WHAT TO DO WITH OUR PRESENT SINS

What to do with our present sins 

The Apostle John is strongly focusing on one particular issue called sin but he is not interested in the person that walked down a Billy Graham crusade twenty five years ago in this particular context. He is concerned with the Christian that is battling sin in his or her life. Let me just list the verses that I will be explaining but understand that this problem is not only misunderstood but believers in Jesus Christ do not take this as serious as they should because their lifestyle is evident with a practice of transgressions.

(8) "If we say that 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 that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." 1 John 1: 8-10.

(1) "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (2) And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John 2:1-2. 

I think verse eight is obvious because we all struggle with sin. The person that says he or she is perfect or sinless is just deceiving themselves; however, there are different degrees or levels of transgressions (the lesser sin or the greater sin) but the worst is to live our life in sin as a lifestyle with our consciences seared and no real genuine repentance. This is how our spirit becomes contaminated because a transgression is overtaking our heart and then this stronghold is controlling us instead of Jesus Christ Himself. If this ever happens to me you can be sure I will be dropping to my knees, not eating and praying for everything I'm worth to the Son of God to set me free. 

Notice in verse nine the Bible says, "If" so the responsibility to repent of our sins to God through His Son Jesus Christ is our accountability. If we don't we are allowing our consciences to be seared which is usually a very settle process. The frog is being boiled one degree higher every day and this creature before God does not even realize it is happening. 

If we walk around denying our sins then what we are doing is deceiving ourselves. If I noticed one thing about human beings we are easily deceived. It is in our nature to be susceptible to deception. One way we can go in the opposite direction is to sincerely and earnestly repent of our sins and let God through His Son make us clean with a clear conscience. Very few people do this and the more we get a trained eye easy observation will be given to us by God. In laymen's terms we will be able to look at somebody and figure out if said individual is practicing this in their life before God.

We don't want to deny our sins we want to deal with our transgressions. When we do not repent of our sins we challenge God as opposed to agreeing with God. Remember the Father sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins but He did not just die for unbelievers He died for His children to be able to repent before the divine throne room of God. This is what this passage of Scripture is all about so please take it serious. If we do sin we have an advocate and His name is Jesus Christ. 

Verse eight and ten are clear we have all sinned and if we say at present that are lives are perfect without transgressions we are deceiving ourselves. We will sin and we are to be in the practice of confessing our sins everyday. Even on my best day of being holy before God it would still fall short of allowing me to enter into heaven because in the sight of God it would be categorized as dirty rags. Jesus Christ is our perfect sacrificial atonement; however, according to verse nine we do need continual pardon of our sins. We are not supposed to be lax concerning our transgressions because one sin is a foothold to more transgressions. My question to you is, "Why not go in the other direction?"

By repenting our sins to Jesus Christ through repentance we are being delivered from our guilt. God is faithful to His Word and He has promised to forgive His children through genuine confession. The repentance should always come with at least trying to forsake our sins. If this does not work then we have to acknowledge this before God every day. Don't even attempt to try and hid anything from God because I have done this and it is impossible. God is gracious to contrite believers in His Son Jesus Christ to cleanse from "All" sins from the guilt of their unrighteousness. If a child of Jesus Christ does not repent he or she will have to carry the sin but God desires to throw all our sins in the sea of forgetfulness never to be remembered again.  

John starts out in verse one of chapter two urging his brothers and sisters in the Lord not to sin so he is repeating himself but clearly he uses the word "If" you sin not "When" you sin. It is not mandatory that we commit a transgression. "If" we do sin we have an advocate and His name is Jesus Christ but our confession must be honest, genuine and authentic. Repeating the same words through red Erick does not mean anything to God.

In verse two John uses the word "Propitiation" which is another word for substitution. Someone may ask substitution for what? Our sins. We can not atone for our own transgressions before God. I want to make a general observation. In 1 John chapter one up to this point the Apostle is talking about sin much to Christians so you can draw your own conclusions as to why but I believe the reason is because it is a critically important issue that God wants us to deal with on a daily basis. 

So far in this letter John is doing everything he can to discourage Christians from committing sins. John was for the most part always by nature affectionate but not without admonition. We as Christians should be the same way because we are to have love but not without conviction for good and against evil.

Some believers see sin as a refuge but the real truth of the matter is Christians need a refuge from sin. Jesus Christ is our "Advocate" in heaven for our sins to His Father. He is not only our advocate but Jesus Christ is our judge. Since we violated the law of God and still do (some Christians way more than others) we must repent by going to the heavenly court of mercy and grace. It is amazing because we are so serious with human laws which can be corrupt but sometimes not very forthright with divine laws which have their origin from God. 

Jesus Christ always gives "Free" legal work because He is our advocate but most lawyers that I know of always charge a fee for their services. Remember we can still be forgiven of our sins but that does not mean we will not have to face the consequences of our transgressions because there is always a cost attached to them.

Verse two describes our Lord as Jesus Christ the righteous. He is perfect, He is our advocate (Lawyer) and every one of His clients are guilty. Our innocence or righteousness can not be pleaded before His Father but His righteousness pleads to His Father for our offences/sins or transgressions --- whatever word you prefer but perhaps all three would be appropeate.

If we sin/sins they go straight up to heaven and it is an offence. This is why we need mercy and forgiveness. Do you really think I am going to be at the judgment of Jesus Christ and plead for law to be applied to my verdict? We will be pleading for mercy at the Bema Seat which is an evaluation for Christians and this will be required for every child of God.

At present Jesus Christ our advocate pleads for His clients (children) so their sins will not be imputed against them. I don't mean to speak in such legal terms about the grace of God but we can not separate the two. This forgiveness is offered to everybody unless that individual committed the unpardonable sin which means that their consistent sins before God were so bad through defiant rebellion against God without conscience over a long period of time that they actually crossed the line against holiness and righteousness which only God can determine because He sees everything. If you are reading this article with interest this does not even remotely apply to you, your life or your eternity.

In the first paragraph I used the example that John was not talking about the person accepting the Lord into his or her heart at a Billy Graham crusade because it would be out of context with what John was talking about; however, if you have not even made that first step remember Jesus said, "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." John 3:3.

Anyone would have to take that first step into a relationship with Jesus Christ. At this moment you may want to accept Jesus Christ into your heart as your very own personal Savior and Lord by repenting of all your sins and inviting Him into your life. If you just made that decision the Son of God has just come into your heart but remember according to this passage that I just went over we all should be continually repenting of our sins and doing our best to be living a clean life before God.

When we do this remember we serve a big God and He will expand our horizons into other realms such as peace, love, joy, the profitable servant, loving God and other people. We serve an exciting God and the Christian life is not boring but in this context with these verses God wants our sins dealt with on a daily basis. That is why Jesus Christ died on a cross because He shed His blood for our sins. This is why Christians often times sing verses such as saved by the precious blood of Jesus. We all need to repent of our sins and ask God for the courage to forsake them so we will be living clean before Jesus Christ.

God Bless you,

Bob D.