Blessed Assurance Sermon Series (a study of 1 John)

#3 Facing Sin With God’s Grace

 

The fact that Christians sin bothers some people—especially new Christians. Sinning saints are not mentioned in the Bible to discourage us, but to warn us.

 

We run from our sin instead of facing it; we try to cover it up when we ought to look it straight in the eye with God’s grace. Escapism— whether hiding behind excuses or moving to another city for a fresh start—settles nothing.

 

A confrontation with sin is imperative for peace with God. God offers no short-cuts to a clear con­science. He demands raw honesty about sin.

 

Perfection cannot be attained in this world. Hence, even after conversion we will sin. But 1 John 1:8-10 shows Christians how to face their sins with God’s grace. This approach given by the Spirit is God’s psychology, not man’s. Chris­tians are to stand in God’s grace by walking in the light.

 

Are you a child of God who is heavily laden with guilt? Are you sin-worn and conscience-torn? In this passage the Holy Spirit will show you how to handle your sins triumphantly.

 

1. ADMIT IT TO YOURSELF(1 John 1:8, 10)

(1 John 1:8 NIV)  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

 

How do Christians try to cover up their sins? By telling lies! First, we tell lies to others (1 John 1:6). We want our Christian friends to think we are “spiritual,” so we lie about our lives and try to make a favorable impression on them. We want them to think that we are walking in the light, though in reality we are walking in the darkness.

 

Once one begins to lie to others, he will sooner or later lie to himself, and our passage deals with this (1 John 1:8). The problem now is not deceiving others, but deceiving ourselves. It is possible for a believer to live in sin yet convince himself that everything is fine in his relationship to the Lord.

 

Perhaps the classic example of this is King David (2 Sam. 11-12). First David lusted after Bathsheba. Then he actually committed adultery. Instead of openly admitting what he had done, he tried to cover his sin. He tried to deceive Bathsheba’s husband, made him drunk, and had him killed. He lied to himself and tried to carry on his royal duties in the usual way. When his court chaplain, the Prophet Nathan, confronted him with a similar hypothetical situation, David condemned the other man, though he felt no condemnation at all for himself. Once we begin to lie to others, it may not be long before we actually believe our lie.

 

But the spiritual decline becomes still worse: the next step is trying to lie to God (1 John 1:10).

(1 John 1:10 NIV)  If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

 

We have made ourselves liars; now we try to make God a liar! We contradict His Word, which says that “all have sinned,” and we maintain that we are exceptions to the rule. We apply God’s Word to others but not to ourselves. We sit through church services or Bible studies and are not touched by the Bible’s teachings. Believers who have reached this low level are usually highly critical of other Christians, but they strongly resist applying the Word to their own lives.

 

Facing our sin with God’s grace involves admitting that we sin. John says, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1:8). He also says, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1:10).

 

Two different tenses are used by the inspired writer in these two verses: the past and the present. The Christian is not to say he has “no sin,” present tense; neither is he to say he has “not sinned,” past tense. A denial of our sinful­ness is declarative. It impugns God’s integrity; it demonstrates the absence of truth in our lives; it indicates the existence of self-deception. Thus, an essential part of walking in the light is main­taining the conscious realization that we sin and need His grace.

 

Irenaeus, a Christian writer of the second century, wrote of religious people in his day who claimed to be without sin. They regarded their actions as separate from their spirits. Although their bodies engaged in sinful practices, their spirits, like gold when immersed in filth, re­mained unaffected. John is thought to be counter­acting the influence of people with similar views as he writes this letter to these early Christians. He pictures the obvious contradiction between God’s teachings and a Christian affirming he has no sin.

 

God does not want you to live in humiliation and despair; neither does He want you to live in arrogance and pride. He wants you to walk in the bright brilliance of His daily grace and eter­nal hope. But His grace is a reality only for those who recognize their need for it.

 

Can you say in all truthfulness, “I sin and need His grace”? A closed fist can neither give a blessing nor receive one. The first step in keep­ing our hearts open to God’s grace is admitting we sin.

 

2. ACKNOWLEDGE IT TO GOD (1 John 1:9)

Facing our sin with God’s grace also involves acknowledging our sins to God.

 

(1 John 1:9 NIV)  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

 

The Holy Spirit used the word “confess.” What does it mean to “confess”? Well, to confess sins means much more than simply to “admit” them. The word confess actually means “to say the same thing [about].” To confess sin, then, means to say the same thing about it that God says about it.

