1 John Study
Lesson # 8
Sin & It’s
Enslavement
Introduction
As John begins to discuss the Love God has shown to us through Jesus Christ, he focuses upon the response that we ought to have toward this love – purifying ourselves. Through the blood of Jesus, God has provided us with a tremendous opportunity – to become His children & to live a righteous life before Him. God wants a holy people, a people without spot or blemish, and for this to become a reality in our lives we have to have the proper attitude toward sin and the things in life that would defile us. In this section John discusses turning away from sin & it’s enslavement.
1. Definition of sin
a. To most people, sin is thought to be the gross sins of society, the crimes that
make the headlines of our newspapers and telecasts. The sins committed
by ordinary people are not thought to be that serious. In fact, most people
think that what little wrong they do could never be interpreted as sin.
Therefore, to them they only make a mistake; have a shortcoming, are
guilty of failure; had a psychological quirk; made a bad decision;
committed an irrational act or are guilty of committing a social flaw. To
them they are not really sinners.
b. Meaning of sin – literally “to miss the mark”
1) As when an archer misses the center of the target
2) Therefore sin is some kind of action (or the lack of action) in which one
fails to meet the goal that God intended in their life.
3) Rom.3:23 – all man are sinners in that they do not live perfect lives
before God (see also Rom.3:10-18; 1 Jn.1:8; Isa.53:6)
4) As defined by John sin is “lawlessness” or a transgression of the law
a) Word literally means “the violation of the law”
b) Idea is when one does what is forbidden
c) James 4:17 – James also adds the idea of failing to do the good
that God commanded (such as failing to love one another).
While we may not do ill toward others, failure to do good is
just as much a sin.
5) Both of these definitions show that sin is the failure to meet a certain
standard – to miss the mark.
a) In John’s case, that standard is the Law of God
b) James sees it as failing to do the good one knows to do
c. Failure to understand the true nature of sin is one reason why there is so
much apathy toward the subject today. We fail to see that every time we
sin we adversely affect our relationship with God, others & even
ourselves.
1) Sin is choosing to go one’s own way in life, doing one’s own thing
instead of doing what God says.
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2) Sin is living like one wants instead of living like God says.
3) Sin is disobeying God, not doing what God says to do and doing what
God says not to do.
4) Sin is disbelieving God instead of believing what God says.
5) Sin is ignoring God and neglecting God instead of following and
worshipping Him as He says.
6) Sin is rebelling against God instead of doing what God says.
7) Sin is rejecting God and denying God instead of confessing God and
becoming a follower of God.
d. God is perfect. Therefore, only perfection is acceptable to God. This is
shocking; nevertheless it is true.
1) If God lets anything less than perfection into heaven, then heaven
would no longer be perfect. Therefore, God can never accept
anything other than perfection.
2) This is what sin is: imperfection—coming short of God’s glory and of
God’s perfect nature. Consequently, man not only does things that
come short of God’s perfection; man himself is short of God’s
nature.
e. Additional thoughts on sin - there are a number of Hebrew and Greek words
for sin in the Bible. A literal translation of the major words will show the
meaning of sin.
1) Sin is unbelief, the failure to believe God - Matt.13:58; Matt.17:20;
Rom.3:3; 4:20; 11:20, 23; 1 Tim. 1:13; Hebrews 3:12, 19.
2) Sin is missing the mark, coming short of the glory of God - Rom.3:23
3) Sin is error, making a mistake; a wandering off of the right path
(Romans 1:27; James 5:20; 2 Peter 2:18; 2 Peter 3:17; Jude 11).
4) Sin is ungodliness and unrighteousness (Rom.1:18; 11:26; 2 Tim. 2:16;
Titus 2:12; Jude 15, 18).
5) Sin is stepping outside the law - Rom.3:23;4:15; 5:13, 20; Hebrews 2:2;
Hebrews 9:15.
6) Sin is trespassing, intruding where one
should not go - Eph. 2:1
7) Sin is disobedience, a refusal to listen and hear and do - Eph. 2:2; 5:6;
Col. 3:6
8) Sin is lawlessness, rebellion, a rejection of God’s will and law
(1 John 3:4).
9) Sin is iniquity, an inward contempt that leads to the continual practice
of sin (Matt.7:23; Rom.6:19; 2 Thess. 2:3. Cp. Romans 1:21-23.)
