God's Sperma, Christ's Clothing, and Many Happy Returns of the Day by the Holy Spirit

Righteousness, Love, and the New Birth

(1 John 3:9-10, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, September 25, 2016)

[9] No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. [10] By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Born of God

The Bible teaches us that spiritual rebirth is real. Whether it's Jesus in John 3, Paul in Ephesians 2, Peter in 1 Peter 1, or John throughout 1 John, they all tell the same story. We who were once spiritually dead in our sins have now been born again from above. God did it. That's why John says “born of God.” We are different than we once were, even if we can't remember when this happened, even if we ourselves are disappointed in our faith or holiness. God has begun a new work in us. We are alive in Christ and connected to Him as children of the Almighty.

Before we go any further with today's text, I want to address those who may be wondering now whether they have in fact ever been born again. You believe that such a thing is possible, but you wonder about your own spiritual status. You may have even been in a church for a long time, but you are just not sure what your relationship is to Jesus Christ. What should you do? If you have those doubts, the very best thing that you can do now is turn to Him, trust Him, trust His Word, and commit yourself to the Lord. Invite Him to take you as His own child, and believe Him that He will do it. He means it in John 6:7 when He says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”

Evidence of the new birth

This new birth from God makes a difference in a person's life. John has been writing about that in the previous verses and he has more to say about it here. Sinning (having no share in the holy target of righteousness as presented in God's Word) is out of character in God's family. Let's use the analogy of clothing. Sure, you can put someone else's clothes on, but they don't really fit you, and they don't look right on you. The clothing of sin is appropriate for the spiritually dead. Not for you if you are alive in Christ.

When we wear the right clothes externally, attire that matches who we really are internally, our external look is an accurate sign of our internal reality. Those new clothes are not hypocrisy. They are evidence of something real. Faith and righteousness fit us just fine.

The new internal life of a child of God comes from a spiritual seed. “God's seed abides in us.” (Gk: sperma) A seed is a beginning. There may yet be a lot of new growth that we will experience, but we can count on the fact that God's seed is not dead. The spiritual likeness of our Father will more and more shine through in our lives. That seed of God cannot sin. When we sin now, we are putting on some old clothes that don't even fit us anymore. We need to throw out those old things, because they make us look spiritually ridiculous. See 2 Corinthians 5:1-5.

Let's ground this in a couple of other verses from 1 John. The first is one that we have not come to yet, 1 John 3:23, “And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He has commanded us.” The second is very familiar, and we use it regularly as a declaration of pardon in our worship. It tells us what to do when we find ourselves wearing the wrong clothes. 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Put that together with the instruction of the entire Bible, that sincere confession is accompanied by true repentance, and you have a great help in moving toward our ultimate goal which will one day be entirely fulfilled, that we will not only have the right clothes—we will be like Him. (1 John 3:2)

Evidence that a person is “not of God”

The right clothing of true righteousness is evidence that we are children of God. See Revelation 4:4, 7:9, and 19:13. But what about those who are “not of God.” They have evidence of their condition as well. When they wear the clothes of sin, those clothes fit. They do not do “righteousness.” They may do many things that are genuinely “good” as people count goodness, but they do not have the brotherly love which is to be one of the defining marks of the church.

Before we go any further, what does John mean when he writes about the love of a “brother.” The verses that follow will give us a chance to consider Cain and Abel who were literally brothers in the family where the first man and the first woman were the father and mother. While we can certainly think about our care for our siblings in homes near and far, John has just been writing about a different family made up of all those who are born of God.

Love, meaning not just feelings but actions of doing what is really for the best of the rest of our beloved spiritual family, is a sign of something genuinely Christian. Lack of love for the spiritual family of the Lord is an indication of an affiliation with the old serpent who Jesus calls, “the ruler of this world.” (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11) We have been talking about clothing today, and we remember that fig leaves of our own righteousness will not work for us. This is what we end up with when we refuse to put on the good skins that God has provided for us at the cost of the shedding of blood. The devil, who hates the church, loves fig leaves. We want to be clothed in Christ, extending the warmth of true love for all the brothers and sisters in the family.

