1. (1) The glory of God’s love.
(Verse 1) “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.”
Having just mentioned being born of Him, John speaks in amazement about this manner of love that makes us children of God. He wants us to behold it – that is, look at it and study it intently, because this is a miracle in itself!
It is of great benefit to the Christian to take a good, intense look at the love of God bestowed on us.
Bestowed on us it could more literally be translated lavished on us. Secondly, it speaks of the manner of God’s giving of love; bestowed has the idea of a one-sided giving, instead of a return for something earned.
So. What is it that makes us slow to believe the love of God? Sometimes it is pride, which demands to prove itself worthy of the love of God before it will receive it. Sometimes it is unbelief, which cannot trust the love of God when it sees the hurt and pain of life. And sometimes it just takes time for a person to come to a fuller understanding of the greatness of God’s love.
The greatness of this love is shown in that by it, we are called children of God. As God looked down on lost humanity, He might have merely had a charitable compassion, a pity on our plight, both in this life and in eternity. With a mere pity, He might have set forth a plan of salvation where man could be saved from hell. But God went far beyond that, to call us the children of God.
Who calls us the children of God? Is found in Scripture several times, but the Spirit wants us to note a few times…
·1. The Father does (“I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty,”2 Corinthians 6:18).
· 2. The Son does (He is not ashamed to call them brethren, Hebrews 2:11).
· 3. The Spirit does (The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, Romans 8:16).
A pastoral sidenote: If we are truly children of God, then it should show in our likeness to our Father and in our love for our “siblings.”
It is important to understand what it means to be the children of God, and that everyone is not a child of God in the sense John meant it here. God’s love is expressed to all in the giving of Jesus for the sins of the world (John 3:16), but this does not make all of humanity the children of God in the sense John means it here. Here he speaks of those who have received the love of Jesus in a life of fellowship and trust with Him; But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name (John 1:12).
2. (2) The destiny of God’s children.
(Verse 2) “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
Our present standing is plain. We can know, and have an assurance, that we are indeed among the children of God. Romans 8:16 tells us, The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. If you are a child of God, you have an inward assurance of this.
Though our present standing is plain, our future destiny is clouded. We don’t know in the kind of detail we would like to know what we will become in the world beyond. In this sense, we can’t even imagine what we will be like in glory. Such things, we have to look forward to.
We are not left completely in the dark about our future state. When Jesus is revealed to us, either by His coming for us or our coming to Him, we shall be like Him.
The Bible speaks of God’s great plan for our lives like this: For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29). God’s ultimate goal in our lives is to make us like Jesus, and here, John speaks of the fulfillment of that purpose.
The Christian should long to be like Jesus, yet remember that God will never force a person to be like Jesus if he doesn’t want to. And that is what hell is for: people who don’t want to be like Jesus. The sobering, eternal truth is this: God gives man what he really wants. If you really want to be like Jesus, it will show in your life now, and it will be a fact in eternity. If you don’t really want to be like Jesus, it will also show in your life now, and it will also be a fact in eternity.
We shall be like Him: This reminds us that even though we grow into the image of Jesus now, we still have a long way to go. None of us will be finished until we see Jesus, and only then truly we shall be like Him.
3. (3) Knowing our destiny purifies our lives right now.
(Verse 3) “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
a. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself: Knowing our eternal destiny, and living in this hope will purify our lives. When we know our end is to be more like Jesus, it makes us want to be more like Jesus right now.
Having the anticipation of being with Jesus, of the soon coming of Jesus Christ, can have a marvelous purifying effect in our lives. It makes us want to be ready, to be serving Him now, to be pleasing Him now.
Ultimately, our hope is not in heaven or in our own glory in heaven. Our hope is in Him. We must never set our hope on other things; not on a relationship,
Not on our success,
Not on our mutual funds,
Not on our retirement funds,
Not on your health,
Not on your possessions,
or simply just on our self.
Our only real hope is in Him.
(4-5) The nature of sin and Jesus’ work in removing our sin.
(verses 4 and 5) “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.”
Sin is lawlessness: John defines sin at its most basic root. It is a disregard for the law of God, which is inherently a disregard for the law Maker, God Himself.
John here defined the mission of Jesus Christ at its most basic root – to take away our sins. The angel Gabriel promised Joseph regarding the ministry of Jesus: you shall call His name JESUS, for He shall save His people from their sin (Matthew 1:21)
Example 1, Jesus takes away our sin in the sense of taking the penalty of our sin. This is immediately accomplished when one comes by faith to Jesus.
Example 2, Jesus takes away our sin in the sense of taking the power of sin away. This is an ongoing work in the lives of those who walk after Jesus.
Example 3, Jesus takes away our sin in the sense of taking the presence of sin away. This is a work that will be completed when we pass into eternity and are glorified with Jesus.
This is the work of Jesus in our life. It is a work we must respond to, but it is His work in us.
6) Abiding in sin or abiding in God.
