Sermon Prepared by James McCullen
Email Preach Him with Dr. Jim
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS TEST
I JOHN 3:4-9
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS TEST
I JOHN 3:4-9
(4) Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is
lawlessness. {5} And you know that He appeared in order
to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. {6} No
one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.
(7) Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices
righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;
{8} the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned
from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might
destroy the works of the devil. {9} No one who
is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot
sin, because he is born of God.
INTRODUCTION:
John presents in these verses a test of righteousness. The heresy of
his day called "gnosticism" said the spirit and flesh were different and
god looked on the sin of a believer differently than he did a non-believer.
John did not agree and sets forth a test of righteousness. A person
can only be righteous if they are right with god in Christ.
I. RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THE PROBLEM OF SIN.
II. RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THE PERCEPTION OF SIN. v 4
III. RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THE PRACTICE OF SIN. v 6-9
I. RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THE PROBLEM OF SIN.
A. THE CATHOLIC POSITION.
1. MORTAL and VENIAL SINS.
B. THE GNOSTIC POSITION.
1,. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SIN
OF NON BELIEVER and SIN OF A BELIEVER.
C. THE OLD AND NEW NATURE POSITION.
1. NEW NATURE DOES NOT SIN
IT'S THE OLD NATURE.
D. THE IDEAL POSITION.
1. NEVER REALLY REALIZED.
E. THE HOLINESS POSITION.
1. SINLESS PERFECTION CAN
BE REALIZED. v 6 VS V 9
a. PERFECTION, LOSE SALVATION IF SIN AND HAVE TO BE BORN AGAIN.
F. THE POSITION OF DELIBERATE and NON DELIBERATE SIN.
G. THE HABITUAL OR SINFUL PRACTICE POSITION.
1. THE CHRISTIAN DOES NOT
HABITUAL PRACTICE SIN.
II. RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THE PERCEPTION OF SIN. v 4
EXPLANATION:
A. PERCEIVED AS LAWLESSNESS. v 4
1. SIN IS NOT JUST BEING HUMAN.
2. SIN IS NOT JUST A MISTAKE.
3. SIN IS LAWLESSNESS.
a. Do not give me any rules.
b. I will do it my way.
B. PERCEIVED AS LIBERATED v 5
1. Liberated in His Coming.
2. Liberated IN His CHARACTER.
3. Liberated in His CHOICES.
4. Liberated in His Cross.
ILLUSTRATION:
When Leonard da Vinci was painting his masterpiece "The Last Supper",
he sought long for a model for his Christ. At last he located a chorister
in one of the churches of Rome who was lovely in life and features, a young
man named Pietro Bandinelli. Years passed, and the painting was still unfinished.
All the disciples had been portrayed save one -- Judas Iscariot. Now he
started to find a man whose face was hardened and distorted by sin -- and
at last he found a beggar on the streets of Rome with a face so villainous;
he shuddered when he looked at him. He hired the man to sit for him as
he painted the face of Judas on his canvas. When he was about to dismiss
the man, he said, "I have not yet found out your name." "I am Pietro Bandinelli,"
he replied, "I also sat for you as your model of Christ." -- Indian Christian
APPLICATION:
How do you perceive sin. Sin causes one to be scarred with it's hideous
marks. It is lawlessness and produces lawless deeds.
III. RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THE PRACTICE OF SIN. v 6-9
EXPLANATION:
A. Those who do not practice sin. v 6-7
{6} No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. (7) Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;
1. Those who abide in Christ. v 6 b
2. The one who knows Him.
3. THE ONE WHO PRACTICES
RIGHTEOUSNESS. v 7
a. Just as He is righteous.
4. The one born of God.
a. They have the seed of God in them.
B. Those who do practice sin. v 8-9
{8} the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned
from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might
destroy the works of the devil. {9} No one who is born of God
practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because
he is born of God.
1. One who is of the Devil.
v 8 a
a. Never submitted to the work of Christ.
2. One who has not been
born of God. v 9 a
a. No seed of God in them.
ILLUSTRATION:
Falling into sin doesn't condemn anybody who claims to be a Christian,
but staying in it does. A visitor at a fishing dock asked an old fisherman
who was sitting there, "If I were to fall into this water, would I drown?"
It was a queer way of asking how deep the water was, but the fisherman
had a good answer. "Naw," he said. "Fallin' into the water doesn't drown
anybody. It's staying under it that does."
CONCLUSION:
I. RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THE PROBLEM OF SIN.
II. RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THE PERCEPTION OF SIN. v 4
III. RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THE PRACTICE OF SIN. v 6-9