Real Sin Real Savior
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 5 viewsNotes
Transcript
Good morning church it is so god to be with you all this morning. a couple weeks ago we discussed the reality of being a Christian, how there are always weeds to pull and always flowers to cultivate.
I don’t know how else to say this but to say, that I think far too often we in the church today almost unintentionally think of God as an idea, rather than a person.
We agree with what he says in His word we are quick to claim Christianity as our family religion, but when it comes to talking with God on a daily basis for many people it becomes a chore or something they feel as though they have to do if they are going to be good at their job of bring a Christian.
instead we should be humbled and honored by the reality that there i a God who wants to walk with us, and talk with us on a day to day basis.
God is real, HE desires to speak with us, He desires to walk with us and do amazing things in our lives but we must treat Him as a person in our everyday lives and not just an idea we agree with.
I wanna speak with you this morning on this subject: Real sin; Real Savior.
The great actor and film director Woody Allen claims to be an Atheist. On one occasion he was asked the question, “If there is a God, and if that God should speak to you, what would you most want to hear Him say?”
Woody Allen’s answer speaks for all people. HE said, “If there is a God who should speak to me, I would most want Him to say three words, ‘You are Forgiven’.
John says the only way you will ever hear from God the words “you are forgiven” is if you speak the words “i Have sinned”
JB Phillips said: “there are nearly as many wrong ideas about sin as there are false ideas about God.”
As Christians what do we do when we sin?
Sometimes sin is something we do and then deny, sometimes we like to rationalize it. Well I wouldn’t have done this is this wasn’t that way.
Sometimes we simply don’t take sin as seriously as we should.
(taming the tongue)
(gossip)
(lying)
(lust)
(greed)
We often times claim closeness with God but then go against His will and live i a way that is opposite of His desire for you.
Even for Christians the 3 hardest words to say are either “I was wrong”
“I have sinned”
But the beautiful promise that lies in this verse is that when we are honest with ourselves and honest with God in sincerity god always responds with those three words “you are forgiven”
When sin pops up like a weed out of nowhere that should be the reality for the Christian, when the gardener is at work then weeds spring up but quickly plucked out, weeds then become something that pop up from time to time.
but a true Garden being tended will not have more weeds than fruit.
Sin our lives happens but it shouldn’t be the norm.
We should have a heart sensitive to the sin that pops up and quickly and seriously bring those sins to God.
We should quickly confess that sin and forsake it.
Turn away from it!
As you grow as a Christian your understanding and sesitivity to sin grows along with it. Things that used to not be a bog deal to you, all of a sudden grieve your heart when you do them.
Sin grieves the heart of the Christian bc the Christian knows it grieves the heart of His God.
When you and I sin we have 2 choices
You can choose to cover up your sin
you can hide it, deny it, and lie to God, others, and yourself about it.
The one who conceals his sins
will not prosper,
but whoever confesses and renounces them
will find mercy.
2. You can admit your sin
Confess it to God and come clean before Him and with yourself. Confession is what becomes the norm in the Christians life.
When we sin we break fellowship and closeness with god we have to be very careful this doesn not mean we lose our salvation but the closeness and intimacy does become less and less.
it is the same way in a marriage if you nurture your marriage you and your spouse will continue to grow closer and closer together but if you lie to each other all the time, there will be no intimacy no closeness, no fellowship.
Christians should live then in light of 2 realities
God is Light
God is Light
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.
John says this is the message we have heard from Him...
him who?
John isn’t writing his opinions down he has already said I have seen JEsus work miracles I was there and saw Him die I saw Him rise from the grave and this message is what I learned from Him!
John writes with authority!
There are no apostles today, but we get our authority the same way they did. John had derived authority which comes from God.
When I speak to you I can say thus saith the Lord because I believe this is the inspired inerrant word of God and if you don’t believe that then nothing I say will mean anything to you, but if you believe this is the Word of God then you will listen to what is being said and submit to it.
He says this truth we proclaim to you. This is the only time this specific Greek word is used in the NT. The word means “to herald important news!”
In ancient times there was a position in the Kings court called the Kings herald. This man would walk the streets of the city announcing the kings message.
All the subjects of the kingdom were intently interested in the word of the king.
When you are at home watching tv and it is interrupted by the network with an important news bulletin, what do you do? Do you get up and walk away or do you wait to see what is about to be announced?
I listen closely to see what is about to be announced. John says he has a message to announce to his readers, and it is vital, crucially important, and is a life changing message.
Did you notice that before John ever talks about us he talks about God?
John starts off with a message about the character of God three times in his writings. He says
GOD IS LIGHT
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
GOD IS LOVE
We have to understand that God is light, He is pure He is Holy but he is not just holy he is HOLY HOLY HOLY
Now lets look at Jesus for a minute Jesus is if Jesus is not God then why is He referred to in the same manner of God?
Notice what the Word of God says about Jesus...
“This, then, is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.
GOD is not like light HE IS LIGHT
Let’s talk for a minute about the nature of light
illuminates
warms
provides safety
concentrated light can transform
I am telling you the closer you get to the pure and perfect light that is god the more of your dark and sinful heart he will reveal.
You cant be close to God without Him illuminating things in your life that don’t need to be there.
Jesus God in the flesh the light of the world can warm your heart with his love and grace.
Jesus provides safety HE can show you things to avoid and people who are not good for your life and family. He can show you things in the world that might be harmful for your spiritual growth.
This light from the Lord can and does transform the wicked heart and change a person from the inside out!
Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him.
There is absolutely no darkness at all.
There is no darkness in God at all He has no hint of sin within him.
Therefore we have to take sin seriously!
We cannot rationalize our sin away thinking that God wont be that hard on us when we sin willingly!
He has NO SIN IN HIM AT ALL AND WE MUST UNDERSTAND THAT WE MUST SEEK TO BE HOLY IN OUR PERSONAL LIFE
If we seek to be like God in our life then our life will be marked with the light of life not the darkness of the world!
Therefore we are commanded to
WALK IN THE LIGHT
WALK IN THE LIGHT
If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. But 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.
I can’t tell you the number of times when I have spoken with someone and they have told em they were saved and yet to look at their lives they have no evidence of change in them.
I have family members who have claimed Christ and yet there is no marked difference in their lives.
This does not mean that I know whether a person is saved or not.
However a good indicator that you know the Lord is that there will be some type of change in your life.
If our life is filled with sin that we are not concerned about at all then we need to recognize that we have deceived ourselves and the truth is not in us.
WHERE THERE IS NO FRUIT THERE IS NO ROOT!
We don’t know specifically what John was referring to. It may have been that some false teachers in the church were claiming to have fellowship with God. It may have been that some genuine believers in the church were under the delusion that they could live however they wanted.
He says if we say we have fellowship with him but walk in darkness we lie and the truth is not in us.
We lie to ourselves we lie to others we lie to God when we say we are in the light but we walk in the darkness of sin.
John is not just talking about speaking a lie but is actually living a lie. Our words need to be backed up by our daily life.
That is why when someone professes Jesus as Lord it is a “wait and see” issue. The life of god within a person will manifest itself in the daily decisions and actions of that person.”
“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.
THE ONE WHO REMAINS IN ME AND I IN HIM PRODUCES MUCH FRUIT!
We cannot do anything without the Lord Jesus Christ and so if there is no spiritual fruit bearing itself out in your life then there is no reason to believe the field belongs to the Gardener
Listen to me because this is very important Christianity is not coming one time to Jesus to save you change you and satisfy you. True Christianity is continuing to come to Jesus over and over and over again.
Finding Him as the source of your life and satisfaction.
How do we walk in the light?
Your word is a lamp for my feet
and a light on my path.
The Bible teaches us how to live day by day in a way that pleases the Lord and avoids sin.
When I read and study the Bible, I discover where my life goes against scripture and I can make the right spiritual adjustment.
The main reason we seek to live according to the scriptures is because we love Jesus.
“If you love Me, you will keep My commands.
If we walk in the light 2 things happen
1, we have fellowship with one another
Now think about this for a minute that seems out of order doesnt it?
Shouldnt it say we have fellowship with God first?
Why does John not say anything about fellowship with God here and yet talks about fellowship with one another?
HE ALREADY ASSUMES THAT YOU HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD IF YOU ARE WALKING IN THE LIGHT
fellowship among Christians is a sign they have fellowship with God already.
JOINED PARTICIPATION IN LIFE TO GLORIFY GOD
YOu can always tell when someone is not walking in the light when they drop out of fellowship with you if you are walking in the light.
You are freinds with someone and they are talking about the Lord and everything is going good but then something drops off they drop off you try to tell check on them and see if they are ok, and they always think you are judging them.
It is because they are walking in darkness and sin and they do not want any accountability.
We are in constant need of fellowship with other Christians not just at church but in life!
Who are you doing life with?
Are they pushing you toward godliness or are they taking you the other way?
He says we have fellowship with one another but the blood of the Lord continues to cleanse us from all sin
The key for continuing in Godliness is to
Confess sin and don’t deny it
Confess sin and don’t deny it
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 don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
Let’s notice the word confess here it literally means to agree with.... This means that there are going to be times in your life where you are living with sin in you life.
During those seasons of your life The Lord will reveal that sin to you. It will be through a sermon, or maybe your reading a devotion or your Bible.
But the thing to do if you want to get back on track with God is to agree yes Lord that is sin. I now seeing who I am like I have seen myself in a mirror now confess and agree that this is sin and I reject it and I am going to try turning away from it.
The sad thing is if we half heartedly come to church, or halfheartedly read Gods word then we come in not really expecting to hear anything or maybe our mind is distracted by something else and we miss the prompting of the Lord.
We have to live with this mindset
GOD REVEAL ANYTHING WICKED WITHIN ME
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
HERES THE KEY ONCE HE REVEALS IT BEGIN MAKING STRIDES TO RID YOURSELF OF IT!
Now some of you might be thinking well Kyle you dont know what I am dealing with I wanna quit I wanna get over this but I just dont see how it is possible....
THATS WHERE FAITH COMES IN!
YOU CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS YOU!!
Let me tell you something if you take this approach let me tell you what the good news is, when you begin trying to rid yourself of sin and you get to that point where you just dont think it is possible!
GOD IS FAITHFUL!
HE KEEPS HIS PROMISES HE CAN DO THE IMPOSSIBLE IN YOU AND THROUGH YOU AND BRING GLORY TO HIS NAME!
HE will cleanse you from how much unrighteousness?
ALL
All means all and thats all all means.
Lastly if we say this is not an issue for us, that we don’t have any glaring sin within us, then we make God a liar and His word is not in us.
God says you are my child and I know you, the good bad and the ugly so don’t kid yourself into thinking you have done a good job of being sinless bc you are not.
If you do think you have no sin then HIs word His truth His Spirit is not in you!