Bible Study - Priceless (1) - Adopted into GOD'S Family - 1 John 3:1-10 - December 6, 2015

Bible Study – Priceless (1) – Adopted into GOD’S Family – December 6, 2015

This is lesson one (1) in our new series entitled “Priceless: Adopted into GOD’S Family.”

Our focus scripture is 1 John 3:1-10.

We are loved by GOD, our perfect Father.

We begin a new series of study for the next seven weeks using various focus scriptures.

GOD our heavenly Father is an awesome thought. GOD becomes our Father only through the miracle of rebirth or being born-again in the spirit.

All humans are triune – body, soul and spirit. When the body or flesh rules, humans seek the things that please the flesh. This can run the range from being very good to being very bad. The soul attempts to bring some form of discipline to the flesh. The spirit attempts to carry a higher moral weight or conscience to the soul and in turn to the body. But it is a struggle. The spirit is what will live on eternally after the body dies. The soul dies because the soul becomes the intermediary between the body and the spirit. Notice that “spirit” is spelled with a lower case “s.” It is the human spirit that needs to be born-again to become “Spirit.”

GOD sent HIS Only Son, JESUS, to earth to live as a human, function as a human, be subject to sin as a human and die as a human in order for the penalty of sin to be paid in full. The shed blood of JESUS paid the price for sin and broke the barrier between GOD and humans.

Adam and Eve made a decision to disobey GOD and ate the fruit from the tree of good and evil while they dwelled in the Garden of Eden. Thus, they lost their eternal life with GOD because the consequence of sin is death and all of their off-spring lost their eternal life with GOD as well. All humans upon earth are their off-spring.

GOD has a plan to redeem all who will accept HIS Only Son, JESUS, as their Savior from sin and eternal death. When a person accepts the fact that JESUS gave HIS life for him or her and asks JESUS to come into his or her life, HE does. When JESUS comes into a person’s life, he or she experiences the miracle of rebirth in his or her “spirit.” The redeemed person’s “spirit” becomes “Spirit” because he or she has been born into GOD’S family and has become the Son or Daughter of GOD.

We will see this in verse 9 of our focus scripture. Once born into GOD’S family, a person will never become unborn; Just as you cannot be unborn. Obedience equals rewards and Spiritual growth. Disobedience equals no Spiritual growth and not gaining heavenly rewards.

The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:9-17:

9 For we are God's co-workers. You are God's field, God's building. 

10 According to God's grace that was given to me, as a skilled master builder I have laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But each one must be careful how he builds on it,

11 because no one can lay any other foundation than what has been laid-that is, Jesus Christ. 

12 If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, 

13 each one's work will become obvious, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one's work. 

14 If anyone's work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 

15 If anyone's work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire. 

16 Don't you know that you are God's sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you? 

17 If anyone ruins God's sanctuary, God will ruin him; for God's sanctuary is holy, and that is what you are.

Christians, GOD dwells in you and because HE does your body is Holy and every place you place your feet is Holy ground. You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world because GOD dwells within you.

As a Christian, do you believe that? Let your light shine, not to bring glory to you but to GOD and trust HIM to direct your paths as you seek to obediently serve HIM as led by the Holy Spirit.

Let’s explore what the Apostle John had to say about a Christian being a child of GOD.

The Apostle John was writing to encourage Christians to remain faithful to CHRIST. A heretical group had split from fellow Christians but they were still trying to influence them.

1 John 2:19-23:
19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us. 

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.

21 I have not written to you because you don't know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth. 

22 Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Messiah? He is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 

23 No one who denies the Son can have the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father as well.

1 John 2:26-27:

26 I have written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 

27 The anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you don't need anyone to teach you. Instead, His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie; just as it has taught you, remain in Him.

Those who split from fellow Christians were teaching that JESUS was not the Messiah, Not GOD’S Son or JESUS’ sacrifice did not give eternal life to those who placed their faith in HIM and even some were teaching that JESUS had not come in the flesh.

No person can live a life pure enough or do enough good deeds to become GOD’S child. There is only one way to become GOD’S child and that is through being “born of GOD.”

1 John 4:1-4:

1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 

2 This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. 

3 But every spirit who does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist; you have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now. 

4 You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

1 John 4:15:

15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God-God remains in him and he in God.

1 John 5:1:

1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent also loves his child.

