In Context
In verse 5-7 that we looked at last week, there is a real emphasis on the importance of holy living. John stresses that true Christians walk in the light, and live lives that are consistent with the fellowship they have with God. Then here in verses 8-10 John makes it clear that he is not talking about sinless perfection. He rebukes that false teaching bluntly, and any other worldviews or philosophies that would make claims of sinless-ness. If you notice the structure of verses 5-10 you see 3 tests that expose false converts, and two tests that affirm true Christians. Verse 6 exposes the hypocrite, verse 7 affirms the true believer, verse 8 exposes the hypocrite, verse 9 affirms the true believer, and verse 10 exposes the hypocrite again. In similar wording, verses 6, 8, and 10 all ascribe the unbeliever as a liar and as not having the truth in them. And in verses 7 and 9, when talking about the true believer, the sweetness of those verses is found in the forgiveness of sins that Jesus provides for believers. And in this, we see very clearly that the difference between the unbeliever and the believer is not the absence of sin, but the presence of Jesus. The difference between the believer and the unbeliever is not that one is better than the other, but that the one has had his sins forgiven and the other has not – the one has been cleansed from all sin and unrighteousness by the blood of Jesus, and the other has not. That is the difference. That is what we must understand. Now that cleansing blood does something to a Christian. That cleansing blood is going to affect the way the Christian walks and talks – but that is the difference – the cleansing blood and nothing else. Or should we say, the cleansing blood makes all the difference.
We Are Sinners
But here we are faced with this undeniable truth: we are sinners. When we become Christians, we are born again and given new desires, we strive to obey God and do good in the world, yet, we still sin. Yet, we may still struggle hard with sin. Becoming a Christian does not mean we cease to sin. It means we have the blood of Jesus that forgives us of sin and gives us power to obey him; but it does not mean we become sinless, or that we achieve perfection in this life. If we think that becoming a Christian means that we will cease to sin in this life, then, as the text tells us, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
This ought to be common sense to every person in this world. It ought not to be a controversial thing to say that we are sinners. Yet for many in our world today, if you say the word sin, they just don’t like to hear that. You might get called hateful, or many other worse things. It ought not to be such a crazy thing to be able to look at the world and be honest, and be able to say, “Yep, this world is full of evil; yep, it is people that do evil, we must be sinners.” Yet all of the professionals in the psychology fields today we never dare say such a thing. We are all good people with kind hearts and good intentions, they say.
I read a news story this week about a young couple who were biking around the world, at least that was their plan. Some of you may have heard this. I forget what country, but they were somewhere in the Middle East, and they proudly decided that they were going to bike through an area that was controlled by ISIS in order to prove that there is no hate or evil in the world and that we just misunderstand each other and become fearful out of ignorance. And sure enough, as they were biking through this region, they were murdered. It’s a very sad story and it brings me no joy knowing that this happened. But what a terrible way to find out you were wrong about the sinfulness of humanity and the evil within the human heart.
And so whether it is unbelievers who somehow believe that people are innately good, or whether it is someone who believes that they can attain to sinless perfection, the Scripture corrects this misunderstanding, or false teaching by some. And indeed there was some false teaching along these lines going on in John’s day, and that’s why he emphasized this point.
Charles Spurgeon echoed this in his day, saying, “The idea of having no sin is a delusion; you are altogether deceived if you say so; the truth is not in you, and you have not seen things in the true light; you must have shut your eyes to the high requirements of the law, you must be a stranger to your own heart, you must be blind to your own conduct every day, and you must have forgotten to search your thoughts and to weigh your motives, or you would have detected the presence of sin. He who cannot find water in the sea is not more foolish than the man who cannot perceive sin in his members. As the salt flavors every drop of the Atlantic, so does sin affect every atom of our nature.”
You see, Christians are people who know that they are sinners. Unlike many unbelievers, unlike some false teaching, Christians know that they are sinners. That in fact is why, in one sense, a person becomes a Christian – because they come to the understanding that they are sinners, and that because they are sinners, they cannot stand before a Holy God and live, and that God must punish them and their sin if He is to remain holy and righteous. And a Christian is one who has come to this realization and has put all their hope of forgiveness and righteousness in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone.
