Introduction:
3 Things Self-Deceived People Do: (1 John 1:5-10)
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Live in SECRET SIN. (1 John 1:6-7)
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Claim to be a GOOD person. (1 John 1:8-9)
James 5:16 - Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.
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DENY sin. (1 John 1:10)
Romans 3:10-18 - None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
John 3:20-21 - For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:50
1 John chapter 1. You know, we're going through the book of 1 John verse by verse in this series. Are you sure? And we're evaluating our salvation. Are we really in the faith? Do you know what I was thinking about this past week? Just this random thought came to me. When I was a kid, And I would go whether it was to the dentist or the doctor's office or whatever, the eye doctor, the pediatrician. When I was a kid, in the waiting room, they would have this magazine, Highlights for Children. How many people remember Highlights for Children? Okay, quite a bit of it. Is that still a thing? It is? That's still going? Well, when I was a kid, do you know what my favorite section was of Highlights for Children? My favorite section.
01:48
And I would flip through and find this first. Goofus and Gallant. Remember Goofus and Gallant? If you're not familiar, they would be these two cartoons showing opposites in manners. And Goofus was like, they'd show a cartoon of him doing the, how you say, unsavory thing. And then there'd be Gallant showing the proper thing.
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And it would be things like, you know, Goofus trashes the room. And you'd see him just like knocking lamps over and stuff. And it'd be like, Gallant asks his mom if he can help her clean the room. And then it would be like, Goofus says that his supper is a pile of warm garbage and complains about it. Gallant says, thank you, Mom, for making this meal for us. Right? Goofus blows his nose on somebody else's sleeve. Gallant uses a Kleenex. You get the point. But I remember as a kid reading that thinking, boy, Goofus sounds like he's a lot more fun to hang out with. And that is wrong. That is wrong.
03:18
I seriously had was this. I want to think that I'm gallant. But sometimes I wonder if I'm goofus. Like, what does that have to do with anything? I was thinking about that this week. I think the Apostle John, I think that would have been his favorite part of Highlights for Children too. Goofus and gallant. Why? Because John is all about showing the opposites. It's lie or truth.
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It's light or darkness. It's Goofus or Galan.
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You're like, man, which one am I?
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Which one am I? And John wrote this letter so that we could know for sure.
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So let's pray.
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We'll get into it. Pray for me.
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I'll pray for you.
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And then let's get into God's Word together.
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Father, we ask that you would open our hearts up now, all of us.
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to receive your truth.
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If we're just listening to our hearts, Father, we've already talked about that.
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That's a bad idea.
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Because your word says that the heart is deceitful above all things.
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Your word says when we receive Christ, we receive a new heart.
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And sometimes, Father, there's people that think they have the new one and they don't.
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Because their heart's lying to them.
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So I pray, Father, by the light of your word, You would show us where we really are. And that we would act accordingly. Father, I pray against any distractions externally or internally as we spend these few precious moments in Your Word together. We pray in Jesus' name and all of God's people said, Amen. Are you sure?
05:15
that you're not self-deceived. Self-deception, that's the subject that kicked off this series a couple of weeks ago. We spoke of it in general terms, and as promised, today we're getting ultra-specific, because churches are filled with people who think they're saved and they're not. Not everybody in this church is saved.
05:45
Well, what does it even mean to be saved? And you see, that's the problem. People don't understand what it means to be saved. Some people think salvation is knowledge. Like, I know some things. Yeah, I know what the Bible says. I know. I'm familiar with the Word of God, and they think salvation is just knowing some Bible facts, and that's not salvation. Some people think salvation is activity. Like, are you saved? Well, sure, I'm saved. I work in the church, and I do all these things.
06:15
So obviously I'm saved. And that doesn't necessarily mean that you are. Some people think salvation is feeling. Are you saved? Oh, you know, I know I am because, oh, golly, I just feel so good when I go to church. I just feel so good. It just warms my heart when I go to church. And I just leave with a good feeling and they equate that with salvation.
06:45
Some people think salvation is morality. Are you saved? Yeah, I'm a good person. I know I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person and good people go to heaven, right? Now look, we certainly think knowledge, activity, and feeling and morality are all good things. They're all wonderful things. We encourage all of it, but they are not salvation. Like, well, what is salvation? Well, that's what we're going to look at in the text today because a key component of salvation, A key component of coming to God is this, coming into His light. If you choose to stay in the dark, stay in your sin, we're going to see John tells you you're self-deceived. And that's the question of the day. Are you sure that you're not self-deceived? Look at verse 5, where we left off last week. John says, This is where John starts. Last week, he talked all about the person of Jesus Christ, and he's continuing with some Theology 101, and this is Theology 101. God is light. He is light. What does that mean?
