The title of the message this
morning is Sin, Sins, and Sinners. Sin, Sins, and Sinners. Taken from 1 John chapter 1. Are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? If not, God's Word, the Bible,
has nothing to say to you, and there is no hope for you. Scripture
says, Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. When He was born, God sent the
angels to announce His birth and said, Call His name Jesus,
for He shall save. His people from their sins. In 1 John 1, verses 8-10, it
says, God's Word says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins,
He, God, is faithful. and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
we make God a liar, and His Word is not in us. Now, it says in
verse 8 and verse 10, if we say, if we say we have no sin, if
we say we have not sinned. Now, it's easy to say something.
Talk is cheap, the old saying goes. But because we say something,
that does not mean it is so. Only what God says is absolute
truth, not what we say, what man says. Don't believe everything
you hear. Scripture says, let God be true
and every man a liar. Now verse 8 says, if we say we
have no sin, We deceive ourselves. The truth, God's Word of truth,
is not in us. There's no light in us. There's
no knowledge. There's no understanding. We
don't know the truth. It's not in us. We don't know
God, who is true. We don't know the truth about
ourselves. We are blind to ourselves, to the truth. We're deaf. We
haven't heard. And we're dead, Scripture says, of some, they're
dead in trespasses and sin. Now, if we say we have no sin,
No sin. One time my father, who was a
preacher for many years, he went to talk to a man who was on his
deathbed. The man's wife asked my father
to come speak to her husband who was dying on his deathbed.
He never came to the services. He didn't have any interest in
the Gospel, didn't need God. So Dad went at the request of
this lady he knew. He went to talk to this man,
and he opened up and he took his Bible with him, and he opened
up his Bible and began to read from 1 Timothy 1.15. This is
a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners. He began to talk about sin, and
the man stopped him and said, hold on a minute. He said, I'm
no sinner. I'm not that bad. I'm not a sinner. Well, my dad
closed his Bible. And got up and started to walk
out. He said, I have nothing more to say to you. The man said,
whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait a minute. And Dad said, No, I
have nothing to say to you. This Bible only has something
to say to sinners. Are you a sinner? Not that you
used to be. But are you now? The same thing
similar happened to me one time with a different outcome. I was
asked by a member of this church whose husband was dying. He never
came. He never attended. Her husband
was dying. I went to see this man on his
deathbed. And one of the first things I asked him was, and I
called his name, I said, what do you think about yourself?
How do you feel about yourself? And he said, I'm no good. I haven't been any good to anybody. I've been a bad man, been a bad
husband, and on and on he went. Well, I said to that man, then
there's hope for you. I've got good news for you. Christ
came to save sinners. He said, the well need not a
physician, but they that are sick. He said, I didn't come
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And someone may
say, well, I used to be a sinner, but now I'm a saint. I'm a Christian
now. I used to be this. I used to do that. But now I'm
a saint, a Christian. Then you deceive yourself and
the truth is not in you. This says, if we say we have
no sin, present tense, we deceive ourselves. The truth's not in
us. We're calling God a liar. You
don't know the truth. You don't know God. You don't
know yourself. Now, there's two things this is talking about
here. If we say we have no sin, this is talking about original
sin, that is the sin of Adam, the first man that was passed
on to all his seed, the sons of Adam, human beings. And then
it's talking about our own personal sin. If we say we have not the
sin of Adam, in Adam scripture says all die, born in sin. All human beings are born in
sin. David said it. In sin, my mother
conceived me in sin. He said, I was brought forth
from the womb speaking lies. Now that's what God's Word said. Somebody says, that's just not
fair. I shouldn't be held accountable for Adam's sin. You're not. You're
held accountable for your own. But the fact is, we all come
into this world as sinners. Sinners. Romans 5, I read to
you, listen to me, or turn with me to Romans 5. It says in verse
12, this is the Word of God, "...by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men,
for all have sinned." That's what the Scripture said. Listen
to verse 14. even over them that had not sinned
after the similitude, after the willful disobedient sin of Adam
and Eve. All die, he said, because we're
sinners. Verse 17 says, by one man's offense,
death reigned by one. Verse 18, by the offense of one,
judgment came upon all men to condemnation. That's what the
Word of God said. And someone says, well, I don't
like that. I don't want to be held accountable
for Adam's sin. Well, as I said, you're not.
