Let's turn in our Bibles to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. Before I get to our sermon text, I want to remind you of a stark text from the Gospel of John. Not this first epistle of John, but the Gospel of John. When Jesus was interacting with Jewish people and specifically Jewish religious leadership in the temple area during his earthly ministry. He had in this context in John chapter 8, Jesus had gained a hearing and had some people listening to him at least momentarily agree with him and believe what he was saying. And so Jesus encourages that momentary belief, but he, I wouldn't say warns, but he, he exhorts a continued abiding belief. And so John chapter eight, starting in verse 31, it says, so Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. They answered him, we are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free? The history of the Jews was filled with at least outward slavery, but they were very proud that they had a status with God as the offspring, the seed of Abraham. And they did not view themselves as slaves of anyone. So they say, how is it that you say you will become free? Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever, the son remains forever, that is the son, the heir of the master. So if the son, referring to himself, sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham, physically that is, Yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my father, and you do what you have heard from your father. They answered him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did. They said to him, we were not born of sexual immorality, perhaps implying that he was, though he was actually a virgin born. We have one father, even God. Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me. For I came from God and I'm here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. That's a very fitting text from the gospel of John, from our Lord's ministry, to lead into our text in 1 John 3 today. The title of the sermon from 1 John 3 is, God's Children or the Devils? God's Children or the Devils? John has just said, he's just talked about the unspeakable kind of love the Father has given to us, us Christian believers, that we should be called children of God. And so we are, he says. It's not just something we're called, it's something we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he, when Jesus appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself, as he, as Jesus, is pure. That's what John just said at the end of our last sermon text. The Christian has a hope in Christ, and he has a delight in his father's love that makes him further purify himself of any remaining sin throughout his life. There is remaining sin, but the Christian is the one who, as we've seen through this letter, confesses sin, who seeks purity from sin, who seeks to live and walk as his master walked. And now, John just very plainly speaks of those who are not like that. Those who would perhaps call themselves Christians or religious or followers of the truth somehow, but don't really care about obeying God, about purity, about righteousness. So look at verse four of 1 John chapter three. We'll read just verses four through 10. That's our sermon text today. And I'll just mention at the outset, the ESV that we usually use, one way or the other, I think they're onto something. They translate this slightly interpretively. They're trying to help us understand what's being gotten across in the original language. But when it says, everyone who makes a practice of sinning, that's a little simpler in the original language. It's more like, Everyone who does sin also practices, also does lawlessness. So, starting in verse 4, it says, Everyone 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. Or you could just say, no one who abides in him sins. No one who sins or keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices or does righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning or does sin 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. And that'll lead into the next section about love for the brethren as an outstanding example of righteousness. So the big idea is that sin and those who cling to it are not of God, but are of the devil. Very simple. Sin and those who cling to it are not of God, but are of the devil. As we look at the message in this text, first of all, look at verse four, which simply says that sin refuses God's law. Sin refuses God's law. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness, John writes. Joel Beekie reminds us, some people define sin as something that spoils our lives. That is true. When we step outside of God's ways, we should not be surprised if sin spoils things. But the Bible teaches us that sin is much deeper than that. Let me put it a different way. People might think of sin or evil or wrong as something that hurts me or hurts those around me. So it's a very human focus, that idea of what is evil, what is wrong, what is sin. But the problem with sin goes much deeper than that. And that's what's being brought out here. Sin is lawlessness. And as Karen Jobes puts it, to be lawless does not simply, does not mean simply to break the law. It means to disdain the very idea of a law to which one must submit. Lawlessness is anomia, no law. It's the opposite of even wanting a law. You could look at it as autonomy, self-law. I don't want anyone else telling me what to do. I'll be my own law. So anomia, again, here in Job, is the rejection of God's authority and the exaltation of the autonomy of the self. As one of my colleagues said, she says, the rule of law is about all people being equally subject to the