1 JOHN 1-2 1:6-2:2 A HEALTHY VIEW OF SIN2010 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 John 1-2 1:6-2:2 A Healthy View Of Sin

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2010. This morning, as we continue in 1 John 1 and 1 John 2

The Apostle John is dealing with the subject of sin. And I wonder, as we look at this, how many of you woke up today and thought, "Ah, you know, it's Sunday morning, beautiful morning, oh, it's so exciting, we get to go to church, we get to spend time worshiping together." And here he talks about some of the sins today. Anybody say that? Somebody, when they woke up, they get really excited, excited, passionate about, you know, what you heard, "Oh, yeah, I'm gonna be talking about sin." Girl, you know, I wanna hear what he has to say.

But it is one of those subjects that is important to be understood for us. We need to have a good understanding about sin. What the Bible says it is, and about its role in our lives, and really the way we should do it in regard to sin on our behalf. Today, the subject we're looking at is sin, and I want to encourage you to have a healthy view of sin. Not just to be fit in your perspective towards sin, but to be understanding of what sin is.

Outside of the church, there is a lot of different opinions and approaches and perspectives when it comes to sin. Out there in the world, there's all kinds of philosophies and ideas about sin and whether or not it exists. There's all kinds of opinions and shit that are shared and accepted for everybody to hold to that side and shit. And then within the church, we also have

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Uh-oh.

of sin. And again, I want to encourage you regarding a healthy view of sin. We need to have a good understanding about sin and what it means for us as believers. And so there's six points I want to share with you this morning. It's a little bit more than usual. Usually I just keep it short, but regardless of sin and how to have a healthy view of sin. As we go through them, I'll be sharing as well

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The common illustration is if you are an archer, you're shooting an arrow. And you hit the bullseye on the target. And you missed the bullseye. That is known as sin. You missed the mark. The bullseye missed the mark. And you missed that mark. And the period of that is that we have all sinned. That we all missed the mark. The mark that is set for us is set by God. He sets the standard.

And the standard of perfection. Jesus was born. He came on the scene. God sent his son. And Jesus Christ modeled what it's like to meet that mark. He modeled that life before us that fits the standard that God has set. And so we have the mark and we have the picture for us in the life of Christ. What a life it is to meet that standard. And you and I, for sure, every single one of us,

we do not meet that standard. We miss the mark. We fall short of the glory of God. And so that's what we're dealing with. Those issues in our lives where we fall short. We fall short of God's standard. We fall short of walking with God. We fall short of being obedient to God.

Sin.

Sin separates. Now, John the Apostle is dealing with the issue of the rightness. That's what we were talking about last week. The issue of fellowship is before us. The fellowship that we have with one another. And the fellowship that we have with God. And how they're one in the same and they're really linked together. Well, sin, when it comes into our lives, when it comes into our lives,

a lifestyle, it causes a great separation of this fellowship that we are meant to enjoy. The fellowship that God desires to have with us is broken by walking in darkness. We say, it's not the same that we have God, but at the same time, we're walking in darkness. Well, there's something out of life because God has his light, and so you have fellowship with the light. And so if you walk in darkness, but

He says, look, I'm writing these things to you.

that your joy may be full. And as we saw last week, a fullness of joy comes from fellowship with God. And so the goal is for us to have fellowship with God because that's what the whole joy that God desires to give to us. And he's dealing with the issue of sin because it separates us from the fellowship that we have with God. And it robs us of the joy that God has for us that comes from fellowshiping with God.

And so he says, if we have fellowship with God, but we walk in darkness, we're lying. Because there's a separation that takes place when a person is walking in darkness. The idea of darkness is pretty easy for us to understand. The idea is obscurity. And I think the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 5 gives us a really good picture of that.

What it means to walk in darkness. In Ephesians 5 verse 11 and 12 he says, Have no fellowship with these unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. He says, don't fellowship, don't participate in the works of darkness because those are shameful things. It's even...

