EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/14/2024 8:58 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
Intro to 1 John 1:5-6, 8, 10
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1 John 1:5-6, 8, 10
Message of the verses: “5 This is the
message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in
Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have
fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not
practice the truth; 8 If we say that we have no
sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His
word is not in us.”
It
can be seen in John’s writings, as he has written five books in the New
Testament, that to the degree that John was passionate in his love for the
truth that he was equally passionate in his opposition to error. Let us look at 2 John verse seven: “For many deceivers have gone out into the
world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.
This is the deceiver and the antichrist.” This is a warning that John wrote to
those who he wrote this letter to and since it is in the Word of God those who
read it are warned too. John then
admonished to separate themselves from all such heretics:
Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in
the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching,
he has both the Father and the Son. If
anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into
your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting
participates in his evil deeds. (vv. 9-11; cf. 3 John 9-10).
9 I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who
loves to be first among them, does not
accept what we say. 10 For this reason,
if I come, I will call attention
to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not
satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so
and puts them out of the church, (3 John 9-10).
MacArthur
concludes his introduction by writing: “To
guard one’s flock from those who would destroy it, a faith pastor must know and
teach sound doctrine (cf. Titus 1:9). He
must also give his people tests by which they can distinguish true believers
from counterfeit professors. Making that
fundamental distinction is essential to the church’s protection and spiritual
growth. The wheat must be differentiated
from the tares (cf. Matt. 13:24-30), the sheep distinguished from the goats, or
the godly shepherd will never be able to clarify to his people their true
condition or protect them from the deadly deceptions of false teachers.
“In
these verses, John presents two crucial doctrinal tests to determine who is
genuine; and accurate belief in the nature of God, and a genuine belief in the
certainty of sin.”
Lord
willing we will begin to look at these verses in greater detail as we move
through them in the next week or so. 8/14/2024
9:25 PM
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