Walking and Talking a Real Life
Text: 1 John 1:5-2:6
The other day I found an old resume. To be honest I hadn’t given much thought to a resume in a while. But for some reason I thought it might be a good idea to update some of the information as well as those I have listed for references.
Over the past several years I have been asked to give a reference for many people. Sometimes when I am called by a church or employer and asked to write a letter of reference for someone I really don’t know well, I struggle with the right words to say. I wish I could use the old saying; “If you knew Joe like I know Joe; you would think of Joe like I think of Joe.” That’s not saying much; but it is saying something.
Several months ago a young man I had meet and befriended was seeking his first pastorate. He had preached at my former church on several occasions and I had found him to be solid not only in his doctrine but in his walk. The church that was looking at calling him as their pastor called me for a reference. After a few days of praying and wanting to give a good reference and description of what I had observed in this young man’s life I remember just saying very plainly: “I believe you will find his walk to be the same as his talk. He truly does practice what he preaches.”
Last week I made the comment that we are seeing churches today stray from the truth of God’s Word. We are living, I believe, in the day Paul writes of in 2 Timothy 4:3 “when they will not endure sound doctrine.” Because of many churches today preaching a message of easy-believism, we are seeing a so called Christian culture that is not grounded in Biblical truths and are being tossed to and fro by every teaching that comes along. I must be honest; we are living in a day that says we cannot address the difficult issues such as divorce, abortion, homosexuality, adultery, and pornography. You can go to churches all around this area and be greatly entertained and hear a talk (not a sermon) on how to live a better life and maybe have a few Scripture verses thrown in now and then, but it is not changing lives. Lives are not being changed because the main issue that many people and I must say preachers today do not want to address is the issue of sin. And until we as a nation, as families, and as individuals address the sin in our lives, our personal lives, our families, our homes and our nation will not be changed. I heard Adrian Rogers say; "A growing problem in our society is that people have the burden of guilt without the sense of sin."
As we continue in our study through the book of 1 John, the writer makes a contrast between saying and doing. John writes four separate times “If we say” or “He that says.” It seems clear the point he is making is that our Christian life is to amount to more that jusn talking; we must also walk or live what we believe.
If you and I as followers of Jesus Christ are in fellowship with God, our lives will back up what our lips are saying. But the same must be said on the other side of the spectrum; if we are living in sin, then our lives are in contrast to our lips making us hypocrites.
Many times the writers of Scripture refer to this Christian life as a walk. Our walk begins with a first step of faith when we trust Jesus as Savior. But for many of us we think that salvation is all there is to this new life and walk. Does a child stop when it learns to stand? No it progresses. Does it usually accomplish the learning process after one step? No. The child usually falls after the first step.
The Christian life and walk involves a process and we are supposed to progress or advance in our spiritual walks. Just as a child leaning to walk must overcome difficulties so must a Christian. The primary difficulty that is addressed here in this section of 1 John involves the matter of sin. The fact of the matter for each and every one of us is we must confront sin in our lives daily. John is writing this epistle to the church; to fellow believers. Not only must sin be dealt with by non-believers, but by believers as well.
I have seen what unconfessed sin in the life of a believer;
· It hinders our fellowship with God.
· It hinders our witness for God
· It hinders our spiritual growth and our walk with God.
First we need to understand the character of God; “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”
· When a person enters into a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus, they are called out of darkness into His light.
· 1 Peter 2:9 tells us; “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
· 1 Thessalonians 5:5 says; “You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.”
· I do not have a great grasp on the workings of electricity but I do understand this; light and dark do not mix. When I enter into a dark room I usually turn on a light switch. By doing so, the darkness disappears. Now when I leave that room I turn off the light and the and darkness once again is more prominent.
· God in His character and nature is light, which represents sinlessness, holiness and purity.
· Think about this as it relates to our Christian walk: every living thing needs light. Light produces life, growth and beauty. But there are very few things that will grow in the dark.
· Light, which we said earlier represents holiness, righteousness and purity cannot exist with darkness, which represents sin.
· If we are walking in the light darkness has to go.
· If we are holding on to darkness and sin, then the light has to go.
· There is no vague or gray area when it comes to sin.
Sinning saints are not mentioned in Scripture to discourage us, but to warn us. An angry church member said to her pastor; “Why do you keep preaching to us Christians about sin? After all, sin in the life of a Christian is different from the sin in the life of an unsaved person.” To that the preacher replied; “Yes it is different; it is much worse.”
That was a long introduction to say this; all of us must deal with our sins if we are to enjoy the real life Jesus has for us. In this section John gives 3 approaches to sin:
To enjoy the real life in Jesus we cannot…
I. Conceal Our Sins
How does a person try to cover our sins? By telling lies. In these passages of Scripture we find 3 things a person lies about to cover his sins:
He lies about…
His Association 1 John 1:6
· “If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”
· John is addressing those false teachers that are saying they have fellowship with God but continue to live in sin and darkness.
