Would you turn back to 1 John
chapter 1? The believer and sin. That's our subject. The believer and sin. Now I'm speaking as honestly
as I know how. when I say that I believe myself
to be a sinful man. I don't feel like I'm any better. I feel as sinful as I've always
been. That's the way I feel. Now, is
there something wrong with me? That's what I want to explore.
David said in Psalm 32 verses one and two, blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity. And then the last part of that
verse is, and in whose spirit there is no guile. no fraud,
no phoniness, no deceit, no hypocrisy. And notice he says, in whose
spirit there is no guile. Did you know that the natural
man doesn't have a spirit? When Adam died, his spirit died. His soul didn't die. His body
didn't die. but his spirit died. And when a man is born from above,
they're given a new spiritual nature. This is speaking of new nature
and the pure heart that every believer possesses. Remember
when the Lord came to Nathaniel and he said, behold, an Israelite
indeed. in whom is no guile. This is the honest and good heart
that receives the word. It's a new heart. Question. Why is it that religious people
present themselves not like I just said that I feel? I want to read some lines out
of some of the hymns that are in our hymn book. And I think
that's probably the best way I can express what I'm trying
to express that religious people present. I rise to walk in heaven's
own light above the world and sin with heart made pure and
garments white and Christ enthroned within. Perfect submission. Perfect delight. Visions of rapture
now burst on my sight. He walks with me and he talks
with me and he tells me I am his own. and the joy that we
share as we tarry there, none other has ever known. But we never can prove the delights
of his love until all on the altar we lay." What? What are you laying on
the altar? For the favor he shows and the
love that he bestows are for those who trust and obey." Trust
and obey. There's no other way to be happy
in Jesus is to trust and obey. What about that person who speaks
of things in terms of a higher walk? more holy, less sinful,
and you feel like you're as bad and sinful as you ever were,
you know you are, and you think, what's wrong with me? What's
wrong with me? Is there something wrong? Why
am I like that? Why am I not like them? Well,
let me answer that question for you. Look in verse 8 of 1 John
chapter 1. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves. That person has deceived themselves. It really is that clear. They may really believe it's
true, but it's because they've deceived themselves. And something
called the truth is not even in them. Look in verse 10, if
we say that we have not sinned. Well, at least in that area I
didn't sin. Well, the scripture says we make
him a liar. Because he says all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God and his word is not in us. The new nature, when we make
some kind of claim like that, what we prove is we don't have
any idea what sin is. We don't have a holy nature that
understands what sin is. And that's why we would make
claims such as that. An unsaved religious man just
doesn't know what sin is in the first place. Therefore, he glibly
makes the claims of verse eight and 10. If we say we have no
sin, and if we say we have not sinned, these are false claims. Now we read in the three verses.
Let's read these three verses again. First John chapter one
beginning in verse eight. If we say that we have no sin.
We deceive ourselves. 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 have not sinned, we make him a liar. And his word
is not in us. Now we read in these three verses
of sin, sins, and sin. The believer and sin. Now, the first question we need
to deal with is, what is sin? It's a good question, isn't it?
What is sin? I remember one time years ago
when MTV was on TV and they were interviewing people about what
they thought sin was. And I thought that was so amusing.
Everybody came up with something that they didn't do. And that's
how they arrived at their definitions. Yep, this is really bad. So and
so does this. But what is sin? Not what do
you call sin? What does God call sin? The first
verse of Scripture that I wrote down is this. Proverbs chapter
21 verse 4. The plowing of the wicked is
sin. Now if there's anything that
seems like a wholesome activity, it's plowing. Let's get back
to the basics. Let's get back to grassroots
level. Maybe you're plowing to supply
food for the hungry and the poor. That seems like a very Noble
thing to do. But the scripture says the plowing
of the wicked is sin. If a wicked man does it, that
makes it sin. Now this lets us know how little
men understand about sin because we certainly wouldn't look at
a man out plowing a field and say, that man's sinning. But
the scripture says the plowing of the wicked is sin. In Proverbs
chapter 24, verse nine, we read the thought of foolishness, you
see. Romans chapter 14, verse 23,
whatsoever is not of faith, you see, whatsoever is not generated
from faith, whatever it might be, it's Romans 3, verse 23 says,
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Anything
that falls short of the glory of God is sin. James said, to him that knoweth
to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. I think my
personal favorite definition of sin from the scripture is
what John says in 1 John 3, 4. Sin is the transgression of the
law. I love God's holy law. I admire what it tells us about
God. Let me go over the ten commandments.
