Holy God, there's no one like you.
There's none besides you.
Open our eyes to see your wonder.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh upon us.
Melt us.
Hold us.
Fill us.
Use us.
God, give us a hunger for holiness.
For you are holy.
Spirit of God, would you do your loving, convicting work this morning.
And I pray that every sinner in the room would not fear your convicting work.
For perfect love casts out fear.
Pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
If you would open up your Bibles to 1 John chapter 1.
We're going to be looking at 1 John 1, 5 through 2, 2.
And I have left...
Nope.
I have left my introduction on my pew.
Have you ever felt like you've been taken for granted?
Maybe there's something that you uniquely contribute to your family.
Maybe you uniquely contribute something to your workplace or your school, your friend group, or maybe it's your church.
But that unique contribution goes unnoticed.
It goes underappreciated, undervalued.
You ever feel that way?
Do you think it's possible to take God for granted?
God's holiness.
God's holiness is his moral purity.
It's his moral brilliance.
It's his squeaky clean character.
That if you're in his presence, you will start to feel a little dirty.
God's like the sun.
And his moral brilliance shines bright.
And it exposes the darkness of sin.
Which is moral impurity.
Which is defilement.
Have you been taking God's holiness for granted?
Here's how you can know.
When was the last time you realized that some thought of yours that originated in you,
some feeling that came out of you,
that some word that shot out,
that some action or inaction
was actually a personal affront to your holy God?
When was the last time you realized that?
Or when was the last time you personally admitted to God himself
that some thing that came out of you,
that you are responsible for,
was sin against him?
Are you taking God's holiness for granted?
Jesus, who is fully God and fully man,
we learned that last week,
he is the incarnate eternal word of life.
Well, this Jesus shed his blood
so that sinners like us
can enter into a personal relationship
with a holy, brilliant God like him.
And that fellowship with God
is marked by joy,
and marked by hope,
and marked by clarity,
and marked by confidence.
There's peace,
and there's peace.
But sometimes it gets uncomfortable.
Because of the fact of the matter is,
we are still sinful,
brothers and sisters in Christ,
and we have come into a real relationship
with the holy God.
Here's what I'm going to argue this morning.
God's holy brilliance
will continually expose
our sinful darkness
and show us our need for Jesus.
God's holy brilliance
will continually expose
our sinful darkness
resident in us,
and it's uncomfortable,
and it shows us
our ongoing need for Jesus.
I want you to see that
from 1 John 1-5
through chapter 2, verse 2.
And we're going to make
this known,
I want to help you to see it
by two moves in the sermon.
The first move
is point number one,
one holy message,
and then the second move,
I'll tell you when we get there.
We're going to spend
the bulk of our time
in the second move.
God's holiness
will continually expose
our sinfulness
and show us our need for Jesus.
So, point number one,
one holy message.
Look at chapter 1, verse 5.
This is the message
that we have heard from Him
and proclaim to you
that God is light,
and in Him
is no darkness at all.
In verse 5,
you see the word we,
that's John the Apostle
speaking on behalf
of all the other apostles.
But he says,
I've got a message
I've been telling you.
This is a message
from all the apostles.
And I want you to see
who this message
is actually from.
This is the message
we have heard from Him.
Who is that?
Well, you go back up
in your Bible
to 1 John 1, 1-4,
and you realize
that the Him
is no other than
the incarnate,
eternal word of life,
the second person
of the Trinity,
the Son of God,
Jesus the Christ,
who this John writing
knew personally,
who this John writing,
He heard Him.
This John writing,
saw Him with His own eyes,
and this John
touched Him
with His own hands.
He, the guy writing this,
touched the resurrected body
of Jesus Christ.
Have you ever gotten
a letter in the mail?
And you're like,
how serious should I take this?
And so you look up
at the return address
and you're like,
ah, whatever.
You toss it.
If you're a child here
and you see that letter,
that note is from your grandma
or grandpa,
you're like thinking,
oh, this is going to be good.
You're like,
because it shows us
who the sender is.
