Pressing In to Grace
5 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. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 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. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:5-10)
Here In 1 John chapter one verses five through ten we learn 3 things concerning sin. They are obvious, and basic things. God is a God of the basics. He commanded His people Israel go over the basics of faith from the time he gave the basics to them. That way they would be saturated in them and share them with their kids and their kids kids. As christians this passage is bread and butter. We need to cover our lives in this truth and never forget. Then we pass it down through the generations.
The first thing we find in this passage is that God has no sin. Like the contrast of light and darkness God is not only sinless but He is the very opposite of it; simple enough. Yet there are those who have a tendency to blame God for their sinful stumbling. This passage and James 1:13 makes it very clear that is not the case “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.”
The second thing we find is we are sinners. Look closely at verses six eight and ten and there is no doubt. Yet there is still a heresy stalking many churches today; that of Sinless perfection. Verse 9 alone flies in the face of this poorly conceived Doctrine that somehow a person can stop committing sins in this fallen world. Whether accidental or willful. We are positionally perfect in the eyes of the Father all because of what The Son did for us on the cross. Practically however we will continue to fail until Christ comes back for His bride.
What happens then if we do sin? Well that would bring us to our third point. Confess your sin to the Lord and He is faithful and just to forgives us of our sin. Not only that but He cleanses us of all unrighteousness. We can fall on the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The devil will try to tell us we can’t possible come to the Lord after we sin like we did. However God’s word is true. We can come to Him at all times with anything, and He is faithful even when we are faithless. Press in to that grace today.
-Mike Miller CCNH-