Dennis Tuuri

Week at family camp I preached on Paul’s method of evangelism and missions in the book of Acts and we saw there that he went to the covenantal representatives of all the world indicating that all the world shall indeed be conquered by the preaching of the gospel we saw that his method was to go to those with the scriptures and from those scriptures demonstrate essentially two things that Messiah Jesus Christ was our savior that he must indeed suffer for sins of those who are elect and he must also then die for those sins and be raised again for their justification.

But secondly, we also use that same scripture that people affirm a belief in to challenge them in terms of justification. But we also challenge them in terms of the social political implications of the gospel of Christ. And so when Paul preached at Antioch Pisidia, he did that. Paul’s method for those without the scriptures was to go to them and assert their creation and sustenance by the God who will also judge them.

And to say that all things are now changed with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the ascension of the savior king to the throne. The challenge then as we go forth from this place is to take that same pure gospel of justification by faith alone through the sovereign work of God the father, son, and holy spirit and also to challenge men in terms of the lordship of Christ relative to every area of life and thought and to do this by means of the scriptures to those who are from a belief in the scriptures and to begin with those who do not believe have not come to believe in the scriptures to begin with challenging them to give thanks to the God who creates, sustains and will indeed judge them and then to bring the word into their lives.

Now in the book of Revelation that going forth of the gospel in its first phase then of evangelism and revival and missions is a pure horse, white horse with a white rider. The Lord Jesus Christ being the rider and the church being the horse to go forth in purity. That subject of purity, sanctification has been our topic for the last few weeks in this study through the Canons of Dort as well. And today we continue looking at the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, the preservation by God and its relationship to purity and holiness or sanctification.

And so if you would turn in your scriptures to 1 John 3, I’ll read verses 1-10. Again, this is to the end that we might live holy lives. And then when we go out tomorrow and encounter those with the scriptures who either have rejected salvation through Christ or who do not assert the lordship of Christ in every area of life and thought we might challenge them with those scriptures and that we and our children might go forth to those who do not have the scriptures yet belief in them and tell them they’ve been created by God they’re being kept alive by God and God will surely judge them.

We preach that message that is pure on the basis of the sanctification and our purity of life growing as well through the grace of the spirit. Please stand and let’s read 1 John 3:1-10. Behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew not him. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be.

But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law. For sin is the transgression of the law. And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.

Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil. For the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil.

Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for these tremendously comforting words. And we pray now, Lord God, that you would open our ears to hear them. Open our hearts to drink this word deep by the grace of your Holy Spirit. Illumine these texts for understanding that we may rejoice in such great salvation that we have and be assured of the forgiveness of our sins and indeed that we shall indeed purify ourselves who have this hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In his name we pray. Amen. Please be seated and those little children who will be participating in this text. First we’re going to go through a short exposition of the text according to the outlines provided and that will take up most of our time and then we’ll touch briefly on the relationship of these things indirectly or somewhat directly to articles 12 and 13 of the Canons of Dort the fifth head of doctrine and also paragraph six the rejection of errors.

Now what we’re considering is the relationship of the assurance now we’re coming out of the Canons of Dort number 11 that talked about how the assurance of our perseverance and of God’s preservation of us can and is known by the elect in Christ. So we’re to know that we have eternal life. We’re not supposed to be guessing at it. We can have an assurance.

Now that assurance varies somewhat depending on the vicissitudes of our faith and our works, but we do have an assurance. And now in articles 12 and 13, what the fathers at Dort did was to reject this error of the Arminians who said that if somebody really knows and is convinced that they’re going to be eternally elect in Christ, they’re going to persevere in the faith and God will preserve them. That guy isn’t going to have any incentive for personal holiness. He’s just going to sit back and say, “I’m saved. I don’t need to worry about it.”

So in articles 12 and 13 of this fifth canon, what the fathers say is no, that isn’t right. You’re thinking like natural men here. The spiritual man assured of that knowledge has the Holy Spirit who assures him of his salvation, of his perseverance in the faith, of God’s preservation. But that Holy Spirit is a Holy Spirit and he will motivate the believer to a life of holiness and increased sanctification.

So that’s what this particular portion of the canons talks about. And I thought it’d be good to take up this theme from 1 John chapter 3 where it is so clearly pointed out that those who have hope, assurance, certainty of the Lord Jesus Christ being their savior do indeed, not that they should, but do indeed purify themselves in life.

Okay. So really what we’re focusing on here is verse 3 of chapter 3 of 1 John. Every man, every man, not most men, every man that has this hope in him, in Christ, in other words, that has this hope, this hope, this assurance, this sure knowledge of our salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. Every man that has certainty and assurance of salvation of his and of his perseverance in the faith, every man who has this purifies himself.

So the doctrine of assurance of one’s perseverance in the faith is linked directly to the purification of ourselves. This is a continuing action, not point action purified himself once. This means purifies himself and will continue to purify himself continually is purifying himself. Now that’s important here because as I read these verses probably some of you were thinking well it sounds like we’re never supposed to sin. Isn’t this teaching sinless perfection? No it isn’t.

What John does is in the first chapter of this epistle, he refutes the error that sinless perfection is obtainable by the Christian. He says that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And again, the word confess there is a continuing confession. So we continue to confess our sins before God, meaning that John the Apostle taught that we will indeed continue to sin in our Christian life.

Here he’s refuting the error of those who say it’s not important whether we sin or don’t sin. We can sin all we want and it’s okay. No, he’s saying the lifestyle characterized by sin where sinful acts are a pattern and a settled habit of that person is not a Christian, is what John is saying. Christians do not have a settled pattern of sinning in their lives. That’s what he’s saying.

And so here Christians who are assured of their salvation are purifying are purifying themselves continually. Say if you were sinless then you would have no need for purification anymore is the point. So just to get that out of the way at the get-go here that this text does not teach sinless perfection. It’s talking about sinning as a sense of a habitual pattern a settled always given over to sin and not particularly worried about whether you’re sinning or not sinning. And he says that person is not a Christian.

But our intent here is to show that what this text does is it says certain things about the believer. It says certain things about those who have hope, who have this assurance of their preservation and perseverance. And on your outline, you could fill in some verse references here if you’d like.

Point number one: these are those who are deeply grateful for having been called as sons of God and know that they are the unworthy recipients of his love. That’s verses 1 and verse 1 particularly, but verses 1 through 3.

So first of all, we’re deeply grateful and we know that we’re the unworthy recipients of his love. Secondly, those who are assured of their perseverance and preservation are those who no longer move in terms of the evil of lawlessness, the reflection of which is sin. Individual acts of sin reflect lawlessness, a rejection of God and his character. And those who are assured of their perseverance no longer move in terms of lawlessness.

Third, those who are the subject of Christ’s mission. These are those who are the subject of Christ’s mission, which is to remove sin. So if you’re assured of your perseverance, if you have this hope, these texts goes on to say in verse 5, that last reference number two is verse 4. Number three is verse 5, that they are subject of Christ’s mission, which is to remove sin. That’s why he came.

And then fourthly, those who are assured of their perseverance and preservation are those who now move in terms of union and communion with Christ, which is incompatible with practicing sin. They abide in him, meaning they grow in holiness. That’s verses 6 and 7.

And then in verse 8, the first portion of verse 8, we read that those who have this hope are those who no longer move in terms of union and communion with the devil. That is the practice of sin. Sixthly, in the last half of verse 8, we read that they are the subject of Christ’s mission, which is to destroy the works of the devil.

Seventh, these are those who are born of God and thus do not practice sin. And eighth, that’s verse 9. And then the eighth point is found in verse 10, they are children of God, not children of the devil and they love the brethren.

Now, these verses 1-10 of 1 John 3 are not in the first place an encouragement to you to be like this. Okay? There’s not—doesn’t say now since you’re a child of God, you should now continue to purify yourselves. No, it doesn’t say that. And it doesn’t say since you have union with Christ, you shouldn’t like to sin anymore. And since you’re not in union with the devil, you shouldn’t practice lawlessness. That’s not the way it’s worded.

The way it’s worded is this is a series of facts. This is truth. Now, there are portions of the scripture that do exhort us to personal holiness. This is not one of them really. And in its first implication, this is a statement of who we are in Christ. So while you may take away from this text and my exposition of it, you may take away an encouragement to holiness, primarily what I want you to take away is an assurance of your sanctification of the knowledge that you will indeed grow in holiness because that’s what the text says.

Okay, let’s go over these verses then somewhat more slowly. First of all, the text tells us that those who have this hope and I would say that we could state that is the assurance of their preservation and perseverance are those who are deeply grateful for their having been called as sons of God and they know that they are the unworthy recipients of the love of the Father.

