devil. For the devil sinneth from the
beginning, that's all he can do. He only has that one evil
nature. For this purpose the Son of God
was manifested, revealed, that he might destroy the works of
the devil. Those who are not born of God,
and the scripture teaches us here, and we'll see this down
in verse 12. Their father, the scripture says their father is
the devil. That's a powerful statement,
isn't it? That's a powerful, powerful statement. Jacob and
Esau had the same parents, grew up in the same house, heard the
same message. One was of the nature of the
devil and the other was born of God, partaker of the divine
nature. Everyone that's not born of God,
John is saying here, has a devil as his father. Those Pharisees
outwardly were the best people in town, weren't they? They were
the ones who were supposed to be the law-abiding citizens. They were the ones who were supposed
to keep the ceremonies. They were at the worship service.
They were there. They were reading the Word of
God every day. They were constantly doing that. And Christ said to
them, you are of your father, the devil. They said, we have
one Father, even God. And Christ said, no, no. You're
of your father, the devil. And the works of your father,
you will do. You will do. No one belongs to themselves.
No man's an island. You've heard that before. No
man's an island. No man, no woman is on neutral ground. Sometime
before you die, you gotta make a choice. No. No one belongs to themselves.
We either belong to Christ or we belong to the spirit of darkness.
It's one or the other. It's one or the other. We are
not our own. I'm a self-made man. No, you're
not. No, you're not. You'd be shocked who owns you.
Either Christ owns you as his son. Now, I know he owns all. All things are his and all people
are his. But the spirit of darkness, and
those who do not believe the gospel, he said, the devil's
your father. He's your father. And the purpose of the Lord Jesus
Christ coming in the flesh was to destroy the works, he says,
of Satan. To put a final end of sin, to
put a final end of death, which sin brought in, to loose the
prisoner, to set the captive free from the power of Satan
and the power of indwelling sin. Greater is He that is in you
than He that is in the world. You know, at one time, the Scripture
tells us over Colossians 1.13 that we were under the power
of darkness. It ruled us. It controlled us. But now, he said, we have been
translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. How are we translated
into the kingdom of God's Son? How do we come into the kingdom
of God's dear Son? You know how you come into it?
The same way you came into this world, you're born into it. You are not educated into the
kingdom of God. You're born into it, and then
all our children shall be taught of God. All of them, taught of
God. But you can't be taught until
you have life. You can't teach a dead man, can
you? If a person is spiritually dead, he can't hear. He can't
see. He has no spiritual senses. He has no spiritual senses at
all. He has no spiritual discernment. If you're dead, you're dead.
But when God gives life, when you are born into the kingdom
of God, then God instructs and teaches you, and you begin to
learn who God is, who Christ is, and who and what you are.
You begin to learn those things. In verse 9, this verse is very
clear. Those who are born of God And
that new nature does not sin. That is, that nature that's born
of God does not sin. Do I sin? Yes, I sin. And yet I don't. You say, boy,
you sound like you're all messed up. Well, Paul over in chapter
7, he sounds like somebody schizophrenic, doesn't he? It's not like he
had a personality disorder. He didn't. He said warfare is
two people. You remember when Jacob and Esau
was in their mother's womb, what did they do? It says they struggled.
They struggled. Even in that womb, they were
struggling. That's what goes on in the heart of everyone born
of God. There's a real warfare. There's a real struggle. A real
struggle. That new nature that's born of
God, it's holy, it's righteous, and it can't sin. And that old
nature can't do either one. I mean, it can't sin. I mean,
it can't do right at all. It can only sin. And yet, you
know what that is? That's me. That's me. But one day, God's going to take,
and He's crucified that old man, Scripture teaches us. He's crucified
him. And one day, He's going to lay
him in the grave. And he ain't coming out. And
that's the end of it. That would be the final struggle,
the final end of dealing with this matter of sin and this old nature I was born
with. It says here that he can't because
there's no sin in it. It's created in righteousness
and true holiness. Turn over to Ephesians chapter
4. Ephesians chapter 4. I want you
to take what I have said and take the Scriptures and look
at them later on again. Look in verse 24. Let me see. Let me roll back here.
Let's go to 22. That you put off concerning the
former conversation, your former life, the old man. I'm not just
making these words up, they're scriptural language I'm using.
"...which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust." That
old man is corrupt. "...and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which after God
is created." It's a new creation. It's not a renovation. God did
not renovate me. That's what we've been doing
to this house over here. We've been renovating it. Putting
a lot of effort, a lot of work. God does not renovate. It's a
new creation. And it's of God. That you put on the new man.
That you nourish and look after the new man. That's what you're
doing this morning. You're nourishing, you're feeding,
you're here to be fed. You're here to learn. You are here to
be instructed. Which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness. True holiness. He cannot sin because he's born
of God. Why would God give me a new nature that can sin also? That would just give me two natures
now that I've got to deal with that's sinful. Why would He do
that? That which is born of the Spirit,
what does it say over in John chapter 3? that which is born
of the Spirit is Spirit. He's not saying it's spiritual.
He's saying it is Spirit. That's what it is. It's Spirit. This is the difference between
God's children and the children of the devil in verse 10. In
this, the children of God are manifest and the children of
the devil. Whosoever doth not righteousness, You know what
it is to not do righteousness? You know what that really is?
Here it is. Now listen, I'm going to give
it to you just as simple as I can. What it is not to do righteousness? It's not to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Do you know what it is to do
righteousness? It's to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
you say, what must we do to do the works of God? And our Lord
said, this is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom
He has sent. is to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he that does not righteousness is a person who
will not, does not believe on Christ. Has nothing to do with
Him. That's the difference. Here's
the difference between the children of God and the children of the
devil. It's a new birth. It's a new birth. One is born
of God. Now, you can't be born of God
and be the same. Now, I know this. I know you
and I, we sin, and we're very aware of it. We mourn over it. We mourn over it. If you were
not born of God, you wouldn't mourn over it. Did you mourn
over your sin before you heard the Gospel and believed? Did
sin trouble you? It didn't trouble me. You know
what troubled me is I couldn't do what I wanted to do. That's
what troubled me. That's what I found troubling.
