Peter Barnes | 1 John 3:8
SERMON NOTES
CHRIST DESTROYS THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL
(1 John 3:8)
– behind sin is the devil (1 John 3:8a; John 8:44), although we are still responsible for it (James 1:13-15). Christ alone has no sin (1 John 3:5).
– NIV has ‘the devil’s work’ but it is plural: ‘works’.
1. Christ pays the penalty for sin.
– 1 John 3:5; see Zech.3:1-5; Rev.12:10
– Heb.9:26
2. Christ breaks the power of sin.
– this is the context for 1 John 3:8; see John 10:10
– Satan at work e.g. in John 13:2, 27; Acts 5:3; Christ came to destroy that power of sin in us.
– we need not only forgiveness but transformation
3. Christ defeats death.
– Heb.2:14-15
– Christ is victor over the world, the flesh and the devil