July 14, 2002

Service Theme – "Our God is Holy"

1 John 3:1-10

How to Walk Away from Sin

1. Introduction

1. Illustration – Rick L. Upchurch, in Devotionals For Living a Holy Life in a Postmodern Age, wrote, Holiness, the Spirit-filled life, is a life of good works done in Jesus' name with the intent to bring honor to him. I see in the Word that those who believe and are filled with the Spirit are to make a difference in their world. If, somehow, Christians are not having a positive influence in our homes, schools, communities, workplaces, government and local congregations -- wherever we come into contact with the world then there at least must be the suspicion that our claim to Christianity is self-deception at best, or an outright lie at worst. Holiness is a verb. The Spirit-filled life is not a philosophical belief as much as a lifestyle. The power of the Cross is the power for a changed life which sees others' needs and responds to those needs. Too many who call themselves by the name of Christ know little of what it truly means to be in him. Yesterday, I was at a conference where pastors and church leaders of many different denominations from all over Toledo had gathered. While there, I witnessed an exchange between one of those leaders and a lady taking orders for the material being promoted. I was shocked as I heard the dignified, well-dressed church leader respond with rude speech and an obnoxious attitude. We are the Highway of Holiness for the world. It is our lives, our service, our positive impact which points to Christ or validates the world's opinion that Christianity is a hoax and Christians are hypocrites. Sheldon Vanauken in A Severe Mercy writes: "The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians -- when they are somber and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug in complacent consecration, when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths." Forget your schedule. Forget your personal preferences. What are you doing to bring glory to God? In what ways are you being the Highway of Holiness to the world in which you live? Are you a road sign pointing to the narrow gate of life, or merely part of the herd heading to a horrendous hell?
2. Context – I have to be honest. When I first read that quote, I thought to myself, "Man, this’ll work great! It’s the perfect introduction because people are going to feel convicted right from the start!" Then I began to realize something. I began to realize that probably the person who needed the most convicting by this quote wasn’t anybody seated here this morning. The person who probably needs to be convicted the most is me. Holiness is just plain hard to live. It’s tough sometimes to walk away from sin. It’s tough sometimes to choose to do things God’s way. But maybe if we listen to the Holy Spirit whisper to our hearts this morning, He can use the passage we’re studying this morning to help us to walk away from sin, to do things God’s way, to finally live the holy lives He’s been calling us to. In 1 John 3:1-10, John writes,

1. Scripture Passage

1. 1 John 3:1-10 – How great is the 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. ² Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³ Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. ⁴ Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. ⁵ But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. ⁶ No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. ⁷ Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. ⁸ He 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. ⁹ No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. ¹⁰ 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 a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
2. Eugene Peterson puts this passage a little differently (The Message): What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it – we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to. But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed to us, we’ll see him – and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own. All who indulge in a sinful life are dangerously lawless, for sin is a major disruption of God’s order. Surely you know that Christ showed up in order to get rid of sin. There is no sin in him, and sin is not part of his program. No one who lives deeply in Christ makes a practice of sin. None of those who do practice sin have taken a good look at Christ. They’ve got him all backwards. So, my dear children, don’t let anyone divert you from the truth. It’s the person who acts right who is right, just was we see it lived out in our righteous Messiah. Those who make a practice of sin are straight from the Devil, the pioneer in the practice of sin. The Son of God entered the scene to abolish the Devil’s ways. People conceived and brought into life by God don’t make a practice of sin. How could they? God’s seed is deep within them, making them who they are. It’s not in the nature of the God-begotten to practice and parade sin. Here’s how you tell the difference between God’s children and the Devil’s children: The one who won’t practice righteous ways isn’t from God, nor is the one who won’t love brother or sister. A simple test.