Again, I want to address those who are wondering now about the evidence in their own lives. What if you are embarrassed by your own spiritual clothing as you hear these words? Our direction is clear. Take Esther's leap. (Esther 4:16) Commit your self to the Lord, and give your life away in love. Another verse: Psalm 37:5, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and he will act.” You can't have a committed “self” without having a committed “way.” Do both.

The new birth is essential for all who would forsake the practice of sinning. Only by the King of Love can we do His righteousness and love. It means something to be “born of God.” This new birth is both desirable and necessary to live a godly life in our contemporary world. If you want the love of Jesus flowing out of you, there is only one place to go for it. Him.

Finally, Jesus connects the illustration of physical birth with the reality of spiritual birth in John 3. Let me leave you with three thoughts from the use of this illustration from Steve Smallmen:

1. There is life and growth before birth. (Are you here? Keep going! Your day is coming!)

2. Birth is essential for continued life. (Are you here? Happy Birthday!)

3. There is life and growth after a blessed birth. (Are you here? Many happy returns of the day!)

Old Testament Reading—Esther 4 – Queen Esther's Choice

Gospel Reading—Luke 9:18-27 – Jesus, the Suffering Servant, calls us to follow Him

Fighting Smart

Jesus, the Devil, and their Respective Followers

(1 John 3:6-8, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, September 18, 2016)

[6] No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. [7] Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. [8] Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Whoever practices righteousness is righteous

While many people are uncomfortable talking in moral categories—good versus evil—there are evil thoughts, words, and actions that nearly all human beings would recognize as reprehensible. What is harder for us to see is that right and wrong do not spring from the will of the majority. Even if the majority of people believe that something is wrong, if the God of the universe says it is right, then it is right.

Are we to congratulate ourselves with merely knowing God's Word? Throughout the Bible God has revealed to Israel and to the church that knowing what God says and even offering a verbal assent that you agree with him is not the essence of holy living. (Isaiah 29:13, Romans 2:13, Matthew 21:28-32)

In 1 John 3, John is reaffirming this biblical point which is testified to everywhere. Those who do righteousness are righteous. Remember that when we read about “practicing” or “making a practice” in this passage, the underlying Greek word simply means “doing.” No one who remains or “abides” in Jesus, staying in His Word (John 8:31-32), does so without moral consequences. They turn away from sin. If they do not turn away from sin, they have not seen Jesus with the eyes of their hearts—they have not known Him. John does not want the church, “little children,” especially those who are new in the faith, to be deceived on this point by very religious-sounding, immoral people. John knows that we have sin (1 John 1:8). Nonetheless...

Jesus was truly righteous. His followers follow Him.

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil

The other side of the righteous/evil divide is also spoken of here. Yes we all sin, but when we sin, we confess and repent. Those who don't do that are unrighteous. They sin. Period. Their consciences may either accuse them, excuse them, or both. (Romans 2:15) Either way, they do not repent. They sin.

What is repentance? Repentance is a turning or changing of the mind that actually changes the life. It is a surrender. This was a big issue for God's people at the end of the Middle Ages. The church was working with a 1000 year-old Latin translation of the Greek New Testament, and with a wrong way of religious life that was familiar to everyone. Their Latin Bible, the Vulgate, translated the Greek for “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” to say “Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Doing penance involved sorrow for sin and also offering satisfaction to God for the sin by doing something else that would take care of the penalty. Faith insists that only Jesus could offer satisfaction for our sins and that He has done so by being wounded for our transgressions. Repentance addresses our actual underlying sin and turns back to God and away from death in that particular matter. There is a difference between doing penance and repenting.

