Sinning, Forgiveness, Darkness and Eternal Life

Continuing in chapter 2

1 John 2 ISV

18Little children, it is the last hour. Just as you heard that an antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19They left us, but they were not part of us, for if they had been part of us, they would have stayed with us. Their leaving made it clear that none of them was really part of us.

·         Many antichrists had already appeared when John was writing this.

·         They had rejected the teachings of Jesus and his Apostles.

·         Many antichrists are with us now.

20You have an anointing from the Holy One and know all things. 21I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because lies don’t come from truth.22Who is a liar but the person who denies that Jesus is the Messiah? The person who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist. 23No one who denies the Son has the Father. The person who acknowledges the Son also has the Father.

24What you have heard from the beginning must abide in you. If what you have heard from the beginning abides in you, you will also abide in the Son and in the Father. 25The message that the Son himself declared to us is eternal life. 26I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27The anointing you received from God abides in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you this. Instead, because God’s anointing teaches you about everything and is true and not a lie, abide in him, as he taught you to do.

28Even now, little children, abide in him. Then, when he appears, we will have confidence and will not turn away from him in shame when he comes. 29Since you know that he is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered by God.

John 15: 1-6 ISV

1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vintner. 2He cuts off every branch that does not produce fruit in me, and he cuts back every branch that does produce fruit, so that it might produce more fruit. 3You are already clean because of what I’ve spoken to you.

4“Abide in me, and I will abide in you. Just as the branch cannot produce fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who abides in me while I abide in him produces much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 

6Unless a person abides in me, he is thrown away like a pruned branch and dries up. People gather such branches, throw them into a fire, and they are burned up.

·         I want to abide in Jesus.

·         I want no part of being “thrown away” like a pruned branch and dry up.

·         I do not want to be thrown into a fire and burned up.

·         Everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered by God.

·         How much sin do we want in our lives? 

Sinning, Forgiveness, Darkness and Eternal Life

1 John 2 ISV

1My little children, I’m writing these things to you so that you might not sin. Yet if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus, the Messiah, one who is righteous. 2It is he who is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world’s.

·         We are not to sin. We do not have an excuse.

·         But if we do sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus, the Messiah.

·         Jesus is the sacrifice for sins for us and the whole world.

3This is how we can be sure that we have come to know him: if we continually keep his commandments. 

4The person who says, “I have come to know him,” but does not continually keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth has no place in that person. 

5But whoever continually keeps his commandments is the kind of person in whom God’s love has truly been perfected. This is how we can be sure that we are in union with God: 6The one who says that he abides in him must live the same way he himself lived.

7Dear friends, I am not writing to you a new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning. This old commandment is the word you have heard. 8On the other hand, I am writing to you a new commandment that is truly in him and in you. For the darkness is fading away, and the true light is already shining.

9The person who says that he is in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 

10The person who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no reason for him to stumble. 

11But the person who hates his brother is in the darkness and lives in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

12I am writing to you, little children,

because your sins have been forgiven

on account of his name.

13I am writing to you, fathers,

because you have known the one who

has existed from the beginning.

I am writing to you, young people,

because you have overcome the evil one.

14I have written to you, little children,

because you have known the Father.

I have written to you, fathers,

because you have known the one who

has existed from the beginning.

I have written to you, young people,

because you are strong

and because God’s word remains in you

and you have overcome the evil one.

·         False teachers would love to quote verses 12-14 above and build a sermon on them.

·         Please note the same people being addressed in the preceding verses with such wonderful encouraging words are now going to be warned.  

15Stop loving the world and the things that are in the world. If anyone persists in loving the world, the Father’s love is not in him. 

16For everything that is in the world—the desire for fleshly gratification, the desire for possessions, and worldly arrogance—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17And the world and its desires are fading away, but the person who does God’s will remains forever.

I want to do God’s will and remain forever. While the teachers of today tickle the ears and speak to large crowds as if they are all children of God, thereby reinforcing a lie that they all are, the scriptures over and over warn us. We must come out of The Harlot and her daughters, repent and follow the Messiah Jesus in obedience. It is about our souls…..

