(1 John 1:5 - 2:2)

5 Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 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. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 1 My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the Righteous One. 2 He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.

Some of you may remember the actor Jackie Gleason from the hit TV series "The Honeymooners" during the 1950's. I am told that Jackie was once asked in an interview if he was religious. His answer; "No, I am still looking for the religion that will tell me I can do anything I want to do and still go to heaven." I am afraid that many people in our society have this same sentiment. But that's dangerous thinking. Cancer is to the body what sin is to the soul; it's destructive. So, how do we respond to sin? From these verses I believe we can see three choices concerning how we respond to sin in our lives.

We can choose to Cover our sin

We do this when we deny it even exists. People who deny that they have sinned are measuring themselves on a scale they have created. I heard about a man who built his own golf course but made the par level on the course 110 strokes. If you know anything about golf, you know that is tremendously high. But he did this so he could shoot par every time. If you make up your own rules, you can proclaim you are a great golfer even when it isn't true.

You may think that only unsaved people deny sin but you would be wrong. Even God's people deny their sin at times. King David did. He committed adultery with Bathsheba, denied it and then caused the death of her husband to cover up his sin. We may not have committed sin such as David but the Bible is clear. All have sinned (Romans 3:23). When we say we have no sin we make God a liar.

We can choose to Confess our sin

The Greek word for "confess" here means to declare openly and speak freely in agreement with another statement. It means to call sin what God calls it. Sin. In light of the sacrifice Christ has made on the cross for us we must confess our sin and call it exactly what He calls it. A traveling preacher once told the story of a woman who testified she was troubled over a problem that was hurting her testimony. She said she exaggerates too much. She felt she was loosing the confidence of others because of this. The preacher and her prayed about it. She began here prayer with, "Lord, I know I tend to exaggerate." The preacher interrupted and said, "call it lying and you may get over it madam." When we call our sin what God calls it we find the only way to overcome it.

God promises to cleanse every sinner who confesses. He forgives and cleanses us. "Forgive" in Greek means to "send away." It means to "let go." When Jesus forgives He sends our sin away from us. But to cleanse us we also need to confess Jesus as Lord. Cleansing comes with a price. Jesus is the One who paid that price. 

We can choose to Conquer our sin

1 John 1:10 says if we try to cover our sin His Word has no place in our lives. When we do confess, His Word is open. This is why keeping communication lines open with God is so important. Back in the 1940's people were trying to get the first computer into operation. But the room-sized computer broke down early in the process. Scientists searched and discovered that a moth had crawled between two electrical contacts and was stuck. The circuit couldn't be completed. The moth was removed and the machine began running again. This is where the term "bug" in computer terms came from.

Has some sin come between you and God and disrupted your fellowship with Him. Ask the Lord to identify it. Then get rid of it! When we honestly confess to the Lord, Satan can no longer accuse us. A preacher from the early 1900's explained that when he was 12 he killed one of the family geese with a stone. He buried the bird to cover what he had done. That night his sister came and told his she knew what he did and if he didn’t wash dishes she would tell their mother. All the next day he felt bound to do the dishes. But the next morning he surprised his sister by telling her it was her turn. When she reminded him of what she would do if he didn’t obey her, he said, "I have already told mother, and she has forgiven me. Now do the dishes. I am free again!" When you and I deal with our sins honestly before God, we are set free! Satan cannot hold us hostage once God has forgiven and cleansed us.