Claiming One Thing, But Living Another

[Christsfreeservant]

“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous 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.” (1 John 1:5-10 NASB’95)​

When John stated here that God is Light, and that in him is no darkness at all, he was saying that God is truth, righteousness, purity, honesty, and faithfulness, etc., and that in him is no sin, evil, unrighteousness, impurity, and lying, etc., all of which block out the light of truth and righteousness. With him evil does not exist. So he is totally trustworthy. We can depend on him to be who he says he is and to do what he says that he will do.

So, if we claim that we are in fellowship (union, partnership, participation) with him, by faith in him, and yet we walk (in conduct, in practice) in sin (impurity, lying, cheating, stealing, etc.), then we are liars who do not practice the truth. So, all those people who are telling you that you can profess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and that you can say you believe in his bodily resurrection, and that you are now saved, done deal, are lying to you. Do the Scriptures teach that? Not in the appropriate context.

For, we must walk (in conduct, in practice) in the Light (in Christ, in truth, in obedience, in righteousness, and in moral purity), as God is in the Light, if we want to have fellowship (union, participation, partnership) with God the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ, and with other followers of Jesus Christ who are also in Christ by faith in him. And the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Do you see what this is teaching? Salvation is not a one time deal and you are good to go. We must be following (obeying) Jesus.

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. For all of us humans were born into this world with sin natures, in the image of Adam, who was the first man God created, and who was the first man to sin against God. We have all sinned, and we have all come up short of attaining God’s divine approval and his righteousness of our own will and of our own flesh. It is only by the grace of God, via God-persuaded faith in Jesus, that any of us can be saved from our sins and have eternal life.

[Romans 3:9-26; Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22,42-49; Ephesians 2:8-10]

But if we confess (speak to the same conclusion as God, in full agreement with God, in full alignment with God, saying the same thing as God about) our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And to be in full alignment and agreement with God about our sins is not to just make repeated proclamations and admissions of the same sins repeated over again, habitually. It means we align with (support, side with) him that we must die to sin and obey God.

For it is as we walk (in conduct, in practice) in the Light (truth, obedience, righteousness), and not in sin, that we are in fellowship with God, that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. But so many people today are not teaching this in the appropriate context, and they are teaching that we can keep walking in sin, and as long as we acknowledge that we sinned, we are then forgiven and cleansed from all unrighteousness. But if we agree with God about our sin, we will die to sin and walk in obedience to him.

For what did Jesus teach? He taught that if we want to come after him, we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow him in walks of obedience to his commands. For if we hold on to our lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, put sin to death, by the Spirit, in practice, and we walk (in conduct, in practice) in obedience to his commands, then we have eternal life in him. But if we deny him by our practices, he will deny us when he returns (Luke 9:23-26).

And he taught that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God who is in heaven. For many professers of faith in Jesus will stand before the Lord on the day of judgment, proclaiming him as Lord, and professing all the works they did in his name, and he will tell them plainly that he never knew them, and that they are to depart from him, because they are workers of lawlessness, because they would not obey God (Matthew 7:21-23).

So, please do not use 1 John 1:9 out of context and self-proclaim yourselves forgiven of all sins because you verbalize your addictive sinful patterns when you sin. For the Scriptures are quite clear on this subject. If sin is what we practice (deliberately and habitually), and if obedience to our Lord and to his New Covenant commands is not what we practice, then we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what our lips have professed. You cannot live a sinful lifestyle, and not obey God, in practice, and have eternal life.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

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Claiming One Thing, But Living Another
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