Evicting the Elephant in the Room
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
The Idiom of “The Elephant in the Room.”
The Idiom of “The Elephant in the Room.”
The Reality of un-confessed and/or un-addressed sin in our lives
The Reality of un-confessed and/or un-addressed sin in our lives
All of us have the elephant of sin in the houses that are our lives and we will have to deal with it at some point.
Ignorance/Blindness: Some people don’t see their sin as sin, they assume it’s normal
Denial: Some people pretend that the problem of sin is not in their lives
Deceit: Some people know that there is sin in their lives, but they try to hide it
Pride: Some people see the sin in their lives and they take pride in it
Love of Sin: Some people love their sin so much they aren’t willing to remove it from their lives
Fear: Some people know there is sin, they know it needs to go, but they’re afraid of what may happen in the process and so they never do anything about it.
Helplessness: Some people may have tried to get rid of the sin in their lives but it doesn’t work and so they’ve given up
The Bible says that sin has stained every human being
We all are guilty before God
We all have a sin nature
We all sin
Like a shirt that was once clean and white, now covered in filthy mud stains.
What’s worse, no matter how hard you try to clean it, the stains are still there and getting worse.
The Text for Today
The Text for Today
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1. Accept the truth that sin has made you guilty before God.
1. Accept the truth that sin has made you guilty before God.
Look at verse 8 with me:
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
In verse 8…If we say we have no sin…in verse 10…and If we say we have not sinned: very similar statements. In the Greek, there were two different words used but in English they’re translated as “sin” and “sinned.” They’re similar but have different areas of emphasis
In this first statement, John is talking about the guilt that we have before God because of sinful actions,
and the second statement is talking about the sinful actions themselves.
Let’s look at this first statement—if we say we have no sin—there were people claiming that they have no guilt before God that would require cleansing.
More than likely it was something along the lines of “spirit is good, flesh is evil,” hence, without sin
If you’re saying that you have no guilt—the consequence of sinful actions—you’re deceiving yourself.
THIS IS NOT A NEW PROBLEM...
Ever since the garden, sin has been a problem for mankind, and ever since the garden we’ve been trying to wash away its stains.
We know that there is good and evil, truth and lies, and we want to be on the right side of those things, good and truthful, but we also love our sin and want to hold onto that sinful lifestyle, and so we lie. We start the downward spiral of self-deception.
In the garden: Adam and Eve hid and covered themselves with leaves, and then when confronted with their sin, they tried to twist things to remove personal responsibility, remove guilt.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
(Genesis 4) Cain and Abel: God asked Cain “where is Abel” and Cain said “I don’t know.” He pretended to not know that he had just sinned in murdering his brother.
He tried to cover it up.
2 Samuel 11–12 David who had an inappropriate relationship with a woman who was not his wife, then murdered that woman’s husband, and tried to cover up the whole thing. He sinned, and then he sinned more to cover up his sin.
This continued in the New Testament with the Pharisees. They were “righteous in their own eyes.”
When they looked at themselves, they said, yep, I’m righteous. AND THEY BELIEVED IT. They had worked themselves up into believing this to be true.
They kept the Law
They lowered God’s standards to an “attainable level”
The word “deceive”:
You’re making a lie to appear true
Your eyes are covered with lies
20 This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I have done no wrong.”
WHAT ABOUT TODAY? WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO “DECEIVE OURSELVES”,” saying we have no guilt, we have done no wrong?
Let me share an example from my own life:
One time in 5th grade, I ate a donut. I’ve never felt so guilty for eating a donut… TELL THE STORY
Then I lied about it. Not about eating the donut, but about why I ate the donut. I tried to twist the facts to fit the story in such a way that it would make me look better. I tried to get rid of the guilt.
We know when we’ve done wrong, but then we try to justify it in our minds
We also know what is considered good, so we try to cleanse ourselves with the good that we’ve done
WE START THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL OF DECEIVING OURSELVES
HOW?
We twist reality to justify our actions. Yes, we did the actions, but for good reason, we’re not guilty.
“You lied to me”
No, you just misunderstood me. Or, I told you but you must have forgotten. Or, I told you what I thought you needed to know.
I was unkind, unloving to someone
Well, I had self-control, you should’ve seen what I wanted to do
You go and show them kindness later, never addressing the wrong you did, but at least the good made up for it.