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Are there things that you have to keep from your spouse? Or your parents? Or your children? Or your friends? Or your neighbors? Are there things that are secret? Because to speak of them, it's shameful. There's shame that's connected with those things that you're hiding from those around you. Do you walk in those things? We're talking about...

a lifestyle here. Do you walk? Do you practice? Those things that are shameful to speak of. John is saying, look, if that's how we walk, if we claim to have fellowship with God, it's not the truth. We're lying. Walk in darkness. He cannot walk in those things that are shameful and still at the same time have fellowship with God. And so instead he tells us to walk in the light as he is in the light. Since God is in the light.

We must walk in the light along with him. Not in perfection. And that's not what John is saying. That you can't have anything. That you never fall. But that it's not your lifestyle.

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Instead of a lifestyle of things that are shameful and practicing things that need to be kept secret, it's a lifestyle of seeking God, obeying God, and pursuing God. So walk in the light. Why? Well, because sin separates. And if we walk in the light, then we have that fellowship restored. We are seeking God and pursuing God and approaching God on the basis of...

How much sin is cleansed?

All sin is cleansed as we walk in the light. As we come to God. By the blood of Jesus Christ. All sin is cleansed. We have perfect fellowship with God. We stand before him just as if we had never sinned. If we walk in relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

John says sin separates us from that relationship. Sin destroys that fellowship. Walking in darkness keeps us from that joy that comes from the fellowship with God. But if we turn to God, then fellowship is restored and we're cleansed from all sin. Very important to know. The second thing we find as we continue on in the passage is that we have a sin nature. Look at verse 8.

We have a sin nature. Nature.

our nature, it is natural for us to sin. As the scripture says, our hearts are prone to wander. And in another place, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have a sin nature. One of the things that happens for us though is we know that we have a sin nature. We have a sin nature. We can develop an idea or this attitude of self-righteousness. And this is the false perspective of not having a sin nature. Having a sin nature of the person who says, oh, I have no sin. Because sin

I don't struggle like those other people struggle. I don't deal with those issues like those other people deal with issues. We get this because we're very lenient upon ourselves. In arson, we justify and explain away, and it has all kinds of reasons why it's right. But the same thing in other people's lives, we condemn them for it. We justify ourselves. We are self-righteous.

that we need to guard against as Christians. That parable that Jesus told in Luke, Jesus told in Luke chapter 18, he talked about these two people who went to pray to God. And one of them was a tax collector. He was a sinner. He was a sinner. He was a notorious sinner. He beat his breast and he asked to look up to God. He bows down, he cries out to God and he says, God have mercy on me, a sinner. There was a Pharisee.

A religious leader. Someone who's a leader. Someone who kept the law. Kept the law. And he, and he, the tax collector, the tax collector, he prays, thank you that I'm not like you, that I'm not like other men. Other men. That I'm not an extortioner, I'm not an extortioner, I'm just an adulterer, I'm just an adulterer, or even like this bum tax collector here. Tax collector here. Thank you God that I'm not like him. Thank you that I'm so much better than him. Better than him. I fast twice a week. I fast twice a week. I give a tithe of all that I possess. Of all that I possess. Thank you. Thank you that I am so righteous. That I am so righteous. That I'm so wonderful. That's wonderful. That's how the Pharisees pray. How the Pharisees pray.

And it explains, right before Jesus tells this parable, why he's telling it. He's telling it. It tells us in Luke chapter 18, verse 9, he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. There are those, and at times it is us.

who trust in themselves tells that we are righteous that we are righteous and despise and despise others self-righteousness goes along with despising others and making others and looking down upon looking down upon them comparing ourselves with ourselves with them with them we forget we forget that we have a signature we have a signature and we claim and we claim i have no i have no sin although we may although we may know better than to know better than to use those words to use those words it's the attitude it's the attitude of our hearts we have we have a signature we need to remember that to remember that i

I read recently a quote by C.S. Lewis where he says, no man knows how bad he is until he has tried very hard to be good. If you want to know how bad you are, try really hard. Take this week and try really hard to be good. Get to begin to discover how bad you really are.

