The Spectrum of Hope   part II

Text: 1 John 3: 4-10

Proposition: Hope in Christ is like a spectrum of light made up of many parts but all working as one making it essential for life.

Introduction: The rainbow, you’ll remember it from Genesis as the tangible sign of God’s promise that came just after the flood. Caused by the refraction and reflection of light as it enters water molecules in the air, the spectrum of the rainbow is always the same, ‘Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain’ (ROYGBIV). The spectrum of the rainbow reveals the parts of light, each part unique but all working together making it essential to life. Last week we talked about the spectrum of hope, how the hope described in Christ is not a possibility or probability or a potential but a certainty. The hope we have in Scripture comes from the promises of an Almighty and sovereign God and it’s He who makes this hope a certainty. This morning I just want to look at how John the Apostle describes some of the hues of this certain hope we have in Christ. Have a look at 1John 3:4–10.

I. Hope in Christ- It Has the Certainty That Sin Doesn’t Win.

John begins with a brief definition of sin…“Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” Essentially sin is always against the Law of God embodied in the Ten Commandments. Sin violates those but more to the point sin is always against the Creator of the Law. Sin isn’t just a mistake, a weak moment or an error in judgment, it is an action against God. In these next verses John strongly cautions the church to beware of their vulnerability to that. So he gives us this certain hope in verse 4, “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.” Jesus Christ came into this world to take away our sin. I like how David Guzick describes what it means ‘to take away our sin’. He describes it in three ways: 1. Jesus died on the cross to take away the penalty of our sin. By faith we accept that truth, that certainty and our sin is placed upon Him as He places His righteousness upon us. 2. Jesus takes away our sin by taking away the power of sin to deceive and destroy. We can see it now, we can confess it and receive forgiveness daily. 3. Jesus takes away our sin by taking away the presence of sin. We know this in part now as He “leads us not into temptation but delivers us from evil” but one day in glory we will know it in absolute terms. In other words Jesus takes away the penalty, the power and the presence of sin. But don’t miss the last part of verse 4, “…and in Him there is no sin.” If Jesus took our sin upon Himself then how can it now be true, “in Him is no sin.”? The answer can only be that in Christ it has been burnt up, consumed, it’s dissolved to the point that my sin that has been given over to Him no longer exists. That’s how God has dealt with my sin and your sin in Christ. It’s gone! Hope in Christ has the certainty that sin doesn’t win.

Then John makes a rather problematic statement, “Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.” But don’t we all wrestle with sin, even as Christians? Didn’t John write in the first chapter of this epistle that if we say we don’t have sin we deceive ourselves, that we should confess it and be cleansed from it? What John is saying is that if we abide in Christ, stay dependent upon Him, connected to Him, we will not be vulnerable to the temptation that is the cutting edge of sin. Then comes the problematic part because we know that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). John isn’t teaching some kind of sinless perfection, he’s talking about the present tense continual act of letting sin reign and manifest in us. To sin in such a way is as if they have never really ever seen the truth of Who Christ is nor known the reality of Him as Savior. Even that statement is hard to hear for those that are experiencing habitual patterns of sin yet John lays down a rather sharp line of distinction. It is for the purpose of taking away our sin in penalty, power and presence that Christ came, so even in terms of habitual sin He can diffuse the power, remove the penalty and take away the presence as we yield to Him and surrender to His grace.

Look for a moment at verse 7, “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.” This means effort, righteousness is a practice, even as sin is a practice. If you persist in righteous action that is based on the truth of what Christ has done in you and through you then that reality will manifest itself the more that you stand on it, the more that you practice it. That certainty of your right standing in Christ is made evident, it is hope seen. Hope in Christ has the certainty that sin doesn’t win.

II. Hope in Christ Has the Certainty That Works of the Devil Are Destroyed!                  

So briefly let’s ask ourselves, ‘What are the works of the devil?’ because whatever they are that is what Christ has come to set right. Let’s start with an obvious statement Jesus once made, it was right after the Pharisees had tried to condemn a woman who was enticed into adultery. Jesus exposes their scheme, releases the woman and then teaches the disciples about the reality of Who he is and what He has come to do. So in John 8:32 He says, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” How do we know the truth today? It’s through the Word of God. What is the work of the devil in terms of the Word? He would love to have it taken away for if you don’t know the truth then neither can you be free. Jesus came to fulfill the Word and He came as the Word to tell them directly the truth of who Satan is, what sin is, Who God is and what salvation really means. So one of the main works of the devil is to take away the word of God from people’s ears and hearts. Piper in his sermon on this topic says that Satan does this in three ways, either through inattention, ill will or ignorance. Jesus destroys those strategies by the power of the cross, where sin is exposed and the Savior is seen. The Holy Spirit impels us to practice righteousness, to overcome the ill will towards the gospel, to push back the ignorance that has no understanding of sin or hell. This work of the devil is being destroyed even here this morning, even as you listen to the Scripture. But the works of the devil extend beyond his desire to take away the Word, they also seek to distort and destroy the design of sexuality God has created in man and woman. The truth of who you are in Christ is the foundation of your identity. If anything else is placed as a foundation for your identity such as public opinion or personal desires then who you are will be skewed, will angle off course and as you build upon that it will become more and more unstable. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, what we see in this world in terms of suffering and sorrow has much of its roots in sin and much of sin is either authored by or taken advantage of by Satan. The hope, the certainty, is that those methods, those plans, that corrupt design, will be destroyed by Christ now in part and eventually at His coming again completely.

So John makes this enigmatic statement in verse 9, “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.” It’s a lesson in Genetics isn’t it? What is the seed of God that has been placed in us? It’s the Person of the Holy Spirit. The reason that we don’t sin in an ongoing manner is because the Holy Spirit convicts us, convinces us and corrects us. Literally John says, “He cannot sin.” It’s not because I don’t have the capability to sin it’s because I’m no longer who I was, I no longer need nor desire to yield to the sin that once ruled me. That is a work of the devil in me that Christ has destroyed… present tense!

So John concludes with this thought in 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, nor is he who does not love his brother.” Two things ought to characterize the children of God: the practice of righteousness and the choice and will to love your brother or sister in Christ.

Hope in Christ, it’s the certainty that Sin doesn’t win and the certainty that Jesus will destroy the works of the Devil. Let these two truths spur you on to practice righteousness. Don’t give the devil a foothold through unresolved anger. Don’t let the devil steal away the Word from you. Do practice “…love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22,23)

The spectrum of Hope has these hues, these radiant colors of Christ. Next week let’s look at the most beautiful color in the whole spectrum of hope. Look ahead at the next verses to see what that is.