The first commandment is the commandment where it says you're
not to put anything before God. The second commandment is the
Making an idol. You ever made an idol of anything?
Are you doing it right now? The third commandment is about
taking his name in vain. When have you ever used the proper
reverence for that holy name? Have you ever kept that commandment?
The fourth commandment regarding the Sabbath day. and it's to
teach us something about rest. Have you ever rested? Have you
ever kept the Sabbath? The fifth commandment is about
honoring your father and mother, honoring authority. The sixth commandment is thou
shalt not kill. You don't have to murder anybody.
Somebody says, well, I've kept that one. Well, have you ever
slandered somebody? Have you ever murdered their
character? The seventh commandment, thou
shalt not commit adultery. That's the commandment against
all sexual sin, mind or physical. The eighth commandment, thou
shalt not steal. Have you ever taken something
or you're doing right now, taking something that doesn't belong
to you? Taking glory where glory is not due, taking credit where
credit is not due. Stealing from your employer,
the work you should be done. There's so many. robbing God
of glory. Thou shalt not bear false witness,
telling the truth. Thou shalt not covet, being perfectly
content. Sin is the transgression of the
law. And when I go over the Ten Commandments,
which I admire, and you know, they don't scare me because I
know I've kept them. Somebody says, try to keep the law. Trying to keep the law won't
get it. It's keeping it. Being perfectly obedient. And
I have kept God's holy law in Christ Jesus. I don't try to
keep the law, I've kept it. But when I look at God's holy
law with regard to me personally, I've not kept one commandment
one time. And somebody that believes they
have, all they demonstrate by that is they have no idea about
the spirituality and the depth of God's holy law. I think of when that man asked
the Lord, what's the greatest commandment? And he said, to
love the Lord your God with all thy heart and all thy mind and
all thy soul and all thy strength and thy neighbor as thyself.
You know what that means? That means I'm continually committing
the greatest sin, because I don't love God like that. I wish I
did, but in and of myself I don't. I certainly haven't loved my
neighbor as myself. Somebody says I love my neighbor as myself.
You're a liar. You do not. Nobody ever has. Sin Sins and sin. Now, I don't want to trivialize
my sin. I don't want to look for an excuse
to sin or for an excuse for my sin. But these scriptures ring
so true to my personal experience. I hear these people talk in this
lofty terms of their victory over sin, but boy, these scriptures,
they, they're me. I'm thankful for these. Verse
eight. If we say that we have no sin,
now I brought this out before that's talking about. Our nature. A sinful nature there. The word
is a noun. It's not talking about an actual
thing. It's talking about a sinful nature. And if I say I don't have a sinful
nature at any time. I deceived myself. And I've lost
all credibility. The truth is not even in me. Now look how Paul talks. I want
to look at several scriptures, but this is the one you know
where I'm going to in Romans chapter seven. First, I want to read verse 24
where he says, Oh, wretched man that I am. Not that I was before
God saved me, but that I am. You know, I've heard people argue
about Romans chapter seven, saying Paul was speaking as an unbeliever.
Well, if you think that you're an unbeliever, it's that simple.
Look in Romans chapter seven, verse 14, Paul says, for we know
that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that
do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the
law that it's good. Now then, it's no more I that
do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me,
that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me,
I would be without sin. But how to perform that which
is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not. But the evil which I would not,
that I do. Now if I do that I would not,
it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find
then a law that when I would do good, Evil is present with
me, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man.
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my
mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in
my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with my mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. You wouldn't have heard Paul
say anything like that, would you? I have no sin. At all times,
I am aware of an evil nature. The wise man said in Ecclesiastes
7, verse 20, there's not a just man on the earth that doeth good
and sinneth not. Psalm 130, David said, if thou,
O Lord, should mark iniquities, who should stand? Now, I'd like
you to look at this with me. Isaiah 64. But I want to read verse eight
first to see that Isaiah is speaking as a believer. He's speaking
as a believer. But now, oh Lord, thou art our
father. That's what a believer says,
isn't it? Thou art our father. Now look at what Isaiah has to
say. Look at the last phrase of verse
five. For we have sinned and in those
is continuance. And we shall be saved. Verse six, but we are all. as
an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags, and we do fade, we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities,
like the wind, have taken us away. There's none that calleth
upon my name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee,
for thou hast hid thy face from us and consumed us because of
our iniquities. That's the confession of the
Old Testament prophet. But now, oh Lord, thou art our
father, we're the clay and thou art our potter, and we're all
the work of thy hand. Now, I could give scripture after
scripture that back up what I'm saying. So what would cause a
man and woman to make this claim of, if we say we have no sin?