So how do we handle sin? Do we do penance, or do we repent? There is a big difference. The New Testament is clear. So is 1 John 3:6-8. Those who do sin are not righteous; they are of the devil. The problem with doing penance is that it can devolve into a religious work where we still continue in the presenting sin, but we think that we have made up for it with our works.

Jesus and the devil

There are two teams here and two captains. They cannot both win.

This contest goes back to the beginning. In Genesis 3, when God first confronted sin, he spoke of a war between two leaders. At the center of a very important passage, we read these words:

[14] The LORD God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,

cursed are you above all livestock

and above all beasts of the field;

on your belly you shall go,

and dust you shall eat

all the days of your life.

[15] I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel.”

There will be a fight. The fight will be between the serpent and the woman, between his seed and her seed. “He shall bruise your head.” The chosen male descendant of Eve shall bruise the serpent's head by crushing it under His heel. In that process, He shall suffer injury. There is much that is concealed in that verse waiting for the day when these events would take place. But what is revealed from the beginning is precisely what John is not ashamed to write in our text.

Jesus is working for life. The devil is working for death. You cannot live long on both teams. You need to be clear about your choice. You have a captain, and there are others who are waiting to work with you for the progress of His everlasting kingdom.

Look what Paul says about this in Romans 16:20. “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” But any victory you have is all by God's power and grace. And so Paul immediately writes, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

Some practical advice that flows from repentance rather than doing penance: Remember those who have died suddenly. One day a man seems to be perfectly healthy. Then he stands before the Lord. How much time do we have on this earth? Turn away from sin and turn toward the love of your life, who alone could offer satisfaction for our sins. Finally, for ourselves and for others we love, follow this simple advice to avoid the pit of self-preoccupation: Worship and Serve, then Work. Tempted? Get up and sing to the Lord and do something for someone else. Then do the next thing in a life of taking dominion. Work. None of this is penance. It is just fighting smart.

Old Testament Reading—Esther 3 – Haman and the Jews – An epic battle begins...

Gospel Reading—Luke 9:10-17 – Jesus feeds five thousand – “You give them something to eat.” 

His Mission and Our Mission

No Sin in Him

(1 John 3:5, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, September 11, 2016)

You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

The story of sin and the world

For more than twenty years, Exeter Presbyterian Church has been talking about sin and salvation. The story of sin is a fascinating one. You cannot get the salient facts on this unless you read the Bible. On September 22, 2016 we are scheduled to begin a Bible Survey class with the story of the world before sin, and then with the entry of sin into the world from Genesis 3. Without these opening chapters of the Bible, humanity would be left with no definitive answer to two of the most important questions of human existence.

1. Has there every been a time when there was no sin in the world?

Answer: Yes. (Genesis 1-2)

2. What went wrong?

Answer: Sin came into the world through one man. (Genesis 3, See also Romans 5.)

Of course, you can't stop there.

3. Is there any plan to remove sin from the world?

He appeared

Our verse today provides a perfect outline for the joyful affirmation of the church throughout the ages of the gospel of grace. The credible answer for the coming of a new world without sin begins with the appearance of a new man. He (Jesus) appeared. The coming of the God/Man, Jesus of Nazareth was very good news for all who would put their trust in Him.

The coming of the Son of God was the central event of all human history. All of the years prior to His coming were years of preparation for His arrival. All of the years since His death and resurrection have been years of mission. He came with a mission and He gave us a mission.

In order to take away sins

He appeared in order to take away sins. His coming tells us not only that God cared about the horror of sin and the trouble that sin brought upon a beautiful world; it tells us that God was prepared to pay the price to fix a broken world.

From the first day that sin came into the world, God began to teach His people that the shedding of blood would be required in order to take away sins. He announced that One who would one day come would have to shed blood. This was a great prophetic Word. He also instituted the first sacramental reminder of what would be necessary on that day. After the man and the woman made their own failed attempt to secure their own clothing in a world where nakedness was now connected with shame, God himself provided clothing for His beloved image-bearers through the death of an animal substitute.

