May 22, 2015
I John 1:7-10
(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)
The next installment of Who Am I? perhaps might have been presented first, after I am a child of God. But I hope you will see my logic in putting it in second place. Here is the main scripture from I John 1:7 through 10 that we will be considering:
…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.
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.
● Who Am I? I am a sinner! Yes, I was a sinner before I became a child of God, “…and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses…[me] from all sin.” So I am a saved sinner! And by God’s grace three things have happened since I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior – three things that are related to the fact that I am a sinner:
○ I have been saved from the penalty of sin. God set that penalty in Genesis 2:17: “…of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Our first parents disobeyed God and died – not physically right away, that took place many years later. But they died spiritually – and that happened immediately. Spiritual death is being separated from God! And if that condition is not rectified, it will become an eternal separation where the sinner will suffer forever in hell! (See Mark 9:44, 46, 48; Revelation 1411; 21:8). It is summed up in Ezekiel 18:4: “…the soul who sins shall die.”
Jesus Christ took our sins upon Himself and died in our place. By that sacrifice of God’s love and grace, I have been stripped of my sinful rags and clothed with the robe of righteousness – God’s own goodness! (See Isaiah 61:10; Zechariah 3:1-5; II Corinthians 5:21; I Peter 2:24). According to John 5:24, I have “…everlasting life, and [I] shall not come into condemnation but…[I am] passed from death into life.”
○ I am being saved from the power of sin. The first thing mentioned above was God’s own doing, and was accomplished when I received Christ into my heart and life. But this is a cooperative effort and an ongoing process! It is written in II Peter 1:3 and 4:
…His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life
and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by
glory and virtue: by which have been given to us exceedingly
great and precious promises, that through these you may be
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust.
God has supplied everything we need to escape the power on sin in this old world! My job is to take in that transforming knowledge – His Word!
You see, I still have the old sinful pre-Christian nature in me that is controlled by Satan and runs to sin. That’s why it says in I John 1:8 and 10: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us….If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” But we also have a new godly nature (see II Corinthians 5:17; I John 3:9; 5:18). If we do not feed the new nature with knowledge of God from the Bible, we will allow the sinful world to force-feed the old nature – and that old nature will then dominate our lives! That’s why I say that to escape the power of sin it is a cooperative effort and an ongoing process!
○ I will one day be saved from the presence of sin! In heaven there is no sin. For speaking of the new, heavenly Jerusalem that descended out of heaven from God (see Revelation 21:1-27) it says in Revelation 21:27: “…there shall by no means enter into it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination ar a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Not only will the influence of sin be banished from our environment in heaven, but I will bring no sin there in my own person. John wrote in I John 3:1: “…we know that when He [Jesus] is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” He is sinless, and we shall be also!
The penalty, the power and the presence of sin – I have, am or will experience complete victory over this deadly force! I am a sinner saved by God’s grace!