WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.919 So, our reading this evening, the passage that we're going to be looking at is from 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:16.260 the letter of 1 John, we're going to look at chapter one into the beginning of chapter 00:00:16.260 --> 00:00:18.940 two. 00:00:18.940 --> 00:00:25.560 And I think it's helpful to say beforehand that this is a difficult passage, or at least 00:00:25.559 --> 00:00:31.799 I find it to be a difficult passage, not because it's hard to understand, but because 00:00:31.799 --> 00:00:34.799 it is so searching. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:39.320 This passage makes really simple statements about the difference between true faith and 00:00:39.320 --> 00:00:41.000 false faith. 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:44.399 And even though ultimately John's goal is to convince his listeners that they really 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:50.120 do have eternal life, he can't do that without also admitting this other truth, this painful 00:00:50.119 --> 00:00:58.239 truth, that not everyone who calls themselves a Christian truly knows Christ. 00:00:58.239 --> 00:01:03.879 So there are hard words in this passage tonight. 00:01:03.879 --> 00:01:07.920 But here's what I think makes these hard words easier to receive. 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:13.239 It's remembering the person who wrote them and watching the way that he talks to his 00:01:13.239 --> 00:01:14.719 audience. 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:20.840 This is the apostle John who's writing, and we're fairly certain that he's writing this 00:01:20.840 --> 00:01:23.319 as a very old man. 00:01:23.319 --> 00:01:29.079 And as we read this passage, what I want you to notice is just in addition to how hard 00:01:29.079 --> 00:01:36.960 some of these truths are that he says, also listen to how clear it is that he loves the 00:01:36.960 --> 00:01:39.960 people that he's writing to so much. 00:01:39.960 --> 00:01:43.000 I think that'll be obvious when I read it. 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:49.159 And it's out of his deep love for the church and the people in that church that he's talking 00:01:49.159 --> 00:01:54.159 to that he's able to say hard things. 00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:58.799 And so I'm going to read this passage, but before I read, let's pray one more time that 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:01.519 the Lord would eliminate our hearts. 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:07.640 Heavenly Father, we are coming before Your Word, and we trust Your Word, and we believe 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:11.120 in Your Word, and we believe that it is true. 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:16.740 When we ask that as we read it, we would allow you to search our hearts and that Your Holy 00:02:16.740 --> 00:02:19.960 Spirit would work in us. 00:02:19.960 --> 00:02:25.719 And also that we would see the great love that You have shown us in Jesus Christ. 00:02:25.719 --> 00:02:34.680 So would You quiet our hearts, teach us to be students of Your Word, people who love 00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:38.920 to sit at Your feet and to hear what You have to tell us about eternal life? 00:02:38.919 --> 00:02:44.119 And we ask all this in Your Son's name, amen. 00:02:44.119 --> 00:02:54.959 So I'm going to be reading from 1 John chapter 1, verse 5, until chapter 2, verse 2. 00:02:54.959 --> 00:03:02.719 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaimed to you, that God is light and 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:05.599 in him is no darkness at all. 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:10.960 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:12.680 the truth. 00:03:12.680 --> 00:03:18.000 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:23.599 and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:29.319 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 00:03:29.319 --> 00:03:36.159 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:38.919 us from all unrighteousness. 00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:46.519 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. 00:03:46.519 --> 00:03:52.959 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. 00:03:52.960 --> 00:04:00.080 But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:06.480 He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the 00:04:06.480 --> 00:04:08.480 whole world. 00:04:08.480 --> 00:04:12.800 Amen. 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:16.920 So John loves the people that he's writing to. 00:04:16.920 --> 00:04:21.319 And you can see that in the way that he calls them little children, which is, it's not derogatory. 00:04:21.319 --> 00:04:25.719 He's not talking down to them, but Jesus is speaking as an old man and he must have been 00:04:25.719 --> 00:04:29.839 something like a grandfather figure to these people that he's writing to. 00:04:29.839 --> 00:04:34.680 He's writing to a much younger generation and for all we know, he has been watching over 00:04:34.680 --> 00:04:39.399 these believers for years and decades. 