This was not an isolated pragmatic action. An elaborate system of animal sacrifice was provided for Israel through the Law of Moses. That system was essential for the teaching of the Lord's chosen people. They would learn very well that without the shedding of blood there could be no forgiveness of sins. They would also learn that though the blood of bulls and goats could tell the right story for many centuries, a better sacrifice was needed to get rid of sin.

In Him there is no sin

Even when the sacrifice of animals told the story, it was necessary that these animals had to be without spot or blemish. Again, the central story of all human history was being artfully and powerfully told. John puts it this way in today's verse: “In Him there is no sin.”

In order for the mission of Jesus to succeed, it was essential that there be absolutely no sin in Jesus. Why? The punishment for sin is death. For Jesus to be a substitute for us, His death cannot be for His own sin. Jesus never missed the mark of perfect obedience to His Father's directives. And there was never a bigger and better bull's eye of love than His death for us. This is what the Father told Him to do, and this is what He willingly did. “You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.”

The Blessing of Gospel Unity

We have absolute unity at Exeter Presbyterian on these matters. One of our members is planning on a trip to visit family in Colorado. She wanted advice on a church out there. The nearest PCA church is two hours away. There is another church in that town that sounded good at first glance, but could I be sure that they believe what we believe? Thank you, God for our unity in Christ.

Our Mission

As a result of what Jesus accomplished, sin will be utterly taken away. But we do not yet see a world without sin. If Jesus defeated sin, why is it still here? We are called to proclaim the hope of a resurrection world where there will be no sin, and to live by the hope that we confess.

Is there any hope for us? Simply put, there is every hope. This view of the world that the Bible so clearly teaches us is the correct view. No other way that man proposes comes close to settling our hearts, explaining history, and revealing what is yet to come.

EPC has a good mission. “Nourishing souls in the hope of the resurrection.” Over the last twenty years we have lived life together. We have been prepared through the Bible and through life to go to the despised and hurting people that God puts right in front of our faces, and to offer the help of gospel friendship. The message that once was spelled out in aluminum letters at 29 Front Street across from the Exeter Post Office still works today at 73 Winter Street in what was once a public school, but now serves us well (with a new furnace) as God's house at 73 Winter Street. “Come grow with us.” Come and grow in Christian assurance regarding the mission of the Son of God to eliminate evil. Think of these two great victories that Jesus won for us on the cross.

1. Jesus defeated the penalty against us. God is satisfied. We have peace with God.

2. Jesus defeated the power of evil in our lives. By the hope that is ours, we are taking every sinful thought captive and growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. Are you up for this?

Old Testament Reading—Esther 2 – Queen Esther and Mordecai

Gospel Reading—Luke 9:7-9 – Herod sought to see Him

Just a little sin?

Sin is Lawlessness

(1 John 3:4, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, September 4, 2016)

[4] Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

A practice of sinning

John had something important for his Christian readers to consider about sin and lawlessness that we will consider today and in the coming weeks. Whatever else we may learn from our meditation upon his words, this much is clear from the context of the surrounding verses: John does not expect the church, so clearly touched by the grace of the Messiah, to go on with the “practice of sinning.”

There is a temptation here to take the word “practice” in this verse and assume that John must be referring to more than just the normal sinning that we all do and confess. But no, John is not talking about super-sinning—just everyday sinning. It might help to translate this first part of the verse as plainly as possible. It just says, “Everyone who is doing sin also does lawlessness.” The word translated “practice” is just the normal word for “do.”

Augustine and the theft of pears

Let's look at a particular sin—one of the most famous sins in the history of the church. It was committed by a sixteen year old boy who went into a neighbor's yard with some of his friends one night. The boys shook the neighbor's pear tree, knocking much of the fruit off the tree. They tasted some of the pears and threw them to the man's pigs. They did not steal the pears because they were hungry or because these were such great pears. They did it for the joy of sinning.

