THE DANGER FOUND IN SINNING

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

When people do what is right, it is because they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. But when people keep on sinning, it shows they belong to the Devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the Devil.

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. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

1 John 3:7-10

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Jesus was the only person in the history of mankind who lived a perfectly sinless life. This is the good news for every single person who chooses to place their belief in Him because it’s only by living in and through Him that someone can hope to live right and righteously.

This is the point made in the opening sentence of today’s passage as we continue to look at the third chapter of John’s first letter.

When people do what is right, it is because they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous.

Note here that when anyone is living right or righteously in the presence of God, the Maker and Master of all things who expects complete holiness in a person’s life, they are doing so not by way of their own merit but rather because of their association with Jesus. In other words, it’s their life connected to Christ that allows them to live right and righteous. The Christian believers right behaviors are caused by them deferring to doing things as Jesus did.

But what happens when a Christian chooses to live as Jesus didn’t, opting for wickedness over righteousness, sin over holiness?

Well, the answer is found when we go back to our passage to look at the remaining words, words that underscore the danger found in sin and why no legitimate Christian should go there. Let’s look again at the second sentence in that passage:

But when people keep on sinning, it shows they belong to the Devil, who has been sinning since the beginning.

Here the Word of God is making it clear that a person can only belong to one of two masters and their chosen behavior will reveal who that master is.

If a person truly is committed to Jesus, then their actions will be right and righteous, sin-free because in Him there is no sin at all.

Conversely, when a person sins persistently, then their trangressive behavior “shows they belong to the Devil, the master who has never done anything else but sin “since the beginning”.

Friends, this is the danger of sin. It leads someone into partnership with Satan who only intends to wreck and destroy, to lead a person down the destructive road to Hell and the eternal torment and suffering found there.

As we see, these two verses show us that people have only two choices to make when it comes to how they live. There is no middle road.

Either someone believes and trusts in Jesus, the One who “came to destroy the woks of the Devil”, the only One through which a person can live right and righteously, or they can opt to sin repeatedly, picking a relationship with the Devil and living in accordance with his evil will.

And so the question becomes:

What kind of life are you living?

My prayer for you is that you will devote yourself to Jesus, the perfect Son and Lamb of God (John 1:29) who allowed Himself to bear the sins of mankind and be crucified so anyone who believes in Him will never perish but gain eternal life (John 3:16).

He, Jesus, desires for you to be saved and live with Him and God in Heaven forever.

The Devil desires for you to be destroyed and abide with Him eternally under the damnation of Hell.

The danger of sinning is that you pledge your allegiance to the latter.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

DOES YOUR LIFE SHOW THAT YOU REALLY LOVE JESUS?

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.

1 John 3:4-6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

When a person has chosen to believe in Jesus, they gain a new identity and when asked, can proclaim themselves as a Christian.

But here’s the thing. Telling someone you are a Christian and then backing it up with the way you act are two different things, a truth supported by today’s scripture passage as we continue to study from the third chapter of 1 John. Let’s look again at those words here:

Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him. Vv.4-6

Here we’re reminded that sin is always in direct opposition to what God wants from those He created in His own image. Go back to Eden’s Garden and when sin infected a perfectly created man and woman, Adam and Eve, and you’ll find that their disobedience was born out of violating a law God had established. For you’ll remember that God gave the first couple permission to eat from any tree in the garden except for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. There were more than enough places for Adam and Eve to eat in compliance with God’s order and yet they willingly chose to eat the forbidden fruit.

Indeed, sin from that point forward became lawlessness and led to God having to provide a remedy for the sin problem, His Son Jesus.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

John, the author of this letter, captured the words of another John, who we know as John the Baptist, in the first chapter of his Gospel as Jesus emerged on the scene to begin His adult ministry. The Baptizer proclaimed:

“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” v.29

And so as we read in our passage for today, Jesus appeared on earth, God coming down to walk among His people, so to take away our sins, a sinless man who sacrificed Himself in what was the ultimate act of atonement and cleansing.

Jesus willingly chose to die in the place every single person (read every single sinner) deserved to, purchasing our sin pardon when we place our belief and trust in Him as Savior.