Because when you try really hard to be good, you still are bad. That is our condition. We have a sin nature. Again, the standard has been set by God, and we miss the mark. In our very nature, the Bible tells us in Romans 3, there is none righteous. No, not one.

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That's my nature. That's who I am. I am. In the same way, in the same way, you and I have a same nature.

I have no sin. No sin. You would not.

Here's what we need to do. Agree with God about it.

Verse 9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we confess our sins, this is a wonderful promise. If it's not highlighted, if you don't have this verse memorized, please take some time, spend some time meditating on it, memorizing and learning this verse. Bless you. Bless you.

She missed the mark there. I think some sin nature is coming out. Take some time to learn this verse. He says, if we confess our sins, that God will forgive us. Talk about confess. We're not talking about coming to a priest, and doing our sins in order to obtain forgiveness. We're talking about public announcements. I'm not going to call you to sit up and pronounce to us and announce to us and announce what sins you have committed this week. We're talking about sharing with...

Individually, you know, sharing with one another our sins. That's not what confession is all about. If we confess our sins, the word confess means to agree to agree with. Basically, what he's saying is this, that we are to agree about our sin. We are to agree about our sin that God says about our sin.

One opinion. One opinion. We're to look at it the same way and have the same perspective on sin. Now in saying that, I do want to share briefly that it is appropriate to confess sins to one another in certain cases. He deals with this. He says, confess your trespasses and pray for one another that you may be healed. The protective prayer of a righteous man avails much. And the context there is Jesus talking

for forgiveness, but confession for deliverance. It's sharing with someone else, this is what I'm struggling with, this is what I'm going through, could you pray for me so that I can overcome? Because the effect of prayer of righteousness avails much. And so assistance, fellowship, as we talked about last week, to overcome, to deliver from that sin. It's not talking about sin, it's not talking about forgiveness. For forgiveness, as John is referring to here,

He says we confess our sins, and he's faithful and just to forgive us. This is what is necessary for you to be forgiven of sin. For you to agree with God, to say the same thing about your sin that God says about your sin. Now, what happens, a false view of this, or a false approach to this, many times, is that instead of agreeing with God about our sin, we

we argue with God about our sin. I think of King Saul. Remember in 1 Samuel chapter 5, he comes out on a mission. He gives him clear instructions through the prophet Samuel. He used to go to the Amalekites and he used to wipe them out. He used to completely leave nothing that breathes alive. And he has victory. He pronounces to Samuel, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. Samuel says, really? Samuel says, really?

Come on.

But I obey. He's arguing. No, no, that's not sin. He's not sin. He's not agreeing. He's not agreeing and saying the same thing, saying the same thing with God about sin, about what he did, about what he did, about that disobedience, about that disobedience. He's arguing him and arguing him and trying to insist, and trying to insist, no, no, I didn't do anything wrong. I did wrong. I did what I was supposed to do. And so we must not argue with God about sin and debate and try to insist that what we're doing is not wrong. And we're really good at that. Again, excusing ourselves and justifying ourselves and justifying ourselves. We're very good at that. We are all good at that.

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kind of counterintuitive. If I can just say, no, I obeyed God, and then I'll have right standing. But the reality is, if you'll just admit it, confess and agree, God, I blew it. Then you'll have right standing. If you try to deny it, if you try to argue it away, if you try to insist that you didn't,

It leaves you out of fellowship. But if you will confess, if you will confess, if you'll come to God and agree with Him about sin, then you'll be forgiven. He says He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now think about that for a second. And confess and agree with Him about sin. John says He is faithful and just.

I had jury duty a while back. It was a couple years ago. It was the first time I was ever actually on a case. The case was an attempted murder case. It was a girl. She was probably about 19 or 20 years old. And she was accused of being involved in a plan to kill her father. And her and this other guy, her boyfriend, were accused of this together.

And so...

