Relationship with Sin
Relationships • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Confronting is overcoming
Confronting is overcoming
1 John 1:5-2:2
Main Idea: One’s faith should be in a consistent state of maturing.
Intro
9:20—10:50
Good morning church.
My name is Zach Klundt and I am the Associate Pastor here at Freshwater.
We are going to be continuing in our series called Relationships.
This morning we are going to be talking about sin.
I know that sounds fun right.
This morning we are going to be talking about our relationship with sin.
And the big idea this morning is that one’s faith should be in a consistent state of maturing.
This happens through different spiritual disciplines that our relationship series will cover in the next couple of months.
And today we are going to talk about how our view of sin may need maturing.
I believe that this should go without saying.
I mean when you are a baby— you grow up and mature.
Not just physically, but emotionally and mentally.
Our lives do this, meaning that the Christian faith is meant to do this as well.
We are not meant to stay the same.
At some point with time you should be mature or at least show growth.
It means not giving into our fleshly desires.
It means our knowledge in the Lord increases.
Our faith deepens.
Our love and grace for people increases.
Me:
When I was in college— I was a Bible major and I recall one weekend visit back to my home church, where I just told me parents everything that was wrong with the chruch they were attending and how bad their pastor was.
And on the drive back home— I was just laying into it.
I was so arrogant and proud.
And it got to a point where my mom just looked back me in the car and said you can stop now— that is our pastor you are talking about and I forgot what church do you work for again.
Ouch— but I needed that correction.
Oh how badly I needed to hear that.
It showed my immaturity, and my pride, arrogance, and how disrespectful I was— it showed a lot.
And I learned and grew in that moment.
I love my parents and in the 20 years I was under their care, we had lots of moments of growth and sometimes it was painful.
And if I stayed that way— no one would want to be around me.
I would not have lasted long in my current job, or former job or really any job.
Life change was huge.
We:
We know that what that is like.
We all have had moments where we had to grow.
Where if we kept doing the same thing we were doing 5 years ago we would not be where we are today or who we are today.
We know that growth in our lives in vital.
If you are in school, marriage, a job, a parent— the idea of maturity is natural.
Growth in this area shows that we are trying.
I am sure we could poll everyone here and we could give at least 5 names of people who have never changed from high school.
They are stilling doing exactly what they were doing in high school.
I’m not throwing bombs if that is you today, I am just asking the question of why does our life still look the same.
We’re not growing or maturing.
Why are we still thinking the same and doing the same things we did years ago?
That is us not maturing.
That is us not willing to be selfless.
That is us not willing to give up control.
An example of this is when we hurt someone do we say sorry?
For some reason those two words are some of the hardest words for us to say.
I’m Sorry.
It is an admission of guilt, but we don’t like that!
We can’t stand the word.
And we know that this is a part of growing up and getting old that we start to pay our bills, and we are responsible for other humans, and we even have to take care of our parents.
There is no time for immaturity as you get older.
And that is true about our relationship with Christ.
Maybe this idea is new to you.
Maybe you thought once you were saved that was it.
And I want us to be careful: I am not saying that you have to work your way into salvation this morning.
But what I am saying is that mature Christians grows in their walk with the Lord.
And maybe that idea is foreign to you.
It was not a foreign idea to any of the writers of scripture.
As we turn today to 1 John chapter 1 starting in verse 5, here is some advice to the Christian.
And we are going to cover lots of spiritual disciplines over the next several months, but today I want us to look at our relationship with sin.
Why?
Because this applies to all of us.
No matter where you are at this morning this message is for you.
When John writes about sin he is talking about to fellow believers about becoming a Christian and this check and balance if you will.
As in are you as a Christian growing in your faith.
He is moving from wrestling with truth and moving in to confession of sin and finally moving into a place of distain for sin in our lives.
Let’s read our text this morning.
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him. If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one. He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.
God: Will you pray with me this morning:
So here is what is happening.
John is writing a letter to the local church.
This is not a universal all church letter but one to a chruch that John is familiar with.
And the issue with this chruch is that they were seeing a mass exodus of people leaving the church.
These people were settling with just knowledge of God rather then a personal relationship with Him.
They came to the conclusion that knowledge was king over knowing Jesus.
They would say they believed in Him but their actions would say other wise.
They claimed to believe but failed to reflect a changed life.
And John is reminding them about what it looks like to be a believer.
Keep this in mind as we dissect the text this morning.
As John opening up here in verse 5 we are hit with this message that God is light.
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.
The point here is John is recalling what he has already said back in his first book he wrote: the book of John.
In him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.
