1jo 02v01 And If Any Man Sin

"AND IF ANY MAN SIN"

I John 2:1

You know that I do not want you to sin. Strive after holiness. Ever seek to walk in obedience to God with a sincere heart. Make perfection your goal. Never be satisfied with anything less than perfection in yourself. But, I am fully aware of the fact that you will sin. You and I are exactly alike in this matter. Though we are chosen of God, washed in the blood of Christ, born of the Spirit, and sanctified by grace, we are sinners still. None of God's people will question that fact (I John 1:8, 10). Sin is what we think. Sin is what we speak. And sin is what we do. And the reason all that we think, speak, and do is sin is this: sin is what we are. "We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" (Isa. 62:6). With David every true believer says to God, "I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done great evil in thy sight" (Ps. 51:3-4). We have found it to be true that "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things ye would" (Gal. 5:17). With Paul we are constrained, by long and painful experience, to acknowledge, "In me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not...O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:18, 24).

Yes, you will sin. So long as you are in this world, you are going to go on struggling with sin. The straggle will not get easier, but only more difficult in the future. But when you do sin, child of God, do not despair. Your sin will not separate you from your Savior. When you do sin, "We have an advocate with the Father." And you may be assured that our advocate, who pleads with God for the non-imputation of sin to us, will prevail, because he is Jesus, the Christ, the Righteous One, "and he is the propitiation for our sins", the justice satisfying sacrifice for our sins, "and not for ours only". Jesus Christ is the propitiation for the sins of God's elect throughout the whole world.