1 John 5:6-13:

6 Jesus Christ-He is the One who came by water and blood; not by water only, but by water and by blood. And the Spirit is the One who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 

Proof that JESUS was 100% human.

7 For there are three that testify: 

8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood-and these three are in agreement. 

9 If we accept the testimony of men, God's testimony is greater, because it is God's testimony that He has given about His Son. 

10 (The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son.) 

11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 

12 The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn't have the Son of God does not have life. 

13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

1 John 2:1-2:

1 My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father-Jesus Christ the righteous One. 

2 He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.

The Apostle John was attempting to shine the light of CHRIST on the dark teachings and expose the false teachings of those who had split from the church and were teaching heresy.

Let’s read 1 John3:1-3:

1 Look at how great a love the Father has given us, that we should be called God's children. And we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn't know Him. 

Beginning with “Look” was an attention getter. In other words, pay special attention to what I, the Apostle John, am writing because I am writing with authority. I walked with JESUS and HE taught us about the agape love GOD has for all humans. HE sent HIS Son, JESUS, Who gave HIS life for all who will place their faith in HIM and in doing so they experience the free gift of being born anew into GOD’S family.

2 Dear friends, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is. 

3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure. 

Christians are GOD’S children. This is an awesome thought, yet hard to comprehend. What should we be able to do as GOD’S children? Should we have supernatural powers to do things that superhero’s do in the movies? JESUS said if we have the faith of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. Is that faith in us or in GOD? Who moves the mountains us or GOD?

GOD’S goal for every Christian is for him or her to be made in the image of JESUS. JESUS had the power but HE always checked with GOD, HIS Father before HE said or did anything. As GOD’S children, we are to live and move as HE directs us to accomplish HIS plan and purpose.

What we will be molded into is yet to be revealed. GOD knows what we will be like because HE is molding us as we yield to HIM.

Our hope is in GOD and it is this hope and trust that allows HIM to renew our minds and yield to HIM. This internal hope and trust comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Let’s read 1 John 3:4-8:

4 Everyone who commits sin also breaks the law; sin is the breaking of law. 

John’s word for “sin” means “missing the mark.”

5 You know that He was revealed so that He might take away sins, and there is no sin in Him.

6 Everyone who remains in Him does not sin; everyone who sins has not seen Him or known Him. 

7 Little children, let no one deceive you! The one who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous. 

8 The one who commits sin is of the Devil, for the Devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the Devil's works. 

What on earth is the Apostle John writing that those “those who commit sin are of the Devil”? Earlier he wrote in 1 John 1:8-10:

8 If we say, "We have no sin," we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

10 If we say, "We have not sinned," we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

In these verses, the Apostle John is very clear that all humans are sinners, yet in 1 John 3:8 he wrote that all who sin are “of the Devil.” The best explanation is that the Apostle John was focused on habitual sinning. Once a person has been born-again his or her new nature is to be obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit. All Christians are still under construction through the process of sanctification. The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Christians are to confess their sins on an on-going basis. As they walk in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit is active in their lives 24/7, thus always measuring the Christian’s walk with their talk and lifestyle. But as Christians walk and encounter pit falls, they are also being sanctified. It is “on-the-job training.”

The indwelling Holy Spirit leads Christians to do what is right according to GOD’S plan and purpose for them.

Let’s read 1 John 3:9-10:

9 Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because His seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God. 

This is a powerful verse. Notice the use of the word “seed.” Seed means “sperm.” When a person asks JESUS to forgive him or her for his or her sins and for CHRIST to come into his or her life, The Divine Sperm of GOD, The Holy Spirit, unites with the human spirit and the person is conceived as a child of GOD. Thus, the miracle of rebirth in the human spirit results in the human Spirit being the Spiritual Fetus.

10 This is how God's children-and the Devil's children-are made evident. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother.

Have you experienced the miracle of rebirth? If not, now is that opportunity. JESUS gave HIS life just for you. HIS shed blood paid, in full, the penalty for your sin. If you accept that fact, then ask JESUS to forgive you and ask HIM to come into your life now. HE will. It is CHRIST in you that make you a Christian. Now, tell someone what you have done and ask JESUS to lead you to a church that can teach you and help you to grow in CHRIST. Read your Bible and pray to GOD. Read in the Book of John and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to you. HE will because the Holy Spirit enlightens, empowers, teaches, assures, confirms and guarntees that you are GOD’S child. Prayers and blessings as you begin your new life in CHRIST. Blessings!!!