Go Ahead- Admit It!

GO AHEAD – ADMIT IT!

1 JOHN 1:8-10

Introduction: When a person comes to Jesus Christ and accepts Him as both Lord and Savior, the Bible declares that he is a new creature; that the old things – the life and its ways are behind and passed away; that a new life has begun in the light of God’s mercy and grace. When this takes place however we find that we are still possessed by our old nature that likes to rear its ugly head and take control. The truth is that at some point in each and every day of every believer’s life the old nature wins, even if only momentarily. We sin daily. But we don’t like to admit it. We all like to think were ok. But God sees it differently and expects us to deal with our sin. There are three ways that we can deal with sin.

I. Three ways of dealing with our sins

A. Deny responsibility for our sins

1. There are those who say that they have no responsibility for there sin.

2. We may blame our sins on our heredity, on our environment, on our temperament, on our physical condition.

3. We may claim that someone misled us and that we were led astray.

4. It is characteristic of us all that we seek to shuffle out of the responsibility for sin.

5. Genesis 3:11-13 "And he said, ‘Who told thee that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded you that you should not eat?’ And the man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, ‘What is this that thou hast done?’ And the woman said, ‘The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.’"

6. Some stumble over their feet and then blame others for tripping them.

7. The root of the human problem is the dynamic disease of sin operating within the soul and manifesting itself. We look at the dreadful things other people do and excuse ourselves. Human beings are not unlike volcanoes. Inside a volcano, the pressure builds until the top blows with a dramatic eruption of lava. At other times, cracks slowly and insidiously appear on the side of the volcano, and the lava flows out in a different manner. So it is with human beings. We can never say that the circumstances in which a young person’s character was formed did not have some impact on the way that he behaves. But inside each of us, there’s a thing called sin. No matter what way our volcano was formed, whether we blow the top or leak streams of lava, it’s the lava inside that’s the problem. The ultimate disease is the problem, and there’s nothing human beings can do about it. - Stuart Briscoe, "The Love That Compels," Preaching Today, Tape No. 126.

8. Blaming your faults on your nature does not change the nature of your faults.

9. When a man has sinned, excuses and self-justifications are irrelevant.

B. Deceive ourselves into believing that we have not sinned.

1. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.

2. There are those who say that they have not in fact sinned.

3. Many people do not really believe that they have sinned and take exception to being called sinners.

4. Their mistake is that they feel that sin is a major and heinous deed committed by the worst of our society.

5. They see themselves as making mistakes – as being pretty good in comparison to others – certainly not sinful.

6. Proverbs 20:6 "Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?"

7. They forget that sin is hamartia which literally means a missing of the target. To fail to be as good a father, mother, wife, husband, son, daughter, workman, person as we might be is to sin; and that includes us all. Or it may describe the man who claims that he can sin and take no harm.

C. Confess our sin.

1. 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

2. The three hardest words to say are, "I was mistaken." The only thing which will meet the situation is humble and penitent confession to God and, if need be, to men.

3. Proverbs 28:13 "He that covers his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy."

4. Do not expect God to cover what you are not willing to uncover. - Duncan Campbell, Leadership, Vol. 3, no. 4.

II. What is Confession and what does it involve?