Verse 9 says that whosoever is
born of God doth not commit sin. For his seed remaineth in him,
and he cannot sin because, here's the reason that he can't sin,
he's born of God. Now how can the Apostle John
say that if we're born of God that we cannot commit sin when
sin is what we are. Now no matter how hard I try
not to sin, I always do. I fail miserably when it comes
to doing righteous, doing what's right, doing what's good. Saved
men and women However, though they sin, grace
has made a difference in their heart. And now they despise and
they hate the sin that so easily besets them. Now, as long as
we live in this body of flesh, dear friends, we're going to
sin. And as one old writer said, how
beastly we are by nature. How often God's saints in this
world, compelled much like John Newton who wrote these words,
if I love, why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly sure can they be worse
who have never, ever heard his name. Many of our doubts and
our fears that we experience in this world regarding our saving
interest in Christ comes from a failure of us to realize that
we as born-again souls live in this world with two natures. Two natures. There are some that
don't believe this, but have they really searched their own
hearts? Are they really honest with themselves
before God Almighty? Two natures is very scriptural,
and they're referred to as the old man and the new man. Now, if you'll turn with me to
Ephesians chapter 4, I want to show you that. Ephesians chapter
4, verse 22. The Apostle Paul says in verse 22
of chapter 4 that, Who's he writing to here? The
believers at Ephesus and all of us that have come to believe
upon the name of Christ. These words are for us. This
letter was written to us just as much as it was written to
this church. He said that you put off concerning
the former conversation, what? The old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lust. and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which after God
is created in righteousness and true holiness. Put off that old
man, put on the new man. The old man is corrupt according
to deceitful lust. The new man, created by God,
in God, and righteousness and true holiness. Galatians 5, you don't have to
turn there. This I say then, walk in the
Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the
flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary one to
the other. So that you cannot Write that
down. Cannot do the things that you
would. These two natures are constantly,
dear friends, at war. The flesh lusting against the
spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. And if we ever truly,
I believe, get a hold of the meaning of this scripture found
back in 1 John, Chapter 3 verse 9 if we truly get hold of the
meaning of this I tell you what it'll open up a whole new meaning
of God's forgiveness to us Believers have been made new creatures
in Christ. That's what Paul wrote in this
Second letter to the Corinthians if any man be in Christ. He's
a new creature Old things passed away behold all things have become
new However, we will never be without motions, thoughts, and
deeds of the old nature that's within us. Now this is something
that you, as a child of God, have experienced. We'll never be completely free
from the horrible, wicked thoughts that we have. the deeds that
we often do, the sin that we experience in this life. And
as children of the living God, we'll hate. We've grown to hate
it, haven't we? We've grown to hate and despise
our sin. And it often causes us to wonder,
to be anxious of the thought, do I really know God? How can
a man that does what I do truly know God Almighty? I say that
I love Christ. I say that He redeemed me and
I have a desire to be more like Him, but I fail miserably. Not
only every once in a while, constantly. But that's why I say if we can
get a hold of the true meaning of verse 9, It has set us free
on some things. We pray for sin's deliverance
in this body of death. There's not a day goes by that
I don't ask God to deliver me from it. Lord, deliver me from
this. A believer wants more than anything
in their life. I'm speaking for you now. I know
it's so. It's no different between any
of us. We want more than anything in life to be rid of that sin
that so easily besets us. And it easily besets us, doesn't
it? We're now born of God. We now pant after holiness. We desire to be like our Lord. and our sin is now very distasteful
to us. Is it not so? Is your sin distasteful
to you? And as the writer of Hebrews
shares, we strive to lay aside every weight with the sin that
so easily that sets us and run with patience the race that is
set before us, Hebrews 12.1. Now we're not, and you hear me
say this often and I say it again, because I need that encouragement. We're not what we want to be
and what we desire to be, but by God's grace we sure ain't
what we once were. Something changed. Not much outwardly,
and maybe not much inwardly, but I know this, our desire,
our want to, is different than it once was. By God's grace, we're not saying we're getting
better, but we're sure saying we want to. And Paul, writing as a saved
and redeemed man in Romans 7, which we looked at in our Sunday
school hour this past week, he endeavors to describe and explain
that civil war that went on within his members. And I'll paraphrase. He said, what I shouldn't do
and what I don't want to do, I do. I wind up doing it. And what I should do and what
I desire to do, I wind up not doing it. Now that's a paraphrase,
but that's pretty much what he said, isn't it? And every true
child of God knows something about this. You've experienced
it. You've said, I'm not going to
do that anymore, just to wind up doing it again and again. I guess one of the most used
words in my vocabulary anymore are why. Why did I do that? Why did I say that? Why did I
think that? And the Apostle Paul says concerning
this very thing, he said, it's no more I that do it. Seemed like I'm the one that
said it. I'm the one that thought it. I'm the one that did it.
