The Good News About Sin
Text: 1 Jn. 1:5-2:2
Introduction
1. Illustration: A Sunday School teacher had just concluded her lesson and wanted to make sure she had made her point. She said, “Can anyone tell me what you must do before you can obtain forgiveness of sin?” There was a short interval of silence and then, from the back of the room, a small boy spoke up, “Sin,” he said.
2. Over the centuries, much has been preached, taught, and written about the problem with sin. But did you know that there is good news about sin?
3. The good news about sin is that:
a. We have an example to follow.
b. We have an escape when we fall.
c. We have an advocate before the Father.
4. Read 1 Jn. 1:5-2:2
Proposition: The good news about sin is that we can be forgiven!
Transition: First...
I. We Have an Example to Follow (1:5-7)
A. But If We Walk in the Light
1. John begins by saying, "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light..."
a. This concept of God being light comes from the Old Testament.
b. When God revealed himself in the Old Testament, frequently it was in form of fire or light.
c. In Exodus 3, God reveals himself to Moses in the form of fire in the burning bush.
d. In Exodus 13, God’s presence is seen as a fire guiding them through the desert.
e. Fire brings light, and so similarly God is described as light.
f. Ps. 104:2 Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, Who stretch out the oheavens like a curtain.
2. The verse continues saying "and in Him is no darkness at all."
a. He contrasts the light with the darkness.
b. The light expresses everything that is good, and darkness expresses everything that is wrong.
c. If the light expresses who God is, then darkness represents Satan and all that is evil.
d. In God there is not even a hint of darkness, but He is completely light.
3. Then John says, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."
a. Does that mean that if we stumble and fall into sin we are in darkness?
b. We must understand what John means by the term "walk in."
c. What John is talking about here is a way of life.
d. One commentator translates the verb "living habitually in darkness" and says it "implies a determination to choose sin (darkness) rather than God (light) as one’s constant sphere of existence." (Burge, NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: The Letters of John, 68).
e. He’s not talking about occasionally falling into sin, he is talking about practicing sin.
f. If it were merely falling into sin, we would all be in darkness because we all sin (v. 8)
4. He says that we cannot practice, or live in sin and say that we have fellowship with God.
a. John was confronting people who said that they were walking with God, and yet they lived like the devil.
b. It’s life the people who tell you they are Christians, and yet they swear like sailors.
c. It’s like they people who say they are Christians with a whiskey bottle in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
5. However, look what he says in verse 7, "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
a. As in verse 6, this is a habitual, consistent response that should be characteristic of those who know God. (Burge, 69).
b. But how do we walk in the light? By following Him who is in the light - Jesus!
c. If we live like Jesus, walk like Jesus, we will walk in the light.
d. If we trust what Jesus did on the cross for us, and live our lives to please Him, His blood will cleanse us from every sin.
B. A Way of Life
1. Illustration: There’s an old story of a man who was walking at night, and saw another man searching for something near a lamp post. Approaching, he asked the man what he was looking for, and the man, without looking up, replied, “My watch”. The first man asked, “Well, precisely where were you standing when you dropped it?” Continuing his search, the man pointed a finger in the distance and said, “Over there somewhere.” Puzzled, the first man said, “Well then sir, why are you looking for it here?” Finally looking up in frustration and meeting the first man’s gaze, the searcher replied testily, “Because sir, the light is better here!”
2. It is inevitable; we will all fall into sin from time to time.
3. However, we have an example to follow in Jesus Christ.
a. He showed us how to live.
b. He showed us how to walk in the light.
c. He showed us how to love.
4. We are not always going to be able to do that perfectly. We will all eventually make mistakes
5. The key is consistency.
a. We cannot live in sin; we live in the light.
b. We must walk consistently with Him
c. We must make following Jesus a way of life.
Transition: The next thing we must understand is that...
II. We Have an Escape When We Fall (1:8-10)
A. If We Confess Our Sins
1. In verse 8, John says "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
a. Again, he is dealing with false teachers who said that they did not need forgiveness because they had not sinned.
b. They were saying that they were perfect, and therefore, did not need to be forgiven.
c. But what these people were saying is contrary to Scripture.
d. Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way;
2. John says that those who believe this way only deceive themselves.
a. John explained that those who believe the possibility of human sinlessness are fooling themselves and refusing to accept the truth as expressed in God’s word.
b. The truth of God’s word does not change: people are sinful.
c. Though Jesus condemned sin once for all, Christians still sin.
d. These people don’t fool God, and they don’t fool those around them. They only fool themselves.
