We turn back to 1 John. The believer and sin. Two questions. Do you believe? Now, I'm not asking you if you
know you're saved. I'm not asking you if you know
that you're a Christian. I'm asking you, do you believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God? You can answer that with a yes
or no. Do you believe that Jesus is God's Christ, God's prophet,
the very word of God? He never said, thus saith the
Lord. He said, I say unto thee, God's prophet, God's priest. He, unlike other priests who
bring the blood of animals, He brings His own blood into the
presence of the Father. He's God's King. He's the one
who really does reign. He's God's Son, the uncreated,
eternal Son of God. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the son of the living God. As I said, you can answer
that with a yes or a no. Here's the second question. Do you sin? And I am hoping none
of us answer that glibly. Well, of course, doesn't everybody?
Sin nailed the Son of God to Calvary's tree. It took the death
of Christ to put it away. That's how infinitely evil sin
is. Do you sin? The believer and sin. Now I have two goals in bringing
this message, and the first goal is that I preach the gospel.
I want to preach the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit
so that everyone in here, by the grace of God, will know how
God saves sinners and will rely on him to save them. I want to
preach the gospel, and I want to understand What the Bible
teaches, not what so-and-so believes or what this denomination believes
or what that preacher believes, but what does the Bible teach
concerning this thing of the believer and sin? You know, it's only the believer
that really has an understanding of sin. And unbeliever doesn't. Oh, he knows the problems wrong
behavior can bring into his life. I mean, how many lives have been
wrecked by sins, but it's only the believer that understands
sin. It takes a holy nature to understand
sin. The first time the word sin is
used in the Bible is found in Genesis chapter 4 verse 5. But unto Cain and to his offering
he had not respect. God had not respect. Cain brought his offering in
and God had no respect for it, no regard. No acceptance, no
pleasure. He had no respect for this offering
that Cain brought, Cain bringing what represented his works. God
had no respect for it. You know, that's a strong language. When someone treats you with
no respect, that's probably the most difficult thing anybody
ever deals with. Well, God treated Cain with no respect. And Cain was very wroth, and
his countenance fell. He was upset with this. And the
Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance
fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? If you bring the offering Abel
did, guess what? You'll be accepted. You'll be
received. And if thou dost not well sin,
lieth at the door. And I think it's very interesting
that the first time in the Bible, the word sin is used is with
reference to bringing the wrong sacrifice. Now, before we look at what the
Bible has to say about the believer and sin, I want to give how the
Bible defines sin. Romans chapter 3 verses 22 and
23 says, for there is no difference, there's no difference between
me and you. There's no difference between the best man and the
worst man, as far as the way men see. God sees men as they are. There's
no difference. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Anything that comes short of
the glory of God, whatever that means, is sin. 1 John chapter 3 verse 4 says sin
is the transgression of the law. Take the Ten Commandments. Have
nothing before God No idolatry, no wrong thoughts with regard
to him. Taking his name in vain, having
the proper reverence of his person, resting, honoring your parents,
honoring all authority, not killing anybody, not murdering anybody. And that doesn't just simply
mean the physical act of murder, but murdering their character. Sexual purity, no sexual sin. Never lying, never stealing,
not coveting. Sin is the transgression of the
law. Any breaking of that holy law of God is sin. 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 is sin. Romans chapter 14 verse 23 says
whatsoever is not of faith. Whatever is not the fruit of
faith in Christ is sin. Proverbs 24 9 says the thought
of foolishness is sin. Proverbs 21 verse 4 says a high
look, a proud heart. And the plowing of the wicked
is sin. I don't know of anything that
seems much more wholesome than plowing, but the plowing of the
wicked is sin. 1 John 5, 17 says all unrighteousness
is sin. And James 2, 9 says, If you have
respect of persons, you commit sin. Now we learn
from the scriptures what it is to not respect persons when God
demonstrated that when he killed his son. No special leniency with him even though
he's his son. There's no respect of persons
with God where there's sin, there must be death. I see so clearly my respective
persons and that I am so much easier on myself than everybody
else. So much easier. What I clearly see as seeing
in you is not nearly so bad in me. I had an excuse. I had a
reason. Respect of persons. Now in the Old Testament. And
in the New Testament, I'm gonna talk about what believers say
with regard to their sin. David, the man after God's own
heart. There's never been a greater
commendation of a man, has there? David, the man after God's own
heart. God said with regard to this
man, his heart beats with mine. I want to be that man, don't
you? Don't you want to be a man or a woman after God's own heart,
just like David was? You know what David said with
regard to his sin? My sin is ever before me. My sin is continually at all
times. before me. That's the old Testament
scripture. Here's a new Testament scripture.
The words of the apostle Paul, the man that God used more than
any other man to expound his gospel. The man God used to write
most of the new Testament. Here's Paul's. statement with
regard to his sin. Romans chapter 7 verse 14. He said, for we know. I love
the way he said, we know. He's speaking as a representative
of every believer. He didn't just say, I know. He
said, we know. We know. We know that the law
is spiritual. But I am carnal, sold under sin,
sold as a slave to sin. Do you know the only man that
can make a confession like that is a believing man, a man with
a new nature? He says, I am, not I was before
God saved me. He was speaking as a believer
when he makes this statement, I am carnal, sold under sin. The believer and sin. David said my sin ever before
me. Paul said, for we know the law is spiritual. I am carnal,
sold under sin. Now, what does the Bible teach
us about this? We'll look in 1 John 1, verse
5. This then is the message. Not a message, the message. The definite article is used
This is the message, not a message among other messages. This is
the message of the Bible. This is the message of God. What is it? God is light. Now, how do you see stuff? By
light. By light. If it's dark, You may have an
eye that can see, you may have seeing eyes, but you can't see
without that light. And I have no doubt that what
he's talking about is the light of the gospel, the light of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He's talking about the
light where the Lord said, I am the light of the world. He's
the light of the world. He said that when that woman
was taken in adultery in the very act, and he said, woman,
where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, no man, Lord, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. I am the
light of the world. He is the light as to how that
can be. The light of the world. God is light. You know one of the glorious
things about light? Light can come into contact with
the dunghill and not contract any of its filthiness. God is
light. This glorious God can come into
contact with me or you and do something for us. God is light. In Him is no darkness at all. That's the message. God is light. He's the light as to how He can
come into contact with me and make me to be without sin. God is light. In Him, there's
no darkness at all. Verse six, if we say, now this
is one of seven times that that phrase is found in the book of
first John, if we say, if we say, if this is our speech, verse
six, if we say, that we have fellowship with Him. If we say, I fellowship with
God, I pray, He hears. I speak to Him, He speaks to
me. If we say we have fellowship
with God, and pretty much most people, if you go out on the
street, Do you have fellowship with God? Yeah, I do. I do. I
believe in God. I pray to him. He hears. He speaks to me. We have communion. I have fellowship with God. Most
people will make that confession. I fellowship with God. Now, what's
he say? If we say that we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, We lie and do not the truth. What's John mean? Does that mean
if we say we have fellowship with him? And then in the dark,
when nobody can see, we sin secretly and we commit sins secretly. And our walk doesn't correspond
with our talk. Oh, we talk the talk, but in
reality, we do not walk the walk. And let me say something very
clearly. It's never okay to, quote, talk
the talk and not walk the walk. Sin is never okay. But let me
ask you a question. I want you to answer this honestly.
If that's what John means, if he means that if we say we believe
but we practice sin secretly that no one ever knows about
in the dark, if that's what that means, what hope do you have
of being saved? In reality, none. Now once again,
it's never okay to make one claim and practice another. I'm not
saying that's okay, but if that's what John means, me and you are
in trouble. Here's what he means. If we say
we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, the darkness
of salvation by works. That's what he's talking about.
