Real Change is What is Necessary

[Christsfreeservant]

“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he 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 we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:5-10 ESV)​

So, when I woke up this morning I could hear someone in my mind speaking to another and saying, “I am sorry that you are having to go through this.” But then the person being spoken to responded back with, “But you are the one who is putting me through this.” And the implication was that, if the first person doing the hurting would only change and would cease to do the hurting (injuring) of the other, then the second person would not be going through all that he is going through, at least not from that person.

And then a fellow blogger shared with me her blog post for today, which included the passage of Scripture from 1 John 1:5-10, among many others, and I believe the Lord then confirmed for me that is what he wants me to write on today, as well. For this passage of Scripture fits well with the conversation (not a real one) that I was hearing in my mind this morning, which I believe was given to me by God as an illustration of what this passage of Scripture is talking about.

For, in reality, we are hurting God by our sins, especially those done habitually and deliberately and premeditatedly, because it is him that we are sinning against, as well as we are sinning against other humans. And Jesus talked about that in at least one of his parables where he talked about how what we do to his followers we do to him, which he also said to Paul when he told him that he was persecuting Jesus when he was persecuting the Lord’s saints and servants and messengers who were serving Jesus with their lives.

And I don’t think that a lot of people who hurt other people think about that when they are doing evil against them, i.e. that they are hurting God by their sins against others, for it is against him that they are sinning. For how we treat others is how we treat God, well especially if we are deliberately and habitually sinning against them, especially those who belong to the family of God. And if all that we do is just to feel badly for them and what we are putting them through, that is not what God requires of us.

And I believe the Lord gave me that illustration in my mind this morning because so many people are misinterpreting this passage of Scripture in 1 John 1:5-10, mainly because it appears that most are quoting only verse 9, but not in the context of the whole of the passage. Plus, this word “confess” has a much deeper meaning than what we might think of it in the English language. For this is not about us just verbalizing that we are sorry that we did something wrong, but it is about agreeing with God about our sin.

But it goes even deeper than that. For this isn’t just about agreeing with God that we sinned, but it is to speak the same as God speaks about our sin, to speak to the same conclusion in full agreement with God. It means that we align with God regarding the subject of our sins, which is not just an admission of sin, but that we need to stop sinning, and we need to now walk in holiness and in righteousness and in walks of obedience to our Lord in the power of God. We don’t just feel badly that we sinned, in other words.

But we change, and we become someone else who lives a different way than we had been living, if we were still living in sin, which many are who profess faith in Jesus Christ. So, we don’t just feel sorry that we are putting God through this, that we are injuring him by our sins, but we stop doing what is wrong and what is hurting other humans and thus also hurting God. And now we start loving God/Christ and other human beings with the love of God and we do for them what is for their good, not to do them harm.

And that is really the message of this whole passage of Scripture if we read 1 John 1:9 in its context. For not only is it true that if we claim to be in fellowship with our Lord, but while we walk (in conduct, in practice) in sin, that we are liars, but it is that if we walk (in conduct, in practice) in the light (truth, righteousness, obedience to our Lord), then we are in fellowship with God (understood in the context) and then with others who are also in genuine fellowship with him, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us of all sin.

So, what is this saying? If sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and walks of obedience to our Lord (under the New Covenant) are not what we practice, then we are liars if we claim to be in fellowship with the Lord (see also 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10). But if righteousness and walks of obedience to our Lord are what we practice, and not sin, then we are in fellowship with our Lord and with our fellow believers in Christ who are also in genuine fellowship with Jesus Christ. This does not claim we never sin.

So, a mere verbal acknowledgment of sin, or even a mere verbal confession of “I am sorry, Lord, for sinning against you,” is not enough for it to be sincere sorrow (godly sorrow which leads to repentance). And repentance is not just a change of mind to believe in Jesus, but it is a change of mind resulting in a change of heart and behaviors, i.e. it is making a spiritual U-turn in our lives away from walking in sin to now living holy lives, pleasing to God, by his grace and mercy, and in his power, strength, and wisdom.

So, we don’t just say to others who we may be hurting by our actions, “I am sorry that you are having to go through this.” But we change, and we stop doing what is causing them hurt, and we now treat them with love and kindness and with compassion and caring, which includes speaking the truth in love to them if they are professing faith in Jesus Christ but they are still walking in sin deliberately and habitually. For confronting them with their sins and calling them to repentance is love, the best kind of love.

For one day we are all going to stand before our Lord and he is going to judge each one of us according to our deeds, not according to our confessions and professions of faith in him. For it is our deeds that reveal whether or not our confessions of faith are genuine, and whether or not our feeling sorry for our sins is truly godly sorrow which leads to genuine repentance (change). And that really is what this passage of Scripture is all about. So please read 1 John 1:9 in the context of verses 5-10.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Draw Me Close To You

Donnie McClurkin

Draw me close to You
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear You say that I'm Your friend

You are my desire
And no one else will do
'Cause nothing else can take Your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace

Help me find a way
Bring me back to You
Bring me back, oh Jesus

You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know You are near

Caution: This link may contain ads