Bibles to first John chapter
3 and while you're turning let me make some announcements Shirley
and I'll be gone for a little over a week and next Sunday morning
Sunday night Aaron Greenleaf will be here preaching and Brad's
gonna preach next Wednesday night Gary Sunday morning the 26th
and Brad Sunday night the 26th James, it's been a while, I was
thinking this the other day, it's been a while since you gave
me any of these. Alright, I'm going to start reading in verse
4 down to verse 10. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. And
you know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in
him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth
not, Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness
is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that commiteth sin is of the
devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God was manifest, 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, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth
not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother. First John, and I want to deal with verses three through
10 tonight, or verses seven through 10. Little children, let no man
deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. He that commiteth 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 manifested, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth
not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother." Now we have before us two masters, two natures,
people that are righteous and people that are sinners. It's
the nature that we're dealing with here in these two in these
verses I dealt with tonight. The nature of those who follow
the devil, it's their character, it's their nature to sin. When
this word sinneth, it means sin and keep on sinning and keep
on sinning. And that's what he's talking
about. We have the Lord, the Son of God. That's what he's
called in verse 8. For this purpose, the Son of
God, called the Son of God. And we have the devil. And everyone's
either in Christ, in the Son of God. And as our Lord Jesus
Christ told the Pharisees and those Jews that day said you
are of your father the devil and the works of your father
you do because he was a liar from the beginning he was a murderer
and I tell you what and said his this is he lied and he's
a murderer and he said he's your father Abraham can't be your
father he wouldn't be your father and that's what John is doing
here showing the difference He's done this all the way through
his book, this great contrast. Those who are the children of
God, those who are not. Those who live in sin, those
who don't. Those who know Christ and those who don't. Those that
look for Christ and those who don't. And I either have the
nature of him who sinneth, sins and just keeps on sinning, can't
do anything else but that, or the nature of one who doesn't
sin, as it says here in verse 9. whoso are born of God doth
not commit sin. For his seed remaineth in him,
and watch this, and he cannot sin because he's born of God.
Now how are we going to deal with this? How are we going to
deal with this? Well, you go back up here in verse 4 and look
what our Lord said here. He gave the definition of what
sin is. He gave the definition. Whosoever
committeth sin transgresses also the law. For sin is the transgression
of the law. That's sin defined. You transgress
God's law and that's sin. God's got a law and you transgress
it, you break it. and you you sin now watch what
it says here though that's where everybody's at now we know whatsoever
things the law saith that saith them that are under the law that
every mouth may be stopped and the whole world become guilty
before god and that by the deeds of the law shall no flesh ever
be justified so we're not going to go to the law because the
law's done found us guilty the law's done condemned us the law
knows nothing of mercy And our Lord Jesus Christ, and look what
it says here in verse five. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins. What sins? All them transgressions
of the law. Everything that we ever did.
And you know, our Lord Jesus Christ took care of our sins
before he, you know, 2000 years ago. Our sins was taken care
of. Our Lord Jesus Christ put them
away. And look what He says here now.
And you know that He has manifested to take away our sins. And bless
His name that you know either He did or He didn't. And I believe
He did. And when He takes sins away,
He takes the guilt away, and He takes the condemnation away.