The light John is referring to is Jesus.
And know he is bringing this back around and he is saying look— God is light, Jesus is light.
They are not evil— no darkness can be found in the light.
Because the light shines through the darkness.
It cuts through it.
Darkness can’t stand in the light.
It’s too weak.
And the light is too strong.
God is light is to say that God symbolizes truth and righteousness.
And darkness symbolizes error and evil.
John is reminding them of this and then he beings this series of ifs.
If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Here is the deal today church
A maturing believer speaks and walks in truth (6-7)
As you look at verse 6 John is saying IF you say that you are with God, that you have community with God, that you are in fellowship with God....
YET you walk in the darkness— you lie and you do not practice the truth.
We can claim it all we want too but when it comes to our actions we fail to follow up with our words.
We are double minded.
We say one thing and do another.
Our words may say— me and God we are tight— but in your actions— you are living in a way that is counter to what you say.
We are living in a way that show we do not have fellowship with God.
As a maturing believer who claims to have fellowship with God we should have some of his characteristics.
For God is loving, joyful and gracious and this should be reflected in how we live.
I know that we are not perfect in this.
I know that we will fail in this area— I am not saying that you can’t mess up.
But I ask does your life reflect God or does it reflect you?
And only the person in the mirror can answer that question.
Because if our lives are not changed when we become a believer and we are still living in sin and we just think whatever— i’m free to do—
then we are in denial that sin breaks our fellowship with God.
Paul points this our in Romans.
What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Just because we have grace it does not mean that we can abuse God and his love and grace.
If we live in darkness the truth is not in us.
This is a sign of maturity in your faith that you walk out your faith not because you believe that you have to work for your savlation no but that God calls you to walk in light.
and here is what John comes back to verse 7 and says.
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.
We say that we have fellowship with God and if we are walking in light— as in walking with God.
And when we walk in the light we not only will have fellowship with God, but with other believers, and Jesus will clean us from our sin.
If you have never surrendered your life to Jesus and you find yourself living today in darkness— you have a choice to live in the light.
Jesus came to live on this earth as a perfect man— and he gave up his life for sinners like me and you.
We know that we are all sinners and destined to be separated from God forever unless we had someone step in and cleanse us from our sin.
Jesus did just that.
And this morning he wants fellowship with you.
And maybe you are here today and you know this but yet you are not walking in the truth.
You are not walking in his light.
Maybe today is the day you need to do something about that.
A maturing believers knows that they are sinful and in need of a savior.
And when we get this and we grasp this truth.
Our lives will begin to transform.
God will begin to work on your heart to be a reflection of Him.
What do we know?
A maturing believer speaks and walks in truth (6-7)
AND
A maturing believer knows they have sin and they will confess their sin (8-9)
Look at verse 8 and 9
If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
John is back with another IF.
He says that if we say we have no sin we are in denial of our sinful nature.
The people who is John was writing too they were in full denial.
They denied they had sin in them.
The truth was not in them.
It goes against virtually the whole Bible.
And what is sin?
Sin is the breaking of God’s law.
It is choosing self desires over God’s truth.
These people believed that they could live a perfect life.
And they were only fooling themselves.
And then John flips the IFs again.
He says If we confess our sin then God is faithful, he will forgive and he will cleanse us of our evil.
As a believer we must acknowledge that we have sin.
You can’t be sinless.
It is impossible.
If we live sinless then you can be your own savior.
It doesn’t work— never has and never will.
Why?
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
All have sinned.
This we know that sin is in our lives.
And we are called to confess that sin.
It is one thing to know that we are sinners— it is another to admit our sin.
To confess our sin.
I spoke earlier about saying sorry.
Admitting that we are wrong and apologizing for it is how we continue to be in fellowship with God.
Think of it this way— you could have the best relationship with Dad or Mom or grandparent, brother or sister.
And it could be rock solid.
But as some point you got desperate and stole 1000 bucks from them.
Could you still have the best relationship with them?
Even if they never were going to find out and everything was going to be fine moving forward.
I don’t think so— I believe the guilt would eat us up.
To where it was not the other person who was breaking fellowship with me— it was me.
I had wronged them and I needed to confess that to them— so that I could be in right fellowship with them.
God loves you no matter what.
He knew what he was getting when you gave your life to him.
He was not surprised by your sin.
But he knows that you will not be able to have real authentic fellowship with Him when you are living in unconfessed and unrepented sin.
It’s not on God’s end— its on our end.
You ever wonder why you may seem so distant from God— God never moved— it was you who built the walls to hide the sin.
It was us who drifted away because we would rather live in darkness then to live in the truth.
