"You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him." 1 John 3:5-6

It seems that our wretched condition is always before us and that Satan never misses the opportunity to point out our faults. The Bible calls Satan, the "accuser of the brethren" who accuses them before God night and day.

 I think of the Apostle Paul as a hero of the faith, but when he looked at himself he cried, -"Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall save me from this body of death?" He had acknowledged that he found himself sometimes doing the very opposite of what was right, though he heartily agreed with God and hated sin.

Here, Paul was looking at his condition, not his position in Christ Jesus. Paul answered his own desperate question by saying, -"Thank God, it is through Jesus Christ! . . .Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Though his condition was a "body of death," there was no condemnation because of his position in Christ. The body of death was sin that was present with him at all times. Sin had been Paul’s old slave master but now found that the slave was dead,

 Paul understood that when he was baptized he was crucified with Christ and that the life he now lived was Christ’s life. The slave master, the body of sin and death was still around but the his slave, the sinner had been nailed to the cross and was no longer operative. Jesus delivered Paul by crucifying him with Himself and raising him in Himself.

Today’s text reveals that Jesus came to take away our sins and when we receive and abide in Him we do not sin. Does this mean that we live each day obeying God perfectly? Earlier in this letter John wrote, -"If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar and His word is not in us."

To harmonize these two statements we must conclude and admit as Paul did, that our condition is wretched and falls short of God’s Glory, but in our position in Christ sin is not imputed to us. That is to say, that when we live in the grace of God all our daily failures go to the cross and are not counted against us for we now live in the sinless Christ. David was inspired to write, -"How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!. . .Whom the Lord does not impute iniquity."

We should always humbly acknowledge and remember our condition, but understand that our life in Christ Jesus places us in a sinless position before God. Therefore, we can boldly enter into His presence without fear of condemnation.