08:13
Well, biblically, that means a lot of things. Light refers to His glory and His beauty. Yes, absolutely. Light refers to purity, that God is pure. Light refers to guidance. But in particular here, you're going to see very clearly that light refers to God's revealing. It's connected to truth. It's connected to guidance.
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path being lit up. By nature, I'm walking in the dark, lying to myself about my condition, and the light of God and God's truth shines on my path. Now I see things as they really are. That's what God's light does. God is about truth. God is about dealing with reality, things as they are. No deception.
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That's why John writes this, because as we saw a couple weeks ago, your heart is a liar, and it's a tragic, tragic thing that we lie to ourselves, and then we turn around and believe the lie that we tell ourselves. So on your outline, I want you to jot some things down. Are you sure you're not self-deceived? And in this section, he gives three things that self-deceived people do, and if you do, do any or all of these things, then I have to lovingly tell you, you are lying to yourself if this describes you. Okay? Three things self-deceived people do. Number one, they live in secret sin. You go to church, you talk the talk, you look good on the outside, but there's a secret sin. Right? Look at verse 6.
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He says, if we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. He says, if we say we have fellowship with Him, you hear that all the time. People say, well, yeah, I believe in God. Yeah, yeah, I'm a Christian. Now, obviously, John is not addressing, this is so important for us to remember, He's not addressing unbelievers in this section.
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Unbelievers sin and enjoy sin and don't care that they're enjoying sin.
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There's no regard.
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He's very specifically talking about people who say they have fellowship with God, who are churchgoers.
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Not true born-again believers, but attend church, at least pretend to be Christians.
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That's who He's talking to here.
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Not flagrant, unbelieving sinners, but more subtle, unbelieving, nominal Christians.
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Alright?
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But notice he says about these nominal Christians, the people who say they believe in God, say that they're Christians, he says, while we say that, while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
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Walk in darkness, it's walking in sin, and obviously Darkness is talking about a secret sin. That maybe you come to church and you put on the front, but there's a secret addiction happening at home. Maybe it's a secret affair. And even if it's not physical, maybe it's emotional. Maybe it's just inappropriate messaging back and forth with a person.
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who is not your spouse. Maybe it's a secret viewing of things on the computer that we should not be looking at, or on the phone, or on the tablet. It's, I look good on Sunday, but I have this whole private secret thing. John here very clearly says, your Bible says the same thing as mine, right? John says, if you say you believe in God, but you're really walking in darkness, He says, you're living a lie. Look at verse 7. He says, 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. You see, coming to God, knowing God, salvation is coming out of the darkness.
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and into the light.
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Now please hear me.
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Walking in the light is not talking about being perfect.
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That is not what he's saying.
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I don't want you to walk away from here today going, well, you know, I do struggle with sin sometimes, so.
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Look, we all do.
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He is not talking about perfection.
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He is not talking about living in perfection. He is talking about living in openness. That is what He is talking about. That is awesome news. Do you realize what good news that is? Because you can't be perfect. There is not a one of us here that has the ability to live a perfectly righteous life. You can't be perfect, but you can be open.
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You can live a life with no hidden sin, no secret something that you hope nobody ever finds out about. You can live a life of not pretending. Walking in the light means this. I sin, I confess, I'm getting with God on this, and I'm getting accountability on this. That's what it means to walk in the light. And when that happens, notice he says we have fellowship.
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with one another.
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You are not going to have fellowship in the church if you have detached yourself spiritually because of sin.
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But I've got to remind you again, Harvest Bible Chapel is not a museum of saints.
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This is a fellowship of broken people.
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But we're living in openness.
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We're walking in the light. What does that mean, church? That means all of us together. We're learning. We're repenting. We're growing. But we're dealing with things openly, not keeping things secret and private. We're walking in the light. You're like, oh, I can't let people find out that I'm a sinner. We already know.
15:43
That cat's been out of the bag for a while. We already knew that you're a sinner. Do you know who else is? Every single one of us in the room. Every single one of us. But you see, that's even more good news. That you are loved.
16:11
by God. You are loved by Harvest Bible Chapel for who you really are. Not for who you pretend to be. So you're walking in the light? Are you living openly? I'm not hiding things. Yes, I sin. Yes, I have a rebellious heart. But I'm dealing with it.
16:41
dragging that stuff into the light and I'm dealing with it. You'll notice when a person refuses to drag it into the light, when a person is living in darkness, you know, he talks about fellowship here. That's one of the first things to go. You'll notice that church attendance starts to get real sporadic. Why? Hmm. Just kind of feel like a hypocrite going in there with this secret.
17:11
thing I know I need to deal with and I just I don't feel right being church attendance drops off small group attendance just stops I mean I might go to church once in a while but there is no way that I'm going to go to a small group where somebody is going to ask me how I'm doing spiritually but I am not doing that you're keeping yourself in the dark this is what church is meant to be again we're not a museum of saints. We are a group of people, this group, we are people saying, let's get into the light of God. Look, yes, we're sinners, and we need cleansed, and we need changed, and we all agree on this. So you're walking in the light, or you're walking in darkness. You're living an open life, or you're living a secret life, which isn't it? Because there's no middle ground.
