Sojourner #003: Resolved Never to Give Over

“If we say 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.” (1 John 1:8-9, Walking in the Light, ESV)

There is a real sense in which from the moment the believer enters into the Christian life they are entering into the midst of a war. A war that has already been won, but a war nonetheless. 

The believer is one who has been declared righteous before God through the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to them by faith in His name (Romans 4:22-5:1). Those who belong to Christ Jesus have been transformed by the grace of God and delivered from the bondage of sin and death (Romans 8:2). The believer’s sinful nature has been crucified on the cross of Christ, while their new nature has been made alive to God in Christ Jesus (Galatians 5:24-26). His atoning work of propitiation has reconciled the people of God to God in accordance with His sovereign will (Romans 5:8-11).

Passing from death to life, the believer’s new heart seeks the things that are above (Colossians 3:1-4). Their desires have been radically changed by the working of the Holy Spirit in such a way that they are now actively turning to God in repentance and faith, having heard and heeded the call of the Gospel, through the providential working of God in their lives (2 Corinthians 5:16-21).

Yet, they are not without sin (1 John 1:8). The believer is still prone to wander, beset on all sides by the world, the flesh, and the devil (Ephesians 2:2-3). They fall short of the glory of God, they stumble in many ways, they err, they are carried away by their own lusts, and they sin grievously at times (Psalm 51:1-4). 

The moment the believer is made alive they are entered into an active conflict between their old, sinful passions of the flesh and their new nature that seeks to please God (Ephesians 4:20-24). For that which they know they ought to do, they do not, while that which they do not want to do, they do (Romans 7:21-23). This very struggle caused the Apostle Paul to cry out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of sin and death” (Romans 7:24). This conflict is what caused the Anglican Bishop J.C. Ryle to declare, “A true Christian is one who has not only peace of conscience, but war within. He may be known by his warfare as well as by his peace” (Holiness, J.C. Ryle).

The Christian life is one is which the believer is in a moment justified before God by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, and one in which the believer in engaged in an ongoing work of sanctification as the kingdom of God is realized in their life more and more, by the working of the Holy Spirit in applying the truth of scripture to every area of their lives, resulting in their final glorification, where they are saved to sin no more; for His glory and for the good of His people. 

When writing on the reality that the believer is justified before God and actively engaged in an ongoing struggle against the indwelling sin in their lives, Martin Luther, who is seen by many as the father of what we call the Protestant Reformation, adopted the phrase, “Simul Justus et Peccator” meaning that the believer is, “Simultaneously justified and sinner.” The late reformer understood something of the fact that those whom Christ has saved are presently involved in the midst of a great war against the ancient forces of darkness, and that they have been enlisted in the service of the Lord of Heaven’s armies, commanded to kill the sin that remains in their lives (Colossians 3:5). The believer finds themselves between two points in time, justification and glorification (Romans 8:1). It is there they must do battle, fighting from the vantage that Christ has come and won the victory for them (Philippians 2:12-13).

-

Following the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple at the hands of the Roman Empire in A.D. 70, it is believed that the Apostle John relocated to the affluent port city of Ephesus (western Turkey), located within the Roman province of Asia, widely known for its temple dedicated to the Roman goddess Diana. From Ephesus, it is likely that the aged Son of Zebedee wrote his first epistle in c. A.D. 90. As the last remaining Apostle, John’s authoritative writings were received with sincere eagerness by those in the first century Church.

As a pastor with great concern for the people of God, John wrote to refute the demonic teachings of those who had crept into the Church in an effort to pervert the truth of God, to communicate the fundamental truths of Christianity to churches being accosted by false prophets, and to extol his flock to rejoice in the midst of difficulty, knowing that their faith rests in securely in none other than Jesus Christ the righteous.

John calls readers back to the basics of the Christian life, reminding them of the sound doctrine that had been once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3), the necessity of Godly living in the present age, and the Biblical basis of true assurance. 

He begins his letter recalling that which they had heard and seen and believed concerning the Word of Life (1:1-4), declaring that God is light (1:5), that those who walk in light have fellowship with Him and are cleansed from sin by the blood of Jesus (1:6-7). Then, he issues a warning to those who say they have fellowship with God but do not practice the truth, explaining that such individuals are deceiving themselves, making Him a liar, and exposing the reality that His word is not in them (1:6-10). 