The sender of the message
that John is about to tell us
is the incarnate,
eternal word of life,
Jesus Christ.
Which means the message
is really important.
What is this message about?
In 1 John 1.5,
we read what this message is.
That God is light
and in Him,
there is no darkness
at all.
In the Greek,
it's really interesting.
It's like saying,
there is absolutely
none,
none whatsoever
darkness in God at all.
God is light
and in Him,
there is no darkness
whatsoever
is describing
the truth
of God's character.
It's talking about
something that's true
of our God.
It's His holiness,
His moral purity
and it's being described
as a moral brilliance,
a light
in which there is
no darkness.
He's like the sun,
shining in holy brilliance.
If you come into
its presence,
you're going to become
aware of yourself,
your sinfulness.
If you flip back
in your Bibles
to Isaiah chapter 6,
if you're not too
familiar with it,
go right into the middle
of your Bible,
you're probably in the Psalms,
and then go right.
You start going right,
you come to Isaiah chapter 6,
and Isaiah chapter 6,
Isaiah is given
this vision
of God
high and lifted up
in the throne
of the temple.
and around
this God
are these angels.
They're called
seraphim.
They're flaming ones.
And with two wings,
they cover their eyes
and with two wings,
they cover their feet
and with two wings,
they fly
and these seraphim
are calling out
to one another,
holy,
holy
is the Lord
of hosts.
The whole earth
is full of His glory.
holy.
God
is right now
in heaven
being
exalted
for His
moral brilliance.
Three times.
There's no other
characteristic of God
spoken to God
repeated three times.
Just His holiness.
Unless you think
this is only an
Old Testament phenomenon,
if you roll
to Revelation
chapter 4
verse 8,
all of these
living creatures
are around the throne
in heaven
and they are calling
out to the one
upon the throne,
holy,
holy
is the Lord
God Almighty,
He who was
and is
and is to come.
So let me just
take a little sidebar.
God is not
bored
with His
own holiness.
When God
thinks about
His holiness,
He's not
kind of like,
not great,
my holiness.
He's not
disappointed,
His shoulders
don't drop
when He thinks
about His own holiness.
holiness.
He delights
in His own holiness.
He's like,
oh yeah,
holy,
holy is me.
So let's make sure
we know this.
God is happy
in His holiness.
It brings Him
great joy.
In fact,
He wants to bring
as many people
into this
shared joy
of His
moral
brilliance
as Christ's
blood can gather.
Sidebar two.
There is no
living creature
in the presence
of God
right now
who is
bored
or upset
with the holiness
of God.
Right now
in
heavenly glory,
all of the
occupants
of heaven
are focused
on the one
on the throne
and they are saying
holy,
holy are you.
God's holiness
is of
incredible value
to God
and to
all of the
angelic hosts
who
glory.
Nobody
in heaven
has taken
His holiness
for granted.
Look what
happens in
verse 5
in Isaiah 6
if you're still
there.
Woe is me
for I am
lost
for I am a
man of
unclean lips
and I dwell
in the midst
of a people
of unclean
lips.
Here we
have
this prophet
who is given
this vision
of God
in His
moral brilliance
and His
reaction
is
woe is
me.
He becomes
acutely aware
of His own
darkness,
His own
sinfulness,
His own
uncleanness,
His own
moral dirtiness,
His own
sinfulness
and His
response
should be
our response
to a holy
God.
This message
that we're
reading about
that John
is saying
is I
heard this
from Jesus,
God is
holy,
there's no
darkness in
Adam Hall.
This is
shining brilliance
that exposes
darkness
and what we
read in 1
Peter 1
16 is
this same
holy God
who says
I am holy
says to
all of us
you shall
be holy.
You shall
be holy
for I am
holy.
And what
we're reading
here is that
there's no
darkness in
God's character
whatsoever.
And then we
think about
ourselves,
right?
There is
resident
darkness in
me and
in you.
Each of us
has this
sinful nature
producing
sinful thoughts,
sinful feelings,
sinful speech
and actions
and sinful
inactions that
if we're being
completely honest,
we know they
grieve God
and we know
we should care
more about it.
