MYRA D. COLGATE
CHEROKEE PENTECOSTAL HOLINESS CHURCH
“My little children, I write you these things so that you may not violate God’s law and sin. But if anyone should sin, we have an Advocate (One Who will intercede for us) with the Father–[it is] Jesus Christ [the all] righteous [upright, just, Who conforms to the Father’s will in every purpose, thought, and action.]
“And He [that Jesus Himself] is the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins, and not for ours alone but also for [the sins of] the whole world.
“And this is how we may discern [daily, by experience] that we are coming to know Him [to perceive, recognize, understand, and become better acquainted with Him]: if we keep (bear in mind, observe, practice) His teachings (precepts, commandments).
“Whoever says, I know Him [I perceive, recognize, understand, and am acquainted with Him] but fails to keep and obey His commandments (teachings) is a liar, and the Truth [of the Gospel] is not in him.
“But he who keeps (treasures) His Word [who bears in mind His precepts, who observes His message in its entirety], truly in him has the love of and for God been perfected (completed, reached maturity). By this we may perceive (know, recognize, and be sure) that we are in Him.]
“Whoever says he abides in Him ought [as a personal debt] to walk and conduct himself in the same way in which He walked and conducted Himself.”
1 John 2: 1-6 (AMP)
1-2
“I write his, dear children, to guide you out of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus. When He served as a sacrifice for our sins, He solved the sin problem for good—not only ours, but the whole world’s.
THE ONLY WAY TO KNOW WE ARE IN HIM
2-3
“Here’s how we can be sure that we know God in the right way: keep His commandments.
4-6
“If someone claims, “I know Him well!” but doesn’t keep His commandments, he’s obviously a liar. His life does not match his words. The one who keeps God’s word is the person in whom we see God’s mature love. This is the only way to be sure we are in God. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived.”
1 John 2:1-6 (MSG)
John uses “dear children” in a warm, fatherly way. He is not talking down to his readers but is showing affection for them. At this writing, John was a very old man. He had spent almost all his life in ministry, and many of his readers were indeed his spiritual children.
To people who are feeling guilty and condemned, John offers reassurance. They know they have sinned, and satan (called ‘the accuser’, by John in Revelation 12:10) is demanding the death penalty.
When one feels this way, do not give up hope—the best defense attorney in the universe is pleading one’s case. (Jesus is now also to be our High Priest.) Jesus Christ, our advocate, our defender, is also the Judge’s Son. He has already suffered, for each believer, our penalty—if we have taken our place in Christ and ‘seated with Him in heavenly places’. We cannot be tried for a case that is no longer on the Court’s docket. United with Jesus Christ, we are as safe as He is. Do not ever be afraid to ask Jesus to plead your case—He has already won it! (See Romans 8:33-34; Ephesians 2:4-6; Hebrews 7:24-25.) All sin has been removed from those who have opened up their own heart’s door and invited Christ Jesus to come in and take His place on the ‘throne’ of their entire life. The life we are now to live is His, now and forever—no longer our own. We are secure by knowing He is in us and we are in Him—and covered by His Blood.
Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. He can stand before God as our mediator because His death satisfied the wrath of God against every sin in paying our death penalty for all our sinning with all of His perfect Blood. Thus, Christ both satisfies God’s requirement and removes our sin from us. In Him we are forgiven and purified. All a person has to do is turn from sin, ask for and receive Christ’s forgiveness. Committing our lives to Him, we can now walk as Jesus walked, obeying His teachings, following His example of complete obedience to God and loving service to others.
