Well, good morning, everyone. It's 930, so let's go ahead and begin. And as we begin this morning, let's go to the Lord in prayer, asking for his help as we study together this morning. Let's pray. Our father and our most gracious God, we do thank you that we had this opportunity to gather together as your people. For the purpose of studying your word, And we do pray that that you would bless us in this class. And also that you would bless the children in the various classes that that they are in this morning. May your word not return void as it is taught today. Lord, you have revealed to us in your word that you are the light. And that in you is no darkness at all. And because you are the author of your word, we know that your word is a light to our path. and therefore there is no darkness in your word. So Lord, we do pray that you would help us to live by the light of your word. And that you would, by the grace of your spirit, drive out the remaining darkness that is in our hearts. Lord, help us to be the children of light that we are called to be. We ask this in the name of Christ our Savior, who is the light of the world and the light of men. Amen. Amen. Well, this morning we are continuing in our study through 1 John and our text will be chapter 3 verses 4 through 10. And the title of our lesson will be The First Contrast, Righteousness and Sin. But before we read our text, I think it would be profitable for us to take some time to remind ourselves of the major themes of this book. And in so doing, I think it will help us to understand more clearly the argument that John is making in our text this morning. Now, if you remember from the introductory lesson, we learned that this letter can be can and ought to be defined as a crisis letter. So First John is a crisis letter. This is a letter that was written in response to some very bad teaching, a heretical teaching that had come into the churches and disrupted those churches. And if this teaching was left unchecked, it would have destroyed these churches. And it even threatened, in a real way, threatened the entire Christian movement in the first century. Now, if you recall, this letter was written when the Apostle John was an older man. And by this time, the gospel had gone out from Jerusalem and had been spreading throughout the known world. And as this gospel spreads, it is preached, and people believe this gospel, they're saved, and churches are being formed. But the reality is the planting of a church really is just the beginning of the work because eventually the church will be attacked by Satan in one way or another. And because Satan is the father of lies, the most devastating way that Satan can attack a church is through the introduction of false teaching. And of course, this is the most dangerous attack because if false teaching gains a foothold, the church may continue to meet. The church may even flourish with its numbers. But if the gospel is lost, if the gospel ceases to be preached, then that church ceases to be a true church. And therefore, it becomes a false witness to the world. So false teaching is the most devastating attack that can grip hold of a church. And I would say that every church at one level or another is always at risk of being assaulted by false teaching. And therefore, we need to be aware of this. If you remember, one of our covenant promises as a church is that we would seek to maintain the purity of the gospel. It's something that we're all covenanted to do. We ought to be aware and on guard against false teaching. Remember, just a few weeks ago, Pastor Kurt Smith came and he preached on that very thing, didn't he? That we are to be reminded of the necessity to be on guard against false teaching. Well, that is the situation here in 1 John. False teaching had arisen from within the church, and as a result, there was much confusion concerning what was true and what was not true. And therefore, there was much discouragement among the people of God. And people began to even question whether or not they were even saved at all. Did they even have the truth? And were they even Christians at all? And so John's task in writing this letter is, of course, very difficult. He must counter false teaching with truth, but he must also encourage the saint to the end that they might know that they have eternal life. And so the question is, how does the apostle John go about addressing this serious crisis that is attacking the churches in Asia. Well, in many ways, what he does is simply is he simply teaches very clearly what true Christianity looks like as opposed to a false Christianity. That's what he does. That's his approach. And one of the things that John teaches in this epistle is that true Christianity has three undeniable marks, or you could say that there are three tests that you could use to determine whether or not someone's Christianity is authentic or not. And those three tests are as follows. And you should see that on your handout there. First, true Christianity is marked by righteousness or holy living. And to deny this is to deny Christianity. Second, true Christianity is marked by love. And to deny this is to deny Christianity. And then third, true Christianity is marked by certain doctrinal truths, particularly regarding the person of Christ. And to deny this is to deny Christianity. And so there is a moral test. There is a social test and there is a doctrinal test. And these three tests truly serve as a three-legged stool, if you will. If any one of these three marks are missing, you have something other than true Christianity. And these three foundational tests are meant to serve as a tool for the believers to evaluate themselves to see if they'd be in the faith. So you're supposed to take these three tests, you who are listening to this