Join us on a journey through the third chapter of 1 John, where Dr. McGee discusses the dual nature of believers and the ongoing battle between flesh and spirit. Discover valuable lessons on spiritual growth, the significance of love among Christians, and why jealousy is detrimental to faith communities. This episode invites listeners to examine their own lives and relationships through the lens of scripture.
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in God.
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How do you know if someone is really a Christian or not? Isn’t that a great question? You know, our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, discusses that today on Through the Bible. So, can you tell whether someone is a genuine believer in Jesus Christ? Well, not always. But as we learn today, God’s Word describes two marks of identification which can help us be discerning. We’ll also learn about the two common character traits of someone who follows Jesus. Now, if you remember, when Dr. McGee introduced these studies in 1 John, he told us that John was a pastor of the church of Ephesus, which the Apostle Paul helped to start. Well… It’s doubtful that Ephesus or any other church in John’s day asked for a resume from a prospective pastor. Some years ago, a listener sent Dr. McGee a newspaper article that puts the calling of a pastor into a New Testament context. Dr. McGee shares that article now.
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And it came out of the column of Dear Abby. And the title of the column was, Would You Hire This Preacher? And this is the letter that was apparently sent to her. It says, one of the toughest tasks a church faces is choosing a good minister. A member of an official board undergoing this painful process finally lost his patience. He’d watched the Pastoral Relations Committee reject applicant after applicant for some fault, alleged or otherwise. It was time for a bit of soul-searching on the part of the committee. So he stood up and read a letter purporting to be from another applicant. And this is the letter. Gentlemen, understanding your pulpit is vacant, I should like to apply for the position. I have many qualifications. I’ve been a preacher with much success and also had some success as a writer. Some say I’m a good organizer. I’ve been a leader most places I’ve been. I’m over 50 years of age. I have never preached in one place for more than three years. In some places, I’ve left town after my work has caused a riot and disturbances. I must admit that I’ve been in jail three or four times, but not because of any real wrongdoing. My health is not good, though I still get a great deal done. The churches I have preached in have been small, though located in several large cities. I’ve not got along well with religious leaders in towns where I’ve preached. In fact, some have threatened me and even attacked me physically. I am not too good at keeping records. I’ve been known to forget whom I have baptized. However, if you can use me, I shall do my best for you. The board member looked over the committee. Well, what do you think? Shall we call him? The good church folk were aghast. Call an unhealthy, troublemaking, absent-minded ex-jailbird? Was the board member crazy? Who signed the application? Who had such colossal nerve? The board member eyed them all keenly before he answered. It’s signed, the Apostle Paul. And may I say to you, friends, it does have a message in it. Does it not?
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We’ve got time for just one letter today and it comes from a church officer in Pontiac, Michigan. I’m a 50-year-old man and have been a deacon for 15 years. I’m writing today to thank you for your daily ministry to my pastor. As a deacon, you see the challenges and trials in a church quite differently. My pastor loves through the Bible. It feeds him, comforts him, and gives him the backbone a man needs to stand up for God’s intentions in our generation. I do believe that Dr. McGee is a pastor to my pastor and I’m eternally grateful. Isn’t that a meaningful letter? That’s one supportive deacon, by the way. We need to remember to pray for our church leaders and then ask God to care for their spiritual needs as well. Now let’s bow our heads as we prepare to study God’s word together. Father, thank you for your ministry among those who minister to us. Speak to us through your word today. Have your way in our hearts according to our needs. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. Here’s Dr. J. Vernon McGee as he leads us on our journey through the book of 1 John on Through the Bible.
