July 31, 2024 • 36 mins
What if the way you've been understanding sin is all wrong? Join B.R. Maul on Living God's Way, where we examine the eye-opening truths of 1 John 3:4-9. We'll unravel the nature of sin as lawlessness and discover how Jesus' manifestation is the cornerstone for overcoming sin in our lives. Through personal anecdotes, B.R. Maul shares his own spiritual journey, reflecting on the lifelong process of sanctification and the transformative power of Christ. This episode is a heartfelt exploration of how habitual and conscious sin reveals deeper spiritual alignments and the critical role of the Holy Spirit in our growth.
Have you ever wondered if reading the Bible can truly change your life? B.R. Maul shares his midlife realization that engaging with Scripture is more than an academic exercise—it's about truly knowing Jesus as your Savior. We'll discuss John's warnings against deception and the importance of practicing righteousness as a reflection of genuine faith. Learn how regular Scripture reading, fellowship with believers, and participation in a Bible-teaching church are essential practices for spiritual growth. Your faith will be invigorated as we delve into the necessity of being vigilant against false teachings.
Can you find freedom from sin despite your past? In this powerful episode, B.R. Maul tackles the misconception that past circumstances excuse sinful behavior. Discover the liberating power of the Holy Spirit in overcoming sin and the freedom we find in Christ. We'll explore what it means to live a life reflective of our born-again status, avoiding the pitfalls of worldly behaviors. By fully committing to God's plans and deeply understanding His Word, we can strive to sin less and lead lives that genuinely honor God. This episode is a call to examine your spiritual rebirth and commit to a life that truly reflects your faith.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
B.R.Maul (00:28):
Hello, Hello and good day.
I am BR Maul and this is LivingGod's Way in an study God's
Word, and we take a look at howGod's Word applies to our life
(00:49):
as born-again believers.
This is important because, eventhough we live in this world,
we are told we are not of thisworld.
Our home is heavenly.
As born-again believers, ourspirits are indeed alive and
well.
We are currently in the book of1 John.
(01:11):
We're in chapter 3.
Today I'll be reading verses 4through 9, and, as usual, once I
read it, I'll go back and breakit down Before I begin the
reading.
I'll go back and break it downBefore I begin the reading.
My brothers and sisters in thefaith, I hope all is going well.
Please do not hesitate to emailme at my website, brmaulcom,
(01:38):
that's B-R-M-A-U-L dot com.
There is a page.
You click on contact and justfill out the information there
and I promise to get back to youas soon as possible.
That is why I'm here.
Yes, to teach God's word.
I am so thankful that is one ofmy spiritual gifts.
We all have a spiritual gift orgifts that the Lord gives us
(02:01):
when we become his children.
So I love teaching God's word,but I'm also here for you.
I understand life is difficult.
There's much going on in thisworld, and especially for
born-again believers.
Jesus made it very clear thatas we get closer to the day
that's capital D, the day that'sthe second coming.
(02:24):
As we get closer to that, well,there's a lot more persecutions
going on.
And persecution, brothers andsisters, do not always come in
the most obvious form and that'sphysical violence.
No, persecution comes in manydifferent forms at our
workplaces, in our relationships, and sometimes it's much
(02:50):
quieter because it means theabsence of being invited to
places, People that used to hangaround us when we were still of
the world and did thingsworldly.
But then we are born again andas we walk with the Lord, he
changes our heart.
It's such a blessing.
(03:11):
We no longer have the weight ofthis world upon us because we
learn to lean on Jesus.
But with that, many people don'twant to be around that.
Why the same reason they didn'twant to be around that?
Why the same reason they didn'twant to be around Jesus?
They only wanted to be aroundJesus when he was healing and
doing things that they benefitedfrom.
(03:33):
Many of the people did notfollow Jesus after they were
healed.
Now that's a whole other topic.
So I'll get into the reading fortoday, Verse 4.
Topic.
So I'll get into the readingfor today, Verse 4.
Whoever commits sin also commitslawlessness, and sin is
lawlessness.
And you know that he that'sJesus, was manifested to take
(03:56):
away our sins, and in him thereis no sin.
Whoever abides in him does notsin.
Whoever sins has neither seenhim nor known him.
Little children, let no onedeceive you.
He who practices righteousnessis righteous, just as he that's
(04:20):
Jesus is righteous.
He who sins is of the devil,for the devil has sinned from
the beginning.
For this purpose the Son of Godwas manifested, that he might
destroy the works of the reading.
(04:53):
Thank you, Lord, for this timeto teach my brothers and sisters
, and also myself as I continueto explore God's word.
Lord, you continue to teach meas well, and I so appreciate it.
I love all that you share withme, Lord, and the ability, this
(05:13):
platform, to go ahead and teachothers.
I pray that you open up theirhearts.
Help them, Lord, put aside anydifficulties in their life, any
pride, any insecurities,anything that he or she is doing
that is getting in their way ofhearing your voice.
(05:33):
I pray this in Jesus' name,Amen.
So, backing up to verse 4, Johnsays Whoever commits sin also
commits lawlessness, and sin islawlessness.
Seems to be pretty obvious, butlet's take just a little closer
at that because that can seempretty severe.
(05:57):
This lawlessness, John isn'tsaying that every time that we
sin, that we are breaking thelaw, like human law, okay, but
we are breaking God's law.
So an example of that Jesusmade it very clear that you may
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not have murdered somebody withyour hands, but by hating that
person you are still murderingthem in your heart.
That's how fragile beinglawless with sin is when it
comes to God's Word.
But here lawlessness is notjust saints.
(06:41):
When we sin unknowingly, thisis referring to sin that is
conscious sin, sin that is aregular sin.
So let's talk about that alittle more, Because we all sin.
There's no way of gettingaround that.
But before a person is bornagain, we are slave to our sin
(07:05):
because we have no ability inourselves to overcome sin.
Now, everybody has differentsins.
Some sins might be a verydifficult part of their life,
Some it's sexual, some it's withdrugs, some with money, power,
(07:31):
whatever it might be, Obviously,we could go on and on, but we
are all slave to sin.
