This transcript of A Sermon on 1 John 1:5-10 has been lightly edited.
Please visit our Sermon Archive for more sermons in this series.
Please take your Bibles, if you have them, and turn with me to John’s first letter to the Church of Ephesus, 1 John. We’re going to read chapter 1, verses 5 through 10, as we look at and consider the forgiveness of sins. So we have this sermon today and one more sermon in this particular series on the Apostles’ Creed, what it is that we believe, and then we will begin a series on the book of Judges.
And so I’d encourage you over the next couple weeks to take a look at the book of Judges, get familiar with it, read through it at least once, and prepare your hearts for that particular sermon series, and what God teaches us about ourselves, but also what he teaches us about Jesus through the book of Judges.
Today we are in 1 John chapter 1, beginning in verse 5.
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you. God is light. In him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him, yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by 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 purifies us from all sins.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his word has no place in our lives.”
Let’s pray. Father God, we thank you for the forgiveness that you have provided. May you give me the words today to clearly proclaim the forgiveness of sins, and may you open our ears by the power of your Spirit so that we might hear, so that we might be changed, so that we might be drawn to you. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
INTRODUCTION
On June 17, 2015, a young man walked into, and I got to look at this to to get the words right, it’s a mouthful, but he walked into the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
The people there on that Wednesday night invited him in to join with them in a Bible study, and for an hour he sat and fellowshipped with them, hearing the good news of Jesus’ forgiveness. However, at the end of that hour, because of some troubling, troubling that he had in his mind, because of some misunderstandings of how humans relate to one another as the image of God, he stood up and took the lives of nine of the members of that Bible study.
The next day, he was apprehended and charged with his crimes. During one of his pre-trial hearings, the family members of the victims had an opportunity to directly address this young man, to express their grief, to express their hurt, to express what he had taken from them. And to the shock and astonishment of witnesses and the world, five of those nine family members stood up and said, “We forgive you, and we pray that you find the forgiveness of Jesus for what you have done.”
It would be easy to think that the story should end there. A majority of the victims’ families have offered grace and forgiveness, so story over, right? Well, no. He ended up being convicted of multiple felonies, and he is awaiting his execution for the crimes, for the murders that he committed.
While we do not discount the grace and the glory of God that was shown in those five family members offering this young man forgiveness, it is important to note and to remember that they cannot offer absolution. They cannot offer righteousness before God to this young man.
The law of the United States and the law of the state of South Carolina had been violated, and the punishment related to the violation of that law must be carried out. The only nine people who could truly offer him forgiveness for the crime he committed were not there. Their lives had been taken, and they were not able to offer him true forgiveness.
It’s easy to look at this young man and to think how horrible he is and how he deserves justice, but the truth is that our sin follows the very same pattern.
Even sin committed against people that we know is ultimately a violation of God’s law and ultimately a violation of God himself. We will look into the horrific darkness of humanity’s sin against God’s law and against God’s person, not so that we might be condemned, not so that we might be depressed, but so that we might see the glorious truth, the healing truth of what we believe when we say we believe in the forgiveness of sins.
SIN: A VIOLATION OF GOD’S LAW
So first, sin is a violation of God’s law.
We look around the world, we look at different cultures within the world, and we see a bunch of laws, a bunch of rules that govern these cultures that seem universal. Laws against the violation of property, laws against the taking of life, laws against the violation of truth.
We see these written in law codes around the world, and we know that these are there because these laws are written upon our hearts. Part of being created in the image of God, part of being created with an ability to know and to commune with God.
Part of that is having the law of God written upon our hearts. We know because God’s law is written upon our hearts, we know in the depths of our being that something is wrong. In Romans, Paul goes on an extended course in chapter six and seven about the fact that he knew he was guilty before God, but until he read God’s law in the Ten Commandments, he could not identify why he was guilty. But he said he had that law written upon his heart.
You and I have the law of God. In Exodus chapter 20 and Deuteronomy chapter five, we have the summary of God’s law in the Ten Commandments, which begins with an injunction against having idols, having other gods before God.
It ends with the same parallel injunction when it says don’t covet what other people have, don’t idolize what other people have, don’t turn what other people have into a God that you worship. And everything in between is the law of God given to us to guide how we live, to give us the standard for righteousness.
When you and I look at God’s law and we say that’s not for me, we break that law. And in that same covenant, the covenant that began with Adam and Eve in the Garden, where he said, “If you break the commands that I have given to you, death will follow,” all the way through the Old Testament law, there are consequences for breaking the law of God.
