Title: The Reality of Sin
Text: 1 Jn 3:4-9

Earlier in this letter John wrote the proper way to deal with sin was to confess it. Remember the word confess doesn't mean to simply recite a list of things we have done wrong. What God wants us to do is to look at our sin as He does. Fess comes from a root which means "to say," and con means "with." Confession is "to say with" or to agree with God about sin. It's to look at our lives in the light of His holiness, and see our actions as he sees them. It is to be honest and admit we fall short of His glory and dealing with it.

In verse four of chapter three John wrote, "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness." (NAS) Two things are important to a correct understanding of this verse. First the word the NAS translates practices, the KJV translates committeth is the present active participle [poioon (grk 4160)]. It means the habit of doing sin.

The word translated lawlessness is usually understood to be breaking the law. For John lawlessness is more an just breaking God's law. It is used as a more forceful term for sin. Lawlessness is characteristic of the spirit of antichrist. It is a willful rejection of and active disobedience against God's moral standard.  This verse characterizes the sinner as a person who takes sides with the adversary of God and Christ, and sin as the ultimate form of wickedness, rebellion against God. ( UBS Translator Handbook Series)

Everyone whose life is dominated by a willful pattern of sin is in fact choosing the devil and rejecting God. You compare this verse with 2:29 and see the two verses play against one another. Everyone whose life is dominated by a willful pattern of obedience to God's righteous standard, or God's moral standard gives evidence they are born of Him. Everyone whose life is dominated by a willful pattern of sin gives evidence they have rejected Him.

Greek is a pretty specific language, there is no one word that gives an all-encompassing definition of sin. Major words translated sin reveal sin is:

unbelief - the failure to believe God

missing the mark - coming short of God's righteous standard

error - wandering off the right path

transgression - stepping outside the law

trespassing - going where you should not go

disobedience - a refusal to listen and hear and do God's will

lawlessness - rebellion, rejection of God's will and law

iniquity - an inward contempt that leads to the habit of sin

ungodliness and unrighteousness

Sin is characterized in life by choosing to go you own way, doing your own thing, rather than doing what God desires; living like the devil, instead of living to please God; deliberate disobedience to Him; disbelieving Him; ignoring and neglecting Him rather than worshiping Him; rebelling against Him; and rejecting and denying Him rather than confessing and believing in Him. That is the essential nature of a person without Christ. That was our nature before Christ, before we were delivered from the domain of darkness.

Sometimes those characteristics or symptoms of sin are exhibited very clearly, sins that are very evident in a persons life. We can name certain things that almost everyone would agree are bad, rape, robbery, murder, abuse and you can add any number of other things to that list. But, a person might say I don't believe in God or in Christ and I don't do any of those things, I'm a good person. And that is probably true they are a good person but those sins which are not so evident are manifested in their lives - the disbelieving, ignoring, rejecting, denying and those sins are also symptoms of sin and separate us from God as well.

Enforcing what he wrote previously about being children of God, John wrote in verse 8 the person who lives that kind of a continual or habitual life style is of the devil. They are not a child of God, they do not have God as their father they do have a problem and that problem is sin. The only way to deal with the various manifestations or characteristic or symptoms is to ultimately deal with the problem itself which is sin.

John deals with that in verse 5, "And you know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin." (NAS)

Jesus dealt with sin the only way acceptable to a just, holy and righteous God. He lived a sinless life then made the ultimate perfect sacrifice. John said Jesus was the righteous one (2:29), the pure one (3:3), the sinless one (3:5) and He alone was the propitiation for our sin (2:2).

But the verse tells us much more than just the fact of His sinless life and His taking away sins. The aorist tense of the verb takes away specifies the finality and completeness of the atoning sacrifice - once time for all time. The word order of the second phrase in Greek is also important. I mentioned that last week in verse 2. In this clause the Greek says Sin in Him is not. It emphatically declares the sinlessness of Christ. Not only that He did not commit sin but He does not have a sinful nature. Also John uses the present tense verb is. I don't mean to be giving grammar lessons but these usages clarify and strengthen basic biblical doctrine. Dr. Danny Akin Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Seminary says, "John uses the present tense verb 'is' (estin) to assert that sinlessness is an eternal part of Christ's nature. His sinlessness is not limited to his preexistence, his incarnate life in the flesh, or his present exalted status. Instead, Christ is sinless - past, present and future. Sinlessness is essential to his very personhood." (NAC, vol 38, p142)

This is very important in forming a correct Christology, a correct doctrine of Christ, especially as a number of survey's have recently revealed many people who consider themselves Christians believe Christ committed sin. It's also important in the debate concerning the basis of salvation - whether salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone.

A correct understanding of Christ is essential to understanding the basis for His atonement for sin.  John wrote there is a problem sin, and a solution to the problem Jesus Christ.  The next verse is probably one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible especially when taken out of context.

"No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him." (I Jn 3:6 NAS) The NIV more correctly translates it, "No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him." (NIV)

Again one of the keys for understanding is the present tense use of the verb. John isn't suggest that a believer will never commit a sin. The present tense verb suggest continual action. The believer will not live a life characterized by continual sin.

We also know this to be true from the immediate context of First John. Where John wrote:  8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. (I Jn 1:8-10 NAS)

From the larger context of the New Testament we also know this to be the correct understanding. If believers became sinless there would be no need to continually admonish us not to sin, to turn away from sin. There would be no need for reproof, or correction or training in Righteousness.

John says the person who have come into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ lives a life characterized by the habitual conduct of righteousness and purity. The person who has been born again does not live a life style dominated by sin. John says if a person lives a life dominated by continual, habitual sin it is evidence that person has not had an encounter with the Savior they have never come into a personal relationship with Him. They have not been born again and are not His children.

Verse 8 again stresses the importance of the atonement to destroy the works of the devil. The word translated appeared signifies Christ's preexistence as well as the historical reality of His incarnation. In his gospel John wrote: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (1:1) And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us." (1:14)

"Son of God" in verse 8 emphasizes His divinity. So we see in this passage John affirming the divine nature of Christ, the sinless nature of Christ, the incarnation of Christ, and the redemptive mission of Christ. The completeness of that redemptive mission is conveyed to us through the word destroy. Satan is a defeated foe. Still powerful, and deceptive but defeated.

Heb 2:14 "Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil;" (NAS)

Verse 9 emphasizes another aspect of Christology, the importance of a personal relationship with Christ especially in regards to the habitual life style of sin. "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." (NAS)

I think I read more about the importance of parts of speech in researching these verses of Scripture than I can remember for any other sermon. Again in verse 9 it's important. "Is born," is a perfect participle. It implies not only the past act of the new birth, but the ongoing effects of being born of God. Regeneration as well as sanctification. Because a person has been born of God, the very presence of God dwells within that person. Restating what he wrote in verse 6, a person who has the very presence of God in their lives will not live a life of habitual sin.

The bad news is Christians do sin and sometimes they sin bad, like Peter did in denying Jesus. Christians sometimes backslide like the churches of Asia minor. The good news is those who believe have the spirit of God implanted in them in the person of the Holy Spirit. That indwelling Spirit convicts and calls to repentance and when we confess and repent we find forgiveness. The evidence of our relationship is found in the lifestyle we lead. We are either Children of God or Children of the devil and our lives testify which we are. Who is your father and who are you following?