now, and you're supposed to look at yourself and say, do I meet these qualifications? Am I living righteously? Do I love God and do I love my neighbor? And do I hold to the doctrinal truths of the Christian faith? You can examine yourself by these three tests and thereby gain assurance. But it also served as a tool whereby believers could evaluate and identify false teachers. So if someone's teaching and what they're teaching doesn't line up with these three tests, the Christian can look at that and say, that's a false teacher. And therefore, we ought not to listen to them. And so the Apostle John, in the midst of this crisis, he does what a good leader does. He brings everyone back to the basics, back to the fundamental issues that are most important. He doesn't chase rabbit trails. He doesn't get into endless debates over things that are secondary. He doesn't fall into the traps that false teachers often set. No, he cuts right to the heart of the matter. He says that true Christianity is marked by righteousness, love, and truth. So he cuts right to the heart of the matter on these things. Secondly, we also learn from the introduction lesson that although John is polemical in this letter, and polemical means he's arguing for the purpose of destroying a false teaching. He is being polemical in this letter, but it's not just a polemical letter. It's also a very pastoral letter. And John had four very clear pastoral goals to those who may be called as little children, for those who are true believers. And you should see that on your handout as well. Those four pastoral goals are as follows. First John 1.3, I'm writing this letter that you may have fellowship with God. Secondly, First John 1.4, that your joy may be complete. Third, First John 2.1, that you may not sin. Then lastly, First John 5.13, that you who believe may know that you have eternal life. And so John's goal for his little children are fellowship, joy, righteousness, and assurance. And so as we study our passage today, remember the overall context of this book as he is seeking to destroy the false teaching that is attacking these churches by promoting what true Christianity is. But let's also remember as we study these pastoral goals that John has as we study. Now, before we get into our text, I think it would also be profitable for us to take a closer look at how John is structuring his arguments and where our passage is located within that larger argument that John is making in this book. Now, I can remember back when I was in college at Georgia Southwestern State University in the fall of 2010. And while I was there, I was participating in a Bible study. that was being led by one of the student leaders. And one of the things that he did as he was teaching this class, he was teaching on 1 John, he made the statement that the Apostle John was very unorganized in the writing of this letter. He said it was very likely that John being an old man, was just talking off the top of his head while somebody else wrote down what he was saying. And as such, as he was just speaking from his heart, it was a very unorganized letter. Basically, it was the ramblings of an older man. And I can remember hearing that, this had been 15 years ago now, because I don't think that's right. But I didn't know enough at the time to say anything in the class, so I just remained quiet. Well, that brother that was teaching that class, he's a pastor now in a PCA church in Hawaii. And so I think he's grown much in the last 15 years. We hope so. Yes. And I believe I have as well. So in the last 15 years, I've come to understand much more clearly that this letter from the Apostle John is actually structured in a very logical way. This letter is not the unorganized ramblings of an old man. If you would, look at your handout. And notice the very structured nature of John's argument. So you have, what we're going to see is there's going to be three tests that are followed by three contrasts that reinforce these three tests. And in that context, we'll see parenthetical thoughts with a climactic exhortation to live righteously in light of the return of Christ. And so what we want to see is this. Chapter 2, beginning in verse 3, all the way through chapter 4, verse 6, we have the following structure. And you'll see that very clearly. That's the whole structure of that entire section. You have A, B, C, D, E, A, B, C, D structure. And so, of course, A corresponds with A, B with B, C with C, and then D with D, and then E is standing along. So it's climactic in the middle. And that's the structure of that entire section of John's argument. And you'll notice how it lays itself out. A, we have the moral test. We see that in chapter two, verses three through six, where he talks about one of the one of the marks of Christianity is that that it leads to righteousness, righteous living. OK, then we have the social test that those who are truly Christian love their brothers. Then there's a parenthetical thought. And you know what a parenthetical thought is. So if you're if you were making an argument. OK, a parenthetical thought, you stop the argument. you talk about something different as parentheses, and then you continue your argument. You see that? And so, C, in both contexts, those are parenthetical thoughts. Okay, so when you're reading through there, John's making his argument about this is what true Christianity is, then he pauses, he has a parentheses in his thought, and he gives us some information about the church and the world. Then he picks up his argument in letter D, chapter two, verses 18 through 27, on the doctrinal test, Then we have that climactic middle of this argument where he exhorts us to live righteously in view of Christ's return. And then you pick back up with letter A and you'll notice