1 John 1 - Light, Darkness, and the Reality of Sin
Tom Shrader examines 1 John 1:6-10, addressing the uncomfortable reality of sin in the Christian life. He challenges men to honestly acknowledge their sin rather than rationalize it away, explaining that true Christianity involves both initial confession of sin for salvation and ongoing confession for fellowship with God. Shrader emphasizes that denying sin's presence makes one a liar, while confessing it brings cleansing and restoration of joy.
“A Christian is not somebody that does the best they can. A Christian is somebody that says, the best I can is not good enough for a holy God.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: 1 John
Recorded: January 19, 1989
Duration: 43 min
Themes: sin, confession, honesty, fellowship, cleansing, darkness, light, restoration, struggling with sin, feeling guilty, new believer, pastor, husband, mentor, young adult, Christian men
Scripture: 1 John 1:6-10, 1 John 1:5, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Acts 26:18, Ephesians 5:1-2, Ephesians 5:8, Genesis 3, Romans 3:23, Romans 3:10, 2 Chronicles 6:36, Psalm 51, Psalm 32
Theological Themes: sanctification, becoming holy, justification, salvation, biblical authority, christian living, spiritual growth, forgiveness
Full Transcript
We are studying the book of 1st John, a little book way in the back of the Bible. I'd ask you to turn there. We spent the first two weeks really on an introduction and on the first couple of verses. Even if you were here, I think it's helpful just to summarize a couple of things and keep us all on track.
The first thing that we noticed is that John writes this book firsthand. He said, these are the things I saw and I heard. I'm talking about this life that I've touched and I felt. When John talks about life, we said last week, John's talking about a person. It's the person of Jesus Christ.
The Foundation of Life
Men, that's the foundational key to build our lives. Jesus Christ is life and apart from Him there is no life. No matter how hard you strive, no matter how much success you have, no matter how high you get on the corporate ladder, no matter how many deals you close, no matter how many lawsuits you win, no matter how many offices you're elected to, no matter how much you take in the area of alcohol or drug, whatever it is, you'll never find life apart from Jesus Christ. He is the way and the truth and the life. If I'm not with Him, I'm not going to have life.
But that's not all there is, men. Jesus Christ came so that I could have eternal life. There's no question about it. But He also said, I want you to have the abundant life when you're here. We were designed to commune with God, right here. And you cannot do it apart from Jesus Christ.
That's what John said. He said, I want to talk about life and if you want to understand why you're here and what's it all about, then what you need to do is to understand the person of Jesus Christ. We'll look more at that.
God is Light
Verse 5, he gave us a contrast. That's where we focused last week. He said, "and this is the message that we heard from him, from Jesus, and he announced it to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all." John said this: if you know something about light, you know something about God.
And there's one thing about light that we know for sure. Light and darkness are mutually exclusive. We cannot have light and we cannot have darkness. We have light in this room. When I came this morning and I tried to get here especially early, again, no light. We throw the switch on and the darkness is wiped out. God comes and puts out the darkness. In Him there is light.
John's Literary Style of Contrast
I just want to show you something, because every once in a while we forget that these books are written by men as God breathes out into them His word. These are God's words, no question about it. The Holy Spirit's the author of the book, no question about that. But notice literary styles and human styles. John uses a style that's really effective, and you may use it in selling or you may use it in writing yourself. He uses contrast.
Verse 5, he said, light and darkness, they eliminate each other. Let me just show you that theme, and again this really is a sub point, but I think it's kind of interesting. John argues in contrast all the way through this book.
Look at chapter 2, verse 7 and 8, and I'll hit about ten of these real quickly for you, just so you see it. John talks about an old commandment and a new commandment. In chapter 2, verse 15 and 16, John talks about those that love God and those that love the world. In verse 13 of chapter 2, John talks about Christ and the Antichrist. In verses 20 and 21, he talks about truth and he talks about lies. In chapter 3, in the first ten verses, he talks about those that are a child of God and those that are a child of Satan.
