<p>Exposition of 1 John 2:18-26 (4)</p><p> </p><p>Verse 21: “I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie come from the truth.”</p><p> </p><p>This means that if you know the truth, you know everything.</p><p>Because it becomes true.</p><p>Many people are trapped in a religious life based on their own fixed ideas.</p><p>He says, “The truth will set you free” (John 8:32).</p><p>It becomes reality because truth becomes true.</p><p>Just as God’s promises in the Old Testament are manifested through Jesus Christ, if you know the truth, that truth is revealed to us.</p><p>However, while people say they know freedom, they cannot shake off guilt, shame, and anxiety.</p><p>It is said that there are pastors these days suffering from depression and panic disorder.</p><p>Are these truly illnesses caused by the stress of ministry?</p><p>They say they have received forgiveness of sins intellectually.</p><p>That is merely a theological doctrine.</p><p>Forgiveness of sins is freedom itself. If one rests from their own work in Christ, it becomes rest; and when rest comes, prosperity surely follows. However, they claim to have received forgiveness in their own way, and because it is not forgiveness received by following the truth, they always whine and cling to the Lord, saying, "Lord, I am a sinner."</p><p>Their prayers are always the prayers of a servants.</p><p>That is why their faith is always precarious.</p><p>They should approach the Father boldly as sons, but as servants, they beg him to just let them stay.</p><p>They are merely asking him to save them.</p><p>That is why they cannot receive true blessings.</p><p>Blessings are received only when one makes contact with God through the truth.</p><p>Therefore, if you do not know the truth, it becomes a lie.</p><p>Realizing that humans are sinners is the same for all religions.</p><p>Furthermore, each religion has its own principle for receiving forgiveness of sins.</p><p>Christianity is not the only religion with a principle for receiving forgiveness of sins.</p><p>Buddhism also has its own principle for receiving forgiveness of sins.</p><p>Even in the movie *The Mission*, to wash away the sin of killing, a man fills a sack with heavy iron and carries it up a waterfall cliff.</p><p>Doesn't the movie depict the meaning that he receives forgiveness of his sins by climbing all the way to the top?</p><p>That is why the indigenous people welcome him as one of their own family.</p><p>It is a natural ethic.</p><p>Religions of forgiveness exist everywhere.</p><p>People believe they receive forgiveness in their own ways.</p><p>But why is Christianity the only religion of true forgiveness? It is because we possess the principle that, through the cross of Christ, we die to death, and through Jesus Christ, we go to another, him who was raised from the dead—not to the law—to bear new life (Romans 7:4).</p><p>Such a principle of forgiveness of sins does not exist outside of Christianity.</p><p>Therefore, there is no way for anyone under heaven to be saved except through Christ (Acts 4:12).</p><p>Because other religions lack this principle of forgiveness of sins, there is no salvation.</p><p>Everyone knows that they are sinners.</p><p>Everyone knows that they must pay for that sin.</p><p>They also know that in order to pay for it, they must go somewhere.</p><p>However, the only way to be saved from sin and death into righteousness and life is through the cross of Christ.</p><p>Only the power of the Holy Spirit can enable one to pass through that cross.</p><p>That is why the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth.</p><p>Salvation is not because I have become good and clean on my own, but because I have moved my affiliation—that is, my place.</p><p>The Holy Spirit does the work of moving that place.</p><p>For the Holy Spirit to do this work, one must know the truth.</p><p>The Spirit of truth is the tutor who teaches us what that truth is.</p><p>He teaches us and changes our thoughts (John 14:26).</p><p>The problem is that many people do not know this truth.</p><p>They only know Jesus.</p><p>This is because the anointing of the Holy Spirit does not dwell within them.</p><p>They do not pay attention to the truth.</p><p>Because of this, Satan is blocking them, so they claim that they received forgiveness of sins through the knowledge of theological doctrine. However, blocked by Satan, the path to God is pitch black.</p><p> </p><p>Written by Pastor. Yohan Kim </p><p>Translated by Missionary Sookyung Chung </p><p>COME AND SEE WORLD MISSION</p><p>TO GOD BE THE GLORY</p>
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