But once a person is born again, the Holy Spirit then enters
into that person and theirspirit is born.
Before that, our spirit is dead.
Now the spirit is born and theHoly Spirit also resides in us
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to guide us, to guide our spirit, okay.
So this is where, well, now weneed to start getting used to
thinking spiritually and notjust physically.
Now the person with the HolySpirit dwelling in them has the
(08:21):
capability to overcome sin,Because now they're not
overcoming sin on their ownstrength, overcoming sin on
their own strength.
Now a person needs to learn toovercome their sin with the same
power that the Holy Spirit usesto sanctify us, and that
sanctification process is ourwhole life.
So some of our sins we'llovercome quickly.
(08:43):
For me, one of that was swearingand cussing.
When I was younger, that's whatI did.
I thought that being a boy andgrowing up, becoming a man meant
well, I needed to swear andcuss.
Why?
Because that's what I hadaround me, for examples.
I had around me for examples.
(09:10):
But the Lord, once I was bornagain and I actively sought out
his wisdom, reading his word.
Well then, throughsanctification, that was one of
the first things that he tookfrom me.
I didn't have the gumption.
I didn't want to swear and cussand then it got to the point
where I don't even like whenothers swear and cuss around me.
That all happened in time.
(09:30):
And there's other sins thatwere deeper, that took longer,
but the Lord in time helped mewith that.
Now, those sins that I was justdoing over and over was
lawlessness In that sin.
It was lawless because I justdid it.
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It was a part of who I was andI, just over and over, I just
kept on stepping on God's laws.
I just sinned and I didn'tthink twice about it.
So that is what he's referringto in verse 4.
Whoever commits sin also commitslawlessness.
It's that kind of sin.
What he's not talking about iswhen we sin.
(10:14):
But it's not something that weplan, it's not something that we
are consciously looking forwardto.
We can't wait till later tocommit this sin, whatever that
sin is going to be.
But, saints, as a born-againbeliever is still is going to
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sin.
As I've said before, being bornagain doesn't make us sinless,
but it does help us sin less.
And with every passing yearbeloved you yourself, as you're
walking with the Lord, should beable to see that, that you are
sinning less, and a maturebeliever is quick to repent when
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we do mess up and we do sin.
But that is not what he istalking about here, Verse 5, and
you know that he, Jesus, wasmanifested to take away our sins
, and in him there is no sin.
So manifested.
What does that word mean?
Manifested?
(11:19):
It means that if something ismanifest, that it is readily
perceived by the senses.
So in this case, he wasmanifested.
He became flesh.
So now, instead of just God theFather being in that spiritual
state where we can't see, hebecame flesh and blood.
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So he manifested.
So he walked the earth andpeople could see him, could
touch him, could talk to him,could look at him, because it's
something that you could seewith the eyes.
So he was manifested, and why?
To take away our sins, and inhim there is no sin.
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Seems to be an obviousstatement that in him, in Jesus,
there is no sin.
But every word of the Biblebeloved is very important.
We don't want to justnecessarily run over every
little word, Because in is oneimportant word in him.
And no, there is no sin Withsaints.
(12:33):
Even once we're born again, westill do have sin in us.
Why?
Because we haven't beenglorified.
That'll happen when our bodiesdecease and these bodies then
are eventually burned.
At the end of time, when Godcleanses everything the first
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time he did it with flood, thesecond time will be with fire.
But our souls, our eternal part, that will remain, our eternal
part, that will remain, and ineternity then we will be without
sin.
That's going to be magnificent.
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But even inides in him that'sJesus does not sin.
Whoever sins has neither seenhim nor known him.
You know that can sound like anawful lot of pressure, right,
Whoever abides in him, in Jesus.
So whoever is born again,because Jesus says he who abides
in me, I abide in him.
But here John is saying whoeverabides in him does not sin.
(13:55):
Well, we all sin, and I wasjust talking about that, that
with Jesus in him, there was nosin when he walked the earth.
But even after we're born again, we still have our sinful
nature.
We're just given the ability,with the Holy Spirit, to
overcome it.
We're no longer slave to sin,but we're not sinless, we're
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just going to sin less.
So that can seem discouraging,doesn't it?
Well, does that mean then thatI don't abide in him because I
sin?
And whoever sins has neitherseen him as Jesus nor known him.
He is still talking about thekind of sin in verse 4, talking
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about the kind of sin in verse 4, that lawlessness, that living
in sin.
Before you were born again, youwere slave to sin.
You were living in sin, but aborn-again believer.
As we walk with him, as we knowhim, Jesus, and we get to know
him through reading his word,well then that sin is no longer
prevalent in our life.
I'll pause there just for amoment.
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Let me jump out of the teachingand just say this If, where you
are at beloved, if you believethat you are born again, but you
find that you are stuck in sincontinuously, in this
lawlessness, sin that's lookingforward to sinning, that's
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having no ability to turn awayfrom it.
If you're still slave to that,if you still revel in your sin,
well, I pray that you take thetime now, pause this podcast or,
if you can't, as soon as youget a chance, get down on your
knees, close yourself away fromthe rest of the world and pray
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to God and talk to him.
Just be honest, Speak in yourheart, Tell him that.
Well, Lord, I was told to praya certain prayer, or somebody
told me that I was baptized as ababy and so I'm your child.
So I think I'm your child.
I believed I was your child,but I don't feel like it and
(16:19):
then just ask for his help andhe will do that.
He will do that.
So, continuing on the secondpart of verse 6, whoever sins
has neither seen him, Jesus, norknown him.
Knowing him, so knowing himbeloved, means opening his word
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and reading it.
I sound like a broken record,but I can't emphasize it enough.
I went my first half of my lifenot understanding the
importance of just reading theBible, and not reading it like
an academic, but reading it likeyou would.
A love letter to get to knowyour God, to get to know Jesus,
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your Savior.
It's all here in God's Word.
You don't need to go to theseminary to learn to understand
God's Word.
You don't need to even besomebody who is really good at
academics or an excellent readerto read and understand God's
(17:29):
Word.
What you do need, whateverybody needs, is the Holy
Spirit to be born again.
So a person can't test out thewaters, Someone can't open up
God's Word and think well, letme read it for a while.
I'm going to see if this fitsme first, and then I'll decide
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no, because anybody who doesn'thave the Holy Spirit in them, it
doesn't make sense.
Historical things will makesense, the stories will make
sense.
The stories will make sense,but the reason behind it, the
moral aspect of it, thespiritual part of it, will not
make sense, Whether it'llfrustrate you, bore you,
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whatever it might be.
So, getting to know him, and aswe get to know him, what John is
saying then in verse 6, is thatyou won't want to sin.
You will want to leave that sin.
That was a big part of who youwere.
Your flesh is still going tocry out for it beloved.
(18:34):
You are still going to strugglewith that.
But with every passing week andmonth and year, that you
continue to walk with the Lordand his word and to come
together with other brothers andsisters in the faith, which is
very important, and by listeningto teachers, like you are right
now, and going to a church, aBible teaching and preaching
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church.
Don't get mixed up withchurches these days, and there's
a lot of them that are notteaching the full gospel.
Even if it's 95% of the gospel,well, it's not the full gospel,
so just be weary with that.
But by going to a Bibleteaching and preaching church
with born-again believers wholove the Lord, who are following
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him, you will Listening to thesermons and praying with one
another.
That's inevitable.
You cannot not change at thatpoint.
So verse 7, John says Littlechildren, let no one deceive you
.
That we've heard before.
Jesus tells us when he talks tohis apostles.
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And he tells us then, throughhis speaking to the apostles in
the end times which we are hereI'm not saying that time is
going to end, even in mylifetime, but we are in the end
times.
There is nothing left that weare waiting for to happen, for
the church to be raptured.
So there's nothing left tohappen for Christ to come, for
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his church and the Holy Spiritrapture, lift up, take away the
church, leaving only theunbelievers left on planet Earth
.
And that's when Jesus says letno man deceive you.
So a pretty important warning,because John is repeating that
and he even says little children.
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He's not insulting us, he's notsaying that we're stupid, that
we have the intellect or evenbehavior as a child, but as
born-again believers, and themore we walk with him, we should
have more of ability like achild, but as born-again
believers and the more we walkwith him, we should have more of
ability, like a child, to trustin God.
And like little children, weare still very vulnerable to
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Satan and his demons to trick usBeloved.
This is why I teach in thispodcast, because I'm trying to
circumvent, to go around thetraditional way of people just
going to a church that they'vebeen going to week in and week
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out, month after month, yearafter year, and there's been
absolutely no spiritual growth.
And the reason for that isbecause many are not born again.
They don't understand that why?
Because they have been deceived.
I speak from experience becauseI was one who was deceived.
So John says little children,which is all of us, let no one
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deceive you.
So by listening to theteachings in this podcast and by
reading God's word well, way togo, you are working on not
letting others deceive you.
So it's not just Satan, notjust the demons who are out to
trick us, but there's many falseprophets, there are many
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antichrists, small a big a, thatare teaching false doctrines.
I've said before and firmlybelieve that even many spiritual
leaders today who are caught upin denominations and caught up
with their hierarchy, in theirpositions, their prestige, just
like the Pharisees of old.
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Unfortunately, over time, Satanand the human heart has made
that the problem the case today.
So many people are deceived, solittle children.
Let no one deceive you.
What he says next seems to be soobvious.
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It's like why do you even sayit, John?
But he says he who practicesrighteousness is righteous, just
as he that's Jesus is righteous.
But let's think about that,Because he who practices
righteousness is righteous.
Do you know people who?
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They do everything they can tofollow the rules morally?
So not in the sense of I don'twant to be caught, Okay, that
would be immoral, so I'm goingto just try not to get busted.
But someone who is practicingrighteousness is righteous.
It's a part of their living,it's their nature, it's who they
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are.
They don't want to break rules,they want to abide by them and
they wish others would abide bythem.
Even when someone's notwatching, those who practice
righteousness still do the rightthing Because even though human
eyes might not be watching, wealways know that God, the Father
(23:45):
, is watching and we also knowthat we are watching.
We know when we are trying tocheat something, to break a rule
, to better ourself.
So he who practicesrighteousness is righteous
You're living that way and justas Jesus is righteous.
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Verse 8, he who sins is of thedevil, for the devil has sinned
from the beginning.
That's halfway through 8.
I'll stop right there.
And again, this is referring tonot sinning.
From time to time, as a saintis through the process of
sanctification, the help, thepower of the Holy Spirit,
(24:27):
overcoming his or her sins, butstill messes up, makes that
mistake, that person feelshorrible, quickly repents, and
we want to do everythingpossible to be right with our
Holy Father.
So that's not the kind he'stalking about In these passages
from verse 4 through 9.
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Here John is talking about thatlawlessness, that sinning of
lawlessness, that is one steepedin their sin.
It's a person who does that isof the devil, and why For the
devil does that is of the deviland why?
For the devil has sinned fromthe beginning.
It's an interesting fact Goingthrough Sunday school, we're
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taught that sin entered theworld when Adam sinned.
But it wasn't Adam and Eve thatcommitted the first sin, it was
the devil.
He sinned because he wanted tobe like God and the angels were
made before people were made.
So Satan and the angels thethird of the angels that were
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cast from heaven down to earth.
They are the ones who sinnedSin was already present, ones
who sinned Sin was alreadypresent.
That's interesting.
But of course it was quite easyfor the devil himself, knowing
the hearts of man, to quicklymake them sin.
So that is why John says he whosins is of the devil, for the
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devil has sinned from thebeginning.
When we openly sin, beloved, weare following the devil's way.
If you're born again, you can'tlose your salvation.
So it doesn't mean that.
But be careful, Don't let sinthat enticing part of it that at
first looks great and you thinkyou know what.
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I guess this one sin.
I can just kind of keep doingthis, I'll just sweep it under
the rug, but I'm okay with it.
That is very dangerous, becausenow that is of the devil and
then that gets in our way wherewe begin not to hear the Holy
Spirit speaking to us because weare so busy listening to the
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devil, because he's verydistracting.