00:04:39.399 --> 00:04:45.240 And John is concerned because he sees members of the church that he loves going astray and 00:04:45.240 --> 00:04:50.560 believing things that aren't true and things that are so far from the gospel truth that 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:54.639 you can't even call them Christians anymore. 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:59.199 And John is telling his people, listen to me, if you abandon the truth that I delivered 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:04.720 to you in the gospel, you aren't just breaking your fellowship with me, which would break 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:06.160 my heart. 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:11.879 You're also breaking your fellowship with God who loves you so much. 00:05:11.879 --> 00:05:17.160 And what we have in these first few verses of this letter to John is John reminding the 00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:20.600 church what it means to live as Christians. 00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:25.960 And so to the extent that the people that John is writing to have somewhat departed 00:05:25.960 --> 00:05:31.800 from the truths that John taught them, this is John calling them home and to remember 00:05:31.800 --> 00:05:34.520 what they first believed. 00:05:34.520 --> 00:05:40.200 And so John's point in this passage is this, it's that our lives should reflect the fact 00:05:40.200 --> 00:05:44.280 that the gospel of Jesus Christ has changed us. 00:05:44.279 --> 00:05:50.239 And the way that John argues this is he says that the Christian life has certain habits 00:05:50.239 --> 00:05:53.239 of faith. 00:05:53.239 --> 00:05:58.839 There's things that Christians do simply because they're Christians that don't in and of themselves 00:05:58.839 --> 00:06:04.439 save us, but that nonetheless serve as evidence that we really do know the gospel and that 00:06:04.439 --> 00:06:08.239 the gospel has changed us to the core. 00:06:08.239 --> 00:06:12.079 And so what I want to do with the rest of our time this evening is talk through three 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:16.039 habits of faith that John teaches us this morning. 00:06:16.039 --> 00:06:23.199 These are things that John says must be true in every Christian's life. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:28.199 And the first habit of faith is this, walking in the light. 00:06:28.199 --> 00:06:31.279 That's a phrase that John uses in verse seven. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:38.079 And what John means is our character as Christians should reflect the character of the God that 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:41.639 we love and the God that we serve. 00:06:41.639 --> 00:06:45.279 And in verses five and seven, John gives a really simple metaphor to make this point. 00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:54.000 He says in verse five, God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 00:06:54.000 --> 00:07:00.479 And John saying, you see everything about God is bright and pure and clean. 00:07:00.479 --> 00:07:07.039 He is God is the highest form of beauty and truth and goodness. 00:07:07.039 --> 00:07:11.319 God is beauty and truth and goodness. 00:07:11.319 --> 00:07:18.360 You could search God forever and you would never find a stain or a shadow or a dimness. 00:07:18.360 --> 00:07:23.600 There's nothing bad or evil in God because God is unmixed goodness. 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:26.079 He is holy. 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:29.600 And John is making this logical deduction. 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:34.879 He's saying if God is light, if God is all those things that I just listed, then it must 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:40.139 be the case that anyone who knows him, who loves him, who has fellowship with him is 00:07:40.139 --> 00:07:42.319 also in the light. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:48.319 In other words, anyone who loves God will want to live in a pattern of love and truth 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:51.759 and justice just like God does. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:54.439 And John gets as direct as he could be here. 00:07:54.439 --> 00:08:01.680 He says in verse six, if we say that we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:05.240 we lie and do not practice the truth. 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:07.039 Wow. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:11.920 So apparently, and we have to make certain inferences here, apparently John has in mind 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:17.120 a group of people in the church or people who have left the church who claimed to have 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:20.320 a relationship with God and who claimed to love God. 00:08:20.320 --> 00:08:24.420 And yet they cared very little for anything God would have to say about the way they should 00:08:24.420 --> 00:08:27.800 live their lives, little to nothing at all. 00:08:27.800 --> 00:08:34.000 And John is saying, no, it is impossible to walk in darkness and to have a relationship 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:35.000 with God. 