Auto Generated Transcript
First John and open your Bibles to First John, chapter one and verse nine. And as we get there, I’m going to just set up for us a background to where we’re heading in this book together. Uh, the book of First John is, uh, uh, I think particularly relevant for the life of the believer, because the focus of First John is about the maintaining of your relationship to Jesus. Uh, now that you know the Lord or if you’ve put your faith in Christ, what does it really mean to walk with the Lord? And, uh, John in particular for me is is a. Special individual that the Lord used as a disciple and an apostle to proclaim his kingdom. Uh, if you if you read about the life of of Jesus and his disciples, what you find out in in studying John is John is believed to be the youngest disciple of Jesus. They say that when John began to follow Jesus, he was likely in his early 20s, and he was the only disciple that wasn’t martyred for his faith, though several attempts were made on his life. And so I’m of the belief that when John wrote particular books within the New Testament, he wrote five and when he wrote those books, he wrote them later in his life. At a time in his life where he really wasn’t able to travel as much as he would have liked. And so to communicate to the church the way that he desired, he he dictated to to the church things that were significant about their relationship with Christ.
And, you know, the thing that I love about the apostle John or the disciple John is that when John did this, he he did this in a very simplistic way. And he got down to the nuts and bolts of what it really meant to follow Jesus, and simplified that for us in our understanding, in our Christian life. And one of the special things about the Apostle John or the disciple John is when you read about him in Scripture, he’s always referenced as the beloved, which really means when Jesus would call to John, he would refer to him as the beloved. It means the the loved and the Lord Jesus really loved John. He cared about John, and John loved Jesus and desired to walk with him in his life. And so if if there is anyone who understands what it means to walk with Jesus for your entire life, it’s John who in his old age writes to us in this book. In the beginning of this book. The thing that he really communicates to us as believers is this is how you you live your Christian life with a heart that Jesus really enjoys. And and to be honest, the way that you really enjoy Jesus as well. What does that look like for us? And John as he opens this book? I’m not going to read the first five verses for us, but the detail of the book says this.
Basically, the reason I’m writing this to you is out of experience. I’ve seen this with my own eyes, I’ve witnessed this with my own life. And this this is proven and this works for you as a as a believer in Christ, to those who desire to follow him. And John used this uses this picture of our relationship with Christ as one of walking in light. God is light. And our desire should be as believers in him, to be attracted to that light, to know him more deeply and allow that light to burn brighter within our lives. And so in in chapter one and verse seven, he simplifies really what it is about the relationship with the Lord and what it’s all about, he says. But if we walk in the light, as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His son cleanses us from all sin. For me on a holiday season, this verse plays particular importance to my life. It’s the simplest simplification of what Christianity is all about. And sometimes we look at life as a series of to do lists of things that we need to get done, different areas of our lives being ruled by different things. I work, I have a family, I do whatever it is and all these different facets of life pulling you in in different directions.
And John, when he talks about life, just simplifies it. If we walk in the light. See himself is in the light. We have fellowship with one another. Meaning if your pursuit in life is to live life for an audience of one, everything else has a tendency to work itself out. And sometimes around holiday seasons, you feel pulled and tugged to attend different services and to be a part of different things. But the approach of what John takes in this passage of Scripture is to simply say, if you look at life and how to live for Jesus and love Jesus and enjoy Jesus, when you participate in things in this world, it’s rather than being about participating in that event. It’s really about living life for Christ and it may lead you to particular events. I am not one for gathering in large groups for holidays. I am the guy that struggles when he goes to Walmart for the I call call that the scary lady who she pushes her cart down the aisle and then she leaves it on this side and she takes up that side. And it’s very stressful for me, large groups and it’s time of year. And, um, John has a tendency to say this. When you’re living life in light of Jesus, you look at your relationships quite differently. Your relationships become about his goodness and glory. Meaning when you gather together for family events. Because it’s Christmas.
