1st January 2024

1st January 2024


Pray (ACts)


Read - 1 John 3:4-10


Message Alan Burke 


There are times that I’ve been in conversation with people, heard talks and sermons and been left wondering not ‘are we on the same page’, or ‘singing of the same hymn sheet’ but left wondering do we have an entirely different bible before us. Is it that the bible I have before me just the specialised Alan Burke version and their bible has had a whole load of stuff removed because it seems that it’s not even close to what I have, how could it be when there is such a spectrum of views. These days people seem to pick and choose what bits they like, what they can believe in, they are like a horse with blinkers on not allowing themselves to see more than they want to. 


I begin in this way because I know fight rightly that as we return to 1 John there is going to be pushback because all people, men women and children are here grouped into one or two categories and I know many people who would reject this teaching, ignore it, pretend it isn’t there, try to come up with some hermeneutic to explain it away or dismiss the words of anyone except the words Jesus in the scriptures. The problem is that even the words of Jesus are hard for us to hear, they challenge our sin and call us to repentance, obedience and we didn’t like that last year and we’re not going to like that this year either. 


Ok I’ll get to the point, it’s a point that John makes here in this passage before us today and that is, ‘Either You Are A Child Of God Or A Child Of The Devil’. The division in people is not between Orange and Green, Unionist and Republican, Old and Young or any other worldly pointless division that we might make in the church, society or this world, no the only division that matters is whether you are a child of God or a child of the Devil. I’m going to make a presumption that if you’re reading this you likely fall into the former category rather than the later, that you are a child of God rather than a child of the Devil but how do we know, how can we confident, how can we have assurance that we are children of God? Well John makes it quite clear in these verses and we will think of them in two sections v4-7 and v8-10 as the week goes on but for now I want you to think of your family. 


Families are important aren’t they, but families resemble each other. You’ll have heard it said, ‘oh they have their mothers nose and their da’s eyes’ or something along those lines. We expect to see resemblances in families. Well for the children of God we should expect them to bear a family resemblance, a familial likeness to our elder brother the Lord Jesus Christ, if we don’t and we claim the name Christian then we need to give ourselves a shake and sort ourselves out for the children of God bear a familial resemblance. For through faith in Christ we are the children of God (v2) and as such we need to live accordingly, while Jesus will never cast us out it is not an excuse to live without regard for the law of God, for we are already told how we know that we have come to know him is if we obey his commands (2:3). Living as a child of God requires living in a certain way. 


These verses have throughout the years caused some to struggle, struggle with their walk with God because they make such a strong case for the holiness of the believer, how we are to live lives that are devoted to our God. They should instead of causing us to struggle doubt or fear, they should spur us on to live as the child of God that we are, living lives in accordance with the Word of God, all of it, not only the bits we like or the stuff that would be easier if they weren’t there but all of it. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q30 How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, (Eph. 1:13–14, John 6:37–39, Eph. 2:8) and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling. (Eph. 3:17, 1 Cor. 1:9)
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