2. I Walk Just As Jesus Walked

The remainder of Chapter 1 is one of the most misused portions of the Bible, for it is used to place sin upon Christians rather than the Lord Jesus. And the motivation for this abuse of Scripture is always contempt, that is, dishonesty, the very thing John eliminates from our lives.

John ends this letter with this statement: “My little children, keep yourselves from idols.” Of truth, this exhortation defines much that John includes in the letter, including our passage for this session. – “Keep yourselves from false images of ‘God’ and of ‘Christ.’”

Light Is Honesty. And this is the message that we have heard from Him, and declare to you, that God is light, and inside of Him is no darkness, not at all. One of the prophets said it this way. “God is not a man that He should lie.”

Light is honesty. Here is the honesty of Jesus. “Of Myself, I can do nothing.” Here is the dishonesty of humans. “All that the Lord says, I will do.” We walk just as Jesus walked, we walk in the certainty, every moment, that, apart from Jesus, we can do nothing.

Results of Honesty. When we walk in the certainty that we have no sufficiency in ourselves, that, on our own, we will never please God nor ever even “seek His will,” then we walk in the light, just as Jesus walks in the light.

Three things take place simultaneously, then, when we walk in the open honesty that we are incapable of ever connecting with God, and that God made us that way. Here is the first two of those three things. – If, however, we should walk inside of the light, as He is inside of the light, we have fellowship in companionship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin and disconnection from God.

Keep His Word. The third thing that happens in us as we walk in the light is that the words of Jesus are fulfilled in us. This is what is meant by “Keep, guard, and watch over His word.”

The one who says, “I will be sure to do what Jesus says,” has just stepped out of the light and is walking in darkness, that is, in utter and rebellious dishonesty. – No – you won’t. This is what hit Paul so hard. “I kept the law in obedience to God more than any other human alive, yet there I was putting Jesus to death, my only connection with God.”

That You Might Not Sin. Now, the passage we are dealing with in this section is John 1:5 through 2:11. Indeed, this ought to be its own chapter, because it is the same topic. In fact, splitting these verses, and especially separating John 2:1-2 from the second part of John 1, is all part of the disconnect in which so many of God’s people walk, as they try to interpret the Bible through knowing right and wrong.

– I am writing these things to you, that you might not disconnect from God, and if anyone should sin in disconnecting from God, we have One close to us, always connecting us with the Father [and Father with us], Jesus Christ, the Just and Innocent One.

Intercession. We view this topic through our ruling verse as well. – By this we have known love, because He set forth his soul for us, for our sakes; and we also are committed to setting forth our souls for the sake of our brothers and sisters.

To “set forth our soul” is intercession; it’s not running around instructing our brethren on “the truth.” We impart truth only as it comes first out from intercession, because we walk just as Jesus walked. To walk as Jesus walked is to be that same connection with God for the sake of our brothers and sisters, that is, the costly practice of joining them with Father inside our souls.

In Exactly the Same Way. Then, here is the primary verse of this passage. – The one who says, “I live and remain inside of Him,” is committed to walk in exactly the same way He Himself walked. This is walking in the light, yes, but it also includes walking as an intercessor for the sake of others, just as Jesus walked.

As I look across our passage as a whole, I see how unified it is and how successful John was in conveying the truth of Christ our life. I also see how successful Christians are in misconstruing everything in this passage. Let’s start with the enflowing of Word.

The Enflowing of Word. ~ I fellowship with God; I do not walk in darkness. I walk inside of the light in the same way Jesus walked inside of the light. I can do nothing of myself. I acknowledge my inability to please God or to do His “will.” The blood of Jesus cleanses me from all sin; I am pure and clean. Jesus removes from me all my sin and failure to connect with God. Jesus cleanses me from all injustice and hurt. ~

~ God’s Word is inside of me; I live inside of the truth. I never disconnect myself from God. My Father is always with me. Jesus is close to me, always connecting me with the Father and Father with me. Jesus is my reconciliation and connection with God and the removal of all my sins. The light of Jesus shines visibly in me. I walk in honesty. I love my brother and sister; I never hold onto contempt against any. There is no means of stumbling in me, no ability to disconnect myself from God. The love of God is completed inside of me. ~

