1. Who Are The Children Of The Devil? (v.8).

8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

2. Who Are The Children Of God? (vv.9-10).

9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

1. God Is

2. There Is One God

3. There Are Three Who Are God

16 Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:

He was manifested in the flesh,
    vindicated by the Spirit,
        seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
    believed on in the world,
        taken up in glory.

1.Jesus Christ manifested to take away our sins (v5)

2.Whoever abides in Jesus Christ does not keep on sinning (v.6)

3. Whoever practices righteousness possesses the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ (v.7)

1.Deception is its main tool and we must unmask it.

2.Temptation is its fuel.

3.Positive virtue is the antidote that we must activate.

4.Confession of sins to a trusted friend.

5.Love for Christ.

Although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly;4 so that there is not anything befalls any by chance, or without His providence;5 yet by the same providence He ordered them to fall out according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.6

4 Acts 2:23
5 Prov. 16:33
6 Gen. 8:22

True greatness in the kingdom of heaven comes from humbling ourselves and serving others rather than our self interests. Chiefly we are to serve the interest of Christ

1. By avoiding sin and not being a source of temptation.

2. By pursuing those in sin

3. By church discipline

4. By shining the gospel message through forgiving our fellow believers.

Isiah 53 : 7-9

1.Sin is a legal issue

2.Sin is a personal issue.

3.Sin is a universal issue

1.The duty of mortification.

2.The means of mortification.

3.The promise to mortify sin.

4.The necessity to mortify sin.