You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
1 John 3:4-6
4 Whosoever [pas] committeth [poieo] sin [hamartia] transgresseth [poieo] [anomia] also [kai] the law [anomia]: for [kai] sin [hamartia] is [esti] the transgression of the law [anomia]. 5 And [kai] ye know [eido] that [hoti] he [ekeinos] was manifested [phaneroo] to [hina] take away [airo] our [hemon] sins [hamartia]; and [kai] in [en] him [autos] is [esti] no [ou] sin [hamartia]. 6 Whosoever [pas] abideth [meno] in [en] him [autos] sinneth [hamartano] not [ou]: whosoever [pas] sinneth [hamartano] hath [horao] not [ou] seen [horao] him [autos], neither [oude] known [ginosko] him [autos]. KJV-Interlinear 4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. NASB
Sin is lawlessness. All sin is lawlessness, and all lawlessness is sin. Lawlessness, expresses the ignoring of the law rather than the absence of it. 'The law' means the law of God in the fullest sense, not simply the Mosaic Law. In short, sin is defined as the transgression of Gods will.
Therefore, indifference toward God, indifference toward ones spiritual life, indifference toward doing that which God expects you to do, are all forms of sin and lawlessness.
You do not have to merely commit a crime like theft or murder. Gossip is a sin. Arrogance is a sin. Deciding that you can do without God is arrogance. Arrogance is a complete catch all for crime and sin and an attitude that you do not need God.
In God there is no flaw, no blemish, no defect whatsoever. These are all terms for sin. God has no sin in Him. Man has sins, and flaws, and defects up the wazoo. But God has come up with a plan by which man can become perfect, defect free, sin free just as God is. That mechanism is called fellowship. We acquire it through out confession prayer.
Anyone who is in fellowship (abides in Him), is sin free. Anyone who does not confess their sins, and therefore does not reside in fellowship (out of fellowship), is living in sin. Anyone who lives in sin is no better than any criminal with respect to their spiritual life.
Being a do-gooder will not get you anything in your spiritual life. It is simply living in darkness as a nice person. Darkness is not where God resides, nor where the spiritual life resides. To be nice all of your life, but in effect disobedient toward God, will gain you nothing for eternity.
Unbelievers can be nice people. Being nice will not keep them out of the Lake of Fire. In fact the Lake of Fire will probably be full of nice people - nice people who rejected God and Christ and doctrine.
So, in order to see God, in order to live in the spiritual life, in order to function in your spiritual life, you must obey Gods mandate to be in fellowship. That requires your consistent self examination for sin, and then the confession of those sins to God the Father on a regular basis (daily perhaps, even several times per day???).
To ignore this requirement of your life, is to be out of touch with God, off line so to speak, disconnected from God. Out of fellowship means that you have no audience with God. Your spiritual life is on hold. Your prayers are not heard. Your spiritual growth halts. You even begin to regress in your spiritual growth if you remain out of fellowship for a long period of time.
Jesus Christ came here to free us from the burden of sin and death. He did His work so that we could simply acknowledge our failures to God and gain a life with Him.
The quintessence of failure in life is to reject believing in Christ, when believing is nothing more than a mere thought lasting about a second. How anyone can reject Christ is beyond me.
But once a person is saved, then there is the possibility of tremendous gains in the spiritual life, and all one has to do is learn His Word., and follow the counsel God gives each one of us. That too is relatively easy. How can anyone possibly fail in their spiritual life? Only sheer laziness prompted by arrogance will keep you from advancing to the greatest life possible. You are in fact your own worst enemy.
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Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.
