Destroying the Works of the Devil.

Title for our main message today. Destroying the works of the devil. Destroying the works of the devil. And if you'd like to turn along with me, let's turn to 1 John 3, and we're going to begin in verse 1. 1 John 3 verses 1 through 10. This will be the passage of Scripture that we'll be beginning with as we seek to fulfill the call of these days. The call of these days. What are we being called to as we gather here on this first day of unleavened bread, this sacred day of God? Well, simply stated, we are being called to destroy the works of the devil in our lives.

And it's not that we come today to merely make some progress of putting sin out of our lives. No? As sons and daughters of God today, on these great days of unleavened bread, God is calling for us to reach for full eradication of anything that is of the devil in our lives. That's what we're reaching for. And with God's Spirit in us, and fully available to us, we are to reach for nothing else than to put out all sin from our lives. And here in this passage of 1 John 3, we have the apostle of love, as he's called, John, and he's going to speak directly to God's people today. And he's going to put forth just what is a striking call to righteousness. To righteousness. And I want to prepare you for what we're about to read here, because this portion of Scripture is actually absolutely known for its difficulty. Difficulty not so much in understanding what it says, but rather the difficulty resides in applying its truth to our lives. So today, we are going to deal directly with this issue of sin. We're going to deal directly with the call to remove the devil's work from our lives. 1 John 3, we're going to read verses 1 through 10. Here John writes to the children of God. And he says, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, that's Jesus Christ, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure. Verse 4, Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He, Jesus, was manifested to take away our sins. And in Him, there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. And he who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in Him, and He cannot sin because He has been born of God. In this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God. Let's stop there. The second part of that, verse 10, introduces a different topic there. So we're going to stop there.

Now, keep in mind that John is writing in the context here, where many of the people that he has referred to in the first two chapters of 1 John, they have spoken about sin to believe that sin is really a matter of indifference. There was these false teachers who set forth to encourage the children, the followers of Jesus Christ, the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, to believe that once you were in Christ, well, it really doesn't matter too much about sin, because after all, the false teachers would put forth, our sins have been dealt with.

And this is why they would, this is what they would erroneously teach. And what you have here in 1 John 3, it really parallels what Paul spoke about in Romans 6. We won't turn there, but there in Romans 6, you remember, Paul stood up and addressed those who were speaking of sin, and they were asking this question, well, what shall we do then? Shall we continue in sin? So that grace may abound? That was the question. And we know Paul's answer. No, certainly not. We must not do that. And so John's answer here in 1 John 3, it's equally the same, where John establishes undeniably that if Christ manifested Himself, if He came from the Father and came down into our physical circumstances, if He manifested Himself to take away our sins, as verse 5 says, and if Christ came to destroy the works of the devil, the second part of verse 8, then John puts forth that it's inconceivable then for those in Christ to continue in sin any longer. The second part of verse 6, whoever sins does not see Christ, and they do not know Him. Okay? Very important. And John's going to repeat this argument again and again throughout this passage. And what you find here, it's kind of a twofold argument. The basis of this, the first part of his argument, is in verses 3 through 7. And then he repeats the argument, slightly wrenched up in verses 8 through 10. So to begin, John begins the first half of his argument in verses 3 through 7. Again, middle of verse 2, he speaks about when Jesus is revealed, we shall be like Him, we shall see Him as He is. And then verse 3 again, verse 3, therefore everyone who has this hope in Him, in this revealing, once again, purifies Himself, we could say purifies herself just as He is pure. In other words, those who have hope in His return, who have hope in His appearing again, those who have hope in this, then it would be absolutely nonsense for that individual who has this hope to at the same time persist in sin, which signifies rebellion against the one they're hoping for. You see, it's that simple. That's the basis of John's argument here. And so everyone who has this hope in His appearing again, they will purify themselves, he says, just as He is pure. So understood, right? So here you have Joe, and here you have Mary. If there's any Joe or Marys out there, I'm not speaking of you, okay? But you have Joe and Mary displaying a life which is willful and persistently sinful against God, at the same time somehow maintaining that they're hopeful for Christ's return. And John begins this whole argument to say, that just doesn't work. It can't work that way. Why? Why? Well, verse 4 and 5 sets up the contrast between sin and Jesus Christ, okay? This is the contrast given to us in verse 4 and 5. Sin and Jesus Christ, they're in opposition to one another. They're contradictory to one another. Verse 4 again, verse 4, whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness, okay? Verse 5, and you know that He was manifested to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. There is no sin. So there's the contrast here. You have sin on one hand, and you have Jesus Christ, the one who was manifest, to take away it. You see? So you have lawlessness on one hand, and you have the one who kept the law perfectly on the other. And He came down here to us to manifest. He manifested Himself to take away sin and lawlessness.

And later on, of course, in Jesus's ministry, He would tell the Pharisees, I did not come to destroy the law. And He says, in fact, I came to fulfill it. In other words, I came to fill it, fill the law to the brim.

So He said, for example, now that I'm here, now that I've made myself manifest, it's not enough to not just murder someone. No, I came now, and I'm going to fill it up. I'm going to fill up the law. Not only can you not murder, you cannot hate and wait.

There's more. Now you must love your enemy. He filled it up. He fulfilled the law. And John is expressing those who wait for His return. Now it's our responsibility. We have the same responsibility to purify ourselves of any sin as we await for His return.

So again, John refers to the return of Jesus Christ, His revealing, His appearing, in terms of its implications on the waiting believer. I.e., if you're looking forward to Jesus Christ coming back, the world will know it, not necessarily by you just saying it. They will know you're looking forward and you have hope in His return because you won't display the very thing He came to take away. That's a pretty good argument. Any of you who are logical thinkers, you will appreciate this passage from John. You know, sometimes Scripture speaks to our heart in a very emotional way. I receive that kind of word. Some of you are very logical. So this is a very logical argument here. If you say you're hoping for Him to return and that you're looking forward to it, the evidence of that hope will be found in living a life, not displaying the thing He came to take away. So, Joe or Mary, if you're looking forward, if you have hope in His return, let your life show it. Let your life show it. You can't say that you're waiting for the sinless Savior and live a life in persistent sin. Those two things just don't add up.

Now, let me just say at this point for clarity. The call of these days of the days of Unleavened bread, it's not a call with an expectation of perfection. Okay. It's not a call, the calls of these days, it's not a call for the expectation for us to be sinless, fully sinless. Of course, that sinlessness will not occur until His return, His appearing, and were born spirit into the spirit family. Of course, that there was only one who was able to obtain sinlessness, and then of course that was Jesus Christ. Okay. And so it is true, that is true, but, and we know John is not painting in gray here. The only two colors on his palette is black and white, right, in this whole passage. He's painting in black and white. But it is to this truth that John wants to address himself with clarity. The mission of Jesus plainly was to take away our sin, and it's not merely or only to take away the penalty of sin, which is death. We know that. Of course, Christ came. He died, took our place for the penalty, which is death, opened up the possibility for us to have life, eternal life. Yes. But it's not merely that he was manifest also to provide the help to us to remove and destroy the works of the devil in those who follow him. And the focus of the Days of Unleavened Bread are here upon us to that call. And it's really, that's why the Passover is first, right? We are low. We are pricked at the heart. We are heavy to think about the fact that Christ came to die for sin.

John the Baptist looked across the way and he says, there he is, the one who comes to take away sin, the Lamb of God.

And then the Days of Unleavened Bread follow Passover to move us to our response.

To the one who gave his life for us. And our response is to answer the call of the Days of Unleavened Bread. So let's not miss this. Now, I'm speaking to a group of men and women here. Where all this is, you're receiving it. These are familiar words, albeit striking. They are familiar. But I'll tell you, this call of these days, it is in fact a stumbling block for many men and women who consider themselves Christian in the mainstream Christian circles. It's a stumbling block for them. And to some, it's even foolishness to them. Everything that I've just spoke about. It's a stumbling block and it's foolishness to many for us to state that Jesus Christ came and died to take the sins of the world. It's a stumbling block and it is actually in fact foolish to many men and women who consider themselves Christian. Did you know that? If you delve into that world a little bit, you will find there is no argument or no pushback against Christ's beautiful words or His beautiful example.