If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness
of salvation by works. You know what that means? We're
lying. And we're not doing, we're not
practicing the truth. If we say that and walk in the
darkness of salvation by works, we're not telling the truth. We lie and we do not the truth. But verse seven, but if we walk
in the light. The light of how God saves by
Christ. The light of John 8, 12. Don't
you love that scripture? I'm the light of the world. I'm
the light as to how God can accept somebody for Christ's sake. If
we walk in the light as he is in the light, I'm in him. He's
in the light. I walk in the light. 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,
aren't we? We have fellowship. If the only hope you have is
Jesus Christ, that's all you have. If the only hope you have
is Jesus Christ the Lord. If you're like David, Where David
said, although my house be not so with God, yet hath he made
with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure. And this is all my salvation. And all my desire, all my salvation
is right there. All my desire is right there. Do you believe that? Do I believe
that? We have fellowship with each other, don't we? We're fellows
in the same ship. We have the same hope. We have
the same joy. We have the same peace. Fellows in the same ship. We have fellowship one with another
and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all
sin. Now notice it doesn't say we
don't sin. We're talking about the believer in sin. This does
not say that a believer does not sin, but here's where our
fellowship is. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son cleanseth us. And that is in the present tense. Do you presently need cleansed?
Well, here's the promise, the believer in sin. The blood of
Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us. A continual cleansing, streams
of mercy never ceasing. Call for songs of loudest praise. The blood, oh, the blood of Jesus
Christ, the power of his blood, the preciousness of his blood,
the saving efficacy of his blood, the continual POWER AND CLEANSING
OF HIS BLOOD, RIGHT NOW! THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST, GOD'S
SON, CLEANSETH US FROM HOW MUCH SIN? ALL SIN. Let's go on reading verse 8. If we say, now here's that word
again. if we say. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Now that word deceive is where
we get the word bait from. You bait a hook to deceive the
fish. I remember talking to somebody
that we were talking about how they loved the challenge of fishing. And they said, you can fool the
fish. And I thought, it's just a fish. I mean, well, I think
anyway. I mean, it's a big deal. You
fool the fish. But what about someone who baits
a hook and bites it themselves? You deceive yourself. You lie
to yourself. You've told yourself a lie and
believed it. If we say we have no sin. Now there the word sin is a noun. The believer in sin. If we say
we have no sin. At all times, I have a sinful
nature. Amen. In your experience, you
know, didn't the Lord teach us to pray, forgive us of our sins,
transgressions. That's him teaching us. Is there
ever a time when we're not, oh, David said my sin is ever before
me. If we say we have no sin, that's talking about that sinful
nature that you're born with. You're born a sinner. A sinner
by nature, a sinner by birth, a sinner by choice, a sinner
by practice. If we say we have no sin, wow,
we're deceiving ourselves. And the truth is not in us, we've
lost all credibility. Anybody that says to you, I don't
have a sinful nature, they're lying. They're lying. Do they know they're lying? Yes,
they do. Yes, they're lying. Don't listen to anything they
say. Don't buy anything off of them. Don't trust them for anything.
You know, I was reading, you know, I need a, I want a Christian
salesman or the Christian day. I hate it when people try to
use Christianity for their business. This is Christian. No, it's not.
It's heathen. If you try to do that, just do
something because it's right. Not because it's Christian. You're
trying to use the religion to, to further your causes. If somebody
says I have no sin, they've deceived themselves. The truth is not
even in them. Verse 9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we confess our sins, now notice
Here, sins is in the plural. It's talking about the individual
acts of sin. It's not just talking about that
sin of nature, it's talking about the acts of sin. If we confess our sins, does
that mean that each sin needs to be articulated and confessed
before God? Let me answer that for you. If
that's what it means, you don't have enough time in the day to
confess them all. 24 hours in a day won't do. And secondly, most of the sins
you've committed, you don't even know you committed them. Most
of them. So if that means to articulate
all my sins and confess them each individually before God,
I'm in trouble. What does it mean? The word confess
means to speak the same thing, to be at agreement, to agree
with what God says about my sin. Now that's confession of sin.
It's to agree with what God says about my sin. Now here's what
that looks like. 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 stand guilty
before God. Guilty as charged. That's agreement with God. if
we confess our sins. Turn with me for a moment to
Proverbs chapter 28. Proverbs chapter 28. If we confess our sins. Thirteen, he that covereth his sins shall
not prosper. Isn't that what Adam did in the
garden when he made himself a fig leaf to cover his nakedness?
