A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): While some downplay the seriousness of sin, we'll bring you the truth about the nature and remedy for sin, as well as how to overcome it today on *A Daily Walk*.

John Randall: Listen carefully. A person who claims to be a Christian while at the same time persistently rebelling, unrepentantly against God, does not know God. That is what John is saying here in the scriptures.

Now someone says, "Well, what's the problem with sin anyway? John, really, I mean, come on, what's the big deal? What's all the fuss? Why is sin bad?" Well, for several reasons. For one thing, sin separates us from God.

Guest (Male): Now I'm sure you know of someone who claims to be a Christian and yet they're willfully engaging in a lifestyle of unrepentant sin. Are they really a believer? Well, the book of 1 John speaks to this very clearly as the Lord doesn't want us to be deceived. Today on *A Daily Walk*, we'll look in the mirror and receive a good test to help us determine our real spiritual condition. Here is Pastor John Randall with his message, "The Seriousness of Sin."

John Randall: 1 John chapter 3, picking up in verse 4, as we consider together the seriousness of sin. 1 John chapter 3, beginning in verse 4, if you would follow along with me as we read from the word of God.

Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him there is no sin. Whoever abides in him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him.

Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for his seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he has been born of God. One of the reasons that the Apostle John wrote his epistle was to address the growing threat of the false teaching associated with Gnosticism.

And among other things, the Gnostics downplayed the seriousness of sin. They believed that the physical body and that the material world were evil while the spirit of man, they said, was good. Therefore, regardless of what one did with one's body, it didn't impact your spiritual life. This meant it was possible to sin with the body and yet the spirit remained pure.

They also denied personal responsibility for sin. Some Gnostics claimed that sin wasn't truly their fault; it was the result of being trapped in a corrupt body. In other words, I'm not really sinning; it's just my flesh. And because of their asserted higher knowledge, some Gnostics believed and taught that they were spiritually superior and they were no longer bound by any kind of moral law.

Therefore, John directly confronts these false, unbiblical claims and thoroughly refutes the errors. Today, sin is a term that is often misused or diluted. In our culture, we are so desensitized that it is common to laugh at, excuse, or even take a month out of the year to celebrate sin.

But the truth is today we have countless contemporary justifications for sin. And the common excuses that people will often use who live in a habitual lifestyle of sin are as follows. They'll say things like, "God knows my heart." Yes, he does. In fact, the Bible says in Jeremiah 17:9, it's deceitfully wicked above all else and who can know it? Oh, he knows your heart and mine too.

They'll say, "Well, at least I'm not as bad as they are." However, comparison with others isn't God's standard. They'll say, "Well, everybody does it." Widespread sin doesn't make it righteous. "Well, I was just being real. I was being authentic." Honesty isn't a license for sin. "Well, it's not hurting anyone." All sin hurts someone: yourself, others, and your relationship with God.

Here's one I hear: "Times have changed, Pastor John. Times have changed." God hasn't changed. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. His word hasn't changed; it remains the same. These kinds of phrases undermine our conviction. They get embedded into the culture and the mentality of the world, and they suggest that sin is an accidental mistake rather than a deliberate act of rebellion against God.

And this in turn hinders us from experiencing the true freedom that actually comes from repentance. So John begins by clarifying first of all the nature of sin in verse 4. He says, "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness." John doesn't call sin a slip up, a shortcoming, an "oopsie-daisy," a struggle, an issue. He doesn't classify it with a psychological title, nor does he call it a disease. He calls it what it is: it's a sin.

Let me begin by saying, if you were unaware of this, all of us are sinners. Every single person in this room and outside the room and over there, we all are sinners. Someone says, "I don't know that I fall..." You fall into that category because the Bible says in Romans 3:23, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," and "all" means all.

The two definitions of the word "sin" in scripture are "missing the mark" and "without righteousness." John tells us that the nature of sin is lawlessness, which means it's not merely a moral failure, but it represents rebellion against the authority of God and the refusal to live according to the commands in his word.

Now you might say, "Hey wait a second, I've sinned and I'm a Christian." When John uses the word "commit" here, it is a word that means practice—to practice. Meaning the person who consistently, habitually, without conviction, sins as a way of life, that person is living in rebellion against God. Again, we all sin. We all fall short. We all do. And the Holy Spirit encourages us and convicts us to repent of sin and turn from it.

John is aiming to clarify the misunderstanding of the individual's perspective on sin. In other words, listen carefully: a person who claims to be a Christian while at the same time persistently rebelling, unrepentantly against God, does not know God. That is what John is saying here in the scriptures.