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:40.279 And you know, I said just a moment ago that John is using a metaphor here, but that's 00:08:40.279 --> 00:08:45.039 really my way of saying I can't think of a better word to use because this is more than 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:46.039 a metaphor. 00:08:46.039 --> 00:08:51.360 I mean, when you read the Bible, there are certain moments in history where God isn't 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:53.080 just compared to light. 00:08:53.080 --> 00:08:56.080 He actually appears as light. 00:08:56.080 --> 00:09:00.720 Think like at the transfiguration in the book of Matthew. 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:06.000 When Jesus is transfigured so that the disciples can finally see his true divinity shining 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:11.360 through, Matthew says his face shown like the sun. 00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:14.240 Or do you remember Moses? 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:20.879 When Moses is coming down Mount Sinai after having been with God, the scriptures say Moses's 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:28.360 face, because Moses drew close to God, when he came back down, his face actually glowed 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:30.200 because he had been in God's presence. 00:09:30.200 --> 00:09:36.240 It radiated light so bright that he had to wear a veil when he walked among the people. 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:40.240 And I think there's actually a connection here because John is saying, if you really 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:48.000 love God, if you know him, as you draw near to him, you cannot help but be changed by 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:49.040 God. 00:09:49.040 --> 00:09:52.400 You cannot help but walk in the light. 00:09:52.400 --> 00:09:55.520 And I hope you hear me say this correctly. 00:09:55.519 --> 00:10:01.079 John is not saying that if you want to become a Christian, you need to make sure that you're 00:10:01.079 --> 00:10:04.439 holy so that God will love you. 00:10:04.439 --> 00:10:07.399 This is a letter to people who are already Christians. 00:10:07.399 --> 00:10:12.879 And John is saying, my little children, if you have believed in the truth of the gospel, 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:15.720 the gospel will transform you. 00:10:15.720 --> 00:10:23.679 If the Holy Spirit is living and active in your souls, you will want to walk in the light. 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:27.159 That's not a command, that's a promise. 00:10:27.159 --> 00:10:30.399 And the reason that I can say it, like I did at the beginning of this sermon, that walking 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:37.359 in the light is a habit of faith is because walking in the light flows from faith. 00:10:37.359 --> 00:10:41.959 We can walk in the light only because we have been changed. 00:10:41.959 --> 00:10:48.079 In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul actually picks up on that metaphor of Moses' shining face. 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:56.280 And our paraphrase, what he essentially says is, we, like Moses, draw near to God. 00:10:56.280 --> 00:11:02.120 And when we draw near to God, God transforms us. 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:03.480 That is how we walk in the light. 00:11:03.480 --> 00:11:09.240 We cannot help but be changed when we come face to face with the God of the universe. 00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:12.640 And so walking in the light is not some rigid system of do's and don'ts so that we can make 00:11:12.640 --> 00:11:15.240 sure that we get into heaven. 00:11:15.240 --> 00:11:21.759 Walking in the light and obeying God's commandments is just a natural response to believing in 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:26.240 the gospel and seeing what the gospel has done in us. 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:31.480 And that's why when you read all of 1 John, and even when you see in our passage, the 00:11:31.480 --> 00:11:38.720 word fellowship comes up over and over again because what John really wants for his people 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:45.220 is for them to be in fellowship with God, to be in a relationship with God. 00:11:45.220 --> 00:11:50.639 And that places the whole context of this conversation in love. 00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:59.040 John is saying, if you love God, why would you not want to do the things that God loves 00:11:59.040 --> 00:12:01.519 and the things that please God? 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:07.480 If you love the God of light, why would you walk in darkness? 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:11.600 And this kind of faithfulness is something that should be pretty familiar to us in human 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:16.000 relationships, even though all of us oftentimes fall short of loving our loved ones like 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:18.200 we should. 00:12:18.200 --> 00:12:22.399 You will never hear a statement like this in a healthy marriage. 