“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” 1 John 1:5-6 ESV
The message the apostles heard was given to them directly
from Jesus Christ who is the Son of God, and he is God. And, they passed along
to us the message they heard from Christ, from God. So, this was not something
they made up in their own minds. It would be a lot like us teaching the
scriptures by quoting the scriptures, which are God’s words to us.
So, the message is that God is light, and in him is no
darkness at all. God is pure, he is righteous, he is holy, he is truth and
everything wholesome. And, in him is no darkness, no lies, no deception, no
immorality, and no wickedness at all, absolutely none!
So, if we claim to have fellowship with God, it means that
we claim to believe on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives. And that
means that we claim to partake of God’s divine nature, and to be partners with
God in his righteousness and holiness, and to participate with him in his
kingdom work, and to share commonality with him in his heart, his passion, and
his purposes for us. It means, too, that we claim we are walking with him daily
in his righteousness, we are in His Word, we are in communication with Him, and
we are consistently following him in obedience to his commands.
But, if we claim to have such an intimate and personal
relationship with Jesus Christ, through God-given faith in him, but we walk in
darkness, we are liars who do not practice the truth.
So, does this mean we have to be living in sinless
perfection and that we have to never once sin ever again or we are practicing
lying? No! And, this is why, in the scriptures, they use the words “walking” and
“practicing,” or they use verb tenses which say the same, which are not always
communicated (translated) well into English translations, for we don’t have all
the same verb tenses as did the Greek language.
Basically, what this is saying is if we make a practice of
what is evil, immoral, dishonest, untrustworthy, and deceptive, and yet we
claim we are walking in fellowship with God, in the light that he gives to us,
then we are those who do not practice telling the truth. We are hypocrites, in
other words, who claim one thing while we live another. We are two-faced. And,
to walk in something or to make it our practice, it means it is our habit, our
go to, what we consistently and regularly do as our normal course of conduct.
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7 ESV
So, we must walk in the light, as God is in the light, as
Jesus Christ is in the light. So, purity, righteousness, holiness, truthfulness
and morality must be what we practice. And, submission to Christ and obedience
to his commands must also be what we practice. They must be our “go to,” our
normal and regular course of conduct. They must be our habit, what we do
without even thinking about it. And, we do so in the power and wisdom of God
now dwelling within each one of us who is in Christ Jesus by genuine faith in
him.
If righteousness and holiness are what we practice, and if
immorality and lying are not what we practice, then not only do we have
fellowship with God, but we also have fellowship with one another.
And, what should that look like? Well, it is not a group of
people who call themselves Christians getting together and eating food until
they are stuffed silly. And, it is not them getting together and talking about
all the things the world talks about, either, or lying to one another, or
gossiping, or telling course or off-color jokes, or mocking others, or viewing
inappropriate material together. It is not them laughing about how they wormed
their way out of having to pay for a crime or an offense they committed,
either.
Christian fellowship should look just like our fellowship
with God, for the commonality we have with one another is Christ and his
righteousness, his purity, his forgiveness, his honesty, and his morality.
So, if we are first of all like-minded with Christ in all
these ways, then we who are like-minded with Christ will also have unity of
mind and heart with one another. And, our fellowship with one another will stem
from our relationship with Jesus Christ and not from the world and all the
things that are in the world.
And, if we have fellowship with God, because we are walking
in the light and not in the darkness, THEN the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin. And, we need to get this! Scripture is real clear that our
relationship with Jesus Christ is not solely based on a confession of faith in
Christ, but it is based on a walk of faith and obedience to Christ. And, it
must continue until the very end with this same consistency for us to have
eternal life with God.
[Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; Eph.
5:3-6; Gal. 5:16-21; Gal. 6:7-8; Col. 1:21-23; Heb. 3:6, 14-15; 2 Pet. 1:5-11]
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:8-9 ESV
I think that most people will admit that they have sinned,
that they have not lived perfect lives. But, I could be wrong about that. But,
what stands out to me here is the word “deception.” Many people who know they
are sinning against God will deny that they are sinning, or they will call it
something else. For, sin works like that. They want to hide the fact that they
are sinning, because they don’t want others to know what they are doing.
And, so they will lie to themselves to convince themselves that
what they are doing is not sin, but that it is something less than that. They
are just “relaxing,” or they are just being “entertained.” Or, it is ok to take
in just a little bit of filth for the overall benefit of being entertained. Or,
they have a right to do such and such because of what others have done or are
doing. So, it is as though they have this entitlement mindset that gives them
permission to sin because they feel somehow that they deserve it.
So, I think that a lot of this saying that they have “no sin”
is not so much saying that they have never sinned, but it is denying that what
they are presently doing is sin because they want to continue in it, and so
they call it something other than sin or they make excuses for it and then they
cover it up with lies so that no one else knows that they are sinning.
So, the opposite of that would be to own up to the sin, to
call it what it is, to confess it to God and to those to whom a confession is
required. But, it isn’t just confessing it with our lips that is required. For,
some people are really good at the “sin confess sin confess” routine, but
nothing ever changes. They just go on, business as usual. So, this isn’t only
owning up to the sin and being honest to those whom honesty is required, but it
is repentance.
So, what God requires is not just a verbal confession,
though it begins there, but what he requires is the turning away from the sin,
and the turning to him to follow him in obedience. For, if the confession is
outward only, forgiveness does not follow suit. Our sorrow must be godly sorrow
which leads to repentance, to changed hearts, to changed attitudes and to
changed behaviors. Otherwise, it is just a lot of hot air that goes nowhere.
So, we need to understand here how this works. We have to
walk in the light as our Lord is in the light in order to have fellowship with
God and with one another and in order for the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from
all sin. For, our faith is not past, but present. And, we have to truly repent
of our sins if we want forgiveness of sins and to be cleansed from all
unrighteousness.
So, this is not a one-time deal. This is a daily walk of
faith in Jesus Christ whereby we die daily to sin and self and whereby we daily
walk with him in his righteousness and holiness, and only then are we
guaranteed eternal life with God. For, this is what the scriptures teach (see
scripture references above). So we need to know the truth, and we need to live
the truth.
Only
in Him
An
Original Work / February 19, 2014
Based
off Isaiah 30
Woe to those who look to man’s help;
Who turn away from Jesus Christ;
Forming an alliance not in step with God;
Making their own plans, and praying not.
Willing not to listen to truth,
They close their ears to what is right.
Pleasing words are all that they’ll hear;
Feel good messages that bring cheer.
Trust in your Lord; turn from your sin.
Put your faith now ONLY IN HIM.
Do not turn to idols. They’ll not satisfy.
Jesus will save you. That’s why He died.
Your Lord will be gracious to you.
He cares all about you, ‘tis true.
He forgives you all of your sin
When you give your life up to Him.
Oh, how truly gracious He’ll be
When you bow to Him on your knees;
Turning now from your sin; walking in his ways.
He’ll lead and guide you all of your days.
Now you will sing praises to Him.
He delivered you from your sin.
You’ll tell others now of His grace,
So they may see Christ face-to-face.
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