1 John 2:2....
And He HIMSELF is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
1 John 2:2 is one of the MOST IMPORTANT VERSES in the entire Bible....
right up there with John 3:16~!!!
Here is just a short paragraph expressing what I've come to see in this verse and other verses recorded in scripture.
"Jesus is the propitiation (satisfaction) for the sins of the WHOLE WORLD. Everybody's sins ARE paid for in full whether they believe in Jesus Christ, or not. People don't go to hell to PAY for their sins BECAUSE Jesus already paid for them. Because He did THAT, He offers everybody eternal life as a free gift simply by believing in Him ALONE for it. When people reject His free gift of LIFE, they go to hell IN their sins, but that's different than saying they go their BECAUSE of their sins. One cannot pay for something that has already been paid. The reason they go to hell is because they don't HAVE eternal LIFE.... God's LIFE in them. People go to hell because their name is not written in the 'book of LIFE.' They rejected His free gift that He purchased with His blood on the cross."
I never understood it this way for many years. I always thought that Jesus paid for our sins, but only IF we believed in Him. If not, then we had to pay for our own sins in hell. But through an article I read, and a message I heard by that same author at a GES Conference, I NOTICED in the bible those passages that clearly said that Jesus paid for the sins of the WORLD on the cross. He removed the sin barrier that kept us from God. I saw that NOW He offered us the free gift of eternal LIFE to all who believe. The issue was receiving LIFE. Everybody's sins were already paid in full. This thinking was new to me although I had been eternally saved for many years before I understood this truth. Here's a sentence by the author who wrote the article that I am going to paste below....
"Fortunately, one does not have to have a perfect understanding of the cross to be saved. If that were the case, probably no one would be saved."
Both my husband and I agreed that we wanted our adult children and young grandchildren to grasp this truth and see how all the scriptures come together. By understanding this truth, one comes to see that nobody has to worry that their sin is too great to be forgiven. Nobody has to worry that some sin (or sins) committed in life will keep them from going to heaven when they die. Nobody has to worry that they could loose their salvation because of sin. Sin has 100% been taken out of the way by Jesus Christ and is not the reason that anyone goes to hell.
THE ISSUE IS *LIFE*~!!! Possessing God's LIFE.
We need to take the message of LIFE to people. They need a new BIRTH. Without God's LIFE in them, nobody can live with Him. They need to be born of incorruptible seed.... eternal LIFE (God's life).
So this article that I'm attaching here is one of the most IMPORTANT TRUTHS you will ever grasp.
If you study this article and check out all the verses that are presented here, you will NOTICE this truth, and you will be more in AWE of God's grace than ever before in your entire Christian life. His grace is so much greater than I ever realized before. I always knew that I couldn't be saved without His grace, but I never knew just HOW BIG His grace reached.... to the world..... EVERYBODY~!!!
ALL SIN HAS BEEN PAID IN FULL AT THE CROSS whether a person believes or not~!!!
That is MAGNIFICENT~!!! His grace is so much bigger than I ever realized before~!!!
I hope you take the time to read this article and check out all the scriptural evidence for yourself to see if what I just said is so~!!! That's called being a Berean.
THEN SHARE IT~!!!!! Especially with your kids and grandkids~!!! They make GREAT evangelists~!!!
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COPY AND PASTE this link to read the article
http://www.faithalone.org/journal/2006i/4_hodges.pdf
(For those who may not be computer savvy (like me), you have to make the pages of the article bigger by using the + sign.)
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If any of my friends who visit my blog have questions or scripture they want to share here concerning this teaching, you are welcome to comment. It is God's Word that we want to see. That is the place of protection from error, and that is the ONLY place we can go to rest in the truth.
Hello Diane, how are you? In our witnessing, I all ways explain Gods love for the world. By letting them know that man kind has a Son problem not a sin problem. John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
ReplyDeleteBecause I am surrounded by Catholics, Jehovah Witness, and Salvation Armyists, I stress that when you are in Jesus you have Everlasting Life and God does not abort His Children! To be in Jesus is to except Him as the Messiah (Christ) the giver of Life. Once the Word of God, (John 3:15-16, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but[b] have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.) has persuaded you that your eternal destiny is safe in the Lord Jesus hands then sin becomes a problem for the average believer, Because we do not know how bad we are. We should stop relying on our natural abilities but ask God (through the Holy Spirit) to renew our inner nature so the changes will be pure and undefiled.
Hi Harrison. I liked what you said... that the world has a SON problem, not a sin problem. Of course we're ALL sinners and bad things happen because of that, but the issue concerning eternity is that of LIFE. "He who has the SON has life~!!!" 1 John 5:12
ReplyDelete:-)
It's so true that once we become God's child we need to learn to walk by faith. That's an ongoing process, but it's the only way to live~!!!
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A great booklet that was very meaningful for me on that subject was "The Six Secrets of the Christian Life" by Zane Hodges. It's very deep and I need to keep reviewing it (the scripture parts) to remind myself who I am in Christ. But a very helpful and scriptural book~!!!
Thank you for visiting my blog.
BTW... I've been having problems with getting some comments to post. Don't know what's wrong, but if your comments don't get on, it's probably a computer problem. It took me several tries before I was able to post your above comment. Glad it finally went through.
Rejoicing in the SON always,
Diane
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