A Family Resemblance, Part 2

This is what John is saying. Little children, why would you ever want to be involved in sinning? Because when you're involved in sinning, you're actually supporting the enemy of Christ. We are giving our allegiance to every time we sin. The enemy of Christ who delights to dishonor Christ, to reproach his name, to discredit his gospel, to bring scandal to his church.

Why would we ever want to join sides with the devil? We never come to the point in our walk with Christ where we cease sinning. I know you wish that wasn't the case, but it is. As long as you live here on this earth, sin will be part of your life. But, even though you battle sin, you don't love your sin or embrace your sin. At least you shouldn't.

Hopefully you hate it and want to be rid of it. Having that perspective on sin is precisely how Christ wants you to live. And we're exploring that in this lesson today. God wants us to resemble Christ.

And Stephen's calling the message you're about to hear, a family resemblance. John 3 talks about being brought to life physically once and being brought to life spiritually once. In fact, the view that you can gradually overcome sin until you are completely sinless and then, having arrived at that point, you no longer lose your salvation directly contradicts what John has already said in chapter 1. If we claim that we're not sinning, we are deceiving ourselves. We make them a liar. In other words, if you claim to not be sinning anymore, you just told a lie and guess what you just did?

You sinned. You may have noticed as well in your studies throughout the New Testament letters that the genuine believer, just as John will do here in a moment, the genuine believer will be exhorted and challenged and warned against sinning. Listen, repeated exhortations not to sin would be needless if a Christian couldn't sin. And the promise to the believer that we can directly, regularly, daily, moment by moment confess our sins to our mediator.

We don't have to stand in a line with a turtledove. We don't have to stand in line at some confessional booth. We can go directly now to God through Christ, our mediator. What good would that do unless we sinned and we needed his mediation? We can daily restore fellowship with God the Father. That would be pointless if what we needed was conversion instead of confession. So what does John mean in verse 6?

No one who abides in him sins. Okay, what does that mean then, Stephen? I know, I've been stalling.

I'm going to get there eventually. Here's the answer. The answer is in the tense of his verb. He uses a present active participle. In other words, John is referring to someone who continually, habitually sins. In fact, his lifestyle is sinful. And he isn't talking about the big sins or the little sins. He's simply describing someone who maintains an ongoing, unrepentant, unremitting, unashamed life of sin. Sin doesn't bother him and not walking with Christ doesn't bother him. That's who he's talking about. Keep in mind that John's definition of sin back in verse 4 is what?

Lawlessness. He lives with this, oh God, there's the target. Well then, I'm going this way. That's my life. That person who has nothing to do with God, nothing to do with the standard of God, nothing to do with longing to meet the affections of God through holy living, but says I'm going to do exactly the opposite.

That's my life. That person is self-deceived. But John is warning these believers of not being deceived, they may be unbelievers. He's certainly telling those who live this kind of life that they have nothing to do with God. They have no part of Christ. And they don't care about him anyway.

Because they're openly, defiantly rebelling against him. Now what John is going to do here in this paragraph is describe not two kinds of sin but two kinds of people. The defiant, rebelling, unbeliever who loves to practice sin and doesn't abide in or commune with or fellowship with Christ.

That's one category. And the other category for John, who is very black and white, is the obedient, redeemed believer who loves to practice righteousness and longs to fellowship or abide with Christ. What he's describing is two kinds of people and this is their bent. This is their desire.

This is their love. He isn't saying that a Christian can't do something evil. But he's saying in general terms this is the direction of their lives. Like a flowing river there may be bends and turns and backward turns but ultimately this is the direction their lives are flowing. John writes in verse 6 that a person who claims to have seen Christ, he's talking about faith, by faith, a person who claims to be knowing Christ, that is by faith in a relationship with Christ, and yet lives in open rebellion to God as a matter of life and longing and love is self deceived. He's actually contrasting the difference between sinners, which we all are, and a lifestyle devoted to sinning. See the difference? That's the difference between sinning in life and living to sin.

Let me illustrate it this way. I can remember as a 17 year old just a few years ago now giving my life to Christ and the summer before my first year of college I landed a job with the town of Norfolk working in their tunnel, their bridge system that connected Portsmouth with Norfolk and you'd come out of that tunnel, the traffic, and you'd stop at these toll booths. There were about five or six or seven of them, I can't remember. And I was one of those toll booth operators. One thing I learned was that money is dirty. By the end of a shift my fingers were just filthy.