Verse 1 begins with, “Behold, wow, we have an astonishing thing here. Look at this. Observe this truth. What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.” He starts with this exclamation. And he says that those who are truly Christians and have the hope of Christ in them, these are those who understand and rejoice and say, “Yahoo! We’re called the sons of God.” What an amazing fact.

Matthew Henry in this text says this. He says that he first breaks forth into the admiration of that grace that is the spring of such a wonderful vouchsafement. Behold, see you observe what manner of love or how great love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called effectually called. Matthew Henry points out, he who calls things that are not makes them to be what they were not. We are effectually called the sons of God. The Father adopts all the children of the Son.

The Son indeed calls them and makes them his brethren and thereby he confers upon them the power and dignity of the sons of God. It is wonderful condescending love of the eternal Father that such as we should be made and called his sons. We who by nature are heirs of sin and guilt and the curse of God. We who by practice are children of corruption, disobedience and ingratitude. But now we have been called out of that darkness into the light of Christ’s love.

We have the nature of sons. Matthew Henry said by regeneration. We have the title and spirit and right to the inheritance of sons by adoption. We have been born again and are the sons of God. We have been adopted into the family of God and hence are his sons.

These sons are the ones that in verse 3 are said to walk by faith and to walk in the context of hope. Now this is an important truth because the Arminians were going to say that, you know, if a person is convinced of his assurance of salvation, then he’s going to be prideful and he’s not going to really do what he is required to do in terms of his personal sanctification.

But 1 John chapter 3 identifies us first as those who rejoice and are astonished at the wonderful love of the Father in calling us who are sinners now sons of God. So we’re most motivated by a deep sense of gratitude.

Now, as we get to this, you’ll see this in the canons, but the Arminian thinks that the only way to motivate people to holiness is through the whip. It’s through fear of losing one’s salvation. It’s through saying it’s your decision whether you’re going to persevere in the faith. And if you decide wrong and if you don’t grow in grace rather, then you’re going to fall into hell. The Arminian knows nothing—I mean, as the Arminian view is presented in this document that is not individual people. That’s a different case. But the Arminian position does not understand or rejects the idea that it is gratitude for the Father’s grace.

It is love for our heavenly Father that motivates us to holiness, not fear of his wrath. It is not, you know, there’s an old—there’s a video we’ve seen some adaptation of one of the Tolkien books and these orcs are marching around singing where there’s a whip, there’s a way. Well, that’s kind of the Arminian position. You have to have the whip of fear over you or you’re not going to grow in personal holiness.

But these who purify themselves are those who have this hope in them as a positive assurance of God’s grace. And they are those who are motivated by a gratitude and a love for the Father who calls them as his sons.

Now understand that this hope that is mentioned in verse 3—and everyone that has this hope in him purifies himself—this is not, you know, it’s not hope in the sense of we hope this will happen. I’ve said this many times that it’s very important to understand this: biblically the hope that is in us when hope is referred to in the New Testament. It’s not a hope that wishes something. It’s a hope that is assured of something.

We read in Hebrews chapter 6 verse 18 that by two immutable things which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which entereth into that within the veil.

See, this hope is certain. It’s an assurance. It’s not a wish. It is not like men’s hope that is fallible or willy-nilly kind of wishing something. It’s not an uncertain hope like the hopes of men because it is grounded upon the promises of the Lord Jesus Christ as we just read and we know the truth for which we hope. Hebrews 10 says he is faithful that is he who has promised these things to us. And so our hope is based upon the certainty of God’s word. It is not a wishing for something—this hope of heaven.

Now as I said, verse 3 is not given saying those who have been so loved by God as to be called children of God or sons of God, those who have been given this wonderful hope should then on the basis of that purify themselves. It doesn’t say that. Now that would be okay to say. It’s true. I mean certainly if God saves us in such a wonderful way, we should indeed move in terms of personal holiness. But the importance of this verse is that it states it as a fact that this gratitude, this sense of grace and love of the Father will indeed, in those who have this hope, the biblical hope given to us by the Holy Spirit who assures us of our salvation, who is the down payment of our salvation, this hope will indeed move those who have this hope to a purification of lives.

So it’s given as a specific fact. Their hope of heaven, as Matthew Henry says, will dictate and constrain them so to do—that is to act in terms of personal holiness and to move in terms of sanctification. There is no exception here. Everyone that has this hope moves this way. He purifies himself even as Christ is pure is what it says. He purifies himself even as he, that is Jesus Christ, is pure.

