“BLESSED ASSURANCE” – Evidence #2
1 John 1:5-2:2
INTRODUCTION – We continue in our series on “The Assurance Of Salvation”.
A Christian will have EVIDENCE in their life if they are truly born-again … and this gives them the ASSURANCE of their salvation.
We have already seen that:
A Christian cannot be effective if they don’t have the ASSURANCE of their salvation.
One of the EVIDENCES (Evidence #1) is that they have a love-relationship with Jesus.
TONIGHT, we are going to examine another EVIDENCE of salvation … How you deal with SIN in your life.
A lost person doesn’t feel the heavy weight of sin in their life. They don’t worry about it … they don’t care about it … they aren’t aware of it as even being a “sin” against a Holy God.
What about the Christian?
The true born-again believer will have a conscious awareness of sin in their life. It is like a heavy weight, weighing him down in spirit and soul.
Unconfessed sin is a barrier to fellowship with Holy God … his Heavenly Father.
Continual sin causes guilt, shame, and regret. It steals our joy, delays our victory, and replaces our peace.
The Christian is sensitive to sin, and aware of its presence when left unconfessed.
How one deals with sin in his life is an EVIDENCE of whether one is truly saved … or faking it. Dealing with sin in our life can give us the ASSURANCE of our salvation.
As we continue in our study of the ASSURANCE of salvation in I John, turn to 1:5.
I John 1:5
Seeing SIN as SIN, requires a STANDARD.
John uses the standard of “light” as compared to “darkness” … they are on the opposite extreme.
When the LOST person looks at the “sin” in his life, he has nothing to COMPARE it to as a STANDARD … a model, a gauge, a yardstick, a guide, a pattern.
When a CHRISTIAN looks at the “sin” in his life, he has a STANDARD … the HOLINESS of God.
Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
That’s why the LOST person has no NATURAL conviction for his sin … CONVICTION is the work of the Holy Spirit, Who places his sin against the Holiness of God.
The sin of the LOST person BLENDS IN with the world around him … it is CONFORMED to the things of the world.
ILLUSTRATION VISUAL: – LOST - A black background … a black piece of paper has no contrast.
SAVED – a white background … the contrast of a black piece of paper.
When the Christian compares our sin with the Holiness of God, it stands out … THUS … giving us the ASSURANCE of our salvation.
Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord, and angels declaring (Isaiah 6:3) - "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory."
NOTICE the reaction of Isaiah, when he compared his sin with the Holiness of God (Isaiah 6:5) – “Then I said: "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."
NOTICE what Peter did, when he was confronted with the glory of Jesus (Luke 5:8) - “But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!"
The CHRISTIAN stands in the LIGHT … the LOST live in DARKNESS.
John 3:19-20 - "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. [20] "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”
1 John 1:6
If a person doesn’t deal with the sin in their life, it is because they are LOST.
“say” – There are many who “say” they are a Christian [repeated a prayer, baptized, attend Church, live a moral(?) Life].
BUT – If they cannot see the sin in their life (sensitive to sin/light), thy are SPIRITUALLY BLIND … living in DARKNESS.
1 John 1:7
The CHRISTIAN is contrasted with the LOST:
1.- “walk in the light” – It’s impossible to see the dirt in your house at night with the lights out … you’ve got to turn the lights on … use a flashlight under the couch, behind the refrigerator.
If you don’t see SIN as SIN, you are walking in DARKNESS.
2.- “fellowship with one another” – this is VERTICAL, not a horizontal fellowship … with CHRIST.
Jesus not only walks in the light, He IS the light - John 8:12 - “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."
If you want to walk with Him, you have to be where He’s at … in the LIGHT. If you’re walking in darkness, Jesus won’t walk there.
3.- “cleanses us” – in the GK., this is in the present tense … a continuous action … ‘keeps on cleansing’.
Though the PENALTY of your sin was paid at Calvary, sin still gets us dirty every day, doesn’t it?
While sin will never separate the Christian from the FORGIVENESS of Jesus … sin will separate us from the FELLOWSHIP of Jesus.
It’s hard to have a close, personal relationship with someone with poor personal hygiene, isn’t it? They are dirty … they smell bad … they have body odor … we don’t want to get real close to them … it offends us.
Sin, in the Christian, offends Jesus … BUT … Jesus made provision for our “cleansing” … through His “blood”.
The sacrifice of Jesus has the “cleansing” power to restore us back into FELLOWSHIP with Him … when we come to Him confessing & repenting of our sins.
1 John 1:8
The lost don’t admit that they have any “SIN”. They may admit that they aren’t PERFECT … have moral flaws … made poor decisions … do wrong/bad things … make mistakes …
BUT … they don’t call them “sins” … BECAUSE … to do so would be admitting that they are accountable to GOD.
While they may claim to have some moral or ethical problems, they do not claim to have a SIN problem.
Someone once said: “Before you can get a person SAVED … you have to get them LOST.”
Their problem isn’t that they think they are too BAD to be saved … but too GOOD to be saved.
Being GOOD might keep you out of JAIL … but it won’t keep you out of HELL.
The only STANDARD they have is what they make for themselves … and it is usually a COMPARISON with others … “I’m just as good (if not better) than most people I know.”
Until Jesus becomes the STANDARD, they won’t see their SIN as SIN … they are just “deceiving themselves”.
Jesus died for “sinners” … and until they see themselves as “sinners”, they won’t see the need for salvation.
