July 17, 2024 HE CANNOT SIN
1 John 3:6-9 “No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins have seen Him or knows Him. Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; 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, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 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.”
I do not recall ever hearing a sermon on this passage of scripture-and I can understand why. In this passage, we are told that believers cannot sin; at least that’s what is seems to be saying. For sure there is much to digest and much to ‘dig’ into in this passage. There is one part of this passage that is central to understanding-at least to some degree-what John is saying-‘because he is born of God.’ I don’t think we get the full impact of what it means to be born of God-being born of God is no small deal! Being born of God means that His seed abides in us! In light of the fact that we have been born of God and that His seed abides in us, sin has, or should have no place in us; we are now new creations with the seed of God in us. We tend to see ourselves as one being; but the truth is that when we are born again, we get a new nature, but the old nature is not eliminated; and the old nature resist the Spirit who lives in the new us and the Spirit resist the flesh-the old us. The key point we must not miss is that the power of sin has been broken and we have power to say no to sin and no to our old flesh. When God looks as us, He sees us as being made righteous because of the blood of His Son that was shed for us; He sees us as being cleansed. He sees the new person that we are. Here is a key realization that helped me see more clearly what John is saying; the old us, the flesh, is not in Christ. Our focus is to be on who we are in Christ-not on our flesh-who we use to be before we were born of God. Even as believers, we can revert back to and live out of our flesh and sin-BUT if we do that, it is our choice to do so. (Some use the old sin nature as an excuse for continuing in sin.) This verse refers to one who “practices” sin; it implies something that is done routinely. The believer can choose to sin, but sin should be the abnormal, not the normal. It is liberating to understand that the new person we are, the new creation we are, does not or cannot sin-the Spirit of God in us cannot sin!! We sin only when we make the choice to say no the the Spirit and yes to the flesh; remember, the power of sin over us has been broken. We have been set free from the power of sin! So, the key point is that we have the pleasure and the opportunity to abide in Him; and when we abide in Him we will not and cannot sin because the seed of God remains in us and God is holy and without sin. Because He is righteous and because His seed is in us, it is only natural for us to practice righteousness just as He is righteous. So, the message for us is to know and to set our focus on the fact that we have been born of God and that His seed abides in us; and sin has no place in the new creation that God has made us to be. That is awesome news for us. So much could be said and there is much more to glean from this passage, but hopefully we get a taste of what great things God has done for us. Let us get it into our ‘thick sculls’ that God has broken the power of sin over us-when we sin, it is only because we choose to do so. God has set us free from the power of sin over us.
Romans 6:1-2,6-7,11-12 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” “Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is free from sin.” “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust;”
(It is key for us to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God.)
Blessings, Buddy
[email protected]
1 John 3:6-9 “No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins have seen Him or knows Him. Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; 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, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 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.”
I do not recall ever hearing a sermon on this passage of scripture-and I can understand why. In this passage, we are told that believers cannot sin; at least that’s what is seems to be saying. For sure there is much to digest and much to ‘dig’ into in this passage. There is one part of this passage that is central to understanding-at least to some degree-what John is saying-‘because he is born of God.’ I don’t think we get the full impact of what it means to be born of God-being born of God is no small deal! Being born of God means that His seed abides in us! In light of the fact that we have been born of God and that His seed abides in us, sin has, or should have no place in us; we are now new creations with the seed of God in us. We tend to see ourselves as one being; but the truth is that when we are born again, we get a new nature, but the old nature is not eliminated; and the old nature resist the Spirit who lives in the new us and the Spirit resist the flesh-the old us. The key point we must not miss is that the power of sin has been broken and we have power to say no to sin and no to our old flesh. When God looks as us, He sees us as being made righteous because of the blood of His Son that was shed for us; He sees us as being cleansed. He sees the new person that we are. Here is a key realization that helped me see more clearly what John is saying; the old us, the flesh, is not in Christ. Our focus is to be on who we are in Christ-not on our flesh-who we use to be before we were born of God. Even as believers, we can revert back to and live out of our flesh and sin-BUT if we do that, it is our choice to do so. (Some use the old sin nature as an excuse for continuing in sin.) This verse refers to one who “practices” sin; it implies something that is done routinely. The believer can choose to sin, but sin should be the abnormal, not the normal. It is liberating to understand that the new person we are, the new creation we are, does not or cannot sin-the Spirit of God in us cannot sin!! We sin only when we make the choice to say no the the Spirit and yes to the flesh; remember, the power of sin over us has been broken. We have been set free from the power of sin! So, the key point is that we have the pleasure and the opportunity to abide in Him; and when we abide in Him we will not and cannot sin because the seed of God remains in us and God is holy and without sin. Because He is righteous and because His seed is in us, it is only natural for us to practice righteousness just as He is righteous. So, the message for us is to know and to set our focus on the fact that we have been born of God and that His seed abides in us; and sin has no place in the new creation that God has made us to be. That is awesome news for us. So much could be said and there is much more to glean from this passage, but hopefully we get a taste of what great things God has done for us. Let us get it into our ‘thick sculls’ that God has broken the power of sin over us-when we sin, it is only because we choose to do so. God has set us free from the power of sin over us.
Romans 6:1-2,6-7,11-12 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” “Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is free from sin.” “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust;”
(It is key for us to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God.)
Blessings, Buddy
[email protected]
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