This sin would have certainly been forgotten to history if it had not been for the fact that the boy wrote about it when he was 43 years old. For 27 that sin bothered him, and 10 years after his baptism as a Christian, he wrote to God about his sin in a book with the name “Confessions.” Near the beginning of that book he explored this one sin—the ugliness of it, the offense against God who provides good fruit in season to His children, and grants us the joy of friendship so that we can serve Him not only alone, but also together. The author, the famous Augustine, writes to God for pages about this sin just to get to the bottom of it, even though it was only an evening prank by some foolish young boys.

Look at any little sin, and think about it enough, and you may see more about it than you may wish to admit.

Sins like murder, sexual immorality, and theft seem to lead us so speedily into the sin of false witness. We lie to ourselves and others. Especially we lie to the Lord about our true motivations and actions. Do we ever go back to God and confess? Do we go back to the man who owned the pears and admit 27 years later that we were among the group of boys who shook his tree that night so many years ago?

Sin is lawlessness

We tend to use the word “sin” to talk about individual actions. A word like “lawlessness” is more often used to refer to a condition that goes beyond one person. Here John says that “sin is lawlessness.” Where do these two words come from and why is John using both of them?

The word for “sin” has the idea of missing some goal, but it does not mean that the person missed the target only by a hair. It means that the sinner does not have any share in the target at all. What is the target? In biblical terms, the target is set by God. He defines what obedience is for man, and alternatively what disobedience is. The second word, “lawlessness,” is without law. It does not mean that the person has no internal sense of right and wrong, but only that his definition of right and wrong does not match up well with God's Law. Such a person is lawless. He may have his own “laws,” but that understanding is so off-base that he is without the Law of God.

Jesus on Lawlessness

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke of some who would call Him “Lord,” and yet He would judge them to be “workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:23) The scribes and the Pharisees were big on law, yet Jesus confronted them bluntly saying, “You … outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:28) He also warns His disciples that at the end of the age “lawlessness will be increased” and therefore “the love of many will grow cold.” Does this mean that at the time of the Lord's return the world and the church will have a complete apathy concerning issues of right and wrong? Not necessarily. It only tells us that for many their moral outrage will be without the right Law. They will be lawless concerning the true Law of God.

The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount

John's burden in this verse is that the church turn away from doing sin, sin which is nothing short of lawlessness as it concerns the true Law of God. Over the years the women of our church have read many good books together. They don't get together to steal pears for the fun of it. They want to know the love of the Lord and to follow the God-Man who took away their sin. This year they will have an opportunity to read a book on the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7. In these three chapters, Jesus gives His disciples a right understanding of the Law of God, and how that Law fits into a life of grace-empowered Christianity. Such a study is just what we need in any era when the love of many may be growing cold and when there is so much moral outrage against evangelical Christians but so little understanding of the true Law of God.

Sin is catchy. It is a leprosy that can bring about a vast lawlessness. We need to see every decision to sin as not just a silly prank that everyone does, but a dangerous condition that requires healing attention. Sin is catchy, but then so is the righteousness of Christ. He touched leapers, and instead of Him getting unclean, they were cleansed. Wherever He went, He brought life. We are the body of Christ together with all those throughout the world who call upon the Name of the Lord. We are not those who shout “Lord, Lord” but then commit ourselves to the sin that is lawlessness. We bring an aroma of life to our families and our world.

May we catch the weightier matters of the Law this year because the women of the church will be studying the Sermon on the Mount. May they love the gospel and may that make a difference in their lives and in ours. You know who God first used to change the pear-stealing sinner into a man who had the courage to see that his sin was actually lawlessness? His mother Monica. May the mothers of the church help us to see how to turn the other cheek, how to love our enemies, and how to build our house on the Rock of Christ and His Word.

Old Testament Reading—Esther 1 – A queen removed

Gospel Reading—Luke 9:1-6 – Preaching the gospel and healing everywhere