Since you have become His child, God’s seed remains in you. What does it mean when “God’s seed remains in you?”We need to know that what God has done in us remains. The implications and strength of this changes the outcome of our battle with sin and defeat. Take a look at the dramatic change that has occurred in us since we have come to Christ. God has given His children a new nature and character, “God’s seed remains in you.”
1 John 3:4–10 NIV84 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. 6No 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. 8He 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. 10This 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 a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
Are you really a child of God? If you are His child, God’s seed remains in you and you cannot go on sinning.
This shows a change in our innermost character. John said, “If you live in sin and are enslaved by sin’s habits, you have not seen or known God.” “If we continue to sin, we are not His child.” “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him…” The message is clear, the power of sin has been defeated in believer’s lives.
When we truly turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and are born again, God’s seed is in you.
The seed is the most basic nature of the new birth. Many question what “God’s seed” refers to. God’s seed could be the Word, the new nature, or the Holy Spirit. I believe the “seed” refers to the new life that remains in the believer as a result of abiding in Christ. This seed produces a quality of life that is totally foreign to everyone who continues to practice sin. We have been born of God and have a new relationship with the Father and with sin. Sin is lawlessness. When Jesus Christ comes in, He breaks the habits and power of sin in your life. Jesus was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. When sin’s habits are conquered in your life, it is a clear sign that you love God and are His child.
The moment you are born of God, you become a partaker of the divine nature of God.
You may not immediately understand the power and position of that, but His seed remains in you. It is impossible to live the Christian life without this amazing transformation.
1 John 3:5 NIV84 But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin.
Can we live a life that is not habitually snared with sin? Two things must happen for us to live free of sin’s power.
First, God must send His Son to break the power of sin over our lives.
When He did this, Jesus perfectly set us free from the power of sin. The bondage and guilt of our sins is taken care of and we are released from the penalty and consequences of our sin.
Second, when we receive this great salvation, God dramatically changes us from the inside out.
God has taken dramatic action to change our nature and character.
1 John 3:6 NIV84 No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.
The seed of God is in us. We have been born of God and His seed remains in us. We have truly become God’s children. The NKJV says — “Whoever abides in Him does not sin.” This new life is a direct result of abiding or living in Christ.
Consider what this means.
God is not like anyone else you could know.God is totally righteous, pure, and holy. His nature and character are perfectly good and glorious. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all, (1 John 1:5). There are absolutely no faults or weaknesses in God.
When we abide or live in Him, His seed remains in us.
A dramatic change takes place in our nature. When we become a child of God, our old nature (the habits of sin) are broken and conquered.
1 John 1:6-9 NKJV If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
John said,“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.” “Everyone who sins breaks the law, in fact, sin is lawlessness.” Sin is the transgression of God’s law. Sin is a careless disregard of God and what God says.
God has made a specific provision for you so you can live a new life of victory. Several things have been put into action to make it possible for you to live in the victory that overcomes the world. God has had to show us mercy in order for us to be set free.
Isaiah 53:6 NKJVAll we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
1 John 3:5 NIV84 But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin.
Jesus Christ, God’s Son came to take away our sins.
This is the marvelous grace and mercy of God. Through our Lord’s suffering and death, our sins can actually be removed. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our sins from us, (Psalms 103:10-14). How is deliverance from our sins possible? When we truly believe in Jesus Christ, God accepts His sacrifice for our sins. Instead of seeing our sin, God sees Jesus Christ and His blood.
“Whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life…”
“For God sent His Son into the world so that through Him we might be saved.”
As a result, our sins are removed from us and we are freed and not condemned.
2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV84 God made Him Who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
What is the proof of our personal deliverance?
1 John 3:6–7 NIV84No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him. 7Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous.
If you abide in Christ, you have turned from sin.
When Christ enters into your heart and life, you are turned from the old passion and lust of sin. How can you continue in sin if you love Him? Your heart’s desire has been changed. When you love the Lord, you turn away from sin. When you love Him, you will want to break the habits of sin.
The proof that we love God is our practice of righteousness and loving one another.
1 John 3:10 NKJV In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
This is the proof of whether or not we love God. Are you abiding in Christ? Have you turned away from sin? Have you stopped habitually practicing and living in sin? John said: “If we continue to sin we have not seen Christ, or known Him.”
John is not saying that we have to be perfect to be saved.
The original language means: “If we continue in sin, if we go on sinning and sinning, then we do not really know Christ.”
A true believer may fall short of God’s glory. We still have this weak human flesh. The difference in us is sin is not the dominant focus of our life. Our focus has changed and we have turned our eyes toward Jesus Christ. The person whose focus is still on the world, its pleasures, and possessions, continues to sin. When you are truly saved, your life changes and you cannot continue living like the world.
1 John 3:7 NIV84 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous.
We cannot be acceptable to God without living right and we cannot live right without Christ. Romans 7 deals with the battle we all have before Christ’s victory. Even when we desire to do good, evil is present with us. The only solution for the power of sin is Jesus Christ our Lord.
“Who will release and deliver me from the shackles of the body of this death? Thank God! He will through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Listen to this. Romans 8:1 NIV84 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…
Anyone who follows Jesus Christ has to deny himself. We cannot hold anything back.
Titus 2:11–12 NIV84 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.
1 John 3:8 NIV84 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.
What does this mean?
Satan was the first to rebel and sin against God. Those who sin are following after their father, Satan. God is not the Father of sin, evil, corruption, and death. The devil is the father of such things.
Remember those words: 1 John 3:9 NKJV Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
We have been freed from continually living in and practicing sin.
God’s nature abides and remains permanently within them. That person cannot practice sinning because they are born of God. Once God’s nature has been implanted within, the believer cannot go on living in sin. They cannot continue to sin. The habitual practice of sin is broken. The divine nature of God (the seed of God) will pester and provoke the believer to do righteousness. The divine nature will convict and convince of sin and righteousness, and the love of God will constrain our heart. The Spirit of God will lead you into triumph and love for God.
The power of sin is broken.
Sin is no longer the policy of life and shall not rule your heart. If we do sin, we must humbly confess before God. He has promised to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Every believer has the power to live a victorious Christian life.
1 John 2:1–2 NKJVMy little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
God has done something wonderful inside of each believer.
God’s seed has changed your character, nature, desires, and passions.
