What do I do when I sin? Am I in trouble? Is God gonna "get" me?
Everybody messes up. Everybody sins. Everybody walks by flesh and lives carnally. Some do it more than others. But what are you supposed to do after that? You feel dirty. You know you did wrong. You want to fix it and make it right.
You've also been scared. You've heard, "God's not going to use you, God's mad at you, you've broken your fellowship with God, if you pray and read your Bible you can prove to God your sorry, it'll take some time obeying God before He starts believing you're serious about Him again, God can't hear your prayers when you sin." It sounds logical, but not one of those statements is actually in the Bible. None of them are true. The Bible tells us clearly that God is not a human and doesn't act like one. Don't take what you would do and assume it's what God would do.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
-I John 1:9
You may read this and think, "Every time I sin I have to confess it, and then God will forgive me. What about the sins I forgot about? What about the times I was bad and didn't care? What if I can't remember them? What about the sins I just keep doing? What about those? He's gonna get mad?"
Really? If you read that verse like that than we have to throw out the verse that says that God hasn't given us the spirit of fear because you're living in fear. Let me show you what that verse really means. Instead of focusing on you, let's focus on Jesus. What happens when you focus on you?
1. You never feel good enough to be worthy of God.
2. You never feel truly "right with God".
3. You spend most of your time thinking about your sin.
What happens when you focus on Jesus?
1. You know Jesus made you worthy to be a friend of God.
2. You know you are right with God.
3. You spend all of your time thinking about how good God is.
Now, which sounds like a spirit of fear and which one sounds like a spirit of peace? Hmmm.
Ok, back to braking down this verse. Read chapter one. I John 1 is simply the salvation story. Verses 1-2 are describing the coming of Jesus Christ to bring salvation. Verses 3-4 tell us that through Jesus Christ "our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ". Verses 5-7 are not saying that if a saved person sins he isn't in fellowship with God. It's saying that if we don't admit that we are sinners who are in darkness and turn to the light (Jesus Christ) we don't really have fellowship with God. Anyone who walks in the light (believes in Jesus Christ for salvation) has fellowship with God. Verse 8 continues to say, "If we say that we have no sin, we decieve ourselves." And how do we get this salvation? WATCH ME NOW...
If we confess our sins (the fact that you are a sinner), he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
See, at salvation, you were forgiven ALL your sins. Yesterday's, today's and tomorrow's ... ALL. Not only that, but you also had ALL of your unrighteousness taken away. To say that every time you sin you have to get a new forgiveness and more unrighteousness taken away is to say that Jesus' blood at salvation wasn't enough! That's crazy. I John 1:9 is a salvation story. That's all. Your sins are gone. Don't try to scare yourself into depression every time you sin thinking that God is against you. No, no, no. You and God are family, you're adopted, you're His DNA, you're His son or daughter, you're an heir, you're the sibling of Jesus Christ!
"Well, Bro. Jeremy, what do we do when we sin?"
I'm glad you asked. See you tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment