DCLM Daily Manna 17 April 2024
TOPIC: Identity of Kingdom Citizens
TEXT: 1 John 3:9-12 (KJV)
9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
KEY VERSE
“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
1 John 3:9
DCLM Daily Manna 17 April 2024 Message
Two theological students were walking along a street in the White chapel district of London, a section where old and used clothing is sold. “What a fitting illustration all this makes!” said one of the students as he pointed to a suit of clothes hanging on a rack by a window. A sign on it read: “SLIGHTLY SOILED – GREATLY REDUCED IN PRICE”.
“That’s it exactly,” he continued. “We get soiled by gazing at a vulgar picture, reading a course book, or allowing ourselves a little indulgence in dishonest or lustful thoughts; and so when the time comes for our character to be appraised, we are greatly reduced in value. Our purity, our strength is gone. We are just part and parcel of the general, shop-worn stock of the world.” So it is today, once we get soiled in sin, our kingdom citizenship is removed.
READ DCLM Daily Manna Tuesday 16 April 2024 – Test of Christian Love
In today’s passage, we see the conclusion of all that the apostle has been teaching right from the previous chapter, that anyone who continues to sin is “of the devil” (verse 8) and “is not of God.” In summary, Apostle John clearly describes righteousness and love as the two distinguishing characteristics of those who are born into the kingdom of God as contrasted with the children of the devil. This clearly refutes any doctrine that says that one can be out of fellowship with God, continue to sin, do the works of the devil, love the world, do harm to others and yet still be a child of God.
To become Kingdom citizens, we must be “born of God” through the Holy Spirit and receive the new life. Being born again is more than turning a new leaf or starting afresh; it is a rebirth, receiving a new identity based on Christ’s death on the cross. This makes us to be forgiven and totally accepted by God.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Righteous living is the identity of Kingdom citizens.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Psalm 92-100
