As we continue our journey through 1 John, this Sunday we arrive at a passage many consider among the most unsettling verses in the New Testament. John writes because some had left the fellowship while still claiming the name of Christ, chasing a different gospel and a different view of Jesus. He wants true believers to know that they possess eternal life and perfect acceptance with God through Jesus’ death and resurrection alone. To that end, he repeatedly calls his readers to recognize the evidences of their salvation. In 1 John 2:28-3:10, John presents the clear marks that distinguish the children of God from those who belong to the devil. But as we enter this passage, we must carry forward the point of last week’s passage, 1 John 2:18-27. There, John called his readers to abide in Jesus, and we examined what he meant: abiding means remaining, or resting, in the “word you heard from the beginning” and in “the anointing you received.” Now, 1 John 2:28-3:10 shows that abiding, or holding to our faith in the gospel, produces both a settled identity as God’s children and a life that increasingly resembles our Father. This matters because John says things like, “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” (1 John 3:9). The only commands in this passage are to “abide in Him” (v. 28) and to “let no one deceive you” (3:7). Everything else John presents is evidence, not a checklist of works we must do in order to abide in Him. The heart of the message is this: our confidence at Christ’s return rests on God’s gospel love, which has already made us God’s children, and the evidence of that settled fact is the transformed life the gospel inevitably produces. Therefore, if we do not see the “family resemblance” of God’s children in our lives, the solution is not simply to try harder not to sin; the solution is to trust in Jesus, that is, to abide in Him. As you prepare for Sunday, re-read 1 John 2:18-27 alongside 2:28-3:10. Read the passage repeatedly and become familiar with John’s exact wording, because I will need to move quickly to work through the whole passage in one sitting. Verses 2:28-29 function as a thesis statement. John says two things: abide in Him and you will have confidence at His coming, and everyone who practices righteousness has been born of God. Then, in 3:1-3, John proves the first point: as God’s children, we have confidence at Christ’s coming. In 3:4-10, he proves the second point: everyone who practices righteousness has been born of God. So we will examine John’s arguments first (3:1-10), then end with his declaration (2:28-29). I. Our Confidence If We Abide In Him: Transformed Identity (3:1-3) II. Our Evidence Of Abiding In Him: The Transformed Life (3:4-10) III. Our Calling: Abide In Him (2:28-29)