Not only does a Christian know that he or she is a sinner, but as a Christian grows in his faith, grows in the grace and knowledge of Christ, grows in holiness, and grows in sanctification, he becomes more keenly aware of his sin, it’s treachery, and his utter need for Christ. It is not that a Christian sins more and more and becomes worse and worse – in fact the opposite – a Christian is one who grows in holiness and obedience over the trajectory of their life, but in such growing they just see their sin more clearly than they saw it before. Though they knew they were a wretch before coming to Christ, as they grow, they begin to know more fully just how bad of a wretch that they are. He begins to see how all-pervasive his sin is. How can this be and why is this? It is because as a Christian grows, he grows in his knowledge of God, and his understanding of the beauty, majesty, and holiness of God; and the more we see that, the more we see how much we are not that. There is another way we could phrase that really keeps in step with the immediate theme and language of the passage. We have discussed how a Christian is one who walks in the light, as God is in the light, meaning that a Christian walks in holiness, a christian walks in the light of God’s Word, a Christian walks in Christ. And the more that a Christian walks in the light, the more clearly they see and understand the world around them and the more clearly they see their own deep sinfulness. That light that the Christian walks in exposes what is hidden in the dark, namely, our sin.
Make no mistake, this is by design from the Lord. The more we see our sin in light of God’s radiant holiness, the more we are compelled to throw ourselves upon the mercy of God toward us in Jesus Christ. The more desperate we will be to have him, and to trust him, and to cry out to him. Do you ever notice how when you go through nice, comfortable, easy times with no real struggles, no real sin issues that you are aware of, no trials, how you can begin to become not so desperate of Christ, you can begin to feel your need for Him a little less. This ought not to be so, yet it is something that we go through. But then when things are difficult and we going through trials, whether it is due to our sin or otherwise, we filled again with a sense of urgency to have mercy from God in the Lord Jesus Christ. In those times there is a renewed desperation to have Christ. John Calvin puts it thus, “We hence learn, that we then only make a due progress in the knowledge of the word of the Lord, when we become really humbled, so as to groan under the burden of our sins and learn to flee to the mercy of God, and acquiesce in nothing else but in his paternal favor.” Beautiful.
So, as we grow in our understanding of the holiness of God, we grow in our awareness of our sinfulness. We begin to realize that we are sinning in ways that we didn’t realize was sinner before. We begin to see that our sin runs much deeper than outward actions, but that we have deeper heart issues. But for the Christian all of these growing in awareness of our sin is not meant to drive us mad, it is as we’ve said, 1) to cause us to depend more upon the Lord, and 2) it is meant to expose our sins to us, so that we might not sin in that way any further. It is meant to having a pruning effect in our lives. It is meant to make us more holy.
We see this idea in various places throughout Scripture. Famously in Isaiah chapter 6, as Isaiah is in the presence of God, he sees God’s holiness and cries out: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Face to face with the holiness of God, he becomes overwhelmingly aware of his own sinfulness. So let us not ever be so foolish as to think that we are without sin. We are far more sinful than we think ourselves to be. Just as we do not comprehend the measure of God’s holiness, we do not comprehend the depravity of our sin. We are worse than we think ourselves to be. There is a well-known saying by Charles Spurgeon that says, “If any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him, for you are worse than he thinks you to be.” How wise. And strangely, what a cheering thing to think about.
So we have seen the utter foolishness of claiming that we are without sin. Verse 8 and 10 are quite similar, but verse 8 says that “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us…” Whereas verse 10 says that “If we say we have not sinned, we make HIM a liar, and his word is not in us.” That of course referring to God. Verse 10 is not mere repetition to drive home the point, but it is such that it expands upon verse 8. If we say we have no sin, not only are we deceiving ourselves but we are accusing God of being liar! Now that is far more serious than simply deceiving ourselves. Why does this make God liar? (And by “make God a liar” it is not saying that we can literally make God a liar, but it is to be understood to say that we are “making God out to be a liar; or we are painting him as a liar…”) So how does this “make God a liar?” Because has said very clearly throughout his word that we are sinners and that we are not at all without sin! So if we say that we are without sin, we are directly contradicting what God has clearly said. Ecclesiastes 7v20, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” 1 Kings 8v46 tells us that “there is no one who does not sin.” And Romans 3, “None is righteous, no , not one; no one understands…All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” Do we dare to say otherwise than what God has clearly said? I hope not.
So, if we say we don’t sin, we contradict God, for He says we sin. Indeed, we show disdain for the gospel, if we say we have no sin, for Christ died for sinners, not sinless people. Jesus didn’t die for people who didn’t have any sin. He died for sinners! If we say we have no sin, we are saying that we have no need for Jesus – we are saying we do not need to be cleansed by His blood that was shed on the cross. Indeed, to say that we have no sin is to show blatant, blasphemous, disrespect toward the gospel, the person and work of Jesus Christ, and God Himself. Do we really want to be among the people for whom Christ didn’t die? I would think not! If we say we have no sin, we are telling God that he sacrificed His Son for no reason. John is not going overboard in verse 10, but he is stating it as it is.