~ I know that I know Jesus, for I keep, watch over, and guard His commandments. I rest inside of Jesus’ full completion; I know that I am inside of Him. I dwell inside of Jesus; I am committed to walk in the same way that Jesus walked. I walk just as Jesus walked. The full completion of Jesus is true inside of Him and it is true inside of me. ~

The Jesus Secret Page. We must create the remaining boxes on the page before we can know how to tackle this wondrous Tree of Life in which we live. We begin with an “Ask and Believe,” asking for ourselves, but briefly, and then asking for the entire Church. Two boxes fill the remainder of the page, “In the Light,” and “As Jesus Walked.” The first box deals with light versus darkness, that is, honesty versus dishonesty. In the second box, we take our own victory inside of light into the presence of God for the sake of all who love Jesus.

From Knowing to Intercession. The first part of our asking will be the acknowledgment of our profound joy that the Blood of Jesus removes from us all our awfulness every moment. We KNOW the Blood; we do not know sin. Yet our brethren who “KNOW sin” do not know the Blood.

Union with Christ means placing Jesus upon all that we are and placing our sin entirely and only upon God. But the revelation of Christ, that is, the Apocalypse, takes that same thing one step further. It is calling our every interaction with God through Jesus as “for the sake of others.” It is calling our union with Christ to be intercession.

Ask and Believe. ~ Lord Jesus, You say that as I walk in honesty, so You remove all my sin from me, that, by Your blood, I cannot know disconnection from God. I ask, Lord Jesus, that I would never hide my hurting of and contempt for others inside self-rightness, but that I would say, “Yes, Lord,” that my every moment might be God through me for the sake of others. I ask, Lord Jesus, that You and I together would turn every human inadequacy I experience into God through me for others, that even as death works in me, so LIFE might work in all my brethren. I receive from You all that I ask, Lord Jesus. I am the entrance of Life for all. ~

Personal and Real. We turn our knowing of God, through tears and every step of the way, INTO our intercession inside of God for the sake of our brothers and sisters. – And we do so through faith.

Now, I want to make the rest of this lesson entirely personal and real. You see, I feel compelled of the Spirit to include the full text of an email sent to me by someone in response to my recent letter, “The Path of the Atonement,” which focused on the removal of contempt from us. This is a brother for whom I have placed myself inside of God as this very intercession for some years now.

“I – not Christ.” Here is the email response.

~ Yes. Contempt. I hold myself in contempt and then all people. Why don't you test out your 'no contempt' by fellowshipping regularly with the local church in your area? I cannot stop holding people in contempt! Therefore I am a wolf and a false brother. ~

The thing to understand is that the lie is not something. The lie is not “an alternative option.” The lie is just nonsense, complete and utter poppycock, entirely untrue. But the lie, though it is utter fantasy, fills itself with “I-I-I-I not Christ,” with Jesus as our Salvation strangely absent.

Just Like Jesus. Because we come out from the good-speaking of Jesus and because the lie is nothing in itself, we cannot fantasize untrue things unless we take the truth and bend it just a little bit. And so this, as does all mental fantasy, begins with the truth. “I hold myself in contempt and then all people.”

Amen, brother. You are at the Door of Salvation and ready to enter into God. Let’s look inside of Jesus. – “I am a worm and no man. –Dogs have surrounded Me.” – Yes, my brother is JUST LIKE Jesus, and thus far, entirely inside of the LIGHT.

From Truth to Sin. Let’s establish the facts. God will NEVER give any human the “ability” to love their brother and sister, never, never, never, not in a billion years. God gives us ONE thing; He gives us Himself. For me to discover that I do NOT love my brother is the turning on of the LIGHTS. For the first time, I am capable of honesty inside of God.

The next sentence of the brother’s email, however, is sin, and the final statement is death with hades following after. Yet John speaks of a “sin that is not unto death.” I will show you how it is that this brother cannot sin unto death.

I Prove “Myself.” The brother’s sin is specifically to speak to me out from his contempt. This is what Jesus did not do – “yet without sin.”