Beyond that we would simply stand there for hours on end and collect tolls. And I worked next to a guy on many occasions about five or six years older than me who claimed to be a believer. We talk about God every so often.

He's a decent guy. I'll never forget one night as we were standing outside our booths kind of relaxing, we were working third shift, two o'clock in the morning, not many people were there, one or two o'clock in the morning. Not much traffic. We were relaxing. I remember him pointing across the water to the other side at that huge Omni hotel that had been completed.

Not in the too distant past. And he pointed over there and he said, you know, I cannot believe I'm here working tonight when all the fun is taking place over there. And I said, what do you mean? And he said, well, you know, look at all those hotel rooms across the water at that restaurant. He said, can you imagine all the parties going on over there right now?

Can you imagine all the couples hooking up after the parties in those hotel rooms and to think that I've got to be here when I could be over there? And I remember thinking, man, here I am as a 17-year-old fighting sin and this guy, a believer, is longing to sin. I mean, he's actually upset he's got to work because he's missing sin.

That's the person John is describing in his paragraph. Somebody who is longing to sin. Someone who is pining to sin. Someone who is upset that they ended the day without getting a chance to sin. Where the genuine believer, perhaps this is you, comes to the end of the day and pines away over the fact that you did not live as righteously as you wanted.

That's the difference. That attitude invalidates any true, real relationship with Jesus Christ as John describes that one. They don't know Christ. They don't want to know Christ. And they don't want fellowship with him either. That's what John is describing here in this verse. Spurgeon, actually preaching to his congregation on one occasion, said he believed that a large majority of churchgoers were merely unthinking, slumbering worshippers of a God they did not know.

Frankly, that is my fear as well. The genuine believer longs to be holy. He pines for the day when he doesn't have to battle sin anymore. He gets upset that he didn't live for Christ like he really wanted to live that day. He doesn't pine and long for the day when he gets to do something wicked. Now let me address something here.

You're probably thinking it. If we add other scripture as commentary to what John is writing here, we know from 1 Corinthians chapter 5 that it's possible to be an unrepentant, rebellious believer. In fact, it's possible to be all tangled up in sin. Galatians chapter 6 verse 1, you remember? You see somebody entangled in sin?

Go, restore them. He doesn't say go convert them. Restore them to fellowship. However, the difference is that the sinning believer, as opposed to the sinning unbeliever, the sinning believer has been promised that he's heading for discipline.

Right? That form of discipline can take a number of different forms. It could be the discipline that we find in the Word of God. Whenever you get into the Word of God and you hold it up and you see a reflection, it disciplines you, doesn't it? Just like this morning when you stood up and you looked in front of the mirror, you effectively discipled your face. You disciplined your face. We're all happy you did.

Me too. So we come to the Word and this disciplines us. We can be disciplined by the church, living openly in unrepentant sin. Paul wrote to that assembly, remove that unrepentant man from your assembly, 1 Corinthians 5.2.

We know he was a believer because over in the next letter, 2 Corinthians, he repents and returns, ending that illicit relationship. We can be disciplined as well by God the Father. In fact, Hebrews chapter 12 verse 8 encourages us by saying, if you are not disciplined by God, you are not legitimate.

True sons and daughters at all. And that discipline again can come in the form of a number of avenues. It could be simply nothing more than a troubled conscience.

Haven't you been pummeled by that? The Spirit of God within you, using your conscience to discipline you. It could be the discipline of lasting consequences.

It could be the discipline of the loss of ministry effectiveness, the loss of future reward, even the loss of physical life. It's possible to so sin unrepentantly that God takes you home. 1 Corinthians 11. Some in the assembly are already asleep, that is, they're already dead because of their unrepentant sin. John will deal with, in chapter 5, don't turn there now, we'll get there in about 10 years, but John will deal with that subject and he'll say, sinning unto death. So don't misunderstand here the correct interpretation. Just because a Christian can sin without losing his salvation, doesn't give the genuine Christian this consolation of a free hall pass.

