The Self Deception of Sin - 1 John 1:10-2:2
Series: That We May Know – Life With Jesus - #4
In his second letter to the Corinthian Church, the apostle Paul pleads with the people, saying to them these words … “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5–6, NIV84)
Let’s pray …
Paul exhorts us to test ourselves to see if we’re in the faith, to see if we believe. But here’s the problem: How do you know that you do believe? Well this morning I’ve brought a few items along with me that will hopefully help us understand what it means to believe, just a little bit better. This isn’t an original idea of mine, I’ve borrowed and adapted an illustration that Francis Chan used in one of his messages, because I thought it would help us to understand this idea of belief, better.
Here I have a balloon – an ordinary balloon – nothing special about it whatsoever. [Tape balloon to wall]. Over here, I have my compound bow. It’s got a draw weight of about 55 lbs, which isn’t huge, but which is plenty sufficient to drive this arrow with enough force to pop that balloon. For those of you who don’t know me quite as well, I’ve been doing archery for about three years now. Generally speaking, I can consistently hit what I’m aiming at out to 40 yards. The distance this morning is far less, so it shouldn’t be a problem at all.
Now here’s the question: How many of you believe that I can launch this arrow and pop that balloon? Let’s see a show of hands. … O.K. – a few of you. The rest of you don’t have a very high opinion of me at all I see!
Those of you who raised your hands, will you join me up here for a moment, please? You have professed to believe that I can release this arrow and pop that balloon, am I right? Based on your belief in my shooting ability, how many of you believe enough to hold that balloon in your outstretched hand while I proceeded to shoot at it? … Anyone who doesn’t believe can go sit back down now, and those who believe can remain standing up here. [If anyone left standing, ask who would believe me enough that they would hold the end of the balloon between their teeth while I launched an arrow at it?] (This is adapted from a sermon illustration by Francis Chan. This is for illustration purposes only and at no point do I even draw the bow back with an arrow on the string let alone launch an arrow in the church.)
What happened here? Some said they believed, but when that belief was put to the test, it turned out it wasn’t really belief at all. How do we know? Because their belief failed the test. When it came right down to it, what they said they believed, did not inform their decisions. Instead their choices revealed what they really believed – namely that I couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn!
In a similar way, our response to sin, reveals what we really believe about God, the cross, and the life we are called to as Christians. And if we want to examine ourselves to see if we’re in the faith, one of the places we can start that examination, is in our response to sin. So turn with me, this morning, to the book of 1 John. We are going to continue in our series from that book, a series entitled, “That We May Know – Life With Jesus.” Let’s begin reading in verse 5 …
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 1:5–2:2, NIV84)
The first test that John presents us with is the “sin test.” It comes to us in three parts. We’ve looked at the first two already and we’re just going to briefly recap them this morning before moving on to the third. But before we do that, this is what I’d like you to do. Take a pen or a pencil if you have one and underline three phrases in that passage. The phrase I’d like you to underline is “If we claim …” The first one is in verse 6 ... “If we claim to have fellowship.” The second is in verse 8 … “If we claim to be without sin.” And the third is in verse 10 … “If we claim we have not sinned.”
These claims are the three parts of the “sin test,” if you will. What’s the purpose of this test? To reveal the truth about where we stand with God. You see, it’s not enough to say that we believe something to be true. Belief is proved by our response to what we claim to believe. Many times people claim to believe in God, but there is absolutely no evidence of a working of God in their lives.
Let me ask you this: What’s become the modern test for faith in our day and age? Really, one of two questions, right? If we want to know if someone has come to faith, we ask people something like this, “Did you say the sinner’s prayer?” or, “Have you asked Jesus into your heart?” Folks, neither of those things is ever found in the pages of Scripture. Not once do we find the disciples leading someone in the sinner’s prayer. Not once do we find them telling anyone to ask Jesus into their heart. What have we done? We’ve made a work of man the test of genuine faith, and in John’s words, we have “deceived ourselves” into thinking that if we’ve done these things we have salvation. John says, “No! It doesn’t matter so much if you claim to have done this thing, or that thing. A real test, first test of our faith is our response to sin.”
First of all, he says, “If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.” (1 John 1:6, NIV84) Anyone here remember Polaroid cameras? I remember Mom and Dad had one when I was growing up. It was cutting edge technology for the time. For those of you not familiar with them, Polaroid cameras were boxy type cameras which, when you pushed the button to take a photo, actually produced the image on special photo paper that slid out the front of the camera. You could actually watch the photo develop right in front of you.
You could take a Polaroid of my life, and, if you took it at the right time, you could catch me in darkness. Maybe I’ve had a frustrating day and in my anger I sin, and I take it out on someone else with harsh words. If you took the picture at that precise instant, that Polaroid becomes a snapshot of a particular moment in time; evidence that I’ve stepped into darkness. But beyond revealing that I have stepped into the darkness and sinned, it gives you no indication as to how I responded to that sin in the moments that followed.
