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Where do all the problems of the world come from? Everyone has their theory. Times can be good, people say, if we have less or more government. Others believe it is lack of food, lack of security, lack of job opportunities, and so on. All of these things can be real problems, to be sure. However, the Bible teaches us that the root of our problems goes beyond these things. It says that our basic problem is the rupture in the relationship between God and human beings.
The word that the Bible generally uses for this problem is sin. Sin is the rupture in the relationship between God and man. It is life that is not the way it’s supposed to be, as theologian Cornelius Plantinga put it. Out of this rupture comes all of our internal struggles and all the injustices and inhumanity of man to man.
When you see this problem, you see why the Bible gives the solution that it does. The solution is that someone needs to bridge the gap, a mediator, a go between. That’s who Jesus is. He is the God-man who has come to bring restoration to a lost world. So, let’s consider the message of the Bible summarized in 1 John 3:1-10. We will see the need for Jesus’ coming, the purpose of Jesus’ coming, and the result of Jesus’ coming.
The Need for Jesus’ Coming
As noted, the reason for Jesus’ coming is because of sin. God is the Lord of the universe, and He has the right to command us. We owe Him all things. To obey Him is to live as we were meant to live in accordance with the way things were meant to be.
Sin is living contrary to the reality of God’s lordship over the world. It is living as if we were a law unto ourselves, as if God did not exist and we were the masters. “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). What is the law? That we would love, serve, and worship God and that we would live in harmony with our neighbor in accordance with the order that God has established, living honest, productive, kind, and just lives.
Another word that is used to describe this disorder and disruption between God and man is unrighteousness. To live as a righteous person is to live in a way that seeks the interests of God and the interests of our neighbor. To live in a way that we are concerned about our community in general and the poor and those in need is to live righteously. When we focus on ourselves and what is best only for us and our most immediate concerns, it is unrighteousness.
This sort of living is rampant. It is not only that we do wrong to others, but it is a lack of concern for God and His glory and for the good of others. This is sin as well. It puts us and our own concerns at the center of the universe rather than God and His will.
That people live unrighteous lives is true and obvious all around us. As theologian Reinhold Niebuhr put it, sin is the only empirically verifiable doctrine of Scripture. That doesn’t mean that the others aren’t verifiable. It’s just that we can look around and see it is true.
What we cannot see with our eyes is the reality behind sin. According to Scripture, sin did not begin with human beings. It began with supernatural beings called angels who sinned and rebelled against God as Lord, exalting themselves. Seeing the newly created human beings, they tempted them to sin. The leader is called Satan, meaning the accuser, or the devil, which means the tempter. Anyone who sins is in league with the devil. “The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning” (1 John 3:9a).
Note, too, that he does not always do this by seducing us to commit evil acts. He also seduces us to simply focus on this world and make it our all in all. Full and content, marching toward an eternal abyss.
That is also why sin seems so intractable. It is not just our stubborn pride. It is the work of a powerful and evil being that seeks to turn this world away from God.
Many people may be embarrassed by this type of thing in Scripture, but there is no way that you can deny that Scripture teaches the reality of the devil. Behind the evils of human beings, there is the evil of Satan. There really is only one choice: Satan or God. Sin or righteousness. Christ or the devil. That is the great battle of the ages.
The Purpose of Jesus’ Coming
There has only been one person in the history of the world who had no sin. That is our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no sin in Him. He always pleased the Father. The amazing thing about Jesus is that even His enemies have to admit the purity of His character and the value of His teachings. This is true in spite of the fact that He claimed to be God and the Savior of the world. People who say this are normally the ones we call crazy or evil, but Jesus is so clearly not that way, that even those who don’t want to recognize His lofty claims about Himself admit that He is righteous. However, the only way to make sense of His claims is to say that He is what He said He was: the Son of God come into the world and the Savior of the world. He is either liar, lunatic, or Lord, as C.S. Lewis put it. He can’t be the first two, and so he must be the third.
And why did this person come into the world? To take away sin. “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin” (1 John 3:4–5). He came into this world to take away sin. This means that He came into the world to make it what it is supposed to be, to put everything back right.
This fact puts Him in firm opposition to the devil. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:9). Jesus came to restore and to destroy all that has Satan has done to mess up this world. This is in line with the first promise of the Gospel. Satan had tempted our first parents Adam and Eve to sin, but this would not be the end. God told Satan, that humanity would not end up on Satan’s side. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers . . .” Out of that offspring would come a Savior, God said to Satan, “he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Gen. 3:15). Satan would strike a blow against the Savior, but he would survive. Satan, however, would not. The Savior would crush the head of the serpent or Satan.
And so we should rejoice. Evil does not have the last word. We should not look inside at the evil in ourselves or the evil in the world and think that this is the last word. Jesus has come to destroy it. Jesus has come to take away what is sinful and restore what is right, good, and wholesome. That is why He came into the world, to put everything back right. We should be a people of hope.
Now, how does He does Jesus destroy the work of the devil and bring restoration? One person at a time.
The Result of Jesus’ Coming
What Jesus does is bring about a change in people. He takes people who are sons and daughters of Satan and makes them sons and daughters of God. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1). It is truly an amazing thing. God looks on us as criminals in His universe. However, He decided not only to pardon us but to make us His beloved sons and daughters. The Creator of the stars and the skies wants us to be His sons and daughters! What an amazing thing. See what great love the Father has for us!
There are two aspects to being children of God. The first is that we are legally adopted as children. I have witnessed adoptions in court. It’s a beautiful thing and a happy job for a judge whose job is otherwise often dreary. They announce that legally a child is the child of parents who have chosen him or her. It’s a beautiful thing. That’s what happens to us when God calls us out of the family of Satan and into the family of God.
But that’s not all. God puts a new life within us. He changes us so that we begin to live like our Father in heaven. There is a new life within us. We are children of the Father. We are united to Jesus Christ, and so His life radiates within us. It’s not always clearly visible. It’s like a treasure in a jar of clay, but, as John says, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). The result is that we lean into this. We want to live righteous lives and we want to walk in ways of purity. Again, John says, “All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:3).
In fact, we have some rather shocking statements about the work of God in the life of the believer. God tells us, “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him” (1 John 3:6). He goes on to say, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God” (1 John 3:9). He concludes by saying, “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister” (1 John 3:10).
Now, what in the world are we to make of these statements? Anyone who is born again does not sin? That seems ludicrous. We know that we have sinned, and we know that the saints throughout the ages have sinned, including those in the Bible. So, how can we say that they do not continue to sin?
Well, remember what I told you about chapter 1. Anything we read in the rest of the book must be taken in light of that chapter. It tells us that if we say that we have not sinned or have no sin, then we are liars. Instead, it tells us to confess our sins and that God will forgive us. So, clearly, believers do sin. We know this from Scripture. We know this from this letter in John. We know it from the examples of saints. We know it from our own lives.
So, what does it mean positively to say that we do not go on sinning? Several things. First, it means that the direction of our life is one of righteousness and not sin. It is a life of love for God and our brothers. This is the direction of our life.
Second, it means that we seek to turn away from sin. We do not simply think it is OK to live in the same we have lived. We are turning away from it. We are pursuing a different direction.
Third, it means that when we sin, we confess our sin and seek God’s grace. We don’t think that it’s fine. We have a life within us that is opposed to sin and keeps bring us back from it.
Fourth, we battle against sin. When we have failed, we seek to walk in a different way. We build defenses. We seek God’s grace. We seek help. We are turning away from it. This is the seed of the new life of God working within us.
This is the work of Jesus Christ in our lives. I have a friend who struggles with wondering if he is really a Christian. However, he is deeply concerned about following the Lord. He grieves his sin. He confesses it. He is battling against it and pursuing new life. I said, this is the clear evidence of the new life within you. You need to believe the clear evidence and not listen to the loud emotions that are telling you that you do not belong to Jesus. And so do you.
Conclusion
And so what should we do with this passage? Why did John write it for this people and for us? He wrote it so that we would have hope and rejoice. Yes, we should be cautious. If you are continuing in sin, if you do not confess your sin, if you are simply walking in the ways of darkness, then you should be afraid. You are a child of the devil, and you will share his awful fate.
However, that is not what you are. You are the children of God. You are the people who belong to Jesus. You will share His destiny. One day soon, it will be abundantly clear to all that you are sons and daughters of God.
And so, you should have hope. Don’t look out into the world and despair. Jesus has come to destroy the works of the devil. Don’t look out on your community, your church, your neighborhood, and despair. Jesus has come to take away sin and bring life and restoration.
And have hope for yourself. You have the life of Christ in you. You don’t need to remain in sin. You don’t need to remain stuck. You can live a new life. Those who are bitter can become joyful. Those trapped in lust can learn contentment. Those who hate can learn to love. Those who are fearful can become courageous. Those who struggle to trust can become those of strong faith. Those who despair can learn to hope. This is the seed of new life within us and the power of Christ.
Take a look and see what great love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God. Amen.
Benediction: my friends, the work of the devil is all around us. There is sin, disorder, and hatred everywhere. But we have good news: Jesus has come to destroy the works of the devil. We are not helpless in the face of our great enemy. God will shortly crush Satan under our feet.
And how does Jesus destroy the works of the devil? Through you. By giving you a new life in Christ. So, let it shine this week in love, in righteousness, and in obedience. Be the new center of the kingdom of God earth that God has called you to be.
And as you go out into the world to serve Christ, do not fear. The grace of God will be with you. Amen.