There is an attempt, the dad wakes up one day because there's a knife being thrust into his chest, but the knife was not strong enough, so it just stopped at the bone, and that's where the plan fell apart. You know, he's presenting their case, and she's on the witness stand, being cross-examined, and under the line of questioning, comes to a place, the attorney does a really good job of getting her to admit, admit,

that she opened the window in order for her boyfriend to come in and fulfill the plan that they had put together of killing her father. And you can tell by the look on her face, it was very clear, she didn't realize that she had admitted it until after she had already said it. Now picture that scenario for just a moment. And after she admits it, and she says yes, I open the window so that he could come in and kill my father. Then turn to her and say, you're dead.

she says yes she says yes and the judge goes and you agree it's wrong agree it's wrong she says yes i agree it's wrong yes i agree it's wrong the judge would then say okay you're free to go free to go would that be just would that be just would justice be served justice be served oh of course we say no that wouldn't be right be right so the bible says the bible says if we confess if we confess yes it was wrong yes yes i am that way i am that way yes that's what yes that's what i did i did that he is faithful that he is faithful just to forgive us our sins how is that how is that just that right is that right

What we need to understand, the missing element in this picture is that the penalty for sin has already been paid. It was paid in full at the cross. The penalty is fully paid. Not only that, but God has promised, declared in his word that those who believe on him will have everlasting life. He's declared in his word that the work that was accomplished there by Jesus on the cross, faith in that work.

And so if we confess

if we agree with him about our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us. God has placed us, placed himself rather, in a situation where he is obligated to forgive. Attached it to his nature. He's attached it to himself. His word, his promise. It would be contrary to God's nature to not forgive. One who comes confessing agreement with God.

the sinful condition and the need of a savior. He is faithful and just. It's right for him and he will forgive and cleanse those who come to him in agreement about the sinful condition. It's right. It's right. It's just. It's just. And that's important because very many times we don't feel forgiven. There's a lot of times where we come before God and we recognize him. We recognize him. We

There's just no feeling of, I still feel dirty. I still feel fallen. I still feel this way. I don't know. God is faithful and just. So that we hold fast to his word and not to our feelings. So that we believe in his word. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You may not think that God can forgive you.

You may think what you've done is too terrible, or the way that you are is beyond the limit of redemption or forgiveness. But John says if you confess, he forgives. And it's just, and it's right, and it's right. And if God did not forgive, it would not be right. God has placed himself in this position so that you know that as you come to God in agreement with God, in agreement with him about sin, he forgives you. I say this in Jesus' face.

So number three, agree with God about your sin. Number four, do not deny your sin. Verse 10 says this. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Now he goes on to say that we claim again that we have not sinned. We met with this a little bit in verse 8, but verse 8 is more talking about the sin nature. Here he's talking about specific sins. If we deny a sin that we have committed,

We make him a liar. Now, it's one thing to deny our sin nature. That's what we talked about a few minutes ago. And that's wrong. It's possible for us to acknowledge, yes, I have a sin nature, but deny particular things that we do as sin. And we claim, well, this isn't sin. Oh, yes, I have a sin nature. I'm not perfect. But what I'm doing and what I'm practicing, that's not sin. Both are wrong. We must not deny our sin.

There's different ways that we try to deny sin. There's different ways that we try to say that we have not sinned. One way is straight-up denial. We just simply say, no, I didn't sin. I didn't do that. I was in elementary school. I remember this occasion, this occasion, this specific event that happened.