Christ’s purity is his state. Jesus is pure. Not attempting to be pure or moving in terms of purity and increasingly but Jesus is pure. It’s his state. And we have Jesus as our great example, the Son of God. And as a result, our purification is a process whereby we continually purify ourselves. He is pure in his being, always has been, always will be. We are becoming more and more pure on the basis of the hope, the assurance of our preservation by God and of our perseverance in the faith.

Now, this same connection is made for instance in 2 Corinthians 6 where we read about unequally yoking that we shouldn’t be unequally yoked. What agreement has the temple of the living God? As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, be ye separate, sayeth the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, sayeth the Lord Almighty.

Now, there the same truth is made, but it’s made by way of exhortation to come out and to be clean. But understand the relationship between sanctification then and being called as children of the living God.

Now from that the text moves in verses 4 and following into multiple arguments against sin in the context of the believer’s life. And first verse 4 we read whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law. For sin is the transgression of the law.

So what we’re going to have here is a series of arguments against sin, but they’re all kind of explanatory as to why those people in verse 3 who have assurance of salvation purify themselves. Why do they do it this way? Why, you know, what are the what—how do we understand this? And we understand it by these series of verses. And first of all, we understand that those who have this hope are those who no longer move in terms of the evil of lawlessness, the reflection of which is sin.

Okay? Now, this is where we’ve talked about this before, but in this verse and throughout this passage, there are two words used. One is missing the mark, a falling short of shooting toward a target. And the other word is anomia, or lawlessness. The word translated lawlessness here is anomia—a-nomi-a, law. So it’s anti-law. And the very—this is a very important verse because it talks about our regeneration and it talks about the change of nature which God has brought to pass in the essence or core of the believer.

It so often when we think of sins, we think of hamartia. We think of falling short of the mark. And so maybe one of you boys and girls this morning fell short of the mark because you didn’t honor your parents. Maybe you hit your brother or sister last week or said an unkind word to them yesterday and you fell short of that mark. And we’re always dealing with our kids in terms of those individual sins and we think of our own individual acts, particular specific acts of sin.

But verse 4 tells us that whoever commits sin, these individual acts of sin, transgresseth also the law, for sin is transgression of the law. Individual acts of sin are seen in their full horribleness by this verse. Every individual act of sin stems from the core of lawlessness, outright rebellion against the person of God and the transcendence of his character that’s found in the law. It’s rebellion. It is idolatry. It’s moving in terms of the Adamic nature.

And the Adamic nature was determined by the fall as the one that says, “I will determine what’s right and what’s wrong.” You see, it’s the self-determination. It is idolatry, our own will as God that is the root of every particular action of sin. And the believer will not have a life that is habituated by that principle. Now, he’ll sin in many ways. He still has to deal with the old Adamic nature, but he no longer moves in terms of that Adamic nature. He is a new core. He has a new person. He is a new righteous will. He has been recreated in righteousness, holiness, knowledge, and dominion.

And that new will moves in terms of its basic principle being the love of God because we’re his children. So it’s very important here to recognize to see the relationship between individual acts of sin and rebellion or rejection of God. But the main point of this is that those who are called as Christians no longer have as their dominating principle in life the Adamic nature which seeks its own well-being.

Now, this is real important just as a secondary note in terms of counseling ourselves or others. We can take someone—there are many stories of conversions at evangelical or Baptist churches of men who have come to the faith because they want a better relationship with their wife. You know, it’s the whole “Christianity is your answer to all the problems in life you have.” You want a better relationship with your wife, become a Christian. You want a better job, become a Christian. You want to have a better relationship with your kids, become a Christian.

All those methods of evangelism seek to take care of these particular actions of sin, don’t be an adulterer anymore because that messes up your relationship with your wife. But if the person we’re saying that to doesn’t come to grips with the fact that his adultery has at its core idolatry and a rebellion against God and his law, we’ve not helped them one wit by cleaning up their life and supposedly becoming a Christian by means of making these changes to their particular actions of sin.

Do you understand that? Christianity, evangelism, deals with the core of who a person is. And it says, “Yeah, you’re an adulterer, but you got a much bigger problem than that woman you slept with last week or last weekend that wasn’t your wife. That’s a symptom of your major problem, which is rebellion and a hatred toward God. And until God’s spirit moves you in terms of repentance of your sin against God, then all your attempts to clean up your relationship to your wife and have a better relationship there, they’re all for nothing. They’re worthless. They’re doing you no good till you change the core of your being, this rebellion against God.”