If instead of a Polaroid though, you took a video camera, and began filming me 24/7, you would get a much better idea of whether I’m walking in the darkness, or the light, because what you will eventually begin to see, is how I respond to sin in my life. If the habitual, on-going practice of my life, is to walk in darkness, to continue in sin, knowing that it is sin, to be unmoved by that sin, then I’m not living by the truth. I don’t have fellowship with God. I am not saved. You can’t have fellowship with God and live for the world, for as James writes, “Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” (James 4:4, NIV84)
Secondly, John says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8, NIV84) What he’s talking about here is the sin nature. The testimony of Scripture is that you and I, we have a big problem. Our very nature, our essence, has been corrupted by sin. It’s like a stain on our souls. It’s not just that we do things that are wrong in God’s sight; it’s that our very nature is corrupted by this thing called sin. That’s where the sinful things we do, and say, and think, come from – this sin nature. And because of this, the Bible tells us that apart from Jesus, we are dead in our sins and transgressions, without hope and without God in this world. That’s a big problem, and it’s not one you can fix on your own.
Paul talks about his struggle with this problem in these words: “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” (Romans 7:18, NIV84) There is a battle that rages inside the heart of a godly man or godly woman. There’s a struggle between flesh and spirit. And when I say “flesh” I’m not talking about our physical bodies – it’s not that the body is evil and the soul is good. When I’m talking about “flesh” I’m talking about this sin nature that opposes everything to do with God. Between flesh and Spirit there is a battle being waged. Paul goes on to write: “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:21–25, NIV84)
See, we are free from the penalty of sin because the Son died on the cross. We are free from the guilt of sin because the Father has forgiven us. We are free from the power of sin in our daily lives by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. None of that is anything that we can do on our own.
Yet if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us! Why? Because we won’t cry out for a Savior we don’t believe is necessary; we will refuse to seek out forgiveness we don’t believe we need; and we resist turning from darkness to light unless we see our sin as God sees sin.
John says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, NIV84) Godly people must deal with sin! And yet many claim to be Christians today while walking in habitual darkness, unresponsive to sin, having hearts of stone rather than hearts of flesh. They do not have fellowship with God. They do not have salvation. They have deceived themselves and the truth is not in them!
And then the third claim that John seeks to refute is found in verse 10 … “If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” (1 John 1:10, NIV84)
Folks, denying the reality of our own sin leads to something called self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is a death sentence when it comes to doing life with God. The Pharisees were full of self-righteousness and Jesus didn’t have much that was good to say about them. A self-righteous person can readily see everyone else’s sin, but is blind to their own. In the Gospel of Luke we find this account …
“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”” (Luke 18:9–14, NIV84)
A self-righteous person attempts to hide the reality of the sin in their lives – not just from others, but from themselves. They are able to convince themselves, that while they might do the odd bad thing, it really isn’t sin in their case. It was a mistake, it was unavoidable, they had no choice in the matter, it is really no big deal, it wasn’t all that bad, the other guy deserved it, everyone else is doing it too – anything at all to avoid the reality of their sin.
And John says that the biggest problem isn’t this person’s self-deception regarding their own sin; it’s their lack of understanding of who God is. If we claim we have not sinned, we make God out to be a liar. If God is a liar He is neither holy, nor good, nor would He be light, for darkness would exist in Him then too. But John has already told us that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all; He is faithful and just – there is nothing of darkness in God.
When it comes to us though, the Bible gives us a completely different picture. And our experiences in life, back up the reality that the Word of God lays out for us.
The testimony of Scripture is this: “There is no one righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:10, NIV84) That, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23, NIV84) That, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.” (Ephesians 2:1–4, NIV84) For “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6, NIV84) And because of this, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” (Isaiah 64:6, NIV84)
There’s no wiggle room in those verses, is there? It doesn’t say, “some have sinned,” it doesn’t say, “a few have gone astray.” Again and again the resounding verdict is that each and every one of us has sinned before a Holy God. And it’s not just that sin nature that we’re talking about now – it’s our choices, our thoughts, our words too, that condemn us. And God does not want us to hide our sin. He wants us to come into the light and find healing. The Christian is meant to be living life out of his, or her, redemption, and not their filth. God desires for your sin to brought into the light and exposed that you may be saved and be set free, that you might find healing and victory, that you might know hope and joy as the burden of that sin is lifted and done away with!