Everything else is foggy, but this event is vivid. There is a time in our class where there was a birthday. And so the mom of the birthday child had bought him cupcakes for the entire class. What happened was a kid from another class somehow snuck into the room where the cupcakes were held and ate some of the cupcakes that were meant for our class. Some people can relate, I guess. I'm laughing already. Cupcakes for the entire class.

and then she says and then she says and

Ask him any questions that you want. Questions that you want. Anything you want. Whatever you want. Whatever you want. Embarrass him. Embarrass him. Do whatever you want. Do whatever you want. So she won. So she's just making this public spectacle of him. But in the course of this, she brought it out of him. Why he was caught. He was caught. Or how they knew that he had eaten the cupcakes. Because they came into the room. And there he was. And there was cupcakes missing. And cupcakes missing. And the teacher found him. So the teacher found him. So he said, no, I didn't eat those cupcakes.

chapter five

He's the servant of Elisha. And Naaman comes and gets healed and wants to bless Elisha. And so he's offering food and clothing and silver and material things. And Elisha says, I don't need any of that. Take this stuff and go. And Gehazi's like, whoa, what a missed opportunity. There's some good things that he was going to give us. And so he chases after Naaman without Elisha knowing about it. Or he thought, anyway. And some people just showed up. And Master said,

That's what we do.

many times many times we deny we deny it's it's it's right there it's right there it's obvious we're gonna we're gonna try to cover it we just cover it we just try to hide it it never happened never happened

later on she says hey i'm pregnant you know you know

He looks back, he looks back, and how was I, how was I, how was I at war at that time? Oh, that's right, oh, that's right, David called me back, he called me back, okay, okay. David's probably just, David's probably just born a little bit early, born a little bit early, okay, I get it now, okay, I get it now. He's trying to, he's trying to cover, he's trying to cover, he's trying to, this, this, this plot, this, this plot, this plan, trying to hide, trying to hide the sin that occurred, the sin that occurred. Of course, that didn't work, work, and so David, David sends him back, sends him back with instructions, instructions for, for him to be placed, him to be placed in the hottest spot in the, the hottest spot in the battle, and pretty much put to death, pretty much put to death.

He says,

So do not deny your sin. Don't try to cover it up. Don't flat out deny it.

Instead, go back to the previous verse and confess it. Agree with God about your sin. Point number three. As we go on into chapter two, verse one. Is that you may not sin. Look at the first part of verse one. He says, my little children, these things are right to you so that you may not sin. You may not sin. It's not just being polite here. Maybe you try to teach your kids. Can I go do this?

You say, may you go do that. May you go do that. Okay. May I go do this? Yes, you may. You're allowed to. You're allowed to. As opposed to, you're able to. You're able to. He's not just being polite here. He's using the word may in contrast to the word must. The word must. I rightly think to you that you may not sin. It used to be that you must sin. You used to not have a choice. You see here how proper understanding will help us to not continue sinful practices.

You enter into a temptation with the understanding that temptation is so strong that you have to give in to it. Well, of course, you're going to give in to it. With the understanding, I don't have to sin. I am not a slave to sin any longer.

you have the opportunity to choose to do is to do what's right what's right and that's why it's so important that we have a healthy view of sin that we understand that sin is no longer our master you may not sin you may it's your choice you choose it but it's you choosing it it's not choosing it it's not because you had no choice you had no choice because you made because you made the choice the choice to sin to sin chapter 6 verse 12 verse 12 you know

do not let sin rain in your mortal body that you should obey it and it's less. Don't let sin in your life process in such a way that it rains and that you must obey it.

we have the opportunity, which wasn't there before Christ, to say no to sin, to choose to follow God instead of choosing to be disobedient. He goes on in verse 13 of Romans 6 to say, do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. Present yourself, okay, here I am, good time, don't present yourself in that way, that you're available, that you're open, able to sin, able to sin. He says instead, because he

to God.

You and I are not slaves to sin any longer in Christ Jesus. We've been set free from the bondage to sin and death.

a sinful nature and we will sin but we have the choice you may not sin the opportunity to choose not to participate in that sinful activity now the false perspective that comes into our mind that the world throws upon us is that we have no choice in looking at sexual temptation with kids the world's philosophy is they're going to do it anyways they're that age they're that

powerful

I had no choice. The reality is we do have a choice. We cannot make it clear that the devil made me do it. Nothing is done unwillingly. We have a choice. To present ourselves to God or to present ourselves as instruments of unrighteousness. You may not sin. Finally, number six. Finally, number six.

