Thursday, March 13, 2008

The First Epistle of John: Lesson Thirty-Two

"I speak what I have


seen with My Father,


and you do what


you have seen with


your father."




John 8:38




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Good morning! Let's pray....




"Father God in heaven, today in our lesson, Lord, we will look more into what sin is and what it does to Christians. Lord, I pray that You will speak to our hearts and teach us more about Your precepts. Your precepts are pure and right and just. Teach us to love Your law and treasure it in our hearts that we might not sin against You. You are gracious and full of compassion, ever mindful of Your covenant with Your children. Make us remember our covenant with You.




Lors, I pray that You will search me for the hidden sins of my heart. Forgive me for my sins that I have committed against You. I agree with You that they are sins and they separate me from You. I pray that You will wask me clean and renew me. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that others will see You in me.




I lift up each lady reading this study. I pray that You will teach her more about Your attributes today and convict her of sin in her life so that she might be cleansed. I pray that You will fill her with Your Holy Spirit and encourage her. I pray that she will see that Your law is perfect, converting the soul; and that the statutes of the Lord are right. May she rejoice in her heart today!




In Jesus' name....amen."




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In our last lesson, we looked at righteousness and those who practice righteousness. Today we will look again at who sins and the origin of sin.




1 John 3:8-




"He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil."




As we read in previous lessons, sin began with Satan. His pride and lust for power led to his downfall as he and others were cast out of heaven. The earth became his domain and his works are to destroy the creation of the Lord....one soul at a time if need be.




Please read:


Gen 3:13-15

Is 65:25


We see in these verses that the curse of God upon Satan caused great opposition between Satan and God's Son. As soon as Adam and Eve were cast out of paradise, Satan began to slowly and methodicaly destroy God's creation...


Gen 4:1-15


God's punishment on Cain was a curse.


What did Cain do after receiving this mark, or curse?


Gen 4:16-17


Cain went out and built the first city. Did he name it after God? No, he named it after his son, Enoch. Satan had already caused Cain to murder, now he was moving Cain to be proud and boastful. As civilizations advanced, so did violence. But, as usual, God had a remnant: the godly Enoch.


So, we see in early world history that as Satan tried to destroy, God always provided a remnant...someone who still followed the Lord:


Gen 5:21-24

Heb 11:5


As hard as Satan tries throughout history, it is the Lord who ultimately allows a remnant to remain.


One of my favorite history subjects is World War II. It is exciting to read about the heroism shown by so many young men who fought for country and for friendship. But reading and studying the Holocaust became frightening to me for I saw the wrath of God bestowed upon His people. We read about the wrath of God in scripture.....but WWII gave us photographs of what God's wrath can look like.


The Lord warned His people in Deuteronomy:


Deut 28:15-68


Read these verses in light of the Holocaust that happened from 1939-1945 and then read them in light of the Holocaust to come.


God did reduce His people to dust and it rained down upon them as their ashes scattered upon the land. He took their homes and lands away and gave them to the Nazis. He made His people servants of a foreign people. He made them cursed upon the land and scattered them to every nation.


But He did spare a remnant....and He will spare some again in the next Holocaust. As we see Israel still reject Him as their Messiah, we must pray for Jerusalem and the remnant there among the disobedient.


Satan almost destroyed all of God's people, but God only let him go so far. God is sovereign over all.


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"For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil."



We know that God created to be known, but why did Jesus come to this world and reveal Himself? Here in this verse, John answers that question emphatically: to destroy.

So many people say that Jesus came in love and that He is about peace....but what did Jesus say about Himself?

Please read:

Matt 10:34

Luke 12:49-53

Christ Jesus came to divide us from the dominion of Satan. Satan will fight hard to keep us under his rule, sometimes tearing about families in order to do it. But we know that Satan is conquered already through Christ.

Heb 2:14-15

Col 2:15

2 Tim 1:10

Jesus came to take away our sins, but He also came to destroy the works of the devil. On the cross, Jesus took on the powers of death and He destroyed those powers once and for all. Of course Satan still roams the earth, but now he has no power over the Children of God. He is a conquered foe thanks to the Lord Jesus's triumph over death.

We were once slaves of unrighteousness, but now we are heirs to the kingdom of God through Christ!

It is important to reflect on this at this time of year when we celebrate the Resurrection. Imagine what it was like inside that tomb where Christ lay wrapped from head to toe. Satan, thinking he was triumphant, must have screamed in agony when he saw Jesus move and unwrapped the cloths from His body. As the stone was moved to release Jesus, death's powers were removed from His Children.

Praise God indeed!

I love this song by Carman. I was in high school when he released it and it still sends shivers down my back! Jesus is alive forevermore...just imagine how He looked when He defeated death for you and me.





Take this with you today and truly meditate on what Christ Jesus did for you.

Blessings,
Ruth

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