No more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. And he said,
I know that in me, that's in my flesh dwells no good thing. He makes a distinguishing difference
from a man's flesh and a man's spirit. I know that in me dwells
no good thing for the will the will is present. There's something
that God has instilled in my heart to do right. And that will
is present, but how to perform that which is good, I don't find
it, he said. I find it not. And the good that
I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not,
that I do. And he says again, Now, if I do that
I would not, it is no more I that do it. He repeats it again. It's
no more I that do it. You see, he's speaking of that
new nature that God has put within him. That's what he's talking
about, no more I. That's the real him. That's the
part of him that stands before God Almighty, perfectly righteous
and holy, sanctified, set apart in perfection. That's the part
he's talking about. No more I that do it, but that
sin, that old man that dwelleth in me. And I don't know, it seems
to me that we always consider verse 9 in somewhat of an outward
sense. We read that and it says that
a believer, One that's born of God doth not commit sin. And we immediately rush to the
conclusion of living some kind of a perfect, holy, righteous
life in this flesh. It's not going to happen. Now,
shall we continue in sin and grace, bam, bam? God forbid.
That's not what we're talking about. And that's not what John's
talking about. And that's not what Paul's talking
about. In every believer, there are
two natures. They're often called in Scripture,
sin, the old nature, and righteousness, the new. They're often referred
to as two men, the old man, Adam, and the new man, Christ. Often described as two principles,
sin and holiness, and these two constantly oppose one another. This fact is plainly declared
in Scripture, is it not? The old man Adam can never be
sanctified. And the new man, created in righteousness
and true holiness, Christ in you, the hope of glory, cannot
sin. Well, that almost sounds contradictory. It doesn't at all. We don't understand
it, and we won't be able to with these minds of enmity that we
have. Just won't. But here, deep within,
I know that's so. I know that's so. Christ in you,
the hope of glory, cannot sin. And may we, may God teach us
by His grace that there's a part of me and a part of you that new nature, that new man,
that true holiness and righteousness that we have in Christ is perfect
before God Almighty. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin. Notice this, I looked at this
and I believe I'm reading this right.
Whosoever is born of God, look at it again with me, doth not
commit sin for his seed. Now whose seed is that talking
about? That's talking about God's seed.
I believe who is Christ. Is he not the seed? Remaineth
in him. Now that's talking about the
believer. Two different people here. His seed in him, the believer. And he cannot sin because he's
born of God. That's right. God's seed is now my seed. And his seed remains, isn't that
what it says? Remaineth in him. And it always remains in him
until he leaves this life of flesh. God's seed is my seed. Christ
is mine. Glory, glory, Christ is mine. He can't sin and He can't ever
be taken away. He's mine. And there is in all
God's people that internal, that internal principle of grace in
the soul. The new nature, the new man formed
in the soul, the new man, new creation within us in Christ
always abides. And you know what? It's pure
and incorruptible. There is within us a seed, dear
friends, given by God in Christ that can not commit sin. In verse 10, John writes, 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." Now, in verse 8 we've
already looked at, John told us that he that commits sin is
of the devil, who sinned from the beginning, and also found
in that same verse is the gospel. We always get the bad news and
we get the good news. The last part of verse 8 says,
for this purpose The Son of God was manifested that he might
destroy the works of the devil. The purpose of God in Christ
is to what? Take away his people's sin. Go away with it. And she shall bring forth a son
and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For He shall save His
people, His people from their sins. Whosoever doeth not righteousness
is not of God. Now friends, we've talked about
this several times and I hope that it's getting across in our
hearts that to do righteousness is to trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ for righteousness. Scripture's playing that there's
none that doeth good. There's none seeking after God.
