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John, the elder statesman of the early church, wrote his letters to rebut mistaken ideas being spread among believers. One was that people who become Jesus' disciples are no longer sinners by nature or by practice. An opposite error circulating in the churches was that because the body will be destroyed anyway, it's okay to gratify physical lust.

1 John 1:5-10

1. What does verse 5 tell you about the character of God?
2. By contrast, what does verse 8 tell you about your nature and conduct?
3. How does Jesus' blood cleanse you from every sin (v. 7)?
4. When you believed, were all your sins—past, present, and future—forgiven?
5. If you presume upon your secure standing and make no serious effort to stop sinning, what (v. 6) does that indicate?
6. Why, when you do sin after conversion (v. 9), do you need to confess that sin?

Acknowledge to God your tendency to sin. Ask Him to help you recognize specific sins and seek cleansing from them. Ask Him for a firm resolve to desist from those sins.

5 This is the message he has given us to announce to you: God is light and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness. We are not living in the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light of God's presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin.

8 If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Forgive me, Lord, for presuming to receive deliverance from the penalty of sin without an all-out effort to cooperate with You in escaping its power.

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