Dealing with Sin in 1 John (Part 2)
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) …
Colossians 3:23-24 NIV
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord and not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
Please open your Bibles to 1 John 1:8 - 1 John 2:2 / 1 John 3:4-10
Last Sunday we looked at the problem of sin from two different perspectives:
The definition of sin …
Sin is the willful disobedience of a known law of God by a morally responsible person.
So, the three parts that make up an act of sin are:
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
This very definition makes it clear that sins are not mistakes and mistakes are not sins.
Sin is intentional; mistakes are not.
However, when we realize that a mistake we made has been contrary to the will of God we should immediately repent of that action and confess it to the LORD. We should also ask the forgiveness of anyone who may have been harmed by that mistake.
Then we spoke about sin in a more general, overarching way regarding the effects of sin by a professing Christian.
Sin by a professing Christian diminishes the glory of the LORD in the eyes of others or at least obscures the greatness of God.
On the other hand, righteousness by a Christian glorifies the LORD and brings praise to His Holy name.
With that in mind let’s go ahead and read 1 John 1:8 - 1 John 2:2
Here we have two issues …
The first issue is with those who claim “to be without sin” and those “who claim [they] have not sinned.”
Now, there were Gnostics in that era. Gnostics believed that the soul or spirit of a person was separate from the flesh. Your body could sin but it would not affect your spiritual standing. So … sin away, no problem!!!
Nowadays, we have those who claim that sin is an invention of religion; a creation of man’s imagination.
We also have folks who believe that since they have never murdered anyone or robbed any one or assaulted anyone that they have never REALLY sinned!
But the Bible says in …
Romans 3:23
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Isaiah 53:6a
“All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned, everyone to his own way …”
You see, many who are lost hate the idea of personal sin.
Sin, if it is real, means that there is someone in authority over us and we don’t like that! We want to be free and independent; not needing to ask forgiveness from anyone!
Sin, if it is real, starts the dominos falling. You all have probably at one time or another set up a string of dominoes. What happens when you push the first one down? The first one knocks over the second one, the second one knocks over the third one and on and on until they all fall.
So, if you hate the idea of personal sin and you understand what personal sin is it sets in motion a spiritual domino effect. It’s a pretty short row of dominoes but it goes like this …
Domino 1) there is a God to whom my actions are accountable …
Domino 2) my sin separates me from God not just now but in eternity as well …
Domino 3) I cannot get out of this by myself which means I need help from someone else, specifically God
Domino 4) my only escape is by turning to God for help in personal surrender
Conclusion: that personal surrender to God is something I will never do, therefore, I don’t believe in personal sin.
But there is Someone who does believe in personal sin and that is the very God who created us for fellowship and for His glory!
The Lord God knew that there was only one way that we could be reconciled to Him and that would be through the blood of Jesus, His only Son, as an atoning sacrifice for our sin!
If we look at 1 John 1:8 - 1 John 2:2 again we see …
“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.” And, “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to purify (cleanse) us from all unrighteousness.”
And, here is the great dividing line … “Jesus Christ, the Righteous One … is the atoning sacrifice for our sins … and … the sins of the whole world!”
A few minutes ago we read Isaiah 53:6a
“All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned, everyone to his own way …”
But the full verse says Isaiah 53:6
“All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned, everyone to his own way, and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all!”
One such person does not believe in personal sin or the necessity of atonement is Mr. Spong whom I have quoted before. Now, remember, he identifies himself as a Christian and yet here is a quote from him regarding the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our salvation …
“I think atonement theology is bankrupt in that it is built upon a definition of human life as sinful and fallen and then it proceeds to portray God as a rescuer and the Savior of the fallen, sinful life … I see God as a presence and a power that leads to expanded life, expanded love and expanded being, and even the experience of an expanded consciousness. Atonement is not the word to characterize this understanding of either God or life. So, rather than worrying about whether God can be understood in terms of atonement, I would prefer to remove atonement from the Christian vocabulary altogether.”
This is not an unusual philosophy at all in many churches in America, Canada and western Europe.
In this case there is no row of dominoes; they can go in any direction. You are free to believe in no god or you can believe in a higher force that is impersonal or you can believe in some sort of God who doesn’t care what you believe or do, he will just welcome you into heaven anyway, if there is a heaven and so on and so forth.
In this philosophy the only thing you are forbidden to believe is the Bible as the Word of God and what it says!
Now, let’s say that we DO believe the Bible to be the Word of God; instructing us in all we need for salvation and eternal life!
What we see in 1 John 1:8-10 and 1 John 2:1-2 is that
1) We are sinners in need of salvation or redemption whether we admit it or not, and,
2) Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sin so that we can be reconciled to Him.
Now, let’s look at 1 John 3:4-10
Let’s take a particular look at 1 John 3:6 NIV
“No one who lives in Him (Christ) keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.”
1 John 3:6 AMPC
“No one who abides in Him [who lives and remains in communion with and in obedience to Him - deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] commits (practices) sin. No one who [habitually] sins has either seen or known Him [recognized, perceived, or understood Him, or has had an experiential acquaintance with Him].”
What this is saying is, you can either choose to a life in Christ or to live a life in sin.
To live a life in Christ is to be an enemy of the devil.
To live a life that is defined by continuous, habitual sin is to be an enemy of Christ.
1 John 3:8b says,
“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”
Jesus came to destroy the destroyer!!! Praise His Holy Name!!!
Try to imagine this. It is the year 1944 and Germany is at war with England.
Now suppose you have dual citizenship in both Germany and England and you are living in Germany. How will you be treated?
Conversely, suppose you have dual citizenship in both Germany and England and you are living in England during the Blitz; how would you be treated?
In either case, you would be forced to renounce your citizenship in the opposing country and declare your loyalty to the country in which you found yourself in that dreadful time. There would be no middle ground.
We cannot have dual citizenship in this world. We cannot belong to the Kingdom of God by living in Christ. And, we cannot at the same time live in the kingdom of darkness. They are diametrically and violently opposed to one another!
The spiritual war going on for the hearts of men and women in this world is no less intense than the war that took place between the Axis and the Allies in WWII!
They would have never allowed dual citizenship in Germany and England during WWII and we cannot have dual citizenship in this world. We cannot belong to the Kingdom of God by living in Christ. And, we cannot at the same time live in the kingdom of darkness. They are diametrically and violently opposed to one another!
The only difference would be the tactics.
The evil one has us by the throat because of sin. He wishes to destroy us not only in this life but in Hell forever where we will find ourselves with him and the rest of his horde.
God, on the other hand, loves us so much that He sent His one and only Son to die on the cross of Calvary to make a way for our sins to be forgiven and to adopt us into His family and to give us eternal life.
What do we need to do? We need to respond to His invitation, turn away from our sinful past, confess our sin to Him and ask for His great salvation. Then, after we have been filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live a righteous life we will be able to obey the command Jesus gave to the woman caught in adultery, “now go and sin no more”, “go and stop your sinning.”
Yes, in great sadness it is most likely that all of us who are truly crucified to ourselves and alive in Christ will find ourselves committing a sin at some point in the future.
But it cannot be a way of life for the redeemed.
I believe, from not only personal experience but from the Word of God, that if you ever find yourself enjoying sin and especially enjoying sin as a way of life that you need to take a good look at your life and see, as it says in 2 Corinthians 13:5-6, “Examine (yourself) to see whether you are in the faith; test (yourself). Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that (you) have not failed the test.”
Final comments and prayer …
