Strenght in Weakness
Notes
Transcript
MPS: Our claims to know God are revealed by our attitudes toward sin.
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.
This is God’s Word for God’s people. And we respond: Thanks be to God.
Do you know God?
Do you know God?
Do you know God?
God is light
What does that mean?
Akin: Light is life
John John 1:4-5, Ps. 36:9
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light do we see light.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Others: goodness (by virtue), holiness, truth (by knowledge), love
Ps. 119:105, Is. 5:20
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
He determines what our relationship looks like, not us.
He alone is light.
Contextual issue: People walking around saying they know God, they live in a relationship with God, yet they can do what they want because they have believed and are telling lies.
Lie 1: The Lie of Hypocrisy
Lie 1: The Lie of Hypocrisy
Lie 1: The Lie of Hypocrisy
“My sin doesn’t affect my fellowship with God.”
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
Grace covers my sin, so it doesn’t matter how I live.
These people claim one thing but their walk...their manner of life declares another.
“The verb “walk” is in the present tense and speaks of a continuous and consistent pattern of life.”
Yarbrough,
Adam & Eve evade guilt
Cain denies responsibility
Noah drunken and shame filled curses grandson
Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery
Aaron blames others
the prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule at their direction;
my people love to have it so,
but what will you do when the end comes?
1 Jn. 2:4 “I know him” but doesn’t 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 hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Fellowship: sharing in a common life rooted in relationship
What makes fellowship possible? 1 Jn. 1:7
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.
Walking in the light
“We have nothing to conceal, and make no attempt to conceal anything.”
They hypocrite says, “If you knew what was really there, you wouldn’t accept me.”
Those walking in the light say, “God already knows exactly what’s there. Bring it into the light. Christ’s blood cleanses sinners.
What does walking in the light do?
First it makes fellowship with God possible.
Brings us into real fellowship with one another.
Are you walking in fellowship with one another because you’re truly walking in fellowship with the light or are you a walking hypocrite?
Lie 2: The Lie of Self-Deception
Lie 2: The Lie of Self-Deception
Lie of Self-Deception
“My sin isn’t that bad.”
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
My sins are common…maybe even respectable...
Bridges book, Ungodliness, Discontentment, Pride, selfishness, lack of self-control,
Football yesterday
My sins aren’t my fault.
Product of my environment
We live in a therapeutic culture in which we find ways to deflect or rename or deny our sin.
Stott, “We interpret it solely in terms of physiological, psychological, or social causes.”
“When something horrific happens, [we] immediately search for psychological trauma to explain ‘why’, instead of calling the action what it is--sin.”
That’s the way God made me
I have a certain attraction...so I can live like this.
I have a certain personality type…so I can behave like this.
I have a short fuse...I’m just wired that way…I’m an introvert...
None of these descriptions are inherently sinful, but when we use them to justify our disobedience we move from explanation to excuse.
When truth become relative to our experiences or our preferences or our passions we are in danger of being self-deceived and not walking in the truth.
Spurgeon, “As the salt flavors every drop of the Atlantic, so does sin affect every atom of our nature.”
So if we all find ourselves in this position where is our hope?
“The opposite of denying sin isn’t fixing yourself. It’s confessing it.”
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Walking in the light means that we don’t conceal anything before the light because we realize there is nothing to conceal.
If time allows: Who do we confess to?
“He is faithful & just”
I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Confession begins with the Lord, but it moves outward to testify to the goodness of God.
Definitely cover:
“To receive his mercy we must admit our faults.” You cannot receive grace while insisting you have no need for grace. That’s another form of self-deception—I say I want mercy but I don’t want to acknowledge it as sin or that I am one who does sin or that it’s really not that bad, but when we do confess, “he is faithful and just.”
How can a righteous God be faithful and just to an unfaithful and unjust people?
Jer. 31:34 — he’s faithful in keeping his covenant
And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
1 Jn. 2:2 -- he is the propitiation for our sin
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
look more at next week, but his blood shed pays for our sin so that we are forgiven and cleansed.
“He is faithful to forgive because he has promised to do so, and just because his Son died for our sins.” Stott.
Have you been lying to yourself or have you confessed to the Lord what the light has shown in your life?
Lie 3: The Lie of Unbelief
Lie 3: The Lie of Unbelief
The Lie of Unbelief
“God is wrong about my sin.”
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
How does this make God a liar?
Rom. 3:23
To say that we have not sinned is neither just to tell a deliberate lie (6), nor to be deluded (8), but actually to accuse God of lying, to make him out to be a liar and to reveal clearly that his word has no place in our lives.2
God is no longer the one who determines truth, life, goodness--I am. I will set the terms of my relationship because he is not to be trusted, I am.
When I make the covenant with God, His Word becomes optional. His people become subservient.
My claim that I know God is built on my experiences, understanding, or preferences.
Has God’s Word become optional in your life or is it your daily bread?
Has God’s people become pawns for your promotion or position or are they people you truly walk in the light with?
What is John’s response?
You don’t have a reason to hide. You can confess your sins. You can turn from your sins and you can know that when you stumble 1 Jn. 2:1
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.
The person walking in the light isn’t the person who has finally cleaned himself up. It's the person who has stopped hiding.
The evidence that you know the God who is light isn't that you have no darkness left to expose. It's that when the light exposes your sin, you agree with God about it and run to the cleansing blood of Jesus rather than back into the darkness.
Our claims to know God are revealed by our attitudes toward sin. Do you know God? Or are you living a lie.
If you don’t, then look to the light. Confess that you don’t know him and find the forgiveness and cleansing you need so that relationship with Him and with one another can truly begin.
If you do know the light, but you haven’t been walking in the light then John invites you to stop pretending. Stop excusing. Stop arguing with God. Step into the light.
Because what do you find there? “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Let’s pray.
1 Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in 1,2,3 John (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 19.
2 John R. W. Stott, The Letters of John: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 19, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 83–84.
