1478. We Know the Son of God Takes Away Sin
We Know the Son of God Takes Away Sin
"And ye know that He was manifested to take away oar sins" (1Jn_3:5).
The Epistle of John is pre-eminently an Epistle of love, of light, and of life, but these are alone made possible through the Cross of Christ.
1. The Epistle of John does not excuse sin. There are those who magnify the love of God, but forget that God is also justice and holiness and truth.
God does not love sin, nor does God overlook the heinousness of his sin.
Jesus Christ was the Son of God's love, and yet God gave Him to die upon the Cross in the sinner's stead.
God so loved the world, but those who believe not shall be damned.
(1) The Epistle of John, the Epistle of love, plainly declares that all unrighteousness is sin.
It says that, "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the Law: for sin is the transgression of the Law" (1Jn_3:4).
The Epistle does not soft-pedal sin.
(2) The Epistle of John, the Epistle of love, plainly declares that there is a devil, and that all sin is of the devil:
"He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning" (1Jn_3:8).
John positively says:
"For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil" (1Jn_3:8).
There may be those who, under the all-love of God, would seek to excuse the sin of man, or even the sin of saints, but the Holy Ghost says through John; "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the Truth is not in us" (1Jn_1:8).
2. The epistle of John does not eliminate the Blood. If there is sin, there must be sacrifice, or else the sinner must be damned.
(1) If the believer sins, and confesses his sin, there is the cleansing flow from calvary's Cross.
"If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanseth us from all sin" (1Jn_1:7).
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1Jn_1:9).
The redeemed who walk before God have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.
(2) If the believer sins, he has a mercy-seat.
John tells us: "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; and He is the propitiation for our sins" (1Jn_2:1-2).
The word "propitiation" is "mercy-seat," and the mercy-seat was sprinkled with the Blood.
The Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is not only found in John's Gospel, and in John's Epistle, but it is the predominant note of the Book of Revelation, in which the Holy Ghost gives His final message through John.
The Revelation tells us of Christ under the name, "The Lamb." The name itself is significant of Calvary. Revelation recognizes the significance of this name, because we read: "And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne * * stood a Lamb, as though it had been slain" (Rev_5:6, \1911 Bible).
The hosts around the throne were "saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain" (Rev_5:12).
We bless God that we know that Christ was manifested to take away our sins.
The world may seek an entrance to Heaven through their own works or deeds, we know that the way of the Cross leads home.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR