Good morning Church family,
This past Sunday, we looked at 3 eternal identities that we have as Christians and all of them are rooted in God (1 John 5:18-21). Of the 3 identities, my personal favorite was that we who are born of God do not keep on sinning (v18). I mentioned how that description could make us nervous or unsure of our true Christian identity because we do keep on sinning, don’t we?
Even John admits in the opening segment of this letter how we must admit that we still have sin in our life so that we confess those sins to Jesus, and He constantly applies His finished work on the Cross on our behalf by forgiving & purifying us (1 john 1:8-2:2).
So the truth is that we as Christians feel our sin, hate our sin, and struggle with temptations. It’s actually a good sign that we are aware of this. As Paul said towards the end of his life, “I am the chief of sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). And certainly, this is how you may feel.
Nevertheless, although we deal with sin and need to confess it to Jesus continually, WE ARE NOT IDENTIFIED BY OUR SIN!
Although we are not perfect, yet Jesus has still changed us and given us victory over sin. We are not the same person we were before Christ entered into our life. And the reason that we won’t keep on sinning does not hinge on our power, but on Christ, as 1 John 5:18 moves on to say, “those who are born of God do not keep on sinning, but He who was born of God (that’s Jesus) guards them and the evil one does not touch them.”
This was encouraging to me and I hope to you too. This is your identity. Your new identity is one marked by victory over sin because Jesus is guarding you. In that way, our saint status & holy identity is ultimately wrapped around our relationship with Jesus. If we know that Jesus is our Advocate, continual Savior, and Guard, then we will agree with the truth that “we know that we who are born again do not continue sinning” and we will embrace that identity about ourselves, because it’s true through Jesus.
I said throughout my sermon, “do you know this?” because John says, “we know.” It’s a good question to ask but it’s just the beginning. The next question we should ask ourselves is “do we believe this?” Certainly, I know that I do not keep on sinning as a result of Christ’s power over my life, and yet sometimes I have a hard time believing that to be true because sin feels so strong in my life.
We must fight to believe that this identity is true of our life. (1) Although we still sin, (2) Jesus assures that we will not keep on sinning. We need to embrace the second statement as our ultimate identity instead of the first. In 1 Corinthians 1:2, the Apostle Paul addresses the sin ridden Church of Corinth as “saints.” That’s an astonishing way to identify them even though they were succumbing to tons of sin. And yet that was their identity because they were “in Christ Jesus.” John uses the same term in 5:20 to describe us: “we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.” It’s paramount that we remember that our identity is founded and kept holy and victorious over sin because of Jesus.
It sounds so cliche, I know, but it’s true that our whole identity is in Jesus. This should drive your meaning, value, and purpose in life. Sadly, we often succumb to idolatrous identities (5:21) because we do not have a high enough view of Jesus. But He is eternal life! Let’s marvel in these truths together Church, and know that because our identity is in Christ, we are not known for sinning, but we are known for conquering it by His power!
May this be evident in your life.
With love in Christ,
Pastor Aaron
