Walk in the Light (1 John 1:5 – 2:2)
15 years ago (2004), Jerry Lynn was trying to figure out where he should put a hole in his wall for a TV wire. He went up to the second floor of his house and lowered his wife's small, digital alarm clock on a string through an air vent. He “thought he could listen to the alarm, which he set to go off after 10 minutes, and know where to put the hole, according to CNN.
But then the string broke. The clock fell. Jerry was still able to use it, though. When the alarm went off, “he could still hear where he needed to poke a hole in the wall.”
And then the alarm kept going off every night at the same time—for 13 years.
Jerry had figured the batteries in the clock would likely die out soon, but each night at 7:50 p.m., he and his wife would be treated to about a minute of beeping that could be heard “from any room on the first floor.” Jerry told CNN, “We don't even notice it because we're so used to it. It's more of a conversation piece when guests come over.”
However, two years ago (July 2017) the nightly alarm became “too much to bear,” and they removed the clock from the wall. Even so, they didn’t throw it out. They put it on their mantle still set for 7:50 p.m. (Nancy Coleman, “An Alarm Clock Stuck in a Wall Has Gone Off Every Night for 13 Years,” CNN, 6-20-17; “After 13 Years Of Daily Alarms, Owners Remove Clock From Air Vent,” NPR Morning Edition, 7-10-17; www.PreachingToday.com)
I suppose that’s one way to deal with a mistake – just bury it and hope no one notices, or let it become a conversation piece when somebody does notice. “It’s no big deal,” you say; but after a while, it IS a big deal.
So what do you do when you make a mistake? What do you do when you fail? What do you do when you sin to keep it from becoming unbearable in your life? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 1 John 1, 1 John 1, where the Bible shows us what to do with sin.
1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (ESV)
When you fail, the first thing you need to do is…
REALIZE THAT GOD IS LIGHT.
Know that our Lord is the Absolute Truth. Understand that He is the personification of integrity. That means He is totally and completely honest, and there is not one speck of deceit in Him at all. Therefore, you must…
BE COMPLETELY HONEST ABOUT YOURSELF.
Tell the truth about yourself, and be willing to admit your own failures and shortcomings.
1 John 1:6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. (ESV)
If we walk in darkness, that is to say, if we cloud the truth and try to make people believe we’re better than we are, then our claims to a close relationship with God are false. We are living a lie.
So when you mess up, don’t lie to others about yourself. Don’t pretend to be okay when you’re not.
Hypertension (or high blood pressure) has been called the silent killer, but doctors didn't always realize this. In fact, some doctors used to argue that hypertension was a made-up disorder that didn't need to be treated at all. For example, in 1931 Dr. J. H. Hay proclaimed, “The greatest danger to a man with high blood pressure lies in its discovery, because then some fool is certain to try and reduce it.”
This denial of the problem led to tragic results. Take the true case of Frank. Frank was diagnosed with hypertension in 1937 at the age of fifty-four. His blood pressure was 162/98 and was considered by physicians at the time to be “mild hypertension.” No treatment was initiated. By 1940, his blood pressure was running 180/88. In 1941, his pressure was 188/105. He was encouraged to cut back on smoking and work, but his condition didn't improve.
By 1944, his pressure was running higher, and he suffered a series of small strokes. This was followed by the classic symptoms of heart failure, so he was placed on a low-salt diet with hydrotherapy and experienced some improvement.
However, by February 1945, his pressure was 260/145, and on April 12, 1945, he complained of a severe headache with his blood pressure measuring at 300/190. He lost consciousness and died later that day at the age of sixty-three. Perhaps you know Frank better as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the thirty-second president of the United States. (Timothy R. Jennings, The God Shaped Heart, Baker Books, 2017, pages 21-23; www.Preaching Today.com)
Denial leads to devastating results whether you promote the lie yourself or choose to believe the so-called “experts.” You see, the so-called experts talk about sin today the way the doctors used to talk about high blood pressure: “It’s no big deal.” Well, it IS a big deal, so be honest about it.
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 cleanses us from all sin. (ESV)
When we are honest about our failures, there is wonderful fellowship among God’s people, and Jesus Christ begins the process of cleaning out all our sin. The Greek word for “cleanse” means to be free from defilement, and was used in Bible days of the healing, or cleansing, of lepers.
Leprosy is a terrible skin disease, like skin cancer, and a good illustration of sin in the life of a believer. You see, sin is like cancer, and if you want healing from that “cancer,” if you want to get rid of the sin in your life, then you must first acknowledge that it’s there. A doctor does you no good if you have cancer, and he tells you, “Everything is fine.” No! You must first recognize that you’re sick. Then you can apply the remedy.
So when you sin, acknowledge it; don’t try to cover it up. Acknowledge your own failures. Then God can apply the remedy of His own Son’s shed blood to clean those failures out of your life.
When you fail, don’t lie to others about yourself, and don’t lie to yourself about yourself. Don’t deceive yourself.
1 John 1:8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (ESV)
It’s bad enough that we deceive others; but if we keep telling the lie often enough, we begin to believe it ourselves; we begin to believe our own press reports; and we begin to believe that we are better than we really are.
