WHAT THE CROSS MEANS TO CHRISTIANS WHO SIN: RESTORATION ---

1 John 1:1-2:2

Key Verse: 1 John 1:7

The Apostle John begins his small letter declaring that Christianity is historical, vs. 1-2. John was not pushing a philosophy or a system, but a real, live person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He says they “heard” and “saw” and “looked upon” and “handled” the “Word of life,” that is, Jesus Christ. This was the real deal...nothing phony, nothing fabricated, not factious. But Christianity is not only historical...

Christianity is also personal and relational, vs. 3. For John, this was not a “hand-me-down” religion. John, and the other disciples, knew Jesus face to face. Jesus was not a vision, not a phantom, but someone people knew. If you feel they had the advantage and you are twenty centuries too late to know the real Jesus, I have some good news. We, too, can experience eternal life through the living Lord Jesus by knowing and trusting Him.

Further, Christianity is celestial, v. 4. If you come to know Jesus Christ and have His life and walk with Him you can have “joy” to the full.

Here’s the good news of the gospel: God wants us in His life for eternity and He want us to be in our lives every day. While we wait for heaven, we are to walk with Him on this earth.

Because of the cross of Jesus Christ, all of God’s people enjoy two blessings.

The first blessing is a glorious relationship...we are birthed into the family of God. “But as many as received Him (Jesus Christ), to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” Solely by the Savior’s death, those who place their faith in Jesus Christ are forgiven of the penalty of their sins. Our sin debt has been paid. Our relationship with God, secured by Jesus Christ, is eternal and can never be broken. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, Romans 8:39. We will never be brought into judgment for our sins.

The second blessing that comes to believers by the cross is the opportunity for a growing fellowship...we brought into favor with God. Until we step out of this life and into eternity, we are to live, day by day, in sweet fellowship with God. While it is unnecessary and unprofitable and unbecoming, it is possible for our fellowship with God to be broken.

Let me illustrate it this way. Our relationship with our earthly parents is permanent. Their names will always be on all of our historical documents. I am a Locke, my father was a Locke, my grandfather was a Locke, my great-grandfather was a Locke. No matter what I do, I will always be a Locke. But suppose I rebelled against my father and left home in spite of all of his efforts to love me and care for me. Would I still be a Locke? Yes. Would I enjoy a close fellowship with my father in that condition and with that attitude? No.

1 Peter 3:18 is one of the most outstanding verses that tells us what happened at the cross. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.” The work of the cross “brings” us to God. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ,” Ephesians 2:13 God is a personal, loving, caring, faithful God who wants us in His life.

The Christian life is actually pretty simple. Let’s go over some very simple, yet essential factors in our on-going fellowship with God.

1. One Thing Hinders Our Fellowship with God:

Unconfessed Sins.

Sin among those who are born-again, Spirit-indwelt, heaven-bound is an observable and regrettable fact. Sin intrudes even into every holy moment. Sin interferes with every aspect of life.

Darkness, v. 6. “To walk in the light” is opposite of “walking in darkness.”

Charles Spurgeon described it as the willingness “to know and be known.”

Darkness is a place to hide. Things don’t grow in the dark, they grow in the light. If “light” here represents purity, then “darkness” here represents living an impure life. Can believers live in darkness”? Yes, but with significant consequences. God’s brings chastening on those who will not walk in the light; He loves us that much, Hebrews 12:6-11.

Denial, v. 6, 8, 10. “If we say…” Denial is a profession of hardness.

· v. 6 “Sin is a matter of no consequence. Sin does not in any way affect our fellowship with God,” they were saying.

· Denying our sinful nature.

· Denying our sinful behavior.

The whole plan of God is based on the assumption that all have sinned. If “sin” is not the fundamental flaw of us all, then the gospel is both foolish and irrelevant. To say we have neither a sinful inclination or a sinful history is to contest God’s own verdict!

Dishonesty, v. 6, 10. “We lie...we say that we have no sin...we say that we have not sinned…” We are living dishonestly. Our life is a lie.

Deception, v. 8. “We deceive ourselves.” Sin does that. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9.

2. One Thing Exposes Unconfessed Sins: God’s Light.

“God is light and in Him is no darkness at all,” v. 5.