He was covering his sins, wasn't he? He that covereth his sins
shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth And forsaketh them
shall have mercy. Now, what I want us to notice
that them is in the italics. You know what that means? It's not in the original and
it's supplied by the translators in order to make it make sense. Now, if that means. You will not have mercy until
you first forsake your sins. What's that mean? Your salvation
is dependent upon you forsaking your sins. You ought to forsake
your sins. I ought to forsake my sins. But
if my salvation is dependent upon me forsaking my sins, guess
what? Salvation is by works and I will
not be saved. I can't say that strongly enough,
but notice it says, he that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but
who so confesseth and forsaketh shall have mercy. Forsaketh what?
Seeking to cover your sins like Adam did. That's exactly what
that means. This is the confession of sin.
You quit trying to cover them with your own righteousness and
you look to Christ alone. Back to our text, verse John
1, verse 9. If we confess our sins, if we
agree with what God says, He is merciful and gracious to forgive
us our sins. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's not what it says, is it?
It doesn't say he's merciful and gracious. Now, if that's
what it did say, if that's what it did say, if we confess, then
he'll be merciful. That'd be no different than the
wrong view of Proverbs 28, 13. Our receiving mercy is dependent
upon our confession. If we confess our sins, Then
he'll be gracious, then he'll be merciful. No, no. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful. Faithful. The reason you confess
your sins in the first place is because he is faithful to
do what he said he'd do for you. The only reason you're confessing
them is because of his faithfulness. He determined that he was going
to have mercy on you. He determined that he was going
to forgive you of your sins. He determined that you were going
to confess your sins. And guess what? You do it. The
reason you confess your sins is because he is faithful. That's why. You can't pat yourself
on the back and say, well, at least I confessed mine and the
other fellow didn't know. The only reason you did is because
he is faithful to his covenant. He determined to forgive your
sins and forgiven they must be because he is faithful to forgive
us of our sins. He said, their sins and iniquities,
I'll remember no more. He's faithful. Not only is he
faithful, what's the next word? He's just. Not only is he faithful to forgive
us of our sins, he's just. The absolute justice of God demands
the forgiveness of everybody that Jesus Christ died for. Justice
has been satisfied. He's faithful. He's just. to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us." Once again, that's in the present tense. He's faithful
and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now look at verse 10. Here's that term, if we say again,
if we say, We've not sinned. And here, the word is a verb.
In verse eight, it's a noun. Here, it's a verb. If we say
we've not sinned with regard to anything, this sermon I'm
preaching, well, because I'm preaching it, It's true, it's true, I'm preaching
the gospel, but anything that comes from me, if I did it, it's
sin. Can you believe that? If I did it, it's sin, because
of who did it. with regard to anything I do,
any gift I give, any sermon I preach, any prayer I pray, any good work
I think I perform. If I did it, it's sin. Well, I was no sin in that action. Well, you're calling God a liar,
because he says there is. Let God be true in every man
a liar. That's what the scripture says.
If we say we've not sinned, What do we do? We make him a liar
and his word is not in us. His word, his son, his spirit
is not in us. If we make that claim, that's
a brazen lie for somebody to make that claim. Whatever I do,
if I did it, it's sin. Now, is that what scripture teaches?