He's going to do everythingpossible to get you away from
the blessings of your HolyFather, even though he can't
take your salvation away.
The second part of verse 8,.
For this purpose the Son of Godwas manifested, that he might
destroy the work of the devil,and he did so.
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If anybody ever asks you, whydid Jesus come down as a baby?
Why did he live a human life?
Well, he did that for thepurpose to destroy the work of
the devil.
Because sin was done in theflesh, Adam.
It had to be paid for throughflesh.
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That's just the way God does it.
He's God, it's part of hisultimate plan, but it was for
this purpose the Son of God wasmanifested, that he might
destroy the work of the devil.
Verse 9.
Whoever has been born of Goddoes not sin for his seed, his,
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that's capital H, so God.
His seed remains in him, lowerH, so the person.
I'll read that again Whoeverhas been born of God does not
sin for his seed.
God's seed remains in him, theborn-again person, and he cannot
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sin because he has been born ofGod.
Now remember, stay with me here, because we're still talking
about that sin of lawlessness,that repetitive sin, that sin
that we are okay with the sin.
That was just who we werebefore we were born again,
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before we were a child of God.
A person cannot live with sinand have the Holy Spirit abide
in them.
It can't be done.
This is one of those importantmessages that most churches are
not talking about.
Why?
Because people don't want tohear about it.
People don't want to go to achurch and be told that if
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they're having a sin thatthey're not letting go of, they
better double check because theymay not be born again.
People don't want to hear thatbecause, first of all, a lot of
denominations don't even teachfrom the Bible of born again.
They continue to say thingslike remember your baptism, or
because you were baptized, youare born again.
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There's a lot of false doctrineout there.
And so if someone says but youknow what, if you are sinning,
if you have this regular sinthat you just kind of stick with
, yeah, you better double checkhere, because possibility you
don't have the Holy Spiritdwelling in you, which means
you're not born again.
So when John in 9 says whoeverhas been born of God and born of
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God is born spiritually, alsoknown as born again does not sin
, they do not sin continuously,they do not live with a sin that
they accept.
They will continue to sin less,less often.
We're still going to fight, butwe're going to overcome sin way
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more often than we are going tofall to the sin.
Now let me remind you of thisbeloved Temptation is not sin,
and this is a hard one for me,so I'm preaching to myself here
as well, because we're going tohave thoughts that pop into our
mind.
But we know that temptationisn't sin because Jesus was
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tempted.
He was tempted for 40 days and40 nights.
Now we were told of threedifferent ways that the devil
tempted him, but that doesn'tmean that was the only time he
tempted him.
But Jesus didn't succumb to thetemptation.
Jesus was hungry and when thedevil even brought it up, if
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you're the son of God, go ahead,change these rocks into bread.
Jesus knew he had the abilityto do that.
Just one tiny little thoughtand he would have some really
good tasting bread right thereto eat.
But he didn't.
But he still had the thought.
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So be very careful with that,Because just because we have
these temptations, I don't knowhow many times I can look at a
dessert and go, wow, I reallywant to just cram that in my
mouth because that looksdelicious and just satisfy my
flesh and not care what it doesto my physical body.
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But now I'm looking at gluttony.
Can't walk around just eatingeverything that I want, because
then that is sin.
I am just satisfying my flesh,but because I'm not slave to
that and I can still think, boy,that would be nice to eat that
dessert, but I don't.
That's what he means by whoeverhas been born of God does not
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sin.
They don't walk around crammingwhatever they want in their
mouth to eat.
Why?
For his God's seed remains inhim.
That born-again believer hasthe Holy Spirit that remains in
him and it's not through our ownpower, it's through the power
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of God that we're able to dothat.
So when John continues and whenJohn says and he cannot sin,
that's the born-again believer.
The born-again believer cannotsin Again.
It doesn't mean that we'reincapable of it, because no,
That'll be when we are glorifiedand amen to that, In our
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glorified state, in eternitybeloved.
Well then, we will not be ableto sin.
But what John is saying here iswe won't be able to put up with
our sin.
That time that I do walk pastthat dessert and I decide
whatever and I just jam it in mymouth, the first thing I do is
I repent.
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You know, I feel horriblebecause I know that's not good
for my body, just to not eventhink of the consequences.
I know I need to slow down andstop, because I do have a
tendency to have a sweet toothand I can easily just start
throwing them in my mouth again.
So I know that I need to bevery careful with that.
And with the power of the HolySpirit I'm able to overcome that
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, and that's why I cannot sin.
I can't just continuously walkaround and eat whatever I want.
Because he has been born of God,A born-again believer has been
born of God, and that brings usright back to John 3.
So this is very important thatwe understand that being a child
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of God is being born again.
And if you've never been bornagain, well, you can do that
right here, right now.
That's all it takes is a prayerfrom the heart.
There's no magic words, there'sno certain prayer that you must
say, but it needs to come fromyour heart and just ask the Lord
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to come into your life, Tellhim that you want to give your
life to him.
You know that you're a sinner,you know that you need Jesus
Christ to be your Savior becauseyou can't pay your sin debt.
And by acknowledging that, thenyou can do the next step and
believe that Jesus Christ wasraised from the dead, that God,
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the Father, with his power andhis love for you, raised Jesus
from the dead.
And Jesus, by overcoming death,kills death.
Death no longer has a sting foryou if you are born again With
the mouth, confess the LordJesus and, with the heart,
believe he was raised from thedead and you will be saved.
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And if you have prayed that,well, welcome to God's family
and for the rest of my brothersand sisters, well, just don't
forget that we have the power ofthe Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
So you're not slave to sin,You're not slave to your anger,
(35:02):
You're not slave to yourdepression, You're not slave to
eating and not thinking.
You can stop Whatever it is.
The world is going to try totell you that you're a victim
and that it was because of theway you were brought up or
because of this or that incident.
Now, those who don't have theHoly Spirit dwelling in them,
(35:24):
who are not born again, sadly, Isay well, yes, you are a victim
, you are slave to your sin.
You can't stop it.
You might be able to stop for alittle bit, you might be able
to detour what you're doing fora short time, but it's going to
overcome you.
