If we sin, do we lose our salvation? If we are truly saved, will we ever sin? And if we do sin, what should we do to get rid of the guilt and the grief that hangs heavy in our heart? Grace is unmerited favor. When you fail is the time you need grace; that's when you need mercy.
If we sin, do we lose our salvation? If we are truly saved, will we ever sin? And if we do sin, what should we do to get rid of the guilt and the grief that hangs heavy in our heart?
If we confess our sins, he [God] 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 write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.The word "advocate" means lawyer or one who pleads our cause or case. Jesus acts as our lawyer, pleading our case before the Father. When we are tempted, if we sin, we can claim the promise of First John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
(1 John 1:9–10;2:1–2)
After verse 10, the Apostle John went on to say, "My little children..." (1 John 2:1). Man put the divisions between these chapters; John did not write in chapter and verse like this. Therefore, reading the four verses of our text in sequence, we can see that John was not writing to sinners; he was writing to Christians.
First John 1:9 is often quoted to sinners, telling them to confess their sins. God didn't tell them to. It would be impossible for a sinner to confess every wrong he had ever done, because his whole life is wrong! No, this verse was written to Christians.
This brings us to a very sensitive subject in the Church world. When you teach about God's grace and forgiveness, someone always believes you are giving people a license to sin. I always say, however, that people do enough sinning without a license!
Considering the other side of the issue, when people continually want to sin and choose to sin, I doubt that they ever were Christians to begin with. Why? When people live any way they want and do anything they want—cheat, lie, steal, and so forth—I doubt that a true Christian conversion ever took place.
This scripture in First John never was intended to encourage people to sin. John is simply telling us about God's provision for sin. The Spirit of God will help us overcome sin—not encourage us to practice it! After all, John said, "These things write I unto you, that you sin not."
In the first place, if a person is born again—if he has accepted Jesus Christ as Savior—he doesn't want to do wrong. But often the devil tempts him through his flesh and overcomes him because he is not strong spiritually.
If you have sinned or failed, you cannot stand in the Presence of God without a consciousness of sin. But there is One who can go in on your behalf—Jesus Christ, the Righteous. He is the propitiation—the substitute—for our sins; and not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:1,2).
As our advocate, Jesus restores to us our lost sense of righteousness, for He said, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins..." (1 John 1:9). But He does more than just forgive us of our sins; He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. He cleanses us from that sin-consciousness or spiritual inferiority complex that would keep us from going into God's Presence.
There are those who live under a cloud of fear. They say things like, "I am so afraid of displeasing the Lord. If Jesus comes, I might not make it. I don't know if I am ready or not." And they are robbed of their joy in Christ. They are afraid that God is mad at them and will not have anything to do with them.
We do not have to live under such a cloud of fear and gloominess. We can know that if we have failed—if we are Christians—our hearts will be grieved about it. If you can keep sinning and failing, however, and are not grieved about it, you had better check up on your conversion experience. If you have been born again and have the life and nature of God in you, you don't want to do wrong.
As I look back now, after nearly seventy years of being a Christian, I can see that I missed God many times when I didn't even know it. At the time, I walked in what light I had, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleansed me from things I didn't know about.
I can remember the first time I was conscious of the fact I had done wrong after I became a Christian. It nearly broke my heart.
If a believer is tempted and Satan gains mastery over him in something, when the believer cries out for mercy, he can hear Christ whisper, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
And then we also can hear Him say in this marvelous scripture from Hebrews 4:16, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace." Why? "...That we may obtain mercy...." It is mercy that we need when we have sinned. As long as we are doing right, we can get by on justice.
In Hebrews 4:14 we read, "Seeing then that we have a great high priest...." We have a High Priest who also stands in this office of Advocate that we may "...come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (v.16).
Grace is unmerited favor. When you fail is the time you need grace; that's when you need mercy.
Mercy and grace are always available to us if we break God's law. All we need to do is call on Christ our Advocate!
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