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THE BOOK OF FIRST JOHN
Copyright © 2006 Trumpet Ministries, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978,
1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
There are several emphases in the Book of First John. One of the primary emphases is the exhortation to Christian people to cease sinning, to keep the commandments of Christ. When we walk in the light of God’s will we have fellowship with God and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, purifies us from all sin.
Table of Contents
THE BOOK OF FIRST JOHN
My dear children, I write this to you so you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (I John 2:1)
There are several errors in Christian thinking at the present time. I believe the primary misunderstanding has to do with the nature of the Divine salvation.
The concept is that we are saved by placing our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is true, although placing our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ often is defined as accepting mentally the theological facts concerning Christ. Mental acceptance of the facts of theology, even though absolutely correct, is not salvation. They are an orientation to the process of salvation.
The primary misunderstanding, however, has to do with the goal of placing our faith in Christ. The goal is seen as eternal residence in the spirit Paradise (Heaven) after one’s death. Eternal residence in Heaven is not the goal of salvation; neither is escape from Hell. People are invited to believe in Jesus Christ so after they die they will not go to Hell but to Heaven. "There is a Heaven to gain and a Hell to shun."
This perception of what Christ is all about misses the point. We come to Christ for the purpose of being forgiven, and then transformed morally. Escape from Hell results from moral transformation, not from belief in Christ. Entrance into the Paradise of God results from moral transformation, not from belief in Christ.
I am aware the package is not as neatly defined as this, but the essence of what I am saying is true.
Because we view belief in Christ as a ticket to admit us to Heaven (where many sinners would not want to go if they knew what Heaven is like), we do not place nearly enough emphasis on being made new creation in Christ. "Just get us to Heaven. It doesn’t matter how we behave."
One can see immediately the folly of contemporary thinking. If Heaven were filled with unchanged people it would not be Heaven, would it?
We recognize that somehow at some point people must be transformed morally, otherwise Paradise would be no different from what we are experiencing now. There still would be the problem of destructive relationships; and where there are destructive relationships there can be no "Heaven."
I think people are aware intuitively that "when we get to Heaven there will be no sin." But how do they account for this?
By virtue of the fact that after we die we cannot sin anymore? There is no passage of Scripture that tells us we cannot sin after we die. Sin began in Heaven. Sin is basically spiritual in nature. Flesh and blood are morally neutral. It is the sinful nature that causes us to sin against God and people, and the sinful nature is spiritual. After we die we are judged. No passage of which I am aware states that after we die physically we are set free from sin.
Some have theorized that when the Lord returns He will remove the sinful nature from us. There is no Scripture for this either. When the Lord returns we will receive the good we have done and the bad we have done. Remember the parable of the talents!
Telling people that if they "accept Christ" they will not be held responsible for their actions produces immoral behavior. If we inform an individual that if he will take "the four steps of salvation" he will not be held accountable for his behavior, how do you think he is going to behave?
The reason worldly scientists and teachers embrace the hypothesis of evolution is that they do not want to be held accountable for their actions after they die. They don’t want there to be a God!
Does the Bible tell us at what point the Lord is going to deal with the sinful nature of His people?
Yes, it does. In the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Matthew the Lord informs us that in the last days the messengers of God will remove all sin and sinners from His Kingdom.
As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. (Matthew 13:40,41)
At the end of the age the messengers will be sent out to remove from Christ’s Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.
I understand contemporary theologians will insist that the above passage does not apply to Christians because we are "saved by grace." By this they mean God will permit sin in His Kingdom because of grace. They simply are not thinking clearly. But the modern doctrine of "grace" (which we are not interpreting as Paul meant it) is so deeply rooted, so appealing to the human being, that only those who are fervent disciples of the Lord Jesus will be able to escape its destructive influence.
There are passages in the Book of First John that flatly deny the current doctrine of "salvation by faith alone." No matter how one twists and turns, he cannot maintain that we can continue in sin and still have fellowship with God, and declare at the same time that he believes the Book of First John is the inspired Word of God.
Salvation is a process, not a belief system. The process of salvation moves us from Satan to God. It destroys out of us the sinful nature and replaces the sinful nature with the Substance and Nature of Jesus Christ. Also it teaches us concerning the Person of God, the ways of God, the will of God, and God’s eternal purpose in Jesus Christ.
God absolutely requires that all saved people perform His will completely and perfectly. We do not arrive at such obedience in a moment, but this always is our goal. As long as there is disobedience in us, there is darkness and death in us. Obedience to God, righteousness, and resurrection life are parts of one whole. That whole is Christ.
Hopefully as we look closely at the text of the Book of First John we will notice the emphasis on keeping Christ’s commandments. We will see also the mechanism that forgives our sin, and then removes the sinful nature from us.
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. (I John 1:1)
The Lord Jesus Christ was in the beginning with God and partook of the Deity of God. All things were made by Him, including all the heavens and all of its creatures, and after that the physical creation and its creatures.
John and his fellow apostles heard the Word made flesh. They saw Him. Their hands touched Him. This made them true witnesses of the Son of God.
It is interesting that John refers to Christ as "the Word of life." We need to emphasize this aspect of Christ more than we do. He Himself is the Resurrection. He Himself is the Life of God.
Our religion presents the Divine salvation as escape from Hell and residence in the spirit Paradise. The truth is, whether we end up in Hell or in Heaven depends on the way we have behaved ourselves, not on our religious beliefs. The wicked belong in Hell and the righteous belong in Heaven. I think we forget this sometimes in our effort to make proselytes.
If, when you think about the Lord, you picture escape from Hell, then you have an incorrect perspective. You should be thinking about Divine Life.
All of us descendants of Adam were born spiritually dead. We are intelligent dust. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Tree of Life. We come to Him that we might escape sin and death and gain Divine Life. We gain a portion of life initially when we first receive Him as our Savior. Then each day spiritual darkness and death, and spiritual light and life, struggle for dominion over our personality. We choose each day whether death or life gain the victory.
The fact that we are fighting to lay hold on eternal life needs to be emphasized more than it is. Numerous Christian people are at ease spiritually, waiting to die and go to Heaven. Residence in Heaven is not the goal, resurrection life is the goal. We have to gain Christ, as Paul said, in order to attain to the resurrection that is unto eternal life.
The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. (I John 1:2)
"In Him was life, and the life was the light of men," John wrote in his Gospel.
We usually do not think of life as being light, do we? We have to ask ourselves, "What is light?" Light is that which enables us to distinguish what is around us.
In the beginning of the physical creation, God separated the light from the darkness. Since in the physical world darkness is nothing more than the absence of light, the fact that God separated the light from the darkness implies that we are speaking of something more than physical light.
I think prior to the physical creation, the angels were ignorant of moral law. They had no experience with right or wrong, perhaps, until Satan rebelled against the Father. They were unable to distinguish what was good and what was evil in their moral environment. They had no "light."
God then chose Christ, separating Him from the angels that Christ Himself had created. Christ loved righteousness and hated wickedness. God established Christ as God, saying, " Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom."
Thus Christ became our God whom we are to obey and worship; He also became our Light.
When there is light we can see with our eyes the facts of our physical environment. But it is only as the Life of Jesus Christ is formed in us that we can discern good and evil. In this manner His life is the light of men.
The Life of Christ is formed in us as we turn away from the acts of the sinful nature, putting them to death through the Holy Spirit, and then are fed the flesh and blood of Christ in the spirit realm.
We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. (I John 1:3)
John wrote to us what he had seen and heard so we could have fellowship with him, with the Father, and with the Son.
The reason we receive Christ as our Savior is that we may have fellowship with the Father and with Christ. By making mansions in Heaven our goal, we have missed the point. Our goal is not an expensive dwelling in the spirit realm, it is fellowship with God. From what we hear the believers say we might conclude they are more interested in the material wealth they hope to receive when they die than they are in the Persons of God and Christ! How this must disappoint the Lord!
Fellowship with God is an important concept. If we make going to Heaven our goal, and grace as the means of getting there, then we are not going to be able to resist the terrific compulsions to sin that exist in our sinful nature and in the American culture.
But if our goal is fellowship with God and Christ, then we realize instinctively we cannot continue in sin, using grace as our excuse.
I don’t know, though, how reliable our instincts are anymore. Today it is being taught that once we "accept Christ" God cannot see our sins, He can see only the righteousness of Christ. Of course, there is no basis in the Scriptures for this belief. But such a doctrine does make it possible for us to have fellowship with God and still continue in sin.
Let’s think about the consequences of the current doctrine that God does not see our behavior, only the righteousness of Christ.
We can fornicate and commit adultery with abandon. It is regrettable that we do, of course, but God is walking with us all the while. He sees only the moral purity of Christ while we are fornicating and committing adultery.
We can lie all we wish. God walks with us and has glad fellowship with us while we are lying. He sees only the truth of Christ.
We can harbor hatred, bitterness, and unforgiveness against a fellow Christian. There is no problem. God rejoices over us because He sees Christ all the while.
I realize such a scenario is not drawn out like this ordinarily, but it is the logical extension of current Christian teaching.
And then we wonder why America is having so much trouble these days!
It is absolutely true that we come to Christ in the filthy garments of our sinful nature. Christ spreads his royal robe around us and accepts us as we are. Make no mistake—this is the truth, and it is preached well in Christian churches.
The fatal error that is made is that this is the end of the work of salvation. From now on God "accepts us in the Beloved." There is nothing more to be done.
No doctrine could be better suited to demolish the Kingdom of God!
The truth is, the moment we receive Christ, asking forgiveness on the basis of the blood atonement, the Holy Spirit begins to point out to us the sins we are committing. One by one, as the Holy Spirit leads and empowers, we are to confess our sins to God, denouncing them and turning away from them with all the strength we have. This is the process of salvation, the program in which we are delivered from sin and changed into the image of Jesus Christ.
As we are being delivered from the chains of sin we are being drawn into the very Center of God’s Holy Being. This is where Jesus always is, and this is where He is inviting us to abide. Our primary goal is twofold: change into the image of Christ, and untroubled rest in the center of God’s Person and will.
God can have fellowship with us even though we still are not pure, as long as we are continuing in the program of transformation. The blood of Jesus Christ enables God to overlook our darkness. We are on a detour while the highway is under repair.
But if we are not becoming a new creation of righteous behavior, if we are continuing in our worldly manner, not confessing and renouncing our sins, then the blood no longer is making up the difference. We are sinning willfully, and this God never will accept.
As long as we are cooperating with the Holy Spirit, we can have fellowship with God. But when we are continuing in our old manner of life, we cannot possibly have fellowship with God. Would we make God like ourselves? This is what current teaching, in ignorance, is attempting to do.
We write this to make our joy complete. (I John 1:4)
I think one of the biggest hindrances to people who would like the benefits of the victorious Christian life, but are afraid to step out of the boat, so to speak, is that they picture a joyless existence. This may be especially true of young people.
"If I give myself wholly to Christ, doing only His will, confessing all my sins, I won’t have any fun." Also, there are Christians who do not believe it is possible to do God’s will. "It is far too hard, and this is why we have to be saved by grace."
These are lies of Satan. God’s way always leads to joy. Satan’s way always leads to despair, corruption, and death.
This was the issue in the beginning, wasn’t it? Satan persuaded Eve she would be happier if she disobeyed God.
It is the way of the transgressor, not of the obedient person, that is hard and painful.
Do victorious saints ever have pain, trouble, confusion, severe crises? Most assuredly they do. But they also have a deeply settled peace and assurance that joy will come eventually.
Do sinners ever have pain, trouble, confusion, severe crises? Most assuredly they do. But they do not have a deeply settled peace and assurance that joy will come in the morning.
Figure it out for yourself. What is the sensible path to take?
This present world is a suburb of Hell. It is under the Divine curse. There is no way we can make a paradise out of this world and always be happy in this life except by forsaking our integrity and betraying those who trust us. Even then life will catch up to us, and we will end up in unbearable remorse.
After the new Christian has suffered for a while there come peace and joy that the world cannot experience. Certainly discipline is required. But the discipline leads to freedom from destructive urges. The person who refuses to discipline his lusts, passions, and appetites will exist in chains, having thirsts that never can be quenched.
Only in Jesus Christ is there lasting joy and peace in the present world, although there also is tribulation. The healthy, growing Christian accepts the deferral of his desires, noting that there always are flowers to pick along the way. And in the end there is eternal love, joy, and peace.
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. (I John 1:5,6)
The above two verses are the first of several passages that warn the believer about walking in darkness, in sin. A warning concerning continuing in sin is one of the primary emphases of this epistle.
There is no darkness in God. Darkness is that which is evil, destructive, self-seeking, unmerciful, stubborn, treacherous, harsh, vindictive, unforgiving. Light is that which is good, constructive, concerned about the welfare of others, merciful, gentle, faithful, kind.
God is always just, always righteous. He dwells in a moral purity not possible to adamic man except through the influence of Jesus Christ.
Now notice: if we claim to have fellowship with God, and are evil, destructive, self-seeking, unmerciful, stubborn, treacherous, harsh, vindictive, and unforgiving, then we are lying. We are not of the truth.
But today we would say, "It does not matter because I am saved by a sovereign grace. I can be self-seeking, unmerciful, and unforgiving, yet I can have fellowship with God." According to the Bible we are lying. We are not living by the truth.
Why would the Apostle John have to say this? Undoubtedly because there were Christians even in his day who were interpreting the Apostle Paul to mean we can walk in spiritual darkness and yet have fellowship with God and be saved. Otherwise, why would he bring up this matter in this fashion?
Today’s Christian preaching and teaching is largely a lie. We are leaving people with the impression they can behave like Satan and have fellowship with the Lord, on the basis of grace. If this were true, why would the Apostle John say such things?
No, we have been deceived and we need to repent and return to the ways of righteousness and holiness. We need to stop telling people that they can "accept Christ" and then they will go to Heaven by grace. We should tell them instead that God will forgive them, but He insists they allow Him to change their behavior.
We have not received the love of the truth, and so God has sent a strong delusion on us. Will we recognize this before our nation is destroyed?
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (I John 1:7)
Walking in the light means we are walking in the Presence of the Father and doing His will. We are not practicing known sin. If we are walking in the light we have fellowship with God.
If we are walking in God’s will and not practicing known sin, the blood of God’s Son purifies us from all sin.
We have to think carefully about the word "purifies."
Does this mean if we are obeying God to the best of our knowledge the blood is forgiving the sins of which we are ignorant? I think it means this.
What if we as a Christian are not walking in the light of God’s Person and will, does the blood of Jesus forgive our sins? I don’t think verse seven supports this common viewpoint.
Is there an inkling here that the blood of God’s Son also purifies us from our sinful nature? I think so. It is my opinion that as we continue to walk in the light, turning away from the acts of the sinful nature, the blood of Christ not only forgives all of our sins but also begins the long process of destroying our sinful nature. If this were not true, then we forever would be bound with sin and forced to live in an untransformed moral state, injuring everyone around us.
The blood of the Lamb of God is the Divine Virtue that saves us.
The blood of the Lamb of God protects us and our family when God’s judgments are in the land.
The blood of the Lamb of God makes an atonement for our sins so God’s justice is upheld, and his wrath is pacified.
The blood of the Lamb of God works with the Spirit of God in destroying our sinful nature, removing it from us.
The blood of the Lamb of God, along with His flesh, nourishes and builds up the Substance and virtue of Christ in us.
The blood of the Lamb of God and His flesh are our resurrection life in us and will make alive our mortal body in the last day.
I believe God wants us totally free from the bondages of sin, and if we keep turning away from the acts of our sinful nature, as the Holy Spirit guides and empowers us, the time will arrive when we are totally free from the compulsions of sin. And why not? Is our sinful nature anything more than a finite number of nasty little bondages? Are we an inexhaustible well of corruption? I don’t think so.
Even if we were an inexhaustible source of darkness, there is so much power in the Lord Jesus Christ He could enable us to escape from this dungeon of corruption.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. (I John 1:8)
There have been Christian movements that have professed to be freed from sin root and branch, on the basis of a single experience. I think this is doubtful. My own experience of moral deliverance has been little by little, line upon line, command upon command. I know there still is darkness in me, but nothing like what was true when I began on the way of repentance.
I can see definite progress over a period of years. I can see that I am becoming a new creature. Can Christ finish the work in me? I believe He can. Can He finish the work in you? I believe He can. But we are going to have to stop using God’s grace as an alternative to righteous behavior.
We Christians have a sinful nature in us. This is a scriptural and observable fact. But the solution is not to wave the wand of grace and pretend God does not see what we are doing. The solution is to follow the Holy Spirit each day as He guides and enables us in the program of redemption, which consists in part of recognizing our sins, confessing them as such, and turning away from them with all the vigor we can muster.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9)
Every once in a while we come across a verse in the Bible that sums up the operation of redemption in a practical manner. I John 1:9 is one such verse.
"If we confess our sins." Confession is more than a silent acknowledgment. It is a proclamation made before God, and sometimes in the presence of people if the circumstances indicate, that we have committed a sin.
The problem with the Catholic confessional, as I understand it, is it can become merely a listing of what we have done. Then we are instructed how to make an atonement for our sins. However, we do not need to make an atonement. The atonement has been accomplished on the cross. What we must do is to pray until God gives us the strength to turn away from our sinful behavior. I may be mistaken but I think the Catholic confessional assumes there can be no true deliverance
We must be specific. "I have lied; I have stolen; I have cheated on my wife; I have spoken hatefully; I have unforgiveness in my heart; I am addicted to drugs, or alcohol, or cigarettes; I am addicted to pornography; I have molested my child; I have slandered someone; I am covetous and am not praying, not reading my Bible, and not using my talents in the Kingdom of God."
You have to be clear and merciless. You actually are judging the enemy that is in you. If you are clear and decisive, the spirit realm will hear you. You must be diligent and vigorous when you are confessing a sin to God.
You must be specific. It does no good to announce that you are a miserable sinner. Everyone knows that, including God and Satan. Rather you have to cite the actual sinful behavior so an act of judgment takes place.
When you straightforwardly specify what you have done, God is faithful and just. He will forgive what you have confessed and purify you from all unrighteousness.
Now think for a moment. If by "purify you from all unrighteousness" God meant "forgive you of all unrighteousness," then the verse would be saying God is faithful and just to forgive you and to forgive you. This is what I meant by saying the term "purify" as used here means more than merely forgive. It means God will begin to deal with your sinful nature.
Your sin is forgiven instantly. However, purification from all unrighteousness requires a period of time for its accomplishment. You have to walk it out with the Holy Spirit. You have to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Your salvation includes the destruction of your sinful nature. Christ came to destroy the works of the devil, not just forgive them. And we can thank God for that!