The emphasis isn’t about. The family event. Really, it’s about Jesus and you sharing that light with him and and for him in this world and as as you live in fellowship with Christ, the result of that is fellowship with one another. And two greatest commands that Jesus gave. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love one another. When I love Jesus with all that I am, it’s demonstrated in the way that I live my life. I live life for an audience of one. If you love Jesus with all you are in church today. I think John particularly is talking about fellowship among the body of believers. If our pursuit is Jesus alone, then the result of that for the body of Christ this morning should be intimacy and fellowship with each other. A closeness because of Jesus, he draws us near not only to him, but to each other. And when our pursuits are about Christ, it lays aside the indifferences to see what Jesus has for us together. We have fellowship with one another. And then John goes on and he shares surrounding this passage of Scripture. But there is complication that comes along with that. In verse six he talks about the struggle of the Christian life. He says, if we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. In verse eight he says this if we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
John acknowledges something very important to us as he he foretells us in, in verse seven, that that the desire of the Christian life is to walk in fellowship with Jesus. And as we have this fellowship with Jesus, we have fellowship with each other. But but there’s tension in the Christian life because the Christian life is always at war. We live in a world where we know where our relationship should be. I, as a follower of Christ, should love my family, should love our church, and love the unlovable. But John’s being honest in this passage and saying, but at some point. You fail. Did you know that before you ever fell your family, before you ever fell your friends? Before you ever fell? Before your church, before you ever send and and love the unlovable. The Bible is very clear in communicating. Before any of that happens, the first person you send before is God. Before the lust of the flesh is played out in my life, my heart has turned contrary to Christ. I in my heart I, I lost, I covet, I greed, I have anger, I have selfishness. And that begins to affect my relationship with Jesus and it affecting my relationship with Jesus. That affects the relationship of those around me. One of the hardest battles of the Christian life is to remember who your enemies are.
I heard a sad once about Satan, and he said that the only good thing about Satan is that Satan is predictable. From the beginning. He he’s worked in our lives the same way. From Adam and Eve to the temptation of Christ in the wilderness in Matthew four, the the lust of the flesh, the the pride of life, and the lust of the eyes. The Bible tells us that when we fight our Christian fight, that we war against our own selves. Romans seven Paul says this, although I want to do good, evil is right there with me, for in my inner being I delight in God’s law. But I see another law at work within me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. Not only do we personally war against God, the Bible tells us the world is at war against God. The Gospel of John in chapter three and verse 19, John wrote this. This is the verdict light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of the light. And knowing that your relationship to Christ. Is life, knowing that God created you for that relationship. John presents this position for us as believers to say in verse seven, we’re intended to walk in light, were intended to have fellowship with Christ and in fellowship with him. We’re intended to have fellowship with one another. But there is this war that happens and we will sin.
So what do you do? What do you do when the relationships you were intended to have suffer because of our shortcomings? Because of sin? How do we begin to even enjoy that relationship with God again? John says it in first John chapter one and verse nine he says, go ahead. And if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And what John is communicating to us in this passage of Scripture is the idea of repentance. He doesn’t. He doesn’t say the word repentance in this passage, but he defines it for us. If we confess our sins, he’s faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. Repentance is important to the Christian life. Repentance is important to relationships. It’s an opportunity for us to recognize where our heart is going astray, and acknowledging the failure and bringing it before the one we have wronged, and asking for forgiveness in order to receive reconciliation. And I hope that’s something you as parents even teach to children. You think about your relationships with your kids and and you see, sometimes your kids don’t always act appropriately. Well, at least my kids don’t. And you say to your kids, you know, that really affected the person that you said that to. You go make it right. Should go apologize. You know, John saying, not only is it significant to understand how to do that in your relationship with each other, but but do you communicate that to your kids and their relationship to God? And God saw that.
His heart is to walk with you and God lives contrary to sin. He’s contrary to darkness. He is in the light. And John gives this promise that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. And I know this morning when when people hear the word repentance, sometimes within us there’s this ability to cringe at the idea. And the reason for that is the word repentance is extremely abused in religious culture today. I mean, the idea of repentance in some religions puts the sin of life before you and never shows you how God allows you to let it go. You’ve constantly got to prove your worth to God, hoping that it overcomes what you need to be repentant over. And you can never move forward because you can never let go. Repentance in some religions is used as a form of manipulation to people. It keeps sending in front of you so that they continue to motivate you to serve whatever agenda that they have. When some people will see in a minute, use it as even a way to encourage church giving. You give me $5,000 today and I will forgive all of your sins. That’s not true. But it’s been used that way. It’s recognizing for us that what God desires is for not us, not to have glory in our past.
