can help us to test our own view of sin. And I think that's always something that's important
for us to consider. My attention was drawn this week to a relatively recent Barna Institute survey,
so that's a group that often kind of do surveys about sort of Christian belief. And this was a
survey done within Christian churches that revealed some striking, alarming things. Only 44%
of those who were surveyed, for example, believed that Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life.
52% believed it was possible to earn one's salvation by good works, says people, within churches.
And only 35% believed that God wants His people to be holy, that growing in holiness is something
that matters. What do those statistics reveal? Well, they certainly reveal error and confusion
about the person and work of Jesus. It also, in turn, reveals confusion about the reality of sin,
which in turn shows confusion about the truth that God's grace is and will always be the only basis
for the hope of salvation. But also, it reveals to us that the warnings of John's letter are warnings
that God's people always need to hear. So, the situation facing John, we thought about this a
little bit last week, he is confronting head-on some false teaching. There were some people in first
century Ephesus who were separating Jesus so that they said He was not fully God and fully man.
And one of the truths, the teachings that they were bringing related to that is that because the
spirit is more significant than the body and that Jesus never took on a body, they were teaching what
we do in and with our bodies actually doesn't matter. That holiness in life doesn't matter,
that it's about some kind of spirit connection. So, we come to this section of John's letter,
and what we're going to hear is him recording for us three false slogans that were being produced by
these false teachers, wrong answers to the problem of sin. And he's going to invite us to test our own
view of sin against a key statement, test their teaching against a key statement also, that God is light
in him that is no darkness. And then we're also going to discover from John God's response, God's answer
to the very real problem of sin in our lives, as we'll discover it centers on Jesus, who last week we
encountered as the Word of Life. But let's begin here in verse 5 with the test that John invites us to
apply. So, verse 5, this is the message we have heard from him and declare to you, God is light, in him
there is no darkness at all. So, John is bringing Jesus' message about God to the church. And in summary,
he says this is what Jesus would want us to know about God, God is light. Think about the property of
light. Light is always shining, it is always revealing. And when applied to God, it's saying
that God is always shining, revealing his purity, his holiness, his majesty, his perfection. And that's
the consistent message of the Bible. The book of Leviticus, we hear God say, be holy because I am holy.
In the prophet Habakkuk, he says, your eyes, speaking of God, are too pure to look on evil.
We could go to so many places and we would discover this God who is holy is other than us,
set apart from us. There's no contamination or impurity with God. And that has implications then
for how we live. Think about what Bob read for us from John chapter 3, that invitation to come to Jesus
to find life and to walk in the light. One of the problems was people were choosing darkness instead
of light. Later in John chapter 12, Jesus would say, walk in the light while you have the light,
so that you may become children of the light. It's an interesting idea. We become what we behold.
You'll look to Jesus as the one who is light and we will become more like him. But John is saying to us,
God is light, there is no darkness in God whatsoever. To consider God is to consider his intense,
perfect glory and beauty. John says, this is the message that we heard from Jesus. We're declaring to
you. Jesus, who we know never compromised on sin. Jesus who came as the only answer to sin.
And so as John is listening to false teaching, he wants the readers of his day and every day
to understand that it is foolish, indeed it is dangerous, to imagine I can have fellowship with
a God who is perfect light, but not seek to walk in the light of his truth and his holiness.
John is going to make plain that it's a denial of God's truth also to say that any Christian or any
church will not struggle with sin, will not need cleansing from Christ. And one of the false
teachings is that we've moved beyond that. We've reached a higher level. We've reached perfect. No,
we will always struggle with sin. We always need cleansing. And John's desire as he sets about with
this statement and then approaching these errors is to see a church who's walking in the light.
That's the language of verse 7. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with
one another and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin. This is what he wants for us,
to be a church who are walking in the light together. We're allowing God's glory and truth and God's
grace to shine on us, causing us to be honest about sin and causing us to delight in God's grace,
as the good news of the Lord Jesus also shines in the gospel. Because God is light and there's no
darkness in him. And remember, John has already told us that Jesus is fully God. So Jesus is light
and there's no darkness in him. He is the one who came to shine the light of God's glory and grace in
the world. Jesus is the one who came to take and to endure the darkness of sin and its judgment so that
we can take our sin into the light, so that we can live in the light, so we can have fellowship with God.
