1 John 2:1-2
My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin; but if any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
I sin. I hate it. I hate it. But the final word of this text is that there is consoloation and we must not keep this consolation for ourselves alone. "And he is not the propitiation for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world."
No one who enjoys the forgiveness of Jesus can be content to hog it for himself. He is not the propitiation for our sins only. There are other sheep that are scattered throughout the whole world. Their sins, too, are covered. And the last commandment of Jesus was, "Go make disciples out of them from every people."
John's message to us today is the same as it was nearly 2000 years ago: Don't sin! It is tremendously and terribly serious. But if you do sin, don't despair because your attorney is the Son of the Judge. He is righteous and he makes his case for you not on the basis of your perfection but his propitiation. Be of good courage friends, don't hog Jesus for yourself alone, go and make disciples.
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1 comment:
This is my heart right now. "Go and make disciples." In the past, I've under-estimated the importance of allowing the Spirit of God to convict people of their sin. I've sinned by not believing that the Gospel is SO IMPORTANT, that I'd be willing to crawl "hands and knees on broken glass" just to share it with someone.
We should talk sometime, brother.
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