14. Walking in the Lie vs Walking in the Truth p4:The Blessing that God is to us Specifically

Walking in the Lie vs Walking in the Truth P4: The Blessing that God is to us Specifically

1 John 1:5-2:6 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. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

We have seen the blessing of confession. When we confess our sins, it is evidence that God has done his renewing and regenerating work through the Holy Spirit in salvation. It is only then that we see sin as God sees it and are moved to confessing our condition of sin and the action of sin. The reason for this conclusion is the self-deceiving nature of sin which is the result of not having the truth in us. There are 2 main points in the rest of the verse. 1) The Blessing God is to His People generally. He is faithful and just and 2) The Blessing God is to His people specifically. He forgives us our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

Last month we saw the blessing that God is generally to His people in that He is faithful. His faithfulness means that He will never do anything that is contrary to His nature but will always uphold His glory and honor. His faithfulness to us flows from His steadfast love, which is unchanging, and cannot be moved from us, the objects of His love. He is just means that He is absolutely holy and righteous in all His decrees, commands, and judgements. How is this a blessing? We never have to worry about a changing measure of righteousness or a biased weight of judgement. He is impartial, cannot have His justice perverted by bribe or influenced in any other way. The frightening truth is that He will never change His standard of righteousness and as sure as are His promises of salvation, equally sure are His promises of judgement.

We have seen previously the holiness of God and also that He is absolutely faithful to His character. So it seems a bit of an oxymoron that the holy God who is just in all His ways would forgive the sinner and cleanse the sinner from all unrighteousness.

The fact that he forgives, and cleanses is not separate from the fact that he is faithful and just. It is because He is faithful and just that He forgives and cleanses. As a side note: There are some commentators that suggest that ‘just’ is not used in the judicial sense because forgiveness implies mercy, not justice. But if we are made guilty by Adam’s sin as our federal head then surely our crimes against God have been paid when Christ who is our federal head was crucified on our behalf. It isn’t mercy to release the accused when the debt has been paid. That is justice. But we create a false dichotomy to say justice and mercy are incompatible. With man it may be impossible but there is nothing impossible with God. It is only reasonable to ask how can He faithfully and justly forgive and cleanse sin and still be the righteous judge of all the earth? In the context of 1 John the following verses provide the answer to the question.

1Jn 2:1-2  My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  (2)  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

1Jn 3:5  You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

1Jn 4:9-10  In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  (10)  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1Jn 4:14-15  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  (15)  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

In the greater context of 1 John in the verses we just read we see the His faithfulness and justice to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness is bound up in His love for us. And His love is marvelously displayed in the covenants these texts imply. And these covenants are marvelously fulfilled in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is not going to be an in depth study of the covenants but since it is foundational to the link between God’s faithfulness and justice to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness we will touch on it briefly. The New Covenant

promises a mediator High Priest.

Psa 110:4  The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Heb 7:28  For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Heb 9:15  Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

it promises the forgiveness of sins

Jer 31:33-34  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  (34)  And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

and it promises cleansing

Eze 36:22-27  “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.  (23)  And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.  (24)  I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.  (25)  I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  (26)  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  (27)  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Our God, in order to calm and comfort us in our weakness and put to rest our doubts forever made it a record in His word. Heb 6:17-20  So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,  (18)  so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.  (19)  We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,  (20)  where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

God does faithfully and justly fully forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Forgiveness removes the guilt of sin and cleansing removes the stain. His forgiveness is an ever present forgiveness and His cleansing is an ever present cleansing. So the Christian who is ever painfully aware of their sin and the affront it is to God has this blessed assurance. That which we could never do for ourselves, He has done for us. He forgives and He cleanses and the guilt and stain have been removed from us faithfully and justly because God has reconciled His justice in and through the blood of Christ.

Faithfull He has loved, loves, and will love you, Christian, forever. He has loved you from the foundation of the world, and while we were enemies demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, forgives and cleanses us from all sin and all unrighteousness. Brethren, it is well with your soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

But I must say something to the word ‘us’ because this pronoun does not universally include everyone. Us implies a them and these verses have been a constant contrast between those who are walking in the light of the truth and those who are walking in the darkness of the lie. Who then is the us? The us are those who have received the Apostolic message of the incarnation and deity of Jesus Christ.

1Jn 1:1-4  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—  (2)  the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—  (3)  that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.  (4)  And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

It is those who are walking in the light and truth as Jesus taught the Apostles and they in turn delivered to us. A saving relationship with God is predicated on receiving, believing, and walking in them. Where do you stand today? Are you walking in the light or are you walking in the self-deception of darkness? If you are in the latter group I would beg you to be reconciled to God. We live under the false assurance that we will live another day. Just as there was an appointed time for our birth so there is an appointed time for our death and only the Lord knows the day and the hour.

How not to deal with sin

The Gnostics taught that all evil is in matter, for which man is not personally responsible. Moreover, they believed that their own true selves, their enlightened spirit, could not be contaminated by material. They claimed, therefore, to be sinless. All Gnostics knew that sin was not their problem -- only ignorance.

The Evolutionist: 'What men call sin is nothing more than the residue of their animal ancestry. That which is natural can only be good.

The Pantheist: 'Since everything is part of God; then what men call sin is part of God; therefore, sin is part of God and not sinful.'

The Behaviorist: 'There is no such thing as personal responsibility since a man becomes just what his environment makes him.'

The Psychoanalyst: 'Guilt is unhealthy.'

The Sociologist: 'Collectively we bear the blame for the ills of society.' (And if everyone is to blame in general, then no one is to blame in particular.)

The Alcoholic: 'I'm not a drunkard; I'm an alcoholic. It's not a sin, it's a disease.'

The Christian Scientist (Cultist): 'The concept of sin is only an illusion of mortal mind.'

The Holiness Perfectionist: 'I have reached sinless perfection and don't sin anymore. I just make mistakes.'

The Relativist: 'Since there are no absolute values, then by definition there can be no right or wrong.'

The false believer: God has forgiven all my sin which means I can sin without consequence. The other is let us go on sinning that grace may abound.

Let us there for exercise great care that we do not minimize the love of God for us in forgiving and cleansing us by taking for granted what He has done for us.