What I want you to see is how my brother sinned by twisting his image of me into nonsense in his mind. This is what Adam did, and what all Christians are prone to do. Adam entered dishonesty the moment his teeth pierced the skin of knowing good and evil, but his first action of sin was when he accused God and Eve of causing his dishonesty. And so the challenge is, “Yordy, prove yourself.” But I have. I have proven “myself” for 65 years that “I” do NOT love my brothers and sisters. I prove it every day.

I Need a Savior. Why does anyone imagine that I don’t NEED a Savior? Or that I imagine that “I” can “make it” without Jesus swallowing up into Himself all my wickedness? No, this fantasy in the brother’s mind is untrue, and he knows it is untrue.

Then the brother speaks the truth again. “I cannot stop holding people in contempt!” Except this second time is no longer truth, the brother is no longer stating the obvious. The first time is honesty and true of every one of us, but in the second time he makes this statement, the brother is now imagining himself as an “I” separate from Jesus.

Death and Hades. This is where sheer fantasy has entered the brother’s soul, in his absurd sensation that he exists separately from Jesus. The final line is familiar to all of us, the death and hades where we used to live as Christians much of our time. Self-condemnation is one of three forms of self-worship. The brother is coming out from the good-speaking of Jesus every moment, but he chooses his own untrue spin.

I realize now that John 1:5 – 2:2 contains as strong of an expiation of sin as Hebrews 10, yet it has been turned into the opposite, into chains binding sin to the believer. I do only one thing with my SIN. I give it to God.

The Mercy Seat. If anyone should sin in disconnecting from God, we have One close to us, always connecting us with the Father [and Father with us], Jesus Christ, the Just and Innocent One. And He is the reconciliation and reconnection [the Mercy Seat] encompassing and removing our sins and disconnection from God; but not encompassing ours only, but also encompassing the sins of the entire world-cosmos.

If we should acknowledge our sin and disconnection, He is faithful and just, that He might remove from us our sins and might cleanse us from all injustice and hurt.

God cannot remove our sins unless we give them to Him. Jesus, my Mercy Seat, is all I need.

In the Light. ~ I walk every step in the light. I walk in full honesty towards God, towards myself, and towards others. I am incapable of pleasing God or of fulfilling His Word. When I do something contrary to God AND when I hurt others, I do not turn my human folly into disconnection from God. I do not pretend that I did nothing wrong, I do not whip myself in self-worship. I do not lie about “doing better.” Rather, in every moment, in every step, I give all my sin to God through Jesus, that God alone removes it from me. God alone keeps me connected always to Himself. Then I turn and, together with God, place all my inadequacy as not for myself, but for others, that God might be life to them through me. ~

How Did Jesus Walk? Jesus walked first as a human just like us. Second, Jesus walked with no sufficiency in Himself. He never turned to Himself to take Himself in hand. This is walking in the light.

No one can ever walk that way, however, unless there is an alternative to worshipping self. Third, Jesus walked in utter dependence on the Father, knowing against all human feelings and judgment that God KEPT Him, and placing Himself into God, regardless. And fourth, Jesus allowed the Words coming out from Father to be His identity and to flow through Him to others.

My Covenant with God. Now I want to bring this same brother and these same words into our intercession for the entire Church. I stated that this brother’s sin is not unto death. How can I say that? Because he picked the wrong guy for his friend.

Ask of Me and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession.

I have covenanted with God for my brother for years, and he cannot get away from that bond into which I have placed him inside my heart with the All-Carrying and Devoted One. This is what we do, just like Jesus.

Into God’s Purpose. You see, there is one more element in how Jesus walked that God is only now opening to us. Jesus placed Himself every moment into the certainty of the purpose for which God sent Him into this world. Jesus’ job was to encompass and then remove the sins of the entire world-cosmos, and especially our sins.

Our job, then, is to turn and be as Jesus through us, that very reconciliation to God. That is, I place myself every moment, in every aspect of my humanity, high or low, in or out, as God’s intercession through me reconciling all to Himself.