Oh boy, I get one of those a day. No, a genuine believer is not going to have that attitude at all. Why? Because he knows, he understands with growing concern that sin is bad. Sin is sinful. Sin is a repudiation of the holy and pure lifestyle of Christ. Sin is a depreciation of the enormous sacrifice of Christ. Sin indicates a lack of a genuine relationship with Christ. Sin is really bad for all those reasons, but there's more. Fourth, sinning demonstrates allegiance to the enemy of Christ. If it isn't bad, that's really bad.

If it isn't bad enough. Look at verse 7. Little children, make sure no one deceives you. Now he's writing to Christians.

Little children, make sure no one deceives you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous. That's the flow of their life, the desire of their heart. Just as he that is Christ is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil. For the devil has sinned from the beginning. Not the beginning of his creation.

God gave him the ability to choose, but from the beginning of his rebellion. The son of God appeared for this purpose. Now he's going to expand the reason for that first advent and him dying on the cross. To destroy the works of the devil. Now destroy does not mean annihilate.

And that ought to be obvious in your life and mine, right? Sin has not been annihilated. But it's a verb that refers to Christ's victory over Satan at the cross. Where Jesus Christ crushed the head of the serpent.

He effectively broke the serpent's back. So it can no longer coil around death and the life of those who have come to faith in Christ. He has rendered the devil effectively powerless. So now none of the works of Satan ultimately defeat the saints. We have been delivered already from the kingdom of death and darkness. And delivered over to the kingdom of life and eternal light.

So why then? This is what John is saying. Little children, why would you ever want to be involved in sinning? Because when you're involved in sinning, you're actually supporting the enemy of Christ. The one Christ came to crush.

We are giving our allegiance to every time we sin. The enemy of Christ who delights to dishonor Christ. To reproach his name. To discredit his gospel. To bring scandal to his church.

Why would we ever want to join sides with the devil? Someone openly rebelling against God. Someone sinning. Is acting like the devil. Openly rebelling in an attempt to unseat the authority of God. Just as Satan did. Isaiah 14 gives us the details. In that coup attempt with those millions of angels attempted to dethrone God.

His agenda has not changed. Although he knows his ultimate defeat is secured now because of the cross. His eternal incarceration in hell is also certain. He's read through the end of the book of Revelation 2. But since then and up until now, one of his chief delights is to tempt someone to withhold worship from God.

To defy God in rebellion. John is actually countering the false teaching of the Gnostics who were saying that sin really wasn't that big of a deal. They were saying that God doesn't really notice. All of your sins are venial, that is they're incidental.

John counters that. He's saying that God actually notices and oh by the way so does the devil. An open rebellion is that moment when an individual effectively joins forces with the devil in dishonoring God. That's why sin is so sinful. That's why it's so bad.

Fifth. Sinning violates the internal life of Christ. Verse 9. No one who is born of God practices sin. He's basically restating verse 6. He cannot sin that is continually without desire for repentance or confession.

Why? Because he has this nuance. His seed abides in him. That is God's seed abides in the believer.

Again the present tense of these verbs can be expanded and understood. He cannot continually sin. He cannot continually practice sin.

Why not? John adds this new thought. Because within the believer there is this new life principle. This seed of God.

He calls it here. What Paul calls for the sake of the Colossians the new man. The spirit which is alive now.

It was dead in trespasses and sin and Jesus Christ brought it to life at regeneration. Now with that comes new patterns. New appetites. New battles. New struggles.

New objectives. You might be tempted to think that you know that seed of God within me that new man could really really grow. If I could just get away from all forms of temptation. If I could just you know I could develop patterns of holiness and allow this seed to really flourish.

If I could just get away from unholy people and an unholy culture and you know that's the problem. One author in his commentary told the humorous story of why that won't work. I'll share with you a man decided to get away from all the clamor and temptation and join a monastery. So he joined one he'd heard about had really demanding commitments for those wanting to take their vows.

The initiates had to serve in the monastery in total silence. Only once every five years would they be allowed to speak and then they could only say two words. This man thought that's perfect.

No phones ringing, no clients calling, no temptation, no billboards, no credit cards, no television, no people. So he joined. For the first five years he didn't say a word. At the end of that time he was called into his superiors office where he was told he could now say two words. And he complained.

