If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and
just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we
claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no
place in our lives.
My dear children, I write this to you so that you
will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in
our defence—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the
atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of
the whole world. ( The Bible, 1 John 1:8 — 2:2)
We do not like to think about sin (the wrong
things you think, say, and do). In fact, sin is not a very popular word these
days. It never has been. People like to ignore it.
Television specials are aired with commentators
asking questions like "What would make a teenager take a gun to school and
shoot his teachers and classmates?" We explore countless answers to this
question, except the one we do not like to mention – sin. Human
depravity. The evil that lurks in the human heart.
We do not like to admit to that. Someone once said, "The deadliest sin is
the consciousness of no sin."
Why is it that we do not want to be honest about
sin? Well, one reason could be that we are so committed to doing it. We human
beings like to sin! In fact, sin is even encouraged in our society. This is, in
fact, a Satanic strategy. Satan tells people that sin
is fun. Consequently, rather than deal with sin people choose to deny sin. It
is the choice of self-deception. Otherwise we would have to face the fact that
there are some very real consequences to sin. In fact, there are eternal
consequences, and we do not like to think about that.
Let me ask you a question. What do you do with
sin? John, in our text, tells us that there are really only two options
available to us. We can either deny it or deal with it.
If We deny it
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us…If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him
(God) out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. (The Bible, 1 John
1:8,10)
Denial is a popular choice. We like to deny the
existence of sin, or the impact of sin, or the degree of sin, or the consequences
of sin. We do not like to admit that we do bad things because it is our nature
to do them. We would rather claim to be without sin. This is the claim of the
person that does not believe he has a sinful nature. It reminds me of the story
of the scorpion and the turtle.
A scorpion, being a very poor swimmer, asked a
turtle to carry him on its back across the river. "Are you mad?"
exclaimed the turtle. "You’ll sting me while I am swimming and I’ll
drown." "My dear turtle," laughed the scorpion, "If I were
to sting you, you would drown and I’d go down with you. Now where is the logic
in that?" "You’re right," cried the turtle. "Hop on."
The scorpion climbed aboard and halfway across the river gave the turtle a
mighty sting. As they both sank to the bottom, the turtle, said, "Do you
mind if I ask you something? You said there is no logic in your stinging me.
Why then did you?" "It has nothing to do with logic," the
drowning scorpion replied, "It’s just my nature."
While we do not like to admit it, it is our
nature to sin. The Bible, in fact, teaches that all of us were born with a
sinful nature. Because of our sinful nature, we then commit sins. But we do not
like to think that we are really affected. So, we deny our sinful
natures, and deny even the sins themselves. By that I mean we deny that sins
are really sins. We call them mistakes. Abortion is a women’s right to chose.
Adultery is an affair. A lie is bending the truth. Sexual perversion is sexual
orientation. Prejudices are convictions. Others are lazy, we are just busy.
Others have pride, we have self-respect. These things may be character flaws,
but they are certainly not sins, are they?
The result of denying sin is self-deception and
falsehood. This is what our text tells us – we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. Another result is that we insult God. Our text says
that we make Him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
When we reject God’s word, we reject Him. Finally, the result of denying sin is
eventual judgment and condemnation.
You see, when we deny sin we reject Jesus.
Jesus came to save us from our sins. He is the great physician. If you never
admit that there is something wrong with you, you will never go to the one who
has the cure. If you are not sick, why do you need a physician? If you have no
sin, why do you need a savior? You do not need forgiveness if you have never
done anything wrong. The problem is, when we deny the sickness, we die from it.
When we deny our sin, we will eventually be judged for it.
If We Confess it
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (The Bible, 1 John
1:9)
The alternative to denying sin is to deal with
it. How? Here is the secret of dealing with your sins. God has made a way out.
Through Jesus Christ our sins can be dealt with. He is the one who speaks to
the Father in our defence. He can defend us because
he has done something to take care of our sins.
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. In
other words, through His sacrifice on the Cross He paid the penalty for our
sins. When Jesus hung on the Cross, He took our sins upon Himself. All sin was
charged to His account. His death paid the penalty for every sin.
It is on that basis that all sins are forgiven
when people come to Christ. It is on that basis that He becomes our advocate.
He can plead our case on the basis of His work on the Cross. He has dealt with
our sin and the sin of the whole world. This is what makes it possible for a
person to be saved and forgiven.
Because of Christ’s death, God has made a way
for us to deal with our sin. It is not to deny it, or redefine it, or hide it,
but it is to face it. It is to confess it. It has been said that confession is
good for the soul. In fact, many people feel the need to make deathbed
confessions in order to clear their consciences.
Joe sat at his dying wife’s bedside. Her voice
was little more than a whisper. "Joe, darling," she breathed,
"I’ve got a confession to make before I go. I’m the one who took the
ten-thousand dollars from your safe and spent it on a fling with your best
friend, Charles. It was I who forced your mistress to leave the city. I am the
one who reported your income tax evasion to the government." Joe answered,
"That’s alright, do not give it a second thought,
I’m the one who poisoned you." Well, maybe you should not wait until your
deathbed to start making your confessions.
God calls you to confess your sins and repent
now. You are to quit denying your sins and admit the truth. You need to accept
Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour. When you do,
He will forgive you your sins. He is faithful and just. He is faithful to His
own word and His own nature. His nature is love and compassion and His word has
given us the promise of forgiveness through Christ. He is just. Christ’s
atoning sacrifice has satisfied perfect justice. The penalty has been paid and
we can go free. We have to be honest about our sin in order to receive this
pardon. We cannot deny it. We must confess it.
What have you done with sin? Have you covered
it up? Do you pretend that it is not there? It sounds strange, but it is true –
the way to be right with God is to admit you have done wrong.