When we begin to confess sin we will find that it does not have a strong hold on you anymore.
And maybe you have already surrendered your life over but yet you have kept some stuff.
Maybe you have not given everything over to God yet.
Maybe you are still walking in darkness in some areas of your life.
I encourage you to give that to the only one who can do anything about it.
God is faithful— he has already forgiven you— but he wants your confession.
And the best part is that you can go directly to the God and he will forgive you.
A maturing believer knows that they have sin in their life.
A maturing believer confessing the sin that is in their life so they can have unfiltered fellowship with God.
For we are sinners who need to confess.
What do we know:
A maturing believer speaks and walks in truth (6-7)
AND
A maturing believer knows they have sin and they will confess their sin (8-9)
Lastly
A maturing believer takes sin seriously (10-2:2)
If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one. He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.
The people that John was writing too— they also claimed that they had not sinned.
The last verse (8) claimed that they had no sin.
As in they have no sin in their life currently
They see themselves as currently sinless.
They were not in need of Jesus— They did not need an advocate.
And in verse ten we see a very similar phrase.
The people here claimed that they have not sinned.
As in ever.
They have never done a bad thing.
They would say that since they have possessed this incredible knowledge that they are incapable of sinning.
They saw sin as no bog deal.
If anyone claims this they are a lair.
And when you hear these claims it can be easy to dismiss them.
It can be easy to say, that doesn’t make any sense, I would never do that or think that.
I mean if you are believer then you know that you are a sinner and were in need of Jesus to rescue you.
You know this.
You know sin is in your life.
We would never say that we are sinless— it goes against what God says in his word.
Yet we live in a way that says sin is no big deal.
What do I mean by this.
I bet there are many in this room that has a sin in their life that you have been dealing with for years.
lying, gossip, pride, greed, lust, anger.
Those hidden sins that we look down at the floor whenever it get brought up.
The shame we feel after we partake in it.
Church: Sin is serious.
And God is serious about sin.
He is so serious about sin that He sent His one and only son to come down to earth, live a perfect—sinless life to only be killed by his own creation— so that he could save his creation from sin.
And when we mature in our faith and we begin to take sin seriously because we will see sin differently.
Why?
Because
The New Bible Commentary 1:5–2:6 Fellowship with God
sin disrupts fellowship and destroys joy. Sin and vital Christianity are incompatible (cf. 3:6, 9; 5:18). But, while Christians do not live in sin, they never in this life become completely sinless (1:8). The closer we come to God the more sensitive our consciences become and the more we realize that we are sinners. A paradoxical consequence of this is that we now come to appreciate the fact that in our sinful state we are unworthy to approach our great and holy God. We need help
Enter the advocate Jesus.
John at the beginning of chapter 2 says:
I am writing so that no one sins.
That should be the goal— but if anyone sins, or when anyone sins— you are not hopeless.
You have a someone in your corner.
The one who knows the real you.
The one who knows the sin that you are holding on to— the sin you can’t shake.
And he still loves you anyway.
And when we sin— We have an advocate for us.
Jesus who goes to the Father on our behalf and says— my blood covers them.
That perfect lamb says: I got them.
Jesus is the sacrifice we needed to save not just my sins but your sins.
So that we can wage war on sin.
We can fight our sinful desires.
Paul writes in Romans 6,
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace.
We all have sin and it is present in our lives.
So in the next few minutes we have a chance to respond.
Right here, right now.
We have a chance to confess sin.
We have a chance to fellowship with God through the confession of sin in our lives.
I am going to invite the worship team back out:
As they get set up:
(*9:50—11:20)
I am so thankful for the cross and what Jesus did on that cross.
Because I can come to the father and I can lay down my sins, those burdens that are heavy.
I can lay it all down at the foot of the cross.
And I know that it will be covered by the blood of Jesus.
The sacrifice that was given on that day was the sacrifice to end all sacrifices.
I think we at times forget to confess our brokenness, our fleshly desires, our thoughts, and our sin, most likely because we don’t see it as a big deal.
And I think sometimes there is this disconnect.
Or maybe it is as if we know that we are forgiven so why bother mentioning my sin to a God who forgives.
Maybe we think our sin isn’t that bad.
And if I just have like 3 things I struggle with then I’m not doing too badly.
Maybe we think that God will be disappointed in us.
If you ever had anyone tell you that they aren’t mad they are just disappointed— that hurts worse then them being mad.
But here’s the truth:
God doesn’t get mad.
God’s not disappointed
He doesn’t stop talking to us.
He doesn’t bring it up later.