Isaiah, confronted by a Holy God, becomes overwhelmed by the awareness of his sin. He cries out in brokenness saying, ““Woe to me!” … “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” He is broken by his sin. He doesn’t try to deny it, he doesn’t try to justify it, and He doesn’t try to hide it; instead he confesses it. And as he confesses it he experiences the grace of God, for we’re told that then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”” (Isaiah 6:5–7, NIV84)
And what was Isaiah’s response? To offer himself as a living sacrifice! Verse 8 … “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”” (Isaiah 6:8, NIV84) The experience of God’s mercy moved Isaiah to respond. In Romans 12:1 Paul writes these words, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 12:1, NIV84) As Isaiah sees, and confesses, and repents of his sin, he experiences God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness, and his response is one of worship. Not just two songs, an offering, and a three point sermon, but a life of worship, becoming a living sacrifice before God.
Belief, at least in part, is proven by our response. Isaiah believed, and he responded, he was changed. And so it should be for us as well. 1 John 2, verse 1 … “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.” (1 John 2:1, NIV84) Some people see God’s grace as a licence to sin. This is how their thinking goes … “God is a loving God. God is a forgiving God. I don’t think that what I’m doing is really all that sinful and even if it was I can live my life any old way I want and it doesn’t really matter, because no matter what I do, no matter how much darkness I choose to fill my life with, God will forgive me anyway.” Friends, if that’s how your thinking goes, you’ve deceived yourself and you’ve failed this sin test and, as Paul writes, Jesus Christ is not in you. You have not been saved! It’s all about attitude.
God’s grace is not an excuse to sin. John writes these things, he says, not so that we will abound in sin, but so that we will sin no more. Not that we will become perfect and sinless, but rather that the desire of our heart, our attitudes towards sin, would be that of God; that we would turn from sin, that we would despise sin in all its forms, and not give in to it; that we would run from the darkness to the light and find healing and hope in Christ!
I want to share with you a short devotional I came across the other day. It goes like this: “Centuries ago, a popular queen was interviewing applicants to serve on a six-man team responsible for carrying her on a portable throne on long journeys. As she interviewed each man, the queen asked, “If you were bearing me along a mountain path, how close would you go to the edge of a cliff?”
Some men would answer, “Your Royal Highness, I am so strong, I could go within a foot of the edge of a cliff.” Others would boast, “Not only do I have superior strength, but I have almost perfect balance. I could go within six inches of the edge.” But a few declared, “Your Highness, I would go nowhere near the edge of a cliff. Why would I want to imperil your valuable life by leading you so close to danger?” Guess who earned the job?
We live in a cultural landscape where it seems there are more cliffs than clearings. We spend large parts of our day within easy walking distance of all kinds of sharp drops and perilous dangers. Sexual temptation. Financial greed. Immoral entertainment. Emotional affairs. Addictions galore. Ethical compromise. Rather than stay as far as possible from these obvious threats to our families, we often allow the enemy of our souls to lure us closer for a better look. We sample just a bit too much of what the world has to offer. My friend Josh McDowell says, “I would rather build a rail at the top of the mountain than have an ambulance service at the bottom of the valley.” I agree. But I’d suggest we take it a step further. I would prefer not putting myself in position to find out whether or not that guardrail would hold me! Safety rails aren’t meant for pushing on but for steering away from.” (crosswalk.com, Moments with You, May 29, 2013)
That’s an illustration that ought to help us understand what our response to sin should be. God’s grace doesn’t mean that we go out and play with fire because He will forgive us if we get burned. God’s grace means that we stay away from the flames; it moves me to despise the sin that might tempt me, to run from it and to fill my life with the light that is God, rather than the darkness that opposes Him.
The sin test that John has laid before us is all about our attitude towards sin – the things God calls sin - not just the things that we think are sinful - because there’s often a vast difference between the two. And that attitude reveals the truth of what we believe about God, the cross, and the life we are called to as Christians. So let me ask you a question: Are you still running to sin, living in it, embracing it, excusing it, justifying it, reveling in it? Or are you running from sin – broken by it, confessing it, repenting of it, turning from it, and seeking God’s help in each day to overcome it? The answer to that question will be evidenced in your life.
Yet even if we are seeking to walk in the light, running from sin, there will be times – and we’re not talking a habitual, on-going thing here – but there will be times when we do fall into the darkness of sin. In those moments, as we become aware of sin, are broken by it, confess it and repent of it, we have this confidence and this assurance, for John goes on to say, “But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1–2, NIV84)
The picture is a legal one, like a courtroom. Jesus is our advocate. Our sin comes up before the court. We are guilty. Punishment would be just; we are deserving of it. But the advocate comes to our side. He doesn’t deny our guilt but He declares that the penalty has been paid, that justice has been satisfied, that there is now no condemnation for the one who has been accused. The judge asks, “Who has paid the price?” And our advocate responds, “I have. In my blood, I have paid the price that the sins of this one would be forgiven.” Jesus speaks to the Father in our defense. We are forgiven, the relationship restored, the conscience cleansed, grace experienced, and we go forth, not to sin more, but to live more fully for God.
Let’s pray …