I couldn't accomplish, couldn't fulfill the lust of the flesh
that I wanted to fulfill. That was the only struggle I
had, figuring out how to do it without getting in trouble. And here's another evidence of
the children of the devil. He that loveth not his brother, No family love, no fraternal
love. It's not there. Yes, a natural man can love his
wife naturally. He can love his children naturally.
He can do that. He can love the things of this
world naturally. He cannot love God. Darkness hates the light. There is a natural enmity. The
scripture says the carnal mind is enmity against God. You can't,
you cannot have an enmity against somebody and love them at the
same time. Enmity is a strong, strong word. It's a very strong
hatred of somebody. Very strong. A lost man cannot love God, and
he will not love the brethren who are born of God. This is the message, verse 11,
I'll wind this up. This is the message, that we
love one another. Love is an evidence of sonship.
From the beginning, we are to love God with all our heart,
soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourself. That's
what the Lord said. Love is an evidence of sonship.
I got, I think Darwin wrote, put an article in a bulletin
by Darwin, a reader, a good one. Darwin Pruitt. It's an evidence
of sonship. The Lord said to Peter after
he denied him three times, you know why he asked him? You know
why he asked him. Three times. Peter, do you love
me? Do you love me? And Peter said, Lord, you know
all things. Here's the comfort. You know all things. You know
I love you. You know that. I've denied you
three times, yes. David committed adultery, had
the man killed. Did he love God? David could
say, Lord, you know I love you. I have sinned. As Paul said,
oh, wretched man that I am, I'm a wretch. I can't believe God
saved me. I can't believe God had mercy
on me. We're going to see this in Romans 9 here in just a little
bit. He'll have mercy on him, he'll have mercy. And he says here in verse 12,
we are not as Cain. Not as Cain. We're not like Cain
who was of that wicked one who slew his brother. You know, I
think no doubt that there was a family love between Cain and
Abel. But when it came to the Gospel, And when it came to the
fact that God rejected Cain and his offering, and he accepted
Abel and his offering, it made him so mad, so jealous, so angry,
that in a fit of anger, he slew him, he killed him. Killed him
over the gospel. That's what he killed him over,
the gospel. Not as Cain, who was of that
wicked one, and slew his brother, Not as Cain who was of that wicked
one. Let me translate this in another translation. This, I
think, gives us the understanding a little better. We are not as
Cain who took his nature. The Amplified Version in the
Bible says, who took his nature from the wicked one, raised up
in the same house. Adam was his father. And the
only thing he received from Adam was a wicked nature. And where'd
that come from? Satan. But not as Cain, who took his
nature from the wicked one and proved it by killing his brother
instead of loving him. Didn't love him. Not when it
came to the gospel. No, they could talk about nothing
all day. But when it came to talking about the gospel, He
got angry. Well, he got killed, he slew
him. And why did he slay him? Because his nature was of that
evil one, while his brother Abel was righteous, and his nature
was that born of God. Took his nature from God. Our
conduct proves who we are over time. It does, it does. Marvel not my brethren if the
world hates you. Christ said it hated Me before
it hated you. It hated Me before it hated you. Marvel if it doesn't
hate you. Marvel if all men speak well
of you. They hate Me, He said they're going to hate you, so
don't be surprised, don't be startled at all. Who's your Father? That just
struck me when I was reading this. If you're born of God,
God is your Father. And you are like your Father.
You're like your Father. Born of God. Born in the Spirit
of God. Let me see if I can read one
quick Scripture. See if I can find it. I don't have it written
down. I'm thinking I know it. Ezekiel
36 is where I'm thinking it's at. If not, go to Ezekiel 36. Let me read a few scriptures
here, then we'll close with this real quick. I'm going to read from 22 to
31, and that's all I'm going to do is read it. Try to. Therefore say unto the house
of Israel, verse 22, Ezekiel 36, 22. Thus saith the Lord God,
I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my
holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the heathen where
you went. And I'll sanctify my name, my great name, which was
profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned in the midst
of them. And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith
the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their
eyes. Now listen. For I will take you from among
the heathen, that's what God has done for us, and gather you
out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean
from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse
you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I
put within you. And I will take away the stoning
heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
Now listen, now verse 27, listen to this. And I will put My Spirit
within you. I'll give you a new spirit, I'll
create a new spirit in you, and then I'll put My Spirit in you.
Because He's not going to dwell in that old nature, now He ain't
going to do it. and calls you to walk on My statutes, and you
shall keep My judgments and do them. You shall dwell in the
land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be My people and
I'll be your God. I will also save you from all
your uncleannesses. I will call for the corn and
will increase it and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply
the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field, that you
shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.
Then shall you remember your own evil ways, this is repentance
here, and your doings that were not good and shall loathe yourselves
in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Let
me read just a few more. Not for your sakes do I do this.
God didn't save me for my sake, he saved me for Christ's sake.
saith the Lord God, be it known to you, be ashamed to confound
it for your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord
God, in the day that I have cleansed you from all your iniquities,
I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the waste
shall be built, and the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas
it lay desolate in the sight of all that pass by." That's what happens. That's what happens when God
saves a sinner. I'll give you a new heart. David said, give
me a clean heart and a right spirit. I'll give you a new heart
and a right spirit, and then I'll put my spirit within you.
All right.