1 John 1:5-10 ESV
“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. 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. 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. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
If We Say
God is light. He is truth. He is righteousness and holiness.
He is moral purity, faithfulness, integrity, and uprightness. There is no
darkness in him at all. There is no evil, no lies, no betrayals, no trickery, and
no faithlessness in him at all. So, IF WE SAY that we are in fellowship
(communion, partnership) with him while we still walk (in conduct, in practice)
in deliberate sin, then we are liars who do not practice telling the truth.
For, the Scriptures are clear on this subject, all
throughout the New Testament. And they teach us that if we are walking in
(practicing) sin, deliberately, with full knowledge of what we are doing,
especially premeditatedly, i.e. plotting them out in advance, and if
righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, then we don’t
know God, we are not saved from our sins, and we will not inherit the kingdom
of God.
Also, IF WE SAY we have no sin or if we say that we have not
sinned, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, and we make God out to
be a liar, who he is not, and so his word is not in us.
Now, this could be someone professing faith in Jesus who claims
that Jesus has redeemed him from his sin and therefore his present and future
sins are as though they are non-existent, and so he can sin as much as he wants
without consequence. That is a lie from hell. For if we walk in sin, making sin
our practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God.
And this can definitely be a professing Christian (or not)
who is sinning against God and others who is hiding his sin so that no one can
see what he is doing, while he presents a different image of himself outwardly
where others can see. So he presents a false image of himself, which is a lie.
But this is also about lying about the sin, either in advance to try to cover
up what one is plotting, or after the fact to cover up for the sin committed.
If We Walk
But IF WE WALK in the light, as God is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, because we are now in true fellowship with God, AND
the blood of Jesus God’s Son cleanses us from all sin.
So, what is this saying? Whenever we see these “if” clauses
we need to pay attention to what they are saying, for they are saying that what
follows is conditional. It is saying that “if” this (whatever) is the case,
then that will be the result. Like if you cut back on how much you eat, you
will lose weight, but if you don’t, and you continue to eat too much, you will
not lose weight. I know that is not a perfect example, but you get the idea.
We have many “if” clauses in the Scriptures usually
indicating that what follows is something that is conditional. And if we study
the Scriptures carefully, we will come to realize that our salvation and our
eternal life with God, although gifted to us from God, are conditional on us
meeting the requirements of God for the receiving of the gift. And that is
because the gift has very specific requirements attached to it.
So, you may say, how then can it be a gift? Because the gift
of our salvation is not just God forgiving us our sins and us having the hope
of heaven when we die. It is us dying with Christ to sin and us living to Christ
and to his righteousness, as empowered by God, by faith. It is us walking
according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh, and it is us forsaking
our sins and our idols to follow Jesus in obedience to his ways and his
commands.
So, receiving the gift involves us surrendering our lives to
Jesus and us now letting him live his life in and through us. It involves walks
of obedience to our Lord because we are called to obedience as part of God’s
gift to us. So, the free gift us not giving us freedom to keep living in sin
without guilt, but it is freedom from our slavery to sin and us living holy
lives pleasing to God in the power of God who is living within us.
Also, by the Scriptures setting the conditions for us that
they do with regard to our salvation and eternal life, and these conditions
require us walking (conducting our lives, in practice) in the ways that God
says, then that is also teaching us that our salvation is progressive
sanctification, and it will not be complete until Jesus returns to take us to
be with him, but provided that we continue in him in the faith steadfast to the
end.
[Rom 8:24; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 1:18; 1
Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Jn 8:31-32; Jn 15:1-12; Rom 11:17-24; 1
Co 15:2; Col 1:21-23; 2 Tim 2:10-13; Heb 3:6,14-15; 2 Pet 1:5-11; 2 Pet
2:20-22; 1 Jn 2:24-25]
If We Confess
Now this word “confess” does not mean to make a verbal
acknowledgment of sin committed only. There are people who are on a habitual
sinful course who will admit their sin only to turn right around and commit the
same sins over again while continuing to confess, then sin, then confess, then
sin, etc. So, the confession is just to relieve some guilt, but it is not true
repentance for nothing changes. They are still on the same sinful course.
What this word translated into English as “confess” really
means is to speak the same as God about our sin; to be in full agreement with
God about our sin; to speak to the same conclusion as God about our sin. And
this is not just to admit that we sinned or that what we did was sinful. For if
we are in full agreement with God, and we are speaking to the same conclusion
as God about our sin, then we agree that we must forsake our sins and that we
must follow Jesus in obedience to his ways.
And IF WE CONFESS our sins in that manner, then it involves
true repentance, and it involves us walking (in conduct) in the light (truth,
righteousness) as God is in the light. It means we are no longer walking in the
darkness (in habitual sin), but we are now walking according to the Spirit of
God in obedience to our Lord in holiness and righteousness. And then the blood
of Jesus cleanses us from all sin and our sins are forgiven.
[Lu
9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20;
2 Co 5:15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; 1 Co
15:58; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23]
Full
Release
An
Original Work / April 15, 2012
Walking daily with my Savior
brings me joy.
Loving Father; precious Jesus;
He’s my Savior and my Lord.
Gently leads me; follow Him.
I’ve invited Him within.
Now abiding in His presence,
oh, what peace.
From my self-life
He has brought me,
By His mercy, full release.
Hope and comfort,
peace and safety Jesus brings
When I daily bow before Him;
Obey freely; do His will.
Follow Him where’er He leads.
Listen to Him; His words heed.
Now obeying his words fully,
oh, what love
That He gives me
through salvation,
By His Spirit, from above.
Loving Father; precious Jesus,
He’s my friend.
With my Savior, by His Spirit,
I will endure to the end.
Share the gospel, tell what’s true.
Witness daily; His will do.
Tell the world of how their Savior
bled and died.
On a cruel cross He suffered
So that we might be alive.
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