DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- SIN, CLEANSING, AND FORGIVENESS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – SIN, CLEANSING, AND FORGIVENESS

"If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that 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 that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. " (I John 1:7-1-)

Sin. We all know about sin. My friend Tommy, before he became a believer at the age of 93, used to say, "I would make a good preacher, because I know all about sin." We all know about sin personally and biblically, because God says that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Sin is anything that does not meet God's standard of perfection. None of us live up that standard of holy perfection that demonstrates the glory of God. We all need forgiveness and cleansing.

In our Scripture for today, John tells how to be cleansed and forgiven. He makes a distinction between two kinds of sin – unintentional sin and presumptuous sins.

Unintentional sin is the sin of the human nature that we all inherited in our DNA from Adam, sometimes called "the sin principle." We are sinners by nature. In verse 8, John does not say that we have sinned, but that we "have sin" – singular. That is the sin that is deeply rooted in us that is a part of our nature. It is not intentional. In fact, often we don't even realize that it is there, until the Holy Spirit makes us aware of it. This type of sin is seen in the fact that we don't love God as deeply as we ought. We don't love our neighbor as we should. Our thoughts are not always godly thoughts. We need cleansing from unintentional sin, sin of omission. If we walk in the light that we have to the best of our ability, then the blood of Jesus cleanses us from those sin, because Jesus paid the price for all sin when He died on the cross – even sin that we are not aware of.

The second type of sin, on the other hand, is when we become aware by the conviction of the Holy Spirit that we have violated God's will and what is pleasing to Him. We lie, we steal, we bear false witness, we envy and covet. These are sins of commission. We know they are wrong, yet we do them deliberately and they presume on God's mercy and grace. These are indicated in verse 9 by the plural form of the word sin. These sins are conscious acts of the will. The cleansing for those sins is by confession and repentance.

In the Old Testament Mosaic covenant, we find this pattern. God made provision for atonement for sin with the Sin Offering. In Leviticus 16, we find instructions for the Day of Atonement, and the Sin Offering that was made each year for all the sins that may have been committed in Israel during that year. Also, in Leviticus chapters 4 and 5, there was instruction for the Sin Offering for unintentional sin of the nation (4:13), the priests (4:3), the rulers (4:22), and the rest of the people (4:27). When the sin was revealed and it became known, then sacrifices were to be made to cover the sin. Chapter 6 pertains to sacrifices for presumptuous sins that are committed willfully with knowledge.

Now, we do not live under the Old Covenant, but the principle that is expressed by John remains the same. Thank God that we have the confidence that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from unintentional sin that we are not aware of. And if we are convicted of sins, then we can receive cleansing and forgiveness by confessing them to God. John wrote at the beginning of the next chapter, "My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (I John 2:1-2). God does not want us to sin. But if we do, we have atonement through our Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus died once for sin, and the just live by faith in the sacrifice that He made that covers all sin.

The point is that I do not have to live under condemnation. I know that I am not yet perfect, and do not always reflect God's glory. When Jesus died on the cross, he made provision for both unintentional sin and presumptuous sins that are confessed. As Believers, we live in His cleansing and forgiveness. The bumper sticker says, "I'm not perfect – just forgiven." Forgiven! What a wonderful word! What a wonderful Savior!

Love, Dad