Don’t make God out to be a liar.

1 John 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. How is it that someone who says they have not sinned makes God a liar? In sending His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for the sins of His people, God was saying that all have sinned. He was saying that the only way for them to be right with God, not die, and have eternal life in union with Him was for Him to forgive and cleanse them while still fulfilling the demands of righteousness. That’s exactly what God did in sending His Son. Listen to how Paul taught this same truth. Speaking of justification “as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:25-26). Thus says the word of the Lord. So we can see why saying we have not sinned makes God a liar and clearly reveals that God’s word is not in us. God’s word is the truth. He has said that only Jesus is life. Therefore, His giving His life for the sins of those who abide in death is what Light and Love must do. He has done it! These verses may not seem necessary to many of us who have plenty of evidence that we have sinned against God and know that our flesh is hostile to God. However, in John’s day, they were very necessary because of those who rejected God’s Word and Jesus’ having come in the flesh to take away sin. In our time, these verses are extremely relevant because the lies of apostasy have invaded the visible church denying original sin, that Jesus was God in the flesh, Jesus’ atoning work on the cross, and the miraculous resurrection of His body. This spirit of antichrist has been in the world since Jesus came and is still prevalent today. It is for this reason that I am calling you to live to love with Jesus. As we live to love with Him, we are testifying that we need His life given for us on the cross and His life given to us for our daily walk. Without Him, we sin, but abiding with Him, we love. When He leaves us to ourselves and we sin, that’s when we take responsibility for our sin and testify to God’s faithfulness and forgiveness that flows through His substitutionary death. When He gives us His grace and we love with Him, that’s when we give Him glory and testify of His redeeming, resurrected life dwelling in our bodies of flesh. In so doing, we show that God’s Word is in us and that He is the truth.