Hard bed. Thank you I'll make note of your observation his superior said rather stiffly. The man went back to his duties and for another five years didn't utter a word. At the end of that time his superior asked him if he had anything he'd like to say in two words and he said yes. I'm sorry he didn't say yes that'd be one word. He said bad food.

I won't make note of your observation. For another five years he didn't say a word. His superior called him in then and asked him if he had anything to say before taking his final vows and the man said I quit.

His superior replied well I'm not surprised you've done nothing but complain since you've got here. Look joining a monastery isn't going to solve your problem you know why because you bring you in there. Wherever you go you bring your heart. We enter a sinful world the Puritans said and we bring into that world our sinful hearts. You develop a heart of purity and holiness and habits that are well pleasing as you allow the seed of God within you this new life. To flourish you feed it. This new nature.

You listen to it. We have as one author put it the urge now not to sin. I love that. We actually have within us the urge not to sin. We still battle and fail with the urge to sin but now we have a new urge not to sin. Where did that come from? It's the seed of God.

Peter calls it the implanted word. It germinates, it's nurtured by the indwelling Holy Spirit within us growing and developing this new nature, this new life, this new man. And that new nature wants to stay away from sinning.

Why? Because sinning is bad. Because sinning repudiates the righteous standard modeled by Christ. It depreciates the enormous sacrifice of Christ. It indicates a lack of desire to know Christ or walk with Christ.

It demonstrates an allegiance to the enemy of Christ and it violates the internal work of Christ. That's five. We have six. Ready? Here we go.

Lastly. Because sinning obliterates the distinctiveness of belonging to Christ. Look at verse ten. It's a sermon all by itself but I wanted to squeeze it in here. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. They're distinctive from each other.

That's what he's saying. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God or the one who does not love his brother. John just kind of throws everything into the mix, into the kettle. And he says this is how it's really obvious that we have the children of God and the children of the devil. Again this is the direction and the bend of their thinking and their longing and their pining and their loving.

Unrighteousness. Righteous. The children of God love righteousness. The children of the devil love sin. They defy the standard of God.

Some time ago I read about an MTV special. In fact I read some of the transcript. Two hour special that profiled what a variety of well-known actors and musicians thought of the idea of sin. But they thought about what the church considered sinful.

Fascinating to read some of this. They asked one recording artist if she thought pride was sinful. And she responded pride is a sin?

I wasn't aware of that. They asked a famous actress about pride and she said I don't think pride is a sin. I think some idiot made that up. They asked a member of a top-selling band if he thought lust was a sin and he said lust is what I live for.

It's what I got into the band for. Another musician was asked if anger was sinful and he responded anger isn't a sin. Anger is necessary. When asked about pride he responded pride is mandatory. The MTV program concluded predictably and yet rich with irony to me as I read it.

They ended the program with this statement and I quote. The most evil sin. So they still think of sin.

It's out there. But the most evil sin in the world is the killjoy attitude of those who think sin is offensive to God. I think John would have something to say about that.

And John says that's where it gets obvious. We view sin entirely differently than the world around us. We submit to the accountability of God, the accountability of God's word, the accountability of God's spirit, the accountability of God's people. We want more than anything to hold up the mirror of the word of God and see a family resemblance and to deal with the sin that's exposed in that reflection. Because we belong to Jesus Christ who loved us and gave himself for us Paul wrote. Who redeemed us from every lawless deed to purify for himself a people for his own possession. He did all that for us to make us members of his eternally forgiven family. I'm glad you were able to join us today for this lesson that Stephen called a family resemblance. Stephen is continuing through a series entitled Heart to Heart. We're going to be bringing you the rest of this series in the days ahead.

During this month we have a gift for you. The Apostle Paul preached contentment in the midst of difficulty. He modeled the kind of faith that sees every obstacle as an opportunity.

But he was also human. And like you and me Paul had hopes and dreams that were often frustrated and unfulfilled. Has that happened to you?

Have you had hopes and dreams that weren't realized? Well Stephen has a resource called Resolution. In it he explores a time when Paul openly expressed his disappointment. By looking at Paul Stephen helps you confront and deal with your own disappointment and frustration. You're going to learn four key truths that you can use the next time your dreams or intentions are frustrated. This resource called Resolution is free right now.

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