Have you heard the story of an angry church member complaining to her pastor? "Why do you keep preaching to us Christians about sin? After all, sin in the life of a Chris­tian is different from sin in the life of an unsaved person!"

"Yes," the pastor replied, "It is differ­ent. It's much worse!"

The real life in Christ that I spoke about two weeks ago has an enemy, SIN. Sin is mentioned nine times in these verses we just read. Also, John contrasts light to darkness. Light symbolizes the inherent character and nature of God while darkness represents life apart from God, apart from righteousness. Walking in darkness is to live habitually in sin.

Sin literally means to miss the mark or the target, that is, to disobey God. Along with the outward disobedience, the sinner may have inner rebellion and refusal to submit to God's teachings.

When John wrote this letter he was seek­ing to clear up some false teachings concern­ing sin, presenting some hypothetical cases introduced by "If we say..."

"If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth." v.6 This is a denial that sin breaks our fellowship with God.

"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, the truth is not in us." v.8 This is a denial that sin exists in our na­ture.

"If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." v.10 This is a denial that sin shows itself in our conduct.

It seems that John was dealing with some professing Christians who claimed that they were so spiritual that sin did not matter. Napoleon said that laws were made for ordi­nary people, but were never for the likes of him.

False ideas about sin are all around us today. Some people in churches today still deny that what God calls sin is sin. It still is. John's message is for us today. SIN is an enemy that Christians must take seriously. John wrote firmly, warning, so that we turn our backs on sin, so that we hate sin. He also uses "We" to identify, to speak of what he shares in common with his readers. He wrote, "My little children..." Note that John is an old man at the time of this writing and he uses this as a term of affection. He seeks to love us into obedience.

Brothers and sisters, SIN is serious. We must deal with our sin if we are going to enjoy real life. He mentions three ways of doing so.

I. We can try to COVER our sin.

Some Christians who are aware of their sin, try to cover them by telling lies. First they may tell lies to others. v.6 We may lie to make people think we are spiritual, to think we are walking in fellowship with God, when in fact we are walking in darkness and living in sin. Christianity without morality is a false illusion. Sin is always a barrier to fellowship with God. Ps. 5:4; 66:18; Is 59:1-2. In II Corinthians 6:14 Paul asks, "What partnership have righteousness and iniquity. What fellowship has light with darkness?

After lying to others, people may then lie to themselves. v.8 John suggests that we may deceive ourselves, try to convince our­selves that we are sinless.

Consider the Biblical example of David in II Samuel 11 & 12. David lusted, committed adultery and tried to cover his sin. He tried to deceive, to trick Uriah, Bathsheba's hus­band. When that plan did not work, David had him killed in battle. Nathan, the prophet of the Lord confronted him with a similar hypo­thetical situation. David condemned the sinful man, but until Nathan said, "You are the man." David felt no condemnation for himself. He believed his lie and this pro­gressed into lying to God. v. 10.

I would not recommend this means of dealing with sin. The results of trying to cover our sin are devastating. The first result is losing the word of God. He stops living according to the truth. v.6 The truth is not in us." v.8 "He turns truth into lies." v.10. But Jesus said, "Thy word is Truth." John 17:7

Another result of trying to cover sin is losing fellowship with God and with God's people. Prayer may become empty form and worship becomes a dull routine. People become critical of other Christians. Problems also arise in the family. Complaints about the church arise.

I have not heard of this occurring in Adel, but I read of some people discussing their new pastor. One said, "For some reason, I really don't feel at ease with him. I believe he is a good man, but some­thing seems to stand between us."

Another man identified with him, "I think I know what you mean. I used to have the same problem, but we don't anymore. We have great fellowship."

The first guy asked, "What did he do?"

The second responded, "He didn't do any­thing. I did the changing."

To this the first fellow said, "You did the changing?"

"Yes," the second answered, "I decided to be open and honest. There was too much pre­tending in my life. He and I both knew I was a phony. Since I have started to live an honest Christian life, everything is better."

Recall the words of Abraham Lincoln, "If a man is going to be a liar, he had better have a good memory."

Finally, the result of trying to cover sins is losing character. v.2:4. The person starts out telling lies and ends up becoming a liar.

God warns in Proverbs 28:13 "He that covers his sins shall not prosper." Many try to cover their sins, but this does NOT work if we want to enjoy REAL life. We must deal with our sins in two other ways.

II. We can and MUST CONFESS our sin.

In verse nine we see that the proper attitude is not to deny sin, but to admit it and therefore receive the forgiveness which God has made possible for us and has promised for us. We must acknowledge before God that we are sinners by nature and by practice.

Since the Fall, all of us have been born with a sinful nature AND each of us has committed acts of sin. We see in verse 10 that God will forgive and cleanse, but there are still results sinners live with like we cannot unscramble an egg. Sin hinders God's work.

God is faithful and just, to character and nature, to His promises, to His Word. SIN is serious. Christ, the Judge cannot take sin lightly. The cross is the only moral ground on which God can forgive sin at all, because at the cross the blood of Jesus was shed to wash away our sin, to be the expiation for our sin. This justice is not the pagan thought of appeasing an angry god, but the satisfying of God's holy law. Jesus satisfied God's holy law and paid the penalty of sin with His blood.

In 2:1 John tells us the purpose is so that you may not sin. Single acts of sin are possible for the Christian, but we are not to live a life of habitual sin. If we do sin, God has made provision for our restoration. We who have trusted Jesus Christ as our per­sonal Savior have an Advocate, literally, one called alongside. The picture here is of one summoned to come to the assistance of another, particularly used of defense lawyers pleading the cause of a person on trial. This word Advocate is one of the titles and descriptions of the Holy Spirit. Jesus finished His work on earth by giving His life as the sacrifice for our sins. Now Jesus' work in heaven continues in heaven as He represents us before God, before the throne of grace. When we confess our sin, Jesus, our advocate helps us. The righteous Son of God pleads our case. He who satisfied the law also represents us before God's throne. His sacrifice makes possible the forgiveness of our sin.

We must deal with our sin by confessing it. True confession is more than admitting what we have done. True confession literally means to say the same thing about, that is to call sin, sin. That is what God calls it. We may call it by the name God calls it: envy, gossip, hatred, lust, deceit, jealousy, etc. We need to be honest with ourselves and honest with God. That is confession, one way we must deal with our sin. Along with this, John tells us another way to rightly deal with sin.

III. We can CONQUER our sin.

Despite what the world may tell us, the true Christian does not have to continue to sin over and over again. John wrote this that you may not sin! 2:1 The secret to victory, 1:7 is to walk in the light.

The effect of light is not just to make men see, but to enable them to walk. Right conduct, not just clear vision, is the bene­fit light gives. To walk in the light we must not try to cover our sin, but to be open and honest with God, ourselves, and others. To walk in the light also means obeying God's Word.

It is impossible for us to imitate the life of Jesus Christ by ourselves. We can conquer sin by abiding in Christ. v. 2:5,6 To abide is to stay, to remain, and to tarry. It implies fellowship, communion, dependence, harmony, friendship. In his Gospel John had written of Jesus beautiful illustration of the vine and the branches. We need to completely depend on Christ to conquer sin.

Conclusion

I do not want to constantly focus my preaching on sin. But I would agree with the pastor who said the sin in the life of Chris­tian is different. Yes it is worse for we who claim to follow Jesus Christ. Sin is serious, and we must not try to cover our sin. WE can and must confess our sin and we can conquer our sin through the power of Jesus Christ. In Him we have victory.

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