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Now, friends, we’re back in 1 John, the third chapter, and I’m going to move back to the eighth verse, although we got down to the ninth verse. I’m going to read the eighth verse again. He that committeth sin is of the devil. Now, that, I think, we need to recognize is the source of all sin. He is the one that’s responsible for being brought into the world today. He’s the one that led our first parents. The reason that you and I today have a sinful nature is because of the devil. Now, he that committed sins of the devil, your child of the devil. You remember the Lord Jesus said to the religious rulers in his day, ye are of your father the devil, and the works of your father you will do. The interesting thing is we take after our fathers. And if your father’s the devil, then may I say you’re going to act like him. And if your father is our heavenly father, then you have that nature and you’re going to act like him. He that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. That is, he started out sinning. He’s been at it ever since. He’s in rebellion against God. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ died for the sin of the world. John the Baptist said, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And that is the penalty of sin. When you’ve trusted Christ, your sins are behind you. You’re saved in him. They’ll never be brought up as far as your salvation is concerned. You’ve trusted him. But we are told that he not only takes away our sin, but that he also was manifested to take away our sins, plural. And he was without sins. He had no sin nature. He was wholly harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. But he was a human being. And he died as our sin offering. Now, that paid the penalty. But he was manifested also, we are told here, to take away our sins. And actually, our is not in the better manuscripts. It’s to take away sins. Take away sins of believers. All believers. In other words, to make it possible for you to live a Christian life. Now, that brings me to the subject of this section. Every believer has two natures. That’s what Paul’s talking about in the seventh of Romans. Paul says, what I… Would not do that new nature I’ve got. I do it. The old nature has been in control so long, he goes ahead. Now Paul says, what I would do, that is the new nature, I don’t do it. The old nature drags his feet. He’s not going to serve God. He is in rebellion against God. And we’re told very definitely here in the eighth chapter of Romans, I read this again. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It’s not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. It’s not until you are born again. And he goes on to say, but ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. And there’s no idea of a condition here. He says, since the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he’s none of his. Now, let’s be very clear about this today. We’re talking about born-again believers. We’re not talking about professing Christians. We’re not talking about church members. We’re not talking about those that have just been baptized and were baptized before they were saved. We’re not talking about those that go through a ritual or belong to some system. We’re talking now about those that have been born again. Will you notice what he says? That the Lord Jesus was manifested. that he might destroy the works of the devil. That is, make it possible for you to live for God. Now, whosoever is born of God, that is, this is the new birth we’re talking about. This is what the Lord Jesus said to a religious ruler. Ye must be born again. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Now, you’re given a new nature, and that new nature does not commit sin, will not commit sin. My friend, that’s the reason the prodigal son couldn’t stay in the pig pen. He was not a pig. He was a son of the father, and he longed for the father’s house. And if you’re a child of God, and if you’re a son of God, you’re going to want that father’s house. You’re going to long for it. You’re going to want it. Now, whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Now, unfortunately, That gives a wrong impression. Here, when it says he doth not commit sin, the idea is not just one act of sin, but he doesn’t live in sin. We are told today that if any man sin, any Christian man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Now, it’s not his will. In fact, the matter is, he makes it very clear that he wants us to live. My little children, these things write unto you that you sin not. And sin is anything contrary to the will of God. And when that comes into your life, what happens if any man sin? He’s talking to believers. Why, what? We have an advocate with the Father. And that’s the reason he could say that if we confess our sins, Who is he talking to? To believers. Now, here, what he’s talking about, whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. That new nature will not live in a pig pen. Never, never, friends, under no circumstances will it. For his seed remaineth in him. You have a divine nature if you’re a child of God. And he cannot sin because he is what? Born of God. Now, my friend, we’re talking about something that’s real. We’re talking about that which is genuine. Oh, I don’t mean some little profession that you made when you went down and shed a few tears. The question is, have you been born of God? And again, I want to say it. I believe in the security of the believers, but I believe in the insecurity of make-believers. And it’s well, I think, for us to take an inventory and to look at our lives. And ask ourselves the question. Examine yourself and see whether you’re in the faith or not. Are you really a child of God? Are you long after the things of God? That’s the important thing. This letter I read last time of this poor boy, a homosexual. Somebody says he can’t be a child of God. I say he can’t. But if he is a child of God, he’s going to give it up. I say this, that a prodigal son ought not to be in a