that A there corresponds with the first day. So the first A was the moral test about righteousness. Now we have the first contrast between righteousness and sin. You see that? And so the first contrast corresponds with the first test. The second contrast corresponds with the second test. The third contrast corresponds with the third test, and so forth. And so that's the very structured way that John is laying out his arguments. I think it's important for us to see that. And so our text today is chapter 3, verses 4 through 10. It's that first contrast, and therefore it corresponds with that first test, that moral test that John gave us in chapter 2. Well, now that we've seen something of the larger context of John's argument, and we've seen that our passage has direct correlation to the first test found in chapter 2, verses 3 through 6, let us now look more closely at our text. If you would, turn with me to 1 John, chapter 3, and let's read together verses 4 through 10. This is God's Word. who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 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. 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. 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. Thus, the reading of God's word and made people say men. Well, we've looked at the larger structure of the big argument that Paul is making as he's arguing for what true Christianity looks like as opposed to a false Christianity. But now let's narrow our focus into verses four through 10. And what we're gonna find is, even in this smaller passage, that it's laid out in a very logical and structured way. Let me erase this. Okay, so chapter three, verses four through 10 are laid out in the following way. You'll notice there's two sections, two main sections. Those sections are verses four through six is one. Section two is verses seven through, sorry, four through seven and eight through 10. Those are the two main sections. And each section, what we're gonna see is there's gonna be four main themes that are repeated. So you see the four main themes in section one, and then they're repeated in section Two, okay? So the four main themes, A, B, C, D, and those four themes are gonna be repeated in section two. And just like we saw in the larger structure of John's argument, in the same way, theme A will correspond to A, and B to B, and C to C, and then finally D to D. So a very structured argument that John will be making in these verses. Now let's look at what those four themes are. The four themes are, first, theme A is the nature and origin of sin. Theme B is the work of Christ in opposing and defeating sin. Theme C is the incompatibility of continuing a sin while living the Christian life. And then theme D is the practical conclusion that the one who does right is righteous. And what we're gonna notice, and the way it's laid out is, so the first one, we see it's gonna be in verse four, this is gonna be 8a, then we got verse five, this is gonna be 8b, then we got verse six, that'd be verse nine, we got verse seven, fourth one's in verse 10, okay? So that's the way the argument is. So when you read this, the verse four goes with 8a, five with 8b, six with nine, seven with 10. And when you see that, the whole passage begins to make a lot of sense. OK, so let's look closely at this. We'll look at the first thing, the nature and origin of sin. We see that in verses four and verse eight. So let's read those verses together. Verse four says everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. Then notice how it corresponds with 8a. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. The devil has been sinning from the beginning. So from this first parallelism, we see the nature and origin of sin. It's the first question to ask you is this. So what is the nature of sin in the way that John describes it? How does he define sin, the nature of it? He says that sin is lawlessness, OK? Now, you may not. This is a little bit technical, but I think it's important. Of course, in that phrase, sin is lawlessness. The word is is a form of the verb to be, which is where we get the idea of being or essence or nature from. In fact, one word that can be used as a synonym for nature is the word isness. Okay? And so when John says that sin is lawlessness, he is saying that the very nature of sin is lawlessness. Question 17 in the Baptist Catechism asks the following question, what is sin? And it answers it, but in what way? Sin is any want or lack of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. And the scripture reference that the Baptist Catechism gives is 1 John 3, 4. But when you look at the word lawlessness here in our text, I think it indicates more to us than just the transgression of the law. You see, John doesn't say, well, sin is the transgression of the law. He doesn't say that, does he? He says sin is lawlessness. And this gets to the very heart of what sin is. Sin ultimately is a matter of the heart. It's a moral issue. It's a matter of who sits upon the throne of your heart. Remember, of course, in the book of James, when he says, if you've broken one law, you've broken the whole law. Well, how can that be the case? You got, say, 10 commandments and you break one. How is breaking one breaking all 10? That's what James says. How could that be the case? Anyone? So it gets to the reality that the whole of the law has how many lawgivers? One, right? That's one lawgiver. So any law you break, whose law are you breaking? So you're directly rebelling against the Lord directly rebelling against God himself. To break one law is to rebel against the lawgiver. And so when John says that sin is lawlessness, he's getting to the root of the matter. Sin is ultimately rebellion against God, the lawgiver. Sin is to not love God. And it is