Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I'm going to be speaking from
1 John 1 and the first two verses of 1 John 2, and I've entitled
this message, The Believer and Sin. Now, I would like to begin
by asking you two questions. Number one, do you believe? And number two, do you sin? Now, the first question, do you
believe? I'm not asking you if you know
you're saved. I'm not asking you if you know
for sure that you will be in heaven when you die. I'm asking
you, do you believe that Jesus is the Christ? the son of the living God. Jesus is the Christ, God's prophet,
the word of God. Something he never said during
his earthly ministry was, thus saith the Lord. He said, I say
unto you, God's prophet. God's priest. His priesthood is utterly unique. He didn't bring the blood of
slain animals. He brought his own blood into
the presence of God. He's God's king. That means he
actually rules and reigns. He controls everything. He's
God's king. Do you believe that he's the
Christ, God's king, God's prophet, God's priest? If he represents
you, you must be saved because of who he is. He has the power. Do you believe He's God's Christ?
Do you believe that He is the Son of the Living God, the uncreated
Creator, God the Son, equal with the Father because He is God? Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of the Living God? You can answer that with
a yes or a no. Second question, do you still
sin? Do you still commit sin? Now
don't answer glibly, well, of course I do, everybody does.
Remember how evil sin is. Sin is the reason for the death
of Christ. All sin is so evil that the Son
of God had to die to make a way for God to have something to
do with somebody like me or you. Sin is an infinite evil. Do you still sin? That can be answered with a yes
or a no. Now there are two things that
I want to accomplish in preaching this message. Number one, I want
to preach the gospel. I want everybody who hears this
message to know and believe how God saves for Christ's sake. I want to preach the gospel of
the power of the Holy Spirit. And secondly, I want to understand
what the Bible teaches with regard to this thing of a believer and
sin. Because I do believe, and I do
sin. I say that to my grief, I say
that to my shame, but I say that it's the truth. I do believe,
I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and
I know I sin. Now, before we go on, I want
to see how the Bible defines what sin is. You know, the first
time the word is used is found in Galatians chapter 4, verse
6, and the Lord said unto Cain, Why are you wroth? Why is your
countenance fallen? You'll remember that God accepted
Abel's sacrifice. He had no respect to Cain's offering,
which represented his works. And he said to Cain, if thou
do as well, shall thou not be accepted? If you bring the same
offering Abel did, you'll be accepted. You can't say this
is not fair. You come with nothing but a blood
sacrifice that represents my sending my son into the world,
you'll be accepted. But if thou doest not well, sin
lieth at the door." Now there's the first time the word sin is
used, and it's with reference to bringing your own works, bringing
the wrong sacrifice. Now listen to these scriptural
definitions of sin. Romans 3, 22, 23 says, for there
is no difference. And by that, the apostle meant
there's no difference between the best man and the worst man.
There's no difference between me and you. How's that? All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Anything I do that comes short
of the glory of God is sin. 1 John 3, 4, sin is the transgression
of the law. Any lack of perfect conformity
to the Ten Commandments is sin. First, James 3.17, to him that
knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it's sin. To know
what I ought to do and to not do it is sin. Romans 14.23 says,
whatsoever is not of faith, is sin. Whatsoever is not generated
from saving faith, motivated by saving faith, whatever it
is, it is sin. Proverbs 24 9 says the thought
of foolishness is sin. Proverbs 21 4 says a high look A proud heart and the plowing
of the wicked is sin. I can't think of anything that
seems more wholesome than plowing, but if a wicked man does it,
Scripture says it's sin. 1 John 5.17 says all unrighteousness
is sin. James 2.9 says if you have respect
of persons, you commit sin. Now the only one to ever demonstrate
no respect for persons is God. When sin was in His Son and found
in His Son the sins of His people, God showed Him no leniency. He
gave Him no special favors. Wherever God sees sin, He must
kill. He must judge. God is no respecter
of persons. That's seen most clearly on the
cross. And I'm such a respecter of persons.
I have a different standard from me and everybody else. What's
clearly sin in you, I've got an excuse for. I'm always easier
on myself. The respect of persons is sin. Now, let me say this. Only a
believer understands anything about sin. It takes a holy nature. It takes a new nature. If you
have never been born again, you can't really understand sin.
You think it's things you do, and you don't understand that
it's what you are. that if you do it, it's sin because you do
it. Now, in the Old Testament, David
said, David, the man after God's own heart, David said, my sin
is ever before me. It's continually there. This
is David's testimony. Let me give you a scripture from
the New Testament. The Apostle Paul said in Romans 7, 14, and
he was saying this as a believer, He didn't understand this before
God saved him, but he's speaking as a believer. He says, for we
know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. That means I am a slave to sin. Now, an unbeliever would never
say that. They have a free will. They can refrain from whatever they need
to refrain if they're in the right place. But Paul, having
been taught by the Holy Spirit that he's a sinner, He says,
I am carnal, sold as a slave to sin. I can't get out. He went on to say in that same
chapter, when I would do good, evil is present with me. Now, the believer and sin. I want to begin in 1 John 1,
verse 5. John says, this then is the message. Here it is, the message, not
a message, the message. Which we've heard of Him. This
came directly from Him. We didn't just make this up.
This came from Him. And we declare unto you that
God is light. And in Him is no darkness at
all. God is light. Now I have no doubt
that what that's a reference to is where the Lord Jesus Christ
said, I am the light of the world. What was the first thing created
in the original creation? God said, let there be light.
And there was light. Now you see by light, No light,
no sight. You see by light. Now, when the Lord said, I am
the light of the world, he said this right after he said to a
woman who was taken in adultery. In the very act, there was no
doubt about her guilt. He said unto her, woman, where
are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, no man, Lord. 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
can take place. How I can look at someone who
is guilty, caught in the very act, there was no question about
her guilt, and say there's no condemnation to her. I'm the
light. You only understand that in light
of the cross. God is light. Light can come into contact with
the dunghill and not contract any of its filthiness. The light
can come to you. No matter how sinful you are
through Christ, the light can come to you. God is light. In him is no darkness at all. Verse six, if we say. Now, John uses this phrase in
this first epistle of John seven times. If we say, if we say that
we have fellowship with him, I speak to him, he speaks to
me. I pray to him, he hears my prayer. We have a relationship. I have
a personal relationship with God. I have a personal faith
in Jesus Christ. I have a relationship with God. We walk in fellowship. If we
say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we
lie and do not the truth. Now, as he's saying, if we say
we have fellowship with him and we practice sin in secret, we're
liars and not practicing the truth. If we talk the talk, but
we don't walk the walk, we're liars and not practicing the
truth. Now, we ought not ever sin in
the dark and our walk should correspond with our talk. There's
no question about that. But if that's what he means,
Where does that leave me and you? We won't be saved. Every one of us cover our sins. Oh, we may look good to men,
but we're good at covering. Is this what that's talking about?
No, it's not. When he's talking about light,
he's talking about the light of the gospel. The light of how
God can be just and justify the ungodly through the person and
work of Christ. That's light. If we walk in the
light, John goes on to say, as he is in the light. Now if we
say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, the darkness
of salvation by works, the darkness of religious superstition and
ignorance. If we say we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, we lie. and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light,
the same light that the Lord spoke of when he said, I am the
light of the world. I am the light as to how this
condemned woman can be not condemned. It's illustrated by the publican
in the temple. He cried, God, be merciful to
me, the sinner. Christ said, I say to you, that
man went down to his house justified, cleared of all guilt, sinless. That can only be understood in
light of the gospel. Now, if we walk in the light
as he is in the light, that means I'm in him. He's in the light,
I'm in him, I'm in the light, I walk in him, I walk by faith.
If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another. We're fellows in the same ship.
We understand that Jesus Christ is all in salvation. We look
to Him only. All of our assurance, all of
our faith is Him and Him alone. We look nowhere else. The only
hope that I have is that Jesus Christ paid for my sins and put
them away and He takes His perfect righteousness and gives it to
me and I stand before God without guilt. That's the only hope that
I have. And if that's the only hope that
you have, guess what? We have fellowship one with another.
We're fellows in the same ship. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. It doesn't say we don't
sin, but it does say the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses
us from all sin. Now in verse eight, he says,
if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. Now there the word sin is a noun.
There's no time in my experience until after I die and I'm in
heaven and I no longer have a sinful nature to deal with. There's
no time in my experience I can say I have no sin because I always
have my sinful nature. Somebody says, well, my nature,
I'm not like I used to be. My old nature is, it's just as
sinful as it ever was. Somebody says, mine's not, you're
a liar. That's all I can say, you're a liar. If we say we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves. We've told ourselves a lie and
made ourselves believe it. And the truth is not even in
us. We've lost all credibility. When
somebody makes a claim by that, like that, don't believe them.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the
truth is not in us if we confess our sins. Verse nine, if we confess
our sins. Notice plural, he's talking about
individual sins. If we confess our sins, now the
word confess means agreement. We agree with what God says about
our sins. It doesn't mean we confess each
individual sin. There's not enough time in the
day, if that's what we had to do. You couldn't get it done
in a 24-hour day. And as far as that goes, most
of the sins we've committed, we are ignorant of in the first
place. We don't even know we've committed them. What this is
talking about is agreement with God. That's what you do when
you confess, you agree with what God says about your sin. There's
a complete agreement. If we confess our sins, if we
agree with what God says about our sin and our guilt, we're
in agreement with God. We take sides with God against
ourselves. If we confess our sins, He's
faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Now notice it doesn't
say he's merciful and gracious. He is merciful and gracious.
