Authentic:: The Christian & Sin
The Point: True authentic followers of Jesus have been changed in their relationship to sin.
Passage: 1 John 5:16-19
Foundational Truths
1) Sin leads to death.
"If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death." -1 John 5:16-17
"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”" -Genesis 2:16-17
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 6:23
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," -Romans 3:23
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins" -Ephesians 2:1
2) Jesus covers our sin.
"If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death." -1 John 5:16-17
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." -1 John 1:7-9
"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." -1 John 2:1-2
"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." -2 Corinthians 5:21
What is a follower of Jesus relationship to sin?
1) Followers of Jesus don't live in sin.
"We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him." -1 John 5:18
"No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God." -1 John 3:9
"And what he is asserting, therefore, is that whoever is born of God is in a different condition with respect to sin from whosoever is not born of God. Men and women who are not born of God lie in the evil one. They are in the dominion of satan. Their whole life is a life of sin; they dwell in it, it is their realm, and they inhabit it. But those who are born of God are no longer in the state; they have been taken out of it." -Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Questions:
- Do I feel conviction?
- Can I persist in sin without thought or concern?
- Do I have a desire to fight and resist sin?
2) Followers of Jesus care for one another when they sin.
"If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that." -1 John 5:16
How do we care?
- Pray for them
- Go to them personally (Matthew 18:15)
- Bear their burden (Galatians 6:1-2)
Takeaways:
1) Be on Guard and Humbly Confess
"We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." -1 John 5:19
"Be killing sin or sin will be killing you." -John Owen
2) Remember Who Keeps You
"We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him." -1 John 5:18
"No , the devil will tempt us, that wicked one will try us; but he will never get us back into his clothes. That is what John is saying. He can do many things to us, but he will never hold us again." - Martyn Lloyd-Jones
"The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand." -Psalm 121:5
"I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand." -John 10:28
"Who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." -1 Peter 1:5
"Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy," -Jude 1:24
"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be[i] against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 8:31-39