(Verse 6) Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
a. Whoever abides in Him does not sin:
Since sin is lawlessness, a disregard for God (1 John 3:4),
and since Jesus came to take away our sins (1 John 3:5),
and since in Jesus there is no sin (1 John 3:5), then to abide in Him means to not sin.
Mow, is is about to be said next is very important to understand …
what the Bible means – and what it does not mean – when it says does not sin.
According to the verb tense John uses, does not sin means does not live a life style of habitual sin. John has already told us in 1 John 1:8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. In 1 John 1:8, the grammar indicates John is speaking about occasional acts of sin. The grammar of 1 John 3:6indicates that John is speaking of a settled, continued lifestyle of sin. John is not teaching here the possibility of sinless perfection.
John’s message is plain and consistent with the rest of the Scriptures. It tells us that a life style of habitual sin is inconsistent with a life of abiding in Jesus Christ. A true Christian can only be temporarily in a life style of sin.
Paul’s teaching in Romans 6 is a great example of this principle. He shows us that when a person comes to Jesus, when his sins are forgiven and God’s grace is extended to him, he is radically changed – the old man is dead, and the new man lives. So it is utterly incompatible for a new creation in Christ to be comfortable in habitual sin; such a place can only be temporary for the Christian.
In some ways, the question is not “Do you sin or not?” We each sin. The question is, “How do you react when you sin? Do you give in to the pattern of sin, and let it dominate your lifestyle? Or do you humbly confess your sin, and do battle against it with the power Jesus can give?”
This is why it is so grieving to see Christians make excuses for their sin, and not humbly confess them. Unless the sin is dealt with squarely, it will contribute to a pattern of sin that may soon become their lifestyle – perhaps a secret lifestyle, but a lifestyle nonetheless.
What is important is that we never sign a “peace treaty” with sin. We never wink at its presence or excuse it by saying, “Everybody has his own sinful areas, and this is mine. Jesus understands.” This completely goes against everything we are in Jesus, and the work He has done in our life
7) Righteousness will show in a person’s life.
(Verse 7) “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.”
Let no one deceive you: This tells us that John wrote against a deception threatening the Christians of his day.
He who practices righteousness is righteous: John did not allow us to separate a religious righteousness from a life of righteousness. If we are made righteous by our faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22), it will be seen by our righteous lives.
We can live lives characterized by righteousness, not sin, because we have been given the righteousness of Jesus, and He is righteous. We have the resource we need to live righteously!
The Bible clearly teaches that we are made righteous through faith in Jesus Christ – yet that righteousness in Jesus will be evident in our lives.
(Verses 8-9) “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.”
He who sins is of the devil: People who are settled in habitual sin are not the children of God – they are of the devil, and Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and free us from our bondage to the devil. However, some reject Jesus and serve the Devil.
John gave us one reason why Jesus came in 1 John 3:5 (He was manifested to take away our sins). Now, John gives us another reason in this verse: that He might destroy the works of the devil.
Can we imagine the heart of God? Oh how it must of grieved the Father over the destruction the devil has caused man and the Earth! Jesus came to put a stop to all that by overcoming the devil completely by His life, His suffering, His death, and His resurrection.
Many people are unnecessarily afraid of the devil, fearing what he could do against them. If they only knew that as we walk in Jesus, the devil is afraid of us! As we walk in Jesus, we help in seeing Him destroy the works of the devil!
The change from being of the devil to being children of God comes as we are born of God; when this happens, our old nature, patterned after the instinctive rebellion of Adam, dies – and we are given a new nature, patterned after the instinctive obedience of Jesus Christ.
The phrase: “Does not sin and cannot sin”each has the same verb tense as does not sin in 1 John 3:6, meaning a continual practice of habitual sin. John tells us that when we are born again – born into the family of God – there is a real change in our relation to sin.
(Verse 10h “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”
The children of God and the children of the devil: John has already introduced the idea of being a child of God (1 John 3:1, that we should be called the children of God and 1 John 3:9, born of God). He has already written of some being of the devil (1 John 3:8). But here, he makes it plain: some are children of God and some are children of the devil.
John doesn’t spend time trying to prove or explain the existence of the devil. He knows the reality of the devil is a Biblical fact. Some today lack John’s wisdom and either deny the devil’s existence or they are obsessed with the devil.
Some might think John is far too harsh in saying some are children of the devil, supposing perhaps that John did not love people as Jesus did. But Jesus called people children of the devil also in John 8:41-45.
Jhn 8:41-45 NKJV – 41 “You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father–God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. 43 “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44″You are of [your] father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own [resources], for he is a liar and the father of it. 45 “But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.”
In this passage, Jesus’ point was important, establishing the principle that our spiritual parentage determines our nature and our destiny. If we are born again, and have God as our Father, it will show in our nature and destiny. But whether our father is Satan or Adam, it will also show in our nature and destiny – just as it showed in these adversaries of Jesus.