God’s warnings come from his love. They are so precious!

God's Law Is Intended For The Non-Righteous

The Apostle Paul, speaking to Timothy said:

1 Timothy 1: 

8Of course, we know that the Law is good if a person uses it legitimately, 9that is, if he understands that the Law is not intended for righteous people 

but for lawbreakers and rebels, for ungodly people and sinners, for those who are unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers, their mothers, or other people, 10for those involved in sexual immorality, for homosexuals, for kidnappers,for liars, for false witnesses, and for whatever else goes against the healthy teaching 11that agrees with the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

• The Law is not intended for righteous people. They should be fleeing from sin.
• The Law is for the non righteous. 

12I thank the Messiah Jesus, our Lord, who gives me strength, that he has considered me faithful and has appointed me to his service. 13In the past I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man. But I received mercy because I acted ignorantly in my unbelief, 14and the grace of our Lord overflowed toward me, along with the faith and love that are in the Messiah Jesus. 15This is a trustworthy saying that deserves complete acceptance:k

To this world Messiah came,

sinful people to reclaim.

I am the worst of them. 16But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the worst sinner, the Messiah Jesus might demonstrate all of his patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life. 17Now to the King Eternal—the immortal, invisible, and only God—be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen.

Paul never gives professing believers an excuse to sin. On the contrary Paul tells us:

•  1What should we say, then? Should we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2Of course not! How can we who died as far as sin is concerned go on living in it? Romans 6 ISV

John told us:

• 5This is the message that we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness—none at all! 
• 6If we claim that we have fellowship with him but keep living in darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth. 
• 7But if we keep living in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 
• 8If we say that we do not have any sin, we are deceiving ourselves and we’re not being truthful to ourselves. 
• 9If we make it our habit to confess our sins, in his faithful righteousness he forgives us for those sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. 
• 10If we say that we have never sinned, we make him a liar and his word has no place in us. 1 John 1 ISV

Brothers and Sisters, we are saved by grace through faith to do good works. Sin should not control us. We are to walk in the Spirit. We are responsible for how we live our lives! We must practice holiness, confessing sins quickly and abandoning them!  WARNING!: This is impossible if you fill your mind by watching and listening to the filth on TV, radio, and other media and are not in the Word of God and seeking to obey God.

Ugandan President Repents of Personal and National Sins

The Ugandan news site New Vision reports President Yoweri Museveni celebrated Uganda’s 50th anniversary of independence from Britain at the National Jubilee Prayers event by publicly repenting of his personal sin and the sins of the nation.

“I stand here today to close the evil past, and especially in the last 50 years of our national leadership history and at the threshold of a new dispensation in the life of this nation. I stand here on my own behalf and on behalf of my predecessors to repent. We ask for your forgiveness,” Museveni prayed.

“We confess these sins, which have greatly hampered our national cohesion and delayed our political, social and economic transformation. We confess sins of idolatry and witchcraft which are rampant in our land. We confess sins of shedding innocent blood, sins of political hypocrisy, dishonesty, intrigue and betrayal,” Museveni said.

“Forgive us of sins of pride, tribalism and sectarianism; sins of laziness, indifference and irresponsibility; sins of corruption and bribery that have eroded our national resources; sins of sexual immorality, drunkenness and debauchery; sins of unforgiveness, bitterness, hatred and revenge; sins of injustice, oppression and exploitation; sins of rebellion, insubordination, strife and conflict,” Museveni prayed.
Next, the president dedicated Uganda to God.

“We want to dedicate this nation to you so that you will be our God and guide. We want Uganda to be known as a nation that fears God and as a nation whose foundations are firmly rooted in righteousness and justice to fulfill what the Bible says in Psalm 33:12: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. A people you have chosen as your own,” Museveni prayed.

Uganda won its independence from Britain Oct. 8, 1962.

