We have been enjoying the Apostle John's words in First John chapter one where he has been sharing with us how to have fellowship with God. God desires to have a relationship with people, and He has made provision for that to be so. Sin, missing the mark, is the deterrent to this relationship because it separates a person from God. However, God has provided the solution to the separation problem by having His Son Jesus pay the price for sin. Jesus paid the penalty for every sin a person commits by shedding His blood on the cross, and now all a person has to do is confess those sins which means: admit, turn from and repent of them. Many people have done just this, however, there are people who do not believe they have sinned. In the final verse to this great chapter John says these people make God a liar. John wrote in chapter one verse ten:
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Can you even imagine making God a liar? It is impossible for God to lie, and yet there are people who when God says, “there is sin in your life”, they say “no, there isn't” and in effect make God a liar. Paul the Apostle said in the book of Romans chapter three verse ten:
There is none righteous, no not one
And again in Romans chapter three verse twenty-three:
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
Remember, the idea is that there is a sin nature in every person. The manifestation of that sin nature demonstrates itself in many ways: lying, cheating, gossip, envy, jealousy, adultery, murder, and the list goes on and on. Each of these manifestations only prove that there is a sin nature within everyone, and when God says, “you have sin in your life”, you have sin in your life. Those who claim to be without sin do not change the fact that there is a sin nature within them by simply declaring that they do not. No, rather, they simply ignore the truth, and the word of God is not in them.
In order for a person to have a personal relationship with God, he or she must begin the process by responding to the revelation from God that there is a sin nature within them. This sin nature separates and divides them from having fellowship with God. Unless this separating factor is removed, there will be no true relationship with God, and this is why God has made provision in advance for the declaration of individual sin, and He paid the price for the sin that is within.
Tomorrow I'd like to parenthetically turn my attention toward our nation as I believe it relates to this very problem of not admitting and confessing sin. So read ahead in the book of Jeremiah chapter eighteen especially concentrating on verses seven through thirteen.
Until tomorrow...there is more...
Look for the new devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ; www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, find locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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