Passage: 1 John 3:7-9
The Big Idea
If we’ve been made righteous by faith in Jesus, it will show in our lives, just as a good tree bears good fruit. We aren’t trying to measure up to Jesus; we share His very life and Spirit, and righteousness comes as naturally to that new nature as obedience came to Him. Sin’s root is the devil; Jesus came to destroy the devil’s works. Whoever is born of God has God’s seed in them, and a lifestyle of loving sin can’t coexist with that new birth.
Don’t Be Deceived (3:7)
John writes: Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous (1 John 3:7).
- If we’ve been made righteous by faith in Jesus, it will be seen in our lives!
- A good tree will bear good fruit (Matthew 7:17).
- When we’re saved, we’re not only cleansed from evil. We’re also filled with good!
- The life of Jesus is given to us in exchange for our sinful existence.
- We aren’t made righteous by our good works.
- But good works will show up in our lives.
A saying often attributed to Spurgeon puts it well: “The grace that does not change my life will not save my soul.”
Just as He Is Righteous
Just as He is righteous.
- We aren’t trying to measure up to Jesus!
- We’re sharing the same life as Jesus.
- We’ve received the same Spirit as Jesus.
- Our lives will look different because His did.
- Was it hard for Jesus to keep the law and serve God? No. It was His nature. He always did what pleased His Father (John 8:29).
- Our lives need to be filled with that same nature. How?
- By grace, through faith.
- Ask, and you will receive.
- “I don’t want to live this way anymore.” (That’s being born of the Spirit.)
- “I’m going to ask God for the strength to change.” (That’s being empowered by the Spirit.)
He was raised from the dead, and so are we:
- God accepted Jesus’ surrender to His will, and He accepts ours.
- God answered Jesus with new life, and He answers us the same way!
The Root of Sin (3:8)
Whoever practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God appeared: to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
- Sin comes from the devil.
- A lifestyle of loving sin doesn’t fit a believer.
- But here’s the good news: Jesus came to destroy the devil’s works!
Spurgeon was blunt: “It is no use making excuses and apologies; if you are a lover of sin, you shall go where sinners go.” He said that someone who claims to trust the blood of Christ while loving sin doesn’t truly trust it, “for where there is a real faith in the atoning sacrifice, it purifies the man, and makes him hate the sin which shed the Redeemer’s blood.”
Born of God (3:9)
Whoever has been born of God doesn’t practice sin, because His seed remains in him, and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God (1 John 3:9).
- He cannot sin doesn’t mean a believer never sins (1 John 1:8). As with 3:6, the verb describes an ongoing lifestyle.
- There’s a real, observable change in a believer’s relationship to sin.
- God’s seed remains in him. New life from God has been planted inside, and it’s growing.
It’s the same message Paul preached: put off the old self, corrupted by deceitful desires, and put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24).
Born again. Created new. It’s all the same miracle.
Grace Takeaway
Righteousness isn’t something you have to manufacture to prove you belong to God. If you’ve been born of God, His seed is in you, and His life will grow and bear fruit. Jesus came to destroy the devil’s works, including the ones still tangled up in your life. So when you see sin in yourself, don’t despair and don’t make excuses. Ask. The same Spirit who raised Jesus is ready to give you strength to change.