Thoughts From 1John 3 - Part 2

 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one 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. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.   1John 3:4-9

          I'm watching a western on HBO, and the lawman is eager to turn in his badge and move to a town where there is no law. He is tired of risking his life to enforce the law, so this seems to be an attractive place to go. A city without laws would be called "lawless." And as you would guess as John says, "Sin is lawlessness." The city is filled with gambling, alcoholism, murder, greed, stealing and all the one preacher in town does is funerals. That's when he has a captive audience to read scripture and hope it sinks in.

         People who don't like the Bible because it has too many rules are advocating sin and lawlessness. I'm sure they would say, "no, I follow the golden rule", or "I practice love not hate", but yet they are a law unto themselves. There is no one they answer to but themselves, (if they go too far, obviously the law of the land) Therefore, following the golden rule or not practicing hate will go only as far as it doesn't interfere with their wants and desires being met because in a world without the law, self is the king and this is what the Devil wants. The first commandment in the Satanic Bible is not, worship the devil or hate God, it is worship yourself. That is the sin we are born into and that is the 180-degree turn of repentance we must make.

       John says that if we continue to live a self-seeking life, that's proof that we haven't repented and aren't saved. When is the last time a situation came up and you said, "I really want to do this, but God's word says that, so I'll do what God wants me to do"? Vice-versa, when's the last time you said, "I know God's word says don't do this, but I really want to, so I'll just do it because I know he'll forgive me"? If the second scenario is occurring more than the first, it's possible that you've never really given your life to God and are saved. Hard words from John but ones where we need to search our soul because eternity is on the line.