There's none righteous. What? No, not a one. But let me tell you something.
There's none that doeth righteousness, but there is one who is righteousness. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Trusting in Him is the absolute only way that a sinner can do
righteousness, a safe sinner can do righteousness. He is my
righteousness. He is the Lord, my righteousness. Paul said in Romans, to declare
His righteousness, A man that will stand up and
tell you that you're righteous in your own doing is a liar. He's not telling you the truth. Trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ
as my righteousness, my perfect righteousness, my right standing
before God is the only hope that I have. And God help me to trust
Him more. God help me to trust Him more.
That's not all John says here. He says that the children of
the devil are manifested and that they loveth not God's people.
Look at the end of verse 10. Neither he that loveth not his
brother. You remember that time that there
was a lawyer that came to the Lord Jesus and it said in order
to tempt him, it's found in Matthew 22, I think verse 35, so this
lawyer came forth and to tempt him. And he said, Master, which
is the great commandment in the law, the greatest commandment
in the law? And our Lord didn't hesitate.
He said, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind. He said, this
is the first and great commandment. And he said, the second is like
unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself and he said on these two Commandments hang all the
law and the prophets Do you know what that all? the law and the
prophets meant God's Word on These two commandments hang all
of God's Word It's the message of this book It's the theme of
this amazing book that you hold tonight. On these two hang all the law
and the prophets. Now let me ask you, do these
two commandments have anything to do with our works of obedience?
Absolutely not. Do these two commandments on
which hang the whole of God's Word have anything to do with
any righteousness in self, in ourselves? No. That's not what I read. Do they have anything to do with
the sinner's will, the sinner's choice, the sinner's decision? No. Do you know what they have
to do with? Love. Love the Lord thy God with
all you've got. And the second one's like unto
it. That should be our clue, shouldn't it? It's like unto
it. They're both about love your
neighbor as yourself. They both contain the same subject,
which is love. They both have to do with love. You see, when God redeems a sinner,
a child, an elect, a sheep, his children, whatever you want to
call it, when God saves and redeems a chosen sinner, I can assure
you of two things that's going to happen. First, he's gonna
love his God. God's gonna reveal to him what
he is, what he deserves, and then show him the gift, which
is Christ Jesus. And I tell you what else, he's
gonna love that God, he's gonna love the one who forgave, he's
gonna love the one who paid his debt, and he's gonna love his
brethren. You remember when our Lord, who
visited the house of Simon the Pharisee, and the woman came in who anointed
his feet with tears and wiped his feet with the hair of her
head, and Simon sitting there in his own home, God in the flesh
before him, and he's grumbling and complaining, if the Lord,
if he knew what kind of woman this was. Let me tell you something,
he knew! He knew. And he looked at old Simon and
he, and allow me to paraphrase again, he said, there's two debtors. One owed $50, another owed $500. We'll just use that as an example.
He said, and the Lord freely gave, forgave them both. He said,
you that owe me 50, you don't owe me anything. Just forget
it. I forgive you your debt. And you that owe 500, you don't
owe me anything. He said, Simon, which of those
two going to love him most? Simon said, well, I suppose the
one that owed him 500. He said, you're right. You're right. And he said, her
sin. And I can just, I can see him
look at her. I can see him almost point to
her. Maybe reach out and touch her. She was right there at his
feet. He said, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom
little is forgiven, the same loveth little. Simon didn't have
much to be forgiven for. You see, he was doing all right
as far as he was concerned, but not this woman. knew God had
showed her what a great sinner she was. And he said, when I
came in, you didn't greet me with a kiss. You didn't wash
my feet. Seemed like there's a little
love there with you, Simon. But this woman, from the moment
she got here, she hadn't ceased. She hadn't stopped. Oh, you answered
the question correctly, but I believe you yet to see it in your own
heart. When God saves a notorious sinner
like me and you, dear friends, there's going to be much love.
