Walk In The Light As He Is In The Light
Paid By The Blood
1 JOHN 1:7
“But 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.
”I John 1:7 NKJV
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God’s light exposes all truth, all lies, and all corruption; nothing can be hidden from God-His light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can not comprehend it (JOHN 1:5).
To walk in God’s light is to walk in His truth, seeking His righteousness, and cooperating with Him in repentance of all sin.
When we come to Him in repentance, He is faithful to forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have wronged us (MATHEW 6:14-15).
This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But 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 1:5-10 NKJV
Our debt is already paid by the blood of the Lamb, but to receive the gift life, one must walk in the light and be willing to forgive all however we have been wronged.
Jesus said, ““For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Matthew 6:14-15 NKJV
Don’t be misled, forgiveness is a condition of Salvation. Un-forgiveness is a sin and we must repent of it and all sin, that is to say turn from it toward God.
Therefore, we must put away all offence and love the offender. That is to care for him, as we care for ourselves.
Paul tells us, “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Romans 12:17-21 NKJV
That’s not to say must make the offender our best friend, or socialise with him, or allow him to hurt us again; we all have a God given right to defend ourselves.
But forgiveness is letting go of the debt he owes and seeking no revenge. It is to continue to love him as yourself.By this you free him from the debt he owes. You are no longer the victim, but the victor, because you no longer relive the pain he caused you over and over as you contemplate justice or revenge; the offence has gone.
In Old Testament times, God allowed His people to pay their debt of sin by sacrificing their animals-their best lamb. It was like us paying a fine for our wrong doing today. If the camera catches you speeding, the fine comes through the post. Theirs no way out, that is justice.
Believers symbolically transferred their sins to an animal of which they sacrificed its blood (see LEVITICUS 4 for a description of this ceremony).
The animal died in their place to pay the debt of sin and allow them to continue living in God’s favour.
Not all sin was covered by the sacrifice of animals; some sin such as pride (PROVERBS 16:5) and homosexuality was declared by God as an abomination and the offender must spill his own blood to settle the debt (LEVITICUS 29:13).
It is one thing to believe that people paid their debt of sin by sacrificing a lamb, but it’s something else to believe that Christ Jesus was the Lamb that paid all sin, including every abomination, past, present, and future no matter how serious the sin.
To suggest one’s sin is too great to be covered by His blood is an insult to God. My brethren, that is exactly what happened. Jesus Christ died on a cross to pay the debt in full, and on the third day was risen, overcoming death itself.
He came in human form and presented Himself as slave, to pay our debt of sin (PHILIPPIANS 2:5-8), and give everyone the opportunity of life everlasting.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.””
John 3:16-21 NKJV
Those sacrifices in the Old Testament anticipated the day when Jesus Christ would completely remove all sin. Jesus did not die for His own sin-He had none! He died for you, me, and the sin of the world.
However, by His death and resurrection, He defeated death for all time, because on the third day, He was risen and the tomb stone was rolled away; (LUKE 24:1-12; MARK 16:4-14).
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
Romans 6:1-4 NKJV
That is why Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.””
John 3:3 NKJV.
My brethren, we must die to our old sinful nature, that we can be Born Again into resurrection life in the likeness of Christ.
Jesus died to free us from the debt of sin, not to continue in it. He set us free to live for Christ, not to continue to live in the darkness of sin.
Through our commitment of repentance to Christ in Baptism (ACTS 2 38), we are dead to our sinful past, and by His resurrection we are born again into His family-“knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. 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. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:6-11 NKJV
One cannot buy, purchase, or earn salvation. One’s good deeds will not bring eternal life. We can either trust in the Law, or trust in Jesus Christ.
If you trust in the Law you are immediately condemned because you have already sinned. But if you trust in Christ by faith, your sin is forgiven and your debt is paid and Christ becomes our righteousness. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
Romans 8:1 NKJV
Salvation is available to everyone, all one needs to do is believe. But belief can only come through relationship with Christ; without relationship one cannot know Him well enough to trust Him.
“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.””
Romans 10:8-13 NKJV
All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.