Not asking, is that what this church believes or is this what
the scripture teaches? Yes, it is. Now, let's go on reading. Remember,
chapter 2, these chapter divisions are made by men. They weren't
in the original. This was placed here by a man,
and I'm thankful for chapter divisions. I'd hate to try to
find things in books where there's no chapters and verses, but those
are not part of the original. This chapter division is made
by men. So let's read this without this
chapter division. My little children, these things
write I unto you that you sin not. Now I love that. He says, I'm telling you, That
if you say you have no sin, you've deceived yourself. If you confess
your sin, he's faithful and just to forgive your sin. If you say
I've not sinned, you make him a liar. Now this is why I'm saying
this to you, that you sin not. Now please listen to that. If I use the gospel of grace
as an excuse for sin, as a justification of my sin,
as a condoning of sin in any form, I've missed it. These things write I unto you
that you sin not. That you love God with all your
heart and all your soul and all your strength and all your might
and that you love your neighbor as yourself. These things write
I unto you that you sin not. Now somebody thinks, does this
imply the possibility of living a sinless life? Well, whether
it does or not, that's still to be my aim, to not sin. These things write I unto you
that you sin not. Never have a wrong thought, never
have a wrong motive. These things write I unto you,
never have a wrong deed. These things write I unto you
that you sin not. and if any man sin. Now see that word if. Look in
1 John 3, verse 2. That same word is translated
when in 1 John 3, verse 2. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that when, there it is, When he shall appear, we shall see
him, we'll be like him for we'll see him as he is. So you can just as easily say
these things right eye unto you that you see not when you do. When you do. Anybody have a hard
time with that? When you do. When you do. These things write unto you that
you sin not, but when you do, we have an advocate with the
Father. Now, what that is, is we have a lawyer. We have a counsel. We have someone who brings our
case to the Father when you sin. When you sin, when you sin, we
have an advocate with the father. Now we had this advocate before
the sin, during the sin, and after the sin. We have this advocate,
this lawyer with the father, and that's the imagery used.
This is almost like a courtroom. We have this advocate with the
father, and you know what his name is? Jesus Christ, the righteous. I love his name, Jesus Christ,
the righteous. Now this advocate, this lawyer
we have with the father is the judge's son. That says something,
doesn't it? He's the judge's son. And this
lawyer is righteous. He makes all of his clients plead
guilty. He doesn't have you come and
plead not guilty. You plead guilty, guilty, guilty as charged. But here's what's glorious about
this righteous advocate. While he makes all of his clients
to plead guilty, They're all declared to be not guilty. Justified. What lawyer? I need this lawyer. Be my advocate,
don't you? This righteous lawyer makes all
of his clients plead guilty and makes them all to be not guilty. Justified. How? Well, he tells us in verse 2, and he is the propitiation for
our sins. Now, this is how this client
or this advocate can make his clients not guilty because he
is the propitiation. Now, that word means more than
a guilt-removing sacrifice, it means a sin-removing sacrifice. He was manifested to take away
our sins. In Him is no sin. If I'm in Him, I have no sin
because He took it away by His perpetuatory sacrifice. Turn
to Romans chapter three. Hold your finger there in first
John two. Turn to Romans chapter three. Verse 23, for all have sinned.
and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by
His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth for ordained to be a propitiation, a sin removing
sacrifice. You know, when that publican
was crying in the temple, God be merciful to me, the sinner,
God be propitious to me, the sinner. Do something about my
sin. I can't do anything about it.
I can't make it go away. Do something about my sin. And
the Lord said with regard to that man, I say unto you, he
went down to his house justified, without guilt. Here is how this advocate makes
all of his clients not guilty. He is the propitiation for our
sins. And I'm so thankful he didn't
stop there. He didn't say, not for ours only,
but also for the sins of the whole world. But notice the sins
once again is in italic. He is the propitiation for our
sins, but not just us, the whole world. You know what that means?
If you're in the world, you in the world? If you're in the world
and you need propitiation, He'll receive you. You come to him, 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 where you're coming from, if
you come to him for propitiation of your sins, you'll be received.
He said, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. You see, he's the savior of the
world. God so loved the world, that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him
might have everlasting life." This glorious thing of having
Him as your propitiation, this is for anybody who believes.
You don't need to figure out whether or not you're one of
the elect. You don't need to figure out whether or not Jesus
Christ died for you. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God, God's Christ? Then his propitiation is for
you. The believer in sin, I believe the gospel. I say with shame, I sin. I see them. Matter of fact, when
the Lord talks about blessed are they that mourn, I know exactly
what he's talking about. They mourn over their sin. But one of these days, I have
this now, I don't see it, one of these days, I'm going to experience
sin-less-ness and I won't even remember what it's like to be
the believer in sin because I'll be without sin in his presence
beholding him and we have this promise when he shall appear
will be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And that one sight will make
us perfectly conformed to his image. Let's pray.