Series: Are You Real? [#3]
DEALING WITH SIN
1 John 1:5-2:6
Introduction:
Last week’s attendance was pretty rough and what made it the toughest was I wasn’t expecting bad attendance until today. Now, I know that’s a bad attitude; but I fight those sorts of things just like everyone else does. You can ask Mark and he will tell you that I go through these frustrations every once in a while and I vent a little bit and then move on. I told Mark the other day that now that I have mom to vent to about Church attendance it sure does help. I can be rude and nasty about it to her because she is my mom. My mom’s general reply is, “Churches all over the nation are having these same problems”. Honestly, it doesn’t make me feel better that other Churches are struggling with this as well.
The Church is the Lord’s Army, which means we should be the greatest army ever; but it doesn’t seem like it right now.
There are those who have been…
Killed in action.
They walked an aisle, but as soon as things got bad, we never saw them again. We don’t know if they were really saved or not.
There are those who are…
Missing in action.
We don’t know if they are dead or if they are held prisoner by the enemy; but we know they are not here. By the way, Jesus left the 99 to go find that 1 lost sheep. We shouldn’t be “writing anyone off”.
So how do we keep from becoming a casualty? We must walk in the light. It has often been said that the Christian life would be simple to live out if it wasn’t for sin. How true this is. It is easy to talk about being a Christian, but living that way is completely different. God is Light and Satan is darkness. How does a person walk in the light? It is how we deal with sin. There are several ways we can deal with sin and they are seen in our text this morning.
1 John 1:5-6, 8, 10; 2:4 (NIV)
“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 and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.”
You can deal with sin by…
1. Covering them up.
When a person is saved they are called out of the darkness. They were children of the darkness, but are now children of the Light. Those who do wrong hate the Light and when Light shines in on our lives, it reveals everything. Light produces life, growth, and beauty; but sin is dark. Darkness and light cannot exist in the same place. If you are walking in light, the darkness is gone and if you hold onto sin the light is gone. I am not saying you lose your salvation. What you have lost is how you spiritually appear to the “lost”. There is no gray area when you are discussing sin.
How do Christians cover up their sins? By lying. We began by lying to other Christians because we want them to think that we are spiritual and then we begin to lie to ourselves so we think that we are not the problem. Once you have convinced yourself, then you begin to lie to God. How do you lie to God? You act like you’re perfect and when God tries to correct you through the Word, a sermon, study, etc… you act as if that was not for you. If you find yourself criticizing instead of being convicted you are probably being controlled by sin.
The result of covering up your sins is that the Word no longer helps you grow, therefore your relationship with God is damaged; which results in a loss of Christian character. Another words that Christian looks, talks, and acts like a lost person. We can try to cover up our sins but we know that God knows every move we make.
1 John 1:7, 9; 2:1-2 (NIV)
“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 confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father- 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.”
You can deal with sin by…
2. Confessing them.
John tells us that Jesus Christ is our Mediator and the One that has died for our sins. God is holy and just and must punish sin; but through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice we can be justified. Jesus Christ is our Advocate if we allow Him first to be our Savior. Jesus also represents us from Heaven. When we sin Jesus is our Mediator. Because He paid the ultimate price for us, He has become the bridge to God the Father. This is why we can go into God’s Holy presence.
Since Jesus is in Heaven as our Advocate, there is only one thing we are asked to do with our sins- That is to confess them. What does it mean to confess your sins? It literally means to say the same thing about that sin as God does. See, you’re not just admitting sin, you are judging that sin. If you do that, then God forgives it and forgets it. This does not mean that God condones sin.
1 John 2:1-3, 5-6 (NIV)
“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father- 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. We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”
You can deal with sin by…
3. Conquering them.
It is clear that we do not have to sin. The secret of victory over sin is found in the phrase, “Walk in the light”. To walk in the light means to be honest with God, ourselves, and others. It means that when the Light reveals our sins to us that we immediately confess it to God and claim His forgiveness. Walking in Light also means we must obey God’s Word. We learn how to live through the Word. We see how Christ lived on this earth and we are to follow in His steps.
Conclusion:
Have you become a battle casualty? If so, start over today by confessing those things and begin to walk in the Light once again.
