Sin
John I 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
John I 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
John I 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
As we have been discussing for the past couple of weeks we have John, the elder statesmen of the church, the last living apostle, writing to a church that, since the death of Paul 30 years earlier, has fallen into various forms of heresy. John the mender of nets writes at the age of 90 to fix what has fallen in disarray in the church.
Sadly this part of the letter, John is dealing with one of the major problems Christians deal with today. And that is the problem is ignoring sin.
The church John I writing to is Ignoring the sin present in their lives, ignoring the fact that they are sinners, ignoring the fact that they need a savior and that salvation is through Jesus Christ.
And your response to this statement may be that the church today does admit that we are sinners, we do admit the fact that we need a savior and that savior is Jesus.
And church this could be true in some instances, but the problem is the fact that if we say one thing and do another it nullifies what we have said.
Actions speak louder than words. If we say we need a savior but we live like we don’t, our actions nullify our words. We always want a preacher who will tell it like it is, but we continue to live like it ain’t.
This is what our scripture is saying today. Verse 8 states, if we say we have no sin. We know that we are all sinners, but living an arrogant, prideful life as if you are without sin is the same as saying we have no sin, therefore John concludes that the truth is not in us.
Man has become delusional to think that he can justify himself. That if he just does right and live a decent, moral and responsible life, he can please God. Man has developed an attitude that he does not need a savior that if he does good it has to count for something.
As if there will be a balance scale at the white throne judgment to see if you did enough good.
Now this is worthy of discussion because there are many people who feel this way.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
This verse says that we cannot get to heaven by ourselves. That we need a savior. No sin can be in the presence of the Lord. This means that if you go before the Lord and your only sin was one lie your entire life, your destination will be hell.
If God does not see you through Jesus then all He sees is sin, no matter if you murdered someone or just cursed them out without Jesus as you savior you will go straight to hell.
Just last week, I was witnessing to someone and this issue came up. After discussing their need for a savior they replied, “you mean to tell me that God looks at me the same way he looks at a bin laden, I have not done any of the heinous things this man has done.”
And I had to break the good news to him that without Jesus as your savior you both will receive the same judgment and that is hell. Now I said that was good news because he still had breath and could accept Christ as his savior.
I also told him that there is no “cloud front” property outside the gates of heaven where those who did good, but did not accept Christ live until a time where the Lord will say “alright let um in.” NO the simple equation I gave him is the same one that you should give the unsaved.
With Christ = heaven, without Christ = hell.
Now one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith is that although Christians are cleansed from sin, they still sin. And for the believer to say or act otherwise, they are deceiving themselves.
Why are we here today, why are we Christians.
I hope that you are not here simply to have a better life, or just to escape eternal damnation, or to have a better reputation.
The only valid reason for us to be where we are at this point in time is the fact that we recognized the SIN in our lives and that we were led to the only hope of forgiveness and mercy which is found only in Jesus Christ.
Johns point is this portion of his letter is disguising sin is the same as saying that it doesn’t exist in your life.
How do we disguise sin in our life, well I’m glad you asked. We like to tell and show that others lives are full of sin but our life is a different story.
You are prideful, but I just have a healthy self-esteem.
You are always angry, but I’m just assertive
You are envious; I just have a keen appreciation for your stuff
You are lazy, but I an managing my stress by relaxing
You are greedy; I just want what’s mine.
You are lustful; I just have a healthy and active imagination
You are gluttonous, but I just have a healthy appetite.
Church you can turn a deaf ear to your sin, you can have a blind eye to your sin you can sugar coat it all you want but when it comes down to it, when the veil is removed, when the dust settles its Sin.
We need to stop deceiving ourselves to think that we are better than other people. That we have only mere indiscretions in our lives but the sin that is in your neighbor’s life is going to send them straight to hell on the express train.
Why are we only willing to call sin, sin if we are talking about someone else’s life.
If our desire is for the truth to be in us, we need to examine ourselves and admit the sin in our lives. The 64th chapter of Isaiah says that we are unclean and even with all the righteousness in our lives on our best day we are still as filthy rags to God.
And the only chance you have to remove the filth in the sight of the Lord is through Jesus Christ.
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
To not call sin sin is to put the blame on God: Your fault God, The circumstances You have allowed in my life has made it impossible for me to be obedient. God it is your fault. Do you know that blaming someone else for your sin is the oldest excuse in the book, literally. Back in the garden of Eden Adam said:
Genesis 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Genesis 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
So church we need to start accepting responsibility for our own actions. And that acceptance comes in verse 9.
John I 1:9 If we confess our sins,
Over the years there have been some confusion about this verse. Some of us think that by asking for forgives is the same as confessing our sins to God.
I have called it the “blanket prayer”, “Lord, You know what I have done, forgive me for everything. Amen”
The heart of this verse deals with the question of what to do with sin. Not to deny it or refuse to admit it but to deal directly with it.
Proverbs 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
We need to call it as God would call it and confess. Many of us have committed to memory the verse “if we confess” Now the word confess does not mean to ask for forgiveness, but it literally means to “say the same thing with.”