law. Some people love law. Others consider themselves above the law. They may use the laws to control others. They may consider the freedom to do what they want the greatest law. I don't care what you, how you treat God's law in relation to others. Do you submit yourself to God's law? Sin is lawlessness, saying, at least for myself, no, I'll do what I want to do. I will not be subject to an outside law of someone higher than me, especially God. Joel Beeke again, he says, sin is man's refusal to submit his mind, heart, and will to the authority of God. He does not want anyone other than himself to be lord of his life. Sin is anti-God. It is treason against the Most High. It strikes out against God's holiness and glory. In fact, it flies in the face of every attribute of God. As John Bunyan said, sin is the daring of God's justice, the jeering of his patience, the slighting of his power, the contempt of his love. sin refuses God's law. And then verse 5, sin refuses Jesus' character and mission. You say you're a Christian? You can't have sin. That is, you can't cling to sin. Sin is the opposite and the sworn enemy of Jesus Christ. As it says, you know, that he appeared language speaking in this case of the first coming of Christ. He was manifested in the flesh. God was manifested in the flesh. That idea, you know, that he appeared in order to take away sins. John the Baptist said of Jesus, John one twenty nine, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. There's nothing in Jesus that would even give a half nod to sin, that would even slightly look away and leave sin alone. There's nothing in Him that is unrighteous, that is sinful, and He came to take away sins. Verses six through seven. Righteousness, not sin, marks those in Jesus. Again, basic things, right? But as we see as the passage goes along, if they're so basic, why don't we be serious about their application? Righteousness, not sin, marks those in Jesus. Verse six. 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. Don't let anyone lie to you about this, he's saying. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. Again, as we look at everything the Apostle John has said to this point about true believers and the fact that they still have sins that they need to deal with, it's obvious that we can't see this as sinless perfection in this life. for Christians, but he's still stating it very starkly to get us to understand those who really still like their sin and who are just characterized that that's what they do, that's how they live. They sin, they don't do righteousness. John is saying it very starkly that those who are like that, they have no claim in Jesus or in God. And then verse eight, those who cling to sin belong to the devil, whose deeds God's son came to destroy. Whoever makes a practice of sinning, verse eight, is of the devil. Pause there, not just on the devil's side, but of the devil. Later expressed in the same text as children of the devil. If you're of the devil, it's the devil whose desires are urging you on, and this whole world of sinners. You spiritually belong to the devil. He is the one who brought our race into rebellion against God, seduced our race into rebellion against God in the first place, though we were fully responsible for falling into sin. But he is the one who lied to us and seduced us and got us to become rebels against the Most High. And now he is spoken of as spiritually the father of sinners, those who love their sins. So 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. The devil has been sitting a lot longer than any of us have. The devil was there at the beginning. Now we understand if we understand basic scriptural teaching, we understand God made all things good, including the one who is now the devil in the beginning. But from the beginning of history, from the very beginning of history, when soon after creation, the devil showed up as the serpent, seducing our race into sin. In that sense, from the very beginning of history, and we aren't given many details in the scripture about the devil's own fall into sin. But from the very beginning in that sense, soon after God's creation, The devil was the original sinner. And everyone else in sin has been seduced by him, in some sense, and is under his sway. And the reason the Son of God appeared, it says here, was to destroy the works of the devil, the deeds of the devil. And in context, what are the deeds, the works of the devil? The deeds we do when we sin. Those are the deeds he inspires and urges and wants to be done. He wants open rebellion everywhere against the Most High God, his own sworn enemy. And the Son of God, Jesus Christ, appeared not to just rescue some sinners from their justly deserved doom and leave sin alone. Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil, to get rid of the rebellion, to get rid of the sin. How dare we hold it close to our chests and coddle it and have little corners of the house of our life where we keep sin tucked away for when we want it. How dare we give sin any quarter when our Lord Jesus is the sworn enemy, the destroyer of the devil's deeds. You see the point John was making. So Colin Cruz says, in light of all this, the author urges his readers not to be led astray by those who say sinful behavior does not matter. It must matter because the Son of God appeared to destroy the work of the devil, which is to lead people into sin. Well, verse nine then. God's children have God's seed in them and they cannot go on sinning. That's what he says. Verse nine. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning or sins. No one born of God sins in the sense. For God's seed abides in him and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. Back to Joel Beeky. I've kind of already said this, but here's how he says it. John is not saying that Christians never sin. That would contradict 1 John 1.8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. What John is saying, what John is saying is that if God has broken into your life and you now live in Christ by faith, you will not go on living as you once lived. God's seed of regeneration remains in you, so you cannot go on sinning. John uses the image of a seed to show that what God plants in the human heart will surely produce a new life, a new disposition, and a new will. You may still sin. He's already said we will still sin, but you may still sin, but sin will be contrary to the bent of your new life. You will not be content to continue in sin. Now, I like what Beaky said there about what the seed produces and grows in your life, but he kind of skirted around something that I think is here too. And if you get a little squeamish with how earthy the Bible is sometimes, sorry, that's the Bible. The word here for born, first of all, can also include being begotten by a father. The father's action in producing a child. And John boldly uses the image of a father's seed, male sperm, which passes on what we call DNA. They didn't talk about DNA back then, you understand, but he says that God's seed, sperma in the Greek, abides in God's child, making that person like the God who fathered him. So here's the point. If we want to put it in today's sort of understanding, scientific jargon, whatever. This is an analogy John's using, you understand, a metaphor. God's DNA is in you if you're his child. Not that you are a partake of deity, not that you are no longer a creature, you understand all that. And yet, God has given you birth, he's begotten you as his child It's not just that he adopted you and gave you the rights of being his child. He gave you a new nature. It's like himself. That's why someone who's truly God's child just can't be the same person anymore. They can't just go on and sin like they used to. They have something totally new and holy in them. Verse 10, if you don't practice righteousness or love your brother as he's about to get into is one example of that, one outstanding example of that. If you don't practice righteousness or love your brother, you are the devil's child, not God's. 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. Very simple, you cannot say you are God's child if you live like the devil. And we all have our own ways, referring to our old natures before Christ. We all have our own ways of living like the devil. Some look sloppy, some look sophisticated, but they're all united by being lawless. Against God's law, all about me calling the shots. I am my own rule, my own king, and God is not going to tell me what to do. Unless it's something maybe that I already wanted to do. Now this very simple text, but very hard hitting text, it gives us clarity for our doctrine. As we've gone through the text, that wasn't really that hard, but it clears up things for what we should believe. clarity for our doctrine. First of all, of course, we're going to list three things as you see there in your notes, hopefully from the bulletin, three things that give us clarity for our doctrine. First of all, we've talked about the nature of sin a little bit. Sin is not merely a weakness or mistake. It is treason against the Lord God. It's taking the devil's side in a cosmic warfare. It's not just weakness or a mistake or something we would like to minimize it to be. And just a few examples of how this plays out. Remember that man in Acts chapter five, remember that man named Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, who they wanted to look as good as some other people who were selling pieces of property and giving the proceeds to the church, laying them at the apostle's feet. They wanted to look good too. They sold a piece of property, but only brought part of the proceeds of the sale, but acted as if, talked as if that was the whole thing that they got. Really, for many in our day, it seems pretty harmless, a little white lie. Like, are they really hurting anybody? Was it really anybody's business? Well, it says that when Ananias, with his wife's knowledge, kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostle's feet, Peter said, the apostle Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? You go on to say that the problem was not that they, that they weren't allowed to keep the sale of their land for themselves. He said, of course, that would have been your right, but you lied about it to make yourself exalted in the church and not according to truth. But our point right now is just seeing this as one example of, okay, when someone decided to, in their minds, probably lie in a small way, shave off edges of the truth to make themselves look better. And they did it in the context of church fellowship and worship and sharing what they had with the believers. They were taking Satan's side and it was Satan inspiring them, filling their heart, as Peter says, to do it. That's true of all sin. It's lawlessness taking the side of the lawless one, the devil, who's been sinning from the beginning. Likewise, in 1 Timothy 5, Paul is saying that he does not want the church to support younger widows as it would support some older widows who have no one to support them financially. And he says why. He says, but refuse, 1 Timothy 5, 11, refuse to enroll younger widows. For when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry, and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith, what they formerly pledged to do. Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not. So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander. For some have already strayed after Satan. Ooh, you're talking about young women who are just, maybe they're a little, their lips are a little too loose. They say things they shouldn't and they aren't using their time well and mundane stuff to us. But he talks about it as straying after Satan. So you get the point from just these few examples from scripture, the most mundane sins in our eyes are straying after Satan. Sin is always serious because it's always saying, I'd rather do the devil's thing for now. I would rather not listen to God right now. I would rather do what I feel like doing right now. Sin is always that serious. Number two, as we think about our doctrine, what we believe, and this is hard to say and hard hitting, but number two, we are born children of the devil, not of God. And there's no third category. Did you notice how John cut off all our escape routes, all our exit routes? And we talked about this. There's two categories of people in the world and only two children of the devil and children of God. Not saying this side is bad. Nothing like that. Children of the devil and children of God. If you're born of Christian parents, if you grow up in church, you're still children of the devil unless God changes you with the new birth. And there's no halfway category. Some otherwise good churches confuse this when they sort of say that, I'm not going to really chase this rabbit. It's okay. But when they sort of say that children of Christian believers, well, at least they have some connection to Christ's covenant, at least kind of halfway. And they don't like to talk about their children as children of the devil. Well, I don't like to talk about my children as children of the devil. But if we're talking theologically, truly, everyone is a child of the devil, the way they're born into this world. Again, of course, we're not talking about some weird physical thing. We're talking about what your spiritual nature is, who you answer to spiritually, whose desires you do spiritually. Funny thing is about children of the devil, they all think that that they are doing just what they want to do. That's what the devil thinks. He's just doing what he wants to do. And all of his children think they're doing what they want to do. They're actually doing his desires, which is to do anything but God's will. Remember Ephesians 2, starting in verse 1, where Paul tells those who are now Christians, he says, you were dead before Christ. entered your life, you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. So you were spiritually dead in sins. In which you once walked, that was your lifestyle. Following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, a title for the devil. You were following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath. By nature, we deserved God's wrath against our sins. Like the rest of mankind, again, he leaves no escape routes. Among whom we all lived this way, we all followed the devil. Like the rest of mankind, You can't get out of that box Paul's drawn. But God, he says next, this is the only way to get out of that. And to what to get out of that? But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus and he will go on to say it's by grace by God's grace his gift that you are saved through faith how do you know that you have been raised from death to life by God that you've had the new birth how do you know that You know that your faith in Christ that changes everything, that turns you from your own sinful way in life to live for Christ. Trusting that he has done everything to make you right with God through his death, his perfect life, his death in the place of sinners and his resurrection to give you eternal life. 2 Corinthians 4, verses 3 and 4, Paul says, He's been saying, we don't use underhanded ways. We present our gospel as gospel ministers by the open statement of the truth. We don't veil it. But he says, even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled, it is hidden to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world, a reference to Satan, the God of this world in their case has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. Everyone in this world who is not in Christ is blinded. Yes, they just by nature are blinded, but that blindness is promoted and further enforced by the God of this world, as it calls him, the devil. Also, 1 John 5, 18 and 19, the end of this letter. John says, We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning. But he who is born of God, perhaps reference to Christ, the begotten of God. He who was born of God protects him and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God and the whole world, in contrast to Christian believers, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. or they're in him, they're under his sway, under his control, under his, yeah, his control. Now God is in control of all things, but he has allowed Satan to have great power over our fallen race, over those who have not believed in Jesus Christ. Third thing, in clarity for our doctrine, the second birth, being born of God. The second birth is about a new nature, not just a new destiny. People in our culture talk about being born again simply as sometimes how they know that they'll go to heaven when they die. How they know they're forgiven. And that's a wonderful thing. But if the new birth is real, it's about a new nature too. Jesus speaks to Nicodemus in John chapter three about this new birth, that unless a man, unless a person is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And unless one is born of water and the spirit, speaking of cleansing and God's spirit coming to dwell in us, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. He goes on to say in a way that you can't see the new birth happen because it's a work of the spirit of God. You can't see the spirit of God just like you can't see the wind, but you can see the wind's effects and you can see the effects when the spirit of God brings the new birth. You can see something new. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. God is, what is God up to in this universe? Eventually, he's up to making all things new as they ought to be. This is about a new creation, but it's already started with those who have been born from above by God's spirit. It's already started in them and them already the oldest passed away and the newest come. They have a new nature from their father in heaven. Now Ephesians two says that while salvation by grace through faith is not a result of works so that we can't boast about it. While it's true that our salvation is not gotten by works. He says we are God's workmanship now. created in Christ Jesus, remember, new creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. God didn't just save you if he saved you, again, to forgive you. He saved you to make you someone new who does new stuff increasingly. You are his workmanship, his masterpiece of a new creation so that you will walk in, live in, practice the good works that God's prepared for you to do. And Peter says, 2 Peter 1 verse 4, that God has granted to us his precious and very great promises so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature. He couldn't say it any more starkly. Partakers of the divine nature. Again, not crossing that creator-creature distinction, not saying we become God now, but we become partakers of His glorious character, His virtue, His righteousness. Now, we've gone through the message in the text, seen some clarity for our doctrine, now the application to our actions. First of all, don't listen to the lies of false prophets or false Christians. And this is obviously where John is going with this. He says it out loud. First John three, verse seven, let little children, let no one deceive you. Don't listen to the lies that will come from false prophets or false Christians. He says, 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. So don't let people lie to you about that. Remember what Jesus said at the end of his Sermon on the Mount. Don't let this scare you, but I'm gonna read for you the whole last part of his Sermon on the Mount from Matthew chapter seven, starting in verse 13. Jesus was all about this, saying, don't let, first of all, false prophets lie to you, and then don't be deceived about anyone being able to say they're my disciple, but their life doesn't reflect it. Matthew 7, 13, he said, Jesus said, enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction. those who enter by it are many for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves what a comical picture that is they come to you in sheep's clothing you imagine i know it's a common expression now in our culture because we got it from this text in the bible but this big slobbering wolf who can't wait to snap up sheep. He gets this sheep's costume on him, barely fits over his snout. But he goes around going, I'm a sheep. That's what Jesus is saying here. Don't be too solemn for Jesus. He says, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Don't be taken in by these dumb tricks, he's saying. You will recognize them by their fruits. That's what he says next. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. In reference to God's judgment, of course. best you will recognize them, the false prophets, by their fruits. Next thing Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, who just says I'm their Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? Didn't we do a lot of Christian stuff for you and even powerful stuff? Can we seem to have supernatural power even in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. There's that word again. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Whatever you did to look like a powerful, follower of Christ, whatever activities you busied yourself with, you didn't care about obeying me or my father in heaven. That's what Jesus is saying. You made up the rules for yourself. Now, hear what Jesus says next. And we get a famous children's Sunday school song from this, with good reason. Next he says, everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. No solid foundation. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell. And great was the fall of it. So he's boiling it all down for us. It's not just about the false prophets out there. It's about each of you hearing me, Jesus says. Are you going to hear what I say and actually do it? That'll show you really have been changed by my grace. You're really my follower, my disciple. And that'll sustain you through this life and the next. But whatever else you say about your attachment to me as your Lord, if you don't actually do what I say in your life, you're gonna have a great fall. Now I'm not going to read, for sake of time and my voice, I'm not gonna read all the references I have here, but this is also why Jesus, And the apostles commanded us to, after a due process that the scripture lays out, this is why they commanded us to cast false Christians in a certain context out of the church. It's called excommunication. This is another way in which we are not supposed to listen to the lies of false Christians. So it's not that we go on a witch hunt to just assuming people are fakes. but in the