You're held accountable for your own. But the fact is, we're born
in sin. That's why we die. That's why
we die. Sin. That's the result. And we're
all born that way, and if left alone, we'll be consumed by it. If any man say he hath not sinned,
that sin of Adam in him, and the seed of any sin in him, and
hath not sinned, verse 10, we have no sin. That is our own
original sin, personal sin. in me, my sin. Romans 1, Romans
chapter 1 talks about the unbelieving world, those who have no belief
in God. And it clearly says in Romans
1 verse 21, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful
or vain in their imagination. They don't believe God. The fool
has said no God. They profess themselves wise,
but they're fools. That's who Romans 1 is talking
about. Verse 25 says, "...change the
truth of God into a lie and worship and serve the creature more than
the Creator." That's those who don't believe there's a Creator,
who don't believe there's a God. It says, God gave them over,
verse 26, gave them over to vile affection, and he talks about
homosexuality and just sins, all manner of sins that are rampant
in mankind throughout the world. Very clear. Verse 29, filled
with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness,
envy, murder, debate, malignity, whispers, deceit, backbiters,
hate God. Disobedient to parent, proud,
boasters, and on and on it goes. That's the unbelieving world.
That's clear. That's clear. But chapter 2,
Romans chapter 2, talks about the religious world, professing
believers. And it says, now we're sure the
judgment of God is according to truth against those that commit
such things that we just mentioned. But, he says, now, O man that
judges them that do such thing, and you do the same, shall you
escape the judgment of God? He said, I don't do these things.
Hold on here. Hold on. Look at verse 21. He
says, You are an instructor of the foolish, a teacher. You have
a form of knowledge, the truth of the law, and you teach others.
Do you teach yourself? Do you preach that a man should
not steal? Do you steal? Do you steal? Say, I've never stolen anything
in my life. Hold on. You're making God a liar. And
the truth is not in you. To covet is to steal. To covet is to steal. To think
it. To want it. To envy it. To want it for yourself. To think about it. You're guilty.
You're guilty. Guilty. Our Lord in His Sermon
on the Mount says, if you look on a woman with lust, if you
look on a man, you're guilty. You've done it. You've committed
adultery. He said if you're angry, if you're angry, if you hate,
you've killed them. You've murdered them. Only the
grace of God kept you from it. Chapter 3 of Romans says this,
in verse 9, are we better, Paul, a Jew who was a Pharisee and
thought he was blameless, righteous, moral. He said, are we better
than the Gentiles? No, and no wise. He says, there's
all under sin. Verse 10, none righteous, no
not one. None righteous, no not one. That's
what God's Word says. The Scriptures does talk about
the just. Scriptures does talk about the
righteous. Scriptures even calls a man like Lot just, that just
man, vexed his righteous soul. Wait a minute, Lot lived in Sodom.
He was a sinner. Yes, all are. But God. Romans 3 says in verse 20, By
the deeds of the law, no flesh justified in His sight. By the
law is the knowledge of sin. All the law says in verse 19
is, you're guilty. Somebody said, Oh, I don't know.
Here's one thing I know. You better keep those Ten Commandments.
Well, we don't. You don't. You never have. Because
God requires perfection in thought, word, and deed. And he says there's
none righteous. Now, in Romans 3 it says, But
now the righteousness of God without the law Without us keeping
the law is manifested, revealed, witnessed by the law and the
prophet. It is the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ
unto all and upon all that believe. There is no difference. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God, but justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ. He talks about
being made righteous, righteousness imputed, the righteousness of
God by the faith or faithfulness The life, the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's how we're made righteous.
The perfect life, the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ to
God's law in thought, word, and deed. Love for God with all his
mind, heart, soul, and strength. Imputed that righteousness. is
imputed, charged, and reckoned to all who believe. And that
is by His grace. You don't just decide to. Nobody
convinces you to. God gives you that faith. God
convicts of sin. And you confess those sins. And
you admit to those sins. And you say, I am sin. I have sinned. I do sin. And I will sin. But there is
forgiveness with God. Do you understand this? If we
confess our sins, He said, He is faithful and just. Faithful.
He will forgive all who confess in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is one mediator, one intercessor, one name, one
person, one counselor. Don't go to a Christian counselor.
Go to Christ Himself. Don't go to that priest in a
booth. Go to the high priest, the Holy Son of God in heaven
itself. He is the only one that can be
Him. If we confess our sins, what sins? All sins. We're guilty
of all of them, in thought, in word, if not in deed. And He's
faithful. Oh, if any man say, any man say,
we have not sinned, we have no sin, you're calling God a liar.
But if any confess, God will forgive them through Christ our
Lord. Amen.