pig pen. And he’s not going to live there. He’s going to get out. A day will come, I’ll arise and go to my father. And his father is not anywhere near that pig pen. He’s as far from it as you possibly can get. And this is important. Whosoever is born of God does not practice sin, does not go on in sin. And you’ve received a new nature. And you didn’t lose your old nature. That’s the problem. No wonder Paul cried out, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And only the Spirit of God can deliver you. Now, if you recognize you’re helpless and hopeless, and I’d say that to many today, that some sin you’re down and it spoils your life, wrecked your joy, and you’re miserable. May I say to you that he can and he will deliver you. If you want to be delivered, if you want to get rid of that thing, if you really want to have joy in your life, you really want to serve him. If you mean business with him, he means business with you. For his seed remaineth him and he cannot sin. He’s born of God. Now, in this, the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. And I think we need a little more manifesting today because so many of the children of God look like they belong to somebody else. They look like they at least are orphans. Now, we have here the two natures, and I want to look at that for just a moment. And I want to use an illustration. It’s a very homely illustration, but I trust it will illustrate the thing that we’re trying to say. Up in my ranch up here in California, and by the way, I heard of a dear lady that said to a neighbor of hers, and the neighbor’s the one who told me, is over in Phoenix. She said, do you know that Dr. McGee owns a ranch in California? And I’m amazed that a poor preacher could own a ranch. And this lady laughed and says, well, why didn’t you listen to him carefully? And he told you how big his ranch is. And so I want to say now, I hope that lady is listening. And I’ll tell you how big my ranch is that I have in California. It’s 72 feet wide. It goes back 123 feet, not miles or yards. These are feet. And in the middle of that ranch, there’s my home. That’s where I live. And I’ve got a lot of fruit trees. I did have a nectarine, but I got a tangerine. My, how it bore fruit this past year. And I have three orange trees. I have a lemon tree. And I have a plum tree. I have an apricot tree. And I have a fig tree. And I have a lot of guava bushes. And I tell you, friends, and besides that, I got four avocado trees. Now, that’s quite a ranch, as you can see. And I love fruit and I enjoy getting out in my ranch and looking around. Very seldom when I’m home and a day doesn’t pass that I don’t go all the way around my yard looking at every tree. Well, the avocado trees are budded trees. That is, below the bud, it was a wild avocado, I’m told. I didn’t set them out. They were there when I bought the lot. And it was just a wild avocado that grew out here and could grow in dry land. But it has budded to it several very fine varieties. One is a fiordi, a very fine avocado. And the bud, you can see where it is. It’s just about as high as my head on the one particular tree. Now, below that bud, every now and then a branch will come out from the wild or the old nature, the old avocado. And I have to trim it off. Now, sometimes I’m busy in conferences and away, and I don’t get to tend to things like that. And below the bud, the limb will come out. And it’ll bloom and it’ll bear fruit. It’s the lousiest fruit you’ve ever seen. A little bitty, nubby, dried up thing. It’s just no good at all. But above that, oh, it’s luscious. Now, my problem is to keep those limbs cut off below the bud and not bear fruit down there. Bear fruit up above where it’s got a new nature and it bears fruit. And this avocado tree can bury either kind of fruit. It’s just up to me. And I want to say to you that I’m like that avocado tree. I got two natures. I can, oh, I can be mean. I can live on a pretty low plane. I got a nature that’s that way. And all of us have that nature. We never get rid of it. And we all come short of the glory of God. Not above that. That’s where I can bear fruit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering. And today, I feel good today. And I have the joy of the Lord in my heart. I’m rejoicing today. But tomorrow, you may find me down in the dumps. Now, I ought not to be there. But that’s something that happens, you know. And when it does, why, I’m living in the old nature. Now, Paul in Galatians says, It’s telling the believer to learn to walk in the spirit. That is, you can’t do it yourself. You see, Paul found out in the seventh of Romans that there are two things. There’s no good in the old nature. And the second thing was there’s no power in the new nature. You’ve got to have help. I don’t care who you are. You can’t live the Christian life yourself. You must have help. It’s only the Spirit of God working in you that can do that. Therefore, he wants you to produce fruit. And that’s the reason the Lord Jesus said, I am the genuine vine. You are the branches. Now he says, I’m going to prune you. And I prune that tree above. And it bears better fruit when it’s pruned. And he prunes us to get good fruit. But sometimes down there in that old nature, it’ll bear fruit too. And it’s called the works of the flesh. It’s not very attractive, by the way. It’s nothing to brag about. Now, he says in verse 10, and I’m reading again, in this, the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. You can tell them. apart by the fruit. By their fruit ye shall know them, the Lord Jesus said. And as the late Dr. McGinley used to say, he said, I’m not to judge you, but I’m a fruit inspector. And we ought to be able to find a little fruit on believers, our fellow believers. Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not a God. Now, I don’t care who he is or what profession he makes, whether it’s a he or a she, That if they are not trying to live for God, they’re not a child of God. You have no desire to live for God. I don’t care what act if you are. You may be a deacon in the church. You may be business a termite and having the same effect in the church. But my friend, the important thing is this. And this is the identification. Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not a God. I didn’t say that. John did say it, and the Spirit of God said it through him. Now, the second mark of identification, neither he that loveth not his brother. Now, there’s the second mark. Do you love other Christians? May I say to you, if you’re a child of God, you’re going to love other Christians. And by the way, the word for love is going to occur now again and again. And we ought to get this straight right here at the beginning. that there are actually three Greek words that are translated by the one word love. One of them is eros. It’s never used in the Bible. That’s erotic love. That has to do with sex, if you please. Greeks talked a great deal about that, and they had a goddess named Eris, and Aphrodite, the goddess. May I say to you that that’s not used in the Bible. Now, phileo, it means friendship. It means a love of the brethren. It’s a brother sort of love. Now, the other word, the highest word, agapao, and that’s the word that’s used here. That’s God’s love. God so loved the world. Now, what we are told here, that we’re to love our brother. And may I say that we’re finding a great deal today, a great deal to talk about love, love, love. And it’s articulated with sex in many places. In the Bible, it has no relationship to that whatsoever. Neither he that loveth not his brother. That means to have a concern for your brother. That means to be helpful to your brother. And that doesn’t mean that you care for his ways or his conversation. The things that interest him may not interest you. It doesn’t mean that you have to run and put your arms around him. But you should have a concern for him. Now, I’m going to move on, for this is going to be developed through this area. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Now, John has a great deal to say about the beginning. Now, the beginning he’s talking about in his epistle here is the beginning that began with the incarnation of Christ. And the Lord Jesus, you remember, he’s the one that taught this. He said, by this shall all men know that you’re my disciples. If you have love one for another, that would be the mark. Now, John is merely reaffirming that here. And he says, this is not new. He says, I’m telling you, you heard this from the beginning. The Lord Jesus taught it to us. And the apostles, all the apostles have taught this. This is from the beginning that we should love one another. Now, this is love of believers. And this is something that’s woefully lacking today in many places. Now, not as Cain, who was of that wicked one and killed his brother. Now, Cain and Abel were brothers, blood brothers. And very much alike in many ways. But Cain killed his brother. Why? And why killed him? Because his own works were evil and his brother’s righteous. What was his problem? Jealousy. That was his problem. That was the great sin. That is one of the great sins today. Now, it’s a good thing we’re at the end of the broadcast because there’s a lot I’d like to say about this. And I really am not going to develop it even next time very much. But I want to say jealousy today is hurting, I think, the cause of Christ more than anything else. And that is that old secret sin that many believers cover up. How many soloists are jealous of another soloist? How many preachers are jealous of another preacher? And a great deal of the backbiting that goes on in the church has its root in one thing, jealousy. Oh, that’s a mean one. Jealousy. And that’s the reason Cain killed Abel. God accepted the works of his brother. Now, he’s going to continue to develop this relationship of believers, which will be a real test of our Christian faith. We’ll see that next time. So until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
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Wow, Dr. McGee really gets at the heart of the problem, doesn’t he? And also to the solution. Now tomorrow, we’ll dive into the sometimes sticky issues related to relationships between Christians. How to deal with conflict. How to express real love and more. this might be a good time to invite your pastor to listen or maybe another brother or sister in Christ. And you know, as long as we’re on the subject, I just want to say thank you for getting the word out about Through the Bible. We hear all the time about how you’re introducing your friends and family to this program, and it really is working. This ministry has grown over the years. Thanks in large part to so many of you telling others about how God’s using it in your lives. And then I also want to thank those who faithfully support through the Bible in prayer and by providing a tank of gas or a new set of tires to keep the Bible bus rolling in your neighborhood and around the world in more than 120 languages. It is such a privilege to partner with you and see how God’s using His Word to change lives, including our own. To find out how you can partner with us, you can call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE. You can write to us at Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. If you’re listening in Canada, write to Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. And you can always drop us an email at BibleBus at ttb.org. Well, we’ve got more great teaching by Dr. McGee and 1 John tomorrow. I’m Steve Schwetz, and as always, I’m looking forward to traveling with you as we make our way through the Bible.
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Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left the crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.
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Our story on the Bible Bus today is just one step in a five-year journey through the entire Word of God. Come along for the ride, and you’ll study both the Old Testament and New Testament, discovering God’s great redemption story. Is this your story too?