Matthew 9:12-13 - “But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. [13] "But go and learn what this means: ’I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
1 John 1:9
“confess our sin” – to do this, you must be AWARE of sin in your life … only the Christian is able to do his.
Only the Christian seeks relief from the guilt of his sin … seeks a cleansing … a restoration to fellowship with Jesus.
“confession” means to agree with God about the sin in your life … acknowledging that you have violated God’s standard of Holiness … and asking His forgiveness.
“confession” is taking responsibility for our sin … and dealing with it.
One of the 6 hardest words to say is: “I am wrong … you are right.” … it’s a matter of PRIDE … a matter of “confessing” … a matter of humility, admitting that we were wrong.
It exposes our weakness, failures, faults.
Some people think that the more spiritual you are, the LESS you will have to confess your sins.
ACTUALLY, the OPPOSITE is true. The closer you get to the Light (Jesus), the more you see your sins … and the more confession you will need to make.
AND … the closer you are to Jesus, the more you will WANT to confess your sins … BECAUSE … you will be more SENSITIVE to sinning against Jesus.
1 John 1:10
If there is no awareness of personal sins, there is no salvation
He may see sin in others (we’re good about THAT, aren’t we?) … BUT … if he doesn’t see sin in his own life, he’s not saved.
God says that YOU are a sinner … if you say you’re not, you are calling God a liar!
A CHRISTIAN will air out his dirty laundry before God … for CLEANSING.
You will never get you laundry clean until you ADMIT they are dirty … and put them in the washing machine to get them clean.
The LOST may seem sorry for their sins … but they are either:
o Sorry they got CAUGHT … OR
o Sorry for the PROBLEMS that their sins have caused them.
They aren’t sorry for what their sins have done to GOD … how they have grieved God … and sent Jesus to the cross.
EX.: Judas (lost) was sorry for his sins - Matthew 27:3 - “Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,”
BUT – Judas went out and hanged himself … he was sorry he got caught … and for the problems it caused him.
Judas never acknowledged his sin as a sin against Holy God … or he would have confessed it and sought restoration (like Peter did).
Judas went to Hell … Peter became a great Apostle.
1 John 2:1-2
CHRISTIAN, you are going to sin … AMEN?
God has provided a way to be victorious over the charges of sin against you.
“propitiation” = ‘to satisfy, appease’
God took out His anger for your sin upon Jesus, at the cross. His justice has been satisfied … His righteousness is appeased.
“Advocate” = ‘a lawyer, an attorney’
Jesus is your defense attorney … He’s there to plead your case before the Great Judge.
When Satan brings your sin-charge to God, Jesus is there to show the Judge the nail-scars in His hands and feet … that the penalty has already been paid.
CONCLUSION:
EVIDENCE #2 – How do you deal with sin in your life?
The way you deal with sin, gives EVIDENCE (and ASSURANCE) as to whether you are SAVED … or LOST.
o Are you SENSITIVE to sin in your life … OR … do you give it not thought?
o Do you see yourself as a “sinner” … OR … as a person who has just made some “mistakes”.
o Do you feel “conviction” for your sins … OR … do you see no need to “confess” them to God?
o Do you desire to walk in fellowship with Jesus … OR … don’t you care?
How you deal with “sin” in your life will give EVIDENCE to your salvation … whether you are saved or lost.
If your sin causes you guilt, shame, anguish, heartache, and grief, then you need to CONFESS it … REPENT of it … and ACCEPT the FORGIVENESS that Jesus has to give you.
Don’t take your sin lightly … Jesus doesn’t!
OUTLINE FOR HANDOUT
“BLESSED ASSURANCE” – Evidence #2
1 John 1:5-2:2
INTRODUCTION:
o How you deal with sin in your life is an EVIDENCE as to whether you are saved or lost.
o A Christian will have a conscious awareness of sin in their life, giving us an ASSURANCE of our salvation.
1 John 1:5 – Sin has a STANDARD, the Holiness of God – Romans 3:23
o The sin of the LOST blends in with the darkness of the world.
o The sin of the CHRISTIAN stands out from God’s Holiness – Isaiah 6:3-5, Luke 5:8, John 3:19-20
1 John 1:6 – The spiritually blind do not see their sin … they walk in darkness.
1 John 1:7 – “walk in the light” – light exposes sin.
o “fellowship” – Jesus IS the light … walk where He is – John 8:12
o “cleanses” – Jesus’ blood provided for daily cleansing and fellowship.
1 John 1:8 – The LOST don’t admit accountability to God.
o The LOST set up their own standard for conduct … comparison with others.
o They won’t see their need for salvation until they see themselves as LOST – Matthew 9:11-12
1 John 1:9 – “confession” is taking responsibility for your sin.
o The closer you walk with Jesus, the more “confession” you will make … the more sensitive you will be to your sins.
1 John 1:10 – The LOST are sorry they got caught … OR … sorry for the problems their sins have caused them … EXAMPLE: Judas cp. Peter.
o The CHRISTIAN will air out his dirty laundry before God as grieving God’s heart.
1 John 2:1-2 – God took out His justified anger on Jesus … to spare you.
o Jesus is your “Advocate” to defend you against Satan’s charges.
CONCLUSION:
o The way you deal with sin in your life gives EVIDENCE and ASSURANCE of your salvation.
o Don’t take your sin lightly … Jesus didn’t!