There just is. That's just the way it is. Well, do you act like you love
him? No. No, not like I should. He that
does not righteousness and does not love his God and his brethren
is not of God." My guess is that Simon the Pharisee didn't know
God. Religious men and women always
harp on how God loves everybody in the whole wide world, which
is contrary to the Scripture. But friends, it's men and women
who are void of love for God and Christ that will in the end
condemn themselves. I will not have this man to rule
over me. Verse 11, for this is the message
that ye heard from the beginning, that ye should love one another. Now, should we really be surprised
that the message we have heard from the beginning is a message
of love? Well, it's love for God because He first loved us. And He first loved us while we
were yet sinners. Christ died for who? The ungodly. shouldn't be surprised that it
has something to do with love for one another. We came from
the same dunghill of depravity, didn't we? We've been shown the
same mercy and grace and love from the one and the only sovereign
God, have we not? And though our message is a message
of mercy, though it's a message of grace, let me ask you, can
there truly be grace and mercy if there's not love? I don't think so. God's love was the motivation, so to speak,
for His mercy and grace towards us in Christ. His love for His
Son. He chose a people before the
foundation of the world, and in His Son, He loved them. And there came mercy and grace. He's such a God. He's a holy
God, and yet such a God of love. that He set His affection upon
us, undeserving, unthankful, wretched, depraved, ungodly people
we are. He did it in Christ. And you
know what? We're commanded to love one another. I remember a pastor friend of
mine had a man come to him One time he said, I'm leaving my
wife. He said, what? He said, yeah, I'm leaving my
wife. He said, I don't love her anymore. He said, you're commanded
to love her. You believe in God, you're commanded
to love her. Our Lord said in John 13, a new
commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as
I have loved you, that you also love one another. He said in
chapter 15 of John, this is my commandment, that you love one
another as I've loved you. In verse 17 of chapter 15 in
John, He said, these things I command you, that you love one another. Now we lay hold of His righteousness from a principle of love for
the glory of His great name. If not then, we are yet without
God. We love Him because He first
loved us. And we don't only love our God
who loved us and gave Himself for us, friends, but we love
one another. It's instilled in us to love
one another. Oh, we fail miserably at that.
I know we do. But yet you know deep within
that you love your brother. God's put that there. I see that. I see that. He that hateth his brothers in
darkness, 1 John 2.11. He walks in darkness and he didn't
know which way he goes, he said, because that darkness had blinded
his eyes. And look here in 1 John 4 verse
7, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone
that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. You know something
I noticed this week? I just did a word search on that
word, know. It is used in this little book
of 1 John. I think, I didn't write it down,
but I think it was in 22 different verses. And in some of those
verses, it's written in the verse twice. We know that we've passed
from death to life. We know. It's in the guessing
thing. We know. Verse 12. not as Cain, who was
of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew
he him?" That was a question. Notice that question mark. "...because
his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous." Don't let us be like Cain, John
said, who took his Nature and got his motivation from the evil
one and he killed his brother. Have you ever really stopped
and thought why? Cain killed Abel What was it He hated him. What was the cause of his hatred?
What moved Cain to hate and kill his brother? You ever thought
about that? in a nutshell, able, attributed
everything to God. All mercy is of God. All righteousness from God. All
forgiveness from God. Acceptance and all grace from
God Almighty. Cain attributed everything to
himself. The controversy that brought
all this to a head was over salvation by grace alone or by works when
you get right down to it. Cain hated his brother on this
account. Why he, his brother Abel looked
to God alone for salvation. Why his sacrifice was a blood
sacrifice. representing Christ, our Lord,
who shed his blood for us. Cain sought acceptance on the
basis of his own righteousness and works. He's a gardener, and
he was a good one. And I can just bet that those
tomatoes were all polished up, and those fruits and vegetables
that he brought were second to none. But without the shedding of blood,
dear friends, there's no remission. And in that synopsis of their
sacrifices, Cain attributed everything to himself. Look what I've done. Able to the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it's pretty much the same
today. Men, by nature, hate those that find righteousness in Christ
alone. You talk to a modern religionist,
and most of them will tell you just straight up that his righteousness
was not accomplished by Christ alone, that he did something. Well, I had to believe. He left
it up to my will to accept him or not, did he? If he did, then I'm afraid to
tell you, you don't believe salvation is by grace and of the Lord. It's not of him that willeth,
not of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Do we really believe that? I
believe we do, by God's grace. Our religiousists tell you that
he had some part in it, a man that don't know God will. And
that's why John says here in verse 13, marvel not. Why are
you surprised? My brethren, if the world hates
you, don't be amazed, surprised, if the world, especially the
religious world, as most men are, detests you and persecutes
you. Your faith in Christ and Him
alone condemns their self-righteousness and exposes their false hopes.