And then look what it says again there in verse five, and in him
is no sin. There's no law, there's no lawlessness
in him. No, no, nothing in him that would
cause him to do nothing but love God and obey God and honor God
and do his will while he's on this earth. Now watch this. And
whosoever abideth in him, now listen to this. He don't keep
on sinning and sinning and sinning. He sinneth not. He stops that
sinning and sinning and sinning. He doesn't sin anymore. He doesn't
go out here and with a high hand against God, sin against God. And watch this. Whosoever sinneth
and continues in sin, lives in sin, has the nature of sin, he
don't know God, he don't know Christ, and he has not the nature
of God in him. Ain't that what he says? He don't
know Him, he ain't seen Him, and don't know Him. He don't
know Him. That's what our Lord said. He
told that woman that was taken in adultery, he says, when he
says, is there any man to condemn you? She said, no man, Lord,
neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Go and believe
what I told you. There's no condemnation in them
that are in Christ. Don't go back out here and go
to your life. I set you free from that. And
here's what he goes on to say. Then he says, little children,
verse seven, little children, let no man deceive you. Deceive
you about what? About law? About sin? About abiding in Christ? Christ
taking away our sin? No sin in Christ? His sinless
humanity? God and man in one person? Let
little children, let no man deceive you. This is the difference between
them that know God and them that don't. He that doeth righteousness
is righteous even as he is righteous. Now let me ask you something,
is it not in your heart to do everything right as much as is
possible in you? To have, I mean actually have
a life that you know you're just in your dealings, you're honest
with men, you're honest with yourself, you're honest with
God, And you go through this life trying by God's blessed
grace to honor Him, not only by what you think of Him, but
how you conduct yourself in this world. you're conscious, whether
anybody knows you're a believer or not, you are conscious that
you are. And in any dealings you have,
you're going to be righteous in that deal. The scripture said,
a man will swear to his own hurt. A righteous man will swear to
his own hurt. An unconverted man won't do that,
but a righteous man will do that. And that's what he says, a man
that's born of God, he does righteousness. He's honest, he's just, and he's
upright in his dealings in this world. You can take him at his
word. They used to say that a man used
to be able to borrow money. They say especially Methodists
could do it back years and years and years ago. You could go to
a bank and borrow money on your handshake. Now whether that's
true or not, I don't know. I know they ain't gonna let me
have none on my handshake. They will with John Hancock maybe,
but what I'm saying is that men can have such a character that
people will say whatever he says. That's exactly the way it is.
He would never mistreat you under any circumstance. He's honest
in everything he does. And that's what he's saying here.
The man who does righteousness is righteous because Christ is
righteous. And he's not acting righteous
in order to get the righteousness of Christ. He does it because
Christ has made him righteous. He's not doing it in order to
get anything from God. He's doing it because God's already
done something for him. That's the difference. God done
it for us. And I tell you what, and then
about who, it said, Oh my, even as he is righteous, You know,
that's where we now listen, there's not a believer in this building
not a believer I know that would never ever claim a righteousness
of their own though They want to honor God by their character
and their conduct But I do know this that the only righteousness
that they look to for their acceptance before God is the Lord Jesus
Christ He is righteous. He is righteous And I want to
say this, how can you do righteousness without a righteous nature, without
a new nature? God's got to give you a new nature.
He's got to do something for you in your heart. And if he
don't do that, I don't care what you do, it won't ever be accepted
of God. Even the plowing of the wicked is an abomination in God's
sight. Why would a man out here plowing
his field and doing his work in his field, why would that
be an abomination in God's sight? He's not doing it for God. He's
doing it for himself, for his selfish ends and to do what he
can do to make himself better in this world and more profitable
in this world. And our whole reason for living
in this world is to honor and glorify God. And oh my, and look
what he goes on to say here now, in verse eight. He that commiteth
sin is of the devil. The devil sinneth and lied from
the very beginning. You know where the first lie
he told? It was in the Garden of Eden,
he told it. and overthrew our mother Eve.
And He murdered our first parents. He brought death upon them. And
then not only that, but beloved, those that follow Him are just
like Him. Now I'm not saying that's what
our Lord, that's what John says here. He said, Oh my, he that
commit a sin is of the devil. Ain't that what it says? For
the devil sinneth from the beginning. Never is a thing. And what he's
saying is that man is so depraved. Oh, George Whitefield, you say
this, that a man unconverted is half beast and half devil.
And that's what he said here. He, the devil, sinned from the
beginning. And if you are, he's your master,
then you can't do anything but what he does. You can't do nothing
but sin. You can't do nothing but lie.
You can't do, you got murder in your heart. You got murder
in your mind. Everything about you is sin. And God says that
you commit sin. And that's what he calls it.
And he said your father's the devil. Look over in Luke 11,
22 with me. Let's look at this just a minute.
It's like the strong man armed. It's like the strong man armed.
Luke 11, 22. And I'll tell you, he that committeth
sin is of the devil. And oh my, he's like the strong
man armed. Our Lord Jesus Christ says this,
in verse 21, excuse me. Luke 11, 21. When a strong man
armed keepeth his palace, because they said that he was casting
out devils by the devil. But if I with the finger cast
out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God's come upon you. And he
uses this illustration about the kingdom of God coming on
you. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods
are in peace. Who's his goods? Well, right
down here, it talks about that unclean spirits going out of
a man. And I tell you what, he said he's the strong man armed.