That's not His words and His example. That's not a stumbling block to the world. Many love Jesus's loving words and His loving example. And it's not...and His miracles, Jesus's miracles, that's not even a stumbling block to the world. Who could be against Jesus's healings? His healing miracles?

But it is in fact the fact that Jesus had to die for our sin. That's what convicts and confronts men and women today. That's the stumbling block and it's an offense to them. You see, man and woman does not want to stand before a crucified Christ.

It's foolishness. It's a stumbling block. In fact, not only today, it was considered these things back in biblical times. Keep your marker here in 1 John. Let's turn over to 1 Corinthians 1 and look at verses 21 through 23. Let me just show you this fact. It's really interesting to consider. 1 Corinthians 1. We're going to read verses 21 through 23, where we're going to see the fact that Jesus came to take away sin by his crucifixion. This is what men and women do not want to be confronted with because it'll change you if it does. 1 Corinthians 1. Let's begin in verse 21.

Listen to this. Paul writes, But Paul says, Let's stop there.

They did not want to hear a message of Christ crucified. The Jews were demanding miraculous signs. The Gentiles, the Greeks, were looking for wisdom. Paul, you're a bright man. Why don't you wow us with some of your logic and your wisdom? We'll take that. The Jews demanded miraculous signs. The Greeks or the Gentiles demanded wisdom. But Paul says, But what do we preach? He says, We preach Christ crucified. And what happens then? It's a stumbling block to the Jews. It's foolishness to the Gentiles. And it's the same today. You go out into your circles outside of our body here, and you speak about Passover. And then you speak about the days of unleavened bread. You know, and you say, you know, we're observing these days, and we're physically putting leaven out of our lives to symbolize and to move our thoughts and our hearts onto putting sin out of our lives, what leaven symbolizes. And they will look at you like you're crazy. You know, that's foolishness. And actually, they will say it's a little bit offensive.

I don't mind you speaking of Christ's loving words. Speak about His loving example. Speak about His miracles. But I don't want to hear that He came to take away my sin, because I don't want to be confronted with the fact that He came and died for my sin. That's why that message, over the years, it's been diminished in the world's Christian pulpits.

It's the doing away with the law. That's what's happened, the teaching of that.

Why? Well, the law convicts them. That's why. That's why they erroneously teach that the law's been done away with. It convicts them. And so, what you find is their observance surrounding these days, it mainly, it gets as quickly as it can to the resurrection, to bunnies, you know, to eggs. It may rest around the Passover for a short bit, but their message will move as quickly as possible from that. But the message of the gospel is not that we preach Christ crucified. And the message of the gospel is sin destroys everything. And you're going to have to turn from sin. And you're going to have to fulfill these days, these days of unleavened bread, and focus on the fact that Jesus Christ came and he had to die, gave of himself to take it away.

That will get you in the proper posture and the lowliness of humility that we need to begin to fulfill all that's being asked of us.

So, let's turn back to 1 John 3. 1 John 3. There's really a big question that I'm going to propose to you today. I think it emerges from 1 John 3 verses 4 through 6 again.

A big question for us today. 1 John 3 verses 4 through 6, whoever commits sin commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. And you know that Jesus was manifested to take away our sins.

And we could even ask, and you know, just keep repeating that verse, in him there is no sin. And you know whoever abides in him does not sin.

And I hope you know, we could add, whoever sins has neither seen Jesus nor known him. So, the big question that emerges from this first half of John's argument is this. If Jesus came to take away sin, the question is, has he taken away your sin?

Has he taken away your sin?

Only you can answer that, has he? Let me ask it this way. Here's a better way to propose this. Do you know the wonder of how Christ could deal with your sins?

Do you know, this is an important one, that you do not have to go through life continually defeated by sin? Do you know that reality? Or, have you succumbed to the false notion that you are defeated by sin and you're always going to be defeated? There's usually one particular sin that perhaps is with us and has been with us for a long time. And if I'm speaking honest to my heart, perhaps you can relate. It is, when you think about it, it is a sin that somehow you've just succumbed to the notion it's going to be with you forever.

