2012-03-02
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, we discovered that the true Christ connection is that road from decision to conversion to faith in Christ and repentance of past sin. It isn’t an easy road for most of us, whether or not we were initially raised in a loving Christian home. Even such people as the latter must become personally converted, if they have worn the label of Christianity all their young lives. Learning to feed/nourish our spiritual selves is all too often left up to the individual, although many parents see the importance of teaching this to their children. Once this personal conversion takes hold, then it is time to move on to the result.
Truthfully, I get a bit initially uncomfortable when I read the NIV’s version of 1 JN 3: 9-10, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in Him; he cannot go on sinning because he is born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” The reason for being uncomfortable is that it almost suggests that we can judge who is doing right and who isn’t. But God gives us this passage, because in a number of cases of our observations are pretty clear. If we see someone committing a sin like murder, rape, our something as outlandishly clear as that, we can say we have observed the act itself or have clear, irrefutable proof of the act. But even in cases like that, we all know there have been miscarriages of justice, and innocent people have been sent to prison. But what about in less obvious cases where someone is being accused of sin? The incidence of human error gets higher. If we go back to MT 7: 1-2, God’s will is clarified in matters of judgment. “Do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” So, we must look at 1 JN 3: 9-10 from the point of view that God, Who is perfect, omniscient of motives involved and has details in mind that people may want to hide. The Father [Ancient of Days] has given His Son, Jesus Christ, [the Son of Man] the right to be the ultimate Judge. These two passages support this: DN 7: 13-14 and HE 4: 13, “In my vision at night I looked and there before me was one like a Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all people’s, nations and men of every language worshipped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His Kingdom is one that will never be destroyed…Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s light. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account.”
The apostle John weighed in on this matter as inspired by God in 1 JN 2: 1-2, “My dear children [referring to all the members of the family of God], I write this to you, so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have One Who speaks to the Father in our defense-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning Sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” It is only now that we can even begin to understand what a great Sacrifice the Father made of His one and only Son on the cross and its ramifications. The standard of absolute perfection in God’s eyes is set before us, even though only Christ Himself ever attains it. It isn’t that God expects us to be perfect, only that He expects us to work as close to attaining it as we can. God can’t condone sin, or else He wouldn’t be true to Himself. And we know that He is. Despite being a perfect Being, Christ said to the woman caught in an act of adultery, “Neither do I condemn you, but go and sin no more” [JN 8: 11]. We have a wonderful message in the phrase, “Who speaks to the Father in our defense…” Even if we do sin, God is still our Father. It’s a reminder that even if we sin, fellowship may be broken, but not our covenant relationship. This leaves room for forgiveness if the behavior is stopped and confessed. Therefore fellowship can be restored in most circumstances. The only time it can’t is if the sin is against the Holy Spirit [HE 6: 4-6]. Notice that Christ becomes our Advocate in this situation [where there is confession and stoppage of the sin]. We can go back to RO 8: 38-39 as a reminder that nothing can separate us from God. Christ is not just our Advocate, but He is the only true Propitiation [satisfactory sin-sacrifice] for our sin [HE 10: 10].
As for really knowing Christ, this matter is addressed in 1 JN 2: 3, “We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands.” A true believer in Christ no longer wants to sin! John is giving us the true marks of those who are in fellowship with Christ. They are obedient; they obey His commands. This was surely aimed at the Gnostics in John’s time, who felt they had superior knowledge of God over others, even while showing little interest in keeping the commandments of the Lord. Our understanding is further illuminated in 1 JN 3: 4, “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact , sin is lawlessness.” This is expressed as a matter of continual behavior in the present tense, an insubordination to God. Thus 1 JN 3: 6, 9 tell us, “No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him…No one who is born of God will continues to sin, because God’s seed remains in Him; he cannot go on sinning, because he is born of God.” The word “seed” used here refers to the new creation, or new self created in us when we are in union with Christ [2 COR 5: 17]. Christ has expressed this notion in other words in JN 15: 5, “I am the Vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in Him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.”
PRAYER: O Lord, You give us great comfort in understanding that when we have true faith in You, we lose the will to continue sinning. This is a powerful “transformation inwardly by the renewal of our mind” [RO 12: 2]. We still are sinners and retain the ability to sin, but You have set up a conflict between the outer natural self and the Holy Spirit now dwelling within us, aptly described by Paul in RO 7: 7-25. If this sounds like an oxymoron, it isn’t. We need to have that conflict [superficially described as a conscience] to know that the process is sanctification is going on. As we mature spiritually, we are gradually opening our hearts to the prompting of the Holy Spirit while at the same time, closing them to thoughts, decisions, and behavior guided by the adversary, i.e. sin. While we are doing that work, the Father, through the Son and Holy Spirit, is “constantly re-creating us in His own image, so that we might have a greater knowledge of Him” [COL 3:10]. He is inching us at His perfect rate and in His perfect time toward the day when He will finally glorify us, i.e. bring us back to His side for a blissful fellowship with Him in heaven for eternity. This is in great contrast to the fate of serial rejecters of Christ, who will end up in hell, i.e. conscious and eternal torment from which there is no escape-being permanently apart from the Lord. We as true believers in active covenant relationship with You pledge to You our will to work on expunging sin from our lives. It is our intention to spend daily time with Your word and to have an active prayer life with You. We celebrate Your generosity, compassion, and hard work for our benefit in this covenant relationship, with praise and thanks to You forever. In the holy and mighty name of Christ, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m led to begin a new segment of this “Our Covenant” series called “The Veil Rent.” In it we will see that Christ is the key to access to God, as stated in JN 14: 6, and we will explore the meaning of MT 27 :51 and MK 15: 38. In the meanwhile, we need to understand just how important having honest, profound faith in the Lord Jesus really is. If this sounds like an odd thing for a Jewish person to be writing, it is only that this author knows the difference between existence without Him and life with Him. My own journey to where I am now spiritually hasn’t been easy or straight forward. I spent 12 years professing what I at first thought was real faith in the Lord Jesus, but what was clouded by doctrine that didn’t conform to Biblical truth. It was only when I compared that doctrine being taught to me with Biblical truth did I realize I was a “seed falling among the thorns,” thorns [MT 13: 7, 22; IS 6: 9b] which confused me and led me away from what Christ intended for me. But God knew what I didn’t. He allowed me to have this experience to enable me to see what a wholesome family life was like, and to learn how to find the truth from Him. So those 12 years were not totally wasted. He was showing me how to finally have enough self-confidence to open my life to the truth as defined in HE 4: 12. We must never discount God’s omniscience. IS 55: 8-9, “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” We are blessed beyond imagination to have a God with only the purest motives loving us enough to shed His light on us and teach us His ways. Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15