We Must Finish The Race Continued from 11-26-12

Hebrews 12 ISV Continued from 11-26-12

12Therefore, strengthen your tired arms and your weak knees, 13and straighten the paths of your life, so that your lameness may not become worse, but instead may be healed.

·         We are commanded and responsible for strengthening our tired arms and weak knees and straightening the paths of our lives!!!

·         God is concerned with our spiritual lameness and that it not become worse!

14Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. 

·         We are commanded to pursue peace with everyone!

·         We are commanded to pursue holiness!

·         Without holiness we will not see the Lord!!

·         We are responsible for what the scriptures tell us to do!!!

15See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up and causes you trouble, or many of you will become defiled. 16No one should be immoral or godless like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17For you know that afterwards, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected because he could not find any opportunity to repent, even though he begged to repent with tears.

·         We are warned not to fail to obtain the grace of God or to let a bitter root grow up and cause us trouble or many will become defiled..

·         We are not to be immoral or godless like Esau who sold his birthright and was rejected later where he could not find any opportunity to repent, even though he begged to repent with tears.

18You have not come to something that can be touched, to a blazing fire, to darkness, to gloom, 19to a trumpet’s blast, or to a voice that made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. 20For they could not endure the command that was given: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21Indeed, the sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.” 

22Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to tens of thousands of angels joyfully gathered together, 23to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to a judge who is the God of all, to the spirits of righteous people who have been made perfect, 24to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better message than Abel’s.

25See to it that you do not ignore the one who is speaking. For if the hearers did not escape when they ignored the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we turn away from the one who is from heaven! 

·         We are warned not to ignore God as many who were with Moses did and died.

·         We are warned that those who do ignore God and turn away from him will not escape.

26At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven.” 27The expression “once more” signifies the removal of what can be shaken, that is, what he has made, so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 

28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and worship God in reverence and fear in a way that pleases him. 29For “our God is an all-consuming fire.”

·         True believers are given many wonderful promises, but over and over those promises are followed by warnings.

·         Reject the false teachers of today who just tickle the ears. They may even tell truths, but refuse the whole counsel of God, thereby, tickling the ears.

·         Understand that the Harlot church and her daughters are apostatizing. This has been going on a long time and will reach a climax for judgment.

·         Get into your bibles and read them slowly and carefully. Do not listen to teachers who are silent about and/or explain the warnings of God away.   

·         Your soul is to precious!!

We Must Finish The Race

God’s love is shown in precious promises and precious warnings! The following passages expose false teachers whose congregations demand ear tickling.

Hebrews 12: 1Therefore, having so vast a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, and throwing off everything that hinders us and especially the sin that so easily entangles us, let us keep running with endurance the race set before us, 2fixing our attention on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of the faith, who, in view of the joy set before him, endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

·         We are not to sin!

·         We are not to stop running the race!

·         We are to fix our attention on Jesus!

3Think about the one who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you may not become tired and give up. 4In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5You have forgotten the encouragement that is addressed to you as sons:

·         We are warned not to give up!

“My son, do not think lightly of the Lord’s discipline

or give up when you are corrected by him.

6For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

and he punishes every son he accepts.”

·         We are to welcome discipline!

·         Discipline is from the love of God!

·         Obedience and discipline are rarely heard by the false teachers.  

7What you endure disciplines you: God is treating you as sons. Is there a son whom his father does not discipline? 8Now if you are without any discipline, in which all sons share, then you are illegitimate and not God’s sons. 

·         If we are looking for and receiving “Our best life now” which Satan offered Jesus and he refused, we are not God’s sons.

9Furthermore, we had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them for it. We should submit even more to the Father of our spirits and live, shouldn’t we? 

·         We should not take lightly the warning of “and live”, even though this flies in the face of hundreds of years of religious dogma! False teachers entered in shortly after Christ returned to his Father.

10For a short time they disciplined us as they thought best, but God does it for our good, so that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, for those who have been trained by it, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace.

·         God disciplines us for our good so we may share in his holiness!

·         Though discipline is painful, if we are trained by it, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace!