Christ Saves And Secures! 1 John 3:6-9

In this passage, John examines the question of whether the person “Born Again” can commit sin? In verse six the apostle writes, “Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not”, and in verse eight, “He that commits sin is of the devil.” Furthermore in verse nine there is an emphatic declaration: “Whosoever is of God doth not commit sin…and he cannot sin.” If it were possible for a Christian to sin, there would be a contradiction in these portions of scriptures. In this instance, John says if it is not possible for those who are really born again to sin, there must be very few genuine Christians. Every believer still possesses a fallen, sin nature, as well as the indwelling Holy Spirit. Also the doctrine of eternal security is evident in scripture ( John 1:12, 10:28, Romans 8: 38-39 ). Though you may fall into sin, the believers eternal salvation is not affected. ( See note on 1 Thess. 2:3-9 ). Antinomians contend that the covenant of grace was not established based on conditions. The result of this belief is that no person can be held accountable to any moral law. It is only required that they believe, then they can live as they please. The perfectionist go so far as to say that the sin nature has been surgically removed. John was warning believers against these forms of thinking, that they not continue in sin, but abide in righteousness (v v. 8-9). Moreover, the apostle exposes these doctrines in the command, “My little children, these write i unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” ( 1 John 2:1 ) This is not the proper rendering of this verse. It should denote the mere action of a sin, not the idea of habitually sinning. John explains that even he is capable of committing sin, not in the habitual sense, but as one particular action. The phrase here in verse nine, “does not commit sin”, is in the present tense denoting continued action. On the other hand in chapter two, verse one John uses the aorist tense, speaking of one point in the past when a sin was committed. Furthermore there were those who taught that the mere intellectual assent to the Christian faith was enough to make one acceptable to God, even though he or she had impure lives. Therefore John reiterates in verse seven that only those who continued in righteousness, ( ho poion, Strongs 4160 ),a particple phrase meaning, “the one habitually doing”, were considered righteous. they were not only making the righteous and holy life of Christ the object of their trust, but also the pattern of their walk and practice. John’s idea of committing sin on a permanent, habitual basis is further explained in 3 John 1:11, “He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil has not seen God.” There are two participial nouns in this verse, ho agathopoin (Strongs 215), meaning “the one being a doer of good, a benevolent person”, and ho kakopoion (Strongs 2554), referring to, “the one doing evil, a malicious person.” This is the same usage found in 1 John 3:7, “he that doeth righteous is righteous.” John does not imply that merely acting good will make one righteous. A person is an artisan who has acquired a skill and works at a trade as his calling or occupation. Hense the correct translation of 1 John 3:8 should be, “the one who practices sin.” The expression, “he cannot sin”, ( 1 John 3:9 simply means the true believer cannot sin habitually, deliberately and maliciously (e.g. Cain sinned out of hatred for goodness, 1 John 3:12. John does not ignore the existence of the sinful nature in the believer which exists as a mortal living in a fallen world. Consequently, John states in 1 John 1:8, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Source: Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible. Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Do Christian’s Sin? 1John1:8-10, 1John2:1-2

The Apostle John was writing to believers, saved people, born again people who were members of the churches in Asia Minor around 90 AD. Let us start at Verse 8; If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Verse 9: If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Verse 10; If we say we have not sinned we make him a liar, and his word is not in us! Comments: John goes on to say in Chapter 3 that who is born of God cannot sin? Do we have a contradiction here? We will discuss Chapter 3 and do Greek translations of key words next time. John makes it clear in Chapter 1 that we are sinners and need a Saviour everyday and forever! Jesus established ordinances in the church such as communion to examine ourselves! Do not let pride deceive you as did Lucifer into thinking we are above God and His Christ and have no need of a Saviour! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Damascus

Isaiah Chapter 17 has alot to say about the city of Damascus! Isaiah opens with the burden of Damascus and that the city will be no more in a future event. Damascus is one of the oldest if not the oldest city in the world. It has a history of going back at least 5000 years or more! You could spend a life time studying the history of this city. It has been overtaken by Muslims, Alexander the Great and the Romans are just a small list of total conquests. So how could this city be completely destroyed as Isaiah predicts? Some think atomic weapons with Israel? Hal Lindsey had a good report on this several months ago before any conflict in Damascus itself. Today Damascus is 85% Sunni, 10% Christian and a small minority of Alawi’s. Assad is an Alawi which leans towards the Shittes in Faith but is not really. It is a mixture of things including some pagan religions. Interestingly they are friendly towards Christians! They celebrate Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, ect. The Apostle Paul spent time in Damascus after his conversion some 2000 years ago. So if Damascus goes this year then how? Intelligence predicts Assad will flee to the mountains along with his army where the Alawi’s live and carve out a new Syria. When he leaves Damascus he must stop those in pursuit of him. I believe this is where his chemical weapons come into play. He will deluge Damascus with chemical attacks and his enemies will be gone along with the city! This is one possible way Bible Prophecy could be fulfilled for the city of Damascus. Be alert to any internal warnings to Chistians to flee the city! Your Bible is front page news! Read it! James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com