[b]Are We Taking Sin Too Seriously?[/b]
Text: 1 John 1:5-10

by Pastor Dean H. Harvey

Introduction: I had a discussion (a small disagreement) with a friend while I was in Texas. I got to talking about sin in Christians, and in the church. At first I thought he disagreed with my strong stand that we who are Christians should not sin. But he does think that we should not sin. However, he said something like this, "No matter what you say, we are going to sin at times," and he felt that to give a testimony that we were perfect (in heart, and in motive) was proud, and would only lead to embarrassment when we did sin, and it became known. (Even if it didn’t become known outside our own consciences, we should be embarrassed before God.)

He pointed me to 1 John 1:8 "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." So I have been thinking about this for over a week.

We have a problem here, and we need to honestly look at what the Scriptures say, what they are trying to get us to do, and what should happen in our lives as a result of the truth.

I. FIRST OF ALL, ALL HAVE SINNED, AND ALL NEED TO BE FORGIVEN. Those of us who are Christians have realized that we were sinners before God, and worthy of hell. We have repented of our sins (which means that we have decided to turn away from them), and we have exercised faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which means that we have begun to live in accordance with His commandments. AND WE HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN. THAT IS THE BEGINNING POINT OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

A. (Matt. 1:21 NASB) "And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins."

1. Too many people probably think that this means that He saves them from the eternal consequences of their sins, I. E. HELL, instead of saving them from committing the sins.

B. (Acts 3:26 NASB) "For you first, God raised up His Servant, and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways."

II. SECONDLY, WE ALL BROUGHT A LOT OF BAD HABITS, A LOT OF WRONG WAYS OF THINKING, A LOT OF BAD CIRCUMSTANCES (THE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR SINS), AND OFTEN A LOT OF BAD FRIENDS, AND MAYBE A BAD REPUTATION INTO THIS CHRISTIAN LIFE.

A. I am constantly amazed at how long it takes some people, who come to this church, and hear all this truth, to change their habits and conform to what they know to be true.

B. I really believe that in lots of cases it is because they have heard so much that they are sinners, and they really can’t help it. The church, which is supposed to expose sin and its consequences, has become the main entity to give an excuse for sin, and so encourage people to remain in their sinful life, while at the same time giving them assurance that they are going to heaven. Listen to this excerpt from the Statement of Faith of the Rockford Christian School as an illustration of what I am talking about:


"We believe that Man was created in the image of God, that he sinned, and thereby incurred both physical death and spiritual death, which is separation from God; and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature, and indeed sin in thought, word, and deed."

III. THIRDLY, THE WILL OF GOD (HIS PURPOSE IN SAVING US), IS TO MAKE US LIKE HIS SON JESUS IN OUR CHARACTER (Rom 8:29 NASB) "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren;" Jesus never sinned, and it is God’s purpose for all of us to follow Him in His lifestyle, that of "not sinning."
A. (John 5:14 NASB) "Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, 'Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse may befall you.'"

B. (John 8:11 NASB) And she said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more."

C. (Rom 6:12-16 NASB) Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

(2 Cor 12:21 NASB) I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they have practiced.

(2 Cor 13:2 NASB) I have previously said when present the second time, and though now absent I say in advance to those who have sinned in the past and to all the rest as well, that if I come again, I will not spare anyone,

(Eph 4:26 NASB) BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

(1 John 2:1 NASB) My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;

(1 John 3:4-10 NASB) Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins (continually, or habitually); no one who sins (continually, or habitually) has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot (practice, or habitually) sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

(1 John 5:18 NASB) We know that no one who is born of God sins (Greek present tense, [has the idea of continuously, repeatedly, or habitually] sins); but He who was born of God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him.

(Heb 12:10 NASB) For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness (Holiness is the condition of a person who is not now guilty of any sin. His old sins have been forgiven, and he is not now sinning, therefore he is holy.)

(Heb 12:14 NASB) Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification (Sanctification equals holiness.) without which no one will see the Lord. (Heb 12:14 KJV) Follow peace with all men, and holiness , without which no man shall see the Lord:

IV. The other point which came up in our discussion was that Paul addresses the churches as "saints"
(Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:1; Gal. 1:4 (slightly different wording); Eph. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:2;
1 Thess. 1:3, 6 (slightly different wording); Timothy and Titus as "sons," and Philemon as "beloved brother."), and then he writes to all of them about sin in the church, so this is supposed to mean that Paul acknowledges sin in the Christian, and expects it.