And what is he armed with? He's armed with lies. Lies about
God, lies about yourself. Armed with tradition, armed with
deceit, armed with religion. These fellows are religious as
can tell our Lord Jesus Christ that you have base above the
devil. And I tell you, the strong man armed, he uses law, he uses
morality, he uses works. He'll tell you there's no heaven,
there's no hell. I've seen some people bragging
the other day about they believe in evolution, and they just said
some other things that was ugly that they didn't believe. And
then the worst lie that he tells you and makes you believe is
this, he keeps a strong man armed, he keeps all of his goods, and
that's his goods is his people. He says, you are God. You've got a divine spark in
you. You're such a fine person that,
like that thing said here, oh my, do you believe in God? He
believes in you. I tell you, there's only one
person that God ever put all of His eggs in one basket, and
that's in His blessed Son. He's never ever looked to any
member of the human race for anything. He looked to His Son
for everything. And I tell you what, if He didn't
do that, and look what He says, when a strong man arm keeps his
palace, his goods are in peace. They're at peace. They're happy
right where they're at. But when a stronger than he shall
come upon him, somebody a lot stronger, and overcome of him,
he taketh from him all of his armor, and all that armor that
I just mentioned to you, lies, deceit, tradition, religion,
morality, and law, he taketh from him his armor, all the things
that he kept all these, and he trusted, and he divided, he spoils,
and oh my, And this is exactly what happens when folks get religion.
In verse 24, when the unclean spirit's going out of a man,
he's running around through dry places, he ain't got the Holy
Spirit in him. His heart's dry, his head's dry,
his tears are dry, everything about him's dry. Seeking rest,
he's trying to find a place to rest. He goes to church, gets
him a cross, gets him a Bible with a bunch of pictures of Jesus
in it. And he can't find any rest, nowhere. No, he said, I'll
tell you what I'll do. I'll go back where I was before.
I'll go right back to the house I dwelt in. And when he cometh,
that he find it swept and garnished. Oh, my. And he goes in there
and he comes back out and takes seven spirits more wicked than
himself. Oh, my. The Lord Jesus Christ,
He's that strong man armed. Now, let's back over in John
3. Now, so you know who that committed
sin is of the devil. That's why Timothy said to Paul
told Timothy said, be gentle, have to teach, perhaps God will
enable you to help them recover themselves from the snares of
the temple, snares of the temple. And look what happens now in
verse last part of verse eight, for this purpose, for this purpose,
the son of God was manifested two way. His manifest take away
our sins and what's this? And the Son of God was manifested
that he might destroy the works of the devil. Now what's the
works of the devil? The devil had two works as far
as I can tell according to the scripture. He brought sin into
the Garden of Eden and destroyed our parents. The second work
is death. He had, and our Lord Jesus Christ,
he came and destroyed his work. Didn't destroy him, destroyed
his work. And what is it, what our Lord Jesus Christ Destroyed
sin he was a sinner from the beginning. He sinned from the
beginning Christ destroyed Sin, I mean destroyed it not for everybody
But he destroyed it for all of his elect him when you destroy
something. There's nothing left he destroyed sin how by his death
on the cross by Sacrificing himself by his blood shedding and not
only that but he destroyed death. He went to death itself and was
dead and he went in the tomb and he came out of the tomb by
himself and he perfumed the tomb so that we don't fear death anymore
because we're not going to die like men die. Christ brought
eternal life and he destroyed him who had the power over death.
Now I mean death is, that's why I said, oh death where's your
sting? You ain't got one. It's like, you know, you get
your wasp and take the sting out of him. You let it crawl
all over you. It can't hurt you. And that's
the way death is. Death has got a sting to it for
everybody's not in Christ. But it don't have no sting for
us. Christ destroyed. When he said on the cross, it
is finished. Sin was finished. Death was finished. And when he come out of that
tomb, sin was gone. Death was vanquished. And that's
why we say that when somebody dies physically, what do we say
about them if they're a believer? Oh, I'd like to be where they
are. Can you imagine what it's like for them right now? Your
daddy's been gone, what, 18 years, 19 years? You know what, he ain't
been there in the snap of a finger. You know what he's doing? Do
you have any idea what he's doing right now? Huh? Oh, he had to
go through this fleshly death, but life, we have life. Christ gives us life. And oh
my, he destroyed sin. And when our Lord Jesus Christ
said it's finished, death was defeated, he said on his girdle,
over in Roman Revelations chapter 2, I believe it's 2, where he
says he has on his girdle the keys of hell and the keys of
death. And oh, look what else it says
here now. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit. Our Lord
destroyed the works of the devil. Didn't destroy the devil, destroyed
his works. Devil can't make us sin anymore.
