11. Walking in the Lie vs Walking in the Truth

Walking in the Lie vs Walking in the Truth

1 John 1:5-2:6 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just 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 these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

The couple of months ago we began addressing John’s “If we say” statement. There are three of them. In verse 6 “If we say we have fellowship with Him while walking in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. V8 If we say we have no sin and verse 10 If we say we have not sinned. The word in Greek translated as “say” means to relate in a systematic or set discourse. What this means is that it is a theological or doctrinal statement. It is not only a doctrinal statement, it is also an ethical one. It is interesting that John uses the 1st person plural pronoun ‘we’ rather than the second person plural ‘you’ that you’d assume since he was addressing errors encroaching on the church. Why is that interesting? Because John is saying no matter who is saying this the results are the same error is error no matter from whose lips or pen it is coming from. It is a reminder of Paul saying in:

Gal 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

Likewise the Lord said, Deu 13:1-3  “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams.

This verse is appropriate because we live in a time where the church often mirrors the world. The world has its celebrities and we taken minsters of the Word and elevated them to celebrity status. Everything they say becomes the gospel truth without weighing what they say against the Word of God. We have our own cult of personality.

These three verses are dealing with the subject of sin. Walking in darkness – the practice of sin, have no sin – an attack on the condition, have not sinned – an attack on the reality of sin.

Sin doesn’t seem to be a high priority in broader evangelicalism. In some reformed churches there are entertaining having same sex attracted pastors. It did not pass in their general assembly but why was the subject even broached in the first place. No matter what nice vocabulary they use to make it more palatable, make no mistake it is homosexuality. But how often is sin addressed in churches today? Congregations are more than happy to hear about the sins of society but not so much to be confronted on their own. Generally speaking, there is little to no discipline for sin. So, this makes what John says in these verses more important to hear and to understand. Going back to this is a doctrinal statement, the apostle John is holding up their statement of faith and dismantles it piece by piece. Their doctrine of sin is ‘there is no sin’. There is no sin to hamper fellowship with God, there is no condition of sin and as a result there is no action of sin. When we consider what ‘fellowship’ is that it is more akin to our union and communion with God because Christ has purchased our redemption with His own blood that we care being conformed to His image by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit in us. To say we have no sin, nor is anything we do sin. It screams the devil’s lie.

Gen 3:4-5  But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.  (5)  For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Only the lie now is, we have no sin and do not sin. What this says is they are like God. This puts a spotlight on the Biblical doctrine of sin. Our doctrine of sin affects our doctrine of man, our doctrine of God, of Jesus Christ, of the Holy Spirit, salvation, redemption, sanctification. Looking specifically at verse 8 in addresses the condition of sin and there are 3 points. There is:

1. The Denial of the Condition of Sin

2. The Deception of the Condition of Sin

3. The Soul Damning Reality of the Condition of Sin.

I. The Denial of the Condition of Sin

What is sin? The Baptist catechism answers the question in this way - Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.⁠ This includes sins of commission (acts of disobedience to God’s law ex: lying when the command says you shall not lie) and sins of omission (not doing what is positively required) 1Jn 3:4  Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

Sin is rebellion - Deu 9:7  Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.

But this text is speaking to the condition of sin. The assertion is ‘we have no sin’. In order to address this need to look at where it all began.

Sin did not originate with Adam. Sin had already entered God’s creation and some point in the past. Isa 14:12-14  “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!  (13)  You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;  (14)  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’

Joh 8:44  You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Sounds familiar doesn’t it? Even though Satan sinned at some point in eternity it had no effect on Adam and Eve. We have the account of Gen 3 of Adam and Eve’s sin. The command was given to Adam.

Gen 2:16-17  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,  (17)  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

All they had to do was not eat. Think about that for a moment. What kind and how many sins have committed against the Lord God that are so much greater than that?

Gen 3:6-7  So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.  (7)  Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Rom 5:12 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—

Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

This truth, the world denies. When sin is preached against it is called hate speech, prejudice, homophobia, transphobia, and I am sure some other phobia yet to be named, all the while speaking of how the God they do not know approves of the darkness they so love.

Dr. Willie Parker, MD wrote in his book Life’s Work: Amoral argument for choice - Humane theology was the foundation of Dr. George Tiller’s practice. It dictates that alleviating suffering is a Christian’s sacred responsibility. If God is in everything, and in everyone, then God is as much in the woman making a decision to terminate a pregnancy as in her Bible.

II. The Deception of the Condition of Sin - we deceive ourselves

Between verse 6 and 10 there is we lie, we deceive ourselves v8, and we make Him a liar. Is deceive another word for lying? No there is a difference. The definition of lie basically states that when a person lies, he must verbally tell another person something that is a false statement in an attempt to make the second person believe that what he is saying is the truth. This can be half truthful and half false but will still consider as a lie. There are also white lies, where a person may tell small lies that may seem insignificant when looked at the bigger picture, these include “making faces will make the face permanently like that”, “the existence of Santa Claus or the tooth fairy, etc.” Deceit or deceiving is saying or doing something with the intention of causing harm to another person.

Because of the condition of sin, until God saved us, we intentionally and willfully deceived ourselves, with the intention of causing ourselves harm. Those who are now not in Christ Jesus deceive themselves and should they come to the end of their life will suffer the harm their self-deceit has brought upon them.

2Ti 3:13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Titus 3:3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Denying the fact of sin and that our condition is that we were born sinners. That is our nature. We are self-deceived, deluded in our denial of our sinful condition. Why is there a need to be saved if there is no sin? What is the need for faith and repentance? Our self-deception blinds, whispering peace and comfort in our ears all the while judgement is at the door. Apart from Jesus Christ we are liars and deceivers of our own persons bringing ourselves down to the pit of destruction. Who is there to rescue? Who is there to bring from the edge of the abyss of eternal destruction? Titus 3:4-7  But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,  (5)  he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,  (6)  whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,  (7)  so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

III. The Verdict of the Condition of Sin - and the truth is not in us

A.W. Pink commenting on this text says - It is contrary to Scripture, to universal experience, to the confession of every saint recorded in the Word, for one and all acknowledged they were the subjects of sin, inwardly defiled and all their actions affected with it. Neither Abraham, Job, Moses, David, Elijah, Daniel, nor Paul could maintain any such thing. Thus, it is such self-deception as proves these to be destitute of a saving acquaintance with the Gospel.

This text intimates the one and only way we ever come to the knowledge of our condition of sin. Joh 16:8-11  And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:  (9)  concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;  (10)  concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;  (11)  concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

Act 16:14  One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.

Know brethren it is not we ourselves who have come to see our sin. It is in the work of the Spirit. Where is the boasting? There is none. Where is the pride? There is none, because what is it we have done? We have revealed nothing to ourselves. We knew no truth, had no proclivity to the things of God, and loved our sin.

1Pe 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

There are doctrines we can hold erroneously and still be a Christian. But there are other doctrines where there is no room for error. They are so central to the core of the faith that to deny them is to deny the faith. As stated earlier, our doctrine of sin will determine and influence our doctrine of doctrine of man, our doctrine of God, of Jesus Christ, of the Holy Spirit, salvation, redemption, sanctification.

May God keep us as He has promised in the good and right way.