Anger towards parents
Well, they provoked me and they shouldn’t do that
I was still obedient
OR
We deceive ourselves thinking we’re cleansed and without guilt but without truly taking care of the problem...
We trust in past experiences for our cleansing
A prayer once prayed
Emotional experiences around salvation
What we “feel” at church or during worship
The religious acts that we do (like the Pharisees)
My flesh is full of sin, but my soul is covered, I’m good to go. Ignore all that sin in my life. I’m good. No guilt before God.
IT IS SO EASY TO BE SELF-DECEIVED
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
WHAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH THIS?
We are all guilty. God says so all throughout the Scriptures.
Cross reference Romans 5:12-21
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
When Adam sinned, sin nature and guilt was imparted—passed onto—the rest of mankind. On behalf of all mankind, Adam sinned and so we all have guilt before God in that sense.
ALSO, WE COMMIT OUR OWN SINS against God, and that makes us guilty as well.
13 Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
If you don’t see that you have a problem that needs fixing, you are deceiving yourself.
If you think that you can fix your problem and if you think you have, you are deceiving yourself.
2. Acknowledge the truth that you have committed sins against God and others.
2. Acknowledge the truth that you have committed sins against God and others.
Look at verse 10 with me:
10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
When we fail to acknowledge our sinful actions as sin, not only are we deceiving ourselves but we are calling God a liar!
God says that we have sinned.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
God says that our sin has caused separation.
God says that our sin requires a sacrifice or we will experience judgment.
God sent His Son, to die in your place and to bear the wrath of God, so that you could experience cleansing. He gave you the ultimate solution to your sin problem.
And you say, “nah, I haven’t sinned, I’m without sin.” You’re calling God a LIAR.
How do we do this?
We have changed our vocabulary so that our actions are further removed from sin...
I’m not angry, I’m annoyed or frustrated
Liar NOT con artist, trickster, exaggeration, mythomania
Pride NOT self-hate or insecurity
We have created “health problems” to remove our personal responsibility
I’m not worrying, I have anxiety (a mental health thing)
Thief NOT kleptomaniac
Homosexuality or sexual immorality NOT orientation or identity
Drunkenness NOT alcoholism
Gluttony NOT eating disorder
Fear or anxiety NOT OCD
We selectively leave ourselves out of the story and ignore our sin in the matter...
When your parents ask what happened between you and a sibling...
Well so and so sinned against me and did this thing, so I took care of it (but somehow your actions aren’t sinful)
This isn’t even close to everything. We get very creative at twisting the facts.
3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. 26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
3. Respond to your sin in the right way to experience forgiveness and cleansing.
3. Respond to your sin in the right way to experience forgiveness and cleansing.
we see the answer, the right way to deal with our sin in verse 9:
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Confess: to acknowledge a fact publicly, often in reference to previous bad behavior—‘to admit, to confess
Faithful: - He is fully trustworthy
Just: righteous, pertaining to being in accordance with what God requires
He doesn’t compromise His character. He still hates sin but sin is paid for in Christ. When we confess our sins and trust in Christ, He forgives us…
Forgive: to remove the guilt resulting from wrongdoing—‘to pardon, to forgive, forgiveness…The event of wrongdoing is not undone, but the guilt resulting from such an event is pardoned. To forgive, therefore, means essentially to remove the guilt resulting from wrongdoing…it is obviously not possible to blot out or to wipe out an event, but it is possible to remove or obliterate the guilt.
Cleanse: to purify, to cleanse from ritual contamination or impurity
What does this look like for us…:
See your sin for what it is. Compare your actions to what the Bible says.
Invite other people into the conversation and LISTEN. We like to paint ourselves in the most positive light possible. Listen to what others see and say. Invite the Scriptures to shed light on your actions.
Confess it. Confess to God, confess to those who you have sinned against
Trust in Christ to cleanse you. He alone can rid you of your guilt.
Closing
Closing
Every human being must deal with these stains, this sin, at some point. There is a solution, but only one. The only way to be forgiven, to be cleansed of the stains of sin is to confess those sins to God, repenting and then trusting in Jesus. Otherwise, you will enter into an eternity apart from God, covered in sin and facing God’s justice, God’s wrath.