A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): Today on A Daily Walk, Pastor John Randall speaks of God's mighty power over sin.

John Randall: No, it's not sinless but hopefully sin-less than we used to. The closer you get to Jesus, hopefully you sin less, not sin more. You sin less. John says, "I'm writing this to you so that you may know there is power over sin." Maybe there's some sin that you have been battling with and struggling with and you just keep repeating it. There's power over that sin. It's the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome it. You can, with God's help, if you look to him.

Guest (Male): From Calvary South OC, this is A Daily Walk. Pastor John Randall is in the early stages of a study in 1 John. With Good Friday and Easter right around the corner, today's message could not be more timely as we'll be talking about the power of forgiveness. No matter what you've done in the past, there is complete forgiveness available and a remedy for sin. It's found in the finished work of Jesus at the cross. So, let's be encouraged by that now as we join Pastor John in 1 John chapter one.

John Randall: There were those who were on the receiving end of this letter that professed to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Yet, by the way that they lived, they denied it. They made a claim that was followed by a contradiction which, in turn, led to a conclusion. John cites each one of those examples with the words "if we say." The first example, of course, was found in verse six, as there was a group that ignored their sin. They claimed to have fellowship with God, and yet they walked in darkness. And John said that was a contradiction and the conclusion is that they lied and they did not practice the truth.

But the next group, now in verse eight, didn't just ignore their sin. They actually denied having a sin nature. In verse eight, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." The word "sin" means to miss the mark. It is a departure from God's holy, perfect standard of what is right in word or in deed. The book of Genesis tells us how that sin entered the world. When God created the universe, created our planet, it says in Genesis chapter one and verse 31 that God saw all that he had made and it was very good. However, it says that Satan tempted Adam and Eve, and they chose in their free will to disobey God and they sinned. And since Adam's sin, humans have inherited Adam's spiritual corruption and have been born with a sin nature.

Paul writes of this in Romans chapter five, in verse 12, when he tells us, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men." When we speak of the sin nature, we refer to the fact that we have within us a natural inclination to sin. Given the choice to do God's will or our own, we naturally, that is before a relationship with Jesus, choose to do our own will. And proof of that sin nature is clearly evident. Are you a parent today? Are you a grandparent? You know that when your children are born, you don't have to teach them, "This is how you be selfish. Let me show you how this works."

You don't have to teach them how to be rebellious. "When I ask you something, say no." They know that. You don't have to teach them to say "mine." You don't have to teach them, "Listen, when I ask you something, tell me the exact opposite of what I ask you. That is called a lie. Try it with me." You don't have to do that. It is a natural thing that just comes with the territory. They're born with this inherent sin. It's scary as a parent when you see your sin running around on two legs. You just think, "Oh my goodness, who says that? Daddy says that. I never said that. You just lied." Yes, they do.

Just like we inherit physical characteristics from our parents, we inherit a sinful nature from Adam. King David was grieved by this. In fact, he writes about it in Psalm 51. He said, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." Folks, thankfully there's a remedy for inherited, imputed, personal sin. Jesus went to the cross to deal with our sin. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, the Bible says, according to the riches of his grace.

At the same time John is writing, there is a false teaching called Gnosticism. And the Gnostics said that man did not have a sin nature. And the reason they said that is because matter to them was evil. The soul inside of man, separate from the body, could not be affected by the sinful flesh. Therefore they said, "We are without a sin nature." But that completely contradicts the Scripture. The Bible tells us in Romans chapter three, no doubt you're familiar with it, it says, "There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They've all turned aside. They've altogether become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one." Notice this: all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The Bible goes on to tell us that the wages of sin is death, but of course the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

There is only one person who has ever existed who was sinless, spotless, and it wasn't you or me. It was Jesus. Jesus was without sin. But these who were self-deceived said that they were without a sin nature. But John tells us the conclusion is the truth wasn't in them. They were deceived. By the way, let me say to you that the prerequisite for salvation is the realization that we are sinners in need of a Savior. For some, they don't see themselves as sinners when they compare themselves to others. They think, "They're sinners. I could see why. I mean, that's evident. But I'm not a bad person. I'm a good person." Of course by their own definition, but they have a standard of morality, they have a code of personal ethics that is sufficient. And therefore they consider themselves to be good. When the Bible says there's none good, this too is self-deception. And the fact that they don't see it only shows that the truth is not in them. Not everybody likes to hear that they are a sinner. In fact, some places you will... we've said sin a lot today. We're going to say it a few more times, but people don't like to hear that word.

Well, these had denied a sinful nature, but also there was a denial of sins committed. That's the second thing John points out. Verse 10, "If we say," there it is again, "If we say this, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us." There were those claiming that they had never committed sins in their life. Can you imagine that? "We've never sinned. Never? Never. Until now when you lied." Everybody sins. You all do. We all do. But the Gnostics did not see their lifestyle in rebellion against the word of God as sin. The truth wasn't in them. They were deceived. But also, I think there was a redefining of what sin is. It's not a sin; it's a mistake. It's not a sin; it's an error. It's not a sin; it's something else.

