False Assertions About Sin. Part 4.
False Assertions About Sin. Part 4.
Before we continue from where we stopped, let me build a little background of shocking biblical truths.
Have you ever wondered why the first epistle of John focused on addressing false assertions about sin?
Have you ever wondered why in addressing them John always used the phrase "if we say" and not if they say?
For example:
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 John 1:6, 8, 10.
These false assertions were not the confession of unbelievers(those without), but the false profession of faith which those who have come to believe and were members of the church(those within the fold), suddenly began to embrace and to live by.
As early as the days of the apostles of the early church, many had risen to prominence; teaching things contrary to the wholesome words of truth and the doctrine which is according to godliness. Their erroneous teaching had become prominent and widely accepted amongst the brethren.
In the face of this threat, and knowing fully well that these false teachings and assertions about sin, were preparing and paving the way for apostasy, the apostle John took his inkhorn to write and address them.
Throughout his address, he kept sounding the note of alarm to the brethren, to let them know that the spirit of the antichrist(the man of sin) was already at work in their midst; that which the apostle Paul called 'the mystery of iniquity/lawlessness' in his own epistle to the saints in Thessalonica (2 Thessalonians 2:7).
The man of sin must have a people prepared for him at his coming, a people given over to delusion; a people who, through exposure to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils propagated by false teachers, have their minds and hearts seared as with a hot iron and firmly established in sin without any feeling of remorse or penitence.
False Assertions Addressed By John.
(1.) The first false assertion, John addressed is: "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth"
It is abnormal to live/walk in darkness and feel comfortable in the presence of light, the most natural instinct is to hide from the presence of light; this is exactly what sin does to the conscience, but those whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron, and have become dead and blind in the eyes of their heart, can no longer feel the difference between light and darkness.
They walk in darkness and boldly declare to be in fellowship with light. Having continually lied to themselves and having been exposed to lies over the years, they now live in lies without a struggle. They are everywhere sinking in the sea and sand of sin, while shouting Alleluyah!, Amen!
John the beloved knew the distinction between our position/placement in Christ and our walk in this world, unto conformity to his image.
In 1 John 2:6 he said "He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked."
Our position/placement in Christ and our walk in this world is interrelated, interconnected and yet distinct.
If in walk/conduct on earth, we deny(contradict) the testimony of the perfect state attained in Christ; he still abides faithful and cannot deny himself; the perfect state attained in him for us, remains eternally so, for in him all that God has wrought is yea and amen to the glory of God.
Titus 1:16 speaks of false professors, who profess to know God, but in works deny/contradict him; their walk is not consistent with their profession.
2 Timothy 2:12 says "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us".
The word translated as 'deny' in the verse is 'arneomai' in the original greek and it means to contradict. It is the same word translated as deny in Titus 1:16.
The mark of false profession is when our walk and work contradicts our profession of faith in Christ. If we say/profess that we abide in him and yet walk not as he walked, we deny/contradict him, and if we deny/contradict him, he will deny us.
How do you profess to believe in the finished works of Christ, when you do not bear the fruit/evidence of it?
How can you profess that Christ is your righteousness and at the same time assert that if you don't live a life consistent with your righteousness(Christ), it doesn't matter; that when you sin which is unlike Christ(your righteousness) it does not affect your fellowship with him?
Those who seek to deceive and confuse us in maintaining their once saved forever saved doctrine, misjudge bearing the fruits of righteousness or the righteousness of saints as self righteousness.
They say that those who maintain the truth of the gospel about bearing fruits of righteousness, are despising and relegating the righteousness which comes by faith(God's righteousness), and upholding their own righteousness(self righteousness).
According to scriptures, self righteousness is of the law; the fruit of a man's own works/doing in adhering to moral codes(dos and don'ts).
Philippians 3:9 "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith"
By the law is no flesh justified before God, thus if the righteousness of saints is self righteousness which is of the law, they cannot be found standing before God justified and glorified in Christ. Galatians 3:11-12.
The righteousness of saints is far from being self righteousness; it is rather the fruit of righteousness which saints bear in responding/yielding/conforming to the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. It is wholly of grace and an evidence that they did not receive the grace of God in vain. It is not a fruit merely borne out of good human morals/morality; it is rather a fruit borne in the power of the HolySpirit unto God.
To speak despicably of that fruit as though it is self righteousness which is filthy as rag, or to assert that it is not needed for us to be accepted of God, is to say that the ground which fails to bring forth herbs for them by whom it is dressed, is accepted of God even if it bears thorns and thistles instead. This will be an outright perversion of the scripture which says: "For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. Hebrews 6:7-8.
We must have to rewrite scriptures to establish that God demands no fruit from us in yielding/conforming to his righteousness in Christ.
Romans 7:4 "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God."
John 15:1-6 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."
Hebrews 12:11 "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."
Our walk is expected to correspond and finally measure up in conformity to our position in Christ. We're to purify ourselves even as we are already made pure in him(1 John 3:3). We are called to practice righteousness and be righteous even as we are already righteous in him(1 John 3:7). Deceivers are those who tell us that we're already pure and righteous and need not practice purity/righteousness to be accepted of him.
In our walk unto conformity, we can never go on sinning and assume that we are acceptable to God, neither should we entertain the thought that we need not to stop sinning to be acceptable to God.
1 John 2:28-29 "And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him."
Let No Man Deceive You With Vain Words Of Human Wisdom.
