1 John 3:4-10
Unfortunately, we do not have the audio for this sermon, but please read the manuscript below.
The Fatherhood of the Devil
“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not; whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” - 1 John 3:4-10
Introduction
Recently, Pope Francis released a video calling for interfaith unity. As he spoke in the video, leaders of various different religions were shown practicing their faith as Francis narrated:
Many think differently, feel differently, seeking God or meeting God in different ways. In this crowd, in this range of religions, there is only one certainty that we have for all: we are all children of God.
No doubt, many professing Evangelicals would affirm this, and even be shocked to hear otherwise. In the video, Francis merely joined in with what liberal Protestants had been spouting for years. In the last century, liberals decided it didn’t matter if a person denied the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus, His resurrection from the dead, His substitutionary atonement, second coming, or the exclusivity of salvation in Christ alone. They professed two truths that should unite all: the universal fatherhood of God, and the universal brotherhood of man. They believed, like Pope Francis does now, that the ultimate teaching of the Bible is that everyone, everywhere, no matter what, are united as children of God. This is a damnable heresy that the New Testament knows nothing of. God is the Creator of all, but He is only Father of the redeemed.
In the previous three verses of 1 John chapter 3, we have learned of the unfathomable riches of the love of God the Father, along with the glories of being adopted into His family. These beautiful truths ought to beckon the question, “If I must be born again and adopted in order to be saved, then what was I before salvation?” Here, John reminds us that God is not the only “dad” who’s out for our souls. This is a subject that Christians have forgotten: the devil is a father. John cries out to us in this text, “You are not a child of God merely by being born, you must be born again and adopted!” Not only that, but John is burdened for us to examine ourselves, and possess the ability to identify the difference between God’s children and the devil’s. This truth cannot be emphasized enough, the devil has a family too and you need to be sure that you are not a part of it.
The Law in New Testament Life, v. 4
The main way we discern which family we belong to deals with our relationship to the Law of God. I would be willing to wager that many Western Christians don’t think much of God’s Law apart from the simplistic thought, “I’m not under law, I’m under grace!” This is a great tragedy, because the Apostle Paul wrote the book of Romans to expound upon salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone, yet in that same book, he had no problem saying, “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12). I think most of our problems with the Law come from our inability to think in categories. We assume that because we are no longer required to abstain from eating bacon or wearing mixed fabric, it must also mean that all of Old Testament morality is off the table too!
God’s Law in the Old Testament can be broken into three categories: the judicial, ceremonial, and moral law. The judicial law described what Israelites had to do as a nation-state; when that ancient nation of Israel was destroyed in fulfillment of Christ’s prophecies, so were the judicial laws. The ceremonial law covered what the Levites had to do in the temple to sacrifice animals and atone for sin; one reading of the book of Hebrews will make clear that these laws were only meant to foreshadow Christ. When Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead, He was the last sacrifice, no more are needed or permissible. However, there is still the moral law summarized by the Ten Commandments. Simply put, these commandments show us what obedience to God looks like on a moral level. They reveal and define for us what sin is. Lastly, and most importantly, they teach us that we need a Savior (Galatians 3:24). Any person who thinks the moral law isn’t for today might as well say, “We don’t need to obey God, resist sin, or trust in Christ!”
Our relationship with the Ten Commandments will manifest which family we belong to, because the Ten Commandments define what sin is. If we can break the commandments and feel no sting of conviction, red flags ought to be going up in our minds. If we long to keep these commandments, confess and repent when we break them, and practice them as a pattern of life, then there is great evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work in us. You would do well to memorize the Ten Commandments. Study them, contemplate them, intimately know the positive requirements, negative prohibitions, and common misconceptions of each command; because the fruit of discipleship is obedience to the moral law.
Righteousness is God’s Concern, v. 5-6 & 8
At the beginning of chapter 2, John stressed the doctrine of propitiation; through the gospel we are saved from the wrath of God. Now, he emphasizes another central point that Jesus did not only die to save us from wrath, but sin. This was the promise given to Joseph, that the child conceived of the Holy Ghost in Mary’s womb would save His people “from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). If we could summarize the purpose of Jesus’ incarnation, life, death, and resurrection, it was to take away sin. This is re-emphasized again in the latter part of verse 8, sin is the works of the devil and Jesus appeared to destroy those works.
