Living Righteously—The Mystery of Evil
1 John 3:8-9:
1 John 3:8-9: He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
· We are faced with a flood of filth and immorality that is fed by an unseen fountain gushing out faster than it can ever be cleaned up. You cannot pass new laws that will prevent it. It is beyond human control.
· The Apostle John tells us that behind all of this filth is an evil and unseen being who constantly is pouring out a flood of evil polluting the stream of human life.
· In previous verses, John has told us that the nature of sin is lawlessness. And now he tells us that the source of this sin is the devil.
· Our verses tell us that the reason the Son of God was manifested was to destroy the works of the devil, therefore there are only two ways for living:
· God’s way or the devil’s way. There is not a third way.
· Living God’s way is the way of righteousness; it’s the way of “godliness” or “godlikeness.” And we can only live righteously because the Righteous One lives in us. “Christ in us the hope of glory.”
· We are essentially, chips off of the “old block.”
· We are like Him because we are born again of Him.
John 8:44: You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
· The term, “children of the devil,” does not mean that they are created by the devil; it means that they have the character of the devil.
· They are tied somehow to his life, just like we are tied to the life of God, as children of God.
· According to the Bible, since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, mankind does not express the life of God but instead expresses the twisted and perverted life of the devil.
· Some think that children of the devil would be violent and openly immoral people—and many are like that, but the Bible also tells us that the devil may appear as an “angel of light,” moral and respectable.
· The Pharisees saw themselves as moral, good, and as “children of Abraham.” But Jesus told them the truth, they were children of Adam who sold himself to the devil in sin, and all of his children are like him.
· This is passed on to us by our fathers just as the color of our eyes, our height and body type, and the color of our skin is passed on to us.
· This is why we must be born again of God so that we may leave the kingdom of darkness and enter the kingdom of His glorious Son.
Ephesians 6:11-12: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
· All the Apostles agree that there is no explanation for human evil if we don’t recognize the existence of unseen evil forces.
· Our battle isn’t against other humans. If we think that it is… then we will never find the right ways to fight against evil.
· It’s everywhere… so as Christians we had better learn to deal with it or we will be defeated by this evil genius every time.
· We are no match for him, unless we understand him, and learn to “stand” against him.
· It is important that we understand the difference between the sin of the devil and the works of the devil.
1 John 3:8: He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.
· The sin of the devil goes back to the beginning when he became the devil. God never created a devil, or any of his fallen angels. He created a being of glorious beauty, intelligence, and responsibility, and God gave him a free will.
· It was in this angel’s free will that he chose to oppose God, and that changed the angel into a devil.
Isaiah 14:12-14: “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north;14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’
· Here was a glorious angel, who was not content with what he had. He didn’t want to give God any glory…he wanted it for himself.
· In free will, he became the devil, “I will.”
· He saw God as an obstacle to what “he” wanted to do. He wanted to be his own God. He chose to be above the law of God and the will of God, and choose his own way.
· Therefore when we say, “I will do what I want to do,” “I’ll run my own life.” We commit the sin of the devil.
· John says everyone who commits sin is of the devil… because he is repeating the sin of the devil.
· He is living like the devil because the devil continues to live independent of God--without God’s authority.
· If I accept and agree with the sin of the devil in my heart, I will commit the works of the devil in my flesh.
· The “works of the flesh,” are the “works of the devil.”
Galatians 5:19-21: Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
· These “works of the flesh” are the fruit and the sin of the devil is the root… which is against God. You got to deal with the root to eliminate the fruit.
· Those that are “practicing” these things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
· When we commit lawlessness, we are of the devil because we are allowing the devil to reproduce his character in us and then we live “from lawlessness” just like the devil does.
· A good example of this would be premarital sex. We know that this is against the law of God, but we set that aside because our flesh lusts for it.
· Perhaps we say, “I’ll just ask for forgiveness later.”
John 10:10: The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
· Jesus describes the works of the devil; lying, stealing, destroying, and murdering. As Jesus said, “the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy.” This is the way the devil attacks mankind.
· He steals away the blessings God intended for mankind—peace, quietness, courage, love and joy—and offers them illusions of sex, anger, addiction, idolatry, and “self-promotion or ambition.”
· He is a murderer through disease, hatred, war, crime and violence.
· This is evident to us every day.
· The devil lies to man, deceives him, and makes him act on principles that are wrong—directly contrary to the truth of God with sayings like, “You got to watch out for number one,” or “You got to think about yourself.”
· We act on these things at times because we believe the devil and these lies extinguish the light that is in man when we act on them.
· That is why intelligent young people get caught up in drugs, sex, and rock’n’roll.
Genesis 4:8-9: Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
2 Samuel 11:2-5: Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. 3 So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. 5 And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.”
2 Samuel 11:11-14: In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.” 16 So it was, while Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. 17 Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also.
Acts 5:1-5: But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. 2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? 4 While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” 5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last.
· The business of the devil is to tempt you in any way he can to have an attitude of rebellion and act in independence.
· The result is that the works of the devil will be your works.
· Maybe we think we can control these things but the truth is this; he who sins--becomes a slave to sin. You will no longer have the power to say how far it will go. We do not master it, but it masters us.
· So what is the answer to this?
1 John 3:9: For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
· How does the devil put us in bondage? By offering us cheap imitations of the blessings of God. The devil always imitates.
· There are always consequences to the works of the devil.
· Christ came to set us free from these inevitable chain reactions.
· He came to untie the chains that bind us. Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. It’s not that problems are always solved, it’s just that they seem to disappear in resurrection power.
Romans 6:4-5: Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.
· The pattern of the death and resurrection of Christ is to be the pattern for the Christian experience.
· Just as Jesus was raised from the dead, so are we constantly being raised from the death around us into a new vitality, and a new adventure of living.
· The way of the devil is death, but the way of Christ is being raised daily.
· Instead of always watching out for “number one,” Jesus said, “We are to pick up our cross, deny ourselves, and follow Him.”
· Paul said, “I die daily.” The only way to experience resurrection power is to deny our selfish nature. Not seeking our own way, but His way. This is the way of eternal life; constant death and resurrection.
· You cannot ever experience real living unless you are in Christ.
· Christ in us is the power of all of the Christian experience and we are to live in “moment to moment” dependent upon the Christ within us.
James 4:7: Submit yourself to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
· Living selfish lives, doing our own thing… is the way of the devil. His way of living gives the devil full access to our lives and he wreaks havoc in us. It is the pattern for sin in us.
· Living God’s way, submitting to Him, is resisting the devil and he will flee from you. This is true spiritual warfare.