Month: June 2012

Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law…He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:4,8)

There is scarcely a person living in the United States that has not heard the word “sin.” Those of us in Bible believing churches hear it often; perhaps in our church there is never a service that it is not mentioned. We hear it in Sunday School classes, in congregational singing, in prayers, and of course in sermons. If you were asked to give a definition of sin, could you easily define it? What is sin? These two verses help identify sin and define it. 1 John 3:4 says “sin is the transgression of the law” and verse 8 says that “sin is of the devil.” The first statement links sin to the law of God and the second links it to Satan, the arch enemy of God.

This simple definition tells us that sin is lawlessness. Whenever you break one of God’s commandments, you have sinned against Him. Most of the time we think of breaking the Ten Commandments and when going down the list we think we have done fairly well because we don’t have idols in our houses, we don’t curse (at least not often), we think pretty highly of mom and dad, we don’t shoplift, we haven’t killed anybody, and so on. So all in all, we are pretty good people.

The Bible teaches that sin is much deeper than a list of do’s and don’ts. Sin is a condition inherent in human nature, so that the attitude of our hearts is one of rebellion and lawlessness. To see if this is true, test yourself when you see a friend move into a really nice house or driving a new car. Is there a bit of envy there? Are there people at work that really get under your skin and sometimes you mumble under your breath that you would like to take them down a notch or two? These are expressions of the sinful nature and are just a smidgen of the hundreds of ways we transgress God’s law every day.

Rather than admit we are sinners, we either try to redefine sin or excuse it. It is not uncommon for people to reclassify sin as a simple mistake or to accept it and excuse it as being a part of our personality disorder. Some blame their childhood, some their environment—whatever they can do to avoid being personally responsible. None of this helps with the real problem. We can redefine and reclassify all we want, but it will not change the fact that sin is the transgression of God’s law and there is a penalty incurred because of it. None of us will escape the penalty if we are left alone to deal with it.

Here is the good news about sin and Satan who is the originator of it. Verse 8 says that Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. The devil’s work is sin and this means Christ is able to conquer sin and the one that instigates it. When we receive Christ as Saviour, His blood cleanses us from sin and the power of sin and Satan is broken.

The most important action you can take against sin is to stop excusing it and to trust in Jesus the only one that can help you. To do less is to face the penalty of transgression all alone. When this happens, no excuse will satisfy God.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. (1 John 2:18)

Last week in our Sunday Morning Forum Class we had a discussion about the meaning of the term “last days.” This term is used several times in both Old and New Testaments but is often misunderstood. Sometimes the same concept is expressed in the way the apostle John did in 1 John 2:18 when he says “it is the last time.” Since the Bible was completed two thousand years ago, we might think the writers were referring to a far off time, perhaps to our own or some future date. However, it is clear from John’s present tense usage, “it is the last time,” that the time he was living in was also considered the last days. Hebrews 1:1-2 defines the last days as a time period inaugurated with the first advent of the Messiah. This means for these past two thousand years we have been living in the last days and will be until Christ returns to close out this period of earth’s history.

The last days are characterized as a time of growth in the kingdom of God. We will see this as we study Matthew 13 and the seven parables Jesus taught concerning the kingdom. This is a time for God’s people to witness the gospel, or as Jesus illustrates in the first parable of Matthew 13, it is a time to sow the seeds of the gospel. This is also a time of great opposition. In the second parable, Jesus describes how Satan will sow tares among the wheat. These are poisonous plants that represent the children of darkness who hate the works of Christ. Using the term “antichrists,” which is peculiar to John’s writings, John describes the character of these tares. They are “anti” meaning “against Christ.” They try to destroy the growth of the kingdom by teaching false doctrines.

Antichrists are very dangerous because the most effective work they do is when they are able to infiltrate churches with these false doctrines. These are not people that stand outside throwing stones. Rather they are people with cunning deceit that worm their way into the church and eat away at it from the inside. They represent false Christianity and their main target is Christ Himself. If they can destroy doctrines such as the deity of Christ, the penal substitutionary nature of the atonement, justification by faith alone, the inerrancy of scripture, and other essential doctrines they are successful at destroying the gospel before it can ever take root in the heart.

John and other Bible authors warn us to be on the lookout for any deviation from the truths taught by Jesus and the apostles. The theme of 1 John is the apostle’s systematic criteria for identifying those that are not true believers. If these false teachers are characteristic of the end times, then we are sure that John was not the only one living through the last days. We are in the heat of it at this moment, especially when the people of this country have become dreadfully confused about the definition of true Christianity. When Mormons are considered Christian, you know we are in trouble! We must be very diligent to “contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints” (Jude v. 3). We are surrounded by antichrists—not my term but John’s—and a very appropriate description it is.

Pastor V. Mark Smith