John used this same illustration in his gospel. “And this is the condemnation, that light is coming into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved,” John 3:19-20.

Light does not cleans. Light simply exposes. Light reveals. Light shows us where we are and what we are. God’s light shows how dark and evil our hearts are. God, who is “light,” cannot tolerate darkness.

What is “the light” telling us?

· The light teaches us humility.

· The light teaches us sympathy for others. We should be more understanding, more accepting, less judgmental, less condemning.

· The light teaches us transparency. None of us are not “bullet proof.”

“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path,” Psalm 119:105. To walk in the light means we are to confront our heart with God’s Word and God’s will and God’s ways.

“The conscious and sustained endeavor to live a life in conformity with the revelation of God, who is ‘light,” especially as that revelation has been made finally and completely in Jesus Christ, is the necessary condition of fellowship,” Canon A. E. Brooke, The International Critical Commentary, Edinburgh, 1964, p. 15.

3. One Thing Cleanses Unconfessed Sins: Jesus’ Blood.

The one thing that can fix your Christian life when it gets messed up by sin is “the blood of Jesus Christ.” “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin,” v. 7.

At the point of salvation, when we place our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, God judicially cleanses us with the blood of His Son….that’s called “justification.”

Jesus’ blood forgives of…..

· Past sins., Ephesians 2:13. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” It is sin that separates us from God. He is holy, we are unholy, and it takes the sacrificed blood of His Son to allow us into His presence.

· Present sins, 1 John 1:9. Yes, ask God to forgive you. Jesus taught us to pray to our heavenly Father, “Forgive us debts.”

· Persistent sins, Hebrews 12:1-2. “Lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset up...Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him, endure the cross, despising the shame…” 1 John 1:9 says God is “faithful” when you and I are not faithful, God is faithful to forgive us.

· Private sins, Psalm 19:12. “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults.”

· Public sins, 2 Samuel 12:12-14. “By this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme…”

· Presumptuous sins, Psalm 19:13. “Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins…”

· All sin...period, 1 John 1:7. What does it say? Most sin? Some sin? A few not so bad sins? A lot of sins? 99% of sin, except 1? No, all “all” means is “all”! All forms and manifestation of evil. Call sin what you like—evil, corruption, transgression, wickedness, uncleanness, fall, filth, guilt, bondage, iniquity, stain, wrong...all sins.

Jesus’ blood isn’t an additive that you add to your good works and church membership. Salvation is not on the installment plan.

· Jesus died for me, installment payment # 1.

· I was baptized, installment payment # 2.

· I start attending church, installment payment # 3.

· I put a little money in the offering, installment payment # 4.

No! A thousand times, NO! Jesus’ blood saves from all sin or it doesn’t save from any sin.

Sing with the hymn writer,

“My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness

I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All over ground is sinking sand,

All other ground is sinking sand.”

Let’s establish this clearly. When believers sin, the blood of Christ is automatically, instantaneously and continuously applied to us, maintaining our relationship with God. That’s verse 7.

What is verse 9 about? To restore fellowship with God we must confess our sins to God. The Holy Spirit lives inside us. He took up residence in our lives at the moment of salvation. When believers sin we grieve and quench the Holy Spirit. We declare our independence from God. We don’t lose our salvation, we lose our closeness to God.

4. One Thing is Required for Unconfessed Sins: Humble Confession.

Yes, ask God to forgive you. Jesus taught us to pray to our heavenly Father, “Forgive us debts.” The word “confess” means “to say the same thing” as God. Look at verses 6, 8 and 10. The repeated phrase in those verses is, “If we say.” But in verse 9 the Holy Spirit inspired John to write, “If we confess.” Confession is not just what we say with our lips, it is what we communicate from our heart. We say with our lips, but we confess with our hearts.

Acknowledge your sins to God. God knows they are wrong. You know they are wrong. Confess them. And don’t try to be cute or cleaver, just call it what it is. My preacher friend, Darrell Sparks, told me of a man who felt a need to change the wording of his public prayer which had become so predictable. He had always prayed, “God forgive me of my short comings.” One day, very spontaneously, he changed that phrase in his public prayer before the whole church, “God forgive me of my falling shorts.”