Before we continue from where we stopped, let me build a little background of shocking biblical truths.
Have you ever wondered why the first epistle of John focused on addressing false assertions about sin?
Have you ever wondered why in addressing them John always used the phrase "if we say" and not if they say?
For example:
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 John 1:6, 8, 10.
These false assertions were not the confession of unbelievers(those without), but the false profession of faith which those who have come to believe and were members of the church(those within the fold), suddenly began to embrace and to live by.
As early as the days of the apostles of the early church, many had risen to prominence; teaching things contrary to the wholesome words of truth and the doctrine which is according to godliness. Their erroneous teaching had become prominent and widely accepted amongst the brethren.
In the face of this threat, and knowing fully well that these false teachings and assertions about sin, were preparing and paving the way for apostasy, the apostle John took his inkhorn to write and address them.
Throughout his address, he kept sounding the note of alarm to the brethren, to let them know that the spirit of the antichrist(the man of sin) was already at work in their midst; that which the apostle Paul called 'the mystery of iniquity/lawlessness' in his own epistle to the saints in Thessalonica (2 Thessalonians 2:7).
The man of sin must have a people prepared for him at his coming, a people given over to delusion; a people who, through exposure to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils propagated by false teachers, have their minds and hearts seared as with a hot iron and firmly established in sin without any feeling of remorse or penitence.
False Assertions Addressed By John.
(1.) The first false assertion, John addressed is: "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth"
It is abnormal to live/walk in darkness and feel comfortable in the presence of light, the most natural instinct is to hide from the presence of light; this is exactly what sin does to the conscience, but those whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron, and have become dead and blind in the eyes of their heart, can no longer feel the difference between light and darkness.
They walk in darkness and boldly declare to be in fellowship with light. Having continually lied to themselves and having been exposed to lies over the years, they now live in lies without a struggle. They are everywhere sinking in the sea and sand of sin, while shouting Alleluyah!, Amen!
John the beloved knew the distinction between our position/placement in Christ and our walk in this world, unto conformity to his image.
In 1 John 2:6 he said "He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked."
Our position/placement in Christ and our walk in this world is interrelated, interconnected and yet distinct.
If in walk/conduct on earth, we deny(contradict) the testimony of the perfect state attained in Christ; he still abides faithful and cannot deny himself; the perfect state attained in him for us, remains eternally so, for in him all that God has wrought is yea and amen to the glory of God.
Titus 1:16 speaks of false professors, who profess to know God, but in works deny/contradict him; their walk is not consistent with their profession.
2 Timothy 2:12 says "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us".
The word translated as 'deny' in the verse is 'arneomai' in the original greek and it means to contradict. It is the same word translated as deny in Titus 1:16.
The mark of false profession is when our walk and work contradicts our profession of faith in Christ. If we say/profess that we abide in him and yet walk not as he walked, we deny/contradict him, and if we deny/contradict him, he will deny us.
How do you profess to believe in the finished works of Christ, when you do not bear the fruit/evidence of it?
How can you profess that Christ is your righteousness and at the same time assert that if you don't live a life consistent with your righteousness(Christ), it doesn't matter; that when you sin which is unlike Christ(your righteousness) it does not affect your fellowship with him?
Those who seek to deceive and confuse us in maintaining their once saved forever saved doctrine, misjudge bearing the fruits of righteousness or the righteousness of saints as self righteousness.
They say that those who maintain the truth of the gospel about bearing fruits of righteousness, are despising and relegating the righteousness which comes by faith(God's righteousness), and upholding their own righteousness(self righteousness).
According to scriptures, self righteousness is of the law; the fruit of a man's own works/doing in adhering to moral codes(dos and don'ts).
Philippians 3:9 "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith"
By the law is no flesh justified before God, thus if the righteousness of saints is self righteousness which is of the law, they cannot be found standing before God justified and glorified in Christ. Galatians 3:11-12.
The righteousness of saints is far from being self righteousness; it is rather the fruit of righteousness which saints bear in responding/yielding/conforming to the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. It is wholly of grace and an evidence that they did not receive the grace of God in vain. It is not a fruit merely borne out of good human morals/morality; it is rather a fruit borne in the power of the HolySpirit unto God.
To speak despicably of that fruit as though it is self righteousness which is filthy as rag, or to assert that it is not needed for us to be accepted of God, is to say that the ground which fails to bring forth herbs for them by whom it is dressed, is accepted of God even if it bears thorns and thistles instead. This will be an outright perversion of the scripture which says: "For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. Hebrews 6:7-8.
We must have to rewrite scriptures to establish that God demands no fruit from us in yielding/conforming to his righteousness in Christ.
Romans 7:4 "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God."
John 15:1-6 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."
Hebrews 12:11 "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."
Our walk is expected to correspond and finally measure up in conformity to our position in Christ. We're to purify ourselves even as we are already made pure in him(1 John 3:3). We are called to practice righteousness and be righteous even as we are already righteous in him(1 John 3:7). Deceivers are those who tell us that we're already pure and righteous and need not practice purity/righteousness to be accepted of him.
In our walk unto conformity, we can never go on sinning and assume that we are acceptable to God, neither should we entertain the thought that we need not to stop sinning to be acceptable to God.
1 John 2:28-29 "And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him."
Let No Man Deceive You With Vain Words Of Human Wisdom.
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