It’s God Doing. God was free to be in Christ Jesus reconciling the world to Himself through every step Jesus took BECAUSE Jesus placed Himself in confidence every moment into God’s sending of Him. God is free to be in us reconciling the world to Himself through every step we take BECAUSE we place ourselves in confidence every moment into God’s sending of us.

We walk just as Jesus walked.

With Jesus and with us, it’s God doing everything, but He is able to do everything because we utterly believe in Him. We are God’s entrance, every moment, into our world.

For the Sake of My Brothers and Sisters. I am walking the last while with this sense of placing myself into God’s sending of me, that is, that every particulate of my human experience is for the sake of my brothers and sisters in Christ, that they might be the revelation of Jesus Christ inside all creation.

I feel very weak; I agonize; I am filled with joy; I am in and out and up and down. I often do really stupid things. Sometimes I feel God’s love through me. I share ALL OF IT with God sharing with me, and I place myself in all my daily human humdrum, into God that He might use my every moment to BE what HE is inside the world-cosmos.

My Every Moment. I am sent just as Jesus was sent, and I place myself into that sending for the sake of my brother, that he might be won out from his meaningless spin of thoughts that are not true. My every moment happens so that my brother’s heart can be won by Jesus. My every moment happens so that my brother will rise up and cast his enemy down.

My every moment happens so that my brother can say, “Christ is my life; I have no other life,” against all the stupidity of his actions, against the paper-thin raging of his emotions, and against his psychotic human judgment. My every moment happens so that my brother can be the revelation of Jesus Christ into this world.

As Jesus Walked. ~ I am a human in this world just like Jesus, and just like Jesus, I can do nothing of myself. Just like Jesus, I know that God is all things to me every moment. I place myself in all my human weakness utterly into God. He alone keeps me; He alone makes me pure and devoted, just like Jesus. And just like Jesus, I place myself in utter confidence upon God’s sending of me into my world, that God is inside of me, sharing every moment of my life with me, reconciling the world to Himself. I feel very weak; I agonize; I am filled with joy; I am in and out and up and down. I share all of it with God sharing with me, and I place myself in all my daily human humdrum as God through me for the sake of others. ~

Our Present In-Between. To the one presently and actively overcoming, I will give him to eat out from the tree of life, which is inside the paradise of God. – And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And the one hearing, let him say, “Come!” And the one thirsting, let him come; the one desiring, let him receive the water of life freely (Revelation 2:7 & 22:17).

Jesus gives us life; we give life to others. The first is John’s gospel; the second is John’s vision. But in-between is you and me being grounded in our sending, in the certainty upon which we stand of what God is doing, sharing our lives and our every next step with us.

Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is titled “I Do Not Love the World.” This lesson covers specifically John 2:12-17. But let’s do it this way from now on. Read only this short passage in the JSV, but read it three or four times. As you read, place yourself inside the presence of God in your knowing and ask the Spirit to anoint your understanding inside the flow of the words, not to “figure out,” but to KNOW.

Do not love the present world-cosmos, nor the things in the world-cosmos. If anyone should love the world-cosmos, the love of the Father is not inside of him.

Let’s Pray Together. This whole lesson is written in terms of placing ourselves inside of God as the intercession of Jesus. Thus it is easy to draw from that and expand it in our prayer.

“Lord Jesus, by Your Blood, You are our connection with God every moment. By Your devotion, God alone keeps us. God sent You into the world, Lord Jesus, to be the removal of all sin. You sent us into the world to be the Word of all-connection with God. Because You sustain us every moment by Your good-speaking, Lord Jesus, we know that every moment of our human lives is God through us for the sake of others.

“God, our Father, when we are in agony, it is for others, that You might be life in them. When we are filled with joy, it is for others, that You might be life in them. Every step we take, Oh God, we place inside of You, knowing that You share that step with us, knowing that You are using our faith in You as Your entrance into our world.

“Our brothers and sisters, all who belong to Jesus all across heaven and earth, do not know You, Father, as You really are. It is Your hour to be known, and we are Your highway. God, our Father, in our ups and in our downs, in our ins and in our outs, we see You alone, limiting Yourself to our humanity, making Yourself known as Love through us, entering all our brethren as LIFE, as God-now-KNOWN.”