· The doctrine of humanism has been around for many years. Humanism says, you can live any way you choose… whatever feels good do it.
· Does this sound familiar?
· What might be sin for one might not be sin to someone else.
· Again without being legalistic; a believer cannot continue to live in darkness. A life that has come face to face with a holy God in the person of Jesus Christ, this life will change.
· I often tell folks that are struggling with their salvation; if sin bothers you, it is a good thing. Only the Holy Sprit in a person can convict them of sin.
He also lies about…
His Attributes 1 John 1:8
· “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
· Not only did these false teachers walk in darkness, but went so far to teach and to totally deny the existence of a sin nature in their lives.
· My dear Christian friend, if someone never admits to being a sinner, salvation cannot take place.
· Ecclesiastes 7:20 tells us; “For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.”
· Romans 3:23; “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
· Because of the fall of Adam, each of us inherited a sin nature.
Last he lies about…
His Actions 1 John 1:10
· “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
· Since God has already said that all are sinners, for us to say we have not sinned, to deny that fact is to blaspheme God with slander that defames His name and His character.
Do you see the progress of the lies and the false teaching? First, a person lies to themselves and loses the Word. He stops doing the truth. Secondly, he lies to others and loses fellowship with God and with others. Last, he lies to God and loses his character.
· It is no wonder that God warns us in Proverbs 28:13; “He that covers his sins will not prosper.”
· King David tried to cover his sin of adultery by murder and it cost him his health; his joy; his family and nearly his kingdom.
· If we truly desire to live a real life in Christ, we must never try and cover our sins.
To enjoy a real life in Jesus we must…
II. Confess Our Sins 1 John 1:7, 9
John has refuted the teaching of the false teachers that deny sin does exist and we cannot conceal our sin from God. Sin is our problem; it is what separates us from God. But praise the Lord, Jesus offers the solution.
John tells us there must be first…
The Cleansing of Our Sins
· Verse 7 tells us; “But if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
· I love to tell this story; I don’t know if it is true or not. Someone once said the message of the cross and the atonement of our sins was a bloody message. So someone came up with the idea that they would remove all the statements regarding blood out of the hymnals.
· They realized it wouldn’t work when they came to the old hymn that says; “What can wash away my sins; NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS!!!”
· If it were not for the atoning death of Jesus, except by the shedding of His blood, fellowship with God would be impossible.
· What makes the difference is the blood of Christ.
· Listen to me; all religions are not the same. Other religions are based on works by man. Christianity is founded on the Biblical truth that you and I are sinners and we cannot earn or buy and that includes work had enough to get salvation. It is offered freely to us by Christ’s finished work
· This cleansing is available must be applied to our sin.
Next there must be…
The Confession of Our Sins
· Verse 9 says; “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
· While the false teachers would not admit their sin, one that continually walks in the light admits and agrees with God their sin condition.
· The term “confess” means to agree with.
· So when we confess our sins to God, we are in agreement with God.
· Confession of sin characterizes genuine Christians, and God continually cleanses those who are confessing.
The last area of dealing with our sins is that we can…
III. Conquer Our Sins 1 John 2:1-6
By the Power of the Holy Spirit verse 1a
· This in no way indicates to us that we may somehow be perfect.
· As Christians we must continually acknowledge and confess our sin, but we are not powerless against it.
· But we also need to be reminded that fulfilling the duty of confession does not give us license to sin.
· We need to be reminded, we cannot live this Christian life much less conquer sin in our daily lives on our own outside of the power of the Holy Spirit.
Next we can conquer our sins…
By the Person of Jesus Christ verse 1b-2
In these verses we are given two names of Jesus that describe His job description
He is our Advocate
· This word is sometimes translated “Helper”
· Probably a good modern day description for an advocate is a defense attorney.
· Jesus as our advocate not only pleads our cause when we are accused by Satan, He not only guarantees sympathy but also our acquittal.
He is our Propitiation
· I am always reminded of a definition given by an old preacher that said this word is best translated as “substitute.”
· Because of our sin nature we deserved punishment.
· Romans 6:23; “For the wages of sin is death.”
· But by His atoning sacrifical death, He became our substitute.
Next we can conquer our sin
By the Product of Our Lives verse 3-6
· Listen to the repetition of the words “know” and “keep”
· John uses the word “know” 40 times and the word “keep” 10 times in this epistle alone.
· It seems that these words emphasize that those that are genuinely born again, those that are walking in the presence of the light of God display obedience
A congregation was singing as a closing hymn “For You I Am Praying.” The old preacher looked over at the young music minister and asked, “Who are you praying for?” The young man was stunned and replied, “Well, I guess I’m not praying for anybody. Why do you ask?” The old preacher replied, “I just heard you singing, ‘For You I Am Praying,’ and I thought it might be me.”
The young man smiled and said, “Oh no, I’m just singing.”
Just talk…A religion of words…
It would do us much more to live the life than to know the language.
