Episodes

  • Reassuring Love Triumphs Worldly Hate | 1 John 3:13-16

    Reassuring Love Triumphs Worldly Hate | 1 John 3:13-16
    Apr 13 2025
    Less than 1 minute
  • Gospel Assurances from God’s Silent Prophet | 1 John 3:10-12

    Gospel Assurances from God’s Silent Prophet | 1 John 3:10-12
    Apr 6 2025

    Lord's Day: April 6, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: First John Topic: Assurance Scripture: 1 John 3:10–12, Isaiah 46:8–11, Genesis 4:4–14, Jude 1:10–13, Hebrews 11:4, Luke 11:49–50, 1 Kings 18:20–46, 2 Kings 2:11, Hebrews 12:24, 1 Timothy 2:2, Romans 12:1–3, Romans 15:4–6

    I. Concluding Cain and reprobation, then God’s powerful Object Lesson of Righteousness in Abel’s brief life and death

    10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifested: everyone who does not do righteousness is not of God, as well as the one who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; 12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. 1 John 3:10–12

    II. God’s Progressive Revelation of Scripture into the New Testament does not have anything good to say about Cain, while it does celebrate, honor, and praise Abel's life and death

    • Be sensitive to your own sin. Repent and confess it, whenever your conscience accuses you, a friend confronts you, the Spirit convicts you

    III. Cain is a clear object lesson in what we should not be and do, while Abel is an object lesson in what we should be and do

    • Abel was a righteous, God-believing, God-fearing man, who walked the straight path of the Lord in a quiet, humble, unspectacular way

    IV. Abel was not a radical, Lordship Salvation guy that threw himself into full-time ministry, sold everything he had, and left it all to follow after God

    • Abel, his life and his death, continues to speak to us today

    V. Abel’s death—his blood—signifies death, condemnation, and vengeance for sin and its consequences

    • Abel was a normal, godly unspectacular shepherd, living a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity (1 Tim 2:2), and Jesus called him “righteous Abel”

    We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

    • ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
      4712 Montana Ave
      El Paso, Texas 79903

    Contact us at:

    • web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
      call/text: (915) 843-8088
      email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

    Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com
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  • Brotherly Love & Hatred | 1 John 3:11-15

    Brotherly Love & Hatred | 1 John 3:11-15
    Mar 30 2025

    Lord's Day: March 30, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: First John Topic: Of Man Scripture: 1 John 3:10–15, Psalm 1:1–6, Genesis 4:1–24, Genesis 37:3–4, Hebrews 11:4, Matthew 15:18–19, Matthew 5:21–22, John 7:7, Luke 11:46–52, Revelation 19:15, 2 Thessalonians 1:8–9, Isaiah 45:6–7

    I. This is the Cain and Abel overflowing cup that runneth over from the previous Lord’s Day, and broaden our horizons to the more general theme of “Brotherly Love & Hatred”

    10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifested: everyone who does not do righteousness is not of God, as well as the one who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; 12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Do not marvel, brothers, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. The one who does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 1 John 3:10–15

    • The pattern, peripateo of Cain’s life, his walk, his disposition, his lifestyle of sin, beginning with his lack of faith, continued on the crooked path of a hater and murderer, and a lack of repentance
    • Cain’s sin matured to the point of bringing forth death, such that the first recorded human death in the entire history of mankind is Cain’s grisly murder of his own brother

    II. Cain hated and wanted to replace Abel, just as Satan and Antichrist hate and want to replace God and His Seed, just as the scribes and Pharisees hated and wanted to replace Jesus

    • Just as the World (unrepentant, unregenerate society) hates us and wants to replace us like sheep to be slaughtered (Rom 8:36), those of us who trust and follow Christ

    III. Even though God demonstrated kindness to Cain and, in a sense, disciplined him as a Father does, this does not mean that God loved Cain in an ultimate sense

    • God had no regard, not just for Cain’s offering, but for Cain himself either (Gen 4:5)
    • You cannot truly understand and appreciate the beauty of God’s love unless you also understand the holiness, righteousness, and purpose of His sovereign hatred

    IV. Was Cain eventually saved?

    • “Then Cain went out from the presence of Yahweh and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.” Genesis 4:16

    We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

    • ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
      4712 Montana Ave
      El Paso, Texas 79903

    Contact us at:

    • web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
      call/text: (915) 843-8088
      email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

    Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com
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  • God’s Abel & the Devil’s Cain | 1 John 3:10-12

