1 John 1:5-105This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:5‑10).
WE read in the book of Leviticus, that the priests had their portion in the offerings of the Lord. Their privilege was to feed in God’s dwelling-place upon that which represented the expiation of the sins of Israel, and which formed the ground of their worship.
But when a priest sinned, he had to offer a sin offering for himself; and this he was commanded not to eat, but to burn it with fire. His communion being interrupted by failure, he could no longer draw near as a worshipper, until he had offered an offering for his own cleansing.
The instruction to be gathered from this evidently is, that although a believer is privileged to abide in communion with God in the unclouded light of His presence, through the person and work of His Son, yet if he sin, he cannot approach in the nearness of communion until he has come to God for cleansing.
The believer is brought in to this light by the atonement of Christ, and there, in the language of Leviticus, he feeds with God upon the sacrifice, delighting in the unspeakable love and divine righteousness which it displays.
But when a believer sins, he has slighted the death of Christ. He has forsaken the light, and he must confess his sin in the hateful and terrible character in which it is revealed by the sufferings of God’s Holy One, that he may be morally capable of entering into communion. This is not communion, but repentance.
To confine the results of the death of Christ to the salvation of the soul is Carelessness about sin, and leads in the end to hardness of heart. To profess communion with God, and at the same time to allow sin and uncleanness is an abomination. It is a fleshly dishonoring of Christ’s most precious death, while professing to be feeding upon it in fellowship with a holy God.
The word of God does not say that the “blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth as from all sin, if we walk up to the light; for that none can do; neither if we walk in the light as far as we can, but absolutely “if we walk in the light,” having no other standard, but honestly and truly walking in the light, “as God,” who sees all according to His holy nature, “is in the light.”
It is because the blood is our perfect cleansing in the light that we can only there know its cleansing virtues. The light gives to every spot of sin its real color, and at the same time it shines upon the blood, and reveals how completely it cleanses us from all sin. To walk alter the manner of other Christians, making their approval our standard, is not walking in the light, as God is in the light; neither is indulgence in worldliness, unmortified tempers, or self-pleasing. If we walk thus, and say we have fellowship with Him, we lie, and do not the truth. We may know the truth, and we may have experienced it, but we are not doing it; and, therefore, honest dealing with ourselves in the light will discover that our minding of the flesh is death, and not life and peace.
A Christian often regrets that he has not more enjoyment; and yet he gives way to pride, or selfishness, or evil speaking, or ungoverned temper; and he tries, perhaps, to take gospel ground more firmly, and to force himself into happiness, whereas he needs grave to confess and forsake his sins. He needs to come into the light to know that the blood, which is God’s one and only adequate judgment of the sinfulness of sin, will not give him fellowship with God whilst walking in darkness.
But the believer, who walks humbly with God, can bless Him for the light. He loves it, and rejoices in a salvation, which has not only delivered him from sin and its consequences, but has brought out what God is in His holy and blessed nature. He would not have his failure excused, for he has been made a partaker of the divine nature; and as he walks in fellowship with his God, he yearns evermore to be a partaker of His holiness, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. He feeds with God upon the sacrifice, and instead of merely knowing its virtue in delivering him from judgment, he becomes daily more acquainted with its infinite perfections as seen in the clear light of God, and thus he grows in fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
The more the believer is in the light, the more he will value the cleansing blood. Holiness of life will increase his sensitiveness to the evil of sin, and will thus enhance his appreciation of the atonement. It is they who have not defiled their garments who long for the white robe, which the Lord promises to the overcomer. (Rev. 3:44Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. (Revelation 3:4).) The defiled are content with defilement.
May it be given to us to know the blessedness of walking in the light, as He is in the light; that as the priests of God we may groom in a divine appreciation of the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, which cleanseth us from all sin.