One day of being relaxed doesn’t mean you have dropped your pants for good.”
–Cliff Hudgins (Viejo and the Ranger)
“And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.”
–Romans 2:2 (NASB)
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How To Live in a Pagan, Apostate, and Foolish World
Key Verse: “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” –1 John 5:19 (NASB)
My mercy, friend, foolishness seems to abound. From racist rocks, to allowing multiplied thousands into the country with the COVID virus, to attempting to force through vaccine passports and critical race theory. Not only is much of it foolishness, some of it is downright evil.
Grasp hold! That’s what I said, grasp hold! Hang onto God’s unchanging word. We are children of God and have a glorious destiny waiting, therefore, it is necessary for us to live a holy life. Peter says that we are to “grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18, NASB) Then we look at John’s epistle, where we are referred to as “children.” Children have to grow.
3.9 — “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
3,10 — By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.” (NASB)
There is something grammatical that should be noticed in these verses–“practices sin.” In other words a person who keeps on doing sin. A person who trains to sin, makes it his specialty. John is looking at our character. The man who is righteous will show that by living a righteous life. The characteristic of the devil is sin; he sins from the beginning; he goes on sinning. That is why 1 John 1:9 is so important. “If we sin,” this does not deal with the practice of sin, for we no longer do that. Paul writes, “But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him” (Romans 8:9, NASB).
“You will be unlike the man or woman who has not been born again. The characteristic of men and women in their natural state is that they are like the devil; and the characteristic of the evil nature is that they go on sinning, they dwell in sin. The whole atmosphere of that life is one of sin continuing.”
–D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
The Christian is no longer like the person next to him on the street. He no longer practices sin. He is now in the light, and is removed from the darkness even though he may have to walk through it.
One more term to notice–“seed”. After a seed is planted it must germinate and grow. It must be watered, fertilized, cultivated, and cared for to grow properly. Therefore, it is vital to get into the Word of God. To “eat” of the heavenly bread. It is vital to listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the more of the Word you have in you the more the Holy Spirit is able to guide you. We need to get into the Word of God so the Word of God can get into us.
———————————–
How To Live in a Pagan, Apostate, and Foolish World
Key Verse: “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” –1 John 5:19 (NASB)
My mercy, friend, foolishness seems to abound. From racist rocks, to allowing multiplied thousands into the country with the COVID virus, to attempting to force through vaccine passports and critical race theory. Not only is much of it foolishness, some of it is downright evil.
Grasp hold! That’s what I said, grasp hold! Hang onto God’s unchanging word. We are children of God and have a glorious destiny waiting, therefore, it is necessary for us to live a holy life. Peter says that we are to “grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18, NASB) Then we look at John’s epistle, where we are referred to as “children.” Children have to grow.
3.9 — “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
3,10 — By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.” (NASB)
There is something grammatical that should be noticed in these verses–“practices sin.” In other words a person who keeps on doing sin. A person who trains to sin, makes it his specialty. John is looking at our character. The man who is righteous will show that by living a righteous life. The characteristic of the devil is sin; he sins from the beginning; he goes on sinning. That is why 1 John 1:9 is so important. “If we sin,” this does not deal with the practice of sin, for we no longer do that. Paul writes, “But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him” (Romans 8:9, NASB).
“You will be unlike the man or woman who has not been born again. The characteristic of men and women in their natural state is that they are like the devil; and the characteristic of the evil nature is that they go on sinning, they dwell in sin. The whole atmosphere of that life is one of sin continuing.”
–D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
The Christian is no longer like the person next to him on the street. He no longer practices sin. He is now in the light, and is removed from the darkness even though he may have to walk through it.
One more term to notice–“seed”. After a seed is planted it must germinate and grow. It must be watered, fertilized, cultivated, and cared for to grow properly. Therefore, it is vital to get into the Word of God. To “eat” of the heavenly bread. It is vital to listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the more of the Word you have in you the more the Holy Spirit is able to guide you. We need to get into the Word of God so the Word of God can get into us.