You strip away from a man his doing, by nature you don't like
that. I had to do something. Well,
how often have you heard the claim, and I have, I've heard
it, and I'm sure you have too, that where people have said concerning
the sovereign grace in Christ and it being true or not, that
have said, if what you preach and teach and believe is true,
then I'm not saved. They condemn themselves, don't
they? I'm not saying. I had a man tell
me one time, he said, what do you believe? And I told him,
he said, well, your God's my devil. I can see why he thought that.
Because my God stripped him of having anything to do with salvation. And if what Abel believed, dear
friends, and what he did is the true and only way to God, then
it's obvious Cain came the wrong way and was rejected. And this
was the cause of his hatred. And this is the cause of the
world's hatred for God's people. In verse 14, we know, we know, that we've passed from death
unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not
his brother abideth in death. Now genuine love is for the brethren,
for your brother. It's an evidence of redemption. It's not the cause of redemption. It's a good sign of it, though.
It's a good sign of the result of your salvation. You know,
it's the same with coming to church, being faithful to come
to church. Coming to church faithfully will
not save you, but it's a pretty good sign that God's done a work
of grace in you. Why? You want to be there. You
want to be with God's people. You want to hear God's Word.
Why? Because you love God and God's
people. No one can sincerely love his
brother unless he's been regenerated by the Spirit of God. It's God's
Spirit who sheds abroad God's love in our hearts, isn't it? And hope, Romans 5, 5, and hope
maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is what given to us. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. Against such there's no law."
And I looked at that again today, that verse. And it's no wonder
that the word love is mentioned first. You think about that. If I don't have love, I'll never
have joy. I'll never have peace. I'll never
have long-suffering impatience. I'll never have gentleness, goodness,
meekness, or temperance. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians,
"...and now abideth faith, hope, and charity." These three, but
the greatest of these is charity. No wonder. Love, charity is the
greatest here mentioned. I can't possess any other fruit
without love. If I don't love you, it's going
to be tough for me to have patience with you. If I don't love God
and love you, it's going to be difficult for me to find joy.
It's going to be tough. to be gentle and good, kind,
long-suffering, one of a meek nature, unless I've seen what
Christ has done for me, and I love him like that woman who washed
his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You see, the love of the natural
man, it's self-love. And it was the case with you
and I before God saved us. We loved ourselves. The world
revolved around us. He that loveth not is still in
a state of spiritual death. And here's the amen or the oh
me part. We're not only to love our brethren,
we're to love our enemies. Now let me close with this verse.
Turn with me to Luke chapter 6. Let's just read a few verses
here. You're familiar with them, but
look at verse 31 and we'll be done. Luke chapter 6, verse 31. And
as ye would that men should do to you, Do ye also to them likewise? I heard that all my life. Treat
others like you want to be treated. I never knew that was biblical.
It is, isn't it? If you would have men do to you,
you do also to them. You treat people like you want
to be treated. for if you love them which love
you notice these words, what think have ye? He says that several
times in these next verses. What good has it done you? For
sinners also love those that love them. And if you do good
to them which do good to you, what think have ye? How has it
profited you? How has it done you any good?
For sinners also do the same. And if you lend to them of whom
you hope to receive, what think have ye? Of what profit spiritually
has it been to you? What good has come from it? For
sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again. And then verse 35. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping
for nothing again. And your reward shall be great. Great. And ye shall be the children
of the highest. For He is kind unto the unthankful
and to the evil." Who is? God is. The Lord Jesus Christ
was, wasn't He? The Lord calls it to be so. Calls it to be so.