And would you take up your Bible and turn to the book of First John. Turn to the book of First John. as I've had opportunity to preach once every second Sunday of the month through 1st John. We come now to verses 8 through 10 as we continue this study. And now would you hear together with me the word of the living God? If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us all our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. God's Word. Sorry. Last time we were together in first John. We considered verses five through seven. And we observe that John tells us that much insight can be gained into a person's profession of faith by considering their walk before God, that is the way in which they live their life. This is very closely connected to verses eight and ten, where John continues to do this work of distinguishing the false teacher, the false professor from the genuine artifact, the genuine Christian. And here he gives us another aid, another help to see this contrast. And this time, The litmus test, so to speak, is one's attitude towards sin. How a person understands the nature of sin will tell us much about what they think of humanity. Is man fallen and corrupted to his very core? Or whether man just needs a little guidance, a little help along the way. This will also instruct us as to how one perceives their own self, what they see when they look in the mirror, so to speak. This will also inform us and instruct us with what they think about God, the nature of God, the character of God. And it also helps us to discern that claim, to have fellowship with God, But we must remember also this morning. John's purpose in writing this letter. You see surely he wants to combat false teaching false teachers and and his desire is to provide them with a way of discerning a genuine believer from a false teacher. However this is really subservient to his main purpose. That's really his kind of secondary purpose in writing this letter. His main purpose, he tells us towards the end, is that you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you might know that you have eternal life and that you might continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. You see, this letter is for the assurance of saints. This is for the benefit of God's people. to strengthen faith in Jesus Christ, that they might continually exercise faith in the Lord Jesus. And you see, this is my goal in AIM2 this morning, that those of you here who have faith in Jesus Christ, that you might this day have your faith renewed and reinvigorated. And that those who do not know Christ, who have not called upon his name, that by the Word of God and the Spirit of God, you might be persuaded this day to look upon Jesus Christ as the Savior. Now, for the purpose of clarity and organization, we'll consider this message under two headings, Sin Concealed and Sin Confessed. and we will not be looking at these verses in order will be looking at verses eight and ten under sin concealed and will be looking at verse nine under sin confessed. So would you consider with me. Our first point this morning in concealed. Now I pointed out last time that we were together. That throughout this small section There's a contrast between what the what the false Christian says, what the hypocrite says. You see this in verse six, eight and ten. If we say if we say that's a repetition three times, that's the voice of the hypocrite and in contrast to the voice of the hypocrite. are the actions of the godly in verse seven and in verse nine and now we come to verse eight to hear once again the sound of the hypocrite the voice of the one who says he knows God but does not know him and what we come to see in this passage of scripture is a shocking claim. He says if we say we have no sin. If we say we have no sin, what a claim that one would say, as I consider my life presently, I'm guilty of no sin. I'm not painted by sin. Now, as I explained last time, these false teachers had a kind of theology that might lend itself in this way, these false teachers. For they thought maybe the actions of the body might be sinful, but it will have no ramifications or repercussions upon the soul. And so you can participate in all kinds of sin and it not affect the soul. And so they might be tempted to say, we have no sin. And see, many of us might sit here and think, oh, what an unbelievable statement and what a foolish way of thinking. But the reality is, is that we do the same thing so often. When we're caught in sin by other people, when we commit a sin and other people see what happens in the public sphere, or when our consciences bear witness against us, what do we do? We rationalize away our behavior. We justify ourselves. When we speak wickedly to others, we justify ourselves by saying things like, they deserved it. Or this person is just too difficult to get along with, or they've done me wrong in the past. When we lie, we justify our actions by calming our the alarms of our conscience. With the knowledge that lying is just it's necessary. We tell ourselves that it's just necessary to get ahead in life. We see this more broadly in our culture when we seek to explain sin away by saying, well, it's merely physiological, psychological. Drunkenness, it's just a disease. You can't help it no more than you can help having cancer. Sexual perversity, it's just genetic. You can't change it. It's just like having blue eyes or brown hair. This isn't the only way that we try to remove ourselves from the reality that we are sinners. We also do this in our language and we do it often. We