Video of the Divine Service is here. The sermon begins around the 27:00 mark.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sometimes we think that it doesn’t matter whom our parents are. Our family doesn’t matter. All that matters is what I do, and how I define myself, and how I live my life. But, of course, that’s not really true. A lot of possibilities are defined for us by whom our family is, where we come from, whom our parents are. And whether we go along with our family or go against them, they are still the ones who define our trajectories.

This is even more true when it comes to sin and righteousness. John says that there are only two kinds of children: the children of God and the children of the devil. For some reason, the text is cut off at verse 7, but this thought of John’s goes through at least verse 10. There are children of God, who do righteousness, and there are children of the devil who do sin. That’s it. So it very much matters whom your father is, and whom your family is. Pretty simple, right?

Well, of course, it gets more complicated when we look at ourselves. We hear John say that those who are in Christ do not go on sinning. Anyone who goes on sinning, he says, has not seen and does not know God. That’s a problem, because last time I checked—about 15 minutes ago—I had some sins to confess. What should we conclude? That if we still sin, we are no longer in Christ? We do not have the Holy Spirit? We are not Christians? And if not, then we should try harder, do better, sin less, until we are Christians again?

But John knows that Christians still sin. We heard it last week. He says in chapter 2 that he is writing these things so that his hearers will not sin. We pray the same thing in Luther’s morning prayer: keep us this day from sin and every evil. Christians do not want to sin. They do not revel in their sin. They don’t go willingly looking for sin. And when we do sin, we hate it, because we have the Holy Spirit. John says that if we say we have no sin, then we deceive ourselves and lie. So he knows that Christians sin, just like Paul does, just like Jesus does. In fact, it is only liars who claim that they do not still have sin, even once they believe Christ. Those who have Christ, the Truth, confess their sins. Those who do not hate their sin, who do not hate their evil thoughts, words, and actions—those are the ones who do not have the Holy Spirit.

When we find sin in ourselves, when we find sinful desires, when we keep returning to the same sins, even after confessing them, where should we look? To ourselves? To our better working? To our attempts to deny ourselves? To the amount of sin we can find in ourselves at any given time? That can only lead to false pride or the embrace of lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. It is to live as if there is no Law, which means to live as if there is no God who created all things and put them into order. And when the Law turns us toward our hearts to see what is there, the only judgment we will be able to come to is that we are children of the devil.

But God says otherwise. And John delivers those words to us. In the Gospel written by this same John, what does he say about the love of God? He says, This is how God loved the world: He sent His only Son into the world so that whoever—what? Gets his life in order? Stops sinning? Doesn’t have any sins to confess? No. Whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. Whoever believes the Jesus into whose death and resurrection he has been baptized will have eternal life. Whoever believes the Jesus who gives us His body and blood will have eternal life. You are in Christ, and Christ has no sin. He appeared to take away your sin. He appeared to destroy the works of the devil in you, to snatch you out of the devil’s kingdom and put you into His own. All the lawlessness you can find in your heart and in your life, Jesus has more righteousness. All the sin you can confess, and confess, and confess, Jesus has much more forgiveness. His righteousness is greater than your unrighteousness, and His life is greater than your death. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and for the sins of the whole world.

When you still find sin in your heart, in your mind, in your words, in your actions; when you still find yourself confessing the same sin you confessed last week, or a year ago, or fifty years ago; when you see that you are still not sinless, never think that that means that you are not a Christian. If you hate your sin, and you hate your flesh, and you want to do what God commands, you have the Holy Spirit. You are in Christ, and He has no sin, and that is what the Father chooses to see. He looks on Christ’s righteousness, not on your unrighteousness. You are God’s children now. And you are not just called God’s children, but you actually are. You have been born again from above by water and the Spirit of God. But we haven’t yet seen what we will be. What you will be is what Jesus is. He is righteous, sinless, pure. And when He is revealed, then you will see Him as He is, and you will be like Him. He is working on it right now: delivering to you His forgiveness and righteousness and new life; giving you His pure, holy, Body and Blood to eat and drink. Our God does not lie, and Jesus cannot die anymore. He is the Truth, and His Words do what they say. He forgives your sins and cleanses you from all unrighteousness. It’s not done yet, of course, but it will be. And this hope in Christ, the risen one, purifies you as He is pure. And the day is coming when what God says will be what you see.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, ESV). Amen.

— Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 4/12/24