Sometimes we abuse repentance when we glorify the past sin and not the finishing work of what Jesus has done. Christians have the tendency to do that. You get to the place in your life where you get this, your testimony in Jesus. In a way that you came to know Christ and you share that. And when you start talking about it, you say, you know, when Jesus saved me, he really saved me. Oh, no, no, no, you don’t understand. Listen to all this stuff I used to do. I did this and I did this. Oh, yeah, and Jesus saved me. But man, I was really bad. The idea of repentance isn’t the glory in the past. But in the finishing work of what Christ has done. Sometimes we abuse repentance by a way of earning our way back to God and His favor, which becomes religion. Repentance is a word that is often abused. John gives this promise. If we confess. He is faithful to forgive. We confess. He is just simply faithful to forgive. When we repent before the Lord, I got to tell you one of the parts within my own life that balks at the system of repentance has nothing to do with the religious abuse of repentance. Rather it has to do the with the admission of guilt in my life. To repent is to reveal my heart before God.
The nature of man from the beginning of Adam is to close that heart from God. And to give this mask of beauty behind a deception of brokenness. James writes it this way in the book of James he says, come near to God, and he will come near to you. I love that this idea of repentance before the Lord, if you draw near to him, he’s going to draw near to you. But here comes, here comes the difficult part of swallowing the confession, the guilt of sin before the Lord. He says, wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. By the way, I know saying that out loud doesn’t, like, bring people into the church building. Wash your hands, you sinners. Invite your friends next week and purify your hearts, you double minded. Can I just tell you as it back to that joke? Um. John knows how important your relationship with Jesus is. And in reading John, I see how important your relationship with Jesus is, and I would rather communicate truth and talk about sin than not. And he says in verse nine, grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up. James carries this idea for us. In order to recognize our need to repent, we’ve got to understand our depravity in light of God’s holiness. Unless you see the significance of your sin before a holy God, you will see no need for God in a relationship with him in your life.
And there’s no need for Jesus. There’s no need to glory in the cross. Because you see no need for God coming into your life. And the idea of what James is saying, he’s come near to God. He’ll come near to you. Take some time just to recognize how separate we are from him in darkness, so that you can appreciate how glorious he is in his light. To understand what God is really calling you to. Be sober minded in that thinking man. Even allow your heart to be broken if necessary, because your relationship with Christ is that important. Because Jesus is life. You think about our culture today? The need. We have to see the holiness of who God is. I know not too long ago, the debate within our society was for pro-choice and to end the death penalty. You think about that abortion. But in the death penalty, I mean, it’s like kill, kill the innocent and free the wicked. I mean last year, I love this. I want to pick on California for a minute. Sorry if you’re from. Yeah, sorry. I was waiting for that. Um, last year, California had this vote where they were going to outlaw the Happy Meal, but legalize marijuana. I heard someone come up with a solution, and they said, you know, we should just put marijuana in the Happy Meal, and then everybody will be happy.
We’ll call it the Super Happy Meal, right? The gravity. There is a need for God. We as people should hunger and thirst for his holiness and his presence. You think about this last verse that James shares in this passage? Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up. I don’t know what you believe about repentance, but can I just share this thought with you this morning? God doesn’t ask for your repentance to beat you up. But rather to lift you up. God wants to open your eyes to the glory of things that. We don’t see. Repentance for us as believers is really the vitamin for your soul. Can I tell you on a personal note, the most freeing experience I’ve ever had in my Christian life came in the idea of repentance, and I didn’t even know what that word was at the time. I was new to Jesus. I remember one night I came before the Lord and I was struggling in life. Brand new believer didn’t exactly know what God wanted for me. But I just came before him. I kneeled down and I remember this darkness outside in the woods one day. And I just said, God, I’m tired of me. I’m tired of me and the dreams that I’m living and the hopelessness it produces at the end. It’s fun for a while, but man, in the end I just get tired of me.
And God, I understand now. You’re the creator of everything. You know what I need better than I know what I need. I’m going to stop pretending to live this life, to please me, to find what it is that I think I need. And I’m just going to give it to you. My life is yours. Can I tell you with brand new eyes? The first time, I really began to experience what a relationship with Christ is about. To let him direct. Now there’s only one king allowed to sit on the throne of your life. And it’s not intended to be us. Were designed for it to be him. Repentance. I’ve studied major revivals throughout church history. And, you know, if you study major revivals throughout church history, do you know what the number one thing people will tell you is that that causes a revival within the land. They will say it’s prayer. And I’ve never agreed. I think prayer is significant. But I think if you study those things close enough that you find that the number one thing. That brings a revival in the land. His repentance. It’s an extreme awareness within the society of people just how much they need the Lord. It’s repentance of turning to self and trusting in God. And let me tell you why I think that it’s on repentance rather than prayer. And I think those two are married together. And I’ll tell you why in a minute, too.
