PT-1 "Sin Is Incompatible with the Law of God" (1 John 3:4)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/6/2025 8:24 PM

 

My Worship Time                                  Focus:  PT-1 “Sin Is Incompatible with the Law of God”

           

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  1 John 3:4

 

            Message of the verse:  “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.”

 

            I begin by looking at the two primary biblical definitions of sin and the first one means “missing the mark” (hamartia), and the second means “without righteousness” (adikia). MacArthur adds “Integral to both definitions is that sin is a transgression of God’s law.  In this verse John explicitly equates sin with an attitude of lawlessness and rebelliousness against God (Rom. 8:7; cf. John 3:20; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 4:18; Col. 1:21)  John no doubt learned this principle years earlier, during the Lord’s earthly ministry, when Christ condemned the self-righteous theology of the Pharisees:

 

21 "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

 

            Notice the highlighted part of the first paragraph after the verse and we can see that sin is a transgression of God’s law.  I have been thinking about the law of God for a few days after listening to MacArthur’s sermon on this section of verses and one of the things that I was thinking about was the part of the Law that has been repeated in the New Testament and the part that is not repeated.  The dietary parts of the law are not repeated in the New Testament and one of the Ten Commandments is not repeated, the one about keeping the Sabbath, so that means that nine of the Ten Commandments are a part of the New Testament, meaning we are to follow them, but not in order to cause us to be saved, that comes from the Spirit of God opening our hearts to realize that Jesus Christ paid for you sins and then we are to confess our sins to the Lord and ask Him to come into your heart, and He will in the person of the Holy Spirit and you will be saved.  In order to know that you are saved you will begin to keep these laws that are found in the New Testament as you desire to do them because you are saved and in order to receive salvation.  Jesus stated that the two greatest commandments were to Love the Lord Your God and to love your neighbors.  I have always thought that if one looks at the cross and the two posts that make it up the vertical piece speaks of loving God and the horizontal piece speaks of loving your neighbors. 

 

            MacArthur writes “John’s description allows for no exceptions or dual standards.  Everyone who habitually practices sin is living in an ongoing condition of lawlessness (James 2:10-11; cf. Rom. 4:15), which marks all who are outside the kingdom of God (cf. Rom. 1:32; Gal. 5:19-21; Rev. 21:8).”

 

            Now as we think about this verse we can see that believers, however, are not any longer marked by lawlessness.  They have obeyed Jesus’ command that “if anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).  MacArthur goes on to write “The truly penitent heart resolves to obey God’s law (1 Thess. 2:13), deny fleshly lusts (Rom 13:14; 2 Tim. 2:22; 1 Peter 1:14), resist the world’s allurements (Titus 2:12), and willingly submit to the sovereign lordship of Jesus Christ in all things (cf. Luke 6:46).  Those whom God has savingly transformed have traded slavery to sin for slavery to God, as Paul wrote,  

 

“16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:16-18; cf. 8:12-14).”

 

            Lord willing we will pick up more from this section in the next SD.

 

1/6/2025 9:13 PM