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. (I John 1:10)
The sixth chapter of the Book of Romans tells us to count ourselves dead to sin. I think this exhortation is sometimes viewed as meaning that once we count ourselves crucified with Christ we no longer are tempted to sin; or if we do sin it doesn’t matter.
But the truth is, we are not to claim we have not sinned. Rather we are to confess our sins. This does not mean confess we are a sinner or confess that we used to be a sinner. It means today—right now—when we as a Christian sin we are to confess that sin so the Holy Spirit can deal with it.
For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, (Romans 8:13)
God does not want us to pretend we are not sinning. Nor does He want us to take the attitude it does not matter if we are sinning. God wants us to confess our sins, when they are brought to our attention, and stop committing them.
I know the accuser will say it is not possible for us to gain victory over sin. He is lying. It is entirely possible. Not only is it possible to gain victory over sin, it is absolutely necessary if we are to inherit the Kingdom of God. There is no sin in the Kingdom of God!
We have been taught for so long that sin is an impossible monster that no one can confront successfully. Therefore, many Christians do not take advantage of the power there is in Jesus Christ. They don’t even try to gain victory.
I guess the best procedure is to do what I John 1:9 states and see if God will give you victory. It’s worth a try, isn’t it? You might be very pleasantly surprised!
My dear children, I write this to you so you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (I John 2:1)
Now here is a decent and practical Christian attitude. God does not want us to sin. When we do sin, Christ prays for us.
There is an assumption here, I believe, that sinful behavior is not to be regarded as acceptable behavior. The idea is that we are not to sin. But if we do stumble, Christ defends us through intercessory prayer. As far as I can see, there certainly is not a hint here of a defeated attitude, nor a suggestion that we are doomed to keep on sinning. The exception occurs when we sin. "If anybody does sin." And I think this is healthy. We are not to sin, but if we are overtaken in a sin, then we know Christ will intercede for us.
By the same token, if we are living a careless Christian life, not caring whether or not we sin, then we cannot expect that Christ will pray for us. Why should he? We are not doing our part by confessing and turning away from our sins We are not putting them to death through the Holy Spirit.
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also the sins of the whole world. (I John 2:2)
Christ made an atonement for the sins of the whole world. Think of it? An atonement has been made for everyone’s sins. The guilt of sin no longer is an issue. The issue is the removal of the sinful nature from the creation.
Have everyone’s sins been forgiven? Potentially, yes. Actually, no. Why not? Because we have to ask for the forgiveness to be applied to us.
So it is with every aspect of redemption. We cannot assume because some work of redemption has been mentioned in the New Testament it automatically applies to us. However, Christians often do this.
For example, the New Testament says if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. All the old has passed away. All is new and of God.
Christians suppose once they have accepted the salvation formula they are a new creation. It isn’t so. To become a new moral creation in Christ requires years of patient cooperation with the Holy Spirit.
Another example is Paul’s statement that he is crucified with Christ, nevertheless He lives. Yet not he, but Christ lives in him. Christians believe this is true of them because they have "accepted Christ." Paul is speaking of a maturity gained through years of tribulations. It may be a fact that few Christians have attained to that exchanged life.
Yes, the atonement has been made for all. But the atonement applies only as we lay hold on it. The same is true for all other dimensions of redemption. We are to take nothing for granted, but are to go to God and ask that the coveted blessing might be applied to us. If we will keep on praying, God will keep on answering.
God likes to be asked!
We know we have come to know him if we obey his commands. (I John 2:3)
I don’t think you would hear this preached very often in the American churches: the only way we can be sure we have come to know Christ is if we are obeying His commands.
The Lord Jesus said this several times. He said, "If you love me, keep my commandments."
The Lord Jesus commanded us to love one another. He commanded us also to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. He talked to us about forgiving those who sinned against us. He advised us to not worry about our life, what we are to eat and drink. He cautioned us about judging other people. He invited us to ask, seek, and knock that we might obtain from God what we need.
In addition, the Lord added numerous commandments through the writings of His Apostles.
The present preaching of the Gospel leaves one with the idea that we are not expected to keep the commandments of Christ; that it is not possible to keep them and so we must be saved by grace. This attitude is contrary to the statements of the Apostle John, and Christ Himself.
The fullest expression of the new covenant occurs when we keep God’s eternal moral laws on the basis of the holy, obedient Nature of Christ having been formed in us. But this inner expression cannot possibly be attained to unless we first, in our adamic nature, pray each day that we might gain the strength to do what the New Testament commands.
I think the problem arises in part from the concept of Dispensationalism. This is a philosophy that teaches that the new covenant is entirely different from the old covenant: the Jews had to keep the commandments of the Old Testament, but under the new covenant we are not obligated to keep the commandments of Christ and His Apostles because these commandments are there only to show us our need to be saved by grace.
There has been a change in dispensation, this unscriptural philosophy postulates. The Gentile Church (an unscriptural entity) will be brought to Heaven by grace, a salvation not revealed in the Old Testament. Can you imagine cutting the Bible in two like this?
Dispensational thought indeed is a horrendous error. The difference between the two covenants is not that God has changed His mind about the necessity for godly behavior on the part of His children. The difference is that under the new covenant the eternal moral law of God is not written on tables of stone but on our mind and heart. Why? So we don’t obey God’s moral laws? Such confusion! No. So we will obey them from a transformed nature.
I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. (Ezekiel 11:19,20)
God gave us a new heart and a new Spirit so we will follow His decrees and be careful to keep His laws. Why else would He give us a new covenant?
As I said, the transformed nature will not be developed unless we read the New Testament and, through the guidance and enablement of the Holy Spirit, do what we have been commanded.
The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (I John 2:4)
When I read these words of John I gain the impression that there must have been some people who were teaching, just as they do today, that we can know Christ and have fellowship with Him without doing what He commanded. "Why do you call me Lord! Lord! and don’t do what I say?" This sort of thing. Building our house on the sand by not doing what He instructed us to do.
So the Apostle John is telling us that those who preach faith alone, apart from keeping Christs commandments, are liars. The truth is not in them. They have been deceived. As a result we have spiritual babies in many of our churches who do not know the difference between good and evil; who have neither the strength nor the willingness to embrace the good and reject the evil. Yet, according to the writer of the Book of Hebrews, such knowledge, willingness, and strength are what it means to grow in Christ.
But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: (I John 2:5)
How do we know we are in Christ? We know we are in Christ to the extent we obey what He said.
Sometimes it is maintained that there is nothing we can do about sin, we have to wait until Christ comes and delivers us. With this attitude we will wait until we die in a nursing home and never be delivered!.
There are numerous sins Christians commit that they can just stop doing.
We can stop lying if we want to. We can stop committing adultery if we want to. We can stop swearing if we want to. We can stop gossiping if we want to. We can stop criticizing if we want to.
Sometimes there are powerful demonic bondages, such as homosexual behavior; watching pornography on the Internet; smoking; drinking beer or whiskey; doing drugs. Believers may find such bondages overwhelming. They wish they could stop but they are tightly bound. They are the slaves of these sins.
The thing to do is to name the bondage clearly. Decide in your heart that you really want to get rid of it. Then go to people you trust and ask for prayer.
There is no bondage that will not yield to the power of Christ. The reason Christians continue to be bound is that they are not certain they really want to be delivered. As long as that is true, no amount of prayer will prevail, in most instances.
You see, we don’t get tough enough with our sins. If you are going to make progress in deliverance, you have to be desperate, vehement, and determined. You have to come against the behavior with all the strength you possess, in the meanwhile calling on the name of Jesus for help. When you do this, you will be delivered!
Perhaps you have a pet, or work with animals. You may have found out that animals will not obey you until you show them that you are determined. It is the same way with the demons. If you are double-minded you will get nowhere.
Do you want to remain bound? Then you will remain bound even if you are prayed for. However, you can always pray for the desire to be delivered.
Do you want to be delivered? You can, through the Lord Jesus Christ, from every sin that you are willing to confess and renounce. The Lord is waiting for you, just like He waits for the sinner to receive the atonement already provided for him or her.
Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. (I John 2 6)
Here is another verse that sums up the Christian redemption, and sums up the Book of First John as well.
I understand Christ was born without a sinful nature, His Father being God. I understand He came down from the ivory palaces. I understand He was with the Father from the beginning.
How then can we walk as Jesus did? By doing what He did, which was to pray and find out from the Father what He was do, and then to trust the Father for wisdom and strength to perform His ministry.
We can do this, even though we were born with a sinful nature; even though we did not come down from Heaven; even though we were not with the Father from the beginning.
We can, and must, pray and find out from Christ what we are to do. Then we are to trust Christ at every moment for wisdom and strength to serve in the manner He desires.
Can we do this? Of course we can. It is just as easy to pray and find out what we are to do, and to trust Christ at every moment for wisdom and strength to serve in the manner He desires, as it is to make up our own mind what we are to do and to trust in our own wisdom, talents, and experience to accomplish what we want during the day.
It is just as easy to look to Christ for everything as it is to live according to our own wisdom and desires. We have to choose one way or the other. They do not mix readily.
So if we claim to be living in Christ, abiding in Him, then we must choose to look to Christ at all times rather than to our own resources. It is as simple and straightforward as this.
Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. (I John 2:7,8)
I believe John is saying the same thing that the Apostle Peter said, concerning the Morning Star.
And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. (I Peter 2:19)
We must keep in mind that John and Peter had strong Jewish backgrounds. They both were writing to Christians, no doubt both Jewish and Gentile by race.
