November 16
“Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous,” 1 John 3:9-12.
The evangelist John continues to pursue the relationship between the children of God and the children of the devil. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,” John 3:6. Flesh born of flesh is sinful. We are born of sinful parents, and therefore we are sinful. We were not perfect people when we were born. The psalmist wrote, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me,” Psalm 51:5. God said to Noah, “The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth,” Genesis 8:21.
When we were born, we were spiritually blind, dead, and enemies of God. The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,” 1 Corinthians 2:14. We must be enlightened by the Holy Spirit, who calls us out of spiritual darkness into the marvelous light of the Gospel with the message of forgiveness through faith in Jesus.
To the Ephesians, the apostle wrote, “(You) were dead in trespasses and sins,” Ephesians 2:1. When we were born, we were spiritually dead until we were made alive by faith in Christ Jesus. Two verses later, the apostle wrote, “(We) were by nature children of wrath, just as the others,” Ephesians 2:3.
To the Romans, Paul wrote, “The carnal mind is enmity against God,” Romans 8:7. Our old sinful nature is an enemy of God. We do not want God to tell us what we can do and what we cannot do. Our sinful nature, the old man in us, rebels against God; but the new man, the Christian in us, cannot sin.
By what they think, say, desire, and do, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. The children of the devil do not practice what is right in God’s sight, and they do not live by the law of love. John writes, “This is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” From the beginning, God created a world which He wanted to be governed by the law of love – love for both God and man. Behold the evil world in which we are now living, in which everything is so far removed from what God intended! That great removal from love was sharply demonstrated when Cain murdered his brother Abel. Why? Cain “was of the wicked one.” He was serving the devil. His brother was serving God. For that reason, Cain hated Abel, just as the children of the devil and the children of the world hate the Christians today! Remember Jesus’ words, “You will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved,” Matthew 10:22.
Into this wicked world God sent His Son to save sinners. Jesus suffered and died on the cross and poured forth His blood to wash away our sins. He conquered sin, death, and the devil, and we are invited to believe and trust in Him for the forgiveness of sins and the promise of life everlasting. With our lives, we are urged to show the faith and hope which we have in our hearts as children of the heavenly Father.
“It is Thy work alone
That I am now converted;
O’er Satan’s work in me,
Thou hast Thy pow’r asserted.
Thy mercy and Thy grace
That rise afresh each morn
Have turned my stony heart
Into a heart new-born.” Amen.