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:27.960 I wonder what's the least amount of love I can show this person and still technically 00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:30.800 be in a relationship with them. 00:12:30.800 --> 00:12:34.879 If you ever heard someone say something like that, you would say something is dangerously 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:36.519 wrong here. 00:12:36.519 --> 00:12:43.199 You might even say, if that's your idea of love, you do not know what love is. 00:12:43.199 --> 00:12:48.319 And yet so often, people, and sometimes we do this ourselves, we come to God wanting 00:12:48.319 --> 00:12:53.600 to know what's the least amount of affection, the least amount of love and obedience that 00:12:53.600 --> 00:12:59.799 I have to show you for me to still technically be in a relationship with you. 00:12:59.799 --> 00:13:06.120 How many steps can I take into the darkness and still have fellowship with the light? 00:13:06.120 --> 00:13:11.759 And those kinds of questions would make no sense to John because John is saying, if you 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:18.759 love God, wouldn't you want to pursue righteousness because God is righteous? 00:13:18.759 --> 00:13:25.039 Wouldn't you want to love your neighbor if you love the God of love? 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:30.000 And so all that to say to summarize this point, I think it would be a tragic error for us 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:36.840 to read John as an angry old man who's trying to catch people making mistakes and show how 00:13:36.840 --> 00:13:39.200 much better he is than everyone else. 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:44.399 I don't think John stayed awake at night wondering whether Christians were sinning 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:47.200 and he didn't know about it. 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:51.759 What I think might have kept John awake at night was wondering this. 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:58.000 Does my flock, do these people that I have loved for so long, do they know how much God 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:00.799 loves them? 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:05.080 Do they know how much he gave to save them from their sins? 00:14:05.080 --> 00:14:09.039 Because if they did, they wouldn't want to walk in darkness. 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:13.000 They would run to the light and they would rejoice in the light. 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:14.120 They would love. 00:14:14.120 --> 00:14:16.639 They would love as God loves. 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:20.039 So walking in the light does not save us from our sins. 00:14:20.039 --> 00:14:23.519 And John isn't saying, this is what you must do to become a Christian. 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:29.399 What it is, is evidence that we have seen for ourselves the love of Jesus Christ and 00:14:29.399 --> 00:14:31.279 that that has changed us. 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:35.559 So that's one habit of faith that John gives us, walking in the light. 00:14:35.559 --> 00:14:42.559 And then in verses 8 to 10, John gives us a second habit of faith, walking in repentance. 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:45.519 And this follows naturally from what John said before. 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:49.919 John has told us it makes absolutely no sense for a Christian to walk in darkness. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:53.079 It makes no sense for a Christian to sin. 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:56.800 And John has, if you read this whole letter, John has pretty strong words where he'll essentially 00:14:56.800 --> 00:15:01.920 say, listen, Christians do not and should not sin. 00:15:01.920 --> 00:15:04.400 And you immediately want to qualify that. 00:15:04.400 --> 00:15:06.600 It's so tempting to just jump in and immediately qualify it. 00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:15.840 But I think it's helpful to just let that sit for a moment and remember just how reasonable 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:20.720 it is that God would ask us not to sin. 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:25.639 Because when God asks us not to sin and when God asks us to pursue righteousness, all he's 00:15:25.639 --> 00:15:28.720 really asking us is to do things like this. 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:31.399 Be who I made you to be. 00:15:31.399 --> 00:15:36.920 Choose light and not darkness and choose life and not death. 00:15:36.920 --> 00:15:41.360 And yet so often we portray God's commandments as unreasonable when all he's ever saying 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:48.960 is everything that I have asked of you has only ever been for your good. 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:50.960 But there is a qualification that John gives. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:55.600 He says, you're called to walk in light, but we all know from experience and we know from 00:15:55.600 --> 00:16:00.639 Scripture that all of us, even as we try to walk in light, we stumble and we fall and 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:01.639 we sin. 00:16:01.639 --> 00:16:11.440 And John recognizes that. 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:14.800 Becoming a Christian doesn't make us perfect people. 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:19.599 And what John says is part of the Christian life is actually admitting that we are sinners 00:16:19.599 --> 00:16:21.759 regularly. 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:23.240 And you see this in verse eight. 00:16:23.240 --> 00:16:28.240 John essentially says, anyone who says that they don't sin is a liar. 00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:31.399 Again, hard words. 00:16:31.399 --> 00:16:34.719 And when John says anyone who says they don't sin is a liar, there's several people he 00:16:34.719 --> 00:16:36.919 could have in mind. 00:16:36.919 --> 00:16:39.240 What kind of person would say I don't sin? 00:16:39.240 --> 00:16:44.519 And it could be that he's talking about people who are, think that they have become so 00:16:44.519 --> 00:16:49.000 righteous that it's actually almost no longer possible for them to sin. 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:54.519 Or he could be talking about people who their idea of sin is really bad, what they would 00:16:54.519 --> 00:16:58.120 consider to be really bad things like maybe theft and murder. 00:16:58.120 --> 00:17:02.279 And they would say, well, I don't, I don't sin because I don't do those kinds of things. 00:17:02.279 --> 00:17:09.519 Or it could be because what's more common is he could be talking to people who just 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:12.960 don't think about sin as a term of their daily lives. 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:16.440 They don't describe themselves as sinners. 00:17:16.440 --> 00:17:21.440 And in that sense, they just, they just wouldn't acknowledge the idea that they sin. 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:24.640 And what John is saying could apply to all these categories. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:26.680 And here's what John says to all of them in verse eight. 00:17:26.680 --> 00:17:36.240 He says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:41.200 But that means that the Christian life is lived in this kind of tension, isn't it? 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:46.080 You know, on the one hand, we want so desperately to walk in the light and we're called to walk 00:17:46.080 --> 00:17:48.039 in the light. 00:17:48.039 --> 00:17:54.480 And yet sometimes, oftentimes we stumble and we hate the things we do. 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:59.960 You know, so often we sin against the God that we love so much. 00:17:59.960 --> 00:18:02.080 And John recognizes that pain. 00:18:02.080 --> 00:18:06.720 He recognizes that tension and he doesn't leave us there with the tension. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:07.920 He tells us what to do. 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:15.360 He says in verse nine, he says, when you sin, verse nine, if we confess our sins, God is 00:18:15.360 --> 00:18:23.440 faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:27.440 And what I want you to notice is there's actually, there's two aspects of confession here. 00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:32.600 There's a human aspect and there's a divine response, a human act and a divine response. 00:18:32.600 --> 00:18:35.920 The human act is we confess our sins to God. 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:40.960 And it's clear from the context that John isn't just saying confession is just saying 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:43.920 your sins out loud. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:47.960 What John has in mind here is something that you might call true repentance. 00:18:47.960 --> 00:18:53.120 God wants us to acknowledge our sins to him so that we might turn away from them. 00:18:53.120 --> 00:18:57.800 You know, we bring our sins to God and we say, God, this is what I have done. 00:18:57.800 --> 00:19:02.759 I am so sorry and I never want to do this again. 00:19:02.759 --> 00:19:04.080 And that's what repentance is. 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:08.000 It's an active turning away from our sins and turning to God. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:12.559 And as you read all of scripture, that's what the Bible calls us to do with every sin that 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:14.919 we find in our lives. 00:19:14.919 --> 00:19:19.159 I'd argue that maybe there's only, there should really only ever be two kinds of sin in the 00:19:19.159 --> 00:19:21.279 life of a Christian. 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:26.279 Sins that we have put to death and sins that we are putting to death. 00:19:26.279 --> 00:19:30.879 And maybe you could add a category for sins that we're just blind to right now and we 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:34.960 hope that God will reveal to us our own errors and that God will search our hearts. 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:40.800 But what you don't find in the Christian life is a category for acceptable sins or respectable 00:19:40.800 --> 00:19:43.480 sins. 00:19:43.480 --> 00:19:50.040 We handle all of our sins by confessing them to God and by putting them to death. 