Well, on the strength of Scripture, I can state to you emphatically, it's just not true. Christ came for you to have victory over sin and over death. And here we have the Apostle of Love. He's the perfect person to put forth this striking message.

And he's thinking about Jesus Christ, the one he had this loving relationship, and he's thinking about the appearing again, the revealing of him again. And then he's thinking about God's people, and he's now calling for us to reach for full eradification of sin. We must start there. You must start with that goal in mind. You must start with acknowledging that Christ's power is strong enough. Do you believe that or not? And if you have Christ living in you, you have that strength to overcome some of those sins that have been with us forever. So the full force of the call is in the summary here of verse 6 and 7. Here's the summary. Verse 6, whoever abides in him does not sin. But Paul is painting in black and white here. No gray. Whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. So there's the full force of it all. Sin cannot be cherished or allowed to reside in anyone's life who has this hope in Christ. He came to eradicate sin, so our lives must be evidence of that. So there's really no soft pedaling this. The implications are chilling. No one who continues in sin has seen him or known him. You know that, again, I do want to continue to add this concession statement. Of course, perfection, sinlessness will not be achieved in this physical lifetime. But the point of John's words here is to stir up God's people to the dangers of allowing sin to remain unaddressed in our lives. And so we must stir up the understanding that this upcoming year we need to achieve a spiritual growth unlike any other year.

This is the year. This is the year.

Now, we come to the second part of John's argument here, beginning in verse 8. And John's really going to rehash the argument again, but he's going to expand it. And if you can imagine, beginning in verse 8, he's going to ratchet it up a little bit for us. If you thought it was ratcheted up already, well, just wait. He's going to turn the screws a little bit more upon God's people here, because beginning in verse 8, I think at this point John probably took a breath to make this dramatic statement. I can almost hear John say, and that's not all here. Verse 8. Let's read this. Verse 8. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. So let's stop there. So he who sins is of the devil. That's quite a statement there. We cannot miss this. And what he's saying is, it is the characteristic work of the devil to sin, and all lives who habitually are sinful in those moments and at that time, they're declaring themselves to belong to the devil. So in other words, to whom you belong will be seen in how you live. Again, your life will give the evidence of who our allegiance can be found. Do I actually belong to God or do I belong to the devil? That is a dreadful question, isn't it?

I told you there's difficulty in this. And just so you know, the activity of the devil can be traced back to the beginning. He who sins, verse 8 again, is of the devil. The devil has sinned from the beginning. Stop there, verse 8. So we know Lucifer was beautiful in his creation, but in his pride and rebellion he turned and went against God to wage war against God and men and women. And the devil is a murderer. The father of lies. And I mention this because it's important to acknowledge and to understand that we can't trace any of our sin back to anything else other than Satan the devil.

Really important to acknowledge that. It's the only place we can trace our sin back to. The origins of it. We trace the origins of sin solely back to the devil.

Do not find yourself tracing the origins of your particular sin back to back to environmental factors.

Don't trace the origins of your sin, your particular sin, back to family, events, upbringing.

You know, so much of the things that we deal with in our adulthood, so many of the weaknesses of sin, we know we can absolutely trace them back to situations that occurred in our life that brought about that weakness and we're dealing with it today. You know, if you have pride, you can usually trace that back to how you were, your upbringing or a circumstance that happened in your life.

If you struggle with impure thoughts, you know, you can usually trace it back and you know, boy, I was exposed to that at this age, at that time, and it's been with me ever since, and boy, it grabbed a hold of me and it has not let go. And yes, those things are true, but if you're really going to deal with sin, if you're really going to deal with it, you've got to trace it back to Satan the devil.

That's where it began, and many of the environmental factors, many of the upbringing issues come from the fact that Satan got a hold of individuals or situations that then pass that on to you. You see, they're victims as well. Those who perhaps made you a victim, they're victims as well. They're victims of Satan the devil as well. So you really got to know who is the originator of that which we are to eradicate, and it's Satan the devil. So the battle cannot be fought on any other level than the spiritual battle, and so therefore you're going to have to enact and engage Jesus Christ and God the Father who live in you through their spirit.