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And I have to ask you, which one describes you right now?
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Honestly.
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Are you keeping a chunk of your life in the dark?
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Or are you like, you know what, I do mess up, but I'm dealing with it, man.
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I'm dealing with it.
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If you're in the darkness, look, today's the day you've got to stop lying.
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Because your claim of believing in God means nothing.
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if your real life is characterized by sin, not by repentance. So self-deceived people, John says, first of all, they live in secret sin. Second of all, number two, they claim to be a good person. We talked about this very briefly two weeks ago, and I told you then we're going to be getting into it as John does, so here we go. But self-deceived people claim that they're good. I'm a good person. I'm a good person.
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I'm a good person. I have a good heart. Well, what does John say about that? Look at verse 8. He says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. If we claim we're without sin, I'm not that bad. I'm actually a good person deep down. I have a good heart. And God knows that.
19:37
Here's what God knows. God knows that you were born with a sin nature that you inherited from Adam. We're born with a rebellious nature. That's just all there is to it. And if you're like, I don't believe that. I don't believe that we're born with a sinful, selfish nature. I don't believe that. If you don't believe that, then I'm going to take you on a tour through Harvest Academy. Oh, don't laugh. These are your kids.
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My kids are grown. These are your kids. But you'll notice if you take a tour, these kids, by nature, self-centered, demanding, complainers. But here's something I know about that, parents. You didn't teach them that. No parent has ever sat their kid down and said, now, son, I'm going to teach you a very important lesson today. I'm going to teach you how to lie.
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because it's going to get you far in life. No parent does that. You would be a monster if you did that. So how do these kids automatically know how to lie? How do they know? It's because we're born with this broken, sinful, rebellious nature. But here, John says, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, if we claim we're without sin, he says, you deceive yourselves.
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You are lying to yourself. But look at verse 9. He says, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Confess. That word confess literally means say the same. What does that mean?
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Confession just means you're agreeing with God. That's what confession means. Like, I'm not a good person. I look at my actions. I hear the words that come out of my mouth. I see the rotten attitudes in my heart. And you know what I see? You know what I'm experiencing? I am full of selfishness and hatred and lust and gossip. And that's me.
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That's coming out of me.
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And he says to confess. Do you know what confess means?
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It means to drag it out into the light.
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We're not redefining it.
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He goes, no, drag that out.
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Look, God, this is who I am.
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I see that and I agree with you, God.
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I have a problem that only you can fix.
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That's what it means to confess.
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Sometimes you talk to Christians or you read books from theologians, they get kind of caught up in this verse. Wait, wait, is this verse here, verse 9, confessing? Is this for believers or for unbelievers? People actually debate about that. Like, is he saying like an unbeliever confessing? Or is he saying this is about a believer confessing?
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And I have the definitive answer on that. The answer is yes. This is for believers and unbelievers both. It's like repentance, right? Matthew 3.8, Luke 3.8, bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Confession is the same thing. Yes, it's coming to Christ, absolutely. But it should be a regular occurrence in our walk with Christ.
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And I think regarding like Roman Catholicism, I think that's a baby that we threw out with the bathwater. Even though I don't believe that a person has the ability to grant or withhold forgiveness, I don't believe that at all. But I do believe there is something good about going to another person and confessing your sin. That should be happening in here.
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in the light characterized as confessors. Always going to God. Here's specifically how I messed up. I need to change God. I confess that. And God, I thank you that you've provided forgiveness in Jesus Christ. Help me to repent God. Let me be the person that you've called me to be. You see the glorious promises when you drag this sin into the light, when you confess it before God, what does your Bible say?
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He forgives and He cleanses. Like, why does He do that? Because I deserve it? Because I'm awesome? Because my sin wasn't that bad? No, no, no, no. It says right here why He does that. It's because He is faithful and just. See, that's the promise of salvation. It's not based on me or my integrity. Your salvation is based on God's promise. It's based on God's terms. It's based on God's integrity.
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And hear me, church, the person who is truly done with self-deception, the person who is truly walking in the light will confess their sins to one another. Right? James talks about this, James 5.16. It says, therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.
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That is something that's true of people walking in the light. That when they're dealing with sin, they're going to the leaders of the church. They're going to the elders and the pastors. They're going to their small group leader and say, hey, I need you to pray for me. I want to confess something to you. Here's where I'm struggling. They're dragging it into the light, confessing. And this is how you know your repentance is real. Nothing in the dark. Everything in the light.
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All I want is forgiveness and cleansing and fellowship.
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You're like, but I'm a good person.