substitute another word for sin and oftentimes this word is mistake. Do we not hear this often in our culture? Everyone makes mistakes. We don't see that this word mistake is used purposely because it's a morally neutral word or at least it's morally ambiguous. You see a wrong answer to a math problem is a mistake misreading your GPS and turning left instead of right is a mistake. But lying is a sin not a mistake. Sexual morality is a sin, not a mistake. Foul speech is a sin, not a mistake. You see, we often avoid the language of sin. We don't want to call it what it is, because sin implies guilt. Sin implies culpability. And so we seek to deny our guilt before God. by using language like mistake. And John concludes that those who presently would deny all forms of culpability for sin, they are self-deceived. And does that strike you? What a wretched state that we are self-deceived, that we are so deluded to pull the wool over our own eyes. To know the truth and lie to ourselves, to persuade ourselves, to believe falsehood. This is madness that we would deceive ourselves. And secondly, he says, not only do we deceive ourselves when we deny our guilt before God, but he says the truth is not in us. The truth is not in us. Now, this is very important. to keep verses five through seven in your mind when he says the truth is not in us. Because he began with a foundational message of the gospel. And that was what? That God is light. This is a foundational truth of the gospel that God is light. And he says, if you say you have no sin, you do not know the truth. What he's saying is, if we knew the truth, and what is that truth? That God is light. Then we would be struck with our own darkness. We would be struck with the darkness of our soul, with the darkness of our minds, with the twisted nature of our wills and our affections. If we would but see that God is light, if we would comprehend the light, the pure light of God, we would see nothing but blackness within. And see, we cannot come to know God if we first do not know our need, our void. We cannot see our need for medicine and for remedy if we first do not see that we are ill. And so it is that we cannot see our need for the cross. If we do not first see ourselves as full of sin, of all manner of immorality, we cannot hide behind words like mistake. We cannot rationalize away our transgressions. We cannot seek to justify our actions. For those who seek to justify themselves will stand condemned before God. But those who see themselves as condemned have the hope of being justified by God. The error persists and even gets worse as we look at verse 10. He says, if we say that we have not sinned, not just that we deny any present guilt. I haven't. I have not had any. I don't have any taint of sin in me at this moment, but I have never sinned. That's what's carrying this idea in the verb. It's called a perfect verb, and that means that it carries this idea of what was true in the past continues in this state to the present. I have not been guilty of sin, and I still to this day am not culpable of guilt. John. Charges them. With the most severe As one commentator put it, crime against God. John charges them with a severe crime against God. He says they make him a liar. They make God to be a liar. They charge God with falsehood. And as Calvin says, rightly, this is nothing short of blasphemy against the Almighty. For God in the Old and New Testament is made known that men are sinful. He has made plain that men are guilty in his revelation. He has made known to us the guilt of our sin and that we are culpable for it. We see a passage like Romans three. put together the Old and New Testament and show us that all the scripture declares the guiltiness of mankind. And verses 10 through 18, Paul strings together a litany of Old Testament passages. And then he concludes that all these passages in Holy Scripture were given so that every mouth may be stopped. Every mouth might be shut, closed, as it stands before the tribunal of God. the judgment seat of God, and that the whole world might become guilty before God. Not only has God revealed the sinfulness of man in his word generally, but God has revealed the sinfulness of man specifically in the gospel. God has revealed the sinfulness of man in the gospel. In a passage like First Timothy, chapter one, verse 15, where Paul says to Timothy is a trustworthy saying that Jesus came into the world to save sinners. You see that's a revelation that we're sinners that we're guilty and that we're in need of a savior and so to deny that we are guilty of any sin is to deny the gospel itself. It is to deny the need for the Savior. It is to say that the death of the Son of God was in vain and was irrelevant and unnecessary. And you see, to say such things is to deny. To deny our sin is to charge God with lying. It's to charge God with telling falsehood. Does that not strike you? the extreme wickedness and perversity of man. Does not the denial of sin itself and the willingness to charge God with falsehood, does that not show the depths of our depravity and the self-deception? But see, we've done this from the beginning, from the fall. What did Adam say to God when he comes to him in judgment? He says, Lord, it was not me. It was the woman that you gave me. Let us put off all guilt to others or even to God himself, but let not the guilt fall upon us. That's how we act. But oh, the wickedness of charging God with falsehood, saying the one who is pure light is darkness, to say that the one who is the source of all truth is nothing short of falsehood