Today, Sunday August 1
“Let No One Deceive You” 1 John 3:4-7
“Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order 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.”
John is going to make it very plain and clear that a person is either in the family of God or they are in the family of the evil one. You cannot be in both at the same time. He starts verse ten with these words, “By this it is evident who are the children of God….”. There will be proof that a person is in reality a child of God, and it has to do with living habitually in sin or living in righteousness!
There are several definitions of sin in the Bible: "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23). "The thought of foolishness is sin" (Prov. 24:9). "Therefore to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin" (James 4:17). "All unrighteousness is sin" (1 John 5:17).
John's epistle also defines sin as lawlessness (1 John 3:4). It views sin as defilement in 1 John 1:9-2:2, but here it views it as defiance. The emphasis here is not on sins (plural), but on sin (singular): "Whosoever practices sin." Sins are the fruit, but sin is the root.
That God is love does not mean He has no rules and regulations for His family. "And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments" (1 John 2:3). "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight" (1 John 3:22). "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments" (1 John 5:2).
God's children are not in bondage to the Old Testament Law, for Christ has set us free and has given us liberty (Gal. 5:1-6). But God's children are not to be lawless, either! They are "not without law to God, but under the law to Christ" (1 Cor. 9:21).
Sin is basically a matter of the will. For us to assert our will against God's will is rebellion, and rebellion is the root of sin. It is not simply that sin reveals itself in lawless behavior, but that the very essence of sin is lawlessness. No matter what his outward action may be, a sinner's inward attitude is one of rebellion.
But after a person has become a child of God, born again by faith in Jesus Christ, he cannot practice lawlessness! For one thing, Jesus Christ was without sin, and to abide in Him means to be identified with the One who is sinless. And even more than that, Jesus Christ died to take away our sins! If we know the person of Christ, and if we have shared in the blessing of His death, we cannot deliberately disobey God. The whole work of the Cross is denied when a professed Christian practices deliberate sin.
“Let no one deceive you!” Today make sure you are in God’s family!
God bless!