I'm going to read from 1 John
chapter one, verse five, down to chapter two, verse two, and
I've entitled this message, The Believer and Sin. The Believer and Sin. Verse five, 1 John chapter one,
this then is the message which we have heard of him and declare
unto you that God is light. And in him is no darkness at
all. If we say that we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, we lie. and do not 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 Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all
sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, we've baited our own hook and
bit the boat. And the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we've not sinned,
we make him a liar and his word is not in us. My little children,
these things write I unto you that you sin not. Everything I've written has this
as its end, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the
Father. Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he is the propitiation for
our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world. The believer and Two questions. Number one, do
you believe? I'm not asking you if you're
saved or if you're a Christian. I'm asking you, do you believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God? That's what faith is. Do you
believe that Jesus is the Christ, God's prophet, unlike any other
prophet? He is the Word of God. Not one
time did he ever say, thus saith the Lord. He said, I say unto
you. He's God's priest. Unlike any other priest who brought
the blood of a sacrificial animal, he brings his own blood into
the presence of the father. He's God's king. His will really is done all the
time. He rules, he reigns. He's the son of God. Do you believe
that he is the cross, the son of the living God, the uncreated
creator? Do you believe? And you can answer
that with a yes or no. Do you believe that Jesus is
the cross, the son of the living God? Here's the second question. Do you still sin? And I don't want to answer that
in some kind of glib, of course I do. Knowing that sin nailed
the son of God to the cross. Do you still sin? The believer and sin. You know that it's only the believer
that has any understanding of sin. An unbeliever doesn't have
any understanding of sin. He doesn't have a holy nature.
But a believer does. Do you believe? Do you sin? the believer in sin. Now, I've got two goals in bringing
this message. Here's my first goal. I wanna
preach the gospel. I want everybody, by the grace
of God, to know how God saves sinners. And I want every one
of us to believe, to call on his name. I wanna preach the
gospel. in the power of God, the Holy
Spirit. I can't manufacture that, but I sure hope that's what takes
place. And I want to understand what
the scripture teaches with regard to a believer and seeing. The first time the word seeing
is used, I think it's very interesting. I'll read this to you in Genesis
chapter four. Verse five, but unto Cain and
to his offering, he had no respect. Now he had respect to Abel and
his offering. He had no respect to Cain. A complete disregard for what
Cain brought. And Cain was very wroth that
his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain,
why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen?
If thou doest well, Shall thou not be accepted? If you bring
the same offering Abel brought, you're in good shape. You'll
be accepted, Kay. And if thou do us not well, sin
lieth at the door. The first time the word sin is
used is with reference to bringing the wrong offer. First time. And I've heard people say, if
you do wrong, sin's lying there waiting to get you. No, it's
already got you. It's already got you. Somebody may be thinking,
where did sin come from? Well, the scripture says by one
man, sin entered the world and death by sin. So the death passed
upon all men and all sin. You know what that means? That
means when Adam sinned, it wasn't just that his sin was charged
by account, I sinned. I sinned. When Adam sinned, I
sinned. That's where it came from. Now
before we look at this passage of scripture, I would like to
give you the scriptural definitions of sin. Not what I think or what
you think, But here's what the Bible says sin is. Romans 3, 22 and 23, for there
is no difference. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There's no difference. No difference
between me and you. There's no difference between
the most moral man and the most immoral man in God's sight. You
believe that? All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Anything that comes short of
the glory of God is sin. 1 John 3, 4, sin is the transgression
of the law. put anything before God, to have
an idolatrous view of God in your vain imagination, a wrong
presentation of God, idolatry, to fail to show proper reverence
to his name, to fail to rest. to fail to honor your parents
or to honor any authority, to kill somebody, to slander them,
to stab them in the back, to commit any sexual sin, to lie,
to steal, to covet, sin. Sin is the transgression of the
law. James 3.17 says, to him that
knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it's sin. to know
what you should do and to not do it, it's in. Romans 14, 23 says, whatsoever
is not of faith, it's in. Proverbs 24, nine, the thought
of foolishness, it's in. You know, God deals with thoughts,
doesn't he? God saw that the wickedness of man was great in
the earth and every imagination of the thoughts, not even talking
about the actions, the thoughts of his heart, is only evil continually. Proverbs 21, four, a high look, a proud heart, and a plowing of the wicked is
it. I can't think of a much more
wholesome activity than going out in the field plowing, perhaps
to grow food for the poor, to help them out. Plowing of the
wicked is sin. 1 John 5, 17, John says all unrighteousness
is sin. And James 2, 9 says if you have
respect of persons, you commit sin. Now, the only
one who ever demonstrated to us what it is to have no respect
of persons is when God killed his son. No leniency, no respect of persons. I see so clearly my respect of
persons because I have such a easier standard for myself than you. It's called respect of persons.
I had a reason. You were bad. Respect of persons. The believer in sin. I know while
I have given these scriptural definitions, it's made you feel
bad. I should. I'm not finished, so I hope you're
glad about that. In the Old Testament, David,
the man after God's own heart, said, my sin is ever before me. That word means continuous. There's not a time in my experience
when it's not. before me. My sin is ever before
me. New Testament scripture, the
apostle Paul said, we know. This is Romans 7, 14,
for we know. And I love the way he said we,
he's not just saying I, this is, he's speaking as the spokesman
for every believer without exception. We know. that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold, sold, I sold myself, sold as a slave
to sin. That means I cannot not sin. Right now, I cannot not sin. Well, let's look at 1 John chapter
five, or 1 John chapter one. Do you believe? Yes, I do. And I do rejoice in you. I believe
that Jesus is God's Christ. I believe he's the son of the
living God. I believe. Yes, I do see it. Why? Where's that coming from? Well, look in verse five of 1
John chapter one. This then is the message. which
we've heard of him, and declare unto you that God is light. And the only way me and you are
gonna see anything is if we have light. God is light. One of the glorious things about
light is light can come into contact with a dumb hill. and yet not contract any of its
filthiness. God is light. And in him is no darkness at
all. The Lord said, I am the light
of the world. And he said that right after
he said to that woman who was caught in the very act of adultery. Woman, where are those thine
accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, no man, Lord. And he said, neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. I am the
light of the world. I am the light. as to how that
is. God is light, and in him is no
darkness at all, if we say. Now, John uses this phrase seven
times in this epistle, if we say, if we say. If we say that we have fellowship
with him, I have fellowship with God. If we say that, I pray,
he hears. He speaks to me from his word,
I speak to him in prayer. We have fellowship. If we say,
a lot of people say that, don't they? Most people would say,
yeah, I have fellowship with God. If we say we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, We lie and do not the truth. If we talk the talk, this is
the way most people would look at this, if we talk the talk,
but don't walk the walk, we're liars. If we say we believe,
yet we see it in secret, we're liars. Well, let me say we ought
to walk the walk and talk the talk. And we ought not sin in
secret. But if that's what he's talking
about, do you have any hope? Any at all? What he's saying is if we say
we have fellowship with him and we walk in the darkness, of false
works religion. We lie and do not the truth. If we're not walking in that
light I just spoke of in John 8, 12, I'm the light of the world.
I am the light as to how God can say to me, you're not condemned. and it'd be real. If I walk in darkness and claim
fellowship with God, I'm lying. I'm not doing the truth. Verse seven, but if we walk in
the light, What is the only light you have
as to how God can actually love, embrace, and receive you? The light of the message we just
heard. The light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who he is and
what he accomplished. If we walk in that light, here's a way I would try to described
this, this thing of walking in the light. David said, although my house
be not so with God. And I know his house was a mess. It was. I don't even think that's
totally what he's talking about. Because there were members of
his house that were so with God. What about Abigail? What about
Bathsheba? There were people in his house
who were believers. I think he's talking about this
house. Although my house be not so with God, yet hath he made
with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure,
This is all my salvation. This is all my desire. Though
he may be not to grow. If that's all your salvation,
and all your desire, and that's all my salvation, and all my
desire, guess what? We have fellowship with one another,
don't we? Fellows in the same ship. That's what fellowship
is. Fellows in the same ship. We
have fellowship one with another. And the blood, let's go on reading
verse seven. The blood of Jesus Christ, his
son, cleanseth us from all sin. It doesn't say that we do not
sin anymore, but it does say we have fellowship with one another.
and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth. Now, that is spoken in the present
tense. Do you presently need cleansing? Active voice, right now. The
blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Right now, I am clean before
God. I don't feel clean, but I am
clean. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
son, here we have the promise, cleanseth us from all sin. I don't care how dirty and defiled
you may feel, If Christ died for you, the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's son, makes you to be without sin. Verse eight. If we say, there's that term
again. If we say that we have no sin,
now there the word is a now. If we say we have no sin, what do we do? We deceive ourselves. At all times, I have a sinful
nature. Still got it. And there's no
time when I do not have it. And so there's no time When I
can say I have no sin, it's always there. It's always there. The believer
in sin, it's always there. My sin is ever before me. I find no law that when I would
do good, evil is present with me. If I say I have no sin, I've
deceived myself. I've lied to myself and I believe
the lie I told myself. And the truth is not in me. I
lose all credibility at that time. If someone says I have
no sin, don't believe a word they say. They're dishonest to
the very core. Verse nine. If we confess our sins, notice it's in the plural now,
it's talking about our sinful actions. If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Now, Does he mean that each individual
sin must be articulated and confessed? There's not a time of day. And
most of the sins we've committed, we don't know we've even committed
them. Confession means agreement with
God. When I confess my sins, I agree
with what God says concerning my sins. That word confess means
literally to speak the same thing, to agree, complete agreement
with what God says with regard to my sin. Turn with me for a
moment to Proverbs chapter 28. Verse 13, I'd like you to look
at this. Proverbs 28, verse 13. I'm thankful for the King James
version of the scripture. I love when a word is not in
the original, but the translators put it there thinking they'll
help make it known it's in italics. Any word you see in italics was
not in the original. It was placed there in the translator's
attempt to make it more understandable, I'm afraid here, the translators
make this verse unintelligible. Let's read it. He that covereth his sins shall
not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them. Notice that's in italics. You can read this verse. He that covereth his sins shall
not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh shall have mercy. Isn't covering his sins what
Adam did in the garden when he made the fig leaf? He covered
his sins, didn't he? So he's trying to do it. But whoso confesseth and just forsakes this thing
of trying to cover your sins. That person will find mercy.
Every time you come to God guilty, confessing your sin, agreeing
with what God says, This isn't saying you're not gonna find
mercy unless you're able to completely forsake. We ought not ever sin
again. Don't anybody misunderstand me. I'm gonna get to that in
a moment. But if you're having mercy is dependent upon you being
able to stop any single sin, you're not gonna have mercy.
That's salvation by works is what that is. Really, that's
all it is is salvation by works. And that's not what this is saying.
Whoso confesseth and forsaketh this thing of covering their
sins shall find mercy. Now, I'm confessing my sin when
I stand before God with my mouth shut. No excuse. We know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, that
every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before
God. That is the confession of sin. Agreement with God. Agreement with God. Do you agree with what God says
with regard to your sin? Now, verse nine. First John chapter one, verse
nine. If we confess our sins, he is merciful and gracious to
forgive us our sins. Doesn't say that, does it? Doesn't
say that at all. If it did say that, it would
appear that us being forgiven is dependent upon our proper
confession. If we confess our sins, then we'll find mercy.
But it doesn't say that, does it? It says if we confess our
sins, He is faithful. You see, the reason you confess
your sins is because He determined you do it. And He's being faithful
to what He determined to cause you to do. He's being faithful
to Himself. He's being faithful to His covenant.
Don't congratulate yourself for confessing your sins. The only
reason you're doing it is because He's faithful. Not only is He
faithful, He's just. The gospel of Jesus Christ demands
the forgiveness of all sins because you're justified. He's just. Yes, he's merciful and gracious,
but that's not the words used in our text. He's faithful. He's absolutely just. The justice of God, the righteousness
of God, his very character demands Oh, he's faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us. Streams of mercy never ceasing,
call for songs of the loudest praise. Verse 10, remember the believer
and sin. If we say that we've not sinned,
and in verse eight, the word sin is a noun. In verse 10, sin
is a verb. I don't care what I'm saying
if I say I've not sinned. And you may mention the fact
there's been enough sin in this service to send us all to hell. That's an understatement. If
we say we've not sinned. I don't care what it is. If I
did it, it's sin. If we say we've not sinned, we
make him a liar because he says we have. And his word is not in us. Somebody makes a claim like that,
Well, they just don't have a holy nature. They don't know what
sin is in the first place. That's why they make claims like
that. They're blind to what they really are. If we say we've not
sinned with regard to anything, we make him a liar. And his word is not in us. Now this chapter division is
man-made. Forget chapter two. My little
children, these things write unto you that you always have
sin and everything you do is a sin. These things write unto
you that you sin not. I love that. Now, understand
that what is being said is never giving a man an excuse for sin,
a license to justify sin, to condone sin in any way. These things write I unto you
that you sin not. That you never put anything before
God. That you never have any idolatrous
views of God. that you never take his name
in vain, show him the proper reverence, that you rest, that
you honor all authority, that you don't kill, that you don't
slander, that you're sexually pure in thought, word, and deed,
that you don't steal, that you don't lie, that you don't covet
these things right eye unto you that you sin not. Does that mean there's the possibility
of not sinning? Whether it does or doesn't, this
ought to be our aim. These things write unto you that
you should sin not. And if any man sinned. See that word if? Turn to first
John chapter three, just across the page, verse two. Beloved, Now, or with the sons
of God, it doth not yet appear what we shall be. You know, when
John is speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and he's
talking about what we shall be, he says, when we're sinless and
we don't have sin in our experience, he says, we don't have any idea
what that looks like. It doth not appear. We're clueless. But we know that when he shall
appear. See that word when? Same word
translated if in our text. When, when any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, Now let's consider
our advocate. I love the way the Lord has called
our advocate here, our lawyer, our counsel, one who brings our
case to the father. And he is Jesus Christ, the righteous. He's not crooked. He's altogether
righteous. And you know what he does? He
makes all of his clients plead guilty. He never tells you to plead not
guilty. He makes all his clients to plead guilty as charged. And our advocate, Jesus Christ
the righteous, makes all of his clients to be not guilty, sinless,
justified without guilt. How does he do that? And he is, verse two, the propitiation
for our sins. Now that's a big word. What's
it mean? It means more than the guilt-removing
sacrifice. It means the sin-removing sacrifice. Through his propitiation, the
sin is not. It's gone. It's no more. It's not gonna come back to haunt
you sometime because it's not their sins and their iniquities. Well, I remember no more. And there's only one way God
who has a perfect memory can forget anything. There's nothing
there to remember. Right now, their sins and their
iniquities. I will remember no more. Now,
you know what he said before that? He said, I'll be merciful
to their unrighteousness. The word is I'll be propitious
to their unrighteousness. I'll be propitious. He was manifested
to take away our sins. In him is no sin. He makes all of his clients not
guilty, justified. through the propitiation. Remember that beggar, the publican in the temple,
beating on his breast, God be merciful to me, the sinner. The
word is actually be propitious to me, the sinner. Be propitious. What I'm saying when I say be
propitious to me is I'm saying I can't do anything about my
sin. Do it for me, please. Do it for me. And you know what
the Lord said about that man? He said, I say to you, that man
went down to his house. What? Justified. Not just forgiven. Justified. He is the perpetuation for our
sins. And I love what he says in the
last part of this verse, not ours only, also the whole world, for the
sins of the whole world. You know what that means? He's
the savior of the world. Somebody says, well, does that
mean he died for everybody's sins? Of course not. You know it doesn't
mean that. The Bible doesn't teach anything like that, but
I can tell you this. If you're in the world and you need a savior,
come to him. He'll receive you. I don't care who you are. There's
nothing holding you back. He's the savior of the world.
I'm not getting, forget it. You come. And he has promised
you will be received. Him that cometh to me, I'll in
no wise cast out. What's it mean to come to Him? Believe. You believe. Right now, I don't care what
your state is. If you believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God and that God raised Him from the dead, thou
shalt Be saved. You see, he's the savior of the
world. That means you're not cut out. You come to him. You're gonna
have the complete forgiveness of your sins, the believer and
sin. When faith is turned into sight, and
hope is turned into experience, I'll still have that charity
and I will be in a state of sin-less-ness. Amen.