A Christian And His Sins Series

A CHRISTIAN AND HIS SINS

Writing to Christians, John says in 1 John 1:8-10

“If anyone says he has no sin, the truth is not in him (he doesn’t know the truth of the Bible and if he does, he is lying.) / But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Little children are angels until we tell them “no”; and then their horns come out. It doesn’t take us long to realize we are selfish and become angry when we don’t get our way. In other words we are sinners. And we keep doing things like this after we come to Christ. But there is a difference in our attitude and our actions when we do wrong. John says we must:

A. Accept the Horrible Presence of Sin

In the AD 90’s, some intellectuals (later called gnostics) came into the churches and, like some Christian groups today, said a true Christian gets victory over sinning. He does not do wrong anymore. People in First Century churches, like you and me, knew they still did wrong at times; and listening to these high brows, they lost their assurance of salvation. John wrote them so they could “know they have eternal life” (1 John 5:13) even though they did wrong. (Vance Havner says a new Christian is a beautiful thing until a Bible Scholar gets hold of him.)

John says anyone claiming to live without sinning is a liar or he doesn’t know his Bible. Jesus’ model prayer tells us to ask for forgive- ness when we do wrong (Matthew 6:12). After serving Christ for twenty years on the mission field Paul said, “I do the thing I hate. The good I want to do, I do not do. The bad I do not want to do, that I do / Who will deliver me?” (Romans 7:14-20).

Paul didn’t have a girlfriend on the side; he just knew how far short he fell of living a life of love like Jesus did. (See Philippians 3:10-15)

B. Avoid the Habitual Practice of Sin

“I write this so you will not sin, but if you do we have One who defends us, Jesus Christ the right-eous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins/ We may be sure that we know Him, if we obey His commands / Anyone who says, I know Him, and does not obey His commands is a liar.”

(1 John 2:1-4)

“Those born of God will not continually sin, because God’s seed lives in them and they cannot continually sin.” (1 John 3:9)

A true Christian commits “acts” of sin but cannot “live” in sin. The verbs in First John 3 are in the presence tense of habitual action – choosing a life of habitual wrongdoing. Sins intrude into our lives, they do not rule.

A cat falls in the mud, jumps out and cleans itself for hours. That is the nature of a cat. A hog in mud is in “hog heaven” and loves wallowing in it. That is the nature of a hog.

Some intellectuals in the church took the opposite approach from the other intellectuals. They said since we cannot help doing wrong, we can keep on doing it and make it to heaven.

Some Conservative Christians today, say God “wants” us to live right; but it isn’t necessary for us to go to heaven. Scholars from Dallas Theological Seminary, even have a name for them: “Carnal Christians”.

We are saved, they say, because we are “under the blood”. To them, sin does not affect their salvation. Baptists do this with “eternal security - once saved always saved.” They say no amount of sinning can undo salvation.

1. The Attitude of a True Christian

The New Birth does not keep us from committing “acts” of wrongdoing; but it does keep us from living in constant, willful wrongdoing. Like Paul in Romans 7 we “hate” it when we do wrong. We “want” to do what is right. And we long to be “delivered” from every sin.

2. The Actions of a True Christian

Like that cat, we want out and we get out by instinctively doing what John says in 1 John 1:8-10. We confess our wrongdoing to God; we ask Him to forgive us and to “cleanse” us, which means to help us take that sin out of our lives.

When God “cleans” us in conversion (1 John 1:7/ 1 Corinthians 6:7) this is pictured in baptism. When He keeps on cleaning away dirty things from us, this is pictured in foot washing (John 13).

In Matthew 7 Jesus pictures preachers at the Judgment. They believe He is “Lord” – the OT name for God (Psalm 23). They preach and cast out demons in His name; but they do not make it to heaven because they are “evil doers”.