Purchased and Possessed and Made Righteous (1 John 3:10-15)

“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. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.” (1 John 3:10-12 NKJV)

How do we know that one is the children of the devil or of God? It doesn’t lie on the religious activities like going church, singing hymns, and donating the gifts. Nor it doesn’t depend on the works achieved or ancestry. It really lies on practicing righteousness, the righteousness of God, not self-righteousness.

What is the righteousness of God? It means what God behaves. That is worth in full. The measuring stick of righteousness is God Himself. There is nothing in the world can measure up His righteousness. Relating to God is the only way to know whether one is righteous or not. God is light which is straight and never turns to the right or to the left.

How can we be righteous then? The Scripture says that there is only one way for anyone to be righteous. It is to be clothed with Jesus Chris the Lord who paid the full price for the inherent and embedded problem in humanity. It is called the gift of faith. Through faith and by faith in Jesus Chris the Son of God, we can be called the sons of righteousness.

“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:21-26 NKJV)

So, we have been made righteous through the faith in the Son of God Jesus Christ, because He purchased and possessed us with the price of His death with blood. For the first time, the moment when through faith we are pronounced righteous before God, we have entered into the unsearchable riches of Christ Jesus and evermore. For the first time, we can stand in confidence before God with the full of worth, the righteousness of God.

Those who are made righteous practice loving one another. God is love which is fully and perfectly manifested in the Son Jesus Christ, especially even on the cross in Calvary. Jesus gave a new command to His disciples who have been cleansed and washed by His word of truth and His blood.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35 NKJV)

The new command is to love one another, as Jesus Christ has loved us. In actuality, it is not possible for us to love one another until we are clothed with Him through the baptism with Him. It is Christ Jesus who indwells in us does love. It is His imparted life in us. We cannot love one another but only God can. That’s why He imparted the life of Christ Jesus in us when we are baptized with Him.

“For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:19-20 NKJV)

Those who have been born of God are made righteous and love their brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus just as the Lord has loved them. But those who are not born of God cannot do so like Cain. He presented his offering but was rejected the righteous God who cannot be deceived. He was a man of wickedness and so his works were wicked and couldn’t love his brother Abel but killed him. Abel was not killed because he was wicked but because he was righteous.

“Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” (1 John 3:13-15 NKJV)