context of people who will not turn from their sin, even when confronted with it by the whole church, and it's demonstrable sin according to God's law. You did this, there is ample, solid testimony and witness to it. We call you to turn from that sin when people say no. Well, I'm a Christian, but no, you have no business telling me how to live my life according to the Bible. When that happens, Jesus told us, if such people refuse to listen, even to the church, Matthew 18, verse 17, let them be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector, meaning they're no longer part of the community of faith. Don't act as if they're a Christian. And similarly, even more drastically, in first Corinthians five, when it was a publicly scandalous sin of a man living with his father's wife, and the church hadn't dealt with it. Paul says, let him who has done this be removed from among you. When you were assembled, later he says, when you were assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, he expresses excommunication this way. You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. And further down, he further explains, I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler, not even to eat with such a one. But what have I to do with judging outsiders? He says, I'm not talking about people on the street who look like this. Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you. according to the law of Moses. And then you also have in your notes, 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul says he was going to have to come to the church at Corinth at that point, and he was going to have to do battle unless something really changed. They were going to have serious church meetings. And he said in preparation for that, I want you to examine yourselves now, test yourselves, Are you in the faith? Well, I'll just read it. 2 Corinthians 13, 5. Examine yourselves to see whether you're in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you fail to meet the test. So understand, this is part of what's going on with the doctrine and practice of church discipline and excommunication. As I said, there must be due process, and there's plenty in the scripture about this, plenty of context for this. But, especially at the level of the local church, we cannot allow people to just say they're Christians if everyone knows they're living like the devil. That's part of not listening to the lies. But next, We can talk about the people out there. Don't listen to the lies of false prophets or false Christians. Next, don't listen to the devilish lies of your own heart. Sin that remains in you would lie to you, and the devil would love nothing more than for you to believe those lies. But lies can come in various ways. One lie is that you can sin whenever and however you want as a Christian. Now again, let me be very clear. No one who is truly a Christian believer who has truly been born of God can be unborn of God or can lose their salvation. But that also doesn't mean, well, let me put it this way. I'm not saying that true believers can sin to a point where they lose their faith entirely. The question really is, If you can just live a lifestyle that's in love with sin, are you really a believer? That's the question. Of true believers, two true believers, Paul said in Romans 6, starting in verse 12, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness. But present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you. Not it shouldn't, but it will have no dominion over you. Since you are not under law, but under grace. So he. And we could go on to that text where he says. You didn't get anything worth having when you were in slavery to sin in the first place. So why keep acting like that anyway? Now you're slaves to righteousness, so go on to say in Romans 6. And you get wonderful things from serving righteousness instead of sin. But what we just read, he said believers should not give themselves back to the old slave master sin. It doesn't make any sense, but also sin actually doesn't have dominion over you as a believer. You're not who you once were. Don't try to be who you once were in sin. So don't listen to the lie that you can sin whenever and however you want as a Christian. If you're really a Christian, it's a great recipe for unhappiness and a lot of trouble for a while if you decide to be a disobedient child of God for a while. But again, if you can sin however you want and you feel fine, God doesn't chasten you as his child, that says something really scary, that you are his child. Maybe you have some theology, some doctrine, and some church practice that you like, seems good to you. Maybe you like to be known as a Christian, doesn't mean you are a Christian. Lie number two, within your own heart, can be that you are God's child, although you ignore his authority. So I've kind of covered that too. You are not God's child if you ignore his authority, just as a manner of life. And just summarizing what that text in Romans 8 says that I have listed there, it's those in the flesh who are hostile to God and do not submit to God's law because they cannot, those who are in the flesh cannot please God, Romans 8 verse 8. But you Christian believers are not in the flesh, Paul says, you're in the spirit, the spirit of God. In fact, the spirit of God dwells in you. And then in that context, Romans 8, 12, Paul says, So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, the old nature, old sin to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live for all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. What's the context? of being led by the Spirit of God, all whom the Spirit of God leads to put sin to death and to live righteously. They are the real sons of God. That's what Paul is saying there. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba Father. Line number three that we can't listen to in our own hearts. And I delight to end here. A lot of this has been heavy. and foreboding. But here's a third lie that gloriously you can, you can respond to with the truth. And here's something that when we preach from these texts about the seriousness of sin, some of you, maybe a lot of you as true believers, Your temptation is to sink under the weight of your remaining sin and draw false conclusions from that, that God isn't on your side, that he doesn't care about delivering you from your sins. People can have a false lack of assurance at times because instead of looking to Christ who will deliver them from every sin in their life. They just look at themselves and they sink down under the weight of their sin for a moment. So the third lie we must refute is that Jesus cannot or will not take away your sins. And this, I'm really addressing this to unbelievers and believers alike. Wherever you are, whether you're in Christ or outside of Christ, I can say the same basic thing to you. Don't listen to the lie of your heart that Jesus cannot or will not take away your sins. We've talked about the seriousness of sin, about its implications for who we really are inside. But number one, if you haven't believed in Jesus for forgiveness of sins and eternal life and for a new life in him, Jesus isn't holding you back. Jesus is welcoming you. He's commanding you, but with open arms to come to him to be rescued from your sins. If God's spirit has just opened your eyes even a little bit today to the fact that I was the fish that didn't know it was wet. I was just in my sin. But I'm a rebel against the God of the universe. I'm a traitor. a treasonous rebel against him by my sin? If God's opened your eyes even a little bit to that today, the thing to do is not hide more from God and from his son, Jesus Christ. The thing to do is to understand Jesus came to take away sins. And likewise, a believer, if you feel like, and don't live according to your feelings, I know that's easy to say, hard to do, but if you feel like your sin is winning at the moment, Don't think it's Jesus who's just unwilling or unable to lift you up yet again, and to help you put that sin to death. Does that make sense? Remember, well, we could just read over in our sermon text, 1 John 3, verse 5, 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. And verse eight, the reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. There was a man whom I'm sure you'll quickly know who I'm talking about. There was a man. At the time of the early church, he was the most unlikely convert. Who put people to death simply because they said Jesus was the Messiah. And this man made it his life's goal to hunt these people down, to beat them to a bloody pulp, and in many cases to kill them. He thought he was being religious and true to his religion, true to his God by doing this. This was Saul of Tarsus, who we know as the Apostle Paul. He says in 1 Timothy 1, Verse 15, the saying is trustworthy. Now I'll back up, actually. He says in verse 12, I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus, our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. I'm at the top of the list of sinners. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. That's Paul's point. If Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even me, he'll save you. There's nothing, he's not going to withhold his mercy from you. In fact, he says, Jesus saved me on purpose to make me the example that if I'll save this wretch, I'll save any of you. And believe or remember what we've already learned earlier in 1 John. If we walk in the light as God is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. And if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us, to clean us up from all unrighteousness. And John's written these things to us, chapter two, verse one, so that we may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. So in closing, I'm just going to read a hymn. Some of you may have seen me post about this last night, but this is the original hymn by An old congregational minister, late 1700s, early 1800s, named Daniel Herbert. It's called Come Boldly to the Throne of Grace. Come boldly to a throne of grace, ye wretched sinners, come and lay your load at Jesus' feet and plead what he has done. How can I come? Some soul may say. I'm lame and cannot walk. My guilt and sin have stopped my mouth. I sigh, but dare not talk. Come boldly to the throne of grace, though lost and blind and lame. Jehovah is the sinner's friend and ever was the same. He makes the dead to hear his voice. He makes the blind to see. The sinner lost, he came to save and set the prisoner free. Come boldly to the throne of grace, for Jesus fills the throne. And those he kills he makes alive. He hears the sigh or groan. Poor bankrupt souls who feel and know the hell of sin within. Come boldly to the throne of grace. The Lord will take you in. Amen. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, We rest in you and you alone. We would be helpless against our natural defilement and corruption without you. But you are the friend of sinners. And you are our almighty Savior. And you are full of grace and truth. And you show us what the Father in heaven is really like. and his grace towards sinners. So help us to come boldly, help us to indeed fear and tremble at our sin, but be confident and run to your embrace as you save us and deliver us from our sins. We ask this in your name, amen.