Confession is not, “Lord, if I have done anything bad today, forgive me.” Specific sins gets you out of fellowship with God. Specific confession gets you back in fellowship with God. God points His finger and says, “That’s sin,” we know we have been “ratted out.” Its time for confession of that sin to God.

Agreement with God about your sin. The word “confess” means “to say the same thing.” In confession we are saying the same thing about our sin that God says about it in the Bible.

Acceptance of Christ’s full payment for your sin. Most Christians are able to believe that God was willing to forgive them when they first came to Christ. But many people wonder if God will keep on forgiving them after they have become a Christian.

Isn’t it strange, salvation when we first receive it is a wonderful gift, and then when we fail is becomes a guilt trip. Let me suggest you cancel your ticket to that guilt trip. “Will God truly forgive me?”

Consider a couple of questions and answer them in our mind.

· “Did God have you specifically in mind when Christ died on the cross?”

· “When Christ died on the cross, were there any specific sins for which He did not die?” For all who lived before the cross, their sins were all past sins. But for all of us who lived after the cross, all of our sins were in the future.

1 John 1:7 is not “cleansed,” past tense, as in Revelation 1:5. Once for all, for time and eternity. “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.” In one great redemptive act at the cross Jesus Christ washes us white as snow.

But “cleanseth” is a present tense verb. “Keep on cleansing” is the idea. Soap and water can clean the outside of man, but only the blood of Jesus can cleanse the heart and conscience within. Jesus’ blood keeps on cleansing. Just as there was cleansing when we “first” came to Christ for the forgiveness of our unbelief, there is continual cleansing as often as we come to Christ for the sins of our disobedience.

The blood of Jesus, offered on the Tabernacle in heaven, on God’s altar, has never lost its power. It keeps on cleansing. Certain produces you buy at the grocery store have expiration dates. It has a shelf life. That is not true with the blood of Jesus because it never looses its power. Never! Ever!

5. One Thing brings Victory over Sin: The Person, Work and Life of Jesus Christ.

God does not want us to sin, 1 John 2:1. “My little children, these things I write unto you, that ye sin not.” Sinning is not viewed as natural if you are a Christian. You have been changed. Now, not sinning becomes a supernatural way of life. 1 John 2:1-2 is “preventive theology,” William L Hendricks.

Christ is our Advocate. “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” There is not one word of encouragement to allow any of us to keep on sinning after we are saved or to have a careless attitude toward sin. Nor is there a word that teaches us to fix the mess that we have allowed sin to make. “We are not left to our own poor self-efforts at restoration: we have got ourselves into this mess, we must get ourselves out of it. No, no: that would involve us in a helpless, hopeless, situation.” Guy King, The Fellowship, p. 24.

As our “Advocate,” Jesus comes along side of us (that’s the meaning of the word) and represents us. Now, get this straight. Jesus does not advocate for us against the Father. Jesus advocated against the enemy of our soul, the devil, the accuser of the brethren. What hope do we have between the holy Jesus and the unholy devil when the conversation is about us and our sin?

Christ is our Propitiation, 1 John 2:2. The foundation of all God’s dealings with man and all God’s blessing for man is expressed in this great word “propitiation.” Our Advocate offers no defense in our behalf. We are guilt. We know it. Jesus knows it. The devil knows it. Our Advocate witnesses to His own sacrifice which satisfied God. “He is the propitiation for our sins.”

Christ is our Example, Look at these verses in 1 John.

· 1:7 “Walk in the light….as He is in the light.”

· 2:6 “Walk...even as He walked.”

· 3:3 “Purifieth himself, even….as He is pure.”

· 3:7 “Doeth righteousness...even as He is righteous.”

How can you hope to pull this off? You can’t, but He is living inside of you and He can!

1 John 2:2 The Bible never allows us to forget others. We who know and enjoy the forgiveness of our sins are under privileged obligation to pass this word on to others. There has been a “fountain opened..for sin and for uncleanness, Zechariah 13:1. Jesus is not just our “propitiation,” but potentially for every one in the world.

You can’t change everything about your life today, but you can change the direction you are going today!

· Have you received Jesus Christ?

· Have you confessed your known sins to God?

· Are you walking in fellowship with Christ and other believers? Walking in the light involves both God and other believers. Our fellowship with other believers is both the result and reflection of fellowship with God.