In verse 14, he talks about eternal life and contrasts it with eternal death. In verses 15 and 16, he talks about love and hate. In chapter 4, in the first three verses, he talks about true teaching and false teaching. In verses 18 and 19, he talks about love and fear. And in chapter 5, verse 11 and 12, he talks about those that have life and those that don't have life.
John likes to teach in a picture of contrast. I don't know about you, but for me, that's really an effective literary style. To say, not only is it not this, but it is this. A great way to define things and clear them up, and that's what it says. He says right off the bat, here's what it's all about. There's contrast. He said, if you want to know something about God, He's light and in Him there is no darkness.
Introducing a Difficult Topic
Today, men, we shift gears just a little bit, and we pick up in verse 6. Let me do just a little bit of an introduction, only to say this. I know that some of you had to get up at 6 o'clock to get here, and I know it's early in the morning, and early in the morning is a tough time to deal with some tough issues.
And we're going to look at something right now that's not really an upbeat topic. I mean, it may not be one of those that you want to hear first thing in the morning. You may not want to hear it at noon. You may not want to hear it at night. It's not something that you're going to hear in a Tom Hopkins seminar. It's not something that's going to get you fired up. And basically, it's this. It's not how great thou art, meaning you.
My Expertise on Sin
It's going to talk about something right now that I'm comfortable with, something I know about. In fact, let me be honest. There isn't a day goes by in front of people that I don't get intimidated. I really get intimidated for this reason. I know that there are some of you that know this book better than I do. And some of you are very vocal to let me know that every week. When we're done, you seem obsessed to point out to me all those. And that's fine, and I enjoy that, and I appreciate that.
But let me tell you, man, we're on a topic today that I know better than you. We're going to talk about sin. Hey, I got it. I got this one figured out. God uses in His book several words for sin, but basically three that we see over and over again. He uses the word transgression, he uses the
Facing the Reality of Sin
John gets bold and calls sin what it is—sin. That's what John's going to talk about. Now, let me say this to you. If you're here today, I want to encourage you to commit for sure to the next three weeks. We're not trying to build this thing into something larger, although that would be terrific. I tell you, men, we pray all the time that this affects your life so much that you bring other men, and you want to share this with them, and we have the capacity to grow and grow and grow.
But I want you to commit to the next three weeks, because I think one week builds upon the other. These three weeks all tie together, and they're very important. And John talks about sin.
Let's start in verse 6. Here's what he said: "If we say we have fellowship with Him, and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice truth. 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. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."
John's Challenge to Your Life
John starts, and we can just pull some things out right off the bat. Every one of these verses essentially begins with a little qualifier, the little word "if." Verses 6, 8, and 9 begin with a little phrase, "if we say." Then John is about to really jump into your life. He's not going to let you just walk in here, read this book, walk out, and say it wasn't that interesting. John's ready to challenge you.
Here's what he's doing. He's saying, if you say that you're a Christian, then there better be some evidence of it.
What Makes You a Christian?
Let me define the word Christian, because there may be somebody that's unaware of what that means. I was with a guy literally the other day, and he said this. I said, "Are you a Christian?" And he said, "Yeah I am." And I said, "Well what makes you a Christian?"
Men, if you don't use that technique, let me tell you, as you're talking to people, you're really missing the boat. I've sat with guys that have talked to other men for hours, and answered a ton of questions that the guy never had. They told him everything about the book cover to cover, but never at all got into where the other guy was with his life. I said, "Why are you a Christian? What makes you a Christian?"
Here's what he said. Quote: "I do the best I can." I said, "You know, it's really interesting, because that's the opposite of a Christian."
The Problem with "Doing Your Best"
The guy that does the best he can is the guy that says, "I'm just doing the best I can. I'm going to work this thing out. I've got confidence that God's going to grade on a curve. It's going to be just like the tour. They're going to tee up 140 players today, but cut it to 70 on Saturday, and all I got to do is be in that final cut." Wrong.