John gives two reasons, two reasons. Number one, self-deception. If you say something like that,
you've deceived yourself. You've lied to yourself and made
yourself to believe the lie you told yourself. That's what he
calls it. Self-deception. And then he says
the truth is not in you, the truth of the gospel. You're unable
to even recognize sin. You've lied to yourself, deceived
yourself, and the truth is not in you. Look once again at verse
10 in our text. 1 John 1. If we say that we have not sinned
And there, the word is a verb. Regarding anything that I do,
if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word
is not in us. When's the last time you sinned?
Right now. Right now. Well, I wasn't sinning. Then you don't know what sin
is. Right now. Once again, it's only the holy
nature that can recognize this. No holy nature, you're blind
to this. You're the person who makes this claim regarding anything
they do. Here's what I thought. They're
that person whom God described in Psalm 50, thou thoughtest
I was altogether such a one as yourself. Well, I don't think
I've sinned, therefore God must not think it. No, He does. He
does. He knows better. He knows. If we make this claim, at least
in this action, I didn't sin, we call him a liar because he
says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Am
I saying that this action measures up to the glory of God? That's
what I'm saying if I say I have not sinned. If a man makes that claim, not
only does he call God a liar, but the word of Christ does not
dwell in him. He does not have a holy nature. That's the only reason he would
make that claim. The believer in sin, now, I always
have this sinful nature, and everything I do is sin. Now, I guarantee you, the average
religious person that would hear that would say, well, you ought
not be preaching that. Yeah, I should. I'm telling you the
truth. I'm telling you what the Word
of God actually says. Somebody says, I don't feel this
way. Well, perhaps you need to find out why you don't. Let me say two things before
I go to verse nine. What I'm saying is what the Bible
teaches. Amen. The truth that And number two,
this measure's up to my experience. Now we look at verse nine. If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Here's what we do do about our
sins. We confess them. Now, confession, understand this,
confession is not the mere admission of guilt. Pharaoh, after several
of the plagues, said, I and my people, have sinned. We're wicked and the Lord is
righteous. I've sinned. I and my people
are wicked and the Lord is righteous. Now there was an admission of
sin, but it wasn't a confession of sin. Balaam said, I've sinned. But
he still went after the money. Saul, King Saul said, I've sinned. But he was so insincere. Judas,
I've sinned. and that I've shed innocent blood,
I've betrayed the innocent blood. All these men made an admission
of guilt. But admission of guilt, admitting
something like that, is not the confession of sin. Not at all. Achan said, I've sinned. But
it was still stoned. Confession, if we confess our
sins, Confession means literally, that word means literally to
say the same thing. To say, to speak the same thing. What that means is when you confess
your sins, you speak the same thing that God says about your
sins. You agree with what God says
about your sins. You take sides with God against
yourself when you confess your sins. It's not just saying, well,
I did it, I did it. No, there's a complete agreement
with what God says about your sins. That, and that alone, is
the confession of sin. Now, I remember reading the scriptures. You're familiar with David. He'd
been in this hardened state for so long. And God sent Nathan,
the prophet, to him. And the prophet Nathan, you can
read about this in 2 Samuel chapter 12, he told that story of that
farmer who had a little lamb that he loved that little lamb
just like a daughter. It actually ate at his table
with his kids. And he loved it and treated it
like a child, and his rich neighbor had a whole lot of sheep. And
a man came traveling through, and he didn't want to give up
his sheep, so he went to his neighbor, stole it, killed it,
Fed it to his neighbor. And when David was hearing that,
he was getting so mad, he says, as the Lord liveth, that man
is surely gonna die. He's gonna be killed. And I'm
gonna make sure it happens. And Nathan said, thou art the
man. You know what David said? I've sinned against the Lord. Now with that in mind, he wrote
Psalm 51. Let's read a few verses of Psalm
51. These titles are inspired. These
are not man-made. Look at the title. To the chief
musician, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto
him after he'd gone into Bathsheba. So this is what he's talking
about. It was after Nathan confronted him and said, thou art the man.
