Goodnight, everyone, and thank you all for making it out - particulary this week, after a rather long absence on my part. Tonight's study will be a little shorter than usual, I think, and there is a reason for that. The matter here is a little "heavy," and may be new to some, so I want to give you as much time as possible to ask questions, and interact, or at least have some time afterwards to really think about it. It is, I believe, the first in a series of three or four connected studies, that all have to do with overcoming sin in our lives - something we can all benefit from, right? :)

Now, I have a question I want to ask all of you. I don't want you to answer it now, but just think on it, because we will be coming back to it a few times, okay? The question is: "Which is easier- for a man to walk on water, or to live a life completely free of sin?"

Our Messiah would often pose questions this way, and here is an example of it: "When Jesus saw their faith, He said unto the sick of the palsy, 'Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.' But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, 'Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?'" (Mark 2:5-7)

I like this section for several reasons, one of the primary being this, Christ here is openly claiming His authority to forgive sins. The Pharisees rightly knew that this was only possible for God Himself, and this passage is a nice little testimony for those who would claim that the Messiah was not fully God :)

But the story continues: "And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, He said unto them, 'Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?'" (Mark 2:8,9)

Here we have the question :) And it was a hard one for some of the hearers, I am sure. For them to answer that either of these was easier was to declare a measure of faith. And Christ found a nice way to deal with opening up the minds of His observers - He showed them that one of the two things WAS possible: "'But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins,' (He saith to the sick of the palsy,) 'I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.' And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, 'We never saw it on this fashion.'" (Mark 2:10-12)

"We never saw anything like this!" the New King James version says. And when we are walking after our Father, walking in the footsteps of the Son, this may well be something that is said about our words and actions also. In this dark world, so devoid of light, so unused to purity and real virtue, we will be like strange beings indeed, but it will be obvious to all that we have something they want.

In the last days, the Bible declares, there will be a people who have two basic characteristics at the center of who they are: "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." (Rev 14:12)

They will have lives of obedience to the things Christ taught, and they will have the "faith of Jesus." These two things are connected, for faith and obedience go hand in hand. We can answer both of these by asking what the last thing is. What is the "Faith of Jesus?"

Well, the easy answer is, "Believing that He was the Son of God." That's only part of it. We can add more, "He died to forgive us of our sins." Also part of it, and a large part, but still not all of it. Believing that Christ was the Son of God is not nearly enough - of course it's important, and VITAL, but not the whole story. Of this kind of faith it is said: "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble." (James 2:19)

We need to have a living faith, one that takes us, from victory to victory, as the Scripture puts it, speaking of the Gospel: "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith.'" (Rom 1:17)

This means, simply... a process "faith to faith" of overcoming sin.

Now, this is hardly a message one will hear from the average pulpit - and in fact is actually vehemently protested in a few places, so I will admit that this study will sort of force us to "think outside the box" a bit. But let's look at the matter objectively :)

First there was my question - 'Which is easier, for a man to walk on water, or to live completely free of known sin?' And yes, that word "known" is important, but we will get to that, although maybe not in THIS study :) Now the answer to that question... well, the best answer is probably, "Neither. Both are impossible." Yes, but this was also taught: "And Jesus looking upon them saith, 'With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.'" (Mark 10:27)

"Okay," you may point out," Jesus walked on water. But of course He could - He was God!" Good point, but I was not referring to Christ Himself when I asked that question. "And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, 'Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.' And Peter answered Him and said, 'Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.' And He said, 'Come.' And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus." (Mat 14:25, 27-29)

Not only Christ, but those whom He calls can do things that are "impossible for men." So the question comes to mind, "Are you trying to tell us we can live completely without sin?" I can do better than just answer that question, I can give examples: "And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." (Gen 5:23-24, Heb 11:5)

At this point, someone asked a most important question: "What about 1 John 1:8? It says, 'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.'"

Very good. I was actually planning to look at that verse, and several similar ones, in next week's follow-up study - but as this one is not very long, I will be happy to go into that tonight. But shall we look at the rest of the examples first? I will not forget the verse.

Person1: Okay, sure.

Good. Now we've seen one example, Enoch. A man who walked so much in communion with the Father that he even passed beyond the penalty of death _before_ the sacrifice in Christ was actually carried out. Here is another: "And it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." (2 Kings 2:1, 11)

Elijah the prophet went directly to Heaven, also without seeing death. And we know this: "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom 6:23)

Now these two men understood this so fully, that sin leads to death, that they avoided it to the degree where they were worthy of Heaven. Did they do this by works? No, not at all, for as Paul wrote, the _gift_ of God is eternal life. By faith, as Hebrews says, Enoch accepted the gift of Christ and was taken up. By faith, Elijah performed mighty miracles and ended his dramatic ministry by cheating the very grave of its prey.

So here is a question - in themselves, of themselves, was there anything special about Enoch and Elijah? The Scriptures say no: "Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months." (James 5:17)

Elijah had our nature - a sin-nature, he was, as Christ, "tempted in all points." There was, of course, a big difference between these two men and the Messiah, for it is written: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Rom 3:23) Only Christ was born without sin, and maintained that quality until His death, becoming the perfect sacrifice - the "lamb without spot."

Notice that the verse says all "have sinned," however, past tense. Some people apparently were able to stop :) Many will say, "It is impossible to stop sinning until Christ comes and we have our new bodies." I think we have a few examples here to show that wrong. And in fact, if we see that two men did it, then all men can do it. Or else we are forced to conclude that Enoch and Elijah had some special advantage over us. That would say this verse is inaccurate, however: "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, 'Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.'" (Acts 10:34)

The Father does not respect individual persons, He loves us all equally, and gives all an opportunity to develop his/her gifts to the fullest, until the very image of Christ can be seen in them.

We took a little bit of a loop here, although an important one, to give two examples of men who managed to free themselves of the sin nature - but now we come back to the issue of the "Faith of Jesus." What was it, if not just believing He was the Son of God and the sacrifice for our sins.

Well, if it is the Faith OF Jesus, it means the faith that He had. To believe the things that He believed, to overcome as He overcame. As it is written: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." (Rev 3:21)

We are therefore to overcome, even as He overcame. And how can we do this? By works? No, but by faith, the Faith of Jesus, and that means living as He lived, and believing what He believed. We have seen that some have been sanctified to the degree where they walked right into Heaven unashamed - and we have to believe we can do the same. To say it is impossible is to idolize those who have, or at least venerate them as "saints." True, they are worthy of much for their accomplishments (or rather, Christ is worthy for His accomplishment IN them), but is not the same invitation open to us all today?

I have made this study a little short tonight, because I realize it is a bit to "chew on." But I want to at least establish in your your minds that this thing IS possible at least, to overcome sin. And if you can BELIEVE it is possible, then that is really the hardest part of this :) Just accepting that it can be done, and the rest is just a matter of faith in Christ's ability to do wonders in your life.

If you can get just the few points here tonight, great. Over the next couple of weeks we will be getting into specifics of what the applications are, such as why I said, "known" sin, and there is also the matter of Romans 7 and some more verses in 1st John, which many use (incorrectly) to excuse the fact that they cannot overcome a particular habit or tendency. But for here, before we get into the Scripture brought up above, I would like to leave you with few verses - they are a challenge to us, but also a promise - a blessed and holy promise:

"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. " (2 Cor 2:14) "Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Phil 1:6) "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." (1 John 5:4) "But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, 'With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.'" (Mat 19:26)

Now, what was that verse again?

Person1: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8)

Thank you, good :) Now, in order to see that verse in harmony with the Scriptures I quoted above, and the examples of Enoch and Elijah, we need only look at the context of the letter of 1 John. And there are two things we need to understand which, if kept in mind, will make it all clear. And those two things are: 1) Who is John writing to? and 2) What is John's style of writing?

Let's look at the second thing first. If we are at all familiar with John's writings, we will know that John - from his Gospel to the book of Revelation - uses a particular device to really hammer in a point: the technique of repetition. He will often say something, say it again, and then say it another way, just to make sure we really "get it." The verse you gave me was 1 John 1:8, but now here is that one, and then a few other verses from that same chapter - and one from chapter 2, for your comparison.

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. " (1Jo 1:8)

"If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: " (1Jo 1:6)

"He that saith, 'I know Him,' and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." (1Jo 2:4)

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." (1Jo 1:9,10)

Do you see the pattern there in the other verses all around it? John is saying, "If we walk in darkness (1:6), and keep not His commandments (2:4) and DO have sins to confess (1:9)... if any of these are true and THEN we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves." We can make that even clearer by examining now the first question: Who is John writing to?

Much of John's ministry involved his opposition of the doctrine of Gnosticism, and 1 John is a good example of that.

Person2: What is Gnosticism?

Gnosticism is: well, one of its primary beliefs is that everything that is physical - that is, material - is evil by nature. Those who were "Gnostic Christians" therefore believed that Christ was not truly a Man, but a Spirit, who had the appearance of a man, in order to reconcile humans unto Himself. This is the reason John also wrote, "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist." (2 John 1:7) They believed that if they were converted to Him, they walked "in the Spirit," as Paul says - but that this meant they were no longer capable of sin.

They way they took that to mean was as follows - that since they were "in the Spirit," nothing they did was sin. In other words, they could fornicate, get drunk, loose their temper - but since these were works of the flesh, and they were no longer in the flesh, these things were not sin to them!

Now can we see what those verses mean in that context? The same anti-gnostic sentiment is in this first letter: "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world." (1 John 4:2,3) In verses like 1 John 1:6,8,9,10 and so on, John writes to these people saying, "You are sinning! It's obvious, and if you deny that you have sin in you, you are decieving yourselves, and completely misunderstand the salvation that Christ has brought."

Does that help to make it clearer?

Person1: Yes, thanks.

Great. Now, next week we will be looking at verses similar to that one, like Romans 7 and maybe some more from 1 John also. I hope to see you all here.

David.