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If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)
This is even worse than being a liar. When you get to the place where you say you have no sin in your life, there is no truth in you at all. This doesn’t mean you are simply a liar; it means you don’t even have the truth. You are deceiving yourself.
I ran into this problem very early in my training for the ministry. When I went to college as a freshman, my first roommate was a young man who was also studying for the ministry. He was a sweet boy in many ways. The only trouble with him was that he was perfect. When I first met my roommate, he introduced himself and informed me that he had not committed a sin in so many years – I have forgotten if he said one, two, or three years. It shocked me to meet a fellow who didn’t sin. I had hoped he would be my buddy, but he wasn’t a buddy. You see, in every room where I have lived, things go wrong once in awhile. And there I was living in a room in which there were only two of us and one of us couldn’t do anything wrong. So when something went wrong, guess who was to blame? Now I admit that usually it was my fault – but not always. Although he was a nice fellow, he hadn’t reached the level of perfection which he claimed; he wasn’t perfect.
My friend, whom do you think you deceive when you say that you have no sin? You deceive yourself, and you are the only person whom you do deceive. You don’t deceive God. You don’t deceive your neighbors. You don’t deceive your friends. But you sure do deceive yourself. And John says that the truth is not in a man like that because he can’t see that he is a sinner and that he has not reached the place of perfection. Yet a great many folk are trying that route in their effort to bridge the gap between themselves and a holy God.
Since you cannot bring God down to your level and you cannot bring yourself up to His level, what are you going to do? John gives us the alternative:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
The word “confess” is from the Greek verb homologeo, meaning “to say the same thing.” This is important. You are to say the same thing that God says. When God in His Word says that the thing you did is sin, you are to get over on God’s side and look at it. And you are to say, “You are right, Lord, I say the same thing that You say. It is sin.” That is what it means to confess your sins. That, my friend, is one of the greatest needs in the church. This is God’s way for a Christian to deal with the sin in his own life.
Now in the past, I have always been able to say to the Lord, “Lord, I did this, but I want to tell You the reason why I did it.” I rationalize. It doesn’t matter; God says it’s sin.
We have to confess the same thing God says about it. That’s desperately needed today. Not public confession – you don’t take a bath in public, I hope, so let’s not do that kind of cleansing in public. It needs to be done privately. We need to go to Him for cleansing. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful.”
When the Lord Jesus was down here almost 2000 years ago, He washed the feet of His disciples. He has gone up yonder now, but He’s still washing feet because “having loved his own, He just keeps on loving them right down to the very end” (see John 13:1). Today He’s girded with a towel of service: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). We have to go to Him for cleansing again and again, saying, “Look, Lord. Here are the hands. Here are the feet. Here are the eyes. Here are the ears. Here is the mind. I want to walk with You, I want to love You, and I want to enjoy You. I want to have fellowship with You.”
He longs for our fellowship, but we’re not going to bring Him down to our level. The prodigal son, when he got home, didn’t say, “Dad, they tell me you went to the far country.” He didn’t say that. No, he came back and said, “Father, I’ve sinned,” and the father said to the servants, “Go get the robe. Kill a fatted calf. We’re going to have fellowship together again. My boy is back home.” (See Luke 15:21-24.)
Why don’t you go to the Lord, my friend, and just open your heart and talk to Him as you talk to no one else. Tell Him your problems. Tell Him your sins. Tell Him your weakness. Confess it all to Him. Say to your Father that you want to have fellowship with Him and you want to serve Him. My, He has made a marvelous, wonderful way back to Himself!
Pasadena, California 91109-7100
Another method which is often used is an attempt to bring man up to God’s level, saying that man has reached sinless perfection and is living on that very high plateau. Well, John deals with that approach:
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)
This is even worse than being a liar. When you get to the place where you say you have no sin in your life, there is no truth in you at all. This doesn’t mean you are simply a liar; it means you don’t even have the truth. You are deceiving yourself.
I ran into this problem very early in my training for the ministry. When I went to college as a freshman, my first roommate was a young man who was also studying for the ministry. He was a sweet boy in many ways. The only trouble with him was that he was perfect. When I first met my roommate, he introduced himself and informed me that he had not committed a sin in so many years – I have forgotten if he said one, two, or three years. It shocked me to meet a fellow who didn’t sin. I had hoped he would be my buddy, but he wasn’t a buddy. You see, in every room where I have lived, things go wrong once in awhile. And there I was living in a room in which there were only two of us and one of us couldn’t do anything wrong. So when something went wrong, guess who was to blame? Now I admit that usually it was my fault – but not always. Although he was a nice fellow, he hadn’t reached the level of perfection which he claimed; he wasn’t perfect.
My friend, whom do you think you deceive when you say that you have no sin? You deceive yourself, and you are the only person whom you do deceive. You don’t deceive God. You don’t deceive your neighbors. You don’t deceive your friends. But you sure do deceive yourself. And John says that the truth is not in a man like that because he can’t see that he is a sinner and that he has not reached the place of perfection. Yet a great many folk are trying that route in their effort to bridge the gap between themselves and a holy God.
Since you cannot bring God down to your level and you cannot bring yourself up to His level, what are you going to do? John gives us the alternative:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
The word “confess” is from the Greek verb homologeo, meaning “to say the same thing.” This is important. You are to say the same thing that God says. When God in His Word says that the thing you did is sin, you are to get over on God’s side and look at it. And you are to say, “You are right, Lord, I say the same thing that You say. It is sin.” That is what it means to confess your sins. That, my friend, is one of the greatest needs in the church. This is God’s way for a Christian to deal with the sin in his own life.
Now in the past, I have always been able to say to the Lord, “Lord, I did this, but I want to tell You the reason why I did it.” I rationalize. It doesn’t matter; God says it’s sin.
We have to confess the same thing God says about it. That’s desperately needed today. Not public confession – you don’t take a bath in public, I hope, so let’s not do that kind of cleansing in public. It needs to be done privately. We need to go to Him for cleansing. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful.”
When the Lord Jesus was down here almost 2000 years ago, He washed the feet of His disciples. He has gone up yonder now, but He’s still washing feet because “having loved his own, He just keeps on loving them right down to the very end” (see John 13:1). Today He’s girded with a towel of service: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). We have to go to Him for cleansing again and again, saying, “Look, Lord. Here are the hands. Here are the feet. Here are the eyes. Here are the ears. Here is the mind. I want to walk with You, I want to love You, and I want to enjoy You. I want to have fellowship with You.”
He longs for our fellowship, but we’re not going to bring Him down to our level. The prodigal son, when he got home, didn’t say, “Dad, they tell me you went to the far country.” He didn’t say that. No, he came back and said, “Father, I’ve sinned,” and the father said to the servants, “Go get the robe. Kill a fatted calf. We’re going to have fellowship together again. My boy is back home.” (See Luke 15:21-24.)
Why don’t you go to the Lord, my friend, and just open your heart and talk to Him as you talk to no one else. Tell Him your problems. Tell Him your sins. Tell Him your weakness. Confess it all to Him. Say to your Father that you want to have fellowship with Him and you want to serve Him. My, He has made a marvelous, wonderful way back to Himself!
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