And he said, I've sinned against the Lord. And he went and penned
this psalm. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy loving kindness. according to the multitude of
Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me throughly
from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge
my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee,
Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight,
that Thou mightest be justified when You speak, and be clear
when You judge. Whatever You judge against me
is right." You see how he's taking God's side? I'm on the Lord's
side. I agree with whatever he says.
Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and sin did my mother conceive
me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the
hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with
hyssop, that's the branch that was used to put the blood over
the door, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy
face from my sins, and blood out all mine iniquities. Create
in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence,
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the
joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Now,
in most translations, you're going to say, he says, what he's
saying is, make me willing. Make me willing. Then, you can
go on reading it, but this is an agreement with God. He's taking
sides with God against himself. And that's what it is to confess
your sin. Psalm 32, five. I said, I'll
confess my sin and that our Lord forgave us the iniquity of my
sin. Now think of this statement.
If we confess our sin, he's faithful. He's faithful
to forgive our sin. There's never been a sinner in
the history of the universe that confessed their sin before the
Lord and he failed to forgive them. He's faithful. He's always going
to forgive that sinner who comes before him like David did, confessing,
taking sides with God against himself. But let me give you
another reason why he's faithful to forgive. He's faithful to
forgive them because they've already been forgiven. They've already been forgiven.
They were forgiven before they were committed. Do you believe
that? It's so. They were forgiven in
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Of course, he's
faithful to forgive those sins because they've already been
forgiven. And it also says he's just to
forgive those sins. It's an act of justice. It's
an act of His absolute pristine justice and righteousness to
forgive the sins because of the great glorious truth of justification. That sinner has been justified.
I think of the publican in the temple. Oh, he was agreeing with
God, wasn't he? God, be propitious. Be merciful. Take away my sin. There's nothing
I can do to take it away. Oh, would you be appeased? Would
you be propitiated through the blood sacrifice? He understood
the gospel. He's not making any big claims
about himself. And what did the Lord say about him? He said,
I say to you, that man went down to his house. What? Justified. justified without guilt. He's faithful and just to forgive
us our sins. Isn't God glorious? He's faithful
and just to forgive us of our sins. And He's faithful and just
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And that cleansing we see from
verse seven. Look in verse seven of our text.
We touched on this last week. If we walk in the light, the
light of how he saves by his grace through Christ. If we walk
in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one
with another. We have fellowship with God and
the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanseth us. And that word
is in the present active tense. Why is that important? Because
there's not a second when I don't need cleansed. Not a second. And thank God the blood of Christ
cleanseth us from all sin. It's faithful and just to cleanse
us continually. Look at 1 John chapter 2 verse
1. My little children These things write I unto you that you sin
not. Now, what I've been saying, is that somebody looking for
an excuse to sin or justification for their sin? No. No. These things write I unto
you that you sin not. All this stuff I've been talking
about, about why a believer's so sinful and everything, he
says, I'm writing these things to you for this end, for this
purpose, that you don't sin. The gospel doesn't give any more
excuse for sin than the law does. These things are write unto you
that you sin not. And if any man sin, And that
word if is sometimes translated when it's not talking about the
possibility that maybe you might not when you do. We have an advocate. A lawyer with the father. Jesus Christ. The righteous. And there was a time. When I
was under the complete dominion of sin and didn't know it. I
didn't know it. The fact that I didn't know it
shows I was under its complete dominion and power. Couldn't
see that that was the case concerning me. I thought if I could just
get in the right situation and in the right circumstances and
where I wouldn't be tempted and all this, you know, going back,
I could get into the place where I could do better. I could quit
sinning. When I felt that way, I was under the complete dominion
and domination of sin. When God saved me and gave me
a new nature and caused me to see my sin and not make these
false claims. I don't have any sin or I haven't
seen. By God's grace and by God's grace alone, I don't make those
false claims. But you know, I stay in verse
9. If we confess our sins. He is faithful and he is just
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,
the believer in sin. Let's pray. Lord, give us the grace to truly
confess our sin. And to have complete agreement.
With what you say. And Lord, how we thank you. That
you're faithful and just. To forgive us our sin. And you're
faithful and just to continually cleanse us. of our unrighteousness. Lord, how we thank you for the
gospel of thy son. Now bless this word for your
glory and our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. 309, we'll stand and sing.