Now someone says, "Well, what's the problem with sin anyway? John, really, I mean, come on, what's the big deal? What's all the fuss? Why is sin bad?" Well, for several reasons. For one thing, sin separates us from God. The Bible tells us in Isaiah chapter 59 and verse 2, "But your iniquities or your sins have separated you from God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear you." Sin separates us from relationship with God. It puts a wall between us and the one who gives us life and peace and purpose.

But sin also blinds us and can harden our hearts. In Ephesians, Paul writes in chapter 4 in verses 18 through 19, he makes reference to the fact that they are darkened, means blinded, in their understanding and they are hardened in their heart. Sin has the ability to blind the eyes spiritually, to harden the heart, to ignore it, to not be convicted by it.

The first time you sin, maybe you feel something, you think, "Oh man, I probably shouldn't have done that." But then you keep on doing it and then you start no longer—you're not even feeling it. You just become desensitized to the point that it doesn't make any impact on you at all. You don't hear the voice of the Spirit convicting you any longer because you've hardened your heart.

But sin also has the ability to damage people and relationships. It leads to lies, anger, pride, lust, selfishness, greed, hate—the very things that tear apart families, friendships, churches, and entire societies. Also, sin insults the cross. Hebrews chapter 10 tells us this; it declares that we're not to treat sin casually because it's like—this is what it says, quote, "trampling underfoot the Son of God."

But finally, what makes sin so horrible is that it brings forth death. Romans 6:23 says this: "The wages of sin is death." Death spiritually, physically, in every way. It destroys what's good and it results in decay, brokenness, and ultimately eternal separation from God. So what makes sin so horrible is it hurts us, it hurts others, it offends God, and it leads to death.

But here's the good news. The good news is that there is a free gift of God, eternal life, available through Jesus Christ if we will turn and repent of our sin and receive salvation. And that's why John tells us not only the nature of sin, but also he gives us the cure, the remedy. Oh, thank the Lord that there's a remedy for sin. He tells us here in verse 5, "And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him there is no sin."

The reason Jesus came to the earth was to rescue us from our sins. He came to redeem us from our bondage to sin. And the way that he was able to do that is because there was no sin in him. He was the perfect, spotless, sinless Lamb of God. That is why when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to the Jordan, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

Jesus is our atoning sacrifice for sin. He took our place on the cross. He died the death we deserved to die. Jesus came not only to forgive sin; folks, listen, he came to conquer it, and he did. The Bible tells us in 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 15, "This is a faithful saying and it's worthy of all acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," Paul said, "of whom I am chief."

In 2 Corinthians chapter 5, I love what Paul said it this way in verse 21 when he said, "He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him." This is why Jesus came. He provided the remedy, redeemed us, purchased us with his own blood.

Perhaps this morning you have come into this place under the weight of your sin. There is a heavy conviction of sin. Listen, maybe you feel the guilt of it. Good. Good if you feel the guilt of it that leads you to grace—to feel the weight of it and realize, "I need this to be removed." And there is a person who is able to remove it, and that is Christ.

If you will humble yourself, if you will turn to him, you can be forgiven. You can have your guilt taken away. You can have the hope of heaven. And before we're done here today, I'm going to give you an opportunity to get up out of your seat and come and stand below this platform and pray like a man did this morning at first service to receive Christ. And you should be thinking about that. You want your sins forgiven? It can happen today. There can be an exchange.

The nature of sin: it's lawlessness. The cure for sin is Jesus. And with this cure for sin, it leads the true believer, the follower of Jesus, now listen, to overcome sin—to overcome it. How do we overcome it? Verse 6: "Whoever abides in him does not sin. Whoever sins," listen to this, "has neither seen him nor known him."

If you're a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, it means that you're abiding in him. The word "abide" means to dwell. Jesus said, "If you abide in me and my word abides in you, you will bear much fruit." It means to have relationship with the Lord, stay close, abide, connection with Christ. As followers of Christ, abiding in him, we don't practice living in unrepentant sin. Instead of being bound by our old sin nature, we battle it through the power of the Holy Spirit.

There is a constant battle if you're a Christian filled with the Spirit, to fight the old person that wants to rule and reign still—the old person. If you call yourself a Christian on the other hand, but you continue to live in ongoing unrepentant sin, John says the person that lives that way, they don't really know Jesus. It just says they don't know him because to know him is not to live apart from him to pursue a life of sin. You don't really know him because if you know him, you don't live that way.

