◄ What Does 1 John 2:2 Mean? ►

We have been brought into sweet fellowship with the Heavenly Father by grace through faith in our Saviour, Jesus Christ, but this can only be maintained and strengthened as we walk in the light. But we live in a fallen world and are subject to the enticing lusts of the flesh, whether they be sinful actions of the body, prideful thoughts of the mind, or ungodly motives of the heart.

How important therefore to seek to live godly in Christ Jesus and to keep a short rein on any sins we may commit. How vital to identify sins of omission or sins or commission and to confess these faults to our Heavenly Father, knowing that if we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to keep on cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

The righteousness of Christ is the perfect standard that God's requires of all His children. Jesus lived a sinless life so that all who believe in Him might be forgiven of their sins and clothed in His righteousness, but it is only as we die to self, live to Christ, and walk in spirit and truth in the power of the Holy Ghost, that our life can be holy unto the Lord. It is only my new, born-again life-in-Christ that can walk in spirit and truth and not the old Adamic life that is saturated with sin, and remains at enmity with God. We are accepted as righteous because of what Christ did on our account, and not because of our own righteousness!

We are accepted by God IN the Beloved. We are accepted by God because we are IN Christ.

But Christ not only identified with our sins so that in-Him we could walk in the light of His love by faith and be imputed with His own righteousness, but He is also our heavenly Advocate Who continuously pleads our case before the Father.

We who have been washed clean by the blood of the Lamb, need to be continuously cleansed through the gracious intercessions of our heavenly Advocate Who comes along-side each of His own in times of need. Our Lord comes alongside to bring us to the place of confessing and forsaking our sins before God so that sweet fellowship with the Father may be maintained, for if we sin we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins.

Jesus is not only our Saviour and Advocate, but He is also the Propitiation for our sins. Jesus is the One Whose death freed us from the guilt of our sin. He is the One Who restored us from eternal separation from God into sweet fellowship with the Father. He is the One Whose death and Resurrection redeemed us from slavery to sin and it is only through Christ's atoning work on the Cross on our behalf, that God is satisfied.

God is satisfied with Christ's sacrifice on our account. God is satisfied that justice has been carried out on behalf of our sins by Christ. God is satisfied that payment for our sins has been fully met, for Christ is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Christ's sacrificial death was so all-embracing, so comprehensive, and so efficacious that He is the Propitiation for the sins of the whole world. Christ's death was so inclusive that it is sufficient to pay for the price for the sins of every man who ever lived so that whosoever believes on Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.

Christ sacrificial death is so all-encompassing that it is sufficient to remove every barrier between God and return mankind into fellowship with the Father, through faith in His sacrificial death. How sad that there are those who refuse Christ's offer of salvation and by their own free-will place themselves back under condemnation, through time and into eternity.

Heavenly Father, thank You that Christ is the propitiation for my sins and that His sacrificial death has paid the full price for my sins, brought me into eternal union with Himself, and returned me back into sweet fellowship with the Father. Thank You that by His glorious Resurrection, I have received newness of life and that this same offer of salvation is open to whosoever will believe. Thank You for all those who are coming to Christ in these last days. May many more come to a saving faith in Christ before it is too late. In Jesus' name, AMEN.