Every good employee knows what is and is not their job. Lots of bosses and customers will get as much work out of you as you’re willing to give. If you get hired to mow lawns, and someone says “Clean my gutters!” you’ll need to learn to say, “Sorry, that’s not my job.” I heard a pastor recently say that he counseled a woman through her anxiety of crossing bridges. As nice of a thing as that was to do, I think he needs to learn to say, “Sorry, that’s not my job.” All of us will be much better off in our faith if we recognize what is and is not Jesus’ job description: He appeared to take away sin. He makes it His business to destroy the works of the devil (sin), and make you righteous. It is appropriate for us to ask Jesus to heal us, comfort us, be with us in times of loneliness and depression, but never forget that His primary concern is your conformity to His image. Holiness always takes precedence over happiness.
According to verse 6, the production of righteousness in us will come from two things: seeing Jesus, and knowing Jesus. This is an incredible reality, we will not stop sinning by striving to obey the Ten Commandments. We stop sinning by abiding the love of Jesus. To “see” Him means to understand Him. The deeper you dive into the ocean of Christ’s character, nature, and love, the more you’ll find yourself naturally bearing obedience to the Commandments and the fruit of the Spirit in your life. To “know” Him, as John has repeated so many times, is to have personal and intimate union with Him. While many people know things about God as a subject of study, we need to be the ones who actually know Him as a person. This was Paul’s greatest desire, to know Him (Philippians 3:10). This is the one thing that separates the true and false converts on Judgment Day according to Jesus; the unsaved will hear Christ say, “I never knew you” before they are cast into destruction (Matthew 7:23). This is the definition of eternal life, to “know God” (John 17:3). As we understand and know Christ we will abide in Christ. As we abide in Him, we will bear much fruit, and manifest the reality that we are the children of God.
Practice! Practice! Practice!
I do not envy the work of Bible translators, especially those who speak English. There are certain passages in Greek and Hebrew that just don’t come out well in English, from what I can tell, this is one of them. Although the King James Version is my favorite and preferred Bible, I really do not like how it or the NKJV render this text. When I first began to read through the Bible every year and seek God intently as a Bible college student, I believe the devil used my misunderstanding 1 John 3:4-10 (along with Hebrews 10:26-31) to torture my conscience. Remember, dear Christian, the devil used Scripture to tempt Jesus to commit suicide. He will use any resource at His disposal to destroy us. Years ago, I read my NKJV at face value when it said, “Whoever abides in Him does not sin” and immediately concluded that I must be destined for hell. I would strive for weeks and months not to sin, but the more I worked, the more sin I would find mixed with my will to do good. Each time I saw another sin in the dark corners of my soul, the devil would be there to repeat, “Whoever is born of God does not sin.” There were times that my faith was hanging by a thread because I could not reach the state of perfection I thought the Bible demanded of me in this life.
Remember the first three rules of Bible interpretation: context, context, context! John has already told us in 1 John 1:8 that if we deny the present tense reality of indwelling sin with Christians, we are deceiving ourselves. Likewise, in verse 10, he said that if we deny the reality that sinful actions are still sinful, then we make God a liar. John would not say these things and then nullify such statements two chapters later. The problem is not with the text, but our misinterpretations of confusing English translations of the text! First, John is not demanding sinless perfection; that if we’re really saved we'll never sin again, and need to get saved again every time we do sin. Neither is John advocating any kind of antinomianism; that sin isn’t really sin anymore if our faith is in Christ. Both of those are gnostic heresies this epistle was written to refute.
For me, this passage quickly clears up and fits into the larger context of the book with a simple reading of other modern translations. Rather than contrasting those who sin from those who don’t sin (as the NKJV does), the ESV contrasts those who “practice sin” from those who “practice lawlessness.” The NLT specifies that those who “keep on sinning” are of the devil, while those who “continue to live in him” are of God. The AMP is probably the most clear:
No one who abides in Him [who remains united in fellowship with Him—deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] practices sin. No one who habitually sins has seen Him or known Him. Little children (believers, dear ones), do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who practices righteousness [the one who strives to live a consistently honorable life—in private as well as in public—and to conform to God’s precepts] is righteous, just as He is righteous (1 John 3:6-7).