So John has really helped usout here, understanding that,
(35:47):
yes, we are still going to sin,but we are going to sin less.
But we cannot live a lifestyleof having one foot in the world
hanging on to some sin andhaving one foot walking with the
Lord.
It doesn't happen that way,beloved.
It's time to quit all theworldly ways, turn to the Bible
(36:10):
and see what God truly has instore for you.
I hope you do that, and untilnext time, God bless, Thank you.
Hello, Hello and good day.
I am BR Maul and this is LivingGod's Way in an study God's
Word, and we take a look at howGod's Word applies to our life
(00:49):
as born-again believers.
This is important because, eventhough we live in this world,
we are told we are not of thisworld.
Our home is heavenly.
As born-again believers, ourspirits are indeed alive and
well.
We are currently in the book of1 John.
(01:11):
We're in chapter 3.
Today I'll be reading verses 4through 9, and, as usual, once I
read it, I'll go back and breakit down Before I begin the
reading.
I'll go back and break it downBefore I begin the reading.
My brothers and sisters in thefaith, I hope all is going well.
Please do not hesitate to emailme at my website, brmaulcom,
(01:38):
that's B-R-M-A-U-L dot com.
There is a page.
You click on contact and justfill out the information there
and I promise to get back to youas soon as possible.
That is why I'm here.
Yes, to teach God's word.
I am so thankful that is one ofmy spiritual gifts.
We all have a spiritual gift orgifts that the Lord gives us
(02:01):
when we become his children.
So I love teaching God's word,but I'm also here for you.
I understand life is difficult.
There's much going on in thisworld, and especially for
born-again believers.
Jesus made it very clear thatas we get closer to the day
that's capital D, the day that'sthe second coming.
(02:24):
As we get closer to that, well,there's a lot more persecutions
going on.
And persecution, brothers andsisters, do not always come in
the most obvious form and that'sphysical violence.
No, persecution comes in manydifferent forms at our
workplaces, in our relationships, and sometimes it's much
(02:50):
quieter because it means theabsence of being invited to
places, People that used to hangaround us when we were still of
the world and did thingsworldly.
But then we are born again andas we walk with the Lord, he
changes our heart.
It's such a blessing.
(03:11):
We no longer have the weight ofthis world upon us because we
learn to lean on Jesus.
But with that, many people don'twant to be around that.
Why the same reason they didn'twant to be around that?
Why the same reason they didn'twant to be around Jesus?
They only wanted to be aroundJesus when he was healing and
doing things that they benefitedfrom.
(03:33):
Many of the people did notfollow Jesus after they were
healed.
Now that's a whole other topic.
So I'll get into the reading fortoday, Verse 4.
Topic.
So I'll get into the readingfor today, Verse 4.
Whoever commits sin also commitslawlessness, and sin is
lawlessness.
And you know that he that'sJesus, was manifested to take
(03:56):
away our sins, and in him thereis no sin.
Whoever abides in him does notsin.
Whoever sins has neither seenhim nor known him.
Little children, let no onedeceive you.
He who practices righteousnessis righteous, just as he that's
(04:20):
Jesus is righteous.
He who sins is of the devil,for the devil has sinned from
the beginning.
For this purpose the Son of Godwas manifested, that he might
destroy the works of the reading.
(04:53):
Thank you, Lord, for this timeto teach my brothers and sisters
, and also myself as I continueto explore God's word.
Lord, you continue to teach meas well, and I so appreciate it.
I love all that you share withme, Lord, and the ability, this
(05:13):
platform, to go ahead and teachothers.
I pray that you open up theirhearts.
Help them, Lord, put aside anydifficulties in their life, any
pride, any insecurities,anything that he or she is doing
that is getting in their way ofhearing your voice.
(05:33):
I pray this in Jesus' name,Amen.
So, backing up to verse 4, Johnsays Whoever commits sin also
commits lawlessness, and sin islawlessness.
Seems to be pretty obvious, butlet's take just a little closer
at that because that can seempretty severe.
(05:57):
This lawlessness, John isn'tsaying that every time that we
sin, that we are breaking thelaw, like human law, okay, but
we are breaking God's law.
So an example of that Jesusmade it very clear that you may
(06:19):
not have murdered somebody withyour hands, but by hating that
person you are still murderingthem in your heart.
That's how fragile beinglawless with sin is when it
comes to God's Word.
But here lawlessness is notjust saints.
(06:41):
When we sin unknowingly, thisis referring to sin that is
conscious sin, sin that is aregular sin.
So let's talk about that alittle more, Because we all sin.
There's no way of gettingaround that.
But before a person is bornagain, we are slave to our sin
(07:05):
because we have no ability inourselves to overcome sin.
Now, everybody has differentsins.
Some sins might be a verydifficult part of their life,
Some it's sexual, some it's withdrugs, some with money, power,
(07:31):
whatever it might be, Obviously,we could go on and on, but we
are all slave to sin.
But once a person is born again, the Holy Spirit then enters
into that person and theirspirit is born.
Before that, our spirit is dead.
Now the spirit is born and theHoly Spirit also resides in us
(07:56):
to guide us, to guide our spirit, okay.
So this is where, well, now weneed to start getting used to
thinking spiritually and notjust physically.
Now the person with the HolySpirit dwelling in them has the
(08:21):
capability to overcome sin,Because now they're not
overcoming sin on their ownstrength, overcoming sin on
their own strength.
Now a person needs to learn toovercome their sin with the same
power that the Holy Spirit usesto sanctify us, and that
sanctification process is ourwhole life.
So some of our sins we'llovercome quickly.
(08:43):
For me, one of that was swearingand cussing.
When I was younger, that's whatI did.
I thought that being a boy andgrowing up, becoming a man meant
well, I needed to swear andcuss.
Why?
Because that's what I hadaround me, for examples.
I had around me for examples.
(09:10):
But the Lord, once I was bornagain and I actively sought out
his wisdom, reading his word.
Well then, throughsanctification, that was one of
the first things that he tookfrom me.
I didn't have the gumption.
I didn't want to swear and cussand then it got to the point
where I don't even like whenothers swear and cuss around me.