But but if you study even the Great Awakening, it’s in a revival that happened in a in American history in the 1700s, led by the man, a man named Jonathan Edwards. Do you know the sermon accredited with the beginning of the Great Awakening? It’s called sinners in the hands of an Angry God. I thought about titling that today. Could you imagine? Instead, I gave it some fluffy name like Heart Jesus Loves, right? So. But it’s the same thing it is. God desires that heart because God works in that heart. For the first time. It’s being turned over to him, for him to form it and shape it in the way that he desires. It’s giving up on yourself and giving in to Christ. And the Great Awakening started on on the sermon sinners in the hand of the Angry Gods, because people understood their need for Jesus in their lives and turned towards him. Repentance. But here’s the interesting thing about repentance. I believe that it is nearly impossible to repent without prayer. This is why when you study church history and you see repentance bringing revival, it’s also coupled on the back of prayer. You think about it in times in your life where you came before God and you laid it down and you just said, Lord, I’m doing this and I’m just turning over to you. I’m sorry. I’m looking at this the way that you are.
And God, now I’m following you. I mean, how many times have you done that in prayer? It is nearly impossible to repent without prayer. And I think that’s exactly what John is saying in verse nine of this passage. If we confess our sins, he’s not saying repentance, but he’s taking both this idea of prayer and this idea of repentance, and he’s putting it together and saying, if you come before God and you’re confessing this before him, and you’re acknowledging within your heart that it’s gone astray from God, if you do this, he’s faithful and just to forgive you of your sin. You think about, in addition to church history, the idea of of Martin Luther. Martin Luther comes along and he leads what we give him the credit of leading anyway, the the Protestant Reformation. I think the the motion of the Reformation was being set previous to Luther, but he really added the gas to the flame. And he walks into Wittenberg, Germany, and he tacks on the church door, his 95 theses. And which is credited with leading the Reformation. And do you know what the focus of that thesis was? When our Lord and master Jesus Christ said, repent. He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance. Sometimes in Christianity we use the cliché of revival. I want a revival. Me too. You know where revival starts. Within your heart. And do you know what it takes? An awareness within our lives of the holiness of God, with a desire to submit ourselves to his authority.
Repentance. God, I’m not living this for me anymore. It’s about you. I mean, you study the Great Awakening and you study the Reformation. You’re thinking, yeah, I live in that time would be great. And the message Martin Luther brings. Scots. We’ve been wrong. I’m tacking this on the door of my church to say to my church, if you want Jesus in your life, this is what we need to walk with him. We need to repent. Stop justifying what we’re doing and just turn to Christ. Jesus’s first message. The reason that Martin Luther started with this thought. It comes in Matthew four, Jesus’s very first sermon. Do you know what it was? He comes out of the. He goes back, he gets baptized. He comes out of the wilderness and the temptation with Satan. And then he begins to preach. And the very first word that Jesus ever says in the very first message that Jesus ever shares. Prepend. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. This as if Jesus is knocking on the door of everyone’s life and saying, listen, stop the pursuits of whatever you’re following and turn to me. We want to do great things in this world, and the way that you do great things is submit to the King, who wants to allow great things to be done. Wrote on the back of repentance.
You think of the freedom that’s brought Luther as he read first John chapter one and verse nine. Seeing the religious teaching of his time, allowing people just to carry the weight of their sin in this world, and knowing that God just wants to set them free and to walk with him. And Luther’s looking at this religion and Luther’s looking at his relationship with Christ. And he just reads, I could imagine these words echoing within his mind as he sees what church is doing in the life it’s producing. And he’s just saying, if we confess our sins, he’s faithful. He’s just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us. All we have to do is just come to God and he comes to us. As James says, Jesus desires to be so much in relationship with you, but Jesus calls you to the light as he is in the light. If you just look at this world the way that Jesus looks at this world and acknowledge it and just turn to him. We confess our sins. He is faithful and he is just to forgive us. You know, the beauty of this word confession in the Greek language carries this idea of covenant confession. It’s piggybacked on the idea of what Jesus has covenantally done for you on the cross by dying for your sins. Meaning John isn’t talking about justification here. He’s talking about sanctification, John. He’s he’s not talking about how to come to salvation in Jesus, but how rather to live in that salvation for Jesus.
