...the truth is not in him...

1 John

{2:1} My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous
{2:2} And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.
{2:3} And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
{2:4} He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
{2:5} But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
{2:6} He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

**

Do you think John was talking to children? I don't. Not in the sense he was talking to seven, eight, nine year olds, but rather children in God. We are all children in God aren't we? Jesus says we have to be as little children, and He certainly didn't mean we had to act out and willful as children but rather filled with curiosity about the world around us, eager to learn, eager to love and accept love.

John is writing to people like you and I telling us he's doing so that we sin not.

Once again, continuing in sin willfully without any true remorse or repentance, sinning and mocking God as we do so, sinning and reveling in that sin will never be right with God, never. Sin separates us from God so how can it ever be right?

John here is telling us that we shouldn't sin and yet if we do, we do have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

I saw a show on tv, one of those silly reality shows and the object is getting money and winning over others doing the same while confronted with various obstacles. Well the last one standing gets a chance to earn more money etc by going into this room where they only have so long to finish the assigned tasks and if they don't finish them they lose everything-- however! Yes, there is a however, there is a panic button on the wall and if the player pushes it because they can't finish the task and are about to run out of time, the person will get 1/2 what their winnings would have been. Now the reason I'm mentioning that is probably obvious. That person doesn't want to run out of time, the person doesn't want to press the panic button, the person will do everything they possibly can so they don't have to press the panic button, but the panic button is there if they really need it.

We shouldn't sin, period. I don't need to give a song and dance reason why we shouldn't sin. Sin is wrong, we shouldn't sin, yet just like that game we have a way to be forgiven our sins if we need it. It's not something we should trifle with, Jesus' forgiveness. We don't sin willfully and believe it doesn't matter Jesus will forgive me. We don't sin and like some believe, go to church and do penance then go out and sin some more. We don't treat sinning like a game at all. We don't tally our sins up like calories on a calorie restricted diet and go, well...let me see...if I eat that piece of chocolate cake I can balance it out with an hour long jog around the park, if I sin I'll go say an extra prayer. And like that dieter they have to determine if the cake is worth the extra jogging, the sinner is trifling with forgiveness by trying to figure out if its worth the sinning, having to pray that extra bit.

Seriously, people do these things and sometimes they do them without even really realizing they're doing them. They're minds are on automatic. Instead of calling sin, sin, they say it's their little problem. Instead of anguishing over their little problem, they off-handedly say, God understands, He knows I'm weak and can't stop so He'll forgive me. We make excuses we placate ourselves, we do all sorts of things just so we can get away with sinning.

Yes, we do have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous...

{2:2} And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.

Jesus died for us all! His spilled blood is sufficient for each one of us but we can't stand in mockery of that sacrifice and hold the hammer and nail, driving them into His flesh over and over and over without caring, without understanding what we're doing when we sin. Yes, we might HATE ourselves and feel hopelessly caught up in our sins and want to give up because we feel we'll never be able to stop, but that hate is good, keep on hating the sin in yourself, it's good, we have to hate sin and hate our weakness and cling to Christ praying earnestly for forgiveness.

How do we know if we know Christ?

{2:3} And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
{2:4} He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
{2:5} But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
{2:6} He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

So beautiful the love of God. Walk as He walked. Keep His commandments. We want the truth in us, only the truth. We don't want to be filled with lies, only truth.

May God help us to walk as Jesus walked, to keep His commandments, by His grace and mercy now and forever.

Amen.