10) All men have sinned (Romans 3:23). Sin first entered the world
through Adam (Romans 5:12). Because of sin, all men are
spiritually dead, forever, and are destined to die physically
(Romans 6:23; cp. Genesis 2:17; Genesis 3:19; Ezekiel 18:4, 20).
But there is a deliverance from sin and from its penalty—the
sacrificial death of Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; Hebrews 9:26).
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2. Jesus came that sin might be done away with
a. In Him there is no sin – Jesus lived a sinless life, a life of absolute perfection.
1) When we really believe in Jesus Christ (accept Him as out Lord), God
counts the sacrifice that Jesus made in His death for us.
2) God no longer sees our sins, for Jesus Christ took them and died for
them. They are thereby removed from us, and we are counted free
of sin.
3) They are gone forever because Jesus Christ took them upon Himself
and died for them. Consequently, being free of sin, we become
acceptable to God.
b. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning
1) To continue to walk in sin undermines the purpose Jesus came.
2) When we truly understand this we begin to see how terrible sin is in
God’s eyes. Our goal must be to refrain from sin.
3) Christ paid such an enormous price to take away our sins that we want
to please Him. We dare not do anything to hurt Him or cause Him
pain; therefore, we do all we can to please Him.
c. No
one who continues to live in sin knows Jesus
1) This does not mean that we have to be perfect to be saved from sin.
2) In Greek it means - if we continue in sin, if we go on sinning and
sinning, practice sin, then we do not really know Christ.
3) A true believer is still short of God’s glory; he still sins. (1Jn.1:8-10)
He is still human flesh; therefore, he cannot keep from sinning—
not all of the time, not perfectly.
4) However, sin is not the dominant focus of his life. He does not keep his
mind on the comforts and pleasures and possessions of this life.
a) His focus is Jesus Christ and His mission of righteousness and
salvation.
b) He gives of himself, all he is and has, to reach people for Christ
and to minister to the desperate needs of the world.
c) He works and labors and then keeps on working and laboring for
righteousness and love upon the earth.
5) But note: the person whose focus is still on the world and its pleasures
and possessions—the person who continues to sin—that person has
not seen Jesus Christ, neither known Him.
a) Once a person sees Jesus Christ, once a person really knows
Christ, that person focuses upon and gives his life to Christ.
b) He turns away from sin and turns and follows Jesus Christ. He
abides in Christ. He lives and moves and has his being in
Christ, in all that Christ taught.
6) John is concerned with practicing sin, continuously engaging in it
d. We can be deceived about the matter of sin and righteousness.
1) Many think that they are saved and acceptable to God because they
have - professed Christ; been baptized; joined the church; attended
church; fellowshipped with Christians; read the Bible & pray.
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2) They think that if they do these things they can live like they want.
3) They think that they can go ahead and enjoy a few of the worlds
pleasures and continue to seek after more and more of the worlds
comforts and possessions.
4) They think that God will still accept them. But note this verse:
“Little children, let no man deceive
you: he that doeth
righteousness
is righteous, even as he is righteous”
(1 John 3:7).
5) The only person who is acceptable to God is the person who lives
righteously, who follows after the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
The demand of Jesus Christ is clear.
“And he said to them all, If any man will
come after me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross
daily, and follow me”
(Luke 9:23).
e. He
who does what is sinful is of the devil
1) Sin is of the devil, he has sinned from the beginning – Jn.8:44
2) Those who practice sin are his children, they do the desires of their
father – demonstrating his dominate influence in their lives.
3) Satan was the 1st to rebel against God & so is the father of sin. All who
make sin a practice in their lives are following in his footsteps.
Morally & spiritually they are his offspring.
4) Our sin separates us from God & causes us to die & brings God’s
judgment upon us. Eph.2:1-3
f. Jesus appeared to destroy Satan’s work & one born of God will not continue
to live in sin.
1) Satan’s power & influence have been destroyed
a) Heb.2:14-18
b) Rom.8:32,33
c) Men no longer have to fear death or Satan. Satan can no longer
keep us separated from God.
d) Satan no longer has the power to keep us enslaved in sin. Now
the Holy Spirit indwells us & we have become a temple of
God – a holy people – 1
Cor.6:19,20; 1 John 4:4
2) Why is this true – His seed remains in him
a) This clearly involves the word