    God’s Abel & the Devil’s Cain | 1 John 3:10-12
    Mar 23 2025
    Lord's Day: March 23, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: First John Topic: Of Man Scripture: 1 John 3:10–15, Matthew 3:7–8, Titus 2:11–15, Proverbs 28:18, Genesis 4:1–11, Proverbs 3:9–12, Hebrews 9:22, Hebrews 11:4, James 1:13–15, 1 Corinthians 10:5–13 I. Previously, we left off with John the apostle expounding for us the black and white, good and evil, light and darkness, God and devil, Cain and Abel contrasts 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifested: everyone who does not do righteousness is not of God, as well as the one who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; 12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. 1 John 3:10–12 II. And love, true love—God’s love—is righteous because it is defined and conditioned by the Law and Logos of God Contrary to popular belief, God’s love is discriminating, selective, and exclusiveGod’s love always brings regeneration, and repentance, and sanctification, and all of Christ’s benefits III. God’s love and saving grace condition us and conform us to the image of His Son, and away from sin, from our fallen, wretched old man, away from the flesh (Rom 8:29) Love, and Righteousness, and Law, and Truth, and God and His glory—all go hand in handDo not let the world, the flesh, the devil, or misguided, misled, or false Christians define what love is for you, or anything else for that matterGod has given us His Spirit and His saving grace and sanctifying means of grace and of deliverance to both deal with our sin now, after we are saved, and “do righteousness” (practice/live, believe, speak, behave), beginning with the law and the gospel IV. The following verses give us examples of a child of God and of the Devil, as object lessons Object lessons in the Bible are objects that teach us valuable, important lessonsThe objects in this case are the lives of Cain and Abel, illustrate for us what we should do (“live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age”) and not do (i.e., “denying ungodliness and worldly desires”), that we should not go the way of Cain, evil, the devil, but instead we follow Abel’s example of faith and godliness V. What actually happened between Cain and Abel? Why were Cain’s deeds evil and Abel’s righteous? Sin is personified here as insidious, gradual (subtle, seeks to entrap/ensnare us, deceitful), as restless, and constantly desiring to overpower/dominate us, even if it’s inch by inchLook at Cain’s sin progression, which reveals his walk“By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain" (Heb. 11:4) VI. 1 John 3:12 points out Cain’s motive for murder—blind, baseless jealousy, “because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous” The problem is revealed in the entire pattern, the peripateo of Cain’s life, his walk, his disposition, his lifestyle of sin, beginning with his lack of faith, he was a hater and murderer rather than a lover and repenter (penitent) VII. It didn’t start with murdering his brother in cold blood, it was a gradual progression Murdering Abel was the fruit sin of Cain’s root sinBeware: None of us are that far removed from Cain, as hideous and wicked a sinner as he was, because the apostle John later on confronts us with the reality that “everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know [no excuse] that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” 1 John 3:15 We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am: ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church4712 Montana AveEl Paso, Texas 79903 Contact us at: web: ThornCrownCovenant.Churchcall/text: (915) 843-8088email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com
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  • Discerning God’s Children & the Devil’s Own | 1 John 3:9-11

