Christmas Destruction: He Came to Destroy the Devil! (part 2)

December 2, 2012
Christmas Destruction: He Came to Destroy the Devil
1 John 2:28-3:10
Scott Howard

"And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.  If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.  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.  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.  Everyone who as this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.  Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.  But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins.  And in him is no sin.  No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.  No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.  Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray.  He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.  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.  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.  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 called a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother."  ---1 John 2:28-3:10

Review from last week's message:

• The Reality of Sin...

1. Sin's Scope: Universal
2. Sin's Nature: Lawlessness
3. Sin's Origin: The Devil

• The Reason Christ Came...

1. His Essence: Without Sin
2. His Mission: Destroy Sin

• The Result for Christians...

1. Our belief in Christ makes persistent (continual) sin inconceivable.
2. Our new birth in Christ makes persistent (continual) sin impossible.

**This leads us to this week's message:**

• Christmas Anticipation....

--> Jesus is not finished coming!  (see 1 John 2:28 and 3:2)

• When He Comes Back...

1. We will see Him.
2. We will be like Him.

Chapter 3 verse 2 says that.  Not that we will BE God, but that we will be co-heirs with Jesus--recreated, transformed, free of pain, sickness, and hurt---we will be eternal beings.

• While We Wait...

1. We Fix our eyes on Him.  (1 John 2:28)
2. We Purify our lives before Him.  (1 John 3:3)

This means that if our eyes are constantly on Jesus, we will be changing our lives to adore Him, to live for Him.  As we look on, adore, and worship the King, we become more like what we behold.  We purify our lives so that we can be confident and unashamed before Him.  This is the key to unlocking Sanctification:  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." ---Mark 12:30.  When you love God in this manner, your life will change and you will want to become pure before Him.

• Christmas Option...

1. We are either children of the Devil...  (1 John 3:10)

• Slaves to sin
• Deserving death

    2.    Or we are children of God...  (1 John 3:1)

• Free from sin
• Defeating death             

This choice affects us not just in our lives as we live them at this moment, for the present, it affects us for all eternity.  As a child of God we have no need to fear.  We will live with Him, we will be like Him (eternal beings) forever in the presence of Almighty God!

The Christmas Gift God has given to us, is His Son, Jesus, the savior of the world.  Emmanuel, God with us! 

"Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death---that is, the devil---and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death."  ---Hebrews 2:14-15