A. It is a common habit to find the position which reinforces my life, and focus on that. But what are we to do with the long list of verses I gave you at the beginning of this sermon? How can we honestly know what the Bible says, and then do it?

V. 1 John 1:5-10 NASB
And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light (holiness, righteousness), and in Him there is no darkness (sin) at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness (practice, or habitually live in sin), we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light (practice, or habitually live in righteousness or obedience, up to our present understanding) as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. Suppose that we are living righteously, obeying Jesus as we understand Him, and we sin, in a moment of impatience, or temptation, we revert back to our old habits of thinking and acting.

A. If we don’t know it, or not aware of it, then this verse seems to apply to me. We would be automatically forgiven, and God would later bring light. This seems to me to be equivalent of the "sin of ignorance," or the "unintentional sin" of the Old Testament.

B. If we are aware of it, two things should happen:

1. We should instantly feel guilt in our hearts, and

2. We should therefore ask forgiveness from God (and if we have sinned against another person, from that person) for that particular sin.

3. The result should be that we redouble our commitment to "walk in the light."

(v. 8 NASB) If we say that we have no sin (Greek present tense), we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Oftentimes we seek the lowest common denominator to protect ourselves from failure or disappointment. All of us can sin at any time, because sin is a wrong moral choice. We can never get to the place where we can say that we will never sin.

(v. 9 NASB) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (Are we cleansed from unrighteousness while we are still living unrighteously?)

(v. 10 NASB) If we say that we have not sinned (Greek past tense), we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

As we continue in 1 John 2 and 3, it is more and more obvious that the Christian is to live each day with the intent not to sin (2:1), to keep His commandments (2:3), to "walk in the same manner as He walked" (2:6) John is saying that sin and obedience to God are irreconcilable.

Conclusion: Sin is the enemy. It removes the believer from the light. It prevents fellowship with God, and breaks fellowship with others. If we sin, we are to confess and He will forgive and cleanse us from our sin (1 John 1:9), and if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous (1 John 2:1). But always the intent of the Christian remains the same--not to commit sin.

Thanks Jesse,

Only thing I wonder about is this part...

_________________
Giancarlo

I don't believe in "mistakes".

No, I'm not a legalist. I just see that there are no grey areas. It's either black or white, sin or not -- meaning "of His Nature" or not.
If we start excusing things in ourselves, then we're no different than psychologists who believe in a sub-conscious.
I think we're accountable for every thought and deed somewhere down the road.

One time, after reading David's Psalm, where it said, forgive me of my presumptuous sins or hidden faults or whatever like that ... I asked the Lord to show me my "hidden" sin(s).
That night I had two dreams that exposed a side of my nature I had no idea of. It hurt, but in a grateful sort of way, that He was Faithful to answer such a prayer.

Some people think that they are not even responsible for what they dream.
Granted, some dreams are from the enemy ... but all dreams expose 'something' that's in us somewhere. Fears, secret thoughts or motives, etc..
It's been proven that "we" control a major portion of what we dream. Now that's a wake-up call. We're responsible even there.
Put it all before Him in prayer. That's the "heart" issue you were talking about. The heart that desires to be pure, puts all things before Him in prayer.

David mentions "sweet sleep". That's when all's well and the dreams are right I'd say.
If I remember any of them, I take them to the Lord to shine His light of understanding on them for me. Sometimes, what we'd like to excuse as being "from the enemy" is really a chink in our armor. Instead of waking up fearful, if they're immediately taken to God first, then an understanding of hidden things can come through for us.


Sometimes I also wonder why we sing, "To be like Jesus, to be like Jesus - that's all I ask, is to be like Him ....... "

Maybe we're too busy looking at other 'things' rather than just at or to Him to conform us into His Image.
Thank GOD for Romans 8:28/29.