If a law is broken, justice demands God’s justice demands that when his law is broken, that a punishment fall upon the law breaker. When you and I go our own way, rather than following the righteous demands of God’s law, we are guilty before God of breaking, of violating his law. So our sin is a violation of God’s law.
SIN: A VIOLATION OF GOD’S PERSON
But sin is also a violation of God’s person. Also, it is an attack against God himself. John Piper asked the question, “What is sin?” And he answers it this way.
“It is the glory of God, not honored. It is the holiness of God, not reverenced. It is the greatness of God, not admired. That is the power of God, not praised the truth of God, not sought the wisdom of God, not esteemed. The beauty of God, not treasured the goodness of God, not savored the faithfulness of God, not trusted the commandments of God, not obeyed the justice of God, not respected the wrath of God, not feared the grace of God, not cherished the presence of God, not prized the person of God, not loved. That is sin.”
God’s holy law flows out of who God is. God doesn’t merely sit in heaven, rolling dice or flipping coins, trying to figure out what he wants to keep us from doing. Because God is holy, his law flows out of who he is and is rooted in who he is.
And as you were following along, listening to me read that definition of sin from John Piper, you’ll notice that every single one of those, except for one, is a description of who God is. Yes, he says that the sin is the commandments of God, not obeyed the violation of God’s law.
But he goes on to describe who God is as glorious, as holy, as great, as powerful, as truth, as wisdom, as beauty, goodness, faithfulness, justice, wrath, grace and presence.
And he says that any time you and I sin, we attack and violate some or all attributes of God. Why can David say in Psalm 51 “for against you and you only have I sinned” when he committed adultery and murder against subjects in his kingdom? It’s because every single sin from the greatest to the smallest is a direct attack upon the person of God.
Albert Mohler explains it this way:
“Christian, your sin amounts to nothing less than a desire for God to cease being God. Your sin against God beckons him to step off his throne so that you might ascend its steps. Your sin wishes the creator to give up his rightful rule and his rightful claim to glory and to submit himself to your free will.”
Whenever you look at how God has ordained life and decided you want to do it differently, you are seeking to expel God from his throne and to put yourself in his place. Whether it’s sexual sin, whether it’s violation of anger, whether it’s violation of truth, whatever sin it is, any sin is an attempt to bring God off his throne and put yourself there.
Brothers and sisters, you and I are guilty of forgetting the holiness of God. In Isaiah 6, Revelation 4 and 5, Isaiah and John end up in the throne room of God, flat on their face because of the glory of God. You and I think that if we were in the same position, God would get up and bow to us. That is an attack on God’s person.
When you and I begin to understand the absolute perfect holiness of God, we will see our sin for what it is. We need the Holy Spirit to give us a glimpse of that glory, a glimpse of that holiness, not merely to overwhelm and to destroy us, but to show us where we need to confess, where we fall short of that glory of God.
FORGIVENESS: GOD’S LAW AND PERSON SATISFIED
Sin is a violation of God’s law. It is also a violation of God’s person. But both God’s law and God’s person have been satisfied. Jesus, we talk about the obedience of Jesus and oftentimes in theological circles, we talk about it in two different ways.
We talk about it in his active obedience and in his passive obedience. Cliff notes real quick, his active obedience satisfies our violation of God’s law. His passive obedience satisfies our attempted violation of God’s person.
Jesus’ active obedience refers to him keeping the law. Hebrews chapter 4, verses 14 through 16.
“Since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are yet without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
That holiness code that we see in the 10 commandments was there before Jesus, and he kept every single one of them perfectly.
We talk about the letter of the law. We talk about the spirit of the law. Jesus kept both the letter and the spirit of the law.
If we look at the sixth commandment, the letter of the law says, “Don’t take anybody’s life in a premeditated manner.” Jesus never murdered anyone. Hopefully none of you have either.
But if we dig a little deeper, we’ll see that Jesus kept the spirit of the law also, and that we fall short of the spirit of the law. Larger Catechism question number 136 asks, “What particular sins does the sixth commandment forbid?” And it adds this list to premeditated murder:
“…neglecting or withholding the necessary means for the preservation of life, sinful anger, hatred, envy, desire for revenge, all excessive emotions and distracting anxieties, intemperate eating or drinking,” I’m in trouble, “working or playing, speaking in a provocative way, oppressing, quarreling with, hitting or wounding others and anything else conductive to the destruction of anyone’s life.”
Whatever the perfect, holy, righteous law of God means when it says thou shalt not kill, Jesus kept it perfectly and that righteousness is offered to those who believe. It covers those who believe as part of our justification.