Travis Collins, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Huntsville, Alabama, talks about camping with his friend, Barry Thomas, at Sherando Lake a few summers ago. It had been raining, and more rain was forecast, but they thought we could beat the odds. After they set up their tents, Pastor Collins was assigned the duty of gath¬ering firewood. Unfortunately, everything was wet because of the rain. He gathered the driest wood he could find, but it wouldn't burn.
Barry was cooking dinner on the Coleman stove, but they wanted a campfire, so Pastor Collins decided to drive about a mile back to the ranger shack to see if the rangers could point him to where he could buy firewood. On his way out of the campground, he noticed another campsite from which campers had recently left and saw a hint of smoke rising from their campfire. “Well, that wood is dry,” Pastor Collins said to himself. So he pulled in, grabbed a log by its cool end from the fire, and threw it into the back of his truck.
He drove the mile or so down to the ranger shack. When he stopped at the ranger shack, he noticed an awful smell and saw smoke. “Oh, no!” he thought, “The ranger shack is on fire!” Then he looked into his rear view-mirror... It wasn't the ranger shack on fire. It was the log in the back of his own truck!
As he was driving, the wind had ignited the embers of that log, and it was burning, along with the lining of the bed of his pickup! Pastor Collins put the fire out quickly, but the melted rubber in the lining of that pickup truck is still visible. Pastor Collins says it’s “a reminder of a day when I saw smoke and flames and assumed someone else had a real problem—when, in fact, I had a problem.” (Travis Collins, What Does It Mean to Be Welcoming?: Navigating LGBT Questions in Your Church, IVP Books, 2018; www.PreachingToday.com)
When your life is in flames, don’t assume it’s somebody else’s problem; admit that YOU have a problem. Don’t lie to yourself about yourself. Instead, come clean and admit your failures. Confess your shortcomings. Agree with God that you have indeed sinned, and let Him put the fire out, so to speak.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (ESV)
God does two things when we confess our sins: 1st, He cleans those sins out of our lives; and 2nd, He forgives us our sins – literally, He releases us from our sins; He sends us away from our sins; He divorces us from our sins.
Do you want to be free from the sin in your life? Then don’t lie to yourself anymore; instead, confess your sins. Literally, say the same thing as God about your sins. Agree with God that you have indeed sinned, and He will release you from your sins; He will set you free!
This is more than just releasing you from punishment for sin; it’s releasing you from the practice of sin itself!
You see, when you trust Christ as your Savior from sin, God declared you, “Not guilty!” That means that every sin you HAVE committed or will EVER commit has been erased from your permanent record. The Bible says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). That’s a judicial forgiveness, whereby the Judge of the Universe has declared the believer “innocent” of all charges brought against him or her.
1 John 1:9 is NOT talking about that kind of forgiveness. It’s talking about a practical forgiveness, whereby God begins the process of removing you from the sin itself in your life.
Is that what you want? Then come clean with God. Admit your failures and let Him help you overcome them. It can be the start of revival in your own life and in the life of the church.
That’s what happened in Korea in the early l940s. Then God used an unassuming woman to bring many Christian leaders and thousands of members of Korean churches to a state of revival. Her name was Miss Aletta Jacobsz, and Miss Jacobsz was not satisfied with the general confession, “I am a sinner.” She would hand you a pencil and paper and ask you to write down your specific sins. Her dealings with a prominent Presbyterian missionary leader were typical. Her gentle probing went like this:
Miss J: Have you considered Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God?”
Mr. X: Yes, I preach on it frequently.
Miss J: Are you willing to face this truth squarely and see if you are actually seeking God's will first in all things?
Mr. X: (after reflecting) Well, I suppose I am not seeking God first in everything. Yes, I will have to admit I am not always putting Christ first in my life.
Miss J: Now, Mr. X, since you say you have preached this truth frequently, and you now recognize you are not fulfilling it in your life, what would you consider anyone, who, while urging others to do something, is not doing it himself?
Mr. X: A hypocrite.
Miss J: Then how do you characterize yourself?
Mr. X: A hypocrite.
Miss J: Will you please write it down?
“I am a hypocrite,” he wrote. Soon he had a long list of black sins that broke his heart. But how grateful he was, after repenting, to have deep peace and a sense of forgiveness. (Harold Voelkel and Will Bruce, O God, Revive Us Again, Overseas Missionary Fellowship; www.PreachingToday.com)
Do you want a deep peace and release from your sins? Then don’t be afraid to face them squarely and admit them specifically to the God who loves you more than you could ever know.
Paul Westphal, former coach for the Seattle Sonics, put it this way: “Being a Christian is not an ego thing. A lot of people accuse Christians of claiming salvation and then thinking that makes them better than anybody else. You know, it’s actually just the opposite. We simply know that we have a sin problem and we know who can fix it. (Mike Herman, Sports Spectrum; www. PreachingToday.com)
Go to God with your failures and don’t try to hide them. Don’t lie to others about yourself.
Don’t lie to yourself about yourself, and don’t lie to God about yourself. Don’t make Him a liar by insisting on your innocence.
