Ephesians; 1:4 – Election of church age believer, part 21.

3g. The elect are royal priests in the kingdom of God.

We are currently dealing with the cleanliness of the believer priest. Every believer is cleansed from all sin by the blood of Christ. We are commanded to think and act as those who are clean.

Sin becomes a hindrance and a problem to the endeavor of holiness since it is the opposite. Every believer is plagued by some categories of sin. It has been judged on Christ. We must overcome them.

For the royal priest to function in his priestly role he must be clean in thought and action according to God’s standard.

Rom 7:21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good.

Rom 7:22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,

Rom 7:23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.

Some were telling the Corinthians that there was no bodily resurrection from the dead. This fed into the Gnostic theory that one could let the body have anything it wanted, for it was evil anyway, and such things were not sin in the realm of the spiritual.

1Co 15:33 Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."

1Co 15:34 Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.

While it is true that no one will ever become consistently sinless, it is also true that we are to have the pure motivation and intention of not sinning. Can we find anywhere in the Old or New Testament where God says that He allows a certain amount of sin?

Heb 12:1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Heb 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Heb 12:3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.

Heb 12:4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;

Heb 12:5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,

"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;

Heb 12:6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,

And He scourges every son whom He receives."

“fixing our eyes on Jesus;” “consider Him;” we cannot be overcomers in this life if we don’t seek His help consistently.

John had to deal with false teachers who were claiming sinlessness and therefore, no need of a Savior in Jesus Christ. With such thinking, they had no love in them, which was manifested by their lack of fruit from divine love.

1Jo 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

1Jo 4:8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1Jo 4:9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

1Jo 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1Jo 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Their claim to sinlessness was manifested in lack of love. The believer never puts on any show of sinlessness, and the expression of his divine love reveals that he is a sinner saved by the blood of Christ. He forgives all things and doesn’t judge. He comes to the side of the suffering and helps. He washes the feet of the brethren.

We don’t tell all our sins to everyone, that’s insane. We know we are sinners cleansed, at peace with God, and saved by grace. There is an aura around a person who understands that.

1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We saw last time that this is an “if” statement of evidence inference and not cause and effect.

Evidence – inference: We confess or acknowledge our sins to the Father because we are forgiven. We approach the throne of grace, not condemnation, and we find mercy and grace to “help in time of need.”

John is writing against the false teachers of Gnosticism. He is saying that “we,” the true teachers openly confess our sins, to others when appropriate, and to God, but not for forgiveness (we are forgiven forever, our sins He remembers no more).

Heb 4:14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

Heb 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

Heb 4:16 Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.