He isn't referring to the true child of God here who struggles with sin, but the person who frequently, unrepentantly chooses to practice it. They just live in a lifestyle of sin. You say, "Well, how do I overcome sin?" Well, you overcome by abiding in Jesus. But he goes on further to say this, 1 John chapter 1 verse 9: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

If we confess, if we don't make excuses for it, if we own up to it, if we just say it is what it is—it's sin—and we repent of it and we turn to God, we confess it, we don't hide it, that is when the Lord can move in and times of refreshing will come from the presence of God in your life. The Bible says how do we overcome sin, Romans chapter 6 verse 13, listen to this such a good passage: "Do not present your members," that is your members, your body, "as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."

In other words, don't present yourself to the sinful life anymore; present it to the righteous life. Abide in him, walk with him, serve him, grow in him, as opposed to presenting myself to the flesh. Listen, if we make provision for the flesh, we're always going to fall into it. If you set it up, it's always going to be there. We have to turn from it, we run from it, we don't pursue it any longer. That's the life of a believer abiding in Christ. That is how you overcome sin.

Are you going to be perfect? No. We're still going to fail. We're still going to fall short. Yet we can overcome. Folks, a changed life leads to a changed lifestyle, a changed nature within leads to a changed lifestyle. I don't want to be the person I used to be. And so John tells us this is how you overcome: abide, abide.

But then he also gives us a warning about sin, and this is important to consider in verse 7. Notice the warning: "Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous."

John goes on to say on the other hand, he makes this contrast here in this warning: "He who sins," meaning practice, lifestyle, pursuit of, notice who they're of: "they're of the devil." That's heavy. He sinned from the beginning. This is the strongest language. The Greek verb means "make a practice." It implies an ongoing action, not just an occasional "I stumbled," but I continue in it. And if your life is marked by that, John is saying unrepentant sin, you are actually aligning yourself not with God but with the enemy, because that's what he's been doing from the beginning.

It's a very sobering thought. Again, it doesn't mean that Christians never sin. Christians that abide or are walking with the Lord never sin. Prayerfully you sin less, but you're not sinless. I remember having met people before that said, "I just don't sin anymore." I'm like, "I don't believe that. You lie right now. You sin. You are sinning. That's a sin to lie and you just did." We all do. But you want to sin less than you used to. Praise God, I sin less than I used to. Do I still sin? Yeah. Have I blown it? Yeah. Do you have to apologize? Yeah.

Maybe you sinned on the way to church. You got in an argument on the way to church. It happens. My wife and I drive separate. Not to avoid arguments—I come for first service. But I'm just saying, but you know, maybe you did. You got in the flesh and come on, you're out in the—honk—and then she finally comes out or he finally comes out.

And you're just like, "Man, what in the world?" You know, and then it just escalates. You're driving to church, driving to church the whole way, you're in the flesh. The whole way, you're fighting, getting after each other, right? And you know it's not good. And right now you're laughing, but it's real. You know it's real. You say, "What do you do?" You just turn to your neighbor and say, "I'm sorry about that, I'll talk about this later. I'm sorry." All right, let's go on. Now you can receive. You can receive. You have to acknowledge it. We don't always acknowledge it. It can be difficult for us sometimes.

Guest (Male): Well, listening friend, we don't want you to be deceived, and this book of 1 John was written in part so we would not be. Today on *A Daily Walk*, we've learned that a real Christian demonstrates they are one by the way they live and love. It's part of John Randall's through-the-Bible study. If you miss any part of the journey or would like to hear a message again, visit adailywalk.org or look for *A Daily Walk* wherever you get your podcasts and at oneplace.com. One more option is our church app. Check out the Calvary South OC church app in your favorite app store.

Pastor John has just come out with a new book titled *The Other Side of Sunday*. In it, he offers an honest look at the joys, pressures, prayers, and personal costs of pastoral ministry that often go unseen from the other side of the pulpit. Through heartfelt stories, humor, biblical wisdom, and years of shepherding experience, Pastor John invites the reader into the moments that shape a pastor long after the service ends.

We're making it available to our *A Daily Walk* listeners for the cost of just $15. Maybe request an extra copy to give to your pastor. Ordering is easy online at adailywalk.org or call us at 877-242-0828. Again, 877-242-0828 and adailywalk.org.

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In these difficult days, it is so important that we be praying for one another. So please send in your prayer requests today. We'd love to hear from you. Our email address is adailywalk@gmail.com. That's adailywalk@gmail.com. Well, that's all the time we have for today, but we'll continue through the Bible with John Randall next time. This has been *A Daily Walk*, where you'll never have to walk alone.