That all happened in time.
(09:30):
And there's other sins thatwere deeper, that took longer,
but the Lord in time helped mewith that.
Now, those sins that I was justdoing over and over was
lawlessness In that sin.
It was lawless because I justdid it.
(09:51):
It was a part of who I was andI, just over and over, I just
kept on stepping on God's laws.
I just sinned and I didn'tthink twice about it.
So that is what he's referringto in verse 4.
Whoever commits sin also commitslawlessness.
It's that kind of sin.
What he's not talking about iswhen we sin.
(10:14):
But it's not something that weplan, it's not something that we
are consciously looking forwardto.
We can't wait till later tocommit this sin, whatever that
sin is going to be.
But, saints, as a born-againbeliever is still is going to
(10:35):
sin.
As I've said before, being bornagain doesn't make us sinless,
but it does help us sin less.
And with every passing yearbeloved you yourself, as you're
walking with the Lord, should beable to see that, that you are
sinning less, and a maturebeliever is quick to repent when
(10:59):
we do mess up and we do sin.
But that is not what he istalking about here, Verse 5, and
you know that he, Jesus, wasmanifested to take away our sins
, and in him there is no sin.
So manifested.
What does that word mean?
Manifested?
(11:19):
It means that if something ismanifest, that it is readily
perceived by the senses.
So in this case, he wasmanifested.
He became flesh.
So now, instead of just God theFather being in that spiritual
state where we can't see, hebecame flesh and blood.
(11:44):
So he manifested.
So he walked the earth andpeople could see him, could
touch him, could talk to him,could look at him, because it's
something that you could seewith the eyes.
So he was manifested, and why?
To take away our sins, and inhim there is no sin.
(12:06):
Seems to be an obviousstatement that in him, in Jesus,
there is no sin.
But every word of the Biblebeloved is very important.
We don't want to justnecessarily run over every
little word, Because in is oneimportant word in him.
And no, there is no sin Withsaints.
(12:33):
Even once we're born again, westill do have sin in us.
Why?
Because we haven't beenglorified.
That'll happen when our bodiesdecease and these bodies then
are eventually burned.
At the end of time, when Godcleanses everything the first
(12:54):
time he did it with flood, thesecond time will be with fire.
But our souls, our eternal part, that will remain, our eternal
part, that will remain, and ineternity then we will be without
sin.
That's going to be magnificent.
(13:33):
But even inides in him that'sJesus does not sin.
Whoever sins has neither seenhim nor known him.
You know that can sound like anawful lot of pressure, right,
Whoever abides in him, in Jesus.
So whoever is born again,because Jesus says he who abides
in me, I abide in him.
But here John is saying whoeverabides in him does not sin.
(13:55):
Well, we all sin, and I wasjust talking about that, that
with Jesus in him, there was nosin when he walked the earth.
But even after we're born again, we still have our sinful
nature.
We're just given the ability,with the Holy Spirit, to
overcome it.
We're no longer slave to sin,but we're not sinless, we're
(14:20):
just going to sin less.
So that can seem discouraging,doesn't it?
Well, does that mean then thatI don't abide in him because I
sin?
And whoever sins has neitherseen him as Jesus nor known him.
He is still talking about thekind of sin in verse 4, talking
(14:46):
about the kind of sin in verse 4, that lawlessness, that living
in sin.
Before you were born again, youwere slave to sin.
You were living in sin, but aborn-again believer.
As we walk with him, as we knowhim, Jesus, and we get to know
him through reading his word,well then that sin is no longer
prevalent in our life.
I'll pause there just for amoment.
(15:09):
Let me jump out of the teachingand just say this If, where you
are at beloved, if you believethat you are born again, but you
find that you are stuck in sincontinuously, in this
lawlessness, sin that's lookingforward to sinning, that's
(15:32):
having no ability to turn awayfrom it.
If you're still slave to that,if you still revel in your sin,
well, I pray that you take thetime now, pause this podcast or,
if you can't, as soon as youget a chance, get down on your
knees, close yourself away fromthe rest of the world and pray
(15:56):
to God and talk to him.
Just be honest, Speak in yourheart, Tell him that.
Well, Lord, I was told to praya certain prayer, or somebody
told me that I was baptized as ababy and so I'm your child.
So I think I'm your child.
I believed I was your child,but I don't feel like it and
(16:19):
then just ask for his help andhe will do that.
He will do that.
So, continuing on the secondpart of verse 6, whoever sins
has neither seen him, Jesus, norknown him.
Knowing him, so knowing himbeloved, means opening his word
(16:43):
and reading it.
I sound like a broken record,but I can't emphasize it enough.
I went my first half of my lifenot understanding the
importance of just reading theBible, and not reading it like
an academic, but reading it likeyou would.
A love letter to get to knowyour God, to get to know Jesus,
(17:08):
your Savior.
It's all here in God's Word.
You don't need to go to theseminary to learn to understand
God's Word.
You don't need to even besomebody who is really good at
academics or an excellent readerto read and understand God's
(17:29):
Word.
What you do need, whateverybody needs, is the Holy
Spirit to be born again.
So a person can't test out thewaters, Someone can't open up
God's Word and think well, letme read it for a while.
I'm going to see if this fitsme first, and then I'll decide
(17:50):
no, because anybody who doesn'thave the Holy Spirit in them, it
doesn't make sense.
Historical things will makesense, the stories will make
sense.
The stories will make sense,but the reason behind it, the
moral aspect of it, thespiritual part of it, will not
make sense, Whether it'llfrustrate you, bore you,
(18:14):
whatever it might be.
So, getting to know him, and aswe get to know him, what John is
saying then in verse 6, is thatyou won't want to sin.
You will want to leave that sin.
That was a big part of who youwere.
Your flesh is still going tocry out for it beloved.
(18:34):
You are still going to strugglewith that.
But with every passing week andmonth and year, that you
continue to walk with the Lordand his word and to come
together with other brothers andsisters in the faith, which is
very important, and by listeningto teachers, like you are right
now, and going to a church, aBible teaching and preaching
(18:59):
church.
