"Therefore if anyone
is in Christ, he is
a new creation; old
things have passed away;
behold, all things
have become new."
2 Cor 5:17
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Welcome back to the study! Let's begin with prayer....
"Holy Father God, in today's lesson we will read about how abiding in You and Your word will keep us from sinning continually. I come before You today to give You thanks that You have provided for us the way to stay in Your presence. But mostly I praise Your holy name for the gift of remaining and standing with You. Thank You that You did not abandon us, but have kept all Your promises to abide with us. You are faithful even when we are not.
I seek forgiveness of my sins because I know that I have not remained with You as You have remained with me. I know that my sins separate me from You, so Lord I pray that You will wash me clean, renew me, and fill me with Your Spirit this day.
I life up to you the ladies reading this study. I pray that You will speak to her through Your word. I pray that You will convict her of her sins and renew a steadfast spirit within her. I pray that You will come alongside her and encourage her as she faces the challenges of each new day. Fill her with the knowledge of Your will for her life and help her to grow in wisdom and understanding.
In Jesus' name...amen."
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Today's lesson will look again at sin and what it does to our Christian walk. We will revisit what it means to abide in Christ and also what it means to be a Christian.
1 John 3:6
"Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him."
John, our author, has given us many things to think about in this thrid chapter, but since it mentions sin over all other words, we know that he truly wants us to focus on what sin is and what it does to our walk.
"Whover abides in Him does not sin......"
As we look at this first part of this verse, we are reminded of what it truly means to be a "follower" of Jesus Christ.
Please read:
John 6:22-27
Here Jesus it telling the people not to seek Him merely for the outward signs and physical satisfaction that they felt, and not because of the spiritual things of God.
Doesn't that sound familiar?
Many of the "seeker-friendly" churches in this country focus on the outward and physical satisfactions only and not the ways of God nor His word because that only satisfies spiritually. But non-believers cannot be satisfied spiritually unless they have been regenerated and are made new in Christ.
That is what happened to you. When you were regenerated, the things of this world (temporary) had no deep meaning any longer. Now the spiritual things of God (eternal) have purpose and meaning in your life. The things of God may have sounded nice before you were a Christian, but they gave you no peace or lasting satisfaction because you were dead in your trespasses.
But now you have new life:
2 Cor 5:17
Rom 8:9
When you were a non-believer, you were still in the flesh, so you needed fleshly satisfaction....but there is not peace in the flesh because it is temporary.
Rom 8:7-8
Heb 11:6
Jesus warned the people approaching Him not to labor for the food that persishes. When you were still in your trespasses, that is what you did: labor for perishing food.
The food you sought could not satisfy you. The heft of your guilt went untouched....and that weight began to hold you down. The temporary things of this world cannot possibly satisfy us because we were made in His image: of the eternal.
All our lives we will seek the eternal. That is how we have been made. If you study early civilizations, you will see that each one sought out those who were higher than they for the answers. Each civilization feared the unknown source of their food, water, and life because they knew this "source" was of greater substance than they were.
John tells us that whoever abides in Christ does not sin. So, does that mean that those of us who call ourselves Christians are to be sinless?
No.
Only Christ was and is sinless. We are called to holiness, but it is God who makes us holy.
1 Thess 4:7
What John is saying is that whoever abides in Jesus will not sin continually.....as in living in sin constantly.
That is why I know the word of God is truth because this is what happened to me when I was in sexual sin for over 2 yrs. Had I not been truly redeemed, I would not have been called out of that sin.
But because I was called out of that sin and set back on course, I know that I am a Christian. Looking back I can see the assurance of my walk in Christ because He never left me nor abandoned me.....instead He sought me, bound my wounds, and healed me. Just as He says He will do to His own:
Ez 34:16
John 10:11
But John tells us that whoever abides in Christ does not sin.
Remember what abide means: stay; remain; stand
So, if we remain in Christ, stay with Christ, stand in Christ....then we will not sin continually. It is Christ who will convict us and bring us back into that fold. We will remain under His protection. The protection of the Good Shepherd.
Praise God!
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"Whover sins has neither seen Him nor known Him."
Again, this second part of the verse seems hopeless. But we know John never leaves his readers without hope!
Because we are of the seed of the new birth, we cannot go on living in sin. Once we are called out of the darkness and into the light, then we cannot return to that darkness because the veil has been removed from our eyes and we see sin as it really is.
Rom 6:16
As Christians, we cannot be a slave to disobedience and a slave to righteousness. It is one or the other.
When you were unsaved, you were a slave to disobedience....period. You did not have the ability to please God with obedience. You may say, "Yeah but I did some pretty good things before I was a believer. I helped out a lot of people!"
You may have done what was good in your sight, but scripture clearly tells us that all your good deeds were as filthy used mentrual cloths to the Lord. How's that for a visual??
He may have been using you to help bless His children with gifts, but those gifts only pleased Him because they were helping His child. He sees Jesus in His children. He could not even look upon you in your sins.
Rom 7:9-12
Now that He has regenerated you from the dead, those deeds you do to please Him are truly blessings indeed because He sees Jesus in you now.....that glorious face of Christ!
See the difference? Now you are a slave to righteousness. You are no longer a slave to disobedience. Sometimes you will disobey, as I do, as we all do. But now you have the Advocate, the Helper, the Counselor who comes alongside you and sets you back on the right path leading to life.
John 8:34-36
You have been made free! Rejoice in that fact alone.
Rom 7:5-6
Rom 2:4-11
You are a new creation. The old things have past and and all things have become new!
Is 43:18-21
Is 65:17
Rom 6:3-10
"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.
Rom 6:12-14
Sin has no dominion over us any longer because we have been made alive in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now we present our members are instruments (or weapons) of righteousness to God!
Now we shall walk in newness of life because we know Him!
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Life Application
As I read 2 Cor 5:17, I was reminded how I have become a new creation. It is easy to walk as a Christian and still be enslaved by the things of the past. Our past thoughts, desires, and ways can hold us back. They can even keep us from moving forward.
When we forget just what it was that Christ did in us, then those past deeds and ways come back to hold us down.
Christ came to conquer death once and for all. He came to destroy the work of Satan. Why, then, should we who have been set free still look back on those days of enslavement?
Please read:
Ex 14:10-12
The Hebrews had barely left enslavement in Egypt and yet at the first sign of trouble they instantly wanted to return to bondage!
How different are we from the Hebrews? Do you find yourself thinking back on the days when you were in bondage to Satan as soon as times are hard?
It can be an easy thing to do when we return to living in this temporary world laboring for the temporary food that will not satisfy us.
Matt 6:19-21
Col 3:1-2
It is the eternal that will fill us to overflowing because we came from the eternal and the Lord put within us a yearning for all things eternal. You are a new creation now, old things have past and all things have become new. Only God can do that! Only God can raise the dead and breathe new life and restore the lifeless.
Take time out of your busy day today and thank Him for that new life. Truly meditate on what it was He saved you from. Set your sights on the things ahead and not on that old life left behind in the grave where it rots and decays.
You know Christ! You have new life! Rejoice always.
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Until next time.....
"What John is saying is that if God has broken into your life and you now live in Christ by faith, you will not go on living as you once lived. God's 'seed of regeneration' remains in you so you cannot go on sinning....you may still sin, but sin will be contrary to the bent of your new life. You will not be content to continue on sin."
-Dr. Joel Beeke (The Epistles of John, 2006, p. 126)
Blessings,
Ruth
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