And so we need to be clear on the identity of Jesus and we need to be clear about the reality of sin.
And that's why he takes us to these lies that we need to reject from false teachings. So in verses 6
and 10, we're going to see three of them. But even before we get back into our text, I think we've seen
again this week that whenever there are significant debates going on, and it's just a feature of news
reporting nowadays that we'll hear these fact-checking claims and statements being made. Is that thing
that has just been reported, can it be verified? Are there statistics to back it up? Are there
time-stamped photographs that give proof of what's being reported on? And so John wants to fact-check
some slogans from these false teachers and to check them against what's true of God. If God is light,
does what they say about sin really stack up? And we'll see that it doesn't, and so we must reject
them as error. So there's three slogans. Here is the first one. It's here in verse 6. The first slogan
of these false teachers, we deny that sin breaks our fellowship with God. If we claim to have fellowship
with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But there were a group of
false teachers saying, this body, it's just like an envelope. The stuff that matters is what's inside.
What we do with our bodies and our body really doesn't matter. We can claim a pure spiritual
connection with God regardless of our behavior. That what we do in life is not going to affect the
fact that we can have fellowship with God. John says, it's nonsense. If we are walking in darkness,
and the imagery of walking, this is our habit, this is our pattern. If our direction of travel
is to go against the God who is light, it is impossible to still enjoy fellowship with God.
It is impossible, and we know this, for light and dark to mix. It is impossible to imagine we can have
fellowship with the God of perfect light and holiness if we are not being honest and dealing with our sin.
Again, we hear that all through Scripture. Psalm 5 verse 4, you are not a God who is pleased with
wickedness. That's really straightforward. Psalms 66, a personal reflection. If I had cherished sin in my
heart, the Lord would not have listened. Isaiah 59, here's what the prophet says.
Your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden His face from you so that He
will not hear. So, if we find ourselves saying, I don't need to go to the cross for cleansing.
I don't need to confess sin. If we say to ourselves, I don't need to worry about personal holiness.
If I believe that God's grace gives me a free pass to act however I want, John would say to us,
we're believing a lie. We're out of fellowship with God, and we're out of touch with reality.
That's the first slogan and John's response. Here's the second one. This is another thing the false
teachers were saying. They were saying, we deny that sin exists in our nature. Verse 8, if we claim to be
without sin, we deceive ourselves, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Think about that. Even today, when the sun was shining, one thing that we know about the light,
when it shines, it exposes. You clean your windows, the sun shines, and you see the smears that you
hoped weren't there. The sun shines, and the dust on your TV screen dances before your very eyes.
And that light of God that shines and exposes
shines a light on the sin, the impurity, the imperfections in our hearts and in our lives.
And so the teaching of these false teachers is clearly error, as they claim sin is no longer a
problem to us. We have gained a victory over it. John says, to think like that is to lie to ourselves
and to not have the truth. Even to think about some of the texts that we have considered recently in
church. To go back to the imagery of Genesis 4, God very clearly says to Cain, sin is like a wild
animal. It's like a predator. It crouches. It's ready to attack. If we say, there's no sin in me,
I don't have a problem with sin, we are already doomed. Isaiah 6. Think about the prophet's response
as he was exposed to the reality of God's majesty and holiness. It's not, here is one in an equal
measure with me. It's, woe is me, I am undone. Or the testimony of the apostle Paul in Romans 7,
speaking of that ongoing war within. And remember, he's an apostle. But he would testify, what I want to do,
I don't do. What I hate to do, because I know it's wrong, I do. Who will rescue me? Who will deliver me?
Think about Jesus giving us the Lord's Prayer, encouraging us to pray, forgive us our sins,
and lead us not into temptation. It is foolish, it is dangerous to deny that sin exists in our nature.