Don't get mixed up withchurches these days, and there's
a lot of them that are notteaching the full gospel.
Even if it's 95% of the gospel,well, it's not the full gospel,
so just be weary with that.
But by going to a Bibleteaching and preaching church
with born-again believers wholove the Lord, who are following
(19:22):
him, you will Listening to thesermons and praying with one
another.
That's inevitable.
You cannot not change at thatpoint.
So verse 7, John says Littlechildren, let no one deceive you
.
That we've heard before.
Jesus tells us when he talks tohis apostles.
(19:43):
And he tells us then, throughhis speaking to the apostles in
the end times which we are hereI'm not saying that time is
going to end, even in mylifetime, but we are in the end
times.
There is nothing left that weare waiting for to happen, for
the church to be raptured.
So there's nothing left tohappen for Christ to come, for
(20:07):
his church and the Holy Spiritrapture, lift up, take away the
church, leaving only theunbelievers left on planet Earth
.
And that's when Jesus says letno man deceive you.
So a pretty important warning,because John is repeating that
and he even says little children.
(20:28):
He's not insulting us, he's notsaying that we're stupid, that
we have the intellect or evenbehavior as a child, but as
born-again believers, and themore we walk with him, we should
have more of ability like achild, but as born-again
believers and the more we walkwith him, we should have more of
ability, like a child, to trustin God.
And like little children, weare still very vulnerable to
(20:54):
Satan and his demons to trick usBeloved.
This is why I teach in thispodcast, because I'm trying to
circumvent, to go around thetraditional way of people just
going to a church that they'vebeen going to week in and week
(21:15):
out, month after month, yearafter year, and there's been
absolutely no spiritual growth.
And the reason for that isbecause many are not born again.
They don't understand that why?
Because they have been deceived.
I speak from experience becauseI was one who was deceived.
So John says little children,which is all of us, let no one
(21:38):
deceive you.
So by listening to theteachings in this podcast and by
reading God's word well, way togo, you are working on not
letting others deceive you.
So it's not just Satan, notjust the demons who are out to
trick us, but there's many falseprophets, there are many
(21:59):
antichrists, small a big a, thatare teaching false doctrines.
I've said before and firmlybelieve that even many spiritual
leaders today who are caught upin denominations and caught up
with their hierarchy, in theirpositions, their prestige, just
like the Pharisees of old.
(22:19):
Unfortunately, over time, Satanand the human heart has made
that the problem the case today.
So many people are deceived, solittle children.
Let no one deceive you.
What he says next seems to be soobvious.
(22:39):
It's like why do you even sayit, John?
But he says he who practicesrighteousness is righteous, just
as he that's Jesus is righteous.
But let's think about that,Because he who practices
righteousness is righteous.
Do you know people who?
(23:00):
They do everything they can tofollow the rules morally?
So not in the sense of I don'twant to be caught, Okay, that
would be immoral, so I'm goingto just try not to get busted.
But someone who is practicingrighteousness is righteous.
It's a part of their living,it's their nature, it's who they
(23:22):
are.
They don't want to break rules,they want to abide by them and
they wish others would abide bythem.
Even when someone's notwatching, those who practice
righteousness still do the rightthing Because even though human
eyes might not be watching, wealways know that God, the Father
(23:45):
, is watching and we also knowthat we are watching.
We know when we are trying tocheat something, to break a rule
, to better ourself.
So he who practicesrighteousness is righteous
You're living that way and justas Jesus is righteous.
(24:05):
Verse 8, he who sins is of thedevil, for the devil has sinned
from the beginning.
That's halfway through 8.
I'll stop right there.
And again, this is referring tonot sinning.
From time to time, as a saintis through the process of
sanctification, the help, thepower of the Holy Spirit,
(24:27):
overcoming his or her sins, butstill messes up, makes that
mistake, that person feelshorrible, quickly repents, and
we want to do everythingpossible to be right with our
Holy Father.
So that's not the kind he'stalking about In these passages
from verse 4 through 9.
(24:47):
Here John is talking about thatlawlessness, that sinning of
lawlessness, that is one steepedin their sin.
It's a person who does that isof the devil, and why For the
devil does that is of the deviland why?
For the devil has sinned fromthe beginning.
It's an interesting fact Goingthrough Sunday school, we're
(25:09):
taught that sin entered theworld when Adam sinned.
But it wasn't Adam and Eve thatcommitted the first sin, it was
the devil.
He sinned because he wanted tobe like God and the angels were
made before people were made.
So Satan and the angels thethird of the angels that were
(25:32):
cast from heaven down to earth.
They are the ones who sinnedSin was already present, ones
who sinned Sin was alreadypresent.
That's interesting.
But of course it was quite easyfor the devil himself, knowing
the hearts of man, to quicklymake them sin.
So that is why John says he whosins is of the devil, for the
(25:55):
devil has sinned from thebeginning.
When we openly sin, beloved, weare following the devil's way.
If you're born again, you can'tlose your salvation.
So it doesn't mean that.
But be careful, Don't let sinthat enticing part of it that at
first looks great and you thinkyou know what.
(26:16):
I guess this one sin.
I can just kind of keep doingthis, I'll just sweep it under
the rug, but I'm okay with it.
That is very dangerous, becausenow that is of the devil and
then that gets in our way wherewe begin not to hear the Holy
Spirit speaking to us because weare so busy listening to the
(26:39):
devil, because he's verydistracting.
He's going to do everythingpossible to get you away from
the blessings of your HolyFather, even though he can't
take your salvation away.
The second part of verse 8,.
For this purpose the Son of Godwas manifested, that he might
destroy the work of the devil,and he did so.
(27:00):
If anybody ever asks you, whydid Jesus come down as a baby?
Why did he live a human life?
Well, he did that for thepurpose to destroy the work of
the devil.
Because sin was done in theflesh, Adam.
It had to be paid for throughflesh.
(27:23):
That's just the way God does it.
He's God, it's part of hisultimate plan, but it was for
this purpose the Son of God wasmanifested, that he might
destroy the work of the devil.
Verse 9.
Whoever has been born of Goddoes not sin for his seed, his,
(27:45):
that's capital H, so God.