You know, people say, well, the devil made me do it. The devil,
he can't make us do anything anymore. And look what it says
here. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot
sin because he's born of God. Now it says here, he doeth not
commit sin, he that is born of God. And he cannot sin, he that
is born of God. Now let me ask you three or four
questions. Is this teaching sinless perfection? When we read there
that we cannot sin, and we don't commit sin, when we know in and
of ourselves that we have sinned, We know that, but here it says
we don't commit it and we cannot. Does that mean that this teaches
us sinless perfection? That we will attain a place in
this world where we cannot sin anymore if we attain to a certain
state? Is that what that's teaching? If that's so, then it doesn't
mean that everybody that's born of God does not commit sin. That
just means there's certain Christians who live a certain high bed,
so good, they don't sin. Does it teach here that we are
not to commit certain acts of sin? If we won't commit certain
acts of sin, that means we do not sin and cannot sin if we
just don't do certain acts. Does it mean that we have to
wait till we get to glory before we cannot sin? We gotta wait
till we get into heaven itself before we cannot see it? No.
No, here's the key to this. Being born of God. Being born
of God. Look in 1 John 5, in verse He talks here about being born
of God two places. 1 John 5 verse 1, Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. If you believe that He
is who He said He is and He done what He said He did, He's born
of God. You can't believe on Jesus Christ
without being born of God. Not born of the will of man,
not born of flesh, not born of man, born of God. And look what
He says down in verse 4, For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world, and this is the victor that overcometh
the world, even our faith." You can't do that without being born
of God, and so the key here is being born of God. And when it
talks about His seed remaineth in Him, our Lord Jesus Christ
was given a people, and it talks about us being His seed. and
the seed of Christ, the seed of Christ being in us. Now, what
in the world is a seed for? To bring forth life. The seed
brings forth life. And I tell you, our Lord Jesus
Christ, and look over here with me in 2 Peter, I mean, excuse
me, 1 Peter chapter 1. You know, we're made partakers
of the divine nature. And I heard a fellow preaching
today and all he said was is that means is that we have fellowship
with God. We're not we're not partakers
of the divine nature because we as partaker of the divine
nature that make us divine. I don't know how you could come
to that conclusion. We're just made partakers. God's great enough
and glorious enough that he can make us partake of his nature.
We partake of Adam's nature. Why can't we partake of not God's
nature in the new birth? And so here he goes. He says
this in verse 22. Seeing you have purified your
souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, by the Spirit of
God, unto unfeigned, not hypocritical, not put on love of the brethren,
see that you one love one another with a pure heart fervently.
Now listen to this. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed. That's what we are. Our Lord
Jesus said, except a man be born of the Spirit, he can't enter
the Kingdom of God, he can't see it. And that that's born
of the Spirit is Spirit. That that's born of the flesh
is flesh. And you can't mix the two. It's like grace and works,
you can't mix them. And if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of His. Now watch this now. Being born
again, not of corruptible, listen, but of incorruptible. An incorruptible
seed. But what is that incorruptible
seed? The Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Oh,
the Word of the Lord, in verse 25, endureth forever, and this
is the Word by the Gospels preached unto you. You see, it tells here,
He said, He cannot sin. He cannot sin, in verse 9, because
He's born of God. The seed of Christ is in us.
Now, if we had it in our power, I believe, I could speak for
everybody, We would never sin. We would never think of sin.
We'd never sin ever again if we had it in our power. We'd
never think sin, never feel sin, never do sin if we had it in
our power right now to do that. And this is the thing that in
Christ, in Christ, we cannot sin because Christ himself is
in us. And Christ cannot sin. And that
seed of Christ remains in us. And I'm telling you something
now. God, when He looks at us, He don't look at Donny Bell as
Donny Bell. He don't look at Donny Bell as
a preacher. He don't look at Donny Bell as
a pastor. He don't look to Donny Bell like
he's a husband. He don't look to Donny Bell but
one way, and that's through His blessed Son and Him alone. If
He'd ever viewed me outside of Christ, I'd be gone that quick.