3. John takes this a step further in verse 10, when he says "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."
a. This claim went beyond telling a lie (1:6) or merely fooling themselves (1:8); this claim was calling God a liar.
b. God says that all have sinned--otherwise he would not have needed to send his Son.
c. To claim sinlessness treats the Cross with contempt and Christ’s suffering as worthless.
d. To do this, said John, shows that God’s word has no place in our hearts.
4. That’s the bad news: we have all sinned, and as long as we are in this flesh we will struggle with sin.
5. However, the good news is "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
a. "Although the statement lies in a conditional clause, it has the force of a command or obligation: we ought to confess our sins, and, if we do, he is faithful and just" (Marshall, NICNT, 113).
b. To confess our sins means to agree with God that an act or thought was wrong, to acknowledge this to God, to seek forgiveness, and to make a commitment to not let it happen again.
c. Confession of sins is necessary for maintaining continual fellowship with God, which in turn will enable people to have good fellowship with members of the church community.
6. That God is faithful means he is dependable and keeps his promises.
a. God promises forgiveness, even in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 31:34; Micah 7:19-20).
b. God wants to forgive his people; he wants to maintain close fellowship with them.
c. But this can only happen when the way to him is cleared of sin’s debris--and that can only happen through confession.
B. Owning Up to Our Mistakes
1. Illustration: Four preachers met for a friendly gathering. During the conversation one preacher said, "Our people come to us and pour out their hears, confess certain sins and needs. Let’s do the same. Confession is good for the soul." In due time all agreed. One confessed he liked to go to movies and would sneak off when away from his church. The second confessed to liking to smoke cigars and the third one confessed to liking to play cards. When it came to the fourth one, he wouldn’t confess. The others pressed him saying, "Come now, we confessed ours. What is your secret or vice?" Finally he answered, "It is gossiping and I can hardly wait to get out of here."
2. There is nothing wrong with admitting that you have made a mistake, because we all make them.
3. There is nothing wrong with going to the Lord and saying, "Lord, I blew it! I messed up! I’ve sinned!"
4. The only thing wrong is if we don’t do it!
a. God wants to forgive us.
b. God wants to restore us.
c. God wants heal us.
5. However, God can’t forgive us until we are willing to confess that we have sinned.
6. His word tells us that if we confess our sins, He is faithful, and He will forgive us.
7. The bad news is we have all sinned; the good news is God forgives!
Transition: Another part of the good news is...
III. We Have an Advocate Before the Father (2:1-2)
A. We Have an Advocate
1. John continues his thought in chapter 2 when he says "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin."
a. John is in no way condoning sin. He says the whole purpose for his writing is that they will not sin.
b. So that you will not sin means that you will try to stay free from sin by avoiding it, refusing it, but then also confessing it when it does happen.
c. Christians will sin because they have not yet been made perfect. John fully understood this.
d. He did not want his readers to take the inevitability of sinning as an excuse to sin.
2. Then John says "And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."
a. Jesus is our advocate before the Father.
b. The word means someone who is called in to stand by the side of another. —Practical Word Studies in the New Testament
c. This is a legal term, referring to an lawyer or counselor who pleads our case for us.
d. Heb. 8:24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
3. Not only is He our advocate, but also "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins..."
a. The basis of Christ’s case on our behalf, the power behind his advocacy, comes from his sacrifice on the cross.
b. A propitiation was a sacrifice given to placate someone who was angry.
c. In a religious setting, it was an angry God.
d. By this interpretation God is the object of Jesus’ sacrifice, making the sinner acceptable because God’s disposition has changed.
B. Someone to Stand Up For Us
1. Illustration: God will not be absent when His people are on trial; he will stand in court as their advocate, to plead on their behalf.” — Charles H. Spurgeon
2. Our goal is not to sin, but when we do we have an advocate.
3. We have One who stands before the Father and pleads our case for us.
4. When we sin and confess our sin, Jesus stands before the Father and says, "See my blood has forgiven them. My blood has paid the price."
5. 1 Pt. 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.
Transition: There is forgiveness in the blood of Jesus!
Conclusion
1. The bad news is we all sin.
2. The good news is there is forgiveness in the blood of Jesus.
3. If we confess our sins He is faithful and just.
