He who does what is right is righteous
1 John 3v7-8a
17th June 2022
Last week we considered verses 4-6 which end with the words, "No-one who lives in him [Jesus] keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him". John continues:
1 John 3v7
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous,
just as he is righteous.
Don't be led astray, deceived into believing that our sin doesn't matter. Our sins are forgiven but, as Paul asks rhetorically in Romans 6v1b, "Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?". He answers his own question in the next verse, "By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?"
Isn't it obvious that "He who does what is right is righteous" and that he who does what is unrighteous is unrighteous? John puts it more strongly, "He who does what is sinful is of the devil."
We don't need to think very hard about this. If you complain a lot, you're grumpy. If you tell lies, you're dishonest. If you steal, you're a thief. Angry people shout a lot. Impure people use a lot of coarse language. Of course they do. Jesus said:
Matthew 7v16b-20
Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good
tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad
fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit
is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
We know what kind of person somebody is by the words he speaks and the way he behaves. Unrighteous people speak and act unrighteously. Righteous people speak and act righteously. Of course they do. So the deception that it doesn't matter if Christians sin is very, very silly. Of course it's not OK for good people to behave badly.
And if a person carries on behaving badly after he becomes a Christian, then we have to question whether he really is a Christian.
I know that you and I are not perfect. I know we will all sin sometimes. But every true Christian's lifestyle, taken as a whole, is good. If there is sin in your life, and you've never repented of that sin, you have to ask the question, "Why?" You're a righteous person, aren't you? And a righteous person will do what is right.
It's very hypocritical idea that we can be followers of Jesus while not doing all in our power to live Christlike lives. Jesus was without sin. If we're followers of Jesus, we will endeavour to live without sin. Of course we'll fail sometimes, but that is surely our aim.
When John writes:
1 John3v7b-8
He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
He one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from
the beginning.
You will notice that there is no third category. The society around us would like to persuade us that there are a handful of saints, and a handful of very, very evil people, but most people are kind of OKish. So there's Mother Teresa at one end of the spectrum, and there's Adolph Hitler at the other, but the overwhelming majority, millions and millions of people, are neither evil nor good. The Holy Spirit, speaking through John, says exactly the opposite. The truth is that there are just two categories of people: righteous people and unrighteous people, good people and sinful people.
Because we try to be nice, because we want to be humble and don't want to judge others, we don't want to talk or even think in these terms, but this is what the Bible teaches. Jesus said:
Matthew 12v30
"Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me
scatters."
Nobody is neutral. In the battle between God and Satan, between good and evil, you're taking a side whether you think you are or not. Either you're a follower of Christ or you're "of the devil", as John puts it. There is no third option.
That's not to say all non-Christians are satanists, of course. Lots of people are of the devil but don't worship the devil. These people are under the control of the devil, even (or perhaps especially) if they don't believe he exists. Their lives serve the devil, they believe many of the lies of the devil, whether they realise it or not. Either you're righteous or you're unrighteous.
Colossians 1:12b-14
… the Father, who has qualified you [Christian] to share in the inheritance of the
saints in the kingdom of light.
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of
the Son he loves,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
There are only two kingdoms: the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. There's no kingdom of "well I guess" or "sort of" or "not too good, not to bad, just ordinary". Either you live in "the dominion of darkness", in the clutches of Satan, or you've been redeemed into the kingdom of God. Either you're righteous in God's eyes through the blood of Christ, or you're unrighteous in God's sight. And God's opinion is the only one that matters.
We find all this very uncomfortable, because we probably live next door to nice people, and we don't want to be negative about them. But the truth is that we are all sinners destined for hell until we embrace the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross to pay for our sins, so that we might be born again as children of God. Until that moment we live in the kingdom of darkness, controlled by Satan. After that moment, we live in the kingdom of light, submitted to Jesus.
Don't be deceived. That person you really care about, that person you love and pray for, is either in the kingdom of light or in the kingdom of darkness. Either that person is counted are righteous by God because of his faith in Christ, or as unrighteous and destined for hell. There is no third state of being, no third direction.
When we pray for the people we call "the lost", people who don't yet know Jesus, we're praying for their eternal salvation. We're praying for them to change kingdom.
Although most of them don't think of themselves as working against Christ, that's what they're doing. In most cases, they don't mean to, don't realise that's what they're doing. When (and if) they come to Christ, they'll regret all the things they said and did against Him, that were contrary to the Bible.
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. Do not be deceived.