part 1
1st John 4:16-18” So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God, God abides in him. To abide is to have a permanent place of residence and so whoever confesses Christ as Lord God has a place of permanent place of residence in him. To confess is to acknowledge something as true after carefully analyzing and being convinced by the fact itself.
to confess in the original greek means Homologeo. to say the same thing as the other party,to concede to the other party. to submit under the convincing of the other party.
I find this to be a profound statement, this verse doesn’t say that whoever repeats a sinner’s prayer or whoever confesses all his sins but it does say whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God is born of God.
when we confess Christ then we say the same thing as he, that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, this many agree with but we also say the same thing with him that we have been freely justified by his grace.(Romans 3:3-24).
if we confess our sins then he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1st John 1:9. many christian read this verse and leave at that point and go on crying and reminding God how bad they have sinned against him, some preachers will go on and press on the flock that they have to confess all their sins to God that God can at least unleash an ounce of mercy and blessing unto them.
what a schizophrenic Christianity? God forgives you at the same time requires of you to confess all sins to him. The truth is this; that God forgave you all sins before you confessed even one.
God demonstrates his love in this that while we were still yet sinners christ died for us rom 5:8,
God promised that in this new covenant , he will be merciful to our unrighteousness and our sins and lawless deeds he will remember no more(Jer 31:31-34).
beloved God is not holding any confessed sin if there is any against you. Before you think that you have to do something extra for God to forgive you, Good forgave you more than 2,000 Years ago, God is always smart and previous,isnt he a good God?
when we confess Christ i believe in the deepest sublime of my heart-
. we have confessed all our sins; for God who made him who knew no sin to be sin to be sin for us in order that we may become the righteousness of God in him 2nd cor 5:21
. we also confess our right standing before God; for since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through christ JESUS ROMANS 5:1
David sees this kind of blessedness right from the old testament as he forsees a great salvation.
Psalm 32:1-2 1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.
the reason why God will not impute sin in you is because if you are in christ Jesus then he has presented you before God as one holy and blameless before him;(Col 1:21-23), what salvation!
Confession comes after believing for it s with the heart that one believes and with the mouth that one confesses. To believe is to have faith and think as true whatever facts is brought to you. To have faith in Jesus therefore is to believe it as true that he is the son of God and that he was manifested in the flesh to bear all our sins.
1st John 5:18” We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.”
We are born of the seed of God, the same seed which begets us has the capability to keeps us safe from sin.. If its God who abides in us then its of his seed that we are born of . and he keeps us safe from sin.
But we have a responsibility to keep ourselves from sin! You may ask
John says that we know….. Isn’t it pretty obvious? Can’t you see this is how it is! A banana tree does not struggle to bear Bananas. A son of the president is automatically royal because royal blood flows through him. A banana tree wont struggle to bear banana fruit neither will a president’s son struggle to be a president’s son due to the magnitude of his royal status. The same way we were not meant to struggle with sin because we have come from God, we have been born out of him through the seed of Christ. We don’t struggle with sin because God’s seed abides in us and not because we are too much able to do anything with our strength. I know that maybe this statement may be too sweet for your ears to ear but this is the absolute truth as expressed by the scriptures. The truth is that the seed of God has its own inherent capability to bring a believer to fruition. The only participation of a believer is to believe, in the working of God in his life.
We know or rather we have to know that whosoever has been born of God cannot continue in sin Because God’s seed abides in him. Infact God dwells in him as a seed with all inherent power to bring a believer to maturity.
The seed of God keeps you safe so that the evil one cannot touch you.
part 2
But there I so much evil around and even evil in the church;
Paul again alludes to this issue: Galatians 5:18-19” But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,”(Nkjv)
The works of the flesh ie the sinful nature are evident, they are obvious , you expect so much despair and evil when you look into the world and its system, when you focus on the world you will definitely succumb to its pristine.
John adds on to say that in this world you will expect lust of the eyes , lust of the flesh and the pride of life(1st John 2:16). His sounds like what led the first couple to fall in the garden of Eden.
Genesis 3:6”when he woman saw that the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh, pleasing to the eye(lust of the eye) and desirable to make one wise(pride of life) she took some and ate it,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
When you look into the world and get to succumb to its ways you will partake of its ways but you are not of the world , you are from God.
Adam brought Disobedience ; Christ brought Justification!
When one man disobeyed sin entered the world and death spread to the entire human race. Adam and eve did something graciously (on the negative) by ushering he entire world to an entity of sin. However The second Adam Christ obeyed God fully and thereafter was given a name above every other befitting to become the author of our salvation.(ROMANS 5:12-17)
One act of disobedience led to condemnation to all men because one sinned and therefore all sinned. What does this mean? One act of sin brought about sin and death to entire humanity. Sin, its entity, consequences and death. But this second Adam, the perfect Adam is compared to the first Adam; however what he brings with him cannot and will never be compared with what The first Adam brought. This second Adam brought with him, justification and life to all men. He brought life together with its full implications.
This one act of righteousness is not wht man could do but entirely what God did by sending his son into the world in the likeness of the sinful flesh in which he condemned sin in the flesh(Romans 8:2)
what shall i do when i fall short in some sinful acts
what shall you do if you place your hands on a hot stove! you quickly remove your hand out of the stove because it will hurt and disfigure your hand but it wont chanege your indentity; likewise sin destroys you, your body and your soul but never your spirit, ren\move your hand from s\the stove and move on, you are the righteousness of God in christ Jesus.
beloved the knowledge of the love of God in redeeming you removes the fear of evil, stay put , put your head up, you are a son, if you are not a believer , you are just a lost son, not a worthless stranger, believe in this great salvation and see how beautiful your life turns out to be. To those who intimidate others by focusing on sin to make people change , the gospel is not even about trying to make people change, the gospel is the good news that christ commisioned us to preach, its the good news with self energizing ability to make people's lives turn around radically, preach the radical authentic gospel and see people's lives radically changed.