But if that's what it said, it could almost mean that his mercy
and his grace are dependent upon whether or not we first confess
our sins. But that's not what it says.
It says he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. The
only reason we confess our sins is because He's faithful. He
determined that's what we would do before time began because
He put away our sin. And every aspect of our salvation
is because of His faithfulness. If I confess my sins, I can't
pat myself on the back and think, well, I'm better than that person
who didn't. No, the only reason I do it is because He's faithful
to His covenant and He is just to forgive us of our sins. Now
note that. The very justice of God demands
the forgiveness of the sins of everybody that Jesus Christ died
for. He's made a way to be just and justify the ungodly. He didn't sweep my sin under
the rug. He put them away by what he did,
and his very justice demands the complete forgiveness of all
sin. He said, there are sins and iniquities
I'll remember no more. Now, the only reason he doesn't
remember them is because there's nothing there to remember. Every
believer stands guiltless, sinless before God. Now, if we agree
with what God says, if we take sides with God against ourselves,
if our mouth is stopped and we stand guilty before God, then
he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. Verse 10, if we say we've not
sinned, And there, the word is a verb. In verse eight, if we
say we have no sin, that's a noun. Here, this is a verb, if we say
we've not sinned. Now, with regard to anything
I do, if I did it, it's sin, because I did it. Somebody says,
well, I didn't sin there. Yeah, you did. But I am trying
to be honest. Trying is not enough. You sinned. You and I have never kept one
commandment of God one time. Well, I've not kept it perfectly.
That means you didn't keep it. If we say we've not sinned, we
make him a liar. And his word is not in us. We're showing the evidence. of
being unsaved. You see, only a believer understands
this thing of sin. An unbeliever cannot understand
this. Now, chapter 2, verse 1, these
chapter divisions are written by men. They were not in the
original. So the thought is being continued.
John says, my little children, these things write I unto you,
that If you say you have no sin, you
deceive yourself. If you confess your sins, he's
faithful just to forgive your sins. If you say we've not sinned,
you make him a liar. His word's not in you. And here's
why I'm writing this to you, that you sin not. That is my purpose in writing
to you, that you sin not. Now, what I've said, John says
about sin, is never an excuse for the commission of sin. You
can never justify, you can never condone sin. If any man uses
this as a license to, or an excuse for, or a justification in their
sin, they've missed the gospel. These things write I unto you
that you sin not. Does this imply that someone
can live without sin? Well, whether it does or not,
this is to be the aim of the believer, to never sin again. to love God with all my heart,
and all my soul, and all my strength, and all my might, and to love
my neighbor as myself. These things write I unto you
that you sin not. And if any man sin, and that
word if is also translated in this same epistle when. when you do. We have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Now, he compares
the Lord Jesus Christ to a lawyer. When you sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. We have this advocate before
the sin, during the sin, and after the sin. And this advocate
is Jesus Christ, the righteous. Now, the righteous advocate makes
us plead guilty. Guilty as charged. He's the righteous advocate.
He's not gonna tell us to plead not guilty when we are guilty.
But this advocate who happens to be the judge's son, makes
all of his clients to be declared justified without guilt. Now let me give you a hint. You know what all the justified
do? They plead guilty. Everyone who pleads guilty is
charged before God. They're justified. They stand
before God without guilt. What a lawyer. Jesus Christ the
righteous. Now how does he do this? Verse
two, and he is the propitiation for our sins. That means the
sin removing sacrifice. When he died on Calvary's tree,
the sins of everybody he died for were removed, paid for, made
not to be. He is the propitiation for our
sins. Now, the only way that I can
stand before God without guilt is if Christ took those sins
away, and I have no sin. That's what His propitiatory
sacrifice did. He was manifested to take away
our sins, and love it, He did it. Everybody He died for, their
sins have been taken away. In Him is no sin. He's the propitiation for our
sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world. Now, listen, if you are guilty
and defiled and need your sins put away and taken away by the
Lord Jesus Christ, if that's what you need, I don't care where
you're at, I don't care what you think, I don't care what
your experience is, There's mercy for you. He's not just the propitiation
for the Jews, but for the sins of the whole world. If you come to Christ, I don't
care who you are. I don't care how bad you are.
I don't care how ignorant you are. I don't care how bad your
experience is. He promises I'll in no wise cast
out. He that comes to me, I will for
no reason whatsoever cast out. Why? Because of his propitiation. What an advocate, the believer
in sin, Christ is the savior from sin. This is Todd Nybert
praying that God will be pleased to make himself known to you.
That's our prayer, amen. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send a request to todd.neibert at gmail.com
or you may write or call the church at the information provided
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