See, a Christian is not somebody that does the best they can. A Christian is somebody that says, "The best I can is not good enough for a holy God. So what I do is I trust Christ, because I cannot meet His standard." You know what the standard God set out for man is? Perfection.
God's Standard of Perfection
I hate baseball, but we'll use a baseball illustration. Let's say that I'm a baseball player, and I hit .325 for the first half of the year. Well, I think there's a pretty good shot that I'm going to be placed on the all-star team. Would you agree with that? And if I can hit .325 for the whole year, I know something's going to happen the next year. I know that I'm going to be rich, because I'm going to sign a seven-figure contract.
And if I can hit .325 for my career, you know where I'm going to be? Cooperstown. I mean, it's an absolute lock. I'm in the Hall of Fame. There's no question about it. And let's say I go and hit that almost elusive .400. Let's say I do what Ted Williams did. I hit .400. I will really be something in the sight of man.
But imagine having Ted Williams here today, and saying this: "I want you to meet Ted Williams. It's my pleasure to introduce him. He was the last man to hit .400, but that's not how I remember him. I want to introduce him today as the guy who that year failed 60 percent of the time he came to the plate, because that's what he did." I mean, we think Ted Williams is a phenomenal player, and indeed he was, but men don't lose sight of the fact that he failed 60 percent of the time in one of his best years.
See, and that's where man is. What man calls superior, God says is totally inadequate. And if you're trying to appease a holy God, doing the best you can, men, you're in trouble, because you're not going to make it.
The True Definition of a Christian
Here's what a Christian is. A Christian is somebody who said, "My best is but filthy rags in the sight of God. So here's what I'm going to do. I acknowledge that life is found in Jesus Christ. I embrace Him. I acknowledge my sin." Men, that's not enough. I turn from my sin. I embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I trust Him for my salvation.
And men, based on what God says, and I absolutely believe it, if you really come in faith and trust, you have eternal life. Now how will you know you have it? Your life will change. You will be a different creature. Now it's a process, and it takes time, but your life will change.
You cannot run your business as a Christian the same way you did as a heathen, unless you were an incredibly moral heathen. Nor can you run a marriage that way, and it's going to affect the way you deal with your children. It's going to affect the way you drive a car. It's going to affect the way you play tennis. It's going to affect your whole attitude.
That's what John says in verse 6. Look at it, and let's look at it really closely.
He said, if we say we have fellowship with Him, and He uses that word fellowship to mean an intimate relationship, we've come in faith and trust. If we say we have fellowship with Him, and yet we walk in the darkness, we're lying. I don't know about you, but I have what the psychologists call an alcoholic compulsive personality. That means I like black and white, I think is what that means. Well I love this verse. I love this verse, because John has the guts to say, and it's interesting, remember one more time, because we talked about it two weeks ago, this guy is 90 years old when he writes this.
Here's this old man sitting down, and he's just laying it out. He's got nothing to gain, and nothing to lose, and he just opens it up. He said, if you're telling me you're a Christian, and your life doesn't reflect it, then I want you to know you're lying.
The Reality of Life Change
Here's what Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 5. If any man in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things passed away, behold all things have become new. Paul writes a little earlier than that, to the same church at Corinth, and he said, I want you to understand something. Fornicators, and adulterers, and idolaters, and homosexuals, and all drunkards, they won't inherit the kingdom of God. Then he says this, such were some of you, but now you've been sanctified, and justified, you've been washed.
See men, there's a life change that takes place. And John said, I want you to understand the reality of this, and when you do, you're going to be called from the darkness into the light. Paul said this in Acts 26, as he was teaching to the Gentiles. He said, I am called to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light.