That's the key. And beginning to make progress over sin here. And so what John does and what most scripture does, the technique used in scripture, is to let the full weight come upon us. And it's so heavy, many of us are feeling heavy right now, and it's purposeful to be in that state. It's to humble us, to understand the severity of what we're dealing with. But then wonderfully, scripture then always turns. And what God wants us to understand, he doesn't want us to stay low and heavy, feel the heaviness.

Scripture in God's way, gives us a way out, a way of escape, hope. Yes, it's serious. Yes, it's heavy, but it's not hopeless. That's the key. And I think John here begins to turn and give us that hope that's available to us. Yes, it is true. Verse 8, again, he who sins is of the devil. The devil has sinned from the beginning.

Yes, that's true, but for this purpose, the Son of God was manifested. And I'll just tell you, everyone here who has made the commitment in baptism, received God's Holy Spirit, anyone here who God's Spirit is working with to move you to that commitment, God is here with you. And if you have committed to God and received his Spirit, I want to tell you today, you do not belong to the devil. You belong to God the Father and our elder brother, Jesus Christ.

And that's what John says here in verse 9. Here it is. This is who we are. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for his seed, God's seed from the Father through the Son, remains in him. And he cannot sin because he's been born of God. So here's the good news. Whoever has been born of God does not sin. Yes, we know the ultimate birth occurs at Christ's return, will join God's family. Of course, that's the ultimate birth.

But the Bible says you are today sons and daughters of God. So begin to look at yourself in that way and begin to allow that, that new clothing, that is wide clothing, help you move into becoming who you are. Be who you are. You're a son or daughter of God. This is the point that John is putting forth here. Yes, sinlessness will not be achieved in this physical life, but never diminish the level of righteousness that a child of God must reach for.

Because we have a great power that is available to us. Verse 9, this seed, speaking of the seed from God, the Holy Spirit. This is how John can speak so unequivocally. This is how he can paint in black and white here. Because we have this seed, the power, the Holy Spirit from the One, by the way, who's already defeated the devil.

The Holy Spirit is from the One who's already had victory. Satan is already defeated.

Yes, he's still stumbling around on the battlefield, but the knockout punch is coming, and he knows it, and it's a short time away. And so with the Holy Spirit, Satan cannot have influence on us with that which he originated. How can we be radically transformed to move away from simple activity? The answer is God's seed remains in him, remains in her.

Another translation is God's nature abides in us. The nature of God is within us. So we have the opportunity for growth, significant growth this year, and victory. And you may say, I've tried, but I just cannot overcome it. Well, you're right. You can't stop fighting at this battle on a physical plane. This is a spiritual battle.

We know what you're battling against originates from someone that is in the spiritual realm. So you can't fight it on that, on a physical level. You have to go to God the Father, and you have to bow your heads. Bring it to him today. Pray and acknowledge that you are helpless, but you know that you have his nature in you, and that you can overcome, and you can make progress, significant progress. And so, verse 10, as we begin to conclude here, there's really a simplicity of it. Verse 10, in this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest.

Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God. In that word practice, really grab on to that. Think about that. Meditate on that. Practice, practice, practice. Every day is another day for practicing righteousness. So pray when you get up in the morning. How do I want to start my morning? I'm going to start by bringing my desire to God. I want to destroy a little bit more of the devil's work in my life today. Would you help me do that, Father? Would you help me do that today? Let me think of an area that I want to work on, and I want to bring it to you, and ask for you to help me. And I'm going to be practicing. I'm going to slip, but I'm going to acknowledge it and come right back, and just continue to make this growth and continue to have victory as a child of God. So we are either the children of the devil or we're the children of God. And if you're feeling vulnerable today, a little bit insecure, I just want you to know that God may be calling you to a higher level of repentance this year and faith in Him. You are the children of God, and the devil does not have to have a hold on you. He has been defeated. So grab a hold of this simple, yet profound message of God. If Jesus came to take away sin, would you let Him perform that work in your life? Come to Him tonight. This is where we need to start. And express to God this year your desire to reach for a higher level of righteousness, and pray to God tonight and every night. Father, please continue to destroy the works of the devil as we all look for the hope of your Son's return.