Well, those who have been called by God as children of God, who have the assurance of the hope of their salvation, are those who no longer move in terms of this Adamic nature. They do not have a settled pattern of sinful actions because such a settled pattern of sinful actions as a habit would indicate a lawlessness now moving at the core of their being. And the scriptures say that lawlessness is no longer the essence of the Christian. The essence of the Christian is now law-keeping.

Verse 5 goes on to say that those who have this hope are characterized in a certain way. Verse 5, ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin. Now, if we’ve been regenerated by the Lord Jesus Christ and called to salvation in him, this is not an exhortation to personal holiness. This says you will move in terms of growing holiness and grace because the whole purpose why Christ came into this world was to take away sin and to remove sin from those that he has saved.

And so this assurance of salvation motivates us to personal holiness because we’ve been called by the spirit sent forth by the Son to take away sin. We are those who are the subjects of Christ’s mission. Christ’s mission was to remove sin. Christ’s mission was our sanctification, not simply our salvation. It’s our sanctification. And if that’s his mission and he’s grabbed a hold of you and given you a new spirit in the context of your nature, then that spirit is one who will move in terms of sanctification.

He comes to take away the guilt of sin by the sacrifice of himself. But he comes also to take away the commission of sins by implanting a new nature in us. So we don’t have to whip that nature up. That nature moves in terms of sanctification or holiness.

Fourth, in verses 6 and 7 we read whosoever abides in him sins not. Whoever sinneth hath not seen him neither known him. Little children let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous. Why do those who have the assurance of salvation continue their growth in grace?

Because they are those who move now in terms of union and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ which is incompatible with practicing sin as a habitual act. They abide in him meaning they grow in holiness. We have a vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ in our new nature. And through that vital union the Lord Jesus Christ has broken the power of sin in our heart and our nature. And he continues this communion with us to the end that he prevents the domination once more of ourselves by sin.

We abide in the potent light and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has delivered us from dominion by sin, but he also delivers us increasingly in terms of our practice of sin, individual acts. Those who have assurance of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ purify themselves because he now has brought us into union and communion with himself through the spirit. And in that union and communion we desire personal holiness.

1 John 2:6, he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked. If we have union and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, we should walk as he walks. Now that’s an exhortation there in chapter 2. But in chapter 3 it’s a declaration that if you have this assurance of faith, you will indeed purify yourselves because you are in union and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ.

For the Christian, this union and communion means a decisive break with sinning as an evidence of what he has effected. Fifth, verse 8 goes on to say that he that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. Now, we are no longer of the devil. We are now sons of God. So those who have the assurance of our salvation are those who no longer move in terms of union and communion with the devil. That is the practice of sin. The devil was the origin of sin as it were. The devil is the one who those outside of Christ have union and communion with and that’s why they sin.

But now we have union communion with the Lord Jesus Christ and not the devil. And so indeed those who have this assurance of salvation are those who move in terms of personal holiness. Not by way of exhortation or by way of declaration—it’s because we no longer have union and communion with the devil but with the savior.

Lenski—I’m not sure who this was—says this: If the first step to holiness is to recognize the sinfulness of sin both in its essence as lawlessness and its diabolical origin, the second step is to see its absolute incompatibility with Christ in his sinless person and saving work. The more clearly we grasp these facts, the more incongruous will sin appear and the more determined we shall be to be rid of it.

You know, you wake up and you’re 10, 15 years old in the Lord and you realize that you don’t like doing those things you used to like doing. And it’s not a matter now of striving hard not to do it. Now, there are some things that will continue with, but you simply don’t like it anymore. Why? Because the new nature is growing in you and has been implanted and you have union and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. And what he does is what you want to do. And what the devil does is what you no longer wish to do because you’re not in union and communion with him. It’s a declaration of fact.

The second part of verse 8 says that for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. You see there’s an analogous relationship we’ll get to here in a moment between the first few verses and these last two verses. He appeared to take away sin. So those that he saves he takes away not just their judicial punishment for sin but he takes away the presence of sin in their lives increasingly as well. He appeared to take away the works of the devil.