Actually, the Bible calls it sin. And what made it worse is that when they said they had never sinned, it was more than just lying because they were not only deceiving themselves but, worse than that, this false claim that they had never sinned was actually blasphemous because they were making God a liar. God's word says all have sinned. They said, "I haven't sinned." Are you calling God a liar? If you say you haven't sinned and he says you have, you're making God a liar, John says. And God does not lie. It's denying the whole testimony of God's word and the need for his redemptive activity to be our Savior. Listen, if we could somehow be saved because we've never sinned, then what is the point of the cross? There would be no point of having a Savior. There would be no point for the cross. The fact is we are sinners, therefore we needed a Savior. We have a sin nature. We were born in sin. And it's worse than that because the Bible says that we are dead in sin.

Did you know that? Ephesians chapter two, verse one, Paul tells us what our former condition is before we are saved. Here's what he said: "Dead in trespasses in sin, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air," which is a reference to the devil. "Among whom also we once conducted ourselves," that is we lived according to the lusts of our flesh and we just fulfilled the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath, just waiting to be judged. Dead. That's where we were. Some of us were more dead than others, been dead longer, but all dead in sin. But these had denied it.

I was sharing with the men yesterday at our conference that there was a famous preacher by the name of Donald Barnhouse. And Barnhouse, after a message one morning on a Sunday, was approached by a young man. He was an athletic man, young guy, came to him after his message and he remarked to Barnhouse that when he sinned, this young man said it didn't bother him. He didn't feel anything that Barnhouse suggested he should feel. This young man therefore saw no problem with his practice. Barnhouse responded, "If I were to take an 800-pound dumbbell and drop it on a dead man, do you think he would feel it?" The young athletic man said, "Certainly not." Barnhouse replied, "The reason you don't feel pain is because you are dead. You're dead in sin."

But friends, thankfully again, there is a remedy. There is a remedy for our sin. It's the blood of Jesus. We can be forgiven. We can be cleansed. We can be free because of the finished work of Christ on our behalf. And that is why John says in verse nine, there is forgiveness of sin. There were those that denied the sinful nature, denied committing sin. John says we are sinners and, great news, there is forgiveness. Where is it found? Verse nine: "If," it's a condition here, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

The word "confess" that is used here means more than just admitting something. The definition actually means to say the same thing. That is to agree with what God has said about sin. I'm agreeing with it. I realize what it says. I'm a sinner born with the sin nature. I agree, I need to repent of sin. And therefore, when I realize this, I confess it to the Lord. And the context of this word implies a continuous action. There is an attitude that is in the Christian, a true believer, towards sin that is humility and contrition. It's a desire to confess to the Lord anything that the Holy Spirit puts his finger on that would separate me from fellowship with him, and quickly. Lord, forgive me for that. In fact, Proverbs tells us in Proverbs 28, verse 13, "He who covers his sin will not prosper. But whoever confesses and forsakes his sin will have mercy."

That is what God desires. Do you cover your sin or do you confess it? To confess it is to find cleansing, is to find forgiveness. But to cover it is to find destruction and bondage. You know, there is an example of one such man who covered his sin. His name was Achan. Are you familiar? The nation of Israel crossed over the Jordan, standing outside of Jericho, about ready to march around it several times. And the Lord spoke through Joshua to the people, saying, "Don't take any spoils of this victory. They all belong to the Lord. Don't touch it. Give it all to the Lord." And everybody understood what the plan was. Of course they marched around the city. You remember, they blew the trumpets, the walls of the city came down, they went in and took Jericho.

However, there was one man named Achan who saw a wedge of gold and a garment, and he took it and he hid it in his tent. The next battle was against Ai, a much smaller area, and Joshua didn't even send the whole army. He just said, "We'll just send a few people up there." And they went up and attacked Ai and Ai routed them, defeated them. And Joshua was so devastated that he got on his face and said, "God, what's going on? What happened?" The Lord said, "There's sin in the camp, Joshua." And the Lord began to narrow it down from tribe to tribe to tribe to family to individual to Achan. And Joshua, when he finally confronted Achan, he said, "Confess, what have you done?" And he said, "Well, I saw a wedge of gold and a garment, and I coveted them, I took them, and I hid them, and there they are."

I've often wondered myself, when would you ever have a chance to use those things? I mean, really, you're going to wear that garment out? Everyone's going to recognize that you have it. What are you going to use the gold for? But that's the deceptive nature of it. You coveted it, you hid it. And what happened to Achan? His whole family was destroyed as a result of him unwilling to confess it. There is no freedom in covering it, but there is freedom when you confess it. I agree with what God's word says. I am not only forgiven, but I am cleansed. And what a blessing that is.

There is some misunderstanding concerning confession today. There are those that say you must go and sit in a booth and you must confess your sins to somebody on the other side of that booth, who in turn will assign you some means of penance, perhaps a prayer, more than one, prayed more than once, maybe something else, some task to absolve your transgression. And under that system, they say you receive forgiveness based upon your good works. Not so. By the way, I don't need to go to a priest. I have a High Priest that I go to and I confess my sin to him, and he forgives and cleanses me.