Friends, this isn’t something we’re to take lightly as Christian believers. For from the moment we choose to believe in Jesus, we need to do so with our eyes fixed on the cross and then continue to keep our eyes fixed there. We can’t afford to lose sight of what He surrendered for us and the terrible anguish that went along with, not just being crucified but also bearing the sin of all humanity, an act that led to Him being separated from His Heavenly Father at the time when He needed Him most.

When we grasp this as believers, fully keeping in mind all that Jesus did to save us from our sins, then we should never desire to sin again and indeed, if we remain in Him, we can and will stop sinning. The key is remaining detached from the world and the flesh and anchored in Him 24/7.

So now, armed with this build up, we look at the question that forms the title for this message:

Does your life show that you really know Jesus?

The answer to this comes through the last statement in our scripture passage for today.

No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.

If any Christian continues to give into temptation, prioritizing their own desires, or worst yet the desires of Satan, ahead of living as Jesus did then the scriptures are clear here. Those people could have never seen or known their Savior for no one who truly was in Him would ever find pleasure in the very sins that He bore when He died on Calvary’s cross.

And so, a life that shows a Christian really loves Jesus will be a life that rejects even the notion of sin let alone actually carrying it out.  No one who has said they have placed their belief in Him should ever let their life reflect otherwise by trading in righteousness for wickedness, the Savior for Satan.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

THE CHILDREN OF GOD

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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In Christ, Mark

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** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

See how very much our Heavenly Father loves us, for He allows us to be called His children and we really are! But the people who belong to this world don't know God so they don't understand that we are His children. Yes, dear friends, we are already God's children and we can't even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when He comes we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is. And all who believe this will keep themselves pure, just as Christ is pure.

1 John 3:1-3

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As you read the very first chapter of the Bible, you discover something very important about your origin for all people were created in God’s own image (Genesis 1:27). The world would have us dabble in DNA and other matters of genetics to try and reach some human understanding of why we are like we are. But what science tries to discover and what God has already established are two different matters. The mysteries of the human being will never be solved by someone in a laboratory or by any philosopher or theorist.

That’s because we come from a Master Maker…One who is the Creator of every living thing and the Author of intelligence and brainpower. The world’s most brilliant minds will only achieve what God allows them to. Every single human is subordinate to him and the world’s greatest minds only achieve what He permits them to.

And yet, those who see themselves as intellectually superior think they can gain understanding equivalent to God Himself, that is, if they even believe God exists at all. Such arrogance is simply mere foolishness.

So since we have established through the Word that God created us in His own image, we still have to get by the fact that we are all sinners who fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23). For although God created people in His own image, you couldn’t recognize it by the way they choose to live.

This is why God sent His Son Jesus, so to pay the price we couldn’t pay so to grant us the gift of salvation we couldn’t earn or deserve. When anyone created in God’s image chooses to believe in Jesus, they find their sins forgiven through the cleansing atonement found in the blood of Jesus, the blood that one day will lead to death passing over every Christian believer.

And so God saves those created in His own image through His Son but He also grants Christians one other special blessing once they are saved. For each and every saved believer, those who receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit the moment they place their trust in Christ, automatically becomes a true child of the God Most High. We know so through these words in the eighth chapter of Romans:

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Romans 8:14-16

With this knowledge in hand, we can now understand John’s words in the opening three verses of 1 John, chapter 3. There we read the following:

See how very much our Heavenly Father loves us, for He allows us to be called His children and we really are! But the people who belong to this world don't know God so they don't understand that we are His children. Yes, dear friends, we are already God's children and we can't even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when He comes we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is. And all who believe this will keep themselves pure, just as Christ is pure.

In our scripture passage for today, John gets to the heart and essence of God’s nature in saying He loves us so much that we are called His children. He loved us so much that He made a way to save us (John 3:16) so we could avoid the judgment of Hell and abide with Him forever in Heaven.

You know, there’s something so very awesome about that…something awesome about having a perfect Father in Heaven who watches over us and raises us up to be the kind of people He wants us to be, right and righteous to be worthy of being His child. Indeed, just as a parent nurtures and teaches a child entrusted to his or her care, so too does our Heavenly Father care for us. The big difference is that God makes no mistakes in parenting. We need not be concerned that our Heavenly Parent might be flawed in some way, somehow abusing or misguiding us. Rather, we are nurtured by the ultimate, perfect Role Model.