And actually, the real experience of mature believers runs contrary to this as well.
That the more that we are exposed to the reality of who God is, that the more we understand
of God's character, of His glory, of His holiness, the more we begin to see the extent of God's love
in contrast to our own lack of love, mature believers would testify often to being more aware
of personal sin as the years go by. To deny then that we battle sin in our nature
is a dangerous error. Because again, think about that practically. If I think my sin is not a problem,
I'm not going to go to Jesus for cleansing. Or I'm not going to ask the Spirit to help me to resist.
And we would miss the promise and the assurance of verse 9.
If we confess our sins, instead of claiming to be without sin, He is faithful and just,
and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. There's a wonderful promise,
a wonderful pardon that we will miss out if we deny the reality of ongoing sin.
There's a third slogan in here, a third error of the false teachers.
We deny that sin is seen in our lives. Listen to how John frames it in verse 10.
If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar. We make God out to be a liar,
and His Word is not in us. For John, this is the worst. This is the worst lie,
is to accuse God of lying if we claim, I am perfect. I don't have any form of sin problem.
What makes this so serious? Well, it simply goes against what God reveals in His Word.
Isaiah 53 is a wonderful promise of the gospel, but it speaks to the universal reality of sin. We all
like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way. Or Psalm 14, all have turned away,
all have become corrupt. There is no one who does good. To claim we have not sinned makes the gospel
of no value, makes God's Word out to be a lie. Because the gospel says that sin is so serious a thing,
that nothing less than the sacrificial death of the Son of God could forgive it.
But they say, I don't sin. For I don't need Jesus. I've reached perfection by myself.
How we think about sin matters because it will have implications for how we think about Jesus
and how we respond to the gospel. There's lots of wonderful stories told about Spurgeon,
a 19th century preacher down in London. Here is one of them. Spurgeon was having dinner with a man
who over the course of that time was clearly showing evidence of believing that theology that claimed that
he had now reached that higher level of perfection. He was done with the battle with sin.
And Spurgeon's wonderful response was to throw a glass of water in his face,
at which point the man had a rather angry reaction, revealing that sin was still lurking.
As Spurgeon put it, the old man in you is not dead. He simply fainted and could be revived with a cup
of water. John warns us. We can lie to ourselves about sin. And we lie to ourselves about sin when we take it lightly.
When we say, well, I am saved by grace, so how I live now doesn't matter.
We take sin lightly and we lie about it when we redefine it to make it seem and sound more acceptable.
When we minimize it. When we turn a blind eye and allow certain sins to become, to use Jerry Bridges' phrase,
respectable sin.
And that's why we need to take our view of sin and apply it to that test. God is light, no darkness in him.
He is pure, shining holiness.
And John wants to expose their wrong thinking.
So that, because he's a pastor and he cares,
he wants his readers then and now
to understand
the darkness of sin.
The danger of not dealing with sin.
So that we would understand our desperate need,
our ongoing need
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
and the purifying
that he brings.
So that takes us,
thirdly, to the true answer
that we need.
Okay, so
we've said this. Here's
John's statement. God is light.
God is pure and holy.
And he's making
clear by rejecting false
teaching that we are not pure and
holy, that we do sin.
But he says this as well.
We are called to live in the light.
And we're invited
into fellowship with God.
And we should be asking ourselves,
well, how is that possible?
God is perfectly holy
and we are not.
Light and dark cannot mix.
So how can this be?
God is perfectly
and we should be
the answer
The answer comes
not by trying to explain
away sin.
The answer comes
not by lowering the bar
of God's holiness.
Our response
isn't to hide away
in the darkness,
but it's to recognize
God's provision.
It's to understand
that God's answer
to the problem of sin
is His Son,
the Lord Jesus.
The Word of life
and the light of the world.
And so at the beginning
of chapter 2,
Pastor John wants to do
two things for us.
First of all,
he wants to strike
the right balance.
Have a look at verse 1.
He holds these two statements
in a kind of a tension.
So he says,
first of all,
I write this to you
so that you will not sin.
So John never wants
the church
to take sin too lightly.
