Growing in Grace

“He that committeth sin is of the devil … Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin … he cannot sin, because he is born of God … In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil” (1 John 3:8-10).

Many people, and even Christians, have been confused by these verses. First of all, it is hard for people to believe that God sees only two families in this world — the family of God, and the family of the devil. Most unsaved people in the world today would be shocked and insulted if we told them that they belonged to the family of Satan. Yet this world is under the devil’s power today, for since the Lord Jesus was crucified, Scripture calls him the god and prince of this world. Those who are not part of God’s family are under Satan, whether they realize it or not.

Our first verse today does not mean that if we sin, we are suddenly part of the devil’s family. It simply means that if we sin, we are acting like Satan’s family, and not God’s family. The family of God is characterized by having new life in Christ, and that new nature we have cannot sin. That is what it means when it says, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.” If we sin, it is the old sinful nature that does it, not our new nature. The new nature cannot sin; the old nature cannot do anything but sin.

Some who have translated the Bible, and have not understood how John writes have actually mistranslated this verse, and have made it say, “Whosoever is born of God should not commit sin.” Of course this is true, but here John is not speaking of what we might or might not do; rather, he is speaking of our nature, and what is characteristic of the believer. Our new nature is the same life as Christ has, and we also read in this same chapter, “In Him is no sin” (1 John 3:5). The Lord Jesus never had a sinful nature, and He could not sin. Our new nature is the same; it cannot sin either.

God wants this new nature to be displayed in our life in this world. This requires care on our part, and we need to ask the Lord for help, so that we do not display the old sinful nature.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14).

“Ah Lord God … there is nothing too hard for Thee” (Jeremiah 32:17).

When I was going to university, I remember a discussion among some of my classmates about God. One of them asked another one, “Do you believe that there is a God?” The other student responded, “Yes, I do.” Then the first one asked again, “Do you think God understands radar?’ The second student quickly replied, “No, I don’t think He does.” I am not sure what kind of logic got him to say this, for if God could create this world, and the whole universe, surely He could understand something that He Himself had made. Yet somehow this student felt that man was actually smarter than God. You and I as Christians know that this is ridiculous, yet man keeps on thinking this way.

However, even as believers we can somehow think that something is too hard for the Lord, and think that we need to help something happen, because the Lord is not doing it. Jacob fell into this way of thinking in the Old Testament, and even Abraham’s wife Sarah laughed when the Lord said that she would have a child. She knew that she was naturally too old to have children. But the Lord could make it happen, and He did. Jacob knew the Lord, and trusted Him too, but he felt that he had to scheme and plan things, and look after his own interests, even though he was trusting the Lord. Often we do trust the Lord, but not completely. As a result of his lack of faith, Jacob had to learn some hard lessons in his life, until he realized that all his own tricks and planning did not work; only the Lord could work things out for him in the right way.

It is important for us to realize that there is indeed nothing too hard for the Lord. However, it may not be the mind of the Lord for Him to use this power to do everything we want. He orders our lives for our blessing and His glory, and all His power is behind us in the pathway of His will. We have only to walk in fellowship with Him, and seek His mind. Then we will get all the power we need.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

“What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee” (Psalm 56:3).

Many people today want to be powerful, and sometimes we see pictures in magazines or on posters of people who would not naturally be considered powerful, with a caption underneath saying, “I am powerful.” We like to think we are powerful, even if we are not. However, we have to admit that we are often afraid, and since this Covid pandemic has been here, many more people have become afraid of what is going to happen. Some people are very scared of getting the Covid virus, while others wonder how long the disruption in our lives will go on. Supply chains of goods are being interrupted, and billions of dollars are being spent to try and control the situation. The stable world that many of us were used to is not here any longer, and no one knows for sure what the future holds.