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You're really not.
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But as long as you think you are, you're never going to get the blessings that God has for those who walk in the light.
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All right?
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Three things self-deceived people do.
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They live in secret sin.
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They claim to be a good person.
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Number three, they deny sin. They just deny sin. John just kind of sums all of this up in verse 10. He's like, here it is, right here. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us. Sin? I don't sin. Well, you just called God a liar.
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I shared with you before a few weeks ago, we had a, I remember a leader in another church. I thought it was during an elders' meeting, and Erin reminded me. She goes, no, he actually said it in front of the whole church. But he got up in front of the whole church, he goes, I don't struggle with sin. Like, wow, really? What does John say about that? If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. You're calling God a liar.
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I'm a good person. You're calling God a liar. Because God says that you're a sinner. Like, where did He say that? Well, He says it a lot of places in His Word. But there's one passage in particular that I like to share. When people struggle with this whole, I don't think I'm really a sinner. It's Romans chapter 3. What the Apostle Paul does is he gets his spiritual shot and he stuffs all this scripture from the Old Testament in it and he blasts us all right in the heart with it. This is what Romans 3 says. This is God's assessment of you by the way. None is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they become worthless. No one does good. Not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive.
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The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery. In the way of peace, they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. That's what God says about you, by the way. So, is God wrong?
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Because if you deny this, then you're saying that God is a liar. And I don't think I've met too many people in my life that are brazen enough to use those words. God, you are a liar. I don't know anybody that would say that, but if you're denying sin, that's really what you are saying according to John.
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Because we tend to minimize our sin and maximize other people's sin. Have you noticed that?
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So easy for us to watch the news or hear the gossip and just, oh, shame on that person.
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What a horrible person. I knew that he was a garbage person.
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I knew she was trash. Shame, shame, shame.
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We maximize other people's sin.
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What about my sin? Well, I'm not that bad.
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God doesn't grade us on the curve. And that's why self-deception is such a dangerous thing, church. It would be like if you went to the doctor and the doctor says, you have a terminal disease. The doctor's like, this disease that you have is going to kill you in a month.
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So, your brilliant plan is this. I'm just going to find a doctor that is only going to talk about my good qualities. You know, that doctor that told me that I'm going to die within a month, what a downer. What a downer. I don't need that kind of negativity in my life. I want to find a doctor that talks about how great my hair is.
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How pretty my smile is. What a beautiful singer I am. I want a doctor that just tells me that stuff, but not tell me the bad stuff. And you're like, oh, that's silly. You know, that's how a lot of people choose a church. You can't confess Jesus as a Savior if you say that you don't have what He saves from.
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If you refuse to acknowledge your sin, I just have to ask you, what's the cross about? Why did the Son of God suffer such a brutal and humiliating death and die on that cross? So church, John's message here is not, true Christians are perfect, We aren't.
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Or, true Christians don't sin, we do.
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Here's John's message.
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True Christians acknowledge God's truth about us, live openly, and confess our sin to God and others.
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He says, true Christians walk in the light.
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Jesus talked about this.
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John chapter 3.
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An excerpt from the exchange with Nicodemus.
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Look what Jesus said.
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For everyone who does wicked things.
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Hates the light.
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And does not come into the light.
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Lest his work should be exposed.
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But.
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Whoever does what is true.
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Comes to the light.
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So that it may be clearly seen.
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That his works have been carried out.
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In God.
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So what is it today that you're trying to keep hidden? Is there some sin in your life that you hope nobody ever finds out about? Look, there's guilt and shame in the dark. But this says, There's forgiveness and cleansing in the light. The only way to end self-deception is to come into the light. Will you do that today? I'd like you to bow your heads with me, please, as the worship team makes their way back up front. Just bow your heads and close your eyes with me, please.
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But Father, we confess to you that we don't like confessing. It's embarrassing for us in our minds to tell people that we have a sin struggle of some kind. And that embarrassment is from the enemy who would want us to keep our sin in the dark. Father, you have told us, We all struggle with sin. We're all sinners. And you've called us all to come into the light. To experience forgiveness and cleansing and fellowship. Father, I pray for those here that I'm not naive enough to think that there's nobody here that has some secret struggle. Father, I pray that you would give them the faith to drag Whatever this thing is, drag it into the light so you and this body of believers can deal with it. We thank you for your promise, Father. We thank you that coming into the light doesn't result in you giving us a guilt trip or chastising us. It results in you loving and changing us, Father. Thank you for that. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read 1 John 1:5-10
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Describe what it means to “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7). Is this about being perfect? What does it mean?
Why should we confess our sins to one another? What does that accomplish? How do we encourage such behavior in the church? (See James 5:16)
Breakout
Pray for one another. Are there any sins in your life that you need to drag into the light so you can truly have fellowship with God and one another?