00:19:50.040 --> 00:19:55.440 A couple years ago, I was on a road trip and my wife called me as panicked as I have ever 00:19:55.440 --> 00:20:03.000 heard her and she explained her situation to me, which was that while she was at home 00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:09.400 eating lunch with my one year old daughter, a snake had slid under the kitchen table. 00:20:09.400 --> 00:20:12.559 And so from what I can understand, they had both crawled on top of the table and she was 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:15.640 calling me trying to figure out what do we do now? 00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:23.400 And you know what I didn't say to her was, Carly, I wish you would stop overreacting. 00:20:23.400 --> 00:20:27.160 And I didn't say to her, Carly, this is not that big of a deal. 00:20:27.160 --> 00:20:31.400 What I did was I immediately got on the phone and called all of our neighbors trying to 00:20:31.400 --> 00:20:34.120 find someone who could come over and help. 00:20:34.120 --> 00:20:39.519 And the reason is because my wife and I were working under the same assumption, which is 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:44.320 that there's no acceptable level of snakes in our house. 00:20:44.320 --> 00:20:50.800 And yet how much more dangerous does the Bible say that our sin is than something like a 00:20:50.800 --> 00:20:53.160 snake is? 00:20:53.160 --> 00:21:00.720 Remember in Genesis chapter four, when Cain got so angry and God comes to him to warn him 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:02.400 about his anger. 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:10.200 And one of the things that God says to Cain is Cain, sin is crouching at your door and 00:21:10.200 --> 00:21:15.480 its desire is for you, but you must rule over it. 00:21:15.480 --> 00:21:19.960 So right at the beginning of all of the scriptures, God is coming to Cain and warning him and 00:21:19.960 --> 00:21:26.279 he's comparing sin to a lion and he says, sin is like a lion and it wants to devour 00:21:26.279 --> 00:21:28.920 you and you must kill it. 00:21:28.920 --> 00:21:33.640 And I wonder if that's where the old Puritan John Owen got his famous phrase, be killing 00:21:33.640 --> 00:21:37.640 sin or sin will be killing you. 00:21:37.640 --> 00:21:42.240 But the point is the normal healthy Christian life is covered with repentance. 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:46.200 It's not that we say we have no sin, it's that we say that we do have sin and we are 00:21:46.200 --> 00:21:50.759 constantly bringing it to God and confessing it to God and turning from it. 00:21:50.759 --> 00:21:53.759 And look at the promise that John gives us. 00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:56.840 Look at the divine response to our confession. 00:21:56.840 --> 00:22:04.440 He doesn't say if we confess our sins, maybe God will forgive us or if we confess our sins, 00:22:04.440 --> 00:22:07.319 maybe God will give us one more chance. 00:22:07.319 --> 00:22:15.000 What he says is if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.640 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:24.240 You see, God promises to forgive us of our sins when we confess them to him, but he doesn't 00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:26.480 stop there. 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:29.240 He says he will also cleanse us. 00:22:29.240 --> 00:22:32.640 And this picks up a line that I jumped over and I skipped in verse seven where he also 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:39.920 says where John says the blood of Jesus, his son cleanses us from all sin. 00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:43.079 God doesn't just forgive us of our sins. 00:22:43.079 --> 00:22:47.039 When we repent, he is actively cleaning our hearts. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:50.919 He is working in our repentance. 00:22:50.919 --> 00:22:53.359 There's real change there. 00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:59.079 And I think we need this promise because I wonder if you've ever found yourself confessing 00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:05.359 a sin to God and even as you were confessing it, you had this sense of hopelessness and 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:09.960 you were wondering how could I ever defeat this sin? 00:23:09.960 --> 00:23:13.680 How could I ever keep this sin from coming back? 00:23:13.680 --> 00:23:19.920 And in those moments, it's so good to remember where the emphasis in verse nine is. 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:25.960 John says confess your sins to God and watch what he will do. 00:23:25.960 --> 00:23:30.039 In our battles against sin, John says we are never alone. 00:23:30.039 --> 00:23:34.559 God is working and he is cleansing our hearts. 00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:39.920 And just as one last aside before I move on to our final point, he doesn't quite say 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:43.960 it explicitly, but there's a truth here. 00:23:43.960 --> 00:23:49.160 There's a warning that if we are Christians and we're not confessing our sins with some 00:23:49.160 --> 00:23:53.759 frequency, that's a sign of danger. 00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:59.039 And based on the logic of what John says here, I think there's two reasons why a Christian 00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:04.660 might fall into a pattern of not confessing their sins. 00:24:04.660 --> 00:24:09.400 One reason could be because we begin to lose the gravity of our sins and we don't take 00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:11.880 them very seriously. 00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:16.000 And so we stop confessing them and essentially without even realizing it, we're denying 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:18.000 that we have sin. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:21.920 But another reason why we may stop confessing our sins to God is because we are actually 00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:28.280 so overwhelmed with our own sinfulness and we think there is no way that God could work 00:24:28.280 --> 00:24:29.780 in this. 00:24:29.780 --> 00:24:35.600 I have asked for forgiveness too many times for him to forgive me now. 00:24:35.600 --> 00:24:39.360 And the gospel says neither of those opinions are true. 00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:45.279 The gospel says yes, your sins are real and yes, your sins are so dangerous. 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:51.319 But then the gospel takes our hand and it points us to the God who is faithful to cleanse 00:24:51.319 --> 00:25:01.119 us and to forgive us of our sins so that we no longer have to walk in fear and shame. 00:25:01.119 --> 00:25:05.279 So John is giving us this portrait of a genuine Christian life and he gives us all these different 00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:07.319 habits of faith. 00:25:07.319 --> 00:25:11.319 And you see you've got this habit of Christians are called to walk in the light and we're 00:25:11.319 --> 00:25:14.480 called to walk in forgiveness. 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:20.240 We're called to both reflect God's character and to confess our sins when we go astray. 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:25.639 And the last habit of faith that John shows us in this passage is he says Christians 00:25:25.639 --> 00:25:29.079 are called to walk in grace. 00:25:29.079 --> 00:25:34.919 And this is the foundation for everything that I've said before, for everything that 00:25:34.920 --> 00:25:41.160 John has said before, and John is really assuming that this is our foundation as we had read 00:25:41.160 --> 00:25:44.120 through everything that he had already talked about. 00:25:44.120 --> 00:25:48.360 And I want to read again what he says in chapter two verses one and two. 00:25:48.360 --> 00:25:53.640 He says my little children, my little children, I am writing these things to you so that you 00:25:53.640 --> 00:25:56.400 may not sin. 00:25:56.400 --> 00:26:01.920 But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteousness. 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:07.440 He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the 00:26:07.440 --> 00:26:12.440 whole world. 00:26:12.440 --> 00:26:19.400 At the heart of the Christian life is this historical fact that Jesus Christ went to 00:26:19.400 --> 00:26:24.240 the cross and died to save us from our sins. 00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:29.600 Now, of course, the main reason why those verses that I just read are so meaningful 00:26:29.599 --> 00:26:35.119 to me and why I'm sure they would be so meaningful to you is because they're true and because 00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:36.879 we believe in them. 00:26:36.879 --> 00:26:40.959 Jesus really is our advocate who suffered what our sins deserved so that we did not 00:26:40.959 --> 00:26:42.919 have to. 00:26:42.919 --> 00:26:50.639 But there's another reason why I find these verses particularly moving here in this passage 00:26:50.639 --> 00:26:52.480 and in this letter. 00:26:52.480 --> 00:26:56.599 And it's because I remember who is speaking. 00:26:56.599 --> 00:27:02.159 These are the words of John the apostle, an eyewitness to the truths that he is writing 00:27:02.159 --> 00:27:04.159 about. 00:27:04.159 --> 00:27:10.559 So much theological doctrine that we know and that we trust in and believe in and rejoice 00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:11.559 in. 00:27:11.559 --> 00:27:14.799 John also believed in and rejoiced in. 00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:23.519 But John also saw and he heard and he touched those doctrines that we believe in. 00:27:23.519 --> 00:27:27.039 And when you read, especially at the beginning of the letter in verses one through four, 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:28.960 that's the foundation for everything that he says. 00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:34.000 He's always telling his people, everything that I am telling you is not just a fact. 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:37.079 It's something that I saw with my own eyes. 00:27:37.079 --> 00:27:44.180 You know, John, John was a witness to the work of Jesus Christ to the very end. 00:27:44.180 --> 00:27:48.079 He followed Jesus all the way to the cross. 00:27:48.079 --> 00:27:55.679 And as far as we know, he's the only disciple who stood by Jesus at the crucifixion. 00:27:55.679 --> 00:28:04.240 John stood beneath the cross and he saw the nails and he saw Jesus's grief and his anguish. 