Sin

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.