Friends, knowing God is our Eternal Parent gives us a reassurance that by following His direction and committing to His will, we can approach holiness. We can do as He commands, seeking to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16).

And as if this isn’t awesome enough, He sent us His only Son Jesus to model what spiritual purity looks like. All any Christian needs to do is to know how Jesus lived and then live likewise. In other words, to be truly Christian is to be Christ-like.

Conversely, the people who belong to the world are under the control of the one who dominates the earth, Satan, the father of all lies (John 8:44). They are blind to the truth that they were created in God’s image, the God who longs for them to come to Him like father waiting for his prodigal son to return home (Luke 15:11-32).

As we close this message, a few questions to ponder.

1. Are you a child of the world or a child of the Almighty, Heavenly God who created you in His own image and longs to see you saved and seeking to become holy as He is holy?

2. If you have strayed from your true Father, are you willing to return to Him today?

3. Will you believe in Jesus and commit yourself to purity in your lifestyle and service in His name?

Consider these carefully for as John reminds us, Jesus is coming back and when He does, He will be taking with Him those who He knows (i.e. those who have chosen to have a relationship with Him). Those in Christ will go with Him into Heaven to be with the Father. All others will be left behind to languish in the eternal torment and suffering of Hell.

All and all, it really is a matter of choice.

God made you, God loves you, and God expects you to respect Him as your true Father. However, He never forces anyone to be saved and become His true child.  A person must first decide to believe and place their hope in the One who made them and made the way for salvation.

So, where do you stand today?

If you have yet to come to your Father and officially become His child through believing in Jesus as Savior, today can be the day of your salvation.

One thing’s for sure, the Heavenly Father is waiting for you and longs to welcome you to Him forever. Don’t disappoint Him.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE RIGHT

Can I pray for you in any way?

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In Christ, Mark

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** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of Him.

1 John 2:29

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Right or wrong?

It’s a question we can apply to every thought, spoken or written word, and action.

How important is this matter of doing right or wrong?

Go back to the earliest years of a child and you will find parents engaged in the practice of correction and this continues until that child reaches adulthood and strikes out on their own.

I remember rather vividly when my first daughter started crawling as well as getting around in a walker. Her new found ability to get from point to point without being carried opened up a world of exploration and as we know, little toddlers will explore everything without the knowledge of potential harm coming to them. This is the very reason why you will find childproof latches on cabinet doors and plastic covers inserted into electrical outlets.

And so parents are ever on the watch as their little one goes around from point to point, experiencing new things along the way and this watching always will seem to involve teaching, especially in regard to what the child should and shouldn’t touch or grab. This definitely constantly happened with my daughter as we tried to teach her right and wrong, what was okay to do and what wasn’t.

As she grew older, this instruction continued. Of course, matters became more and more complex as my daughter matured but regardless of the circumstances, the basic teaching was still the same, a teaching that praised behavior that was proper and right while rebuking and disciplining wrongs with the Bible being the source of reference. Of course, the hope was that she would be equipped with a good base scriptural understanding of right and wrong, or we could even say good and evil or righteousness and sin by the time she left home to start her own life.

Indeed, adults are constantly immersed in a life environment that offers opportunities to exercise judgment on how to live and so it’s critical that they have a means outside of themselves to help ensure they choose what is right and righteous every time. This is because all are sinners and fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23) so not one single person can trust and rely on themselves and expect to behave in ways that are pleasing to the Lord.

Given this, we find a lot of value in this closing verse of 1 John, chapter 2:

If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of Him. v.29

Here, in a mere 21 words, we learn that the key to living right and righteous lives in through Jesus, the only person who has ever lived a life of perfect righteousness, the One who proclaimed Himself as the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). We can only live right if we live as He did and this is the essential responsibility of every single Christian believer...to be Christ-like in the way they carry out their lives.

In other words, as Christian believers, others need to see Jesus in everything we do.

Our words need to be words He would have spoken or written and our actions need to be in step with His. Go back to the 1990’s and you may remember people wearing bracelets and other items with four simple letters: WWJD which stood for “What Would Jesus Do”. It’s a shame it stopped because those letters served as a reminder for how Christians are to conduct themselves when it comes to decision making.