He says,
here's my goal
that you do not sin.
That's the direction
he wants our life
to be heading in.
Okay?
We know that that
will only be true
for us in glory,
but it still sets
the direction of travel
for the Christian life.
That we are pursuing holiness.
We are pursuing obedience.
So he wants to make clear
that we don't take sin lightly,
but then as a pastor,
he doesn't want to be
too severe also.
Because immediately after,
he says,
but if anybody does sin,
we have an advocate
with the Father,
Jesus Christ.
So he says,
if we do sin,
recognize this,
rest in this,
trust in this,
God has graciously provided
the answer
to the problem of sin.
And this is our good news.
Having considered
the bad news,
the reality that actually
we do have a sin problem,
John then turns
to give us gospel.
That God has provided Jesus
as the answer
to our sin problem.
And this is good news
because it means
we can be honest.
We don't need to try
and hide our sin
to make ourselves
look or feel better
than we are.
We're not invited
to try and cover over our sin
or to try and turn over
a new leaf.
We're not to try
and fix it ourselves
because we simply cannot.
Instead,
we are to look to Jesus
and trust in Jesus.
And to help us with that,
he gives us three wonderful truths
about Jesus.
In quick succession,
and we need them all,
and it's a wonderful picture.
Here's the first wonderful truth
about Jesus.
He is our advocate.
If anybody does sin,
we have an advocate
with the Father,
Jesus Christ,
the righteous one.
So we're taken
into the courtroom.
Here is our advocate,
Jesus.
He comes alongside us
to plead our case.
He mediates for us.
He speaks to the Father
on behalf of his people.
And remember who Jesus is.
He is the God-man.
So having worked for us
on the earth,
John is saying,
Jesus now continues
to work for us in heaven,
pleading our case
on the basis of his
perfect, completed work.
Claiming his all-sufficient merit
as the basis why
people with faith
should be accepted.
And John wants to stress
how reliable Jesus is.
In a law court,
if we ever find ourselves
in trouble with the law,
doubtless we will want
the very best person
to represent us
if we are to get
the verdict that we desire.
And so John wants to tell us
who Jesus is,
this advocate for his people,
for those who trust him.
Notice how he describes Jesus.
So he is our advocate.
Secondly,
he is the righteous one.
See that there
at the end of verse one?
We have an advocate
with the Father,
Jesus Christ,
the righteous one.
And notice that John
calls him Jesus Christ,
wants to keep reminding us
he is fully God,
he is fully man.
This is the one
who has been anointed
to be God's appointed Savior.
And as fully God
and fully man,
he is righteous in his being.
God is righteous,
therefore Jesus is righteous.
He is the standard
of perfection,
and he never shifts
from that line
and that standard.
And you can read the Gospels
and you meet one
who is sinlessly perfect,
righteous in all his ways,
in all his words.
He was righteous
in his being,
he was righteous
in his life,
always doing
the Father's will,
always keeping
the Father's command.
His life given
as a perfect,
righteous sacrifice.
And again,
it reminds us
that getting the identity
of Jesus right matters.
Those 44%
of people polled
who didn't believe
Jesus was sinlessly perfect,
they can have
no assurance
that Jesus
is the basis
for their salvation.
We need to know
that he is
the sinless
Son of God,
that he is
the righteous one,
and as such,
he is perfectly qualified
to be God's answer
to the sin problem
and to be the one
who is the perfect mediator.
As God,
he represents God to us.
As man,
he represents us
before God.
But John's not finished
describing Jesus
as the true answer
we need.
He is our advocate,
he is the righteous one,
but he is also
our sacrifice.
Look at verse 2,
he is the atoning sacrifice,
the word there
is literally
propitiation,
for our sins,
not only for ours,
but also for the sins
of the whole world.
So this is our advocate,
and he is righteous,
and he is also
our sacrifice.
So the basis
for his plea
as our advocate,
when we sin,
what's our hope?
Is that Jesus,
our righteous one,
has completed
God's plan
of salvation
by way of offering
himself
as a perfect sacrifice.