There are many things in this world that can make us afraid. When we are young, perhaps we are fearful of how our life will go, or whether we will be able to have a successful career. With house prices so high today, perhaps some of you are afraid that you will never be able to own a home. Those in developing countries sometimes have more basic fears, such as whether they will be able to live in peace, and be able to afford food.

If there is fear in our hearts, we can be sure that it is not God who has put it there. No, God has not given us this spirit, but rather the spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind. What does this mean? It means that God has promised us His power, the enjoyment of His love, and a mind under the control of the Spirit of God. When people talk about power in this world, they are referring to natural power, and men take pride in that. But when we rely on God’s power, it does not lift up our hearts in pride; rather we give God the glory for what He has done for us. We can safely trust Him, for whatever happens in this world, He has promised to bring us safely to our heavenly home. He will always make a clean path for us, and one that will honor Him.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:9-10).

Naturally, we do not like to confess our sins. We may be willing to say, in a general way, “Yes, I have sinned,” for we all know that we have done wrong things. But if we are accused of a particular sin, we like to try and “wiggle out of it” by making excuses, or even saying that we did not do it. Of course, to say that we did not do it, when we know that we did do it, is to tell a lie. Then, since God knows about the sin, we are really making God a liar.

Many years ago I used to visit regularly in a detention center for young offenders in a large city here in Canada. They were all under sixteen years of age, and all had been accused of committing serious crimes. They were held in that place, like a jail, until they came before a judge the following week. We used to go in and tell them about the Lord Jesus, and some of them got saved.

I asked some of them once what was going to happen the next week. They told me that they would go to court and stand before a judge. The judge would listen to the evidence presented, and then decide whether they were guilty or innocent. Then, if they were found guilty, they would be sentenced to some sort of punishment. Then I asked them a question. I asked, “What if the judge had seen you commit the crime?” (This was assuming that they were guilty, and almost all of them were guilty. It was very rare that someone ended up there who had not committed the crime of which he was accused.) One boy answered me in the typical language he was used to speaking. He said, “Then man, you’re dead!” That expressed it well. You could not argue your innocence with a judge who had seen you commit the crime.

So it is with God. He sees everything, and there is no use trying to hide our sins from Him. To lie about it only makes matters worse. But if we confess our sins, God can forgive them, because the Lord Jesus died for us, and His blood has power to wash away all our sins.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love” (1 John 4:8).

“God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16).

Yesterday we were reminded that God is light, and it is significant that this is mentioned first in this first epistle of John. God’s holiness is important, and we need to be reminded of it. Since the Lord Jesus died and the gospel has been preached, men have sometimes emphasized the love of God, and forgotten that God is also light. The Spirit of God reminds us of this, for God cannot act against His holy nature. God never shows His love at the expense of His holiness.

But God is also love, and He wants to emphasize this to us. For this reason we find that the phrase “God is love,” is mentioned twice in the book of first John, and in addition, there are many other references to His love. The love of God is mentioned in the second chapter, and also the third chapter. It is mentioned not only as God’s love for us, but also as an example of our love for others. Then in the fourth chapter we are clearly told that “God is love;” it is His character — part of what He is. God is light, and we force Him to be our judge by our sins. God is also love; that is His nature, and nothing can change that. The love of God is mentioned in the fifth chapter too.

We can be so thankful for the love of God, for it was His love that first thought about us when we were sinners, and it was His love that sent His Son to die for us. It is His love that we can enjoy all through our lives, and that we will enjoy for all eternity. We must never forget that God is light, but He wants us to enjoy His love.

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“God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all … but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:5, 7).

We all appreciate good light, and since the discovery of electricity back in the late 1800’s, most of us have become used to good light in our homes. We simply turn the light on with a switch on the wall. But some lights are brighter than others, and if we are having difficulty seeing something clearly, we may shine a very bright light on it. The light of the sun is very bright, and we have all looked through a window and thought that it was clean, only to have the sunlight shine through it and show how dirty it really was.