himself. This is supreme wickedness, to deny our guilt and culpability before God. What makes this even more striking is that in John's writings, in John chapter 8 verse 44, in Revelation 12 verse 9, and in Revelation 20 verse 10, do you know who is associated with lying in scripture? In John's writings, it is the devil. It is the devil who is associated with lying. The devil is the father of lies. In Revelation 12 and 20, Satan is the deceiver of men. This is not just in John's writings. This is also throughout the New Testament. In Acts chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira speak a lie to Peter. And Peter says, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Spirit of God? It is the devil who is a liar. He is the father of lies. But when we deny our sin, When we deny our culpability before God, we are charging God to be a devil. This is how heinous this is. This is how supremely wicked it is to deny our sin before God. To say that we are not guilty of any manner of sin. This is how distorted and corrupted we become. that we would charge our good God with evil. And you see the spiral that takes place, the downward spiral in this passage itself. In verse six, the hypocrite, it says that we lie. In verse eight, it says that the hypocrite deceives himself, lies to himself. But in verse 10, he slumps so low as to even charge God himself with lying. John concludes, once again, that his word is not in us. We may have heard the word. We may have heard the gospel truth. But it is not taken root. It is not taken root, and it is not born the fruit of faith. We might be familiar with the gospel, but we have not experienced its saving power to conceal our sin, to justify ourselves, to charge God with evil. But contrary to the false teacher, contrary to the false professor who says. John shows us how the Christian stands in stark contrast. This leads us to point to. Sin confessed. In verse nine, he says these these words, if we confess our sins. If we confess our sins. By confession, John means to acknowledge our sin. But not only to acknowledge our sin, but to turn from our sin. But not only to acknowledge and to turn from our sin, but to seek pardon from God. And not only to turn and to confess and acknowledge, not only to ask for pardon, but also to endeavor to never do it again. To put it away. To not participate in it. In short, when John says if we confess our sins, what he's saying is if we repent, and Pastor Dale gave us such a great definition of repentance through our confession of faith. You see, the Christian, in contrast to the false professor, is struck with one's own sinfulness, one's own misery. One is overcome by the pure light of God, and they see their wretched state. You see that? It is the unbeliever who says, yes, I believe that message. God is pure light. I believe that. But there's no transformation because they don't see the supreme wickedness of their sin, the depths of their depravity and the perversity of their minds and hearts and wills. But the Christian who looks at the pure light of God, they're undone. We see this in Psalm 51, verse 3. After David committed such grievous error and sin with Bathsheba, he says, for I acknowledge my transgression. My sin is always before me. You see, this is true repentance. You see, this is a regenerate heart. A regenerate heart doesn't hide and conceal sin, but confesses it. Says, yes, Lord, I am guilty. I am guilty. Forgive me, cleanse me. Again, we see this in Psalm 32 verse five. David says, I acknowledge my sin to you and my iniquity, I have not hidden, I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord. And see, this is brothers and sisters, this is what we need to be reminded of because we daily sin. And so we daily need repentance. We daily must hit our knees asking forgiveness for the Lord. This is what we're taught by Christ himself in Matthew chapter 6 verses 11 and 12 when he says give us this day our daily bread. Right after those words give us Lord our daily bread our daily sustenance. He says and forgive us our debts. So we forgive our debtors. Lord, we need forgiveness like we need bread. We need it every day. And not our sin in general. But our sins specifically. And this means you should keep an account of sin. When you pray, don't pray so quickly. Take time to consider how you have sinned against God throughout the day. And don't ask for forgiveness generally. That's good, but ask for forgiveness specifically for the sins that you have committed. But this takes perseverance, this takes care, this takes watchfulness over your soul. We are to confess our sins, not to a priest, but to God. If we confess our sin to God. But James also teaches us that when we sin against one another, we ought to Also confess our sins to one another in James chapter fifty five verse sixteen. He says confess your trespasses to one another. Confession is a means by which we ask for pardon. It is the pathway that leads to blessedness. As Christians when we conceal our sin we're like David who says when I kept silent my bones grew old through my groaning all the day. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. I felt the heavy hand of God upon me. I felt the discipline of the Lord upon me. My vitality, my strength was turned into the drought of summer. All that strength, all that vigor, all that joy and happiness, it evaporated. It was gone. Because I did not confess my sin, because I concealed it and did not confess it. But after confessing, then David says these words, Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart. David has the joy of his salvation restored to him. As Pastor Dale said, the clouds break open, the light shines forth, through that wonderful evangelical grace of repentance. And though repentance is a pathway to pardon, it is not the grounds of our part. Repentance is a pathway, but it's not the grounds of pardon. That is to say that it's not the basis of your pardon. It's not because of this work of repentance that you do. that God is moved to forgive us, but rather God forgives because of his character. And John highlights two attributes. One is faithfulness. He says God is faithful. Now throughout the Holy Scripture, and as we've seen even one time here when we went through Psalm 117, that faithfulness of God throughout the scriptures is oftentimes connected to the promises of God, to the covenant of God. And so God is faithful to his word of promise. God is faithful to his covenant of grace. And so, as he says in Jeremiah 31, speaking of the covenant of grace, he says, this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days. No more shall every man teach his neighbor for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember this no more. That's a promise that God's promise and he is faithful to execute that promise to keep that promise. But the second thing that he highlights is the justice of God. Now that seems very odd. That seems incredibly out of place that God would be faithful. Sure. But then what we would expect is maybe gracious merciful but just that seems out of place. Oftentimes we associate justice with the punishment of sin not the forgiveness of sin. So why does John highlight the justice of God to forgive sin. Why does he highlight the justice of God to forgive us. The answer is twofold. First. God is just to forgive us because in Christ God is satisfied divine justice. Justice is satisfied in Jesus Christ having punished our sin in the person of Christ upon the cross as our substitute. It is therefore just that God would not punish us but forgive us. We see this in Romans chapter three verses twenty five and twenty six. It says God set forth Christ as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance God passed over sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness. That he might be just. And the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ. because the divine justice is satisfied in Jesus. There is no need to punish us for Christ has received all our punishment and therefore he forgives us of our sin. It is just that he forgives us. Secondly it's not only on the basis of the satisfied justice that it is just for God to forgive but it is also on the basis of his promise to his son. That is the covenant of redemption, the covenant that God made with his son in eternity past, that if Christ would give his life a ransom for his people, that the father would receive them unto himself. And so for God to forgive sins is justice to the son, and it is grace to us. We see this in John chapter 17. Verse 11, he says, Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world. I come to you, Holy Father, keep through keep through your name those whom you have given me that they may be one as we are one. And then again, in verse 24, he says, Father, I desire that they also whom you have. Who you have, maybe maybe with me where I am. and that they may behold my glory, which you have given me, for you have loved me before the foundation of the world." He made this promise to his son. If you will give your life for these people, I will receive them and give them to you as a kingdom, as a reward. And Jesus, praying, says, Lord, I have done this. Those whom you have given to me, I've not lost now keep them through your name that they might be where I am and see my glory. It is on the basis of the satisfied justice that is on the basis of his covenant promise to his son that God is just to forgive us of our sins. It is on the basis of the faithfulness and justice of God revealed in the work of Jesus Christ for sinners that he forgives and cleanses us from all sin and unrighteousness. Now he uses the word to forgive to communicate to us that our sin and our unrighteousness makes us guilty and in need of pardon you see him in a violation of the law of god john will actually tell us that later on in this book that is lawlessness it is a violation of the law of god and you see the violation of the law means that we are culpable and it also means that we are liable to judgment but in christ our guilt and our debt is forgiven In Christ, our guilt in debt is pardoned. This is captured so well in Colossians 2.14, as it's translated in the ESV. It says, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. In the New King James Version, it says something like, handwriting. Well, that handwriting is not just some general writing. It is a record of debt. And it stands against us with the legal demands. You see, it's a law that's been transgressed and it demands justice. But it goes on to say he set it aside, he paid it, nailing it to the cross. Oh, Christian, what a glorious truth that the record of debt. The record of your sin. was paid for, that debt was paid for and pardoned, forgiven, released from the liability to judgment. Our sin is pardoned because the record of debt that stood against us was paid in full on the cross of Calvary. And this is why he says that that record of debt was nailed to the cross. The life and death of Christ not only, though, provides for us pardon, the life and death of Christ not only provides for us pardon from sin, but John uses another word cleansing. It provides for us cleansing from sin. You see, sin is something throughout scripture that is described as a stain that's sullied, as filth that pollutes. You see this in Psalm 51 that we read this morning. In verse 2, he says, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Sin is like this contaminant agent. It needs to be washed away. This filth needs to be removed. In Zechariah chapter 3, Joshua the high priest stands before God and the Lord says to him, Take away the filthy garments from him. And then God said to him, See, I have removed your iniquity. Removing your filthiness is to remove your iniquity. You know, oftentimes when we think about the Old Testament and the ways that were pointed to Jesus Christ, particularly in books like Leviticus, Where we might say, well, boy, I wonder how all this points to Jesus. I know that all the scriptures judge, but how does it? And one of the things that almost always rings in our mind is the sacrifices. The sacrifices point to Christ. But you know what else points to Christ in the book of Leviticus? The Levitical washings. The need for bathing. The need for washing. The need for cleansing. The Levitical washings teach us that sin pollutes and it contaminates the soul and we must be washed clean. You see, you've got to go through those ritual washings before you can enter the temple. Where is what is in the temple? The presence of God. You cannot enter into the presence of God without washing. Without cleansing, without bathing, but see, This is accomplished not through some Levitical washing. That was the sign that pointed us to the reality. The thing that washes us and cleans us is the blood of Jesus Christ, to be washed in his blood, to be cleansed by him, to be purged from sin, to be pardoned and made clean. And I ask you this morning, Those of you who are here who have not called upon the name of Christ Jesus, have you been washed? Have you been cleansed? Have you been pardoned? Do not deceive yourself by saying that you have not sinned against God. Jesus said, I have come to call not the righteous, but sinners. We must see ourselves as sinners. We must see ourselves as filthy, full of sin, in need of washing, of cleansing. Say, how do I see my sin? How do I see my uncleanness? How do I see these stains of sin? Look at the pure light of God. Look at God. who is pure light. Look at the holiness of God. And would you not be struck with your own sinfulness? Oh, Holy Spirit, that you would work in the hearts of the hearers. The children that you would know that you are dirty and filthy with sin, but that Christ will make you pure. He will wash you. He will cleanse you. Come to the fountain of blood of Christ. That you might have forgiveness of sin. And Christian, is this not a great comfort to you? That all your sin is forgiven. That your pardon What an encouragement to prayer. That we can hit our knees daily. Confess our sin. Ask for pardon. And have the promise that when we confess, He will forgive. We ought to pray earnestly. Pray earnestly. that we might confess it, that we might flee from it. Pray before you come to the preaching of the word. Pray before you open the word of God, that the spirit of God might penetrate your heart. That the spirit of the Lord through the word might convict you and cause you to repent. Brothers and sisters, do you praise your Savior daily? Do you praise him? Is your home full of the worship of God? Because of the forgiveness of sins, does not the blood of Christ induce you to live for Him, to obey Him, to submit to Him in all things? Brothers and sisters, does it not strengthen you in times of trial? Does the blood of Christ Does not the forgiveness of sins give you strength and energy to stand against difficulty and trial? Is it not a comfort? Let us draw. Let us draw comfort from the cross of Jesus Christ daily. Let us draw comfort from the cross. Let us draw strength to walk in the light as he is in the light. You see, there are two paths we can take. Two paths we can take. There are two roads that I set before you this morning. Two roads you can travel. One that leads to death and the other that leads to life. We can deny our sin. We can deny our culpability before God. We can explain it away. We can call it a mistake. We can justify ourselves. But in the end, we will have charged God with falsehood and no doubt on the final day when we stand before the judgment of God, we will be consigned to eternal damnation. But the other path is life and light, and this path is to acknowledge in humility and confess our sins. and our need for the Lord Jesus Christ and in calling upon God for forgiveness and recognizing our sin. He will justify the ungodly. Holy Father. We ask that you would work your word in our heart. Cause us, O God, to be transformed and changed by the word. Cause us, O God, to be a watchful people over the intentions and motives of our hearts and minds. Help us, O Lord, to be watchful of what we allow into our minds and hearts and what we watch with our eyes and what we listen to with our ears, what comes out and proceeds from our mouths. O dear God, cause us to be a holy people. Cause us to be a people who serve You and love You and who adore our Lord Jesus Christ. Cause us to be a people marked by love. Love for Your truth. Love for Your Son. Love for one another. Help us, O God, to be a people marked by a hatred of sin, that we might be holy, that we might be obedient children, and that we might long for the day that Christ will return and sin will be no more. Come, Lord Jesus Christ. Come quickly. Amen.