And if he’s called you to himself and effectually called you as sons of God, then indeed he destroys the works of the devil in the context of your life as well. And that’s why you grow in grace. And that’s why you don’t need to doubt your salvation to work yourself up to grow in grace. Rather, you grow in grace because the Holy Spirit inhabits your heart now and has made you a new man. And that new man agrees with the Lord Jesus Christ that hates the works of the devil.

So that’s why Paul when he goes to Athens looks at the idol of the nation there or the country there and it stirs him. It angers him and that’s why we see the works of the devil in the context of our culture and we hate it. We hate the works of the devil because we’re in union and communion with Christ. Our job is to transform all of that. As Chris W. put before us the great commission, our job isn’t simply to save souls for the next culture. Our job is to transform cultures because Jesus has come to destroy not just positionally this stuff but destroy the works of the devil.

Which are manifest in our particular country in various ways through statism, manifested in India through the horrific superstitions and things that go on and the filth and the dirt. Those are the effects. Those are the works of the devil, the origin of sin, lawlessness and working out of that sin particular acts, particular philosophies which then create a culture that reflects the works of the devil.

But the Lord Jesus Christ has come and says all that’s going to change now. And it’s going to change because My people are in union and communion with me. They’ve got the Holy Spirit. They’re children of God. They have the assurance of their salvation and they’ve been given the Holy Spirit who moves them also to hate the works of the devil and want to transform them and have a desire to change the sinful character of the culture we live in.

Those who have assurance of faith are those who are the subjects of Christ’s mission, which is to destroy the works of the devil. And so they will inevitably move to purify themselves and to grow in sanctification.

Now this destroying the works of the devil, by the way, the word there means to loosen or to break the chains the devil and his philosophy and sins in chains or enslaves people and maybe you feel enslaved to a particular degree through a work of the devil in your life a habitual sin pattern of some type but know of the Lord Jesus Christ. Know of a certainty that as you are here confessing your faith in Christ and as you know and are assured of your salvation in Christ those chains of that particular sin will be cut asunder through Christ in his growing sanctification of your life.

You move in terms of hope—the hope and the assurance of our salvation. That gives us the stability indeed to move in terms of increased sanctification not by means of the flesh but by means of the spirit.

Those which are assured of this hope and who purify themselves are those who are born of God and thus do not practice sin. Verse 9, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. That means to practice as a habitual nature, for his seed remains in him and he cannot sin. That is, he cannot sin habitually. Why? Because he is born of God. Our very nature.

Now, 1 Peter says we’re partakers of the divine nature. We’ve been born of God. And because of that, we shall indeed move. The assurance of God’s spirit is that we shall indeed move in terms of increasing purification of life. We cannot continue in the course and practice of sin. The believer cannot so sin as to demonstrate himself a habitual sinner. Therefore, in respect to such sin, it may be said, “It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” As Paul says in Romans chapter 7.

The unregenerate person is morally unable for what is religiously good. The regenerate person is happily disabled for sin. There is a restraint, Matthew Henry says, an embargo, as we may say, laid upon his sinning powers. It goes against him sedately and deliberately to sin. It’s not in our nature anymore to continue in sin that grace may abound. The Arminian says, “If you have security of salvation, assurance that you’re saved in the Lord Jesus Christ, assurance that you’ll persevere in the faith, then you’re going to say, ‘Well, I might just as well sin that grace might abound.’”

But this verse says that if you have really been saved and are assured of your salvation, you won’t think that. Not because it’s wrong to, but because your nature no longer will permit that kind of attention and direction to sin in the context of your life. It’s no longer in your nature. You have been disabled, turned off from being able to sin in that habitual way.

One commentator said that John is arguing rather the incongruity than the impossibility of sin in the Christian. If even isolated sins are so incongruous, what is utterly impossible is persistence in sin, a character, a prevailing habit and not primarily an act that is completely incongruous for the Christian to have a prevailing character of sinfulness and a deviation from the truth of God.

Another commentator said this: The new birth involves the acquisition of a new nature through the implanting within us of the very seed or life-giving power of God. Birth of God is a deep radical inward transformation. Moreover, the new nature received at the new birth remains. It exerts a strong internal pressure toward holiness. It is the abiding influence of his seed which everyone who is born of God which enables John to affirm without fear of contradiction that he cannot go on living in sin, cannot indeed if he should thus continue in sin habitually would indicate that he has never been born again.

It was this conviction which enabled John to assert that the heretics who not only persisted in sin but had seceded from the Christian fellowship altogether were not true Christians at all. Our nature is not to sin habitually and so we won’t.

