The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1917-06-16

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- the believer in the
Lord Jesus Christ it is said, 81 write
unto you, little children, because your
sins are forgiven you for his name
sake (2:12),
Perhaps someone reading these
words has never had his sins forgiven.
He is carrying the burden of his guilt
and knows nothing of the joy and
peace In believing in the Lord Jesus
Christ. To such a one comes the
words Of Paul, ''Be it known unto you
therefore, men and brethren, that
through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins: And by him
all that believe are justified from all
things, from which ye could not be
justified by the law of Moses" (Acts
10 :2S-29). II is possible, you see from
this, for an unbeliever to believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ and have at
once the forgiveness of sin and TO
know that his sins are forgiven him.
The Way of Cleansing.
Then notice next that this epistle
tells US of the provision made for the
believers cleansing from the detile-
ment of sin. This is set before US in
the first chapter, seventh verse, where
we. read, "The blood of Jesus Christ,
his Son, cleanseth us from all sim"
The word "ceanseth" makes 1t clear
that there is continual process ever
going on in the believers life by
which he is made clean from sin. In
two ways God has provided for the be-
levers cleansing: First, through the
blood of Jesus Christ; and, secondly,
through his Word. We have the first
method mentioned above; the second,
when Jesus said to his disciples, Nov
are yelclean through the word which
/ have spoken unto YOU and IN Ephe-
where we read VI tnset awash-
Ing Of the water by the word. The
eyer-present cleansing, which is the
believers through the blood of Christ,
is perpetual in It's effect and assures
him that before God in Christ he is
cleansed. The cleansing by the Word
has to do with his daily walk, and in
measure as the believer permits the
Holy Spirit to apply the Word to his
life it cleanses and keeps him from
I the defilement of sin.
Complete Deliverance.
IN hn nd 60 Mt
which tells us how we may be deliv.
cred from the power of sin. "These
things write unto you that We may
not sin" (Reyised Version 2:D. When
we face this truth we face one of the
most solemn truths in the Word Of
God. We may have been afraid of il
because we have known certain teach
ing that has led into grave error, anC
as a result we draw back when any
one talks about the possibility of the
believer not shining, but what is the
significance of this expression ina.
not SIM" IL it does not mean tina
there is for the believer deliverance II
this life from the power of sin.
1t is. very evident from the contex
that the apostle is not teaching thu
eradication of sin when he says ina.
not SIM" for he says, eff we say W,
have no sin (that is the root or prin
ciple of SIM we deceive ourselves ant
the truth is not In u.s." But in thu
face of this fact that sin is in us, tn,
apostle says "these things write I un
to you that We may not sim" B,
this he means the practice Of sin, ant
so he thus sets before us the posi-
bility of the believer being delivere'
| from the practice of sin. Well may w
ask, "How?" The answer is, "througl
Christ"
Our Advocate.
But what If we should sin, is Their
any provision for US? Yes, says tn
apostle, ''if any man sin we have al
advocate with the Father, Jesus Chris
the righteous" (2;D. This blesse
provision is made not that we may sir
but in case we do sin. Just as the life
boats are placed on the transatlanti
| liners not that they may go down, bu
| for use in case they do go down; an
| so If we fall into sin, the apostle tell
us what to do in the words: IF W
| confess our sins, he is faithful an
lust to forgive us our sins and t
] cleanse us from all unrighteousness
| ii :9). Our part In the restoration int
| fellowship is to confess our sin, II
| membering that before God stands on
| Advocate who pleads by his presenC
| our case. The ideal, however, for gu
4 lives is for us not to practice sin. w
are altogether too ready to excuse ou
selves on the ground of our sinfulnes
and so we set low standard for on
| lives. Gods ideal for us is that W
sin not. Have we made it our ide,
for our lives? II so, let us look to tn
Lord Jesus Christ. who by his divlr
power Is able to, overcome sin With
vs.