    Discerning God’s Children & the Devil’s Own | 1 John 3:9-11
    Mar 16 2025
    Lord's Day: March 16, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: First John Topic: The Christian Life Scripture: 1 John 3:9–11, 1 Peter 1:23, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 John 4:8, Psalm 5:5, Psalm 7:11, Romans 13:8–10, Romans 5:8, Romans 6:1 I. The beloved apostle continues expounding for us the black and white, good and evil, light and darkness, God and devil, Cain and Abel contrasts 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. The one who does righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 The one who does sin is of the devil, because the devil sins from the beginning. The Son of God was manifested for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifested: everyone who does not do righteousness is not of God, as well as the one who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; 12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. 1 John 3:7–12 God’s Seed and Purpose (Providence) and the Devil’s Seed and Schemes ("works")The threefold sense of God's SeedWe are regenerated by God, adopted by His fatherly love II. By counterfeited contrast, the devil and his own, his seed, are diametrically opposed to God and His seed, and all that is true, good, and beautiful; pure, lovely, and excellent (Php 4:8) 3. The devil’s seed and works are, in sum: The devil’s anointing, a false anointing of lies and disobedience, sin and shame/guilt, and of overexposure (perversion, corruption) III. Although these verses contain serious warnings against living in continual, unrepentant sin… W.G.T. Shedd: “Holy inclination is inability to sin…. The [holy inclination] originates in the operation of the Holy Spirit upon [the believer’s will], while the [unbeliever’s sinful inclination] is self-determination [self-will] pure and simple [flesh], without any internal efficiency [power] of the Holy Ghost…. There is, consequently, a “slavery to righteousness,” as well as a “slavery to sin.” A [believer’s] will which, by regeneration, has been “powerfully determined” (Westminster L. C., 67) and inclined to holiness, is unable to sin, in the sense in which Christ intends, when he says that “a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit” (Mat. vii. 18); and in which St. John intends, when he asserts that the regenerate [believer] “cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John iii. 9). This does not mean, that the regenerate, while here upon earth, is sinlessly perfect, committing no actual transgression, and having no remainders of sinful inclination. See 1 John i. 8. But it means that the regenerate [believer’s] will is unable to sin in the manner of the unregenerate [unbeliever’s] will: i.e., impenitently and totally.”[1] IV. In verses 10-11, another explicit connection between “doing righteousness” and love—loving your brother, by contrasting the opposite Remember, to do righteousness is first and foremost to believe and apply the truth of God, and it means to love, love God and neighbor [even personal enemies, cf. the gospels, Matt 22:36-40], but loving God and neighbor also means to love and obey God’s lawPSA: It is fatal, destructive heresy to divorce love from the Law of God—Antinomianism V. No such thing as lawless love, that has no repentance, because God’s love is not unjust God is love (1 John 4:8), and His love, like His law—and like Himself—is holy, just/righteous, and goodMany today, within and without the church, agree with movements like “He Gets Us,” who claim that Jesus is “the world’s most radical love activist”[2] who “created a radical love movement,” who “‍touched lepers. Welcomed outcasts. and loved without condition.”[3] Their favorite words…radical and love“We’re challenging our own assumptions and preconceived notions about who he is and creating space to doubt, question, and learn from the authentic Jesus,” outside of the church, because “He Gets Us is not a back to church campaign”This Jesus is only about unconditional love, not hate, not repentance, not even about church—but about love divorced from truth, justice, holiness, and the churchLiberals like Gary Wills, a leftist Roman Catholic scholar who wrote What Jesus Meant, but, what Gary thinks Jesus meant is that the Father's "love is undiscriminating and inclusive, not graduated and exclusive" (29).[4]“What are the tests for entry into the reign [of Heaven] or exclusion from it? They are very simple. One will not be asked whether one voted, whether one was a good citizen, or even whether one dealt justly. That is not enough.... The simple test is ...
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  • God’s Seed & the Devil’s Schemes | 1 John 3:7-8

    God’s Seed & the Devil’s Schemes | 1 John 3:7-8
    Mar 9 2025
    Lord's Day: March 9, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: First John Topic: Spiritual Warfare Scripture: 1 John 3:7–8, 2 Timothy 2:15, Galatians 3:11, Habakkuk 2:4, John 8:44, Genesis 3:4–7, 1 John 4:3, Acts 10:34–43, Romans 16:19–20 I. Biblical commentators often disagree on how to outline this chapter, and most of this letter, because the letter has no linear progression/flow The New Testament manuscripts generally do not contain punctuation or paragraphsTry to read them yourself and make sense of them, even if you know Greek![1] II. The best way to understand the flow of John’s first letter: to note the recurring patterns, themes, categories and contrasts that he emphasizes 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. The one who does righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 The one who does sin is of the devil, because the devil sins from the beginning. The Son of God was manifested for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifested: everyone who does not do righteousness is not of God, as well as the one who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; 12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. 1 John 3:7–12 Continues to draw out the recurring contrasts of sin and righteousness, holiness and unrighteousness, law and gospel, love and disobedience, God and the devil, God’s Seed and Purpose and the Devil’s Seed and SchemesThis passage, and this entire letter, makes constant use of the Analogies of Scripture/Faith—because the New Testament in general (later writings) makes use of all the earlier Old Testament writings, as well as contemporary NT writingsProgressive Revelation: later revelation cumulatively explains and accounts for earlier revelation III. 1 John 3:8: The Devil, His Schemes, His Children We do not become righteous by doing righteous things, which is both impossible and backwards, confusion of law and gospel IV. The Devil himself has his own anointing and incarnation The Devil’s anointing stems all the way back to “Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste Brought Death into the World, and all our woe, With loss of Eden” (John Milton, Paradise Lost)It is a false anointing of lies and disobedience, sin and shame/guilt.The Antichrist is the Devil’s false incarnation of Christ, the false head of the churchAs our confession says (2LBCF 26.4): “The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church. In him is vested, by the appointment of the Father in a supreme and sovereign manner, all authority for the calling, institution, order and government of the church.1 The Pope of Rome cannot in any sense be the head of the church, but he is the antichrist, that 'man of lawlessness', and 'son of destruction', who exalts himself in the church against Christ and all that is called God, whom the Lord shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.”2 (1) Col 1:18; Eph 4:11-16; 1:20-23; 5:23-32; 1Co 12:27-28; Joh 17:1-3; Mat 28:18-20; Act 5:31; Joh 10:14-16; (2) 2Th 2:2-9The “many antichrists that have appeared” are the devil’s childrenEvery “spirit of Antichrist” that does not confess Jesus is not from God (1 John 4:3)—it is a false Holy Spirit, unholy spirit IV. How then shall we deal with this sinning, imposturous, copycat devil who tempts us to sin? Have no fear—Jesus Christ the Righteous is here! The end of verse 8 points us to gospel-saturated promises of glorious victory and encouragement that overcomes the world, the flesh, the devil: “The Son of God was manifested [incarnated, ἐφανερώθη ephanerōthē] for this purpose, to destroy [“to loose,” λύσῃ lusē] [all] the [false] works of the devil”“If now we dare to be pleasantly pictorial, we may imagine that the devil has tied us into knots, and Christ has come to untie them. Still pictorial, we can say that we are bound by sin and that Christ strikes off our fetters. Of course, Christ had a complex of purposes, but this one affects us most directly.”[2]The God of peace gives us true peace, external/objective peace, not a false hope that is merely internal/subjective, not based on reality, but based on God’s promises and providence We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am: ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church4712 Montana AveEl Paso, Texas 79903 Contact us at: web: ThornCrownCovenant.Churchcall/text: (915) 843-8088email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights ...
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  • Do Righteousness, Not Sin, Just as He Is Righteous | 1 John 3:6-8

    Do Righteousness, Not Sin, Just as He Is Righteous | 1 John 3:6-8
    Mar 2 2025
    Lord's Day: March 2, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: First John Topic: The Christian Life Scripture: 1 John 3:4–8, Romans 7:7, Romans 6:1–2, Hebrews 12:2, Romans 13:8–10, John 14:21–24, Matthew 24:36–40, Galatians 5:14, James 2:8, 1 Corinthians 13:6, 1 Corinthians 2:16 I. Today’s sermon will build on the foundation that was laid last Sunday 6 No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or has come to know Him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. The one who does righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 The one who does sin is of the devil, because the devil sins from the beginning. The Son of God was manifested for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:6–8 Understanding sin—knowing what sin is in general, our sins in particular, how we relate to and deal with sin, before and after our conversion, is an integral, indispensable part of the very gospel that saves us, and of our sanctification II. Last time we started to unpack verse 6. How do we make proper sense of it? Romans 6:1–2:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin [living in] so that grace may increase [abound]? 2 May it never be! [Why?] How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Sinners will continue in sin, believers will notImportant and necessary for us to grasp the big picture—the whole counsel of God, Analogies of Scripture and Faith, because there are several other doctrines that are prerequisite for understanding this verse properly: of salvation in general, of regeneration, of the flesh, of sanctification, etc.The gospel deals with and resolves our sin in a complete, final, ultimate, eschatological, it-is-finished sense, once and for all senseWe nevertheless understand that, in a not-yet sense, we still war against sin and our fleshYou do war against sin, right? Romans 7? Galatians 5?Sin no longer rules over us! We now strive to not sin, and we repent when we sin, we mortify sin, put sin to deathWe cannot deny that true believers may still “fall into serious [grievous] sins,” as Scripture teaches us and our 1689 Baptist Confession summarizes for us, “through the temptations of Satan and the world, the power of the corruption remaining in them, and neglect of the means for their preservation [and deliverance], and may even continue in them for a time. In this they incur God's displeasure, grieve his Holy Spirit, have their graces and comforts impaired, have their hearts hardened and their consciences wounded, and hurt and offend others, and bring present chastisement [discipline] upon themselves. Yet [nevertheless] they will [in time] renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end." (17.3)We must balance all of these bookend doctrines III. What does “doing righteousness” look like? What is Righteousness?[1] 1. The answer lies in the latter part of verse 7: “...just as He is righteous.” Jesus Christ the RighteousErrol Hulse, Catechism for Boys & Girls: Q.35. What is righteousness? It is God’s goodness.Catechism for Young Children: Baptist Revision, Q. 45. What did Christ undertake in the [New] Covenant of Grace? A. To keep the whole law for His people, and to suffer the punishment due to their sins. IV. Now, if we could summarize “doing righteousness” in one word, what would it be? Biblical love is a summary and fulfillment of the Law of God—which defines and determines, not just what sin is, but what righteousness is and doesIf you don’t know and accept God’s law, then you don’t know what righteousness or love is, because both righteousness and love cannot be divorced either from God’s law, or from obedience to itLove and Righteousness and Law and Truth go hand in hand, and cannot be divorced from each otherThe Greatest Commandment, the Greatest, most Perfect Righteousness, is to Love—Love God and neighborLove and righteousness are all-encompassing Matthew 22:36–40: 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He [Jesus] said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 “On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.” We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am: ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church4712 Montana AveEl Paso, Texas 79903 Contact us at: web: ThornCrownCovenant.Churchcall/text: (915) 843-8088email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com [1] See ‘The Gospel According to Righteousnesses | 1 John 2:1’, ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church: El Paso, TX, 18 December ...
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  • Defining & Dealing with Sin | 1 John 3:4-6

