1 John 3:1-24

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
​Series: I John

Rusty's Notes

Review 1 John 2:15-29…
      - Believers stood secure against the false teaching of the antichrists because of three sources of strength.
      1) They had the anointing of the Holy Spirit. This provided the capacity to understand spiritual things (v. 20).
      2) They had made a personal commitment to the Christian message (vv. 24–25).
      3) They lived in union with Jesus Christ (v. 28). 
 
- Ayden Fisher – Who is his daddy? Why do you know this? What affirms this? What is Ayden going to be like when he grows up? Do we know fully what his future will be? What two parts do you, as believers, see in Ayden? (Earthsuit & spiritual being). Which one is eternal?
 
1 JOHN 3
1 See (look, pay attention to, concern oneself with, understand, experience) what great love (agape – sacrificial love, fellowship, love feast) the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are!

• Not only are we “called children of God” but we are! Claim it! Live it!
• John is writing this letter to affirm the identity of Christians as God’s children.
• All who believe in Jesus are actually, truly, children of God.
• John emphasizes our adoption as God’s children multiple times in this passage because it is such a significant reality.
• We are told to see, in faith, this reality of God’s love that has been so freely given to us. 

The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him. 2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure.

• John is talking about behavior.
• People are not purifying themselves in their hearts.
• God has given believers a new heart and nature.
• Instead, John talks about Christians living from their new nature and identity as God’s children.
• Christians have every power to live pure and righteous lives.
• But these righteous lives come not from following rules and regulations but from trusting in the person and character of Jesus Christ.
• Romans 8:23 (NLT) - 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.[1]
• Philippians 3:21 (NLT) - He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.[2]

4 Everyone who commits (practices – NASB) sin practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.

• Unbelievers practice sinful behavior.
• This sinful behavior is total and complete chaos when compared to the peaceful fruit of the Spirit.

5 You know that he was revealed so that he might take away sins, and there is no sin in him.

• In contrast to the Old Testament sacrifices which only acted to cover sins, Jesus actually took away all sins by His own death.
• The believer’s sins are completely taken away.
• This means that there is no divine judgment for the believer.
• God will never bring up our sins because He remembers them no more (Hebrews 8:12).
• Therefore, Judgment Day for the Christian is not a reflection on our past sins.

6 Everyone who remains in him does not sin (keep on sinning – NIV); everyone who sins (continues to sin – NIV) has not seen him or known him.

• I John 1:8 - If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.[3]
• The question is not, “Does he sin?” but, “Does he make sin a habit?”

7 Little children, let no one deceive you. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

• Why is that? It is the new nature of the redeemed.

8 The one who commits sin (practices – NASB) is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the devil’s works.

• Even before Genesis 3.

9 Everyone who has been born of God does not (practice – NASB) sin (continue to sin – NIV), because his seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, (he cannot go on sinning – NIV) because he has been born of God.

• Whereas unbelievers practice sinfulness, believers practice righteousness.
• This does not mean that believers never sin.
• It does, however, mean that they are practicing how to live righteously as opposed to practicing how to sin.
• This is because we have been fundamentally changed at the cores of our beings.
• We have been set free from the old sinful nature and enslaved to the new nature of righteousness (see also Romans 6:18).
• This is what it means that God’s seed remains within His children.
• We are born of God and are no longer of the world.
• Therefore, we are not predisposed towards the ways of the world.
• There is a trend within believers that has been reversed.
• If we are in Christ, we will have trouble sinning.
• Christians are no longer good at sinning.
• When we become Christians, the battle with sin begins because of this reality.
• The fact that a battle exists within us is proof of our new natures.
• Romans 6:6 – For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin,[4]
• Ephesians 4:22 - to take off, your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires,[5]

10 This is how God’s children and the devil’s children become obvious. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister.

• All who are in Christ love Christians.
• This does not mean that we like everyone, but it means that we love and affirm the Christian’s identity in Christ.

 
LOVE IN ACTION
11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another, 12 unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.

• These are choices they made based upon what they believed.
• At this point, Abel was only credited with righteousness… similar to Abraham in Genesis
• - Abram believed the Lord, and He

 credited it to him as righteousness.

• Love does not do harm to its neighbor.
• Christians love fellow believers at the cores of their beings.
• Therefore, we are to express this love in behavior.

13 Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come![6]

because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.

• Loving Christians is a sign that we have been truly saved.
• Not only are we completely forgiven but we have been given new life.
• This new life manifests in love for fellow believers.
• Whoever does not love Christians abides in spiritual death and needs eternal life in Christ.
• This is the core issue with humanity: People need eternal life, not perfected moral living.

15 Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

• This is an identity issue – identified with sin, Cain, Adam, death, etc.
• John is speaking of those who are inherently murderers, or those who are still enslaved to sin.
• Paul had a history of murdering Christians.
• Likewise, the thief on the cross had a rather difficult past.
•  But both experienced a nature change through the grace of Christ.

16 This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

• There is no atoning value in this like Christ’s death for us, but it is the supreme proof of who we have become in Christ.
• Christians are to receive the servant love of Jesus and transmit it to fellow believers.
• This does not mean having poor relational boundaries where we never say “No.”
• But it does mean that we have the chance to love one another as Christ loves us.
• If this love is absent, then we have not crossed from death to life.

17 If anyone has this world’s goods and sees a fellow believer in need but withholds compassion from him—how does God’s love reside in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.

• Agape love
•       The Message – 17 If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.[7] (ZING)
• Love is to be tangible.
• Love is not simply words but actions.
• This loving action assures our hearts that we are God’s children and are in Christ.
• When we see love coming from us, we can know that we have passed from death to life.
• Our hearts, or consciences, can condemn us even if God does not condemn us.
• This is why John affirms that God is greater than our hearts.
• His realities transcend any negative emotion or flavor of shame that we experience.

19 This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and will reassure our hearts before him

• NIV – 19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence:[8]

20 whenever our hearts condemn us (pass judgment); for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows all things.
21 Dear friends, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have confidence before God

• The Message – 21 And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God![9]

22 and receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight.

• This is not naming and claiming certain things in life.
• God is answering our prayers based on His New Covenant commands: believe in Jesus and love one another (1 John 3:23).
• He wants us to believe more fully and to love relentlessly.
• He will always help us to grow and mature in our faith in these ways. This is God’s will for us in Christ.

23 Now this is his command: that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps his commands remains in him, and he in him. And the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he has given us. [10]

• If we have believed in Christ, we are one with the Holy Spirit.
• He has poured His love into our hearts (see Romans 5:5) and has therefore made us to keep His commandments perpetually within our new natures.[11]​

[1] Tyndale House Publishers. 2015. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
[2] Tyndale House Publishers. 2015. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
[3] Tyndale House Publishers. 2015. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
[4] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Peterson, Eugene H. 2005. The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.
[8] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[9] Peterson, Eugene H. 2005. The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.
[10] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[11] Farley, Andrew. www.BibleCommentary.com. 1 John 3.