Since the New Testament had not been formulated by this time, I expect by "this old command" John was referring to the Old Testament, just as Peter mentioned "the word of the prophets."
Paul admonished Timothy to take heed to the Jewish Scriptures.
And how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (II Timothy 3:15-17)
By "all Scripture" Paul meant the Old Testament.
Here is one of the destructive effects of the teaching of Dispensationalism. We are not directed toward the Old Testament as a source of guidance and strength. In any case, the Old Testament is minimized.
The truth is, however, except for the specific statutes of the Law of Moses, the Old Testament is food for us. Its exhortations for us to turn away from sin and embrace righteousness are as valid today as when they were written. But Dispensationalism would tell us such exhortations are meaningless to us today because we are "saved by grace." You can see what a horrendous error this is, what loss we have suffered by cutting us off in this manner from the Word of God found in the Old Testament.
So the Apostle John, by "old command" probably meant the Old Testament. That is the message of God they had heard.
Now, however, we have the Words of Jesus Christ and His Apostles. And as we pay attention to the Old Testament, as Peter exhorted us, and also to the New Testament which we now have, the Morning Star, Jesus Christ, rises in our heart.
Both the Old and New Testaments are as "a light shining in a dark place" until the eternal Word is written in our mind and heart; until Christ, the living Word, is formed in us.
Sometimes we get ahead of the program. We try to grow in Christ without paying enough attention to the Old and New Testaments. We do not meditate in God’s Word day and night. We do not seek to obey what we find therein. As long as this is true, the Bright and Morning Star, Jesus Christ, will never rise in our hearts.
The contemporary teaching of "grace" is a snare and a delusion. It has destroyed the witness of the Christian Church.
At the very moment that I am writing (2003), the Anglican Church, second only to the Roman Catholic Church in members, is divided over the issue of homosexual marriage and ministry. This tells me that a significant number of our Anglican brothers are not meditating in God’s written Word. If they were, they would know homosexual behavior is condemned in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Consequently the Morning Star will never rise in their hearts, not by grace, mercy, or any other means. Only a turning to God in sincere, diligent repentance can assure their salvation.
God cannot be mocked!
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. (I John 2:9)
When the Morning Star is arising in our heart, when the Light of Jesus Christ is in us, we have no bitterness, hatred, or unforgiveness in us.
Hatred, bitterness, and unforgiveness are widespread in the Christian churches. People have been treated unjustly, in many instances. After they have become a Christian, they find that unforgiveness and bitterness are still present. Also, the believers sometimes are wounded in their churches.
There is much criticizing, gossiping, slandering among the Christian people.
God wants us to be delivered completely from all these forms of murder. We indeed can be delivered by the power and Virtue of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we have to ask for deliverance and really desire to be delivered.
There are wounds that go very deep. Many Christian women, and probably some men, were molested as children. Sometimes by relatives or even ministers of the Gospel, so great is our apostate condition. On other occasions there has been a husband that verbally abused his wife, or a wife that ran off with another man.
All of this hatred must be cleansed from us totally. This would not be possible were it not for the blood of the Lamb of God. There is so much power and so much virtue in the blood of the Lamb of God that it can remove every particle of hatred, unforgiveness, bitterness, revenge, and animosity from the human heart.
Ask God to apply the blood to the unforgiveness and bitterness in your heart. Tell the Lord you want to be totally free from it. Or, ask the Lord to make you want to be totally free from it. His blood will prevail against the darkness of Satan in your personality and you will go free.
Try it and see! But know this. If you do not seek deliverance, if you do not seek release from the desire for revenge, if you do not wash your heart in the blood of the Lamb, you will lose part or all of your inheritance in the Lord. Then the person will have hurt you twice!
You do not have to return to the same situation and permit yourself or your children to be injured again. Keep away from the offender as much as you can. God will help you to do this. Do not allow yourself to become masochistic thinking that this will make you a saint. Just get your own heart right, and then ask God to deliver you and your children completely from these abusive circumstances.
Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. (I John 2:10,11)
John is saying much about light and darkness, isn’t he? When we walk in the light we have fellowship with God. When we permit spiritual darkness to reside in us we do not have fellowship with God and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, does not purify us from all sin.
So much of salvation depends on our being diligent! Remember the parable of the ten virgins and of the talents? In both instances the issue was one of diligence versus carelessness. The consequences of being careless were terrifying. In the case of the foolish, careless virgins, they were shut out of the wedding. In the case of the foolish, careless man who buried his talent, his talent was given to another and he was put out into the darkness.
Actually I think some of this activity may be going on today. People who have not been careful to keep themselves full of the life of God are not entering the wonderful steps forward available today. Others are having their abilities removed from them—and they do not even realize it because they are blind, having been put out into the spiritual darkness.
So if we are yielding to hatred, or bitterness, or unforgiveness, we need to take care of this problem immediately, just as we would a cancer in our body. We are to go to the Lord and ask for His help, and keep on asking until we obtain release from every particle of this darkness. Otherwise we are going to miss the day of our visitation, and we will not realize it until it is too late.
God is not pleased with laziness, carelessness, foolishness, or the neglect of His salvation!
I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. (I John 2:12-14)
I believe we are speaking here of three age groups: children, fathers, and young men. It is interesting that they should be treated differently. But our experience in working with people tells us that such a distinction is realistic and practical.
Young children vary widely in their awareness of the things of God. John says their sins have been forgiven on account of the name of Jesus. Also, that they have known the Father. We know also that Jesus said we must become as children if we are to enter the Kingdom of God.
In our own church I marvel at the spiritual precocity of the children. The things they say make me wonder if the generation coming up is not special in the eyes of the Lord. Maybe because leaders are being born now, Satan is emphasizing homosexuality and abortion. It reminds us of Herod seeking to murder the Baby Jesus.
It would be awful, wouldn’t it, to abort a developing child who was destined to be a source of salvation for many people? Yet, people take a chance on doing this when they have an abortion.
In our church we do not "talk down" to children. At the age of six, or younger, we begin to plant the idea of serving the Lord. They are not pushed to spiritual maturity; they have lots of opportunities to have fun and do what children do.
We do not push them to "get saved." I notice that every once in a while a child will ask to be baptized in water. I guess God speaks to them. When they ask to be baptized, we trust the parents to determine if they understand the significance. We do not put a lower age level on water baptism because individual children are so different. It is when they ask, then we try to find out if they understand what water baptism means.
We have had several instances where children have come down to the altar to pray, especially during the Communion. When they do, I ask the parents to come down also so the whole family can take Communion together at the altar.
It is surprising how God deals with children if the pastor provides a suitable environment for them during the service.
John tells us the sins of the children have been forgiven on account of the name of Jesus, and they know the Father. I can believe this. I worked with children for a number of years as a public elementary-school teacher and principal. I have felt the hand of God on the little children, even though I think few of them came from Christian homes.
Sometimes I believe an army of children would be more able to defeat the enemy than would be the case with an army of "mighty men." The Father is with children because they are naive and unsophisticated; although in America the various media may be harming this innocence.
The smaller ones see the face of the Father because there is no lie in them.
Their sins have been forgiven and they have known the Father. How important it is that we who are older do not violate their knowledge of God with our unholy behavior!
John wrote to fathers, older men in the faith, because they have known Jesus.
After I left the Marine Corps I went to a Pentecostal Bible school. I had been a Christian for about three years. I was impressed that the older Christians knew the Lord in a way I did not.
That impression has stayed with me through the years. Sometimes I refer to "old Brother Fullerton," an Assembly of God minister who spoke at the Bible school. He really knew the Lord and was the first person I ever heard speak of the "rest of God."
"Old Brother Fullerton" really made an impression on me. It is difficult for me to realize I now am quite a bit older than he was at the time.
Do I know the Lord now, at the age of 78? Maybe so. Certainly not as much as I would like to. But I think I am getting there.
Sometimes I feel like I am surrounded by several people in the spirit world. I wish I could see them more plainly. I have been asking the Lord to let me know who they are. So far there has been no answer to my prayer. But they are there!
Maybe I am getting ready to go home to be with Jesus. Wouldn’t that be wonderful! I know God will take care of my wife Audrey and my sons, so I am at peace about that. Meanwhile I am spending hours each day at the computer so every tiny bit of understanding the Lord has graciously given me may be available to the generation coming up.
To know Him who has been from the beginning. This is the greatest achievement possible while we are struggling to survive spiritually in this sin-cursed world.
As far as the young men are concerned, they are strong; the Word of God abides in them; and they have overcome the evil one.
We have several younger men in our church, ranging from the ages of 16 through 50. I consider them all my sons. I can see that the Word of God is growing in them. They have spiritual strength and are overcoming the accuser of the brothers.
Hopefully they will continue, after I am gone, to grow ever stronger in the Word of God and in victory over Satan. I believe they shall.
I am not certain where we are on the timetable of the Lord. Two thousand years ago the Lord said He was coming quickly. Thinking about what must be fulfilled before the historic return of Jesus Christ, I cannot see how everything will have been completed in forty or fifty years.
Of one thing I am reasonably certain: I believe God is going to sweep away the current traditions and open the Scriptures to His leaders. The Lord promised that the Gospel of the Kingdom would be preached to every nation for a witness, and then the end of the Church Age would be here.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God has not been preached since the days of the Apostles, as far as I know. What has been preached is the gospel of Heaven. There is not much consciousness today that the Kingdom of God actually will come to the earth; that God’s will actually shall be done in the earth.