1 John 1:10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (ESV)
Research psychologists have found there are at least three situations when we are not ourselves, according to Dr. Perry Buffington: First, the average person puts on airs when he visits the lobby of a fancy hotel. Next, the typical Jane Doe will try to hide her emotions and bamboozle the salesman when she enters the new-car showroom. And finally, as we take our seat in church or synagogue, we try to fake out the Almighty that we've really been good all week. (Dr. Perry Buffington, Playing Charades, Universal Press Syndicate, 9-26-1999; www.PreachingToday.com)
Who are we kidding? God already knows we haven’t been good all week, so quit trying to fool Him.
Bobby Moore was the England soccer captain who received the World Cup from Queen Elizabeth when England won the trophy in 1966. An interviewer later asked him to describe how he felt. He talked about how terrified he was as he approached Her Majesty, because he noticed she was wearing white gloves, while his hand, which would soon shake the Queen’s, was covered in mud from the pitch… As the triumphant captain walks along the balcony, he keeps wiping his hand on his shorts, and then on the velvet cloth in front of the Royal box in a desperate effort to get himself clean. (Vaughn Roberts, The Porn Problem, The Good Book Company, 2018, Page 51; www.PreachingToday.com)
He certainly didn’t fool the queen, and you cannot fool God. So don’t lie to others about yourself. Don’t lie to yourself about yourself, and don’t lie to God about yourself. Instead, realize that God is Light – He knows the truth. So be completely honest about yourself. Then…
TRUST JESUS TO DEFEND YOU.
Rely on Christ protect you from any repercussions. Depend on our Lord to stand up for you.
1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (ESV)
When you sin, trust Jesus to be your advocate.
That word in the original Greek language literally means “one who comes along side to help.” In Bible days, it often described the person who stood beside the accused in a court of law. That person was his lawyer, who spoke on his behalf.
That’s what Jesus does for every believer in the court of heaven. When Satan accuses us before God, Jesus stands there right beside us to answer in our defense. He pleads with God on our behalf, and God always listens to His Son.
The BBC reports that a Florida priest murdered in 2016 has appealed from beyond the grave for his alleged killer to be shown mercy. In a letter written 22 years before his murder, Reverend Rene Robert requested that whoever took his life be spared execution “no matter how heinous their crime or how much I may have suffered.”
The body of 71-year-old Fr. Robert, of St Augustine, Florida, was found riddled with bullets in Georgia in April 2016. Authorities say he was killed days earlier by a man, Steven Murray, whom he had been trying to help for months. Mr. Murray, a repeat offender, had asked the priest for a lift in Jacksonville, Florida, before abducting and murdering him, authorities said. At the time of the trial, the prosecutor was pushing for the death penalty.
But in 1995, the priest had signed a “Declaration of Life” document, which was witnessed and notarized by a lawyer. Fr. Robert wrote, “I request that the person found guilty of homicide for my killing not be subject to or put in jeopardy of the death penalty under any circumstances.”
Fr. Robert devoted his life to helping society's most troubled people, including convicts and the mentally afflicted, say friends. Archbishop Wilton Gregory said of Fr. Robert, “He was well aware for the potential violence that might involve his ministry, but he cared for those people nonetheless.” Mr. Murray appealed for forgiveness by noting Fr. Robert's own words: “If anybody loves Father Rene, they'll forgive me because he was a man of God, and forgiveness is forgiveness.” (Staff writers, "Slain Florida Priest Begs Mercy From Beyond Grave For Accused," BBC.com, 1-31-17; www.PreachingToday.com)
I don’t know if the Georgia courts listened to Father Robert’s plea, but I DO know that Heaven’s courts always listen to Jesus’ plea. So when you sin, trust Jesus to be YOUR advocate.
Then trust Jesus as your offering for sin. Depend on His sacrifice as payment for your offenses.
1 John 2:2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (ESV)
Jesus IS the propitiation for our sins. That is to say, His death on the cross satisfied the righteous requirements of God’s Law. God’s Law demanded the death penalty, so Jesus died in our place. He paid the penalty for our sins, satisfying the Law’s demands. Now, God can justly demonstrate His love to any sinner, who depends on Jesus as his or her advocate and offering for sin.
Ron Rand’s book For Fathers Who Aren't in Heaven tells the story of Michael, who usually takes his family out each week to see a movie or sports event. When they come home, they make a fire in the fireplace and pop popcorn. During one of these evenings, little Billy made a real pest of himself in the car on the drive home, so he was punished by being sent to sit in his bedroom while the rest of the family had popcorn.
After the family had the fire going and the popcorn ready, Michael went back to Billy's room and said, “You go out with the others. I'll stay here and take your punishment.” (Terry Fisher, Leadership, Vol. 12, no. 2)
That’s what Jesus did for you and me. He took our punishment, so we could enjoy the fellowship with God’s family.
So when you sin, realize that God is Light and be completely honest about yourself, trusting Jesus to defend you. I like the way Tim Keller put it. “Here's the gospel: you're more sinful than you ever dared believe; you're more loved than you ever dared hope.” So there is no reason to hide your sin. Instead, bring it into God’s light so He can heal you from it.