We find that the penalty for sin is satisfied. And this is a very important one. Continuing on in verse 1 of 1 John chapter 2, he says, And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he himself is the propitiation for our sins. And not for ours only, but also for the whole world. Here's the deal John says.

You have the opportunity not to sin. But because we have a sinful nature, we do fall short. Now as Christians, it should not be that we willingly jump into sin, but because of our sinful nature, we have weakness and we stumble, we fall. It's not a lifestyle that we live, it's the exception rather than the rule.

But when we do sin, because we will fall, because we're not perfect, when we do sin, it's very important to know that the penalty for sin is satisfied. John says we have an advocate with the Father. We have an advocate with the Father. We can really mess with our minds and mess with our hearts. Many times if we fall, if we stumble, if we stumble, we feel like God's set up with us. We begin to feel like God's through with us.

that he's tired of forgiving us. We begin to feel like God wants nothing to do with us. It's way far away. He's not even on the horizon. He's beyond that. Listen to what John says. If you sin, you have an advocate with the Father. The word advocate is the word perikoreo in the Greek. It's the word that we often use to describe the role of the Holy Spirit.

a comforter, who's our helper, who comes alongside of us. And literally, that's what the word advocate means. It means to come alongside the advocate with the Father. If we sin, Jesus comes alongside of us. He doesn't draw himself away. He comes alongside. And he stands by our side. On behalf of us. In that sinful condition. Jesus is on our side. You should know that when we sin, that we're an advocate.

That God is not out to get us. With the Father. The relationship is from the courtroom to the family room. Because the price has already been paid. We have to get with the Father. We're not standing before the judge. We're standing before the Father. Jesus Christ is by our side. Not only is Jesus by our side, but the verse explains that he himself is the propitiation for our sins. If he stands by our side, he's saying,

father father i paid the price i paid the price for that thing for that thing i paid the price for the price for this child for this child the word the word propitiation is situation is a word that means atonement that means atonement appeasement appeasement or to be satisfied satisfied the thing is that the law the required law the requirements of the law the penalty that was due it's been it's been satisfied satisfied a speeding ticket on the way home today on the way home today and robert says and robert says for that the fine law satisfied satisfied and it didn't cost you anything do anything

that's the way that's the way that our our fine for sin fine for sin the penalty that was due that was due from us from us for sin was paid for sin was paid by jesus christ by jesus christ he took our place he took our place he received the penalty he paid the penalty that was due that was due it's required there's still consequences consequences for sin because we have to understand that we understand that what sin is what sin is those things that are bad those things that are bad for us and god calls them sin because those are the things that will hurt us the things that will hurt us this is

Don't do those things that will hurt you. And he calls them sin. And so there's consequences for us doing the things that hurt us. We still get hurt when we do the things that hurt us. But the penalty has been paid. The punishment is no more. It's paid in full. It's taken care of. Our advocate, you standing by our side of these proclaiming, I paid the sin for. There's no more penalty. That's due. And he says, and not for hours only. For hours only.

and also for the whole world. The sins for the whole world have been paid in full. He paid the fine. It's not owed any longer. The work was completed upon the cross. It really speaks of the completeness of Jesus' sacrifice. The whole world is taken care of. The sin is paid for. That's why whoever believes can be saved.

That's why whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. The call is for everyone. There's no one excluded. The world I pay for. Who a person is, or what they've done, or how long they've done it. It's paid for. Now sometimes we get this idea in our minds that because we sin, we cannot come near to God. Sometimes we get in our minds the idea that we can't approach God.

we have we have pretty regularly people testify to us here at the church at the church oh i haven't been coming recently because you know i kind of fell into some sin and be like a hypocrite you know coming and you know coming and struggling with sin and struggling with sin and trying to get my life together and then when i get together and then when i get right then i'm gonna come back right then i'm gonna come back that's false that's false you don't have to stay you don't have to stay away away because because of sin yes it affects you yes it affects your fellowship with god fellowship with god but it doesn't but it doesn't affect the right effect the right that you have to come that you have to come to god to god by faith in jesus christ jesus christ

You can't walk in that. You can't walk in that. Continue that fellowship. Continue that fellowship with God. God, if you want to turn, if you want to turn back to God, you have, God, you have, you have full access. You have full access. I faith in Jesus. I faith in Jesus Christ. The work is Christ. The work is accomplished. Accomplished. You have a kid. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ right there next to you. Right there next to you. Saying the price is paid. The price is paid. It's paid in full. It's paid in full. I take care of it. I satisfy. I satisfy the law. Your sin is completely, completely covered. Covered. So don't, so don't stay away from, stay away from God because of sin. That's the sin. That's,

What the enemy wants to use that opportunity for, it drives you away. But no, if you've fallen, if you've messed up, if you've stumbled, you have an advocate. Come near it. Turn to God. Draw near to him. Approach him. Understand what Jesus' sacrifice means and how you're fully covered. Sometimes though we feel like, we feel like, we think, we think, we're convinced, we're convinced.

We're just a little bit farther beyond what God's able to forgive. Sometimes there can be some serious condemnation in the life of a Christian. Where they're convinced that God's tired of forgiving me. Where they're convinced that God can't forgive for this. I understand for a lot of sins, but you don't understand what I did. You don't understand...

How intentional it was. You don't understand how many times I've been here in the same situation. And we convince ourselves. It's just beyond the ability for God to forgive. Really, what we're saying, although we wouldn't use these words, we're saying that Jesus' sacrifice was not enough. And that's what John's saying here. Look, not for yours only, but for the whole world.

your sin has not taken has not taken you beyond the reach beach of god's forgiveness and love it never will it never will you have the opportunity to turn back to turn back because we have an advocate with the father jesus christ who's christ who is the perpetuation creation for our sins he's for our sins he's satisfied the requirement and so we have the opportunity to come to god

and to be reunited with God and to have fellowship with God which again, going back to verse 4, that's the goal. That your joy may be full, John writes these things. And that joy comes from fellowship with God. Sin is the enemy of fellowship. It separates, it divides. The enemy uses it and we do a good job on ourselves playing all kinds of mind games and tricks. Why we can't come to God? To God.

A liar's sin is not that important that we have to confess it. That's why we need a healthy view of sin. To recognize that it separates us. To admit that we have a sinful nature. To agree with God about the sins that we commit. Not denying our sin. That we might know that we have the choice, the opportunity. We're not slaves any longer, but we can choose to follow God. And knowing that the penalty is paid in full. There's no more payment required.

No more judgment due. It's been fully accomplished by Jesus Christ. Take this picture one last final time. The word forgive means to cast away. It means to cast away our sins. Our sins have been cast away. How far have they been cast?

psalm 103 verse 12 tells us as far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgression from us he has forgiven us he has cast away our sins as far as the east is from the west well that's your homework go find out how far God has cast your sin away from you go measure it out find out the completeness of God's forgiveness of God's forgiveness

and your opportunity to walk in fellowship with him. God, we thank you. Lord, that you satisfy the requirements of the law, that you pay the price so completely. Lord, that we have the opportunity to come to you, agreeing with you. Lord, about our sinful condition and the things that we have done. And Lord, you forgive us.

Lord, we have the opportunity to be washed, to stand before you as if we had never sinned. Lord, we know that's not the truth. We have sinned. We've messed up. God, we thank you. Thank you for the work that you've done, that we might stand before you as if we had never sinned. That we might have the opportunity to fellowship with you, to know you, to walk with you, and to experience the fullness of joy that comes from walking with you. God, I pray that you would help us.

to choose to choose not to sin not to sin but when we do sin when we do sin help us help us to remember to remember your word to not be condemned not be condemned and overwhelmed so that we pull away from you away from you but help us to turn towards you turn towards you agreeing with agreeing with you and receiving and receiving the word the word that you did for us upon the cross on the cross in jesus in jesus name we pray amen

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.