“I write this, 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.” 1 John 2:1, 2 MSG
Seems like no one likes to use the word, “sin”, now-a-days. If you can rename it you will. Then it doesn’t seem as bad. However, until we realize it IS bad and we need to be saved from sin, then we will go on our merry little way, which leads to destruction. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 ESV)
Sin is actually spelled “s I n”. (Little s. Big I. Little n. ) Why? As long as you keep “I” on the throne, you’re gonna sin. “My wants, my rights! I don’t need to listen to anyone else, including God.” You are on a slippery slope with that willful, deliberate attitude.
The beloved disciple, John, is writing this to “guide us out of sin…but if anyone does sin (which he knows we will…”for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 ESV), we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father, Jesus Christ!”
What a promise! What deliverance! Jesus has already solved the sin problem for good. Forever! Perfect, sinless Jesus…the Son of God…the One who knew no sin but became sin for us. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV)
So, we already have the solution to sin…the Savior, righteous Jesus! He is ours for the taking, but we first have to believe that we NEED a Savior. That we NEED to be saved from our sin.
God has already provided a way out of sin, but we don’t see sin as sin. We excuse our behavior. Blame others. Rationalize. And pretend we are good enough. “After all, I’m not like THAT person. I would never do that.”
But God says, “Whoever breaks one commandment is guilty of breaking them all.” (James 2:10 GNT)
I want to be guided out of sIn. I am so grateful that Jesus took the hit for me. I can now enter God’s presence through my Priest-Friend, Jesus. He took not only my sin, but the whole world’s. His sacrifice on the cross solved the sin problem for good.
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.” (John 3:16-18 MSG)