Jesus says, I'm the light of the world, he that follows me shall not walk in darkness. In the book of Ephesians, Paul writes, let me just read it to you, because it's so clear what he was saying, what he intended to say. He said, be imitators of God as beloved children. Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up, an offering in a sacrifice to God. You were formerly darkness, but now you're light. Walk as children of the Lord.
Walking in Obedience
Now the word walk there does not mean put one foot in front of the other walk. It's the same word as abide or obey. It means you're obedient to God. And John starts with what I think is a fairly straightforward and fairly hard-line position. He said this, if you're telling me that you're a Christian, and yet you totally disregard the Word of God, then you're lying.
Here's what he said in verse 7, if you walk in the light, you'll have fellowship with one another. Now the fellowship there is between you and God, and between this body, and you're cleansed in the blood.
The Deception of Denying Sin
Look at verse 8, because he picks up the same theme. He turns it a little bit. Verse 6, we've got somebody that says, yeah I sinned, now I'm a believer, but I'm just going to keep on sinning. Look at verse 8, it's different. He said this, if we say that we have no sin, singular, if we have no sin, we're deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
He said, if you say that you're not sin, that there's no sin in you, then what you've done is you totally are denying human nature. In Genesis chapter 3, Adam made a choice. He was there as your representative. He chose to sin, and that sin came to you and to me.
It's funny, because of all the things that we were in, let me back up, we were in a Bible study, small group, and I was saying here, I want to talk today about the things that I really believe. I mean, these are the things that absolutely I'll go to the mat on. They're crucial to me. And I said, before I give you mine, why don't you give me some of yours? And this guy in the back raised his hand, and this was his first one. He said, I believe man is basically good.
Well, I was a guest, and I didn't know anybody there, and so I said, well, okay, let's not put that one on the board. We'll come back and deal with that in a second when I get into what I believe.
The Truth About Human Nature
Because, see, here's what I believe. I believe of all the truths that we talk about, and we talk about God, we talk about Christ, we talk about all the others, but the one truth that I can absolutely prove to you, with empirical data beyond the shadow of a doubt, is that man is inherently evil. That's the one I can prove.
I sat with a man who looked me straight in the eye, and he said, I absolutely believe that they're perfect people in the world. I said, name one. He said, I've never met them, I just know they're here. I said, well, let me tell you something. I said, let's run them through here real fast, because we got five billion to blow by, but you're never going to find them. They don't exist.
Here's what God says in His Word, and it's that does good and does not sin. Paul says in Romans, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Paul expands that more and said, there's none that does good, no, not one. 2nd Chronicles 6 says, there is no man who does not sin.
Now, if you came in today thinking you didn't sin, I hope I didn't pop your bubble. But we're sinful people, and what John is saying in verse 8 is to those of us that say, hey, we're not sinners. We don't sin. We may make mistakes. He said, don't rationalize it, don't call it something else, and we're perfect at that. We really do a good job at that, don't we?
Our Talent for Rationalization
I mean, we are raging now. Man, you can batten the hatches on this abortion issue, because it is going to explode as they start to deal with it. But you'll have this side that says, I want to stop abortion born baby. And this side that says, look, it's a woman's right, and it doesn't matter what they do with the byproduct of conception. And we're great at that.
Larry tells a great story of seeing John Davidson on Merv Griffin's talk show. Two absolute theological giants going head-to-head here. So, John comes out and sits down, and Merv said to him, I really love the way you handled the situation the other night. And John said,
Well, I'm not sure exactly what you mean. He said, well, I saw you at the party. Thanks for coming. I saw you with a girl, and I knew it wasn't your wife, and I wondered how you were going to handle it. He said it was so clever the way you did it. When you came up to me, you said, "I don't know, Betty, this is Merv, and Merv, I want you to meet my lady." Pretty clever word for saying that. "Here's the bimbo that I'm living with right now." I mean, it's really straightforward.