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:08.759 He heard Jesus cry out in agony to his father. 00:28:08.759 --> 00:28:15.199 And we know from the gospel of John that Jesus actually spoke to John from the cross. 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:21.160 That's how close John must have been physically to the crucified Christ. 00:28:21.160 --> 00:28:28.880 And John probably even heard with his own ears, Jesus cry those last words, it is finished. 00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:34.960 And so this whole letter has to be understood realizing that everything that John is writing 00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:43.600 here is the product of years and decades of reflection on that one day and that one single 00:28:43.599 --> 00:28:49.719 event around which his whole life soon revolved. 00:28:49.719 --> 00:28:55.839 And you know, I wonder at what point John fully grasped the fact that as he was watching 00:28:55.839 --> 00:29:03.679 Jesus dying on the cross, he was watching his own sins being atoned for. 00:29:03.679 --> 00:29:11.240 And that God in this awful, severe mercy was allowing him to literally see with his own 00:29:11.240 --> 00:29:16.440 eyes the cost of his sins. 00:29:16.440 --> 00:29:21.920 I wonder when did John finally realize the weight of his sins? 00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:23.559 I don't know. 00:29:23.559 --> 00:29:30.120 But I do know this and I know that John knew this, that the whole time that Jesus was on 00:29:30.120 --> 00:29:39.680 the cross, Jesus was loving John. 00:29:39.680 --> 00:29:47.080 At no point did Jesus look down from the cross in condemnation and say, look what your sins 00:29:47.080 --> 00:29:55.440 have done, John, because that was never the final message of the cross. 00:29:55.440 --> 00:30:02.279 The final message of the cross to John and to you and to me is not look what your sins 00:30:02.279 --> 00:30:03.799 have done. 00:30:03.799 --> 00:30:08.560 It's Jesus saying, look what I have done with your sins. 00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:10.679 I have nailed them to a tree. 00:30:10.679 --> 00:30:13.319 I have crucified them. 00:30:13.319 --> 00:30:20.259 And now you are free to walk in the light and to have no fear of condemnation. 00:30:20.259 --> 00:30:29.159 And that is why John calls Jesus our advocate, because everything he did in life and in death 00:30:29.159 --> 00:30:32.000 was for us. 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:37.639 He is the one who goes to the throne room of God and he says, these are my people and 00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:43.080 they can no longer be condemned because I have paid their debt and my blood covers all 00:30:43.080 --> 00:30:45.000 of their sins. 00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:48.880 And what I love about John is that he's not stingy with this love. 00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:55.000 He doesn't brag about how close he was to Jesus because his whole point is everything 00:30:55.000 --> 00:31:00.120 that I have found in Jesus Christ is offered to anyone who would receive it. 00:31:00.120 --> 00:31:05.360 That's why John says Jesus is not just the propitiation for our sins, but also for the 00:31:05.359 --> 00:31:08.059 sins of the whole world. 00:31:08.059 --> 00:31:13.559 Jesus is saying this hope of the gospel is held out to anyone who would come to believe 00:31:13.559 --> 00:31:16.000 in Jesus Christ. 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:22.159 And that is the message that John thought it was worth a lifetime proclaiming. 00:31:22.159 --> 00:31:26.839 So that's the last habit of faith, walking in grace. 00:31:26.839 --> 00:31:29.759 And ironically it's the first habit of faith, isn't it? 00:31:29.759 --> 00:31:36.640 The Christian journey begins and it begins each day by looking to Jesus, the one who 00:31:36.640 --> 00:31:42.640 the book of Hebrew calls the founder and the perfecter of our faith. 00:31:42.640 --> 00:31:49.799 And we remember that whatever today holds and whatever Monday holds, we have an advocate. 00:31:49.799 --> 00:31:54.359 We have a helper and a friend who will never leave us. 00:31:54.359 --> 00:32:01.599 And through the power of the gospel and through the power of the Holy Spirit, our advocate, 00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:10.519 Jesus Christ invites us to walk with him every day in the light as he is in the light. 00:32:10.519 --> 00:32:17.639 Let's pray. 00:32:17.639 --> 00:32:21.799 Heavenly Father, you showed John things that he could hardly comprehend. 00:32:21.799 --> 00:32:29.599 A love so great that he spent the whole rest of his life standing in wonder of it. 00:32:29.599 --> 00:32:35.359 And we pray that as we go home and consider these words that you would remind us of your 00:32:35.359 --> 00:32:40.440 great love for us and that your burden is easy and your yoke is light. 00:32:40.440 --> 00:32:46.639 Heavenly Father, would you teach us to walk in the light, to repent of our sins, and when 00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:53.640 we fall, to look to Jesus, to remember his great love for us and to live in the grace 00:32:53.640 --> 00:32:55.759 of Jesus Christ. 00:32:55.759 --> 00:32:57.160 In your son's name we pray. 00:32:57.160 --> 00:33:16.720 Amen.