His seed remains in him, lowerH, so the person.
I'll read that again Whoeverhas been born of God does not
sin for his seed.
God's seed remains in him, theborn-again person, and he cannot
(28:05):
sin because he has been born ofGod.
Now remember, stay with me here, because we're still talking
about that sin of lawlessness,that repetitive sin, that sin
that we are okay with the sin.
That was just who we werebefore we were born again,
(28:26):
before we were a child of God.
A person cannot live with sinand have the Holy Spirit abide
in them.
It can't be done.
This is one of those importantmessages that most churches are
not talking about.
Why?
Because people don't want tohear about it.
People don't want to go to achurch and be told that if
(28:48):
they're having a sin thatthey're not letting go of, they
better double check because theymay not be born again.
People don't want to hear thatbecause, first of all, a lot of
denominations don't even teachfrom the Bible of born again.
They continue to say thingslike remember your baptism, or
because you were baptized, youare born again.
(29:11):
There's a lot of false doctrineout there.
And so if someone says but youknow what, if you are sinning,
if you have this regular sinthat you just kind of stick with
, yeah, you better double checkhere, because possibility you
don't have the Holy Spiritdwelling in you, which means
you're not born again.
So when John in 9 says whoeverhas been born of God and born of
(29:35):
God is born spiritually, alsoknown as born again does not sin
, they do not sin continuously,they do not live with a sin that
they accept.
They will continue to sin less,less often.
We're still going to fight, butwe're going to overcome sin way
(29:57):
more often than we are going tofall to the sin.
Now let me remind you of thisbeloved Temptation is not sin,
and this is a hard one for me,so I'm preaching to myself here
as well, because we're going tohave thoughts that pop into our
mind.
But we know that temptationisn't sin because Jesus was
(30:20):
tempted.
He was tempted for 40 days and40 nights.
Now we were told of threedifferent ways that the devil
tempted him, but that doesn'tmean that was the only time he
tempted him.
But Jesus didn't succumb to thetemptation.
Jesus was hungry and when thedevil even brought it up, if
(30:41):
you're the son of God, go ahead,change these rocks into bread.
Jesus knew he had the abilityto do that.
Just one tiny little thoughtand he would have some really
good tasting bread right thereto eat.
But he didn't.
But he still had the thought.
(31:01):
So be very careful with that,Because just because we have
these temptations, I don't knowhow many times I can look at a
dessert and go, wow, I reallywant to just cram that in my
mouth because that looksdelicious and just satisfy my
flesh and not care what it doesto my physical body.
(31:22):
But now I'm looking at gluttony.
Can't walk around just eatingeverything that I want, because
then that is sin.
I am just satisfying my flesh,but because I'm not slave to
that and I can still think, boy,that would be nice to eat that
dessert, but I don't.
That's what he means by whoeverhas been born of God does not
(31:46):
sin.
They don't walk around crammingwhatever they want in their
mouth to eat.
Why?
For his God's seed remains inhim.
That born-again believer hasthe Holy Spirit that remains in
him and it's not through our ownpower, it's through the power
(32:07):
of God that we're able to dothat.
So when John continues and whenJohn says and he cannot sin,
that's the born-again believer.
The born-again believer cannotsin Again.
It doesn't mean that we'reincapable of it, because no,
That'll be when we are glorifiedand amen to that, In our
(32:27):
glorified state, in eternitybeloved.
Well then, we will not be ableto sin.
But what John is saying here iswe won't be able to put up with
our sin.
That time that I do walk pastthat dessert and I decide
whatever and I just jam it in mymouth, the first thing I do is
I repent.
(32:48):
You know, I feel horriblebecause I know that's not good
for my body, just to not eventhink of the consequences.
I know I need to slow down andstop, because I do have a
tendency to have a sweet toothand I can easily just start
throwing them in my mouth again.
So I know that I need to bevery careful with that.
And with the power of the HolySpirit I'm able to overcome that
(33:11):
, and that's why I cannot sin.
I can't just continuously walkaround and eat whatever I want.
Because he has been born of God,A born-again believer has been
born of God, and that brings usright back to John 3.
So this is very important thatwe understand that being a child
(33:33):
of God is being born again.
And if you've never been bornagain, well, you can do that
right here, right now.
That's all it takes is a prayerfrom the heart.
There's no magic words, there'sno certain prayer that you must
say, but it needs to come fromyour heart and just ask the Lord
(33:54):
to come into your life, Tellhim that you want to give your
life to him.
You know that you're a sinner,you know that you need Jesus
Christ to be your Savior becauseyou can't pay your sin debt.
And by acknowledging that, thenyou can do the next step and
believe that Jesus Christ wasraised from the dead, that God,
(34:18):
the Father, with his power andhis love for you, raised Jesus
from the dead.
And Jesus, by overcoming death,kills death.
Death no longer has a sting foryou if you are born again With
the mouth, confess the LordJesus and, with the heart,
believe he was raised from thedead and you will be saved.
(34:42):
And if you have prayed that,well, welcome to God's family
and for the rest of my brothersand sisters, well, just don't
forget that we have the power ofthe Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
So you're not slave to sin,You're not slave to your anger,
(35:02):
You're not slave to yourdepression, You're not slave to
eating and not thinking.
You can stop Whatever it is.
The world is going to try totell you that you're a victim
and that it was because of theway you were brought up or
because of this or that incident.
Now, those who don't have theHoly Spirit dwelling in them,
(35:24):
who are not born again, sadly, Isay well, yes, you are a victim
, you are slave to your sin.
You can't stop it.
You might be able to stop for alittle bit, you might be able
to detour what you're doing fora short time, but it's going to
overcome you.
So John has really helped usout here, understanding that,
(35:47):
yes, we are still going to sin,but we are going to sin less.
But we cannot live a lifestyleof having one foot in the world
hanging on to some sin andhaving one foot walking with the
Lord.
It doesn't happen that way,beloved.
It's time to quit all theworldly ways, turn to the Bible
(36:10):
and see what God truly has instore for you.
I hope you do that, and untilnext time, God bless, Thank you.
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