Post by George on Nov 30, 2005 0:08:13 GMT -5
(1 John 1:7) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Walk in the light as persons enlightened by the Holy Spirit of God. As we know, the Holy Spirit of God indwells us at the time of salvation. Just think, Buddha sat under some tree for 40 days looking for enlightenment. Some say he got it. All I know for certain is that we, as saved and born again Christians, were enlightened at the time we accepted our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ in that position in our personal lives. Praise God for His enlightenment.
Walk in the light as He is in the light. He is the light. Can we therefore walk as equals to Him? Can we be the same as that light? No. The Bible says “as” He is in the light. This signifies an image and not the sameness or equality as the One Who furnishes the light. An image in the same vain as a photograph, if you will. The photograph looks the same as, or equal to the subject in the photograph but it is merely an image, although in most cases an exact image. But it is not the same. We are not being told here that we can be the same as Jesus Christ.
The results show that we will have fellowship with one another. This does not refer to Christian fellowship among each other. If you look carefully it is saying that if we walk in the image of Jesus we will fellowship with Him! Praise God!
Let us take a quick look at what we have seen thus far in this verse. If we do as instructed, we all jointly and mutually appear to be like him, and partake of his nature, and have communion with him. Amen! What incredible promise and we have only looked at half of this verse and have not even touched on the topic for this document!
And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. Not by any other means but the blood of Christ. Baptismal regeneration not only does not exist but this very verse completely dispels that heresy entirely. It is plainly seen that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Do you know that in any language what so ever, be it English, Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, Chinese, Spanish or whatever, ALL means ALL? Not just some or part, but ALL.
So we have seen here one of the most wonderful passages in the New Testament. We have seen how we can be of such condition that we can stand before the throne of God who cannot see us in our sinful bodies. Jesus’ blood covers it all. Jesus paid it all.
So is that the end of the story? Is that the end of the things we need to in order to be cleansed? No, in fact there are things we can do to cleanse ourselves. You may be saying, but wait, brother George; I thought you just showed us where the blood of Jesus Christ cleansed us. Yes, that is true, but if you recall, some few days ago I posted a paper on self-examination. We are required to do some things. We must do the legwork. Nothing in the Bible ever happened until someone did something.
So just how do we cleanse ourselves? There are actually two different ways with a number of examples of these in the Bible. Let me share with you four of them.
The first way is by The Word of God. Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ speaks to that fact in the New Testament.
(John 15:3) Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
We are clean through the word that Jesus has spoken to us. Where do we find those words? In the Book that is known as God’s Holy Word, the King James Bible. (As a personal note, the King James Bible is NOT a “version.” My Bibles all say “Holy Bible” on them and not King James “version.” When they printed that Book in 1611 that we have come to know and to love so dearly, did it say “version” on it anywhere? ) Back to the subject at hand, how do we come to know the word, which was spoken to us?
(2 Timothy 2:15) Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
(Luke 4:4) And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
(2 Timothy 3:16) All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
(Luke 4:4) And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
(2 Timothy 3:16) All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
(Psalms 119:9) Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
Did you notice that friends? Wherewithal shall a young man CLEANSE HIS WAY? This is another place where the Bible tells us that if we want to get clean we have to do some things ourselves. We are not helpless. We saw Jesus telling us that we are clean through His word that He has spoken to us. We saw the need to study that Word so that we can show ourselves approved unto God. We see that man does not live by food alone but by every word of God. Now we see the wording that not only are we to listen to the Word and to study the Word, we are to DO IT!
Let us take a brief look at the word “heed” as used in the verse above. The most usual meaning and use of the word today means to pay attention to or to listen. In the Bible, as with so many words, it means a whole lot more.
H8104
שׁמר
shâmar
shaw-mar'
A primitive root; properly to hedge about (as with thorns), that is, guard; generally to protect, attend to, etc.: - beware, be circumspect, take heed (to self), keep (-er, self), mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save (self), sure, (that lay) wait (for), watch (-man).
(Psalms 119:11) Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart. How do we accomplish that? By studying to show ourselves approved is how. Memorization. Jesus defeated the devil with the Bible. If we are going to keep from sinking into the snares and traps of the devil we must know the Bible also. Please understand that when this verse uses the word “heart” it is not speaking of the pump that sends blood throughout our bodies. The word heart in this verse comes from a Hebrew word that means the feelings, the will and the intellect. So you see, our heart is actually quite a bit higher up in our bodies and in this case sits atop our shoulders. The feelings, will and intellect make up the mind. We see right here that if we memorize God’s Word we might not sin against Him. Wow!
Now we know that is not possible. We are all born with a sin nature. To sin comes just as naturally to us as to breathe. Ah, I can hear some saying, “Wait a minute, I’m not that bad.” Are you really not? Think on this for a bit:
(James 4:17) Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.[/b]
That friends is a pretty heavy load to bear for us. Any time we know that to do something would be a good thing and we choose not to do it, it is not a minor little thing that we can fix later, the Bible says it is a sin. The next time we don’t do our Bible reading because we just don’t feel like it, the next time we miss Church because we are just too tired, the next time we hear from the Holy Spirit of God that we ought be praying for someone and we don’t, IT IS A SIN!
So how do we get out of that mess? That looks like we are all dead ducks, doesn’t it? But God has given us a way to deal with that. Don’t you love Him when He does that? God is so good to us; God loves the Christian brethren so much that even though we live in a seemingly hopeless situation and we all deserve to die and go straight to hell, He has provided a way out!
(1 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.[/quote]
PRAISE GOD FOR HIS GOODNESS AND MERCIES WHICH ARE RENEWED EACH AND EVERY DAY!
You can see that God is the One Who actually does the cleansing in the verse above but who has to do the legwork? It is we, friends. We must take the action. It will not happen if we don’t do the work. John clearly says that if WE CONFESS, He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And again brothers and sisters, all means all. There is no sin so grievous that God will not forgive it. That may pique some folks’ interest. Perhaps you have been taught otherwise. Here is proof from the Bible itself that there is no sin so grievous God will not cleanse us of it if we confess it to Him. I might add here that the Greek word translated as “cleanse” in this verse also means purify. To me that is the difference between washing your white clothes and washing them in bleach! He PURIFIES!
(Romans 11:22) Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Yours in Christ,
George