this spirit of lawlessness, spirit of rebellion against God that causes us to transgress the law of God. Why do we break God's law? Because at the very heart of the matter, we don't love God, we hate God, and therefore we do not submit to his good law. And so with that in mind, let us now consider verse 8a, which says, whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. The devil has been sinning from the beginning. So here we see the origin of sin. Whoever makes a practice of sinning, that is to say, whoever lives by a spirit of lawlessness is of the devil. And this phrase of the devil, that is a phrase that indicates to us origin and likeness of nature. If I were to say that I am of my parents, That is to say that I came from my parents and that I share a nature with my parents. So what it means to be of someone, okay? And when it says that the devil has been sinning from the beginning, it is saying that this is who he is. The devil is a sinner. The devil is someone who lives in lawlessness. The devil is lawless. The devil does not love God and therefore he rebels against God's good law. and the offspring of the devil. That is, those who are in Adam, those who are citizens of the kingdom of darkness. They are of the devil. In that their lawless nature originated with the devil in his temptation of our first parents in the garden and those who are of the devil share in the devil's nature. The devil is lawless. His offspring are lawless. Whoever makes a practice of sinning, whoever is lawless is like the devil. In fact, they belong to the devil. So the point here is clear. John is contrasting the lawlessness of those who are of the devil with the obedience of those who know and love God back in chapter 2 verses 3 through 6. So we see this idea, it's a contrast here. We saw the first test of righteousness. Now we're seeing that righteousness contrasted with sin here in chapter 3, verses 4 and 8a. Let's move now to our second theme in this passage. And we find that in verses 5 and also 8b. And that theme is the work of Christ in opposing sin and defeating Satan. So let's read verse five and you'll notice how it corresponds with 8B. It says, you know that he, that is Christ, appeared, why? In order to take away sins. And in him, in Christ, there is no sin. Verse 8B, the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. So here in this parallelism, we have the person and work of Christ contrasted with the devil and His Word. The devil, it said, has been sinning from the beginning. Because why? Because he is lawless. Where it says of Christ that in him, in Christ, there is no sin. Further, the devil came to bring sin. He tempted our first parents in the garden to sin. He came to bring sin and death and destruction. Whereas Jesus came to do what? To take away sin. The very opposite of what the devil came to do. The devil's work was to kill, steal, and destroy by deceiving and binding men in sin. But Jesus has come to destroy the work of the devil. He came to give life and to give it abundantly. And so we see this contrast. And of course, we know that the way that Christ has and is accomplishing his mission to take away sin and to destroy the works of the devil is through his perfect life, his sinless life, through his sacrificial death on the cross and through his resurrection from the dead. And then the application of his meritorious work to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so the point John is making here in the second theme is this. You can't claim to be a Christian. That is, one who is in Christ or one who is united to Christ. You can't claim to be a Christian and live in sin and live under the bondage of Satan. Why? Because Christ came to take away sin and to destroy the works of the devil. If you are in Christ, Christ has liberated you from the dominion of sin and he has liberated you from the spirit of lawlessness. Now, this doesn't mean that you don't sin anymore, but it does mean that in Christ, your heart has been changed by grace so that now the disposition of your heart is loving obedience and not rebellious lawlessness. So there. So if you're in Christ and you're united to Christ, he came to take away sin. Right. And to destroy the works of the devil. So you can't claim to be a Christian if that's not true in your life, that Christ has not come and taken away sin and destroyed the works of the devil in your life. Well, let's move now to the third theme in this passage, which is the logical outworking of the second thing. If we are in Christ and Christ has come to take away sin and to destroy the works of the devil, this means that there is an inherent incompatibility of continuing in sin while living the Christian life. And we see this in verses six and nine. Notice verse six. It says, no one who abides in him that is in Christ keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Verse nine, 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 of God. Well, these two verses have been interpreted in many, many different ways throughout the history of the church. And many of those interpretations are actually quite harmful and not helpful. One example would be to try to make different categories of sin, sort of like the Roman Catholic Church with their distinction between what they call venial sins and mortal sins. which would be to say that, they would say that based off these verses, well true Christians, they commit venial sins, but they can't commit mortal sins. That would be an example. Well the problem with such an interpretation is the fact that sometimes true Christians do in fact commit heinous sins. Our confession will state that it is possible for true Christians to fall into grievous sins. And further, although at a temporal level, there are greater and lesser sins. For example, it's