Once Jesus died for you, you are in that covenant relationship with him as you’ve put your faith in Christ. You are Christ’s. You belong to him. And so John says, if we confess our sins, if you remember the covenantal promise that Christ has given you on the cross. God is faithful. Meaning he is trustworthy. And he will forgive it. Because he desires you near to him. If you confess, he forgives with no manipulation. So what exactly is repentance? I gave the simplistic definition of what it states within Scripture. Repentance is turning away from and turning toward in the simplistic idea of turning away from whatever is contrary to God, and turning toward Christ and trusting in him. If I if I broke that definition down, I would say this repentance is about recognizing sin in God’s holiness, agreeing with God over the sin, finding God’s mercy and grace, and choosing rather to walk with him. Repentance isn’t a process. It’s never been a process. If we confess. He forgives. This confession that John acknowledges in First John chapter one. Is an outward acknowledgment of what’s taking place internally within your heart. And this is what it becomes for us. The beauty of repentance is placing our will under God’s will. Repentance allows you to lay down sin, to free us from its penalty and reconcile us to God. The ability even to repent communicates the grace of a loving God who cares for you.
Repentance exists so that you may walk with him. Repentance isn’t about taking our struggle and by our strength, submitting under God, because our struggles are great and our flesh is weak, but Jesus rather is stronger. Repentance says your relationship with God isn’t up to man, but fulfilled in Christ. The opportunity to repent before God says that no matter how much you may feel like you failed, Jesus makes the path to him available so that you may experience a joy filled relationship with him. Repentance shows us that we can be honest before God. And not mask our failures in religious living. Repentance doesn’t mean clean yourself up before you come to God, but rather come to God because he alone is the one who cleanses you. Repentance keeps us from looking down on each other, but rather looking to Jesus and His Word through the sacrifice he has presented to us. Repentance shows us how to see God. Better to walk with him more near and appreciate his holiness. Repentance helps us better worship God by seeing the significance of the glorious sacrifice of Christ for all of us. Repentance acknowledges the true King and his rightful place. He is the King of your life and of all life. Repentance removes the filth of our relationship before God. It redirects a heart that has wandered astray, and it plunges us into the depths of the goodness of who God is.
We don’t use repentance. As a method of manipulation. But as a place to experience the freedom of Christ and His goodness in our lives. As Christians, we live in war between who we were and who we are becoming in Christ. And God, more than anything, desires fellowship and love in unity and your relationship with him. It’s about letting go of yourself, surrendering yourself, and giving in to Christ. It’s as if John’s coming to this passage of Scripture and he’s saying to us as believers, don’t you get it? Don’t you get it? There is only room in your life for one king to rule your heart. To be in this kingdom is easy. But to live in this kingdom is hard. You need to know just how much God desires to cleanse you and direct you, and to be with you and steer you from darkness. So that you may be a light in this world, as Christ has called you, to see God move in your life, to seek after him, and to be near to his heart. Repentance is the door that opens you to the goodness of all that God is. As a believer in Utah. My prayer. As for God just to make himself known in this valley. To see the hearts that are suffering, see the freedom that comes in Jesus. But it doesn’t come unless we realize just how desperate we are for Jesus.
Me. I could even use the cliche word this morning to say, I just want a revival. I want to see God move in ways that I can’t even imagine. How does that happen? Recognizing His Holiness. Seeing who I am apart from him and seeing that he he is life. And not just one time in my life saying, God, I’m giving it all to you. But every day wake up to the King of Life and just saying, Jesus, I’m surrendering it. Jesus, I’m turning my back on this God, whatever you want is far greater than any hope I carry today. Because God, you’re the one that moves in hearts and you’re the one that moves in life. And God, you can change when my power can’t. God, please set me free and I, I repent. And the beauty. God doesn’t ask that to bring you down. Man. He just wants to lift you up. If we confess our sins. He’s faithful and just to cleanse us of our sins. We confess our sins. We have fellowship with one another. The beauty of Christ is made known in our lives in a way that we ourselves cannot fabricate. But only the power of God can do working within our lives. You’re right in culture today saying sinners in the hands of an angry God doesn’t put rear ends in a seat. But it does bring us near to God. So that he can move in our lives in powerful ways.