Bless you guys.

by George H. Morrison:

[b]July 16

The Mastery of Our Thoughts
Why do thoughts arise in your hearts?— Luk_24:38
Practicing the Control of Thought[/b]

We are all familiar with the difference that is made by the thoughts which arise within our hearts. Often they cast a shadow on our universe. A man may waken in the morning singing, and address himself cheerfully to duty, and then, suddenly, some unbidden thought may creep or flash into his mind—and in a moment the heavens become cloudy and the music of the morning vanishes, and there is fret and bitterness within. Things have not altered in the least. Everything is as it was an hour ago. The burden of the day has not grown heavier, nor has anybody ceased to love us. Yet all the world seems different, and the brightness has vanished from the sky under the tyranny of intruding thoughts. No one can achieve serenity who does not practice the control of thought. You cannot build a lovely house out of dirty or discolored bricks. The power of our thoughts is so tremendous over health and happiness and character that to master them is moral victory.

[b]A Moral Task[/b]

This mastery of our thoughts is difficult, but then everything beautiful is difficult. The kind of person I have no patience with is the person who wants everything made easy. When an artist paints a lovely picture he does that by a process of selection. Certain features of the landscape he rejects; other aspects he welcomes and embraces. And if to do that even the man of genius has to scorn delights and live laborious days, how can we hope without the sternest discipline to paint beautiful pictures in the mind? So is it with the musician when he plays for us some lovely piece of music. Years of training are behind that melody which seems to come rippling from his fingers. And if he has to practice through hard hours to produce such melody without, how can we hope, without an equal effort, to create a like melody within? There are two moral tasks which seem to me supremely difficult and yet supremely necessary. One is the redemption of our time; the other is the mastery of our thoughts. Probably most of us, right on to the end, are haunted by a sense of failure in these matters. But the great thing is to keep on struggling.
We see, too, how difficult this task is when we compare it with mastery of speech. If it be hard to set a watch upon our lips, it is harder to set a watch upon our thoughts. All speech has social reactions, and social prudence is a great deterrent. If you speak your mind, you may lose your position, possibly you may lose your friend. But thought is hidden—it is shrouded—it moves in dark and impenetrable places; it has no apparent social reactions. A man may be thinking bitter thoughts of you, yet meet you with a smile upon his face. A typist may inwardly despise her master, yet outwardly be a model of obedience. It is this secrecy, this surrounding darkness, which has led men to say that thought is free, and which makes the mastery of thought so difficult.

[b]Think on These Things[/b]

Now, the fine thing in the New Testament is this, that while it never calls that easy which is difficult, it yet proclaims that the mastery of thought is within the power of everybody. Think, for instance, of the beatitude: blessed are the pure in heart. Whenever our Lord says that anything is blessed He wants us to understand that it is possible. Yet no man can have purity of heart, as distinguished from purity of conduct, who is not able to grapple with his thoughts. Again by our thoughts we shall be judged—that is always implied in the New Testament. Christ came, and is going to come again, "that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." But I refuse to believe that men are to be judged by anything that lies beyond their power—to credit that would make the Judge immoral. Then does not the great apostle say "If there be any virtue .... think on these things"? It would be mockery to command us so to think if the controlling of our thoughts was quite beyond us. It may be difficult, as fine things always are, but the clear voice of the Word of God proclaims that it is within the capacity of everybody.
If, then, someone were to ask me how is a man to practice this great discipline, remembering the experience of the saints, I think I should answer in some such way as this: You must summon up the resources of your will. You must resist beginnings. You must remember that the most hideous of sins is to debauch the mind. You must fill your being so full of higher interests that when the devil comes and clamors for admission he will find there is not a chair for him to sit on. Above all, you must endeavor daily to walk in a closer fellowship with Christ. It is always easier to have lovely thoughts when walking with the Altogether Lovely One. For then He breathes on us, "soft as the breath of evening," and says "Receive ye the Holy Spirit," and in the Holy Spirit there is power. He who searcheth all things can direct and dominate the hidden things. He can empower us to bring every thought into captivity to Christ—

For every virtue we possess,
And every victory won,
And every thought of holiness
Are His alone.

Amen! It is true... believe it.

According to your faith, let it be done to you.
Matthew 9:29

I was enslaved by the "you can't help but sin" doctrine for years. But I was set free less than a week ago. I hope the same for you.

_________________
Melanie