a greater sin to murder someone with your hands than it is to murder them in your thoughts with anger. It's a greater sin to commit adultery physically than it is to lust after a woman in your heart. So there are greater and lesser sins, temporally speaking, but ultimately, all sin is against God. And as R.C. Sproul has said, even the slightest sin is cosmic treason against a good God. So all of our sin is rebellion against God. Therefore, we shouldn't categorize sin in that way. So that's not the best way to understand this verse, okay? And there's many, many other interpretations we could talk about, but for time's sake, let's just jump to how should we understand this verse? Well, the best way to understand this verse is to think back to the definition of sin that John gave in verse number four. There, he said, there he defines sin as lawlessness. And so the idea here is this, that there's this spirit of lawlessness or rebellion against God. And we saw that it was to have a nature, a like nature with the devil himself. And this is indicated in verses six and nine by the fact that the verbs concerning sin are all in the present tense. Now, this is important because it is the idea of continual practice of sinning or a continual unrepentant lifestyle of lawlessness. That's what's being talked about here. It's not referring to whether or not you can commit a sin or not, but saying that a Christian cannot live in lawlessness. The Christian cannot live as being one who is of the devil anymore. The person who has been born of God cannot continue in a spirit of lawlessness because they are no longer of the devil. They have a new nature. They are now born of God, and thus they are now inclined towards righteousness. Again, this does not mean that we don't still struggle against remaining sin, but it does mean that there has been a radical change at the level of one's nature. As a Christian, the Bible teaches that you are a new creature, that you have a new heart with new desires and new affections and new dispositions. And these new affections are not towards lawlessness, but rather towards loving obedience. And so the contrast here is, it's not between perfection and the transgression of the law, That's why that definition in verse four is so important. Not between perfection and ever sinning at all, but rather between the overall disposition and practice of one's life. Are you one who is of the devil, who practices and lives in lawlessness? Or are you one who is of God, who practices and lives in righteousness? Back in chapter two, verse three, we were told that the test of a true Christian is that they keep his commandments. That is, they make a practice or habit of keeping the law of God. So again, the contrast is this. The true Christian makes a practice or habit of keeping the law of God because they love God, whereas the false Christian makes a practice or habit of sinning because they do not love God. So discussion question. This is for you to interact with. How do we address the claim by some that verses six and nine teach that true Christians no longer sin? And thus, if you sin at all, you're not a Christian. We're talking about here the era of perfectionism. So how do we address someone who claims that this teaching here, if you sin, you're not a Christian? Brother Matt? I mean, the first person that comes to mind is King David. I mean, Yeah, that's a good one. Anybody else? To that, like I've used that before with my own family. And they'll say like, well, he felt out like he, which they're not Calvinistic. So they would say like he lost his salvation at that time and then he got it back later. Okay. Um, well, one of the ways, one of the ways that we deal with this is there's two ways. And I think I wrote this on your handout and that is the analogy of scripture and the analogy of the faith. Um, the analogy of scripture, basically what that means is this scripture interpret scripture. Okay. So we have examples for like David, for example, or the disciples of Christ, for example. We know that they sinned, right, after they were called to follow Christ. So we have these other scriptures where we see believers, Christians, who sin, right? People who are in the kingdom, and yet they sin, okay? And then the analogy of faith would be, for example, how do you address that? Well, the faith itself teaches that one can't lose their salvation. that salvation, that when you're saved, you have eternal life. Even in 1 John 5, 13, he says, I'll write to you who believe so that you may know that you have eternal life, not temporary life, not, well, you have this life unless you, and then if you sin, you lose it. No, it's eternal. A word means something. And so the two ways we use are the analogy of scripture. We let scripture interpret scripture. and also the analogy of the faith. If our interpretation of a particular text leads us to deny the faith, one of the fundamental truths of the faith, then we know our interpretation is wrong, right? Or if we know our interpretation of this text goes against another clear scripture, then we know it's wrong, right? And so we know very clearly, throughout scripture, it's very clear, even in 1 John itself, if you flip back to chapter One says if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. This is 1a and the truth is not in us, right? And so scripture interpreting scripture here. We know that it's not saying that true Christians never sin at all Okay, but it is saying this is what's important So we don't react against perfectionism by going all the way to the other side of the ditch and say what doesn't matter if you sin or not now it is saying that you truly are a Christian and then you're not going to live. You're not going to practice sinning. You're not going to live in rebellion against