"This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and 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 Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." - 1 John 1:5-10
John declares that if we claim to be followers of Christ but walk in darkness then we are LIARS. So what does being a believer who walks in darkness look like? Here's an example. When you know that the Word of God is the Word of God, and how you learn about the nature and character of God is through His Word, and that it is God's way of reproofing, correcting, encouraging, and empowering and yet you avoid it, refuse to get into it, find a billion other things to do, make up excuses about time and not being able to read good and on and on and on. When it comes to all of your hobbies and the thousand other things you have to do that you just can't find time to get in the Word, your heart just got exposed!! You do not in the end seek out God Almighty as your joy or as your purpose. If this is the case then you are not walking in the light but rather in darkness. So what should you do? When you, as a believer, find yourself in your heart saying, "I don't really want to be in the Word today" that reveals something about your heart. So you do not just pretend that this didn't happen but instead you get on your knees, you repent of it, you ask God to search your heart, and you even call your boy (brother in Christ) and confess that you heart is just not right today, and ask for him to pray for you and then you go get in the Word. That is how you walk in the light.
To walk in the light means that every time our heart wants to rebel against a command of God or does not want to conform to an image of God, we stop, we examine our hearts, we see the idolatry and the wickedness that is in our heart and we stop, confess and repent. This is walking in the light and this is what we are called to do continually until the day we die. Continual confession of sin is an indication of genuine salvation.
"If we say that 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 that we have not sinned, we make Him a LIAR, and His Word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know Him", and does not keep His commandments, is a LIAR, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." - 1 John 1:8-2:6
John has made it so black and white. Either you walk in the light, you confess your sins, you are continually cleansed from all unrighteousness and you are continuing to learn to walk in a greater way into the commands of Christ or..... you are pretending that you know Him when you don't know Him, you are not growing in His commands and at the end of the day, you have no intention of obeying His commands. However, for some reason you think that church attendance is what God wants from you so you attend regularly despite having no relationship with Jesus Christ outside of church which ultimately makes you a LIAR. If you have no intention of submitting your life to Christ, but you want to believe that you are a chirstian simply because you prayed some prayer that some speaker told you to repeat one day..... you are DECEIVED and a LIAR. If you have no intention of submitting your life to Christ, but you think that your attendace in church makes you alright with God..... you are DECEIVED and a LIAR. If you have a false sense that there is no need to examine your heart anymore because you don't get drunk, you don't sleep with people who aren't your spouse, you don't curse, and you don't watch rated R movies..... you are DECEIVED and a LIAR. Somehow we as believers have developed this idea of big sins and little sins and we seem to think that God is only concerned with the ones we label as the big sins. So God is happy with me because I don't drink but the fact that I am embarrassed of Him doesn't bother Him? Or God is happy with me because I don't curse but the fact that I am lazy in my pursuit of Him doesn't bother Him? No, it doesn't work that way and John makes it crystal clear that if anyone says that they do not sin..... they are DECEIVED and they make God out to be a LIAR. So examine yourself and ask yourself..... Am I a church going, morally upright liar who needs to repent?
Repentance looks something like this..... I sin and therefore fall short of God's standard. I hate my sin and am sorrowful. So I tap into the joy that I have through my union with Jesus Christ because my hope is in the cross of Jesus Christ alone who takes away my sin and throws it away so i can once again be on my way walking in righteousness. Therefore, I have nothing to hide from. This is a reason that we are called into obedience so that as we walk in obedience we realize how broken our hearts are. Following after the Lord in obedience is going to reveal in us where we need to confess and repent. Then, the more wicked we begin to see our hearts..... the more grand and awesome we see His grace. And the more grand and awesome we see His grace..... the less likely we are to walk in self-denial and hide.
Martin Luther begins his 95 Thesis with the following..... "Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ willed that the entire life of believers be one of repentance". Repentance is the means by which we continue to grow and is an indication of genuine salvation. So we don't begin to do less and less repentance as we grow in our faith, but it is the mark of a mature believer to do more and more repentance and confession. This leads us to a greater understanding and appreciation for God's amazing grace.
-TEvans
2 comments:
Right on point with that one. Our entire lives will be spent repenting, so true. The classification of big sins little sins is something all of us need to watch out for. I also like the line, "Am I a church going, morally upright liar...?" great stuff
Great post Terry. This is meaty stuff. This is the kind of stuff that will actually change my life. This is Christian growth. This is gospel. This is really life-giving. This kind of daily repentance is our protection against becoming a Pharisee.
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