We believe and trust
that the judgment
that should fall on us,
the wrath of God
that we deserve,
has been diverted,
been turned away from us,
and it's fallen
on the Son of God
instead of on us.
We believe and trust
that in Jesus
our sin
is paid for.
The substitute
has taken the penalty
for law-breaking.
That as he says
in verse 7,
the blood of Jesus
purifies
from all sin.
The effect
of Jesus' cross work
is that the stain
of sin
is cleansed
for those
who have him
as our righteous
advocate,
who trust him
as our sacrifice
dealing with our sin.
And so John
presents this statement
about Jesus
inviting the church,
inviting us to think,
isn't Jesus
a better answer
to the problem of sin
than denying it?
Than being overconfident
about our ability
to overcome it?
Isn't this a better answer
than rejecting
what is clearly true
because we see it
and we experience it
and we feel sin's sadness
and effects
in our lives?
It's the gospel.
This is better.
This is good news.
It reveals how deep
God's love is,
how deep
his grace
is truly.
God sees everything.
God sees everything
about us.
God sees the sins
that we try
and hide
from ourselves,
the sins
that we seek
to hide
from others
and yet,
when we are in Christ Jesus,
he loves us.
And because
the penalty
has been taken
and because
the righteous one
has given himself,
God can look at us
and be as pleased
with us
as he is
with his son,
Jesus.
When we are in Jesus,
we can walk
in fellowship
with our God.
The blood of Jesus
really does
cleanse us
from our sins.
And so the promise
of verse 7
is ours.
If we walk
in the light,
as he is in the light,
we have fellowship
with one another.
And remember,
John has already said
to have fellowship
with one another.
The foundation of that
is having fellowship
with God.
So we can walk
in the light,
the light of truth.
That for a local church,
for a body
of believers,
we can be a fellowship
honest about sin
and honest
about grace
as we enjoy fellowship
with the living God.
And notice
how John
closes.
He is the atoning
sacrifice
for our sins
and not only
for ours
but also
for the sins
of the whole world.
What is John
saying
about Jesus
there?
He is saying
that because
Jesus is
the eternal
Son of God,
His sacrifice
has eternal
virtue
and value
so it is
a sacrifice
that is
sufficient
for the whole world.
John
is not
saying
that everybody
in the world
is going to be saved
regardless of their
response to Jesus
but he is saying
Jesus
is a Savior
big enough,
great enough
for everyone.
So we can
confidently share
the gospel
with anybody
that we meet.
We can say
to them
believe in the Lord
Jesus
and you will
be saved
and your sin
will be
forgiven.
So the truth
about Jesus
the truth
about sin
the truth
about salvation
actually then
fuels our
mission
gives us
confidence
in sharing
the gospel.
In the first
century
there were
voices
beginning to
appear
even within
the church
saying sin
is no big
deal.
In the 21st
century
there are still
plenty of voices
even within
the church
saying sin
is no big
deal.
That's primitive
we're beyond
all that.
Holiness
is optional.
To believe
that is to
believe the lie.
What we need
is God's truth
that holiness
does matter.
It matters
to God
it matters
for our
lives
and because
that is true
the gospel
is good news.
It is God's
real answer
to our
real problem
and when
we believe
it
that all
our hope
of forgiveness
and being
right with
God
rests in
the Lord
Jesus
and his
finished work
then it
gives us
freedom.
It gives us
freedom to
confess
our sin
with that
assurance
that we
will be
forgiven.
It gives
us the
freedom
even to
communicate
hard truths
with a
sense of
hope
hope.
We can
speak to
people
about
the
serious
nature
of
sin
and
invite
them
to
trust
in
Jesus
with
hope
because
the gospel
is true
and we
have
freedom
as God's
people
to celebrate
God's
grace
as we
find it
in the
Lord
Jesus.
Let's
pray
together.
Lord
God
we
thank you
that we
come
before
the
God
who
is
light
that
there
is
no
darkness
in
you
whatsoever
that
you
have
not
will
not
cannot
sin
co
to
sense