Well, God is restoring the Gospel of the Kingdom today, and the accompanying message of personal righteousness of behavior. I noticed, when I was in public-school work, that people change very slowly. Given the enormity of the current error, I cannot see how God’s people will change from the current "Heaven thinking" to "Kingdom thinking" in a short length of time.
No doubt the revival of Kingdom preaching we are hoping for will be enabled through worldwide trouble. Also, there will have to be a mighty anointing on those who preach the Gospel of the Kingdom if people are to turn against hundreds of years of tradition.
But I know the change from Heaven thinking to Kingdom thinking is going to take place. I just am not sure how or how long this will take.
Meanwhile, I believe God will raise up young men who will hold fast to the truth of God and will brave the storm of resistance, just as did the pioneers of the Pentecostal message.
I think the change will move too swiftly for another denomination to be formed. Instead I look for the witnesses of God to go forth two by two, healing the sick, casting out demons, and proclaiming the soon coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth.
I think my job is to write and teach what I believe God has shown me so those coming after me will be able to reject the current traditions and see what the Bible actually is saying.
The children, the fathers, and the young men all have their place. But it will be the young men and women who will overcome the accuser of the brothers by the blood of the Lamb; by the word of their testimony; and by loving not their lives to the death.
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. (I John 2:15,16))
There are three great areas of sin. All of the sons of God, beginning with the Lord Jesus, are tempted along the same three lines: the bread issue – finding survival and security in the world (the cravings of sinful man); the pleasure issue – the lusts of the sinful nature (the lust of the eyes); the achievement issue – seeking to make our mark in the world (the boasting of what he has and does).
These three issues motivate us while living in the world. None of them came from the Father but from the world.
That we should heap to ourselves material riches in order to guarantee our survival and security is not of the Father. It is the Father’s will that we seek first the Kingdom of God. If we do this, our material needs will be satisfied.
That we should long after the pleasures that are found in the palaces of the kings of the world, the lusts of the flesh, is not of the Father. It is the Father’s will that we should find our pleasure in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That we should seek to accomplish some great work is not of the Father. To obey God perfectly is all the achievement we need. Should God perform some notable accomplishment through us, that is fine. But we need to remember that God is not impressed with how famous we are. God is impressed only with faithfulness to Himself and His will.
The Lord Jesus Christ is not of this world and we are not to be of this world. Believers sometimes warn us against being "so heavenly minded we are no earthly good." Yet the Lord Jesus was totally heavenly minded, and look at the good He did!
In any case, the Apostle Paul urged us to set our minds on things above.
There is a religious "otherworldliness" which is unprofitable. But to be totally occupied with Jesus Christ at all times, faithfully performing our obligations while holding the world very lightly, brings peace and joy that those scrabbling to obtain the world’s riches will never know or understand.
We of the Christian churches need to be aware becoming part of the world system destroys our spiritual strength, just as the cutting of Samson’s hair destroyed his supernatural strength. His long hair signified Samson’s separation unto God. We Christians are not to express arrogance and spiritual superiority when we are with the people of the world. But we always are to remember that we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God in a special way. This should not make us arrogant, but humble of heart and mind and ready to be of service.
The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. (I John 2:17)
There is one thing that always is true—the world is always passing away along with its desires.
I learned something as a young man. There are times when you desire something fervently, but for one reason or another it is not possible for you to obtain what you want without going against God’s will.
After six months have passed and you think about what you wanted so desperately, you realize you don’t really care whether you ever have it or not. In some instances you recognize that you would have brought pain to yourself if you had insisted on doing what you desired.
Things that we desire desperately usually are idols. When God has finished burning the desire out of you, you can take or leave what you desired so passionately. Then you are free and you are not being governed by an idol.
I know this is difficult to accept for a young person who is aflame with one desire or another. He begins to think, "If I never get what I want, what is the use of anything?"
What he doesn’t realize is that God is removing bondages.
The Bible promises us the desires of our heart. When we do the will of God we live forever, and we have forever to enjoy the desires of our heart. The difference is that now we are not controlled by our desires, our desires are controlled by us, and Christ controls everything.
The most joyous, peaceful state there is, is that in which God’s will and our will is one will. There is nothing better than this in all of creation.
Everyone who touches Jesus Christ lives forever. Noah is still testifying to us. So is the woman who poured out the perfume on the feet of Jesus. The flesh is a grand show today and perishes tomorrow. But whoever does the will of God is forever alive and testifying of the faithfulness of God.
Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. (I John 2:18)
Today we have a manmade doctrine called the "pre-tribulation rapture." The purpose of this invention is to bring the Church to Heaven before the dreadful Antichrist appears, the ruler spoken of in Daniel.
I don’t see how we can be brought up to Heaven before the Antichrist appears, when the Apostle John, two thousand years ago, said many antichrists have come. Do you?
I understand "The Antichrist" has not appeared as yet, the man of lawlessness of whom the Apostle Paul spoke in Second Thessalonians. The point is, the Apostle John and those he was addressing remained on the earth in the midst of many antichrists—and so shall we. It is sin we have to fear, not the great tribulation or Antichrist!
And everyone said, "Amen! Brother Thompson."
Notice that the Apostle John refers to his time, 2,000 years ago, as the "last hour." John knew he was in the "last hour" because of all the antichrists who were present. The comment about the "last hour" reminds us of the Lord Jesus saying He was "coming quickly." These kinds of statements leave us with the impression calendar time is not much of an issue in the spirit realm. We need to be cautious when we base our plans on the thought that Jesus may come in a month or two.
If we are to obey the Lord we must keep ourselves instantly ready to give an account to Him, and at the same time realize He may not appear during our lifetime.
They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. (I John 2:19)
John is saying the antichrists "went out from us," meaning, I suppose, out from the Christian communities. This is a sobering thought, isn’t it, that the Antichrist will emerge from the Christian churches.
Churches will go along for a while, and then a group of people will leave. You probably have had that experience. This creates a social problem as friends declare they cannot agree with our doctrine, or our liturgy, or something else we are doing.
The Apostle Paul tells us not to have fellowship with people who leave our midst; but this often is difficult if not impossible to do. Yet I have not seen good come from continuing to have fellowship with people who have left our midst.
I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. (Romans 16:17)
Evidently church splits were a problem then as they are now.
I would not want to think harshly of or condemn people who have left an assembly. Perhaps the Lord sees that they will prosper spiritually in another setting. But it does not seem to be a good idea to maintain close social contact with someone who has criticized the assembly and persuaded other people to leave.
At the time John was writing the churches met in homes. I am under the impression their social life was more integrated than is true of us in America. So for a person to leave the assembly was a statement against what had once been a close relationship. It probably is best for the members of the assembly to not become involved socially with those who have left.
John says, "If they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us." I think this is true. When a group of people leave an assembly, it is because they do not belong there. Why, I couldn’t tell you. It reminds us of David and Jonathan being separated. Different callings possibly. Different levels of consecration perhaps.
On at least four occasions in the Old Testament it is said concerning someone who died, "He was gathered to his people." Have you thought much about this? It may be true that the relationships we are building now will persevere past the grave. I would not make too much of this, but I believe it is a distinct possibility.
It reminds us of Paul saying to the believers, "You are our glory and joy."
For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy. (I Thessalonians 2:19,20)
I realize the above passage is not speaking of life after death but of the return of the Lord. Yet I think it is interesting how relationships persevere. Don’t you find it so?
There may be significance in whom the Lord permits to worship together during this life; perhaps enduring families are being established. There may be more than ordinary significance, as well, when a group of people are in agreement that they do not belong with a particular assembly of believers.
It is kind of like water seeking its own level, isn’t it?
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. (I John 2:20)
The only way we can identify the truth of the Scriptures is by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has been charged by the Father to gain a bride for His Son. Consequently the Holy Spirit is supposed to manage all the activities of the Christian churches.
For two thousand years the hand of man has been on the churches. Uzzah has been steadying the Ark. To the present hour, well-intentioned religious leaders are attempting to build the Kingdom of God, not knowing what they are doing.
People interpret the Book of Revelation, drawing timelines and graphs as though the events of the book were arranged chronologically.
The Bible was written by holy men who were moved by the Holy Spirit. Therefore it can be understood only by holy people who are moved by the Holy Spirit. No scholar, no matter how devout, no matter how learned in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, can possibly understand the Bible. The Bible has to be interpreted by the Spirit of God.
In Zechariah we are told that the completing of the eternal Temple of God, the Christian Church, will be accomplished "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord." Yet we blithely ignore this truth as we set about with our programs of salvation and church-building.
I have been a Christian for many years. I have come to the conclusion that the Christian leaders may never turn to Christ and find out what He wants. I hope I am incorrect in this; but it is discouraging to see intelligent people lean on their own understanding rather than on the Spirit of God.
Paul’s doctrine of "grace" has been misunderstood, resulting in enormous moral destruction. I don’t believe this would have happened if the scholars were relying on the Holy Spirit rather than their own minds.
Only the anointing of the Holy Spirit can lead us into truth. In the case of the Tabernacle of the Congregation, every item was anointed with the holy anointing oil, portraying that nothing is to be done in the church without the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
How do we obtain the anointing? By obeying Jesus Christ. God gives His Spirit to those who obey Him. The will of God ordinarily is not made known to us through study but only as we present our body a living sacrifice, taking up our personal cross, our personal prison, and following the Lord Jesus patiently and faithfully each day of our life.