And then finally, those who have this hope purify themselves because we read in verse 10, in this the children of God are manifested in the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

Those who have security of their salvation and knowledge of their perseverance and of God’s preservation purify themselves because they are not should be, but are children of God, not children of the devil. And they love the brethren. The devil is the father of unrighteousness. And God is the father of righteousness and holiness. And so we move in terms of our new father. These are facts.

The facts are that the one who is born of God will love his brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now as I said there was in the context of these verses a correlation. We read in verse 4 that whosoever committeth sins commits lawlessness versus 4-7 spoke of the nature of sin which was lawlessness and said that the Lord Jesus Christ came to take away sins or lawlessness. And so as a result, no one who abides in Christ sins in a lawless fashion. He is not habitually sinning, rejecting the truth of God and revolting against God’s character.

In the last few verses, the origin of sin was seen as the devil. And the Son of God was manifested he might destroy the works of the devil. And therefore, no one born of God commits habitual sin. The point of all this is that if we have been born again, if we have received the incorruptible seed as the scriptures call it, which is a holy seed, the engrafted seed of the word, the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It is the Holy Spirit who testifies to this hope, who gives us the hope, assurance of our salvation in Christ. But it’s the same Holy Spirit who motivates us and has given us the new nature that moves us inevitably in terms of sanctification. And so 1 John chapter 3 rather correlates well with articles 12 and 13 of the fifth head of doctrine. And if you’ll turn in your outlines now to the bottom of the page, we’ll read through that briefly.

One could say that what is considered in article 12 is a pious security, not a carnal security. This assurance that is the assurance of our persevering in faith and of God’s preservation that all believers do know and can know to a degree. This assurance does not lead to complacency. So far, however, is this and that’s the summation.

Now, so far, however, is this certainty of perseverance from making true believers proud and complacent. On the contrary, it is the true root of humility. So now they’re going to reject here the notion that you have to have doubt of your salvation to motivate to personal holiness. But that’s not a nuanced position relative to the Arminians. It’s not close to what they believe. It is completely the other way.

So far, however, is the certainty of perseverance from making true believers proud and complacent. It isn’t even close to being true that assurance of salvation makes one proud and complacent. On the contrary, completely opposite, that is this assurance is not should be is the fact of the nature as 1 John 3 says it is the true root of humility. It is the root of childlike reverence. It is the root of genuine godliness, patience in every conflict, fervent prayers, constancy in the cross and in the confession of the truth and lasting joy in God.

Now if you think through those things that makes a lot of sense because if we are indeed. We begin with as 1 John 3 did. Behold, observe, think about the wondrous grace of God and his love and mercy that we now are called sons of God. Consider that. You consider it. It’s remarkable because you know yourself. You’ve been brought to an awareness of your sinfulness. You know, as these canons have asserted, that left to your own devices, your sin will lose your salvation. You know, that if left to your own strength, you will go off the deep end to perishing.

But praise God, he doesn’t let you do that. He will preserve you and he will cause you to persevere in the faith by his good grace. Well, that’s gratitude. That is the opposite of pride. It’s a debasement of ourselves. It says, if you’re a Christian, you know that in yourself no good thing dwelleth in your own abilities or strength. It says that we know that it is the sovereign God who accomplishes even our perseverance in the faith.

So how could that possibly be said to lead to pride? On the contrary, it is the Arminian position that says it’s my choice and my works whether I’m going to persevere or not. That’s pride. So we know the root of these graces that are talked about here is the assurance of God’s preservation and his enabling grace making us persevere. That’s the root. And the first fruit that springs out of it is a true humility.

This assurance is the true root of humility. Pride is the basis of complacency and sin. Humility is the root from which all these other virtues spring. And humility is the end result, the obvious correlation to knowing that in and of ourselves we cannot persevere in the faith. But God has assured us that through his grace, he will cause us to persevere.

This true root of humility then leads to these other graces. We might say there is a childlike reverence. See, this is also very important. As I’ve mentioned several times now, to the Arminian, there must be a whip to the way of holiness and sanctification. You must have fear of losing your salvation as the ultimate motivating force. But praise God, he doesn’t work that way. He says that perfect love casts out fear.

Now, there is a sense of a fear of God’s chastisements and judgments. But the greatest fear the believer has as he matures in Christ is a shutting off of the divine countenance, a removal of the presence of the God that we have been brought to love, being made in his image now through Christ our savior. It’s a shutting—