Childlike Simplicity
So we have spent our time thus far focusing on the verses 8 and 10. I would like now to shift our eyes toward the verse we find between these two – verse 9. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This is one of those verses that has a sweet simplicity to it; yet of course not shallow in any way whatsoever. It many ways, it is a simple text. There is a great simplicity to our faith, such that children may believe and be saved. We ought not to confuse the simple in our adulthood, as we are so prone to do. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is a verse I distinctly remember hearing over and over, and learning in church as a kid. Indeed, what a simple, but breathtaking promise that is contained here within this text. God will not withhold forgiveness from those who truly confess their sins. Let us take this verse with childlike faith and believe and confess our sins so that we may be cleansed from all our unrighteousness.
We Must Confess
The simple fact of the matter is that we must confess our sins. It is not enough to simply not say that we have no sin. It is not enough to simple know that we are sinners. It is not enough to simply say that we are sinners, or to acknowledge it, or recognize it. We must confess our sins.
This is a necessary thing for us. There are many people in the world who know that they are sinners and would gladly say so, but have no intention whatsoever of confessing their sins and seeking forgiveness in Jesus Christ. As we mentioned we have many in the world who deny sin and the evil of the human heart, but then on the other hand, we have many in the world, who openly claim their sin and revel in it, and they love the darkness, with no intent to repent. It is not enough for us to simply say that we have no sin. We must confess our sins and seek the forgiveness that can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And on the other hand, I emphasize this point, because there are some who would put no emphasis on our need to repent and confess; because after all we will be forgiven whether we confess or not. That is not so, we must confess! Some de-emphasize the need for repentance and confession because they believe that if we say that we must confess our sins, then we are making our forgiveness based on a work. But I in no way have said, nor does the text say that our forgiveness is based on a work, or that our confessing of our sins is meritorious – I have simply said that we must confess. And indeed we must. If I were to tell you that you don’t need to confess your sins before God and seek forgiveness at the cross, I would be lying to you, misrepresenting the Scripture, putting your souls in serious danger, and storing up wrath for myself.
You see, this is the very nature of what it means to be a Christian. To be a Christian is to be a confessor. To be a Christian is to be a repenter. We are allowed to stop repenting when we stop sinning. And as we have seen, that’s not going to happen until glory! To be a Christian is to be a repenter. What must a Christian do when he sins? He must confess his sins, repent of them, seek forgiveness, and resolve to forsake them. Last week one of the things I talked about was how verse 6 exposes the unbeliever, while verse 7 confirms the believer. If you are an unbeliever you are walking in darkness, and if you are a Christian, you are walking in the light. Well verses 8-10 is just a continuation of that. Verses 8 and 10 describe the unbeliever – indeed a certain type of unbeliever; whereas verse 9 describes the believer. And it describes the believer as one who confesses their sins. A Christian is one who is a repenter.
God Will Forgive
I want to look now at these two words that John uses to describe God and his forgiveness of our sins: faithful and just. At first glance it might seem like these words are just thrown in here and while true and accurate don’t really go with the flow of the passage. However there is a couple ways in which they do flow with the theme of this passage. 1) This is a further understanding of what it means that God is light. God is holy, and righteous, and good, and true, and here we are told by these positive terms, faithful and just, that God will do what is good, righteous, and true. It is not just who He is, but it is also what He does. 2) Secondly, we see this as a contrast to ourselves. We are sinners, we cannot get around that fact. We sin, we are unfaithful, we are unjust; but God is not; He always does what is faithful and just.
But how are we to understand these terms, faithful and just? First of all, we understand that it is not faithful and just of God to forgive every single person, and that if he doesn’t, He is not acting with justice. That is certainly not what is in mind here. Sinners are not owed forgiveness of sins from a holy God. A holy God is not obligated to forgive sinners.
Faithful to His Promise
We must understand the faithfulness of God here in terms of his faithfulness to his promises to forgive sin. God is faithful to his promises, faithful to his covenant promises. James Montgomery Boyce puts it this way, “To understand the word ‘faithful’ we must understand that God has promised to forgive sin when it is confessed to him. Clearly, if God had spoken such promises and then had refused to forgive sin, he would have been unfaithful. But he is not. He is faithful to forgive in that he has promised to do so and does so.”
My friends, we can be sure of this: that as sure as we are to sin, Christ is as sure to save. As sure as our sin is, our Savior is surer. And our sin is sure… but take heart in that Christ is surer to forgive. He is more ready to forgive than we are to sin. More ready to pardon than we are to transgress.
Just to Jesus (For Jesus’ Sake)
So where is the justice in all this? Romans 3v26 tells us that God is the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. How so? Through what took place on the cross…
God is just to forgive, in that he is just to Jesus. He is just for Jesus’ sake. God will remain just in accepting Christ’s sacrifice on behalf of His people. He will forgive them. God will not act unjustly in refusing to forgive the sins for which Christ hath died. God is just in forgiving sin, not because we deserve it, are owed it, or have earned it; but because of Christ – He has paid for it. We don’t pay for something Christ already paid for!
Leave a Reply