Snap your fingers and I'd be gone. But God views me just like,
a son cannot sin when he says to me, you cannot sin. My Son
is righteous, you're righteous. My Son is perfect, you're perfect.
And how do we not commit sin? Because His seed, and it says,
ever seed after His own kind. And if we have the seed of Christ
in us, that's after its own kind. We're like, we're Christians.
That's why we're called Christians. That's why we're called believers.
That's why we're saved by God's blessed grace. And how do we
know? We're designed to be as pure
as He is. And I'll tell you something else
we do to know that Christ is in us. We agree with Him in every
way. We agree with the Law of God.
It's holy, just, and good. I have nothing against the Law.
You know why? Because Christ saved me from
my sins and my transgressions, and in Him is no sin. If I'm
in Him, there's no sin. We agree just like our Master
do. We're not lawless people. We're
not lawless people. And He was manifested to take
away our sins, and there's no sin in Him. And here's another
reason why in verse 6 it says we abide in Him. That means we're
in union with Him. One with Him. And I'm going to
give you a couple things and then I'll quit. Look with me
in Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians
chapter 2. Some of you have worked hard
today. And when it abides in Him means
that we're in union with Him. We live in Him. We dwell in Him. He dwells in us. That's what
our Lord Jesus Christ said. We abide in the vine. The vine. We're branches. He's the vine.
We live in it. We live by Him. Look what is
said here in Ephesians 2 in verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love were with it loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, now listen to this, hath quickened us together with
Christ. By grace are you saved. Now watch
verse six, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Do you get that together,
together, together? You know what he did? We did.
That's how close this union is of his. And you know, in Ephesians
5 says this, we are members of his body, bone of his bone, flesh
of his flesh. And he was manifested to take
away our sins. He that commit a sin, that's
what he says in this in verse 10, in this the children of God
are manifest and the children of the devil. The devil sinneth
from the beginning. Whoever sinneth, don't know God,
don't know Christ. It's the character. It's the
character of the person that he's dealing with. He just cannot
do nothing but sin. And I'm going to give you one
last scripture and I'm done. Ephesians 1 Corinthians 1.30.
1 Corinthians 1.30. You know, this is the way God
sees us. You know, and that's where faith
comes in. That's where faith comes in.
And the Holy Spirit comes in and bears witness to these wonderful
things. 1 Corinthians 1.30. That's where
faith comes in. And the Holy Spirit in us. He
teaches us these things. He bears witness to these things.
Now look what it said here in 1 Corinthians 1.30. But of Him. Of who? God. But of God. Of God. Are you in Christ Jesus? That's how you get in Christ.
God puts you in Christ. God put us in Christ from the
foundation of the world, put us in Christ on the cross, was
crucified with Him, put us with Christ when He come and regenerated
us. I mean, every step of the way,
He put us in Christ. And then what God made Christ
unto us is this wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Everything we need, God made
it, put us in Christ, and gave us. Now, here's the reason why
I did it in verse 31, and I love this. According as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Oh, yes. Now you can say what
you want to, but the only way that we cannot commit sin and
cannot sin is because we're born of God and Christ remains in
us. And that's why Paul told the
Colossians, this is the mystery that has been hid from generations,
generations, but it's now made manifest to you. What is it?
Christ in you, the hope of glory. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, we thank you for your abundant grace.
Thank you for the truth as it is in Christ. Lord, this treasure
is in such an earthen vessel, but yet it's a treasure. It's
a treasure. Oh, what a treasure it is. It's
a treasure to you. It's a treasure to us. And oh,
we love this treasure, this precious Christ, this blessed gospel,
the blessed sovereign grace of God in Christ. Thank you. Thank
you for putting us in Christ. Thank you for regarding us as
your children, your sons. Thank you for teaching us these
blessed, blessed truths. Bring glory to yourself through
us. Again, we pray for those who are not with us through sickness.
We ask for your great and abundant mercy and strength in the hand
upon them. For Christ's sake. Amen. Amen.