I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. (I John 2:21)
The principal issue of life in the world is that of finding out truth. The United States of America places a premium on education. Today children in kindergarten are being taught to read. Education usually enables us to make more money, and money is the great American idol.
However, education does not always lead to truth. Truth is a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him is Life, and that Life is Light. Light is that which gives us knowledge and understanding.
Science provides data, such as where a thing is; how much it weighs; its chemical composition; its color; its temperature, and so forth. Data is not truth. Truth answers the basic questions of philosophy, such as, what is the meaning of something? What is man that You are mindful of him?"—this sort of thing.
To have Christ dwelling in us is to have Truth dwelling in us. Truth is not found anywhere other than in Christ.
The believers whom the Apostle John was writing to knew the truth because Christ was dwelling in them. Those who did not have the truth in them had already left the assembly. They had believed a lie.
Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. (I John 2:22)
I don’t know what was going on at the time of the Apostle John, that he would write such a thing. Apparently there were teachers who were claiming that Jesus is not the Christ, the Christ who is to come.
The Antichrist is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ, the Christ. Does this strike you as strange? It does me. I don’t know what to think about the Antichrist—probably that he is some kind of sinful monster, something like Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin—or even Saddam Hussein. Instead he may be someone who is interested in theology.
How would Antichrist profit by maintaining that Jesus of Nazareth is not the promised Christ? The Jews insist that Jesus was not the promised Christ because otherwise they might feel guilty of crucifying Him.
To tell you the truth, I cannot understand the fierce anger of the Jews, as portrayed in the Book of Acts, concerning the claims of Jesus Christ; or their wrath when Paul said the Lord had sent him to the Gentiles. It is true that religions fight other religions with an uncompromising hatred. The power behind this hatred and bitterness must be Satan. Why else would one human being attack another because of what that individual believes to be true concerning God?
I seriously doubt that Antichrist is motivated by what he perceives as theological error. The only motive I could think of that sounds reasonable to me is that he—Antichrist himself—wants to be regarded as Christ; he wants to be worshiped.
So what we have to watch out for is not another Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin but someone with a religious orientation who wants to be regarded as God.
Over the last several hundred years we have been taught that the rights of man should be our supreme concern; that the only god there is, is the god in each person. This is my understanding of the antichrist spirit—that man is his own god.
Ultimately, I believe, the current emphasis on man being his own god will be brought to fullness in an individual who will sit in the Holy of Holies of a restored Jewish Temple. He also will place a statue of himself on the very place on the roof of the Temple where Satan brought Christ to be tempted in the area of presumption.
Maybe we are looking in the wrong direction for Antichrist.
No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. (I John 2:23)
The Lord Jesus Christ lives in God and God in Him. It is impossible to have the Son without having the Father. It is impossible to have the Father without having the Son.
We actually are being invited into this Oneness. If we are willing to submit to the change that the Holy Spirit wants to work in us, the time will come when it will be impossible to have us without having the Son; and it will be impossible to have the Son without having us.
Yes, it is true. We are being brought into the enlargement of the Father that He so desires. This is the meaning of, "In my Father’s house are many dwelling places." You and I, if we will submit to becoming new creations, will finally become a room in the great dwelling place of God. Think of that!
There are not many roads that lead to God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only road that leads to God. There are many worthy people who are true to the god they serve. But no matter how worthy they are, they cannot approach the one true God except through the Lord Jesus Christ.
See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—even eternal life. (I John 2:24,25)
The true Gospel of the Kingdom had been preached to those to whom the Apostle John was writing. Immediately, however, teachers of religion came and disputed with the believers, seeking to gain proselytes to their own line of thinking.
The Apostle Paul spoke of those who by smooth talk and flattery deceive the minds of naive people.
We see this very thing taking place today, and I cannot fathom the motives of those who obviously are not hearing from the Lord and yet come and argue about "grace" and "eternal security." What is there about religion that it draws people to whom the Lord has not spoken?
I have noticed, and you probably have too, that when someone turns to the Lord, almost immediately a proponent of some incorrect doctrine will appear and seek to turn the convert away from the truth. This is so disappointing!
I have asked the Lord why He permits this to happen, when the new believer is so vulnerable. I still do not understand, unless God wants to determine if the new believer is really one of His elect. It is evident that God could prevent the new believer from being approached by a false teacher, just as He could have prevented Satan from tempting Eve. God has His own ways, doesn’t He.
Notice that the promise is "eternal life." You will not find an emphasis on going to Heaven in any book of the New Testament. The emphasis is on eternal life, the Life that the Lord Jesus is. We are to be made part of that Life, and will be in the Presence of God in that Life whether we are in Heaven, on the earth, or anywhere else. Heaven is a place. Eternal life is a state of being.
I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. (I John 2:26)
I know Satan works night and day to confuse the doctrine presented in the New Testament. This effort to distort the truth of the Scriptures continues to the present day.
How, then, does one find the truth of the Scriptures? Only by taking up his cross and following Jesus every day. Only by presenting his body a living sacrifice to God.
The reason, as I see it, why people misunderstand the New Testament is that they are moved by their own self-seeking and self-centeredness. They mean well and may be devout. But the New Testament cannot be understood until the reader has been through the fire and is hearing from God.
Superior intelligence is not the answer. Only the Holy Spirit can give the correct interpretation of the New Testament. As long as we are living the adamic life we cannot understand the New Testament, because it was written by people who were filled with the Presence of Jesus Christ.
I am amazed at the tremendous amount of exegetical materials available today, including the original languages. The number of commentaries and the thorough manner in which they have been constructed leaves one amazed at the diligence and dedication that have produced these scholarly works.
It reminds me of Beethoven. One could exhume the corpse of Beethoven and meticulously dissect every smallest part of his anatomy. Yet the ninth symphony could not be discovered. Somehow the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Bible study always is valuable. But the correct understanding comes only as the Spirit of wisdom and revelation rests on us. Unlike the case with deceased authors, we can go to the One who wrote the Bible and talk to Him. We can find out from Him what a passage means, and He will lead us to the correct interpretation.
It is well that we all keep an open mind, and not descend into the bitter wrangling that too often characterizes religious teachers. Jesus Himself is Truth, and the more we have of Him the more truth we have. Isn’t that so?
As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. (I John 2:27)
There is no question but that the Bible was written supernaturally and can only be understood supernaturally.
The Jews are intelligent people. Some of their best minds, their scholars, spent thousands of hours writing the Talmud. Every verse of the Old Testament was pored over, analyzed, and discussed
Yet, there is the fifty-third chapter of the Book of Isaiah. This chapter is a graphic destruction of the atonement made by the Lord Jesus.
The Jewish scholars may say that the suffering Servant is Moses, or Israel. But it is such a clear description of the Lord Jesus being led as a lamb to the slaughter that one must admit there is some kind of spiritual seal on the fifty-third chapter of the Book of Isaiah. Or else the Jews are afraid if they admit Jesus is Christ they will be held accountable for the way they treated Him.
So it is in the case of the New Testament. There are whole books of the New Testament that warn us of the danger of continuing to obey our sinful nature. Yet intelligent, devout scholars will keep repeating that we are saved by a sovereign decision regardless of how we behave.
There have been instances where some who work in jails have brought in my materials and taught them to the inmates. These materials teach righteousness of behavior. The prisoners are in jail because they did not behave righteously. So some of the prisoners see the value of such teaching and then embrace it.
Other workers enter the jails and prisons and bring with them material that emphasizes we are not to do anything but believe. We are saved by grace, so our works of righteousness mean nothing—they are legalism. The prisoners obviously will not learn to behave righteously, from what they are being taught.
Both of these messages cannot be correct. Our behavior either is a significant aspect of our salvation or it is not. How can two intelligent, devout people read the same New Testament and come to understandings that are not only different but opposed? One or the other is not of God!
How can this be? I do not know. But I do know from Matthew through Revelation, the New Testament continues with the Old Testament doctrines of righteous behavior, holiness of personality, and absolute obedience to God. Why other people cannot see this is beyond me.
Take yourself, for example. If you are to bet your eternal welfare on one or the other of these two irreconcilable doctrines, would you stake your welfare on the doctrine that our behavior is an integral aspect of salvation, or our behavior has nothing to do with our salvation?
I don’t know about you, but since we will spend a very long time in the next world—much longer than in the present world—I am staking my welfare on the doctrine that my behavior is an integral aspect of my salvation. If I am incorrect, at least I have avoided disease and remorse by obeying the commandments of Christ and His Apostles.
But if an individual stakes his eternal welfare on the doctrine that his behavior has nothing to do with his salvation, and he has not lived as a disciple, then according to the Apostle Paul he will reap destruction.
So which is the wise choice, do you think?
And now, dear children, continue in him, so when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. (I John 2:28)
What does it mean to continue in Christ, according to what we have read thus far? Does it mean to believe in the theological facts about Christ and maintain that mental position? Or do you think it means to keep the commandments found in the New Testament? Are we or are we not to walk in the Light of God’s Presence and will, confessing and turning away from our sins? Which of these two approaches, a steadfast mental position or keeping the commandments of the New Testament, is meant by continuing in Him?
And what if we don’t "continue in Him," what is the penalty? Does it mean we will be fearful and ashamed before Him at His coming?
Notice that it does not say we will be cast into Hell. It think it is important for us to realize there are other penalties for not serving Christ beside being cast into Hell or the Lake of Fire. One of them is being fearful and ashamed before Him at His coming, rather than rejoicing as we hear "Well done, good and faithful servant."
