Sermon Tone Analysis

The New Testament makes it clear that Christians are no longer slaves to sin, and in Christ we are given the spiritual means to have victory over sin.

The Apostle Paul issues a strong command to believers in his letter to the Christians at Rome that we should no longer allow sin to reign or rule or have dominion in our lives.

/“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”/

(Romans 6:12–14, NIV84)

In the opening words of the 2nd chapter of 1st John, we hear the aged Apostle John giving pastoral encouragement to a flock of Christians he loves like a father.

He writes, /“My little children ... “/ The Greek word we translate children in this verse refers to very young children and would be better translated, /“my little born ones”/ or even /“my little born–again ones.”/

The Apostle stands next to his readers and encourages them in their struggle against sin.

He knows that their heart’s desire is to live a holy life, but occasionally they sin, and sin separates and alienates the sinner from fellowship with God.

John hears the plea of the believer who has fallen into sin: /“Pastor, what must I do?”/

Pastor and Radio Bible Preacher, J. Vernon McGee tells the story of a young married couple who were going to take a trip together, but would not be unable to take their four-year-old daughter along.

Their neighbors graciously agreed to take her into their home.

They had four boys and a little girl might be a good influence, they thought.

The trip came and went, and the couple picked up their daughter, profusely thanking their neighbors for watching after her.

Later that evening the little girl was sharing her experiences of the previous week with her daddy.

She said, /“Our neighbors have family worship every night.

Each night their father prays for his four little boys.”/

Her father replied, /“That certainly is good to hear.”/ /“Daddy, he prays that God will make them good boys, and he prays that they won’t do anything wrong.”/

Her father said, /“Well, that’s very nice.”/

The little girl was silent for a moment, and then she added, /“But, Daddy, God hasn’t done it yet.”/

If we are honest with ourselves, each of us must confess that God hasn’t made us perfect yet either.

Christians are to work at not sinning, but when we do sin we need not despair because we have a righteous advocate who interceded for us before the Father.

In the passage before us, I want you to see three things that John tells us:

* Don't sin.

* Don't despair when you do sin.

* Don't hog Jesus for yourselves alone.

Let's take these three parts of the text one at a time and unpack them.

!

I. DON'T SIN (2:1a)

* /“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin ... “/

#.

God doesn’t want you to live in sin

#. a few chapters later, we hear the Apostle John emphatically say ...

* /“Whosoever is born of God sinneth not”/ (1 John 5:18)

#.

John means that whosoever is born of God does not habitually practice sin

#. we don’t know how long the prodigal son was a prodigal, but eventually he got up out of the pigpen and went home to his father

#. why does the Apostle tell us don’t sin?

#. two reasons ...

!! A. SIN IS INSUBORDINATION AGAINST GOD

#.

John's aim is that the flock of God at Ephesus not sin

#. this immediately begs the question: What is sin?

#. 1 John 3:4 gives the most straightforward definition of sin in this book

* /“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.”/

(1 John 3:4, NIV84)

#. sin is lawlessness

#. it is man's refusal to submit to God's law as found in God's Word

#. to use a good military term—sin is insubordination

#. when God's Word says, /"What God has joined together, let no man put asunder,"/ and someone pursues divorce, that's sin

#. when God's Word says, /"Put away all deceit,"/ and you deliberately distort your financial picture on your tax forms, that's sin

#. when God says, /"Bring up your children in the instruction of the Lord,"/ and you make no effort to teach your children the Scriptures, that's sin

#. when God says, /“Bear the burdens of your Christian brother,”/ and you beg off because you’re too busy, or you just don’t want to be bothered, that’s sin

#. when God says, /“Honor your mother and father,”/ and you through a hissy-fit every time they tell you to do something, that’s sin

#. lawlessness says, /“I know what the rules are, but I choose not to obey them”/

#. these days, not many people weep over their sin these days—even though there is nothing in all the world that is more wicked than insubordination against our Creator

#. which leads us to consider the second reason why the apostle tells us not to sin ...

!! B. SIN IS VERY SERIOUS

#. there are at least four reasons given in this book why sin should be taken with tremendous seriousness—with far more seriousness than we usually take it

#.

1st, Sin is serious because it insults the suffering of Christ

#. according to 1 John 3:8, /"The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil"/

#. the reason Christ came into the world and suffered was to destroy sin

#. the Apostle Paul said that Christ died to purify for himself a bride

* /“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”/

(Ephesians 5:25–27, NIV84)

* /“who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”/

(Titus 2:14, NIV84)

#. therefore, whenever we sin, we join those who call the cross foolishness

* ILLUS.

In the early church, baptismal candidates would face westward and renounce sin and Satan before they were immersed.

Cyril, a distinguished theologian of the early Church, wrote: /“When you renounce Satan you trample underfoot your entire covenant with him and revoke your former treaty with Hell.”/

#. if the aim of our Lord’s death on the cross is the purity of the church and our victory over sin, we fail to fulfill that purpose when we sin

#. sin says to Christ, /"I do not regard your suffering as sufficient incentive to keep me back from this act.

You may have died to prevent me from doing this, but I'm going to do it anyway."/

#. thus sin insults the suffering of Christ—and that is very serious

#. 2nd, Sin is serious because it suggests that we have the nature of Satan rather than God

#.

John is very blunt about this: /"He who commits sin is of the devil"/ (1 John 3:8, NIV)

#. verse 9 gives the opposite: /"No one born of God commits sin; for God's nature abides in him"/

#. we are not to take these verses to imply a perfectionism that would contradict 1 John 1:8–10

#. the Apostle is referring to a lifestyle of sin—sinning that is unhated, unassaulted, and too often unconquered in our lives

#. at the very least, the Apostle is saying that sin is very serious because it is the fruit, not of God's nature in us, but of Satan's nature

#. when you sin, you are acting the way Satan does

#.

3rd, Sin is serious because it jeopardizes our assurance of salvation

* /“We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.

The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”/

(1 John 2:3–4, NIV84)

#. perhaps one of the reasons that sin is taken so lightly today and there is so little brokenness among God's people over it, is that this truth is rarely taught in the church

#. instead people are taught that their assurance of salvation has no relation to whether-or-not they obey God

#. we are taught that saving faith is such a weak and powerless thing that it cannot guarantee any changes in life, and therefore to look for those changes as the evidence of saving faith is wrong

#. if that is so, then we need to remove the 1st Epistle of John from our bibles

#. no matter how hard they try, the easy-gospelers and the cheep-gracers cannot deny that John’s proof that salvation is real is a life that hates sin and seeks to avoid it

#. 1 John 3:14 says, /"We know (i.e., we have assurance) that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren.

He who does not love remains in death."/

#. you cannot have assurance of having passed out of death into life if you are an unloving person or your life is characterized by an unregenerate walking in unrepentant sin

#. persistence in sin destroys the assurance of salvation

#. 4th, Sin is serious because it can put you beyond the reach of hope

* /“If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death.

There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.

All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.”/

(1 John 5:16–17, ESV)

#. these verses have been hotly debated over the centuries as to what the Apostle John means by them

#.

we will cover them more closely at some point in our journey through 1st John

#. for now let me say forgiveness is offered in 1:9 to all who confess their sin