Friends, the only way any person can live right and righteously is through a faith and trust in Jesus followed by a staunch, unwavering commitment to live the kind of sin-free life He did. God gave us His Son, not only to save us but to show us how we’re to behave before Him. Through the constant study and application of His Word, aided by the powerful guidance and instruction of the Holy Spirit, we can do just that.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

THE ONLY SURE CONFIDENCE

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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In Christ, Mark

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** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.

1 John 2:28

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I’m starting a new job today and although this isn’t the first time, I have to admit that I’m a little nervous. Maybe you’ve been there.

Now this isn’t my first rodeo as I can count nine jobs I’ve held across nearly 65 years of living, one of which spanned almost 30 years. Given this and the experience I have accumulated, you would think I would enter a new opportunity with supreme confidence but the reality of things is that none of us are perfect and neither is any job. For if every place we worked and the people there were without fault, including ourselves, then we would enter into employment with an organization and remain there for the entirety of our working years. We know it’s not like that, for sure.

And so, yes, I’m somewhat anxious over starting a new work opportunity...again...and this anxiety brings a lot of questions into a person’s head.

Am I going to be successful in what I’m asked to do?

Will my employer be supportive and fair in the way they conduct business and treat their employees?

Will my co-workers be good teammates, ones that can be trusted and professional in the way they carry themselves in the workplace?

Indeed, there are lots of unknowns that will be known as I grow into my position but those unknowns play a role in me being less than fully confident as I begin.

Thankfully, we have a certainty in life that we can always tether ourselves to when we are in these situations where we seem off balance and unsure of what the future might hold. That certainty is in our Lord Jesus Christ who remains the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow as the scriptures proclaim (Hebrews 13:8). Because of belief in Him, I, and every other person who has placed their trust in Him, gain an automatic, supreme confidence of salvation that no one can take away, even our enemy, Satan.

Jesus, our Savior, has promised He is coming back for all His disciples to take them to where He is now, to Heaven where He has prepared a place for them (John 14:1-3). And given that He has never sinned, He has never lied. All of His promises are perfectly true and therefore the future of every single Christian believer is secure.

No matter what uncertainty this life might bring, a Christian can be boldly confident in this.

Now, with this as a foundation, let’s look at our verse, the penultimate verse of 1 John, chapter 2. There we read the following:

And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming. v.28

There can be no dispute that life is full of unpredictabilities. We have no idea what any one day is going to hold for us, let alone the weeks, months, and years ahead. It can be enough to unsettle even the strongest person but here’s the thing. We don’t have to give into fear or stress or worry, not when we have the Lord with us, within us, and for us.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, He is coming back for us. This is a fact. And so let us appear confident when He does and until that happens, stand firm while continuing to live in and through Him, no matter what happens in this life.

Through Jesus, it’s always going to be okay and as I start my new job today, it’s what dispels my jitters and replaces them with positivity and hope.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

DON'T GET OUTSIDE THE BOX

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Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what He promised us—eternal life.

I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in Him.

1 John 2:24-27

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

You may have heard people suggest that thinking outside of the proverbial box is a good thing and in some cases this might be true from a worldly perspective. Many great ideas have resulted from people finding solutions by allowing their thinking to depart from convention. I know I have experienced this first hand, not only through people I have been associated with but through my own intellect as well.

But here’s the thing. While thinking “outside the box” might have its earthly benefits, when it comes to the Gospel work of Christianity and the following of the Word of God, there is no need to rely on ourselves or anyone else to think outside of what the Lord has already set in place. For in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, God has given us His complete, inerrant, unchanging Word. He has informed us with everything we need and then gifted us the Holy Spirit to illuminate and instruct us in regard to understanding the Word.

With this in mind, we turn to our two verses from our continued study of 1 John, chapter 2. There we read this:

As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what He promised us—eternal life. 

I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in Him.

Vv.24-27

Now, up to this point in chapter 2, we know that the scriptures have spent a lot of time speaking on the matter of false teaching, manifested past and present by antichrists led by none other than Satan, the one who is the ruler of the world (John 16:11) and the father of lies (John 8:44).