If you're
taking God's
holiness for
granted,
you will be
taking your
own sin for
granted too.
But if you're
taking God's
holiness
seriously as
God himself
takes his
own holiness
seriously,
you will
begin to
take your
own sin
seriously.
And God
does too.
You see,
being in a
relationship with
a holy God
will expose
your sinful
darkness.
So let me
ask you this
question.
Is there a
particular area
of your life
that you know
is sinful
but you've
been rationalizing
it?
You've been
trying to
ignore God's
holiness in
light of it.
You've been
downplaying it.
You're like,
I'm like
everybody else.
It's kind of
like this.
You walk into
your bathroom
and there's
a couple
lights that
are out
around your
bathroom
mirror and
you look
yourself in
the mirror
and you're
like,
man,
you're a
good looking
guy.
And then
you replace
the bulbs
and it gets
really bright.
And then
you start
looking at
yourself and
you're like,
you're not
the beauty
I thought
you were.
Look at
that ugliness.
God's
holiness is
his brilliance
that will
expose our
ugliness just
like a
well-lit
bathroom
mirror.
How do
you respond
to that?
How do
you respond
to sin
in yourself?
What do
you do?
Well, that
brings us to
the second
point of the
sermon.
Two ways
to respond.
John is
very clear
in 1 John
1, 6
through 2, 22
there are
two ways
to respond
to your
sin when
exposed by
the holiness
of God.
In fact,
there are
two batches.
In
chapter 1,
6 through
2, 2,
there are
six if
statements.
But you
can group
them like
John does
into two
groups of
if statements,
two batches.
And the
first set
of if
statements
that we're
going to
look at
are the
response
that you
don't want
to do
in light
of God's
holiness.
It's when
you deny
your sin
and you
live a
lie.
Let me
show you.
Look at
verse 6
of 1 John
chapter 1.
Verse 6
says this.
If we say
we have
fellowship
with him
while we
walk in
darkness,
we lie
and do
not practice
the truth.
What this
batch has
in common
is that
they're all
different forms
of denying
one's
sinfulness.
And the
first one
we just
read is
a kind
of hypocrisy.
Being
two-faced.
Saying one
thing but
doing another.
You see it
right there
in the text.
If we
say we
have
fellowship
with him,
the God
of light
in whom
there's no
darkness
whatsoever,
if we
say we're
in a
relationship
with him,
a deep,
meaningful,
abiding
relationship
with him
and yet
we walk
in darkness.
We keep
on practicing
and giving
ourselves to
sin like
it doesn't
matter.
We don't
care.
That's
called lip
service
Christianity.
It's
hypocrisy.
And what
John calls it
at the end
of verse 6
is it's
a lie.
You're
not practicing
the truth
of God's
holiness.
You're
living a
lie.
And it's
confusing to
others who
are watching.
Back in the
90s,
DC Talk
released the
album
Jesus
Freak.
And one
of the
tracks is
called
What If I
Stumble?
And it
begins with
Brendan
Manning
saying this.
The single
greatest cause
of atheism
today is
Christians
who
acknowledge
Jesus with
their lips
but walk
out the
door and
deny him
with their
lifestyle.
This is
what an
unbelieving
world simply
finds
unbelievable.
Our
hypocrisy,
this living
a lie,
is not
only unhealthy
for us,
it's confusing
to everybody
else.
The second
if statement
in this
batch is
in verse
8.
Self-deception.
If we
say we
have no
sin, we
deceive
ourselves and
the truth
is not
in us.
So remember
where we
started, God
is light, he
is holy, in
him there's
no darkness
at all.
But if
you're saying,
I got no
sin in me,
no stick,
it's not
showing anything
out.
John says
you're deceiving
yourself.
You're
rationalizing
sin away.
And here
is the way
we do it.
You know
what, you're
right, I see
that too, but
you know
what, it's a
result of my
upbringing.
It's how I
was raised.
