Dealing with Sin in 1 John
Please stand as we read our newest memory Scripture together …
1 John 1:5-7
“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 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.”
And our memory refresher verse(s) for today is(are) …
Philippians 4:8
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.”
Please open your Bibles to 1 John 1:8 - 1 John 2:2 / 1 John 3:1-10
Do you love Jesus? I mean really love Jesus and want to please Him and bring glory and honor to His holy name?
I have a confession to make …
The other day I was tempted in my mind to do something which I knew would be just plain wrong, sinful.
That same day I was trying my best to memorize the new memory Scripture for these three months. Now, I do love Jesus as much as I know how to do and hope to love Him better every day.
So, while I was in the middle of this temptation this verse came to my mind, “If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth …” (1 John 1:6)
Wow. That hit me like a punch in the face!
- Do I really have fellowship with the Lord?
- Do I really want to walk in the darkness?
- Do I really want to lie to the Lord and live a lie?
Thank you, Lord, for Your holy word!!!
Today we’ll be talking about this sin problem and why it is such a big deal …
Before we jump into it the apostle John uses this verse as a transition into the first segment of Scripture that deals with sin in 1 John.
Here’s the transition, “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.” (1 John 1:7)
With that in mind let’s go ahead and read our Scriptures for Today
Now, today we are not going to dig down deep into those Scriptures but talk about sin and righteousness from an overarching point of view.
When a person joins The Church of The Nazarene one of the questions they must respond to is, “Will you endeavor in every way to glorify God, by a humble walk, godly conversation, and holy service; by devotedly giving of your resources; and by faithfully participating in the means of grace? Will you follow Jesus Christ all the days of your life, abstain from all evil, and seek earnestly to perfect holiness of heart and life in the fear of the Lord?”
And, the main point of that inquiry is, “Will you endeavor in every way to glorify God?”
In 1646 and 1647 the Church of England and the Church of Scotland got together to create what was called the Westminster Shorter Catechism which was used to teach children and those who were of diminished mental abilities the basics of the Christian faith. Do you know what the very first question and answer are in that catechism?
Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
By “the chief end” it means, what is the greatest goal for a human?
This is the goal … to glorify God.
To enjoy the Lord forever is not in itself a goal, it is the result of the pursuit of the goal of glorifying God!
Glorifying God is the pursuit and the goal, the ability and the privilege to enjoy the Lord forever is the fruit of that pursuit.
Never pursue enjoyment even of the Lord for its own sake, pursue the glory of the Lord and you get the joy thrown in with it as well.
PTL!!!
What does the Bible say about this goal?
1 Chronicles 16:28-29
“Ascribe to the LORD, all you families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; bring an offering and come before Him. Worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness.”
Psalm 19:1
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.”
Psalm 34:3
“Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.”
John 12:28
“‘Father, glorify Your name!’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.’”
Revelation 7:12
“Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever Amen.”
Malachi 1:11
“‘My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to Me, because My name will be great among the nations,’ says the LORD Almighty.”
In the past I have taught that the definition of sin is the willful disobedience of a known law of God by a morally responsible person.
Three parts:
1) A person who understands both right and wrong
2) comes to know the law or the will of God for them in a given situation
3) that person chooses to disobey that law or will of God in an act of rebellion
That is not true because I believe and teach it; it is true because it is in the Bible.
Another thing that I have said in the past is that sin always damages relationships while righteousness strengthens relationships both with God and fellow humans.
As a generality that is true from Scripture as well.
But, here is the thing that is found in these Scriptures we just read about the glory of God. God is for God!
God created all that is to bring Glory to Himself.
God created mankind to bring Glory to Himself.
A truly righteous life will invariably bring Glory to God!
Not a legalistic, rule driven righteousness but a righteousness that is driven by an unquenchable love for God and a pursuit of holiness in order to please and glorify Him.
A sinful life does just the opposite. It profanes the name of God and causes other to dishonor the Lord and His great name.
Here’s an example …
Ezekiel 36:23
“I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I Am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I Am proved holy through you before their eyes.”