1. The Bottom Line

1. Those of you who know me know that I tend to be a bottom line, cut to the chase, kind of person. So what I’m sharing this morning is going to be bottom line stuff. I won’t sugarcoat it, and I’m not going to spend a lot of time trying to embellish what John has written here. The title of this sermon is "How to Walk Away from Sin," and John is offering us a couple of strong pieces of advice on how to do that. And these fit in very well with what we talked about last week.
2. First, John says REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE! If you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you are living for Him, you are a child of God. So remember who you are and the high calling you’ve been given. You know, when we look at someone’s children, we tend to see them as a reflection of their parents. When I became a pastor, I worried about that because a lot of folks think pastor’s kids should be perfect – you know, act perfectly, speak perfectly, never do what’s wrong. My boys are awesome kids, they are smart and normally well behaved, but they are still just kids, and that’s what they are supposed to be. They do an excellent job of reflecting my values, but they’re not perfect. They don’t make a habit of doing what they’re not supposed to, but it happens sometimes. That’s kind of how God sees us. We’re supposed to reflect God’s character, and God does expect holiness from us, so we’re not supposed to make a habit of sinning. I let my children know that they’re expected to make the right choices, but I give grace when they don’t. That’s just like how God does it. He’s saying to us, "Look, I just want you to reflect My character. You’re My kids. What you do reflects on Me. So do your utmost to do what’s right, and allow My Spirit to help you, but if you do stumble My grace will cover it if you confess and repent. Just reflect My character!" That’s what God is saying! We have the privilege of allowing Him to purify our hearts so that we can reflect His character to a world that desperately needs to see Him. We get the inheritance rights of a child, but we also have the responsibilities of an heir. As children of God and heirs of eternal life through Jesus Christ, we don’t have to make a practice of sin! That’s part of who we are in Him if we have a relationship with Him. So the first step in walking away from sin is REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE! If we don’t walk away from sin, we walk away from God!
3. Second, REMEMBER WHO TO LISTEN TO! There are lots of folks who are going around these days telling people they have brand new twists on how to know God. These new teachings are garbage, they’re just like the stuff that tends to accumulate on a barn floor! Don’t listen to people who practice sin! And we know from the looks of things that some of them are getting very good at it. Those kinds of people are not supposed to be our role models! John writes, Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. Don’t follow every new fad and every new teaching! See if their lives stand the test of time. Lots of folks believed Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart! If a teacher lives according to the Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit, then you listen to them. But always check what they say against what the Bible says! REMEMBER WHO TO LISTEN TO!
4. Third, REMEMBER WHAT YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO DO! If you’re born of God, you won’t live a life of sin. You won’t keep thumbing your nose in the face of God every time He points out an area of sin in your life and keep right on sinning. You’re heart will be broken by the fact that your sin is hurting your God. As Peterson put it, The Son of God entered the scene to abolish the Devil’s ways. People conceived and brought into life by God don’t make a practice of sin. How could they? God’s seed is deep within them, making them who they are. It’s not in the nature of the God-begotten to practice and parade sin. Here’s how you tell the difference between God’s children and the Devil’s children: The one who won’t practice righteous ways isn’t from God, nor is the one who won’t love brother or sister. A simple test. If you won’t take advantage of Jesus’ power over sin in your life, you don’t belong to Him. If you practice sin and parade it around, you don’t belong to Him. If you won’t do things God’s way, you don’t belong to Him. If you refuse to love any person on earth, you don’t belong to Him. Do you have to be perfect right now in all these things? No, but God is expecting you to allow Him to perfect His nature within you. Maybe this seems too simply, but sometimes the only thing we need to do to walk away from sin is to simply walk away from it. Sometimes we just need to say, "I know what I’m being tempted to do, and I’m removing myself from this situation so I won’t do it." John is basically telling us to make sure we do things God’s way and not the devil’s way. Bottom line. REMEMBER WHAT YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO DO!
5. Remembering who we are, remembering who to listen to, and remembering what we’re supposed to do can all help us walk away from sin. But there’s one thing these three things cannot give us – a desire not to sin. We have to love God so much that we allow Him to take the seed of Himself He planted within us and nurture it and make it grow until it overcomes all sinful desires within us. Jesus said in John 14:15-17, "If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth." We have to desire to obey Him, and allow His Spirit to fill us and show us what we have to do. If we truly desire to walk away from sin, the Holy Spirit will enable us to do it. It may take some time for Him to drive those sinful desires from us, but He will do it. WE HAVE TO WANT TO WALK AWAY FROM SIN!
6. Illustration - William Boggs, in Sin Boldly: But Trust God More Boldly Still (Nashville: Abingdon, 1990, 48), retold this old story: "A seeker after truth came to a saint for guidance. 'Tell me please, wise one, how did you become holy?' 'Two words.' 'And what are they, please?' 'Right choices.' 'And how does one learn to choose correctly?' 'One word.' 'May I know it, please?' 'Growth.' 'How does one grow?' 'Two words.' 'What are those words, pray tell me?' 'Wrong choices.'" I think we’ve done a pretty good job of getting the wrong choices down. It’s about time we learned from them and started making the right choices!

1. Conclusion

1. God is calling us this morning to stop making excuses for sin. He’s calling us to start walking away from sin. How are we going to respond? What will we choose to do? Will we choose to remember who we are, to remember who to listen to, to remember what we’re supposed to do? Or will we choose to practice sin and lose eternal life? Each one of us has to make that choice.
2. Are you struggling to walk away from sin in your life? Come forward now to the altars and confess your sin to God. Tell Him how much you’ve wanted to continue in it in the past, and how much you want to walk away from it now. Ask Him for His forgiveness, and ask Him for His help to walk away from sin. Commit yourself to following Him no matter what. If you’re struggling to walk away from sin, come forward now and meet with God. (Play What if I Stumble?, track 4, Jesus Freak.)