We stand before God guilty in a courtroom because we have violated his law. And yet, for those who believe, for those who put their hope and their trust in Jesus Christ, God declares us righteous because Jesus kept God’s law. That’s his active obedience and His satisfaction of the violation of law.
What about the violation of God’s person? Well, that was satisfied in Jesus’ passive obedience. What do I mean when we say Jesus’ passive obedience? For three hours, Jesus hung upon the cross and where God’s justice was violated, Jesus satisfied that violation. Where God’s holiness was violated, Jesus satisfied that holiness.
Where his goodness was violated, Jesus satisfied that goodness. Whatever part of God’s person was violated by the sins of those who believe, Jesus satisfied that upon the cross.
Believer, have you sinned? Jesus has satisfied the law and he has satisfied God for you.
If you are not a believer, know that you stand guilty before God. You have violated his law and you are attacking his person. But God offers forgiveness through Jesus for those who put their faith, their hope and their trust in him.
CONCLUSION
When 1 John 1, 9 says that God is faithful and just to forgive our sin, John is affirming two things. He is affirming first that God’s law and God’s person has been violated by our sin. And he is also affirming that Jesus has satisfied both the righteousness of the law and the person of God for us on our behalf.
And so when John calls the believer to confess, he calls him knowing that the believer is safe in the presence of God to confess all of his sins.
This call to confess oftentimes causes two different responses in the people of God. Firstly, the call to confess in light of Jesus’ forgiveness can call us to confess “sin” without confessing individual sins.
Does your confession time ever look like “God, please forgive me?” And then you move on to supplication or to thanksgiving. This view of confession can lead to an underestimation of the influence that sin still has upon the life of the Christian.
When I read from the larger catechism’s description of murder earlier, were you surprised or convicted of anything? You’ve heard me joke about it before that I have the ability when I’m stressed, when I’m angry, when I’m inconvenienced in any teensy-teensy minor way, I can turn a family-sized bag of potato chips into a single serving.
That’s intemperate eating, folks, which means I am guilty of murder before God. I would encourage you if you struggle to identify sin in your life, I warn and encourage you to take the larger catechism, print it out, and look at the questions on the Ten Commandments and see where the Holy Spirit convicts you and see where he calls you to repent and to move closer to holiness.
On the other hand, though, the second response that we have when we are called to confess and when we are confronted with the depth of our sin is to despair.
Brothers and sisters, it is so easy to despair as you read through that list, but we need not despair. We are so tempted that the enemy comes to us, Satan comes to us, and he says, “Look at that list of sins, you’re nothing but a dirty worm that God hates.”
And the truth is in Jesus, that is not true. The truth is, yes, you are far more sinful in the sight of God than you can ever know, think or imagine. The flip side of that coin, however, is the love, the mercy, the grace of God goes infinitely deeper than any of your sins.
If you get overwhelmed by the despair that comes with sin, Stuart Townend wrote a song called “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us.”
“How deep the Father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure that he should give his only son to make this wretch his treasure. How great the pain of searing loss the father turns his face away as wounds which mar the chosen one bring many sons to glory.
Behold the man upon a cross, my sin upon his shoulders. Ashamed I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held him there until it was accomplished. His dying breath has brought me life. I know that it is finished.
I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom, but I will boast in Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection. Why should I gain from his reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know with all my heart, his wounds have paid my ransom.
Brothers and sisters, don’t get overwhelmed or despair because of your sin. It has been paid. The temptation is to look at a list of sins and go, oh, woe is me. For brothers and sisters, we should affirm that no matter where we stumble, where we fall as the child of God, nothing can separate us from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus.
One other thing along this line, there is an overreaction to the response of despair, and it’s called “scrupulosity.” It’s an OCD-related diagnosis that takes such a high view of sin that one lives in a constant fear that if you sin, God will hate you. I will say this, if that describes you, seek help. A combination of pastoral and professional counseling may be necessary to break the pattern of the scrupulosity, but don’t put it off.
All of us need to know when we are confronted by the Holy Spirit with the depth of our sin that God’s love goes far deeper. Know that, brothers and sisters, and know that when we proclaim that God forgives sin, he means ours, and he means every single one of them. Let’s pray.
To the glorious God above, we come before you asking that your Holy Spirit would open our eyes, would open our hearts, and would show us where we still put our hope in the things of this world, where we still sin. Lord, as the Spirit leads us to repentance, we also ask that we would see and feel and know in the depth of our very being the love and the grace and the mercy of God that you have forgiven our sins. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
As you go this week, take this blessing with you into your work, into your home, into your life:
“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father.”
He who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming soon.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Please visit our Facebook Page.