Others suggest that you are only forgiven of the sins that you confess. If there's any unconfessed sin that you didn't see or didn't notice or forgot about, listen, when you stand before the judgment seat, it's going to be hanging over your head. You didn't confess it. Not so. The finished work of Christ on the cross means our sins have been forgiven. Nothing's going to be hanging over me when I get to heaven. Sometimes I've been asked the question many times, "Well, am I going to be judged for my sins?" No, your sins, my sins were judged at Calvary. They were judged there. But at the same time, we still do sin and therefore when we do, we confess it. We repent of it. We turn from it.

David said this, blessed Psalm 32, verse one and two, he said, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity." Now understand this, that's Old Testament. Covered, not imputed, blessed if you're forgiven. Did you know that under the Old Testament sacrificial system, that a high priest would go into the tabernacle, that tent of meeting, and inside the holiest of all places, there was something called the Ark of the Covenant? Are you familiar? The Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant represented the throne of God on the earth. Inside of the Ark of the Covenant were God's commandments, God's requirements.

On top of the Ark of the Covenant, the lid over the Ten Commandments, was called the Mercy Seat. And the priest would take the blood of a lamb and he would go in and he would place the blood on the Mercy Seat and around the Ark of the Covenant. And the Lord said, "When I see the blood, I will speak to you there." Mercy was on top of the law, a sacrifice had been made, and the people's sins were, listen, covered. Not removed, covered.

Fast-forward, Jesus comes as the Lamb of God. And Jesus doesn't go into a temporary physical temple, but he goes to the very throne room of God. The actual throne room, not the template, not the picture, but the actual. He had offered himself. His blood had been shed. Therefore, our sins are now removed. The blood of the Lamb has removed our sins. Not covered, removed, as far as the east is from the west. That is where our sins have gone, never to meet again, because of his blood that was shed. Mercy triumphed over judgment in the cross.

The law says we deserve judgment. We have broken God's law. Mercy says he can be merciful because the blood of the sacrifice was placed upon it. Do you understand? Now your sins have been removed. I hope somebody's excited about that. I don't know, a couple of you. It's great news, especially if you know you're a sinner. And you are, so we all are.

But also John tells us that there is power over sin. We do sin, we confess it. But we have power over sin. Look at what it says in chapter two, verse one: "My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin." Someone has rightly said concerning the word of God, that sin will keep you from this book, but this book, it'll keep you from sin. The Bible says, "Your word I've hidden in my heart that I might not sin against thee."

John says here, this is the second reason why he wrote this letter. The first reason, you remember, that your joy may be full. Second reason, I've written this so that you may not sin. God's word, that sword of the Spirit, that enables us to overcome and fight against the flesh, the offensive weapon to be able to say when temptation comes, "It is written. It is written. It is written," just like Jesus using the word of God. John says, "I'm writing this to you so that you may not sin."

Now when John says this, he's not saying that you're going to be sinless. You know there is a false teaching called sinless perfection, that you can right now experience sinless perfection. I met a girl once who told me she was sinless. I said that's impossible. And she said, "No, I am sinless." I was just like, wait. So many scriptures. And I said, "No, you're not sinless. There's only one person that was sinless and his name wasn't Julie, it was Jesus. So you have sin." Her name was Julie, sorry. No offense, ladies, if that's your name, but that's what she said.

No, it's not sinless but hopefully sin-less than we used to. The closer you get to Jesus, hopefully you sin less, not sin more. You sin less. John says, "I'm writing this to you so that you may know there is power over sin." Maybe there's some sin that you have been battling with and struggling with and you just keep repeating it. There's power over that sin. It's the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome it. You can, with God's help, if you look to him.

Guest (Male): Thank God there is power over the sin that we battle with in our daily walk. Today on A Daily Walk, we listened into a portion of Pastor John Randall's new study of 1 John. It's titled The Power of Forgiveness. As we leave you today, we'd like to say how much it means to us each and every time we hear how God is at work in our listeners' lives. It would be so encouraging to hear from you, so please write today while it's fresh on your mind. Our email address is adailywalk@gmail.com. You can also call us toll-free at 877-242-0828. Again, reach us at 877-242-0828. You can also visit our website to listen to today's message at adailywalk.org or wherever you get your podcasts. We're also on oneplace.com.

Our featured resource this month at A Daily Walk is The Other Side of Sunday by Pastor John Randall, hot off the press. This book explores the weight of leadership, the beauty of serving God's people, and the sustaining grace that carries pastors through seasons of doubt, fatigue, and quiet faithfulness. Think of it as a testimony to God's faithfulness in the everyday realities of ministry. Pastor John shares what he's learned so far in The Other Side of Sunday. The cost is just $15. Call 877-242-0828 or go to adailywalk.org for easy online ordering. That's 877-242-0828 and adailywalk.org.

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