Or, you
know what,
that is, you're
seeing something
there, that's
true, but
you know
what, it's
because of my
genetic disposition
that I'm
inclined to do
that.
It's my
genes fault.
I'm going to
blame my DNA
on that one.
Or maybe it's
something like
this.
You know
what, I just
have kind of a
brash personality,
so I yell at
people and
demean them.
That's just
my personality.
me.
All of these
ways are
self-deceptive
ways to
not acknowledge
your sin.
There could be
an element of
truth to each
one, by the
way.
But certainly,
the way that
you were
raised is not
responsible for
your sinful
choices before
God.
certainly, your
genetic disposition
isn't responsible
for disobeying
God.
Your personality,
no matter how
shiny and
wonderful it is,
it is not
responsible for
you rejecting
God's glory and
His holiness.
You see, one of
the things about
sin you need to
understand is this.
Sin is by
nature deceptive.
your own sin is
going to try to
deceive you by
blaming anything
but you for
your wrongdoing in
God's sight.
Self-deception.
And that's not
even the doozy.
Look at verse 10.
I mean, this is
like doozy.
If we say we
have not sinned,
God is light in
Him and there's no
darkness at all.
If we say we
have not sinned,
we make Him a
liar.
And His word is
not in us.
You know, why
that doesn't sound
too bad?
Do you understand
what He's saying?
If I'm saying
I'm not responsible
for my sin, like
there's no sin in
me or I haven't
sinned, not only
am I deceiving
myself, I am
calling Jesus a
liar because it's
Jesus who first
spoke this message
that God is light
and in Him there's
no darkness at
all.
It's John heard
that from Jesus and
speaks to us today.
But even more
so, John also
heard Jesus say
this.
Check this out.
This is in Mark
chapter 7.
What defiles a
person, according
to Jesus, this is
Jesus speaking, what
defiles a person
comes from within.
Out of the heart
of man come evil
thoughts, sexual
immorality, theft,
murder, adultery,
coveting, wickedness,
deceit, sensuality,
envy, slander, pride,
foolishness.
All these evil
things, says Jesus,
come from within
and they defile a
person.
They make you morally
dirty in God's
sight.
According to Jesus,
we have a sin
problem and if you're
denying it, you're
calling Him a liar.
when you deny your
own sin, you're
accusing Jesus of
promoting falsehoods.
Jesus is wrong.
Certainly I'm not.
And when you do
that, when you deny
your sin, you're also
denying what Jesus
offers.
forgiveness,
cleansing,
life.
That's why John
says His word is not
in us.
If you deny it,
obviously His word
isn't functioning in
your life.
These three denials
show us how not to
respond to God's
holy brilliance.
don't do that.
But let's just say
you have a growing
awareness of your
own hypocrisy.
Let's just say
you're starting to
see your own
self-deception.
Or maybe perhaps
you have this lump
in your throat
saying, I think I
have called Jesus
a liar.
What do you do?
Well, you don't
deny it.
You acknowledge it.
You acknowledge it
to Him.
Thomas Watson,
the Puritan,
said,
till sin be
bitter,
Christ will
not be
sweet.
Let's look at
the sweetness.
The second
batch of
if statements.
And what they
all have in
common is not
denying your
sin and
living a lie.
They all
acknowledge your
sin and live
in gospel
truth.
When we are in
a relationship
with a holy
God, His
brilliance will
expose our
sinfulness
again and
again.
So we go to
Jesus again
and again.
So let me
show you this
batch of
three.
honesty.
The first
of these
three
acknowledgements
is in
verse 7.
It's a
humble
honesty.
But 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,
cleanses us
from all
sin.
This is a
picture of
walking with
God.
It's in
contrast to
being a
hypocrite.
Verse 6.
Don't be a
hypocrite.
No.
Walk in the
light.
Acknowledge your
sin.
Humbly,
honestly,
recognize your
sinfulness in
light of God's
holy brilliance.
Be honest with
God.
Be honest with
each other.
Don't deny your
sinfulness.