    Defining & Dealing with Sin | 1 John 3:4-6
    Feb 23 2025
    Lord's Day: Feb 23, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: First John Topic: Sin Scripture: 1 John 3:4–6, Romans 5:1–6, 1 Corinthians 15:1–3, Romans 3:19–20, Romans 1:18–25, Romans 1:32, 1 John 1:8–9, 1 Thessalonians 5:22, Psalm 119:11 I. 1 John 3:4-6 4 Everyone who does sin also does lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or has come to know Him. II. The Analogies of Scripture/Faith give us more insight into what sin is, and its relation to the Law of God Catechism for Young Children: A Baptist Revision, Q. 28. What is sin? A. Sin is any want [lack] of conformity unto, or transgression [breaking, violation] of the law of God. Q. 29. What is meant by want [lack] of conformity? A. Not being or doing what God requires. Q. 30. What is meant by transgression? A. Doing what God forbids. [Lawlessness] III. In order to know what sin is, we must know what the Law is Where then is the Law [of God] summarized [and comprehended]? A: The moral law is summarized in the Ten Commandments, which were delivered by the voice of God on Mount Sinai and written down by Him on two stone tablets.[1] The first four commandments establish our obligations to God and the remaining six our obligations to human beings.[2] [1] Dt 4:13, 10:4; Ex 34:1-4; Ro 13:8-10; Ja 2:8-12 [2] Mt 22:37-40, 19:17-19 (Q91 of The Baptist Larger Catechism) Q92: What is the sum of the Ten Commandments? A: The sum of the 1st four commandments containing our duty to God is, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength, and with all our mind.[1] The sum of the six commandments which contain our duty to man is, to love our neighbor as ourselves,[2] and to do to others what we would have them to do to us.[3] [1] Lk 10:27; Mt 22:37-40 [2] Mt 22:39 [3] Mt 7:12 IV. What then is the remedy for this sin, this violation of God’s Law, which condemns all of us? How should we then deal with our sin? We must first know ourselves and our sin truly, we must know God truly, and what He has truly done for us. We need to see our sin: “The first part of Christ’s physic [remedy for sin] is eye-salve (Acts 26:18) [sight of sin]. It is the great thing noted in the prodigal’s repentance: ‘he came to himself’ (Luke 15:17). He saw himself a sinner and nothing but a sinner. Before a man can come to Christ he must first come to himself [and to his sin]. Solomon, in his description of repentance, considers this as the first ingredient: ‘if they shall bethink themselves’ (1 Kings 8:47). A man must first recognize and consider what his sin is, and know the plague of his heart before he can be duly humbled for it. The first creature God made was light. So the first thing in a penitent is illumination [sight, knowledge]: ‘Now ye are light in the Lord’ (Eph. 5:8). The eye is made both for seeing and weeping. Sin must first be seen before it can be wept for.”[1] “In the new birth all have pangs, but some have sharper pangs than others.” Even though we still sin as believers, God has given us His Spirit and His saving and sanctifying means of grace and of deliverance to deal with our sin now, after we’re saved, beginning with the law and the gospel. Six S’s: Scripture; Sound Doctrine (law/gospel); Sacraments; Self-awareness/Denial; Sage counsel; Spiritual Warfare We also avoid sin and deal with it in part by the light that marks true believers, the lifestyle (peripateo, our habits)—summarized as CAWFS: C is for Confessing our sin (1 John 1:9); Abstaining from sin (denying our flesh); Walking in the light; Fellowshipping with God and His people; Striving for obedience Sanctification is twofold: “It is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.” (Q38, Baptist Catechism) We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am: ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church4712 Montana AveEl Paso, Texas 79903 Contact us at: web: ThornCrownCovenant.Churchcall/text: (915) 843-8088email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com [1] Thomas Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance (Chapel Library), p. 7 [accessed 23 February 2025].
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