It means to agree. That means we look at the things we do and label them the same as God would. We agree with God and acknowledge that the cancer of sin in our lives. Do we want to be healed, do we want to be made whole, do we want to be made holy?
Then we must be willing to abandon all that would keep us from God.
The next part of this verse says “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Lets compare two words: Confess and forgive. We have already established that these words have two different meanings but they also have two different Greek tenses.
Confess: is a present tense meaning continual action. As we deal with the fruit
that sin produces in our lives, we must acknowledge the sin as God does and seek His cleansing it order to have this [koy-nohn-ee’-ah] fellowship with God that John speaks of in his letter.
Forgive: as it is used in this verse is as Aoirst tense meaning a past action with continual occurrences.
It literally means to send away. In God’s forgiveness of our sins; past, present and future and their condemnation have been sent away from us forever. A process never to be repeated.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
The final part of the ninth verse says “and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Our initial confession of sin brings God’s mercy and forgiveness
with the result that the Guilt and condemnation of our sins is “sent
away” never to return. They were placed
Upon Jesus Christ, nailed to the cross and taken with Him into death as our sacrifice.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Our daily confession of sins brings a cleansing to our lives that allows us to maintain a true fellowship with God.
John I 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
What is this verse should say to us is that we cannot make God a liar and we cannot call God a liar and have Him in our hearts. God’s word is God himself because John 1:1 says in the beginning was the Word and word was with God and the word WAS GOD.
You would think that with all the moral chaos we read about each week that the illusion of basic human goodness would collapse like a house of cards, but our culture persists in it’s belief that as people “we have no sin,” that we are a moral society.
These verses speak to the very fiber of what has occurred and is still occurring in this country since September.
We have seen over the past couple of months signs riddled with the slogan God Bless America. And I say that it is a slogan from the standpoint of many of the people who are using this slogan don’t understand that God has blessed America, and He continues to bless America.
They use the phrase God bless America as if they are reminding God of something as if God has fallen asleep at the wheel. The problem is the fact that we have used the blessings and prosperity God has blessed America with to let the sin of pride, arrogance, and the list goes on to pull us away from God and even deceive us into thinking that we are above God.
And when I say we think we are above Him what I mean is that we try to use Him to fulfill or needs when necessary. We hold Him at arms length and only bring or want Him close when it is convenient for us.
We hold Him on a wall behind a glass case with the inscription break incase of emergency.
It is almost a picture of a sheep with a rod and staff herding the shepherd. Well this distance that this country has placed between themselves and God has caused the truth to not be in us. Without God, our delusional truth is what best satisfies our wants and needs. Example:
We say in God we trust, we even have it on our money, but the American dream is to seek you fortune on earth, which is contrary to the teachings of Jesus.
We say in God we trust, but this country is recognizing same sex marriages and disguising it with the Law and rights. An act that God calls an abomination.
We say in God we trust but we lead the word in abortions per year and are teaching other countries the techniques that have made us a world leader. We don’t call it murder, we call it planned parenthood and population control. The Bible says that God is the creator of life. The bible does not use terms like fetus, or embryo, the Bible calls it life and if we destroy life it is murder.
We are talking about sin
We say in God we trust but we make it illegal to pray in schools, but the Bible say to train up a child in the way that he should go. We are teaching our children that praising the Lord is an unlawful act.
Just the other day my son came to me and said he talked to his teacher today. He said teacher since we have God bless America all over the school and are now reciting the pledge of allegiance, can we say some bible verses too and her response was no Cedric that is against the Law.
And we have the audacity to ask the Lord why did this tragedy happen to us. As if we should be surprised.
This tragedy is opportunity for everyone else to bring themselves to confession of their sins before God. This is the only way we can be cleansed of our unrighteousness.
This confession must be specific and not general, we must not say Lord forgive me for my sins but
Lord forgive me for I have lied, cheated, used foul language, fornicated, committed adultery, defiled my body, the temple of the Holy Spirit with drugs, alcohol, smoking, overeating,
I have gossiped, I have used people,
I have not forgave my brother or my neighbor,
I have not used the spiritual gifts you have blessed me with for your glorification,
I have been lazy when it comes to serving you,
I have been lukewarm in my walk for Christ, I have lusted,
I have stolen, I have not honored my mother and father,
I have not submitted to my spouse, I put others down for my own glorification.
I have chosen money as my idol god,
I have not stayed away from the gambling boat,
I have not studied Your word, I have not been a witness for Your Son Jesus, Lord I am a sinner.
Lord I acknowledge the fact you sent Your only begotten Son Jesus to this world to die.
Call it what you want but my Lord did not come to this earth to die for a mere transgression, or a mere indiscretion, He did not die for a mistake on my part, or a failure, he did not die for a small wrongdoing on my part. Jesus came to this world to die for SIN, Plain Sin and disgusting as it sounds, Sin, unclothed, undisguised, uncoated, Sin, Sin sounds bad, it makes you uncomfortable, well it should. The more uncomfortable you are with sin, the more obedient you will be to God’s word.
Cedric A. Portis
cedque8@cs.com
314-520-5962
