Audio Messages:
Pastor Wade Burleson

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The Purpose Driven God
He Came to Destroy an Enemy

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I John 3:7-8 (KJV)

7. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
8. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Christmas is a celebration of the coming of the Messiah, and there are few texts clearer than this one regarding the purpose of Jesus Christ. He is the subject of the text.

1. The Manifestation of the Son of God . . . "for this purpose the Son of God was manifested"
   Notice, Christ is not said to be "born," He is "manifested." He pre-existed Bethlehem.
   1. Jesus Christ is the Sovereign Creator.
      "For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities -- all things have been created by Him and for Him (Colossians 1:16-17). He is the Sovereign Ruler over all.
   2. Jesus Christ became "true and very man."
      I borrowed this phrase from Samuel Pierce's commentary on I John. We see glimpses of Christ the Creator God in the Old Testament, but these glimpses are of His power, glory and majesty. At Bethlehem the Creator stepped into a cradle. "He was manifested by his open and visible Incarnation, by the which he became true and very man; made in all things like unto his brethren that he might destroy the works of the devil" Pearce.
2. The Mission of the Son of God . . . "for this purpose the Son of God was manifested."
   Notice, our text does not say "He came to destroy the devil." Other texts teach us this, like "through death he might destroy him that had the power of death" (Hebrews 2:14; Genesis 3:15). However, this text says, "He came to destroy the works of the devil." What does this mean?
   1. Sin unto death is the enemy God destroys --
      Sin unto death is "living your life to its end without Jesus Christ as Lord of your life."
      1. The larger context demands it . . . "He that commiteth sin is of the devil" (v.7).
         This present active verb carries with it the idea of a continual course of life.
         This is the very sin of the devil; "for the devil sinneth from the beginning" (v.7).
         It is very probably the Lord God made known to all the angels in the beginning that it was his pleasure that Jesus Christ, the God-man, should be the Head of the whole creation, including all the angels. This was what the devil could not accept: to submit to one in the nature of man, the God-Man Jesus Christ. Samuel Pearce.
      2. The loving caution declares it . . . "Little children, let no man deceive you" (v.7).
         In all of I John we have a distinction between the saved and the lost. In this chapter the distinction is clear, "He that doeth righteousness is righteous." But he that gives no thought to ceasing his sin has never experienced the saving power of Christ.
   2. Sin unto death is the work of Satan today - "he that commits sin is of the devil" (v.7).
      The devil "blinds the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (II Corinthians 4:4).
3. The Mightiness of the Son of God . . . "The he might destroy the works of the devil"
   God will do for His people what He did for Lydia: He opened her heart so that she gave heed to what Paul said (Acts 16:14). God, who once said, "Let there be light!" will by that same creative power "shine in their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (II Corinthians 4:6). He will "Take out their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26). His people will be born not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God (John 1:13). He destroys the works of the devil by delivering you from the sin unto death. Understand this and it compels you to pray for the lost with fervor.

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