It is the prolonged pattern of our lives, not the out of character bursts of failure, that reveals the content of our hearts. Every saved person still struggles with temptation, indwelling sin, and battles with ungodly actions. But the Christian has a new practice of life. Whereas he used to want to sin and get better at it, now he wants righteousness and practices to be like Jesus.
Like Father Like Son, v. 8
Whether we like it or not, it is the plain truth that children take after their parents. My friend Brett is a pastor, and so his son likes to grab papers and scribble on them as if he was writing sermons like his dad. My other friend Robert is a carpenter, so his little boy likes to get plastic hammers and pretend to build things. However, the example parents leave to their kids isn’t always positive or cute. For example, if mom or dad has a cussing problem, it won’t be long before little Johnny shouts an expletive at the dinner table. If church-going mom and dad have no interest in the Bible or active prayer life, don’t be surprised if the kids grow up nominally Christian at best. Like father like son, like mother like daughter.
In John 8, Jesus had a confrontation with the Pharisees. The clash climaxed with a cutting rebuke from Christ where He told the Pharisees who they were and why they did what they did:
Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it (John 8:42-44).
The devil cannot understand, hear, or believe in Christ. Because the Pharisees were the devil’s children, they could not understand, hear, or believe Christ either. Because there is not truth or love in the devil, the Pharisees were also consumed with hate and controlled by lies. The unregenerate condition is to live in the line and example of satan. As goes the father, so goes the children.
Being that I have attended four different Christian schools of some kind, I have seen many people try to retain some semblance of Christianity while still getting the “college experience.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the justification, “Billy is a Christian, he just doesn’t live like it…” or some other similar excuse. How long will it be before we learn that good trees don’t bear bad fruit? Again, and again, and again, John repeats the truth that those who go on practicing sin evidence that they are not of God. Let me translate for the sake of clarity: the person who says, “I’m a Christian I just don’t live like it” really means to say, “I’m a child of satan, I just don’t want to admit it.” That may be harsh, but it’s true. The pattern of our actions reveal the content of our hearts. Which father do you take your nature from?
The Life of God in the Soul of Man, v. 9
You never know the impact your life can have on another, even with the smallest and most seemingly insignificant choices. Outside of the Apostles, the greatest evangelist who ever lived was arguably the leader of the First Great Awakening, George Whitefield. George Whitefield was converted to Christ through a gospel pamphlet titled The Life of God in the Soul of Man. Essentially, it was just a really long gospel tract, explaining that salvation isn’t earned by the works of man, but by the life of God dwelling in us. I know that George Whitefield will receive a great reward in heaven for his mighty acts, but I also like to think about what kind of reward the man who initially gave Whitefield that tract will receive too. He probably wasn’t a great preacher or well-known pastor, he was just a faithful disciple who passed on the knowledge that salvation comes when God’s life takes residence in us.
John is passing on the same truth to us in verse nine when He speaks of the “seed” of God that abides in us. The “seed” spoken of here is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, the new nature of a believer. When God’s life dwells within, no matter how small it may appear to be, you will not be content to keep living the same way you did before you knew Him. It’s not that a Christan is unable to grieve God, it’s that He doesn’t have the heart to live a constant lifestyle of rebellion anymore. Though he can sing, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it…” His new nature continues to plead, “Here’s my heart Lord, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above!” The seed grows to a branch, and the branch bears fruit in greater quantities until the day of Christ’s return. Though he falls seven times, he will rise again (Proverbs 24:16). Does the life of God live within you?
Conclusion, v. 10
I’ve had the privilege of leading a few Bible studies for traumatized and hurting youth at the Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina. I haven’t gone into serious counselling, but from what little time I’ve spent there, my eyes have been opened to how broken many families are. Some of the kids have parents who care nothing for them, or just outright hate them. Some of the kids came from homes where the parents would prostitute them from drug money, or starve them for almost no reason. As evil as human families can be, no family is as deadly as Satan’s. The devil may seem like a fun caregiver who lets you party all you want, but in the end, he can only deliver pain and misery. He may promise protection, but he leads to perdition. Make no mistake, the devil hates you. He is the worst person you would ever want for a dad.
Run to the arms of the heavenly Father. You may bear the wounds of an evil earthly father, or the trauma of the devil, but God the Father can heal it all. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Look to Christ and seek to know Him personally and intimately; He will teach you to trust the Father. In His family there is true love, true security, true unity. Don’t settle for satan’s lies, when the love of the Father is here for you.