My favorite of all time is that one of our guys, who's a commercial real estate broker here in town, won a trip and got the card to fill out his response. They asked him if he would be traveling single, married, or traveling with a "spousal equivalent."
The Reality of Sin Cannot Be Denied
Well, let's call it what it is, men. Here's what John says. Don't rationalize this away. You have sin. If you don't have it, first of all, you're kidding yourself. Don't kid yourself. There's nothing that depresses me more than somebody that just kids themselves.
Drop down to verse 10, because he picks up the same thing. He said, "If we say that we have not sinned," here's something far more serious than kidding yourself: "you're calling God a liar, and His Word is not in you." He said, look, you're a sinner. Acknowledge that.
Men, let me just warn you a little bit here. John speaks so clearly of it. When you go and you listen to somebody talk about what's going on in their life, maybe you go to one of these testimonial luncheons or dinners or breakfasts, listen for the S-word. Listen for sin. See if you hear it.
The Missing Element in Modern Testimonies
I've been to a lot of testimonies, Christian testimonies, where I never hear sin. I don't know how somebody can talk about salvation and being a Christian without talking about sin. I mean, if this guy's up there saying, "Look, my world was apart, and now it's together," watch out.
I can bring you a guy from any of these other religions, and he's going to tell you the same thing. He's going to say, "Hey, everything once in a while gets real tight, and here's what I do. I put an orange peel behind my ear, and I chant, 'Nurny, Nurny, Nurny, Nurny, Nurny,' and all of a sudden, I've got great peace." Men, that is not the test. That is not the test.
You're going to find real life in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but you cannot come into that relationship until you acknowledge that you're sinful. Men, I don't say this to beat you up. I don't get some sort of perverse picture out of doing this. I'm just saying to you, this is the way to life: to understand that you're lost. If you don't understand you're lost, you're never going to be found.
Where Are You?
One of the most telling things when Adam sinned is he ran and he hid from God. Abnormal behavior. God says this to Adam: "Where are you, Adam?" God knew where he was. Sure. Why is He asking that question? He's asking it not to gather information; He's asking it for Adam's benefit.
Susan's sister came to visit us almost two years ago now. She called and she said, "I'm in town, but I'm lost. Can you tell me how to get to your house?" I said to her, "Where are you, Jenny?" Because see, if she knows where she is and I know where she is, I can tell her how to get to me.
That's exactly what God did with Adam. He asked that question for Adam's benefit, not for God's. He asks it to you and to me. He says, "Where are you, Tom? Where are you, Bill? Where are you, Bob? Where are you, John? Do you understand where you are in relationship with me?" Because if you don't understand that, you're never going to find the way.
Confession: The Ongoing Process
Men, we talk about sin, not because we're preoccupied with it, but we talk about it because that's the first step as we come to Christ: to acknowledge our sin and to admit it. It's an ongoing process. I continue to confess it. I don't back away from it.
That's what verse 9 says: "If we confess our sin, He is faithful to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Let me tell you what He's not saying there. He's not saying that as a Christian, if you sin and forget to confess it, that sin's never forgiven. All your sins are forgiven. That's what Scripture says. That's what He just said in verse 7. Look at that: "If we have fellowship with Him, the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." I'm cleansed.
What He's saying is this: this is a continual process. I'm continually acknowledging. That's what confession means. I'm agreeing with God that I'm a sinner.
Missing the Mark
Now, let me give you a definition of sinner, because I think this is helpful. Sin does not mean to break the law. Sin means to miss the mark. See how this all ties together? To miss the mark. The standard's one hundred percent, and I've missed the mark. That's all that John is saying.
In the Greek, here's what it means. It's a continuing verb. It means I continually confess that I've missed the mark, and He blesses me and He cleanses me. Saved once and for all? Absolutely. One of the byproducts of it: I continue to acknowledge my sin.
David's Example
If you've got the Old Testament with you, if you brought your whole Bible, turn to the 51st Psalm. Psalm 51 was written by David. It was written after David was involved with a gal by the name of Bathsheba.