God. You're not going to live as one who is of the devil because you're no longer of the devil, right? If you're a Christian, you're of God and you live like that. Not perfectly, but the overall direction and disposition of our life is towards obedience and not towards sinning. Pastor Tyler, and when we sin, what does the Holy Spirit do? What? Convicts us? Convicts us of sin. If you don't have conviction of sin, then you certainly, anyone needs to be very concerned if they do not have conviction of sin. I mean, that should take away, obviously, the sadness in our hearts and conviction and all that. Right. But still, He will convict us of sin. Amen. So He convicts us of sin. It causes us to confess, right? And 1st John itself teaches if you confess your sins that God is faithful and just to forgive you of that sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. But another text is just a little further down. In Chapter 3. Notice verse 19. He's writing to Christians here, OK? By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our hearts before him. For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and He knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God, whatever we ask, receive from Him because we keep His commandments and we do what pleases Him. But the point is, there are those who are Christians whose heart condemns them. Why is their heart condemning them? Because they've sinned, right? And they think, well, I've sinned, right? Therefore, God, I may not be a Christian. God doesn't love me, right? And the point is saying, no, God is greater than your conscience. Yes, you've sinned. But back to chapter one, verse nine, if you confess your sins, God is faithful and just forgive you of your sins. So even though you have sinned, God is able to forgive you of your sin. So even though you still may have a guilty conscience about that, God's greater than your conscience, right? If God is if God has said you're forgiven, then you're forgiven. Whether you feel forgiven or not, that's not the issue. The issue is if you've confessed your sin and trusted in Christ for salvation, you are forgiven, whether you feel forgiven or not. OK, but the idea that you don't have that verse there, if Christians don't sin, that's the point. OK. All right, let's move now to the fourth, the fourth theme. We'll go through it pretty quickly. The fourth and final theme mentioned in our passage is the practical conclusion that the one who does right is righteous. You see this in verses 7 and 10. Verse 7 says, little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he, Christ, is righteous. Verse 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. Well, here in this parallelism, we have an obvious truth stated. It is the same truth that Jesus stated back in the Sermon on the Mount. What did Jesus say? You will know a tree by what? By its fruit. A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. What's interesting is that in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says you will know a tree by its fruit, that comes within the context where he is warning about false teachers. And then here in 1 John, John's doing the same thing. He says, let no one deceive you. He's warning against false teaching again. You will know who is of God and who's of the devil by observing their fruits. The children of the devil make a practice of sinning, whereas the children of God make a practice of righteousness. So ultimately, John is making the same point that Jesus made. Those who practice righteousness are righteous, but those who make a practice of sinning are of the devil. They are bad trees producing bad fruit And what is the end of bad trees that produce bad fruit? They'll be cut down and cast into the fire. So don't be deceived by false teachers and examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. Are you a good tree that produces good fruit? And if you are, that's because of the grace of God. Let me close with this word of application. John has given us a test to discern true Christianity from false Christianity. True Christianity is marked by obedience to God's law, so there is this moral test, whereas false Christianity is marked by the practice of sinning. And herein lies the most important application for our day. Christianity is more than a mere profession of faith. Anybody can say that I believe, that I'm a Christian, right? That's what John's addressing here, because these false teachers are saying they're Christians, but they're living, they're making a practice of sinning. But they're saying, I'm a Christian. You see that? But Christianity is more than a mere profession. It is to be changed by the amazing grace of God. It is to be changed in our legal status before God and justification. It is to be changed relationally with God in our adoption. And it is to be changed morally by God in our sanctification. Jesus said that on the day of judgment, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, but he will say to them, depart from me, you workers of iniquity, which is another way of saying what? Depart from me, you who made a practice of sinning. Let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. But whoever does not practice righteousness is of the devil, and his place will be with the devil on the day of judgment. So may the Lord grant us the grace of repentance and faith that he might cause us to walk in righteousness before him all the days of our lives. Which three things? Yeah, in salvation we're changed legally in our justification, we're changed relationally in our adoption, and we're changed morally in sanctification and regeneration. Adoption. We're adopted into the family of God. So we go from being an enemy of God to a child of God. Alright. Brother Damien, would you close us in prayer?