The false teachers of the day not only walked in great darkness, they even believed that they were without sin, demonstrating their lack of genuine conversion by their refusal to recognize their sin. To deny the existence of sin in the life of the individual is to slander the God who has said that all people are sinners (1:9), which is a sin in and of itself. Though they claimed to have been enlightened, their very lives betrayed the fact that they had no true fellowship with Christ at all. John makes a clear distinction here, noting the biblical truth that God is light (1:5); absolutely perfect, holy, without sin, and pure. None who habitually walk in darkness may claim fellowship with Him, for He is light itself (1:6).

On the contrary, the genuine believer’s life is characterized by truth and holiness, by fellowship with one another, and by habitually walking in the light (1:7). While the true believer may sin in many ways, they recognize it for what it is, and understand that they are not without it (1:8). Though battered and scarred by sin, they are gradually being transformed more and more into the image of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in their lives. Their lives are progressively characterized not by sin and falsehood, but by sound doctrine and right living, living one’s life Coram Deo, or in the presence of God.

Christians must confess their sins to God. A recognition of sin, of being a sinner, is a necessary component of saving faith. Without a recognition of one’s personal condition as a sinner, there can be no reception of a personal Savior from sin. The Gospel has not changed a person unless they see their sin for what it truly is and see their need for Christ to do what they can not. As such, all those who belong to Christ Jesus have first recognized that they are great sinners in need of a great Savior, and second are continually looking unto Him as the only Savior.

This confession of sin in the life of the believer is ongoing, and a sign that God has so worked in a person unto saving faith in Jesus Christ. As John writes, God is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse all those who confess their sins to Him (1:9). To confess is to speak the same as, meaning that to confess sin is to stand in agreement with or acknowledge that God is correct in regard to what He says about sin. This confession of sin is always accompanied by a repentance, or a turning from and forsaking of that sin, because what God says about it is true.

The Son of Thunder tells his readers that he is writing these things to them so that they might not sin (2:1), understanding that they will never be fully without sin (1:8). Yet, believers who sin are not without a Helper, they are not without their Paraclete, or Advocate with the Father (2:1). Who is this Mediator between God and man? None other than the Man Christ Jesus, who has Himself become the propitiation for their sins (2:1-2). In other words, the righteous Son of God has borne the sins of His people, satisfied the holy wrath of God for their sin, credited them with His righteousness, and presently serves as the great High Priest who intercedes for them day and night before the Father, guaranteeing mercy and grace in time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Thus, the believer is not without hope. The believer no longer stands condemned, for there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). The believer is no longer captive to the sin that seeks to reign in their lives. The believer need no longer give themselves over to sin. Rather, they may now turn from their sins to God and run to Him who saves them. 

They may make the resolution that the old Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards made when he wrote, “Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be” (The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards, 56). They may follow John Owen in the mortification of sin, and, “Set faith at work on Christ for the killing of thy sin” as, “His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin-sick souls” (The Mortification of Sin). 

Though may a believer may object and say, “I have often relapsed and fallen into the same sin again and again”, they must answer, “If Christ will have us pardon our brother seventy-seven times, can we think He will press us more than He will be ready to do Himself?” (Richard Sibbes, Works 1:231). They need only confess their sins to God and stand as one who has been forgiven by the blood of the Lamb that was slain for their sins and for the sins of the whole world (2:2). He has sprinkled them with clean water, and they have been cleansed from their uncleanliness and idols (Ezekiel 36:25). They may lift their drooping hands and strengthen their weak knees, they may make straight paths for their feet, they may be healed, and they may strive for peace and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:12-14).

Though the believer may find themselves in the midst of a great war, they may look to the already victorious rider on the white horse who is called Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11), the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who judges in righteousness (Revelation 19:16), the very Word of God whose robe is dipped in blood (Revelation 19:13), and cry out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God” (Revelation 19:1-2).

-

Recommended Reading:

The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards, by Jonathan Edwards

MacArthur’s Quick Reference Guide to the Bible, by John MacArthur

The MacArthur Study Bible, by John MacArthur

The Mortification of Sin, by John Owen

Holiness, by J.C. Ryle

The Works of Richard Sibbes, by Richard Sibbes

-

Editor's Note:

Unless stated otherwise, all of the Scripture references contained within this online issue of Sojourner Magazine were taken from the NASB. Sojourner Magazine does not own the rights to the NASB, or any of the other cited material(s). Please give credit where credit is due.