Daniel speaks of being resurrected to face shame and everlasting contempt.
There is a Heaven and there is a Hell. How would you like to be spared Hell but still be fearful and ashamed before the Presence of your Lord? How would you like to suffer a significant loss of inheritance because you have not been diligent in serving the Lord?
One might say, "I don’t care just as long as I am saved."
My rejoinder to this is, you do not know what you are saying. When you see the glorious robes of light placed on the victorious saints, and you yourself being scorned because you were not careful to serve Jesus, are you going to say then that you don’t care just as long as you are saved?
We may think being saved means we will live forever in the spirit Paradise in a splendid mansion. This is not scriptural. The emphasis of the New Testament is on the Kingdom of God, not on splendid mansions in the spirit Paradise.
Our future life, except for a brief period before the return of Christ, will be spent on the earth. There are greatest and least in the Kingdom, the Lord told us. How would you like to be least in the Kingdom? Would you care that others had access to the Lord and had been blessed with a marvelous inheritance of people to love and guide, while you yourself were frowned on by the angels?
What if you had to endure ages of painful correction before you were allowed into the Presence of God? Are you sure that this is what you desire?
What if everything you had gained in life were removed from you and you had to start again as a small child, having to be taught by more faithful servants of the Lord? What if some of the saints were as great lights in the heavens, while you yourself were spiritually naked? Are you sure you would be happy with this destiny?
But aren’t we saved by grace, and won’t we all have the same reward?
When Paul speaks of being saved by grace he means instead of by obeying the commandments found in the Law of Moses. Paul always wrote in terms of his extensive training as a Pharisee.
Paul did not mean we can live a careless Christian life and then reap glorious rewards by grace. This is ridiculous.
As far as all having the same reward—the Lord told us when He returned he would recompense each one of us according to what we have done. I don’t know about you, but that does not sound to me like the Apostle Paul is going to receive the same reward as a believer who continually had to be yanked from the burning so his spirit would be saved in the Day of Christ.
I do not know what the future holds, except for one thing. I know one day I will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ. I intend to live, by God’s grace, in such a manner that I will not be fearful and ashamed when I stand there.
It is kind of like taking out insurance, isn’t it? We spend money on premiums when we well could have spent that same money on something we needed. But we are thinking ahead to the day when an accident happens. If an accident does happen and we have not taken out insurance, we are going to wish we had set aside the money to pay the insurance premiums.
We might wish to live our life any way we feel like. But if we are wise we will consider that some day we will be standing before Christ. We want that to be the most wonderful day of our existence, not a terrifying experience of being held in the hand of God, realizing we have failed miserably to do what He commanded.
I don’t know about you, but this makes sense to me!
If you know he is righteous, you know everyone who does what is right has been born of him. (I John 2:29)
Now we begin a set of verses that demolish completely the current teaching that we are saved by faith alone, and that the primary righteousness of the new covenant is that which is imputed to us through belief in Christ.
If there were no other emphases in the New Testament on the necessity for righteous behavior, First John 2:29 through 3:10 would forever put an end to the current doctrine that our behavior is not an integral aspect of our salvation.
All of us know Jesus Christ is righteous.
Do we all understand everyone who does what is right has been born of Him? Do we associate the righteous behavior of the Lord Jesus with the conduct of those who profess to believe in Him, realizing that we cannot say we have been born of Jesus Christ and behave in a manner unlike the behavior of the righteous Jesus?
Today we are using the term "born again" incorrectly. Study the Book of Acts and you will see that the Apostles, when preaching salvation, did not speak of being born again.
By being "born again," we of today mean someone has professed faith in Jesus Christ. This is not what it means to be "born again." There are politicians in our government who claim to be born again, but their conduct does not bear this out in every instance.
Being born again means the Substance and Life of Jesus Christ have been conceived in us. We have the supernatural Life of God in us. Obviously this new life must be nurtured if it is to bring forth lasting fruit.
When we mention being born again we are not speaking of repentance, or water baptism, or placing our faith in the blood atonement. We are not referring to a change in our belief system or even in works we do that are proof of our repentance. Being born again means being born of God.
Now if God has been conceived in us, will this change our behavior? How could we have Christ born in us, and then formed in us as we continue to feed on His flesh and blood, and our behavior not change? Any person of sound mind can see readily that if Christ has been conceived in us and is being formed in us, we are going to begin to act like Christ.
The Apostle Paul, speaking of His mature experience, claimed that he was crucified with Christ. He was living no longer. Christ was living in him.
Now, suppose Paul was an adulterer, a thief, and a murderer. What would people think when he said Christ was living in him?
"But," someone will protest, "it is obvious what you are saying is true. The fruit of Christ living in a person must of necessity change that person’s behavior for the better. But if the individual’s behavior is not changed for the better, isn’t he or she still saved by grace?"
The Lord said, if we do not bear the fruit of His moral likeness, we shall be cut out of the Vine, out of Himself.
Now I ask you, if someone is cut out of Christ, no longer living by the Life flowing through the Vine, what would salvation mean in this case? Would it mean he escaped Hell and went to Heaven, but was not joined to Christ? Is this what it would mean?
Imagine being in the presence of the Father, Christ, and the saints, and not being a part of Christ. You certainly could not be in the Kingdom of God, because being in the Kingdom of God means you have Christ in you. This is why the Lord told Nicodemus that he had to be born again to see and enter the Kingdom.
Can you see how totally perverse the current teaching is? The fruit we are to bear is the moral image of Christ in ourselves and then in those whom we influence. If we do not bear the moral image of Christ, and instead bear thorns and briers, as the writer of the Book of Hebrews expresses it, we are in clear danger of the fires of Divine judgment. This is stated both in the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of John and also in the sixth chapter of the Book of Hebrews.
Some of the Christian teachers of today (and their followers) will go to any length—wresting the Scriptures disgracefully—to prove we can continue in sin and still be "saved." They are false prophets, leading themselves and others to certain destruction. Their god is their belly, and this is what they worship. What else can we conclude? They are apostles of darkness.
But they have sat at Jesus’ feet. So did Judas. But they spend all their time studying and teaching the Scriptures. So did the Pharisees.
"If you know he is righteous, you know everyone who does what is right has been born of him."
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (I John 3:1)
You know, the Lord Jesus came to bring us to the Father. He is the Way, and the only way, to the Father. He alone knows the Father, and He reveals the Father to whomever He will.
Little children have known the Father. When we grow older we become deceitful and there is a lie in us. But as we press on in the Lord, the Father once again becomes known to us.
When we first are saved the Lord Jesus Christ becomes known to us. As we press forward we become more acquainted with the Holy Spirit. Still further on we encounter the Father in a more pronounced way.
There is no greater yearning in the human soul than to know God and be pleasing to God. Life is full of toys that we play with. Sometimes we become obsessed with this relationship or that thing or circumstance. But when our little game has been played and we face the reality of physical death, we then will realize it is only God that matters and how we treated those whom God entrusted to us.
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (I John 3:2)
"What we will be has not yet been made known." I think God wisely prevents us from seeing what we will be. We have been made lower than the angels for a season. But we are sons of God because we have been born of God. No angel is a son of God in this sense.
The Lord Jesus is the Firstborn from the dead, the Firstborn of the new creation. As such He is the elder brother. But we are real sons, make no mistake. We are real brothers of Christ, having the same Father.
Our sonship is not a thing to be grasped. God brought Christ very low, and He will bring us very low so we will have a heart like God and not be arrogant.
"When He appears we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is." I would imagine that most Christian people have read this statement and believe it.
But think what it is saying! We shall be able to see Christ as He is because we will be like Him.
Who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so they will be like his glorious body. (Philippians 3:21)
As I think about our condition as church people, and speculate about our having a body like that of the Lord Jesus Christ, I think one of three things must be true:
We are a lot farther along spiritually than it appears at the present time.
God is going to do a powerful, unprecedented work among us before the Lord returns.
Only a handful of Christians, the victorious saints, will experience the fulfillment of this promise.
It appears to me it is folly and madness to assume God is going to take the present Christian church members, in their bitterness, gossip, unbelief, worldliness, lusts, unforgiveness, unbelief, spiritual laziness, and neglect of their salvation, and then suddenly clothe them with an all-powerful body.
Actually, the present unscriptural doctrine of the "pre-tribulation rapture" is far better suited to today’s American believers; for this doctrine takes us in our present state and lifts us into Paradise so we won’t be harmed by the Antichrist or the Great Tribulation.
But to receive a body like that of Christ while our inward nature is still infantile appears to me to be folly. It has not been my experience that God approves of folly.
"We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." We cannot see Him as He is until we are like Him. It is my understanding that we shall have to be like Him inwardly before we made like Him outwardly. What are your thoughts on that?
If we were made like Him outwardly, entrusted with a supremely powerful body like His, and still had a disobedient, self-seeking inward nature, would we be able to see Him as He is? Would we not be a danger in the universe? It seems to me we would be a danger in the universe, and by no means would we be able to see God and Christ as They are.
So it appears something is going to have to occur between then and now, or only the victorious saints, a small fraction of the present churches in America, are going to experience the joy of being made like Christ and beholding God as He is.
Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. (I John 3:3)
The above is a verse that absolutely flies in the face of what is being taught today.
Every believer who hopes to be like Christ and see God as He is purifies himself, just as the Lord is pure.
The Apostle Paul instructed us to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.
Purifies himself. Cleanse ourselves.