A life seeking after the righteousness of God will glorify the Lord.
A life seeking after sinfulness will profane the name of the Lord.
(Scenario 1)
Suppose Chris and I were out in the church parking lot and there was something we were disagreeing about and people could see that we were disagreeing and in the end I did not get my way.
When I got home someone from the church called me and asked me what was going on. At that point I would have to make a choice and the very end of that choice would be whether I was going to glorify God or glorify myself.
Now, if I chose to glorify myself I would tell the person on the phone a distorted version of the conversation. In essence, I would be stabbing Chris in the back with my words in order to make me look better.
When a cowardly enemy wants to attack someone they often will come up from behind. By discussing the situation with this person without Chris being there it would be like me coming at him from behind his back. He would be defenseless.
So, if I went ahead and told “my side” of the story without Chris there it would be the verbal equivalent of sneaking up behind him and stabbing him in the back. I would be injuring his character and maybe even assassinating his reputation in order to glorify ME!
Now, when someone does this over the phone or over a cup of coffee or over the internet they usually don’t just leave it at “my side of the story” but they will usually add something to it for greater impact, to make it more injurious than it actually was.
If I were to do this it would not be just stabbing him in the back but like twisting the blade in him after the stab, increasing my sin and increasing the damage to Chris’ reputation.
Now, remember this is involving at least three people in the church all of whom are supposed to be living lives that glorify God!
So, is this the action of someone seeking to Glorify God? No, it is sin.
If my intention is to glorify myself instead of taking God’s glory into account it is sin.
Remember, as Christians we should be living our lives to glorify God and sin by a Christian profanes the name of the LORD in the sight of the world and in the sight of other brothers and sisters in Christ.
Now, suppose the same thing happens and Chris and I have a disagreement out in the church parking lot. Later on I come into contact with a person who saw the disagreement and he asks me about it.
There are now two people involved who can either choose to Glorify God in righteousness or glorify themselves in sin that is destructive to Chris, destructive to themselves and to the glory of God.
What would the person who diligently pursues the righteousness of God and the Glory of God do?
1 Corinthians 13:7 says,
“Love always protects …”
John 13:35
“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”
In the Bible there is a repetitive drum beat of, “love one another”.
In any scenario from above, that great command and my unswerving desire to glorify God would lead me to not only protect Chris but to defend him.
It wouldn’t matter if I was right or wrong.
My response to the caller should be something like, “I love Chris as a brother in Christ and I would not wish to harm him in any way. There is one thing you could do for me and for Chris; please pray that nothing comes between us that would damage our relationship and would diminish the glory of God in our testimony.”
The only exception to this scenario would be if someone were to come into the church spreading false, unscriptural teachings. And, even in that case I would want to speak to that person privately before sharing anything with fellow believers.
So, we see then that the glory of God supersedes all other priorities.
I challenge you to go home and think about this.
Can anyone here name a sin that would glorify the name of the Lord?
Can anyone here name a righteous action that would defame or profane the name of the Lord?
What are the two greatest commandment?
Matthew 22:37-40
“Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.’ And the second is like it, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Is the overarching goal of your life to glorify God and bring glory to His great name?
If so, you will naturally bring glory to the Lord by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.
It is simple, righteousness glorifies God and sin seeks to glorify yourself or someone other than the Lord and this diminishes the glory of the Lord in the eyes of others.
Do you say, “That is just too hard. I will have to give up too much!”
What is too much? What is too much to give up in order to one day stand in the presence of Christ Himself; to see His glory and to bow before Him? What could possibly be too much?
1 John 1:7
“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”
“The blood of Jesus, His Son …” Did you get that? Did you even hear that?
Jesus, the Son of God, shed His own blood for the forgiveness of your sin and mine!
We don’t have to shed the blood of animals or even our own blood to be purified from sin; Jesus, the Son of God, did that for us.
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinner plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.”
And for that great sacrifice we should be eternally devoted to serving the Lord our God in every way that will bring glory and honor to His name.
Comments leading into communion
Closing comments and prayer …
