Podcast: 1 John: The Good, the Bad, and the Forgiven

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Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
-1 John 3:4-10

There is a common thread that runs through pretty much all major religions in the world. The reason it runs through all these religions is that it runs through us as well. This thread is the belief that we will be rewarded or punished for our actions.

We sort of take that one for granted, don’t we? If we work hard at our careers, we expect a bigger raise. If we are generally good people, then we expect to be respected and liked. If we give money to charity, we expect a tax break for it. Even as kids we are told that Santa gives presents to good kids, or that mommy will buy us a toy if we’re good. If something bad happens, we respond with statements like, “I didn’t deserve that!”

Religion is usually like that. Each religion acknowledges a set of rules and philosophies, and the basic message is that you will be rewarded for following those rules and philosophies. In other words, these are things you have to do to please God.

We have to watch ourselves when we are in passages like this that we don’t fall into that sort of philosophy. We have to make sure that we don’t say, “Okay, I see. I need to be righteous and then God will like me.” That’s not what this is about. This is not saying that if you sin at all, then you’ve proven that you’re not a Christian. We know this because John has already explained in the last chapter that Jesus remains our advocate, even when we do sin, and previous to that, that anyone who claims to be without sin is a liar.

So to unpack this, let’s start with the source. Look closely at this passage. What does John say as to the source of this righteousness? “You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; . . . The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.”

What is the source here? It’s not us. Those who are born of God do not make a practice of sinning. He cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

It’s not out of ourselves that we keep from sinning. It’s who we are. If you miss this point, you’re going to miss everything, and you’re going to walk away from this passage with a legalistic view of God, and you’re going to fail to reach the standard put here. You’re going to try, out of your own selves, to be righteous, and you’re not going to do it.

No, what is being described in this passage is not what you have to do to make yourself pleasing to God, but a description of the children of God and the children of the devil. The children of God act righteously because they are children of God. That is the reason for it.

The solution here is not to try harder to make yourself righteous. It’s to figure out whose child you are. Do you make it a practice to keep sinning? Does it even cross your mind that you are disobeying God? Do you like sin more than you like God?

If so – and this may be a hard truth for you – you may not be of God. Don’t immediately get defensive here. Look at your actions. Examine yourself, and be honest. This is important. Don’t avoid the question. If you don’t want to take a serious look at whether you are saved or not, then that’s a decent indication that you are not saved.

The good news is peppered throughout in this section. “You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. . . . The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” Would you fall into the category of “child of the devil” here? We are born in this state, chasing our own desires from the womb. We are sold out to sin and spend our lives in lust, greed, pride, hatred, and selfishness. We are guilty, and we are not of God.

But Jesus appeared to take away sins. This is so critical to understanding John here. Without Christ, we have nothing. He came and died, and in that death took the punishment that we deserve. He died so that we could become children of God when before we were children of the devil.

Let me be clear on this. This world is not made up of good people and bad people. We are all bad people. The only difference between the children of God and the children of the devil is Grace. It is forgiveness! If we repent and believe in Him, then He is faithful to forgive us.

In Grace, we are adopted as children of God. God puts His Spirit in us, and that foreign righteousness begins to change us. Children of God act differently than children of the devil because God is guiding us from within.

If that hasn’t happened for you, then I will not tell you to do better. I will tell you to look to the Cross. Have you repented of your sins? Have you believed in He who died for our sins?

We, as Christians, are being sanctified by His power. We are being changed to something more resembling Him. That is why we do not make a practice of sinning anymore. Sure, we still sin, and we are still forgiven by His Blood. But before Christ, sin controlled us. Before Him, we were trapped in that lawlessness. No longer.

The longer we walk, the more we will be changed, until that final day when we are perfected by His Grace. In the meantime, we will find ourselves looking more and more to God and less and less at the world. The practice of sinning will start to fade.

We are not perfected yet. We have all sinned this very day. That’s not what John is talking about. He’s talking about a redemption that changes us. He is telling us to look at ourselves. If we have not changed, then we may not be redeemed. If we are still chasing lawlessness, then we may not be His. Whose child are you? To deny the question answers it clearly enough.