\See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
1 John 3:1-10
In these verses John gives us three reasons to live a holy life.
1) God the Father loves us (v1-3)
God’s love for us is utterly unique and different from any other kind of love we have ever experienced and He lavishes it upon us. Its unique because He loved us even whilst we were His enemies. God’s love for us is displayed in the amazing plan of salvation. It is a love that drove Him to send His one and only Son to die an agonising death in order to win us back. God’s love took His enemies and turned them into His children. Because of His love, if your faith is in Jesus as your Saviour you are a child of God. But God’s love for us doesn’t even just stop at the point of new birth. It continues throughout our entire lives as He works on us and moulds and shapes us into the likeness of His Son. It is the love of God at work in us turning us into what we shall be. At the return of Christ, we will be fully restored to the perfect nature that God originally intended. The entirety of the salvation plan is an expression of God’s love for us.
2) God the Son died for us (v4-8)
John in these verses gives us two reasons the Jesus died. The first was to take away our sin and the second is to destroy the work of the devil. God, in His holiness, cannot look upon sin and, in His perfect justice, he cannot let it go unpunished either. Sin had to be dealt with and God knew that we could not bear the punishment of our sin, so Jesus died in our place as our atonement. Sin in this world is the work of Satan, so in dealing with our sin Jesus also defeated Satan. The Bible tells us that the victory is won, Satan is defeated by Jesus. When we put our trust in Jesus, we put to death the sin at work in us. As children of God, sin should as vile to us as it is to God. It is a daily battle to resist sin and to live a life worthy of Christ but it’s what a true believer desires to do. We will never be perfect until Jesus returns but if we understand the sacrifice that Christ make to win us back, we cannot live lives of intentional and habitual sin. If we do, we haven’t understood or experienced the love of God fully.
3) God the Holy Spirit lives in us (v9-10)
In His love for us, God doesn’t leave us to work out how to live a life that pleases Him on our own. He also doesn’t leave us to resist sin in our own strength. God has given us the great gift of His Spirit to dwell within us and to help us. It is the Spirit who reveals God to us and enables us to understand the word of God. It is also the Spirit who gives us the strength to resist sin and to cling to God. We have God’s power within us - the same power that raised Jesus from the dead! What an incredible thought. Believer, you can live a life that pleases God, not because you are good enough or strong enough but because God dwells within you.
What an awesome God we worship and what an amazing gospel we trust in. In His love for us, God has saved us through sending His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. What a gift. And on top of that we receive a second great gift - God dwelling within us.
Prayer for today
Loving and gracious heavenly Father,
Thank you for the good news of the gospel. Thank you for the simplicity of the gospel.
We praise you today that because of your great love for us you sent your Son to die in our place so that we can be saved. We also thank you for the gift of your Spirit at work within us. We ask today that through the power of your Spirit you will transform us into your image, for your glory.
We pray that as we grow in our likeness to your Son we may bring praise, glory and honour to your name.
For Jesus’ sake,
Amen
Song for today
You can listen and sing along here.
Before the throne of God above,
I have a strong and perfect plea,
a great High Priest whose name is Love,
who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on his hands,
my name is written on his heart.
I know that while in heav'n he stands,
no tongue can bid me thence depart,
no tongue can bid me thence depart.
When Satan tempts me to despair
and tells me of the guilt within,
upward I look and see him there,
who made an end to all my sin.
Because the sinless Saviour died,
my sinful soul is counted free;
for God, the just, is satisfied
to look on him and pardon me,
to look on him and pardon me.
Behold him there, the risen Lamb,
my perfect, spotless righteousness,
the great unchangeable I AM,
the King of glory and of grace!
One with himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by his blood!
My life is hid with Christ on high,
with Christ, my Saviour and my God,
with Christ, my Saviour and my God.
Photo by Neal E. Johnson on Unsplash
No comments:
Post a Comment