How do we do this? By believing we are clean? Hardly. We purify ourselves, as John told us previously, by confessing and turning away from our sins. By confessing our sins John does not mean merely listing them, but confessing them as behaviors that we have decided to forsake with all diligence. This is how we wash our robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb.
The Holy Spirit today is emphasizing the act of confessing and forsaking our sins. This act is the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of the Day of Atonement, that comes after the Jewish feast of Pentecost.
It is time for the Bride to make herself ready. Every member of the Christian Church is required to work with the Holy Spirit in the act of putting to death the sinful actions of his or her sinful nature.
If we have the hope of being like Christ when He appears, of seeing Him as He is, then we absolutely must purify ourselves. The fact that the Scripture uses the expression "purifies himself" is absolute proof we are not automatically purified by making a profession of faith in Christ. If we were adequately prepared to meet Christ at His appearance by merely professing belief in Him, than John would have wrote something like:
"Every person who believes that Jesus is the Christ and accepts that God has made Him Lord of all has this hope of being like Christ when He appears, and of seeing Him as He is." John would not have directed us to take a further step of purifying ourselves. The Apostle Paul would not have told the Corinthian believers to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit if belief in Christ were the only step of redemption we are to take.
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. (I John 3:4)
John undoubtedly is referring to the Ten Commandments of the Law of Moses.
The Ten Commandments are an abridged version of the eternal moral law of God. They tell us what sin is. The Holy Spirit interprets and expands the Ten Commandments, and guides and empowers us so we can be delivered from sin. The blood of the cross provides the authority for this deliverance.
It really is difficult for a Gentile to grasp the background against which the Apostles preached and wrote. The Law of Moses was instilled in the fiber of their character.
It is a fact that we have counted ourselves as crucified with Christ, and therefore free from the commandments of the Law. But if we keep on sinning we reveal that we have not really counted ourselves dead to sin. In this case we remain alive in the natural man and the Law condemns us.
While we are walking in the Spirit of God, following the Lord closely, the Law has no authority over us. But if we are not walking in the Spirit of God, are not following the Lord closely, are not putting our sins to death through the Spirit of God, then—even though we profess faith in Jesus Christ—the Law possess the authority to condemn us.
The Law is as a Roman slave who brings us to the school of Christ. But if we do not go to the school of Christ, preferring to walk in our old ways, then the Law judges us guilty of sin.
What else can we derive from First John 3:4?
But you know he appeared so he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. (I John 3:5)
We could view the verse above as meaning that Christ takes away the guilt of our sins, or that He takes away the sinful compulsions of our inward nature. This is an extremely important decision, because it affects how we view the Christian salvation.
Is the Christian salvation primarily the forgiveness of our sins, or is it primarily the removal of our sinful nature? Is the difference between the two covenants that the old covenant kind of forgives sin but the new covenant truly forgives our sins, past, present, and future? If I am not mistaken I believe the most prevalent teaching in our day is that the new covenant is a better covenant because it does a more thorough job of forgiving us.
How can we decide what "take away our sins" means? Probably by thinking about the tenor of the epistle. Is it an exhortation to keep on believing Christ has forgiven our sins, or is it an exhortation to stop sinning?
Notice the statement, "in Him is no sin." "He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin." The expression "in Him is no sin" does not mean He is not guilty of sin, it means Christ doesn’t sin. So we might infer that "He might take away our sins and In Him is no sin" means just as He does not sin, He appeared that He might take away our practice of sinning. This makes sense to me. If we are to be like Him and see Him as He is, then it stands to reason we are not sinning any longer.
Let’s look at the next verse to see if it will help us decide this very important question.
No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. (I John 3:6)
It seems to me that this verse suggests "take away our sins" is speaking of destroying the power sin has over us, rather than referring to taking away the guilt of our sins. Obviously there is a significant difference between forgiving our sins and destroying the sinful nature from our personality. Would you agree to that?
What can we say about multitudes of American Christians? They are not living in Him. They have not seen Him. They have not known Him.
Why can we say that? Because they keep on sinning. Why do they keep on sinning? Because they have been taught it does not matter because they have been saved by grace.
We have a real conflict between what is taught today and what the Apostle John has written, don’t we?
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. (I John 3:7)
The above verse finishes the argument, doesn’t it? Who is righteous? He who does what is right. How is Christ righteous? Christ is righteous because He does what is right.
Modern advertisers know the power of image. For example, they will advertise by saying a truck is like a rock, or ram tough. Cigarette advertisers picture a cowboy smoking a cigarette. The idea is if you smoke that brand of cigarette you are manly, like the cowboy. The architecture of banks projects an image of solidity, while the bank itself may be close to failing.
It is the image that is important. It does not show the truck breaking down or the cowboy gasping for breath and dying of lung cancer. It is the image that becomes the reality, and the advertisers know this.
This is what is true of the doctrine of sovereign grace. The proponents of grace present an image of a glowing sin-free person who has been made so by grace. For eternity the individual will shine in Heaven, totally free from sin. The believer is rejoicing at the thought of suddenly becoming one of God’s stars.
But if we will look carefully at the behavior of the individual, and then read the New Testament, we see that the preaching of grace projects an image that is as illusory as the truck being like a rock, cigarette smoking making us manly, or the drinking of alcohol transporting us to a beach in Hawaii.
He who does what is right is righteous just as Christ is righteous. Not he who believes in Christ is righteous but he who does what is right.
When we come to Christ we do not trust in our own righteousness. By faith we receive His righteousness. Then we have a life to live. If we walk in the Spirit of God we will begin to do what is right. If we do not walk in the Spirit of God our behavior will remain unchanged.
Modern teaching says we are saved and will be accounted as righteous even though our behavior does not change, because we are saved by a sovereign grace that is unaffected by our behavior. This is an image, an illusion. The New Testament does not support this. The Kingdom of God does not accept this, because the Kingdom of God is the doing of God’s will in the earth. The people of the world do not glorify God, because the light of righteous works is not shining in us.
How long will it be before God’s devout ministers and teachers discard this unscriptural image and begin to expound on the Scriptures—not on the traditional topics but on the Scriptures themselves, particularly the passages of the New Testament.
Until they do, it is useless for God to pour out His Spirit. After the excitement is over, the teaching of "faith alone" will cause the believers to return to their sinful ways. The demonic pressures are so strong that the believers are not going to be able to resist the temptation to sin unless they are taught that for a Christian to keep on sinning is to destroy his resurrection unto eternal life.
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. (I John 3:8)
Again we are faced with the main question: does "destroy the devil’s work" mean to forgive people, or does it mean to destroy the sinful nature from them? What is your answer to this question? My answer is, "destroy the devil’s work" means to destroy the sinful nature that we were born with. Forgive means forgive. Destroy means destroy. To forgive something is not to destroy it.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not come down to the world to forgive the works of the devil but to destroy the works of the devil. Is it any wonder Satan would prefer that we stress forgiveness rather than destruction?
"He who does what is sinful is of the devil." This is quite a statement, isn’t it—especially when applied to Christian people.
When a Christian does what is sinful, is that of the devil? I guess it must be, because the Apostle John assuredly is writing to Christian people.
"The devil has been sinning from the beginning." That inward compulsion we have to sin, is that really coming from the devil? I think so.
When we confess our sins, denouncing them as evil, we really are bringing judgment against the devil. We are taking God’s side against Satan. Then God forgives and purifies us. God wants us to be free from all that is of Satan. Such deliverance is what salvation is.
One of our major problems when it comes to moral deliverance is the common teaching that as long as we are in the world we are obliged to sin. However, the Apostle Paul told us we do not owe our flesh anything that we should fulfill its lusts.
I think the common teaching that we are obligated to sin, which is against the Scripture, has left us with the impression each human being carries within himself a huge, inexhaustible cavern of sin that can never be cleansed. So we resign ourselves to the fact that we always are going to sin, until we die and go to Heaven.
This is fallacious on two counts. First, we are not a huge, inexhaustible cavern of sin. Second, there is no scriptural basis for the belief that physical death sets us free from our sinful nature. Sin is spiritual in nature and thrives in the spirit realm.
We simply are not an inexhaustible cavern of sin. Each one of us has a different set of bondages. They can be attacked one at a time until they are gone. All through our life on earth we come across impulses in our personality that do not line up with the New Testament. We are to confess and turn away from them. It is just as simple and straightforward as that.
Because Christians have been told that it doesn’t matter if they sin, and because they have been told it is impossible to gain victory over sin, they do not confess and forsake the sins they know about. They are waiting for Jesus to come and remove their sinful nature.
Well, Jesus is here today to remove our sinful nature. However, He is not doing it all at once, but a little bit at a time.
I will tell you the truth. Half or more of the sins we commit we can stop doing. We can just stop doing them! Try it and see if I am correct.
As for the remainder, the Holy Spirit guides us each step of the way, giving us wisdom and providing the strength to reject the evil and embrace the good. "Walk in the Spirit," Paul says, "and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh."
Maybe it was not God’s will in past time to deal with the sins of His people. I do not know about that. But I do know God wants His people today to get busy gaining the victory over the sin in their life.
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. (I John 3:9)
The above is a pretty powerful statement, isn’t it?
John is not saying the moment we are born of God we will never sin. The idea is he will not "continue to sin." He "cannot go on sinning." The reason is, that which is born in us is of the Divine Nature. The Divine Nature does not sin!
John is telling us to stop sinning and to pay attention to the growth of Christ in us. If we sin we are to confess our sin, turn away from it, receive our forgiveness, and pr