It is the same way with God’s moral light, and our sinful hearts. Before we were saved, we may have thought that we were doing all right, because we compared ourselves with other people. But when we got into God’s presence, we realized how sinful our hearts really were. Our natural reaction was then to want to get out of God’s presence. We have all turned over a big stone, or an old piece of wood, and watched the little creatures living under them scurry away, because they did not want to be in the light. They know that sometimes bigger animals turn over dead wood and stones, and then eat whatever they find under them.

We cannot hide from God, however, for we all eventually have to be exposed to His presence. If we do not come into His presence now, we will have to do so in a coming day, when He judges this world. But our second verse today is very reassuring, for it tells us that every Christian can walk in the light, and not be afraid of what the light shows up. Why is this? It is because the blood of Christ has put away whatever the light shows. Our hearts may be very bad, but the blood of Christ has cleansed us from all sin. We do not have to fear, even though God cannot allow any darkness at all in His presence. What a comfort this is to us!

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly: and a man of wicked devices is hated” (Proverbs 14:17).

“He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32).

Anger is a big problem in the world today, and it is becoming increasingly more difficult to deal with it. The strong, evil emotions of many people are very near the surface, and it does not take much for their anger to explode. Road rage is one indicator of how easily people can “blow up” today. In the Sunday school in the city where I grew up, we had a boy who was very difficult to manage. He was one of those who became angry very easily, and it seemed that the smallest thing could “set him off.” His older sister told us that he had the same problem at school, and that he was having to attend counseling sessions on “anger management.”

Our first verse today reminds us that those who become angry very quickly are foolish, and are like those of “wicked devices.” Some people naturally lose their temper more easily, but all of us have a sinful nature that can become angry. We who are Christians need to be on guard against this, and if we have this tendency, we must ask the Lord to help us.

Our second verse reminds us that the person who is slow to get angry is better than someone who is strong physically. The person who can rule his spirit is better than someone who can lead an army to defeat a whole city. This does not mean that we should never be angry, for we read in Psalm 7:11 that “God is angry with the wicked every day.” Also the Apostle Paul told those in Ephesus, “Be ye angry, and sin not” (Ephesians 4:26). When we see things going on that are a dishonor to the Lord, it arouses our righteous anger in us. But we have to admit that much of the time, we get angry because of something that is done to us, not because the Lord has been dishonored.

Much of the anger today is because there is a whole generation of children who have grown up without any proper discipline. They have never had anyone “cross them,” or tell them that they cannot do something. They have never been punished for losing their temper and displaying anger and violent behavior towards others. If you are growing up in a Christian home, and have parents who correct you from time to time, be thankful for it. It will save you from many problems later on.

Counseling on “anger management” is not God’s way of stopping it. Such sessions usually involve using our own human energy to control bad behavior, but our old sinful nature is too strong for us. We need a new life in Christ, and need to recognize that believers in Christ can ask the Lord to help them keep the old sinful nature in the place of death.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee” (Psalm 119:11).

“David … chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had” (1 Samuel 17:39-40).

When I was a boy going to Sunday school (that was a few years ago!), it was expected that we would memorize a verse from the Bible every week. Our Sunday school teacher would have verses printed on little pieces of paper that you could tear apart, somewhat like postage stamps. Our verse was stuck in a small cardboard folder, and we were expected to memorize it and say it to the teacher the next Lord’s day. Then the teacher would give us another one, so that we memorized quite a few verses during our time in Sunday school. Later, as we got older, our teachers would often ask us to memorize whole sets of verses, and maybe even a whole chapter. It was good for us, and impressed the Word of God on our minds.

It is much easier to memorize things when we are young. If I try hard, I can still memorize something, but it is much harder than it was when I was a boy, or when I was a teenager. It is good to hide the Word of God in our hearts, for then we have it when we need it. The Lord can bring something to our remembrance, if we have read and memorized it, but He will not bring something into our minds that we have not put there first ourselves.