He doesn’t make you sacrifice a lamb to atone for what you have done.
He doesn’t ground you, curse you, or hurt you.
There is no condemnation from Him.
But what he does offer is something greater.
He offers His grace.
He offers His mercy.
He offers His comfort.
He offers His Peace.
He offers forgiveness.
He offers His love.
So for the next couple of minutes I want to lead us in a time of confession.
And this might make some of us uneasy.
Because we know we haven’t talked to God about some stuff that we need to talk to God about.
Guess what— He already knows.
He already knows and He has already forgiven.
And that could be good enough for some of us.
But coming to the Father in a spirit of confession is an acknowledgement that of our deep need for Christ.
Confession allows us to be honest and real with ourselves.
We don’t have to pretend that we’re good people.
We can admit that we’ve done all sorts of wrong this week, this year, this month, just today alone.
And that means that we only approach the Lord through the forgiveness won by Christ.
So as we go to God in prayer this morning, assume the whatever position of prayer you need.
This means that you can just sit, and bow your head, and close your eyes.
Maybe you need to kneel or get facedown.
Whatever that looks like we welcome that.
And as I pray— feel free to go off script— you don’t have to listen to me— if you have some stuff you need to go to God about— Don’t let me stop you.
Maybe you just want to sit in silence and as sin gets brought up maybe that will spark conviction in your soul.
If that happens I beg for you to give that over to God.
To confess and be forgiven.
So will you join me in prayer:
(*3:30)
PRAYER
Father hear our prayers today.
Father hear our confession of sin to you.
As we were reminded of 1 John 1:9 this morning
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Holy Spirit I ask that you begin to work in each of our lives exposing sin that prevents us from living a life of peace, joy, and of hope.
Holy Spirit begin to bring to light sin that has maybe has been hidden for years.
Bring it out into the light, so that it can be exposed and lose its grip on us.
God we commit sins against you.
God hear us pleas this morning:
Please forgive the sins of pride and arrogance please humble us daily
God we know that we find ourselves judging others and all of their sin while we sit back and indulge on our own.
forgive us for being Selfish
From arguments to bitterness.
For the grudges we hold even when others say sorry.
Forgive us for with-holding forgiveness because the pain is too deep.
Forgive us for justifying our wrong attitudes.
God we consistently are mean, ungrateful,
hatred courses through our veins.
God, forgive us as we lust, we seek to have what we can’t.
Father we spend hours filling our heads with porn and we chase down other fantasies that are not part of your plan.
God we confess other sexual sins that continue to drive a wedge between us.
Please Father hear our cries this morning.
We know that this sin that is in our lives needs to be dealt with.
Help us to no longer be chained to our sin but grant us freedom over it.
Forgive us for when our feelings get hurt which causes us to lash out at others.
Forgive us for being annoyed at the success of others.
Forgive us for dishonoring our parents.
Forgive us when we are unloving and rude.
Lord we know at times we enjoy the chaos but forgive us for stirring the pot and causing disunity.
forgive us for desiring what we don’t have.
We talk about how much better we are then everyone else.
We talk about other behind their back and we say we are just concern forgive us of gossip and lying
Lord forgive us for our worry.
For living in fear.
for worshiping idols.
Father forgive us for putting others things before You.
Father forgive our laziness and being slothful.
Our heart is spilt in two we live in the world and we calm Christ, but a spilt heart is a worthless heart to you.
Lord as we come to you laying down our sins.
The sins that leave us weeping and apologetic.
God hear our confessions and forgive like only you can.
God take these burden and cast them as far as the east is from the west.
God we lift these up to you because only you can forgive.
We thank you that we can be forgiven because of what Christ did on the cross.
Thank you Jesus for paying the ultimate sacrifice so that we can live in freedom from the bondage of sin.
We are free because your grace and your mercy is more.
We are free because of your love for us outweighs the sin.
We know that we can never out sin your love.
Holy Spirit we ask for peace as we confess this morning.
God we love you and we thank you for who you are.
Amen
Let us now sing a songs to our savior— let’s stand and worship our King.
9:55—11:25
A couple of things:
If you need some prayer this morning— maybe you got some stuff on your mind and heart— we have our prayer team up here.
They would love to pray with you this morning.
Secondly:
Student ministries is moving in Sunday nights starting June 4th and Zach Fleer is looking for leaders!
So first off welcome him and Mareen back as they have been in quarantine for like 4 months.
And then ask him how you can help in the youth ministry.
Reminder that we also have equip tonight.
We will be talking about the Holy Spirit we will start at 5:30!
Have a great afternoon Freshwater and as you go from here know that you are loved.