1 John 3:1-10 - Walking in Truth and Love

The Spiral Staircase of Truth

Welcome, church! How are you doing? It is great to be with you. Whether you’re here live at Clovis or joining us at FIG or one of our other campuses, we’re grateful you’re jumping back into the book of 1 John with us. If you’ve got your Bible—and I hope that is a normative practice for you—turn with me to 1 John chapter three.

My name is Mike, and I’m one of the teaching pastors here on staff. Hopefully, you were here last week and heard Brad, our senior leader, do a marvelous job walking through the text. I’m normally a note-taker, but three minutes into Brad’s message, I found myself just locked in. He was talking about this idea that we are in Him, and life with Him is simply better. When we are in Christ, our affections change, our influences change, and our focus begins to change.

That is so much of what John is communicating in this entire book. One of the ways we talk about John’s writing style is this idea of amplification. John is going to say something, then he’s going to come back around and say it again from another perspective. One commentator used a word picture I found really helpful: he talked about 1 John like a spiral staircase. In the middle of that staircase are the core truths John is trying to hammer home. Each time we take a lap starting at the top of the staircase and walking down, we see a new aspect of that idea, but we see it from a new and deeper level.

Before we jump into chapter three, I want to take a couple of laps around that staircase to revisit what John is trying to communicate to us. First, consider the author. This is John the disciple who walked with Jesus on this planet for three years. He left his home, his family, and his occupation as a fisherman to be with Christ. In his own Gospel, he refers to himself five times as “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” as if to say the most important thing about his identity is how Christ views him. He addresses the people in his congregation as “beloved” six times in this book. You are loved and known by God; that is who you are.

Second, think about the occasion. Why did John write this letter? He tells us exactly why in chapter five.

1 John 5:13 (NASB)

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

John penned this letter to believers so they would know with assurance that they have eternal life. He wanted to help bake that foundation and make it solid so they would not waver or doubt. But there was a problem: false teachers had crept into the church, whispering deceptions to distract them.

1 John 4:1 (NASB)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

John warns that these false prophets are distorting the truths of the Gospel. Last week, he noted that he wrote these things specifically concerning those trying to deceive the church.

1 John 2:26 (NASB)

These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.

One of the major belief systems they faced was Gnosticism, which separated the body from the spirit. They argued the body was bad and the spirit was good, so anything you did in the body didn’t matter. They taught that you could live a hedonistic lifestyle, gratifying every desire of the flesh, and still say you were a Christian. John says, “Actually, no.” A belief without life change over time is not the Gospel.

1 John 2:3-4 (NASB)

By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;

John sees his people confused and perhaps even in despair, wondering, “How can I know if I’m truly a believer?” He pastors them with such tenderness, introducing a theme of family that we see throughout the book.

1 John 2:28 (NASB)

Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.

He calls them “little children.” He treats them with the tenderness of a father, reminding them that they are family. If I asked you about your family values—honesty, integrity, hard conversations—you would tell me stories about living downstream of a value system you learned from your parents. John is saying the same is true spiritually. You’ve embraced the Gospel, and as a result of the Holy Spirit sealing you, that change is evident and permanent.

A New Identity

Think of it this way: before we knew Christ, our lives were dictated by a certain song. That song had a beat, and we marched to it because that song was our master. But when we came to Christ, a new song started playing with a new beat and a new Master. The old master didn’t simply go away; you have died to his mastery, but you haven’t died to his influence. To walk with the new Master, you have to learn how to turn down that old voice in order to abide in Him.

In chapters one and two, John focused on fellowship. Now, as he takes another lap around the staircase in chapter three, he shows us another angle: you aren’t just in fellowship with God; you are a child of God. In verses one through three, he explains that we have a new identity.

1 John 3:1 (NASB)

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and [such] we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

You are a son or a daughter of the King. The Bible uses this adoption language all over the New Testament. Paul says it like this in Ephesians:

Ephesians 1:4-6 (NASB)

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

We have found love, forgiveness, and inheritance. This should foster a deep security in us. We have been transformed so much that the world no longer recognizes who we are, because it didn’t know Him. Jesus said the same thing to His disciples:

John 15:18-19 (NASB)

’If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before [it hated] you. ’If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

Don’t be surprised as you embrace this new identity that the world doesn’t have a clue what is happening in your life. We are His. But John also reminds us that while we are children of God now, we are not yet fully what we will be.

1 John 3:2 (NASB)

Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

I am very much still in process, and I’ve met some of y’all—you are too! One day, we will be eyeball-to-eyeball with Jesus, and we will be like Him, in a new body without sin. But that day is yet future.