If you don't know the story, let me give it to you briefly. David was at home when his troops were out fighting. David was one day up on his balcony, and he was looking over the city. He looked down into the house next to him, and he saw a figure taking a bath. He called a servant and said, "Servant, bring me the royal binoculars."
he took the royal binoculars, and he looked down, and he said, "Thou dost please my eye." So he said, "Bring her to me." And then David took Bathsheba, had sex with her, she got pregnant, and then he started the first Watergate. The whole cover-up started at that point.
He tried to have her husband come home, even though he should have been out fighting, and to get him to sleep with Bathsheba so that they wouldn't suspect anything. And remember the story, he was so faithful that he said, "No, I can't do that while the other guys are out fighting." So David brought him in and tried to get him liquored up, and could not get him to do that. So what he did is he sent him to the front line and had him killed. David starts this cover-up. He starts a massive sin. He writes Psalm 51 and Psalm 32 as he's dealing with all of this.
I want you to know how it ends up before we get into that. David's best friend comes to him and says, "David, you've sinned." Guys, let me ask you, if somebody came to you and said that, and they were absolutely right, how would you react? Can you handle that one? Interesting, because here's what David said. He broke down and cried and he said, "Absolutely." See men, that's a sign of a contrite heart. That's the sign of a man of God.
David: A Man After God's Own Heart
David is a man after God's own heart. Wait a minute, a man after God's own heart is calling for the royal binoculars? Yeah. Here's what makes him a man after God's own heart. When he's confronted with his sin, he breaks down and confesses it. He writes Psalm 51 for you and for me.
And for those that say that the Bible is not real and maybe not relevant, I can't imagine anything more relevant than this, because I know as a Christian that you and I still sin. Now what happens when a Christian sins? You don't break that fellowship with God. You still have fellowship with God. Your communion and communication with Him is broken, but the biggest thing is you lose your joy. You lose your effectiveness. You lose your enthusiasm. Everything gets kind of muddled and confused.
The Blinding Effect of Sin
I had a friend who got involved with another woman and left his wife and his kids, and I was talking to a mutual friend of ours about the situation. And I said, "What do you think about this?" And he said, "I'm not about to condemn him." And I said, "Wait a minute, what do you mean you're not about to condemn him? How can you not judge that? What do you mean you don't want to judge adultery and abandonment? How can you not judge it? God judged that clearly. I mean, God's not asking us to pull punches there. God's called it what it was. How can you not do it? I don't understand it." He said, "Well, I got a meeting."
Well, some light was shed on the subject a few months later when I found out this guy's messing around with a secretary. See, when you're in sin, you can't even judge the obvious. It's so blatant and it's so clear that even though it's clear in black and white and God said it, it gets obliterated.
David's Psalm of Confession
Here's what David writes, and we have to close because of our late start, but let's deal with it as quickly as we can. He's involved in sin and he says this, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according to the greatness of Thy compassion, blot out my transgression."
If there's sin in your life and you know it's there and you've just allowed it to exist, I want you to understand that you're serving a God that is filled with mercy and compassion. He's there waiting for you to come and if you'll come, He'll blot that transgression out. He'll wash you thoroughly. He said, "Clean me from my iniquity, clean me from my sin. I know my transgressions."
Look at that phrase in verse 3, "And my sin is ever before me." What he's saying there is, "I can't get this out of my mind." That sin is so real that it doesn't matter where I am or what I'm thinking about, it's just constantly popping up. You know that's what sin does to you? It's just there all the time.
The Far-Reaching Consequences of Sin
And it may be some sort of an act between two consenting adults, that it's just for those people, but its ramifications go way beyond that. And man, let me tell you, it's exactly what John says. If you're a Christian and you start messing around with that stuff, there's a price that will be paid. And one of the first things that's going to happen is, as you sin and as you grow close to Him, your sin is right there for you day after day after day and hour after hour and minute after minute. David said, "This thing is eating me alive."