 

True confession of sin is ac­knowledging to God that we have come to see our sin as He sees it. Repentance and restitution are implied in this word. The confession of which John writes can only be made by lips which are moved by a heart which is broken by the sin and a life which has sought restitution for the sin. Apologies are made, contrition is felt, and genu­ine repentance is experienced—then, God is en­treated for forgiveness.

 

By its very nature, Christian living requires honesty regarding sin, a kind of honesty which is not always easy.

 

Confession is not praying a lovely prayer, or making pious excuses, or trying to impress God and other Christians. True confession is naming sin—calling it by name what God calls it: envy, hatred, lust, deceit, or whatever it may be. Confession simply means being honest with ourselves and with God, and if others are involved, being honest with them too. It is more than admitting sin. It means judging sin and facing it squarely.

 

When we confess our sins, God promises to forgive us (1 John 1:9). But this promise is not a “magic rabbit’s foot” that makes it easy for us to disobey God!

 

“I went out and sinned,” a student told his campus chaplain, “because I knew I could come back and ask God to forgive me.”

 

“On what basis can God forgive you?” the chaplain asked, pointing to 1 John 1:9.

 

“God is faithful and just,” the boy replied.

 

“Those two words should have kept you out of sin,” the chaplain said. “Do you know what it cost God to forgive your sins?”

 

The boy hung his head. “Jesus had to die for me.”

 

Then the chaplain zeroed in. “That’s right—forgiveness isn’t some cheap sideshow trick God performs. God is faithful to His promise, and God is just, because Christ died for your sins and paid the penalty for you. Now, the next time you plan to sin, remember that you are going to sin against a faithful loving God!”

 

Of course, cleansing has two sides to it: the judicial and the personal. The blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross, delivers us from the guilt of sin and gives us right standing (“justification”) before God. God is able to forgive because Jesus’ death has satisfied His holy Law.

 

But God is also interested in cleansing a sinner inwardly. David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Ps. 51:10). When our confession is sincere, God does a cleansing work (1 John 1:9) in our hearts by His Spirit and through His Word (John 15:3).

 

The great mistake King David made was in trying to cover his sins instead of confessing them. For perhaps a whole year he lived in deceit and defeat. No wonder he wrote (Ps. 32:6) that a man should pray “in a time of finding out” (lit.).

 

When should we confess our sin? Immediately when we discover it! “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Prov. 28:13). By walking in the light, we are able to see the “dirt” in our lives and deal with it immediately.

 

Look at your life through the pure, magnify­ing lens of God’s Word. Be honest about what you see. If you see sin against another, go to him with an apology upon your lips and penitence in your heart. If you see sin against God and God alone, go to Him in a prayer of repentance and resolution. We have power through Christ to win over sin, but we must face our sin by ac­knowledging it to God.

 

3. ACCEPT HIS FORGIVENESS(1 John 1:9)

One more step remains: We have not fully faced our sin with God’s grace until we have accepted His forgiveness. For the guilt of sin to be lifted by God’s love, it must be released to His love in my mind. John assures us that “He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1:9). But a gift is not a gift until it is received.

 

When His conditions are fulfilled, God is bound to forgive us by two attributes of His nature—His faithfulness and righteousness. He is faithful; He cannot break His word. He is righteous; He cannot wink at sin. His righteous­ness demands that sin be cleansed through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. When the conditions of that sacrifice are met, His righteousness in­sists that forgiveness be granted. His cleansing is complete and thorough, including “all un­righteousness.” If, therefore, we do not accept His forgiveness, we either doubt His trustwor­thiness or our fulfillment of His conditions.

 

The devil will not be dissuaded easily. He will try to block your obedience to the gospel. If he fails in this first battle, he will then attempt to make you useless as a Christian. If he fails in the second battle, he will seek to make you miser­able before God. He will work to make you feel lost, overwhelming you with doubts and fears.

 

Have you found it hard to accept God’s for­giveness? Check your fulfillment of His condi­tions. Is any part missing? After you are confi­dent concerning the conditions, focus on His faithfulness, not on your failures. Chase the doubts and misgivings away with the positive, clear assurances of God’s Word. Let His Word be the final word on your salvation!