With this as a backdrop, John is essentially telling his Christian readers to not think outside the box when it comes to their faith and what they believe. He urges them to ensure that retain the Word they have “heard from the beginning” and then live in obedience to it. There was no need to receive and accept any other theology or doctrine outside of the Holy Word of the God Most High. It was true in first century A.D. and it's still true today.

So what is the reward for refusing to deviate from the Word the Lord has given?

The scriptures tell us that it would allow the Christian believer to “remain” grounded and anchored “in the Son and in the Father”, the Ones through which bring the promise of “eternal life”.

Friends, our Lord doesn’t ask us to think outside of the box. Rather, He wants us to know and trust His Word fully, a Word illuminated by the Holy Spirit, so we will stay in the box through righteous behavior. He has given us all His expectations for the way He wants us to live to include the way we think, speak, and act. It’s up to us to remain in Him and live up to those expectations so He can mold and shape us every day to be as He created us, a reflection of His own image.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

KNOWING TRUTH FROM FALSEHOOD

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In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

But you (those in the Christian church) are not like that, for the Holy Spirit has come upon you and all of you know the truth. So I am writing to you not because you don’t know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and falsehood.

And who is the great liar?

The one who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Such people are anti-christs for they have denied the Father and the Son. Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father either. But anyone who confesses the Son has the Father also.

1 John 2:20-23

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we walk our Christian journey, there isn’t any shortage of material available pertaining to our chosen religion. Every day, Christianity is discussed, professed and even attacked in a variety of forums not only here in the United States but around the world and the Holy Bible is the bestselling book of all time.

With this, there’s no lack of spiritual guidance or interpretation available to us as people are preaching and teaching principles advertised as being biblical but how can a person know that what they are hearing or reading is actually true?

It’s terrible we should even have to worry about it but since the days of the Old and New Testaments, there have been problems with false teachers and prophets, so much so that there is time spent in the scriptures warning Christians to be on guard. For as sure as there are people who are speaking divine truth straight from the inerrant Word of God and interpreted by the power of the Holy Spirit, there are many people that use the Bible to manipulate and mislead others for different causes, all instigated by none other than Satan himself who the scriptures call the father of all lies (John 8:44). These people operate counter to the will of God but appear in every way to represent Him

It’s into this environment, past and present, that we find today’s passage from the second chapter of 1 John speaking into. Look again at those words here:

But you (those in the Christian church) are not like that, for the Holy Spirit has come upon you and all of you know the truth. So I am writing to you not because you don’t know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and falsehood.

And who is the great liar?

The one who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Such people are anti-christs for they have denied the Father and the Son. Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father either. But anyone who confesses the Son has the Father also. Vv.20-23

Note here that the Holy Spirit is the key to avoiding being deceived and led astray. We can always consult the Spirit in regard to what we hear or read, trusting that He, the great Counselor sent to us by God, will always reveal falsehood, falsehood from those who don’t have God the Father because if they did, they would speak truth, not lies. Instead, they allow Satan to lead what they do and that will always be in a direction counter to Jesus which makes the purveyor of false teaching an antichrist or as we discussed in yesterday’s message, someone who operates in opposition to Christ Jesus.  

In our passage today, we have already found one way to avoid spiritual deception, by way of remaining engaged with the Holy Spirit that dwells within every legitimate Christian believer. Here are two other practices a Jesus follower can adopt to expose falsehood.

The first is prayer. For when we come before the Lord and seek validation of what we’ve read or heard, He will either confirm or deny it as truth. All Christians need to keep in mind that communication is the lifeblood of relationship and therefore without communication, there is no relationship. So unless you communicate with the Lord, you will not have much of a relationship with Him and no believer can afford to be in that place. So, stay connected to the Lord and always seek His guidance and direction in prayer. He will always be there for you and never let you down.

Finally, all Christians need to be studying their bibles every single day. They need to know the word so well that they will know immediately when someone misrepresents it. To not do this is placing a dangerous reliance on someone else to tell you about the Bible and this blind faith and trust is a prime setup for Satan to use false teachers to lead someone astray.

So as believers open their bibles every day to read and study, they should pray for the Lord to open their heart and mind towards understanding and then allow the Holy Spirit to instruct and lead them to the truth.

Using these three disciplines every day is a good first step in the right direction to identifying valid, legitimate teaching and avoiding those antichrists who are led by Satan.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.