He said, "I have sinned, not only have I sinned and done what is evil, so that I am not justified and blameless, Thou dost judge." Verse 5, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me." He's not saying he was an illegitimate son. Here's what the Living Bible says. It said, "I was born a sinner from the moment my mother conceived me."
He's saying this. Look, I sinned because I'm a sinner. It's not that I'm a sinner because I sin. You get the distinction, guys? He's saying this. I sinned just as proof, naturally, of what I am. I'm a sinful person. It's not that I'm a sinner because I sin. David said, "I'm understanding what I am." He said, "God, I want to call this sin what You call it, exactly sin. I want to acknowledge that I'm separated."
The Path to Restoration
Now he turns his sight on God. He said, "Behold, Thou desire the truth of the innermost being, and in the hidden part Thou make me, and know wisdom. Purify me. Wash me," verse 7, "whiter than snow." Look at verse 8. "Make me to hear joy and gladness. Let the bones which Thou has broken rejoice."
See, there's a physical price here. David writes in Psalm 32, he said, "This sin is taking its toll physically. It's wiping me out." He said, "I'm like water on a sunny day." Taking an ice cube, maybe you're getting out of the car and it's July and you're on your way into the office and you throw the ice cube onto the street and you just watch this thing just melt before your eyes. And if you'll sit there for just a moment, you can see it disappearing right before your eyes.
The Crushing Weight of Sin
David described his experience powerfully. He said the heat just eats that ice cube alive in a couple of minutes - it just evaporates. David said, "That's what sin is doing to me. It's just eating me up. It just absolutely is eating me alive."
Look what he said. He cried out, "Will you do something, God? Here's what I need." In verse 9: "Let the bones which thou has broken rejoice." He said, "Can you do something for me here?" Then in verse 12: "Restore to me the joy of my salvation."
A Warning About Temptation
Men, we have to close. If you're here and you're involved in sin or maybe you're thinking about sin, listen carefully. Maybe there's some little honey in the office and you kind of got your eye on her, and she's one of those ones that just likes to talk - a toucher. She has to touch your arm when she talks. You need to get away from her.
Maybe there's a deal that's going sideways and you're not quite sure how to handle it. Something just came in and it's relevant, but you don't know how relevant. What is full disclosure anyway? Maybe you don't need to tell him this. Men, if you've got something right now and you're weighing a decision in your life on how to act - sin or not sin - let me tell you something.
The True Cost of Sin
There is a price to pay for sin. That's what John says. He says, "Watch out. It'll just rob you of your joy and sap you from your strength." Men, it will take you so far away from your goal of serving Christ. It will so misguide you and take so much energy. It's not worth it. It's not worth it.
John's going to talk next week about the fact that you don't need to sin. You've got the strength to get through any situation that you might find yourself in.
A Call to Examination and Prayer
Guys, we need to close and let's just pray that God touches our hearts in a special way this morning. In fact, let's start by maybe just taking a couple of seconds silently and asking God to really show us our life from His perspective. Really open our eyes.
Let's pray, men. Father, we come with eyes and ears and a heart that are committed to You. Father, open our eyes. Open our ears. Open our heart. If there's sin in our life, bring it forth right now. Make it so clear to us. Then, Father, give us the comfort of knowing that we can come to You and see and experience that joy once again - that enthusiasm, that freedom in being able to call sin exactly like You do.
God, we thank You so much for what You're doing in our life. We thank You for what You're doing in this group. It's so exciting to see the group grow and the enthusiasm grow. Father, we want to see our lives grow closer to You, more with You. Father, help us realize Your very presence with us each and every minute of the day.
God, we thank You right now for the opportunities You are going to give us this day to live for You, to affect a world that's dark with the light of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Father, thank You for Jesus, and it's in His name we pray. Amen.