1 John 3:3 (NASB)

And everyone who has this hope [fixed] on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

This new identity produces something permanent. Think of a caterpillar entering a cocoon. When it emerges, it is a butterfly. It is changed, and there is no reversing that process. Being born of God is the same way. Our appetites and affections change, and the proof is external because it’s being produced by the inward change of the Gospel.

The Nature of Sin

Now John turns his attention to the false teachers again. He is writing to “Jesus’ kids” and warning them about those creeping in.

1 John 3:4 (NASB)

Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.

John defines sin here as “lawlessness.” At its core, sin is a rebellion against God’s authority over our lives. It is a defiant rebellion where we dig our heels in and resist what He desires to do. John says sin is the greatest problem humanity has ever faced. We can’t rescue ourselves because sin isn’t just something we do; it’s a relationship we are locked into. Paul describes it as slavery.

Romans 6:17-18 (NASB)

But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

You are a slave; sin is your master. You had to be freed from it. The very core of the Gospel is that Jesus came to free us from that relationship.

1 John 3:5 (NASB)

You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.

Because of His nature, Jesus was the only one qualified to free us. Having paid for our sin on the cross, we now have newness of life. Paul explains that what we could not do through the law, God did by sending His Son.

Romans 8:3 (NASB)

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God [did]: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and [as an offering] for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

Jesus came to break the yoke of sin’s mastery and call us to a life of holiness.

The Practice of Righteousness

This is where it begins to get dicey. John turns his attention to what this new life in Christ should produce in all of us, using very strong, polarizing language.

1 John 3:6 (NASB)

No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.

John is being dogmatic here. He is confronting false teachers who have a cavalier attitude toward sin. But we have to pause and ask: what is John really saying? One view is “sinless perfectionism”—the idea that a believer will eventually stop sinning entirely. I know I live with myself every morning, and I know I have problems if that’s the case!

We know that isn’t what John means because he wouldn’t contradict himself. Earlier in this letter, he said:

1 John 1:8 (NASB)

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

He also said that if anyone sins, we have an advocate in Jesus Christ. Paul said the same thing in Romans 7, describing how he often did the things he knew he shouldn’t do. In Bible study, we always interpret the unclear in light of the clear. John is returning to his favorite metaphor: abiding.

When you sink deeply into Him and walk in the Spirit, you don’t sin in that moment because there is a unity to what you’re doing. Returning to our illustration: the old song didn’t go away, but when you choose to turn down that volume and walk in the Spirit, you aren’t sinning because you are abiding. Can you still sin? Absolutely. We turn the volume back up on the old master because it’s comfortable. But you can’t clap to both songs at the same time.

1 John 3:7 (NASB)

Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;

The key to this section is the word “practice.” Six times in verses four through ten, John uses that word. He’s talking about habituated behavior. The one who truly knows God will not live a lifestyle habitually obeying the old master. We aren’t talking about a one-time offense or a “moral oops”; we are talking about a life dominated by the flesh.

1 John 3:8 (NASB)

the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

Because of our new birth, we have a new nature. We may fall into sin, but we will not walk in sin. It will no longer be our habit. We begin to develop a hatred for sin because our Savior hates sin.

1 John 3:9-10 (NASB)

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. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

John’s logic is simple: for those who have been wrecked by the Gospel and understood they were slaves to sin, they will live differently. You’re family. You’re in. You have been changed.

Callousness or Despair

There are times we are going to slip out of abiding. Our goal is not to sin, but it happens. I think we usually slip out of abiding on one of two sides: callousness or despair.

Some of you might hear this and feel a sense of callousness. Maybe you’re in a season where you’re lukewarm. You used to battle sin and take every thought captive, but now you just don’t really care about personal holiness. If that’s you, let these words penetrate your heart. You are family. We look different and act different because we ARE different. He has made us new; we can’t keep living like we used to.

Others of you might hear this and fall into despair. You think, “Lord, there are a million miles between me and what You’ve called me to be. Will my good deeds ever be enough?” Your conscience condemns you, and you feel woefully inadequate. If that’s you, let these words remind you that you are adopted. Your sins are forgiven. You are loved, and there is no going back. You will still battle the flesh, but remember:

Romans 8:1 (NASB)

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Whether you tend toward callousness or despair, may we be a people characterized by walking in the Spirit and abiding in Him. Little children, let us walk this out together.

Father, thank You for hard texts like these that call us to a standard of holiness. Thank You that we are changed, we are children, and we are secure in You. Help us to abide in the Spirit. When we struggle, help us to confess quickly and find safety in our Advocate, Jesus Christ. Thank You for the new life we have because of Him. Amen.