The Love of God Sacrifices
Introduction
1 John 1:10-2:2
My sonship and relationship with the Heavenly Father is not based on my performance, but by His promises and power. My fellowship is maintained through obedience to His word, which is a reality in my life as a result of His indwelling Holy Spirit directing, correcting and enabling us to obey.
Colossians 1:27: “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
John does not deny our need to be seen as sinless. He simply notes that we cannot find it in ourselves. We need an advocate. We need an atonement. We need another.
“The one who lies to himself and believes his own lies comes to a point where he can distinguish no truth either within himself or around him, and thus enters into a state of disrespect towards himself and others. Respecting no one, he loves no one, and to amuse and divert himself in the absence of love, he gives himself up to his passions and his vulgar delights and becomes a complete animal in his vices, and all of it from lying to other people and himself.” Fyodor Dostoevsky
John reminds us indwelling sin can lead us to:
1. Lie to others. 6
2. Lie to yourself. 8
3. Lie about God. 10
God says we are sinners and need a Savior.
His conclusion: “His word is not in us” 10 Speaks of Scripture, the gospel, sound doctrine, etc. Means it has not affected our belief and conduct.
V8 “the truth is not in us” – refusing to behave according to God’s true message.
Human nature is to deny our sin. We don’t want to face the reality of our sins. We are quick to shift the blame on someone else.
John says we don’t want to admit that we commit individual acts of sin.
We fall short of God’s standard. Sin is disobedience, it’s stepping over the line; disobeying the law. There is something of a progression.
V6 You become a liar.
V8 You deceive yourself.
V10 You make God out to be a liar.
I. The Apostle’s Affection 1
“My little children” – endearment and fatherly concern. John sees himself as a spiritual father and they are his spiritual children.
“these things” – refers to VV5-10.
A. W. Tozer says that John perhaps worries that some will misunderstand what he is trying to say.
2 Possible Misapprehensions:
1. If sin is a reality and it is impossible for me to live a sinless life, why bother. If I sin, big deal. God will forgive me. John worries that some Christians will think sin is to be accepted as an inevitable part of the normal Christian life. The “no big deal syndrome.”
2. As a Christian, I have liberty and am no longer under the law, so I can do what I want to do. If I sin, God will forgive me. This is called the “Rasputin Syndrome.” He justified his sinful lifestyle from a clever misuse of
Romans 5:20-21, “where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” He said when we sin as Christians, we provide God an opportunity to exercise and magnify His grace, so sin away.
“so that you may not sin” – Christians are saved from sin, not to sin. The trajectory of our lives should be toward holiness and away from sin. Sin is a serious thing in your life. Don’t take it lightly.
“and if anyone sins” – unqualified as to the sin. He does not divide up sins into categories. Some refer to mortal sins which bring eternal damnation and venial sins which are forgivable. No statement here about the multitude of sins or the magnitude of sins.
F. W. Farrar, “It is a statement unqualified as to the sin: any person, any sin. Think of it this way: our debt is paid, but we are ever incurring fresh debt, and we need fresh forgiveness.”
II. THE APOSTLE’S ADVOCATE 1
“we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”
Advocate- appears 5 times in the New Testament. Four times it refers to the Holy Spirit, only here does it refer to the Lord Jesus.
1. Comforter
John 14:16: “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever”
2. Counselor
John 14:26: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
3. Consoler
John 15:26: "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”
4. Convictor
John 16:7-8: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:”
James M. Boice speaks of how the Advocate takes us into the courtroom where we see at least 4 people involved.
The judge, the prosecutor, the defense attorney and the defendant. God is the judge. The prosecutor is Satan, and you are the accused. The attorney for your defense, Jesus, intercedes with the Judge on your behalf.
Revelation 12:10: “Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "’Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.’”
When I sin, I can imagine Satan rushing into the presence of God to accuse me. I can hear him as he quotes Scripture concerning the penalty for sin and how it is punishable by death. Then my defense attorney, the Lord Jesus, saying, “Yes, Father, he is guilty of that sin. But, Father, I went to the cross and died for that sin. When he was 20 years old, through faith in me my atonement was applied to him and his sins were forgiven. I put my robe of righteousness on him. He is covered by my blood, and he is forgiven because he is my child.”
In the modern legal world, the defense attorney defends the defendant on the merits of the defendant’s case. In John’s thoughts, however, the merit on the part of the accused is entirely absent. All the merit is on the part of the advocate.
In the legal world it is not permissible for an attorney who is involved in the case to be related to the Judge. Neither can the defense attorney be related to the defendant. However, in the family of God, the Advocate is the Father’s Son and the defendant is the brother of the defense attorney. In Hebrews 2:12-13 Jesus calls us his brothers.
III. THE APOSTLE’S ATONEMENT 2
“propitiation” – an atonement for our sins.
The word carries the idea of satisfaction.
“He Himself” and He alone is the propitiation, the atoning sacrifice.
God is a holy God, His righteous anger stands against all sin, and justice must be served in such a way that sin is paid for. Jesus paid that price when He died on the cross to satisfy the penalty of the law that condemned us.
“At the cross God’s wrath, love, justice and holiness met together. God’s holiness makes sin an affront to His character. God’s justice demands payment for sin. God’s love causes Him to love sinners. Because of God’s love, He sent His Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross for the world’s sins. God’s wrath was poured out in judgement upon Jesus, who bore our sin on the cross as our substitution. By the death on the cross for sin, Jesus satisfied the wrath and justice of God. To say Jesus is “the propitiation” for our sins, he means that sin has been expiated (its penalty has been removed) and God’s wrath is likewise propitiated, that is, turned away.” David L. Allen
“not for our sins only, but also for the whole world” – Jesus satisfied the legal debt of sin for all, such that all humanity is savable should they meet God’s condition for salvation, which is repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:9-13: “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, "’Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’" For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For "’whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’"
No one is beyond its reach.