Honestly,
acknowledge it.
What we see
here is that
is actually
what fellowship
with God is
for 21st
century disciples.
ourselves.
It's not a
hiding of
our sin.
It's an
acknowledging of
our sin to
our great,
holy,
loving Father.
True fellowship
with God,
if we are
walking with
Him as He is
in the light,
extends to
being in
rich,
meaningful,
deep,
aimed
relationships with
others who
have been born
of God too.
true fellowship
with God and
others means
we're not
hiding our
sin from one
another.
Remember Genesis
3,
Adam and Eve
blew it,
God comes
walking in the
garden,
and they're
hiding from
God.
God finally
calls them
out,
and then they
blame each
other.
That's not
walking in the
light.
Walking in the
light means
being humbly
honest with
God,
open to Him,
yes,
that's sin too,
and not
blaming each
other,
helping one
another,
confessing our
sins to one
another,
helping each
other follow
this holy
God.
So maybe the
question becomes,
when was the
last time you
confessed your
sin,
not just to
God,
but to some
other believer?
Which is a
scary thought.
To be honest
about your sin
with someone
else,
it means taking
a risk,
but that's
exactly what
fellowship is.
Of risking
honesty about
ourselves in
light of God's
holiness.
Till sin be
bitter,
Christ will not
be sweet in
our fellowship
together.
This brings me
to the first
gospel reality,
the gospel
truth.
When we are
living this
way,
humbly honest
with God
and each
other,
we have
this assurance.
Look at the
end of verse
seven,
that the
blood of
Jesus,
his son,
cleanses us
from all
sin.
By living
that way,
it demonstrates
that you've
been truly
born of
God.
You belong
to him.
You're walking
in the light
with others
who are walking
in the light
too.
This
acknowledgement
ends,
results in
this gospel
assurance.
It's covered
by the
blood.
The next
acknowledgement
is in
verse nine.
It's
confession.
And it's
in contrast
to the
self-deception
of verse
eight.
If we
confess our
sins,
he's faithful
and just
to forgive
us our
sins and
cleanse us
from all
unrighteousness.
Instead of
rationalizing our
sin away,
we honestly
admit our
sins to
God.
That word
confession in
the original
language means
same word.
And what that
means is you
are calling
something in
your life what
God calls it.
You use the
same word for
it.
So some people
will say there's
a guy looking at
a girl and he'll
say something like,
well, you can
look but you
can't touch.
You know what
God calls that?
Lust.
And it's
sinful.
So in order to
confess our
sins, we need
to call these
sinful desires in
our hearts just
what God calls
them.
That's walking in
the light.
And there's a
great promise in
this.
If we confess our
sins, if we are
honest with God and
we're calling what
we're seeing as he
sees it, there's
this great promise.
He is faithful and
just to forgive us
our sins and cleanse
us from all
unrighteousness.
How is he
faithful?
He's being faithful
to his word.
Well, what do you
mean?
If we ask him to
forgive us, he will
faithfully forgive us.
Exodus 34, 7.
He's a forgiver of
sin and iniquity.
Jesus taught us to
pray in Matthew,
the Lord's prayer,
to tell our Father
in heaven, forgive us
our trespasses.
And so when we
confess our sins, he
is faithful to his
word to forgive those
sins.
You can bank on it,
but the question is,
on what basis?
How can he forgive my
sins?
He's just.
His justice, that is
outworking of his
holiness, comes into
play.
The reason why he can
forgive your sins is
because Jesus died on
the cross for your
sins.
It's been paid in full.
And he is perfectly
faithful and just,
based upon the finished
work of Jesus on your
behalf, to forgive you
and cleanse you again
and again and again.
sin, the grace pouring
from the cross, never
ends.
It's good news.
But we don't experience
this grace by hiding and
denying our sin.
It's by confessing it.
So instead of denying sin
in us, we confess our sins.
And we don't live a lie.
We actually are living in
gospel truth.
Experiencing ongoing
forgiveness and cleansing
that comes from the cross.
So do you need to confess
your sins to your Holy
Father?
Do you need to experience
once again his forgiving
mercy and grace and be
cleansed?
Go to him.
Tell him.
You don't need to fear
him.
He's inviting you.
The third acknowledgement
is at the beginning of
chapter 2.
It's 1 through 2.
And if verse 10 is the
doozy of the if statements
in that bad batch,
this is the doozy of the
gospel batch.
Look at verse 1 of
chapter 2.
My little children, I'm
writing these things to
you so that you may not
sin.
Make no mistake.
Be holy for I am holy,
says the Lord.
The goal is not to sin.
And he's got grace for us
to say no to temptation
when it shows its face.
But then look where John
goes.
And this is the sixth if
statement.
But if anyone does sin,
anybody interested?
If anyone does sin,
oh, I want to hear what
he's about to say.
We have an advocate with
the Father.
Jesus Christ, the righteous
one, the one who never
sinned.
He is your advocate.
What's an advocate?
Well, the Greek word is a
paraclete.
And it's used of the Holy
Spirit in the gospel of
John.
And it's only here that it's
used of Jesus Christ.
And what a paraclete is in
this context here, he's like
your ace defense attorney.
Every time you sin,
your advocate, the risen
Jesus, the incarnate,
eternal word of life,
fully God, fully man, is
taking up his advocacy for
you.
And he's interceding for you.
And he's saying, no, no.
No, no.
No wrath on that guy.
I've paid for him.
My blood has bore your wrath
for that sin.
That's what he's advocating.
And that's why that word
propitiation is very important.
If you look at verse 2, he is
the propitiation for our sins
and not for ours only, but also
for the sins of the whole world.
That word propitiation means
a forgiveness that comes
as a result of God's wrath
being satisfied by a payment.
And so, brother and sister
in Christ, one who's in
fellowship with a holy God,
who's regularly having your
sinfulness exposed,
Jesus is regularly making
his case for you.
He's advocating for you.
No, no.
I have paid your wrath.
I've borne your wrath
for that sin
at the cross
again
and again
and again.
We do not
deny our sinfulness.
We acknowledge it.
And we experience
the covering of his blood.
We experience
his forgiveness
and his cleansing.
And we experience
his advocacy
because he is our
propitiation
over and over
and over again.
You see,
by acknowledging your sin,
you live
in gospel
truth.
It's beautiful.
It's uncomfortable.
But that's how we live
for our Lord now.
We don't deny him.
We don't deny our sin.
We acknowledge it.
God's holy brilliance
will continually
expose our sinful darkness
and show us
our need for Jesus
over and over
and over again.
This is one
holy message.
God is light.
And in him,
there's no darkness
of all.
He's holy.
And there's only
two ways to respond.
Either deny your sin
and live a lie
or acknowledge your sin
and live in the gospel
truth through the blood
of Jesus.
Let me close
just by saying this.
In chapter 2,
verse 2,
we learn that
Jesus bore God's
holy wrath
not just for your sin
and my sin
but for the sins
of the whole world.
And what he means
by that is
he's offering
forgiveness and cleansing
from all the defilement
of sin
to anyone
who would call upon
the name of Jesus.
Anyone.
It's offers to all.
Anyone who would
confess your sins
to this holy,
loving God,
he offers you
forgiveness
and cleansing.
But he offers you
most of all
a relationship
with himself.
Think about it.
The holy God
seeking a relationship
with you
and he's made
a way
to deal with your sin
through the cross
of Jesus.
What would keep you
from becoming
part of his family?
So maybe today
is the day
for the first time
in your life
you admit
your sin
to God
and acknowledge
your sin
before him
and experience
life
in Jesus.
and now
not only do you
get to share
in his holiness
but in his happiness.
Let's pray.
God in heaven
would you
use these words
to find their mark
in our hearts
and to bring about
the intended effect
that only you
would have.
Father you are holy
and we are sons
and daughters
we want to be holy too.
Help us
Lord Jesus.
It's in your name
we pray.
Amen.