We see a picture of this in what David did when he went to meet Goliath. David did not know now many stones he might need, so he chose five from the brook, and put them in his shepherd’s bag. No doubt he had used his sling many times before, and was confident that with those five stones, he could defeat Goliath.

How many stones did David need on that occasion? According to the Bible, he used only one. Yet he had five available, in case he needed more. For you and me, it is good to spend time not only reading the Bible, but memorizing parts of it. You will be surprised at how much you can remember, if you try! Then, like David, you will have the right stone available when you need it.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof” (2 Kings 13:14).

As I mentioned yesterday, here is another occasion when a man used the same words as Elisha did, when Elijah was taken up into heaven. This time it was Joash, the king of Israel, who felt bad when Elisha was sick and going to die. The king even shed tears at the time, he was so concerned about losing Elisha. It had been more than forty years since Elijah had been taken up into heaven, yet king Joash had heard about what Elisha had said at that time, and he repeated it. It sounded very good, but was the heart of Joash like the heart of Elisha? I am afraid not.

In this same chapter (1 Kings 13), it says that Jehoash (or Joash) the son of Jehoahaz “reigned sixteen years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord; he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin: but he walked therein” (vss. 10-11). He admired a man like Elisha, and was very sad when he died, but poor Joash was not a godly man himself. The Lord was gracious to him and allowed him to win several battles against the Syrians, but there is no record that Joash repented of his course of evil.

All this is good for us to remember. We can respect and admire older people whom we know, and who have walked with the Lord. They have been a good example to us, and the Lord wants us to walk in the same faith. But sad to say, we can be sorry to see them go, yet not be willing to pay the price to walk in the same path they did. In Hebrews 13:7 we are told to “remember them … who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.”

In order to follow their faith, we must be willing to know the Lord, and be willing also to pay the price for faithfulness. Poor Joash was surrounded by idol worship, and he did not have the courage to get rid of it. We too can have things in our lives that we are unwilling to give up, and which prevent our following the Lord with a full heart.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“And it came to pass, as they [Elijah and Elisha] still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof” (2 Kings 2:11-12).

The Lord had decided to take Elijah up to heaven without his having to die. He was one of two men in the Bible to whom this happened. Do you know who the other one was?

When the time came, Elijah and Elisha were walking together, and they had visited several places. They started out from Gilgal, then went to Bethel, then Jericho, then the Jordan River. They crossed the river, and then the Lord took Elijah up to heaven. But how did he go?

I have heard Christians say that he went up in the chariot of fire that is mentioned. As you know, a chariot is a coach or carriage pulled by horses. But the Bible does not say that Elijah went up by the chariot; it says that he went up by a whirlwind into heaven. It is important to see the difference, and to see what the chariot means.

When Elisha saw the chariot, he did not say, “The chariot of Elijah;” no, he said, “The chariot of Israel.” The chariot of fire was for the whole nation of Israel, and it speaks of the Lord’s protection for us in this world. It speaks of the Lord’s power on behalf of His people here, and that protection is still with us today, although we may not see it. Elijah had experienced that protection during his lifetime, but it was available for all who would follow the Lord.

The chariot of fire did not go back to heaven; it remains here for the help of God’s people. We see this later on in the history of Elisha, who replaced Elijah as the Lord’s prophet in Israel. If we go on to 2 Kings 6, we find that Elisha and his servant were in a city surrounded by the army of the Syrians. The servant was very upset, until Elisha prayed and asked the Lord to open his eyes. Then he saw a whole army with many chariots and horses of fire, round about Elisha. These were angels, and had been sent by the Lord to protect Elisha and his servant.

As I have mentioned, we can count on the Lord’s protection today, although we might not see actual chariots of fire. But many times they are there for us, even though we cannot see them.

Can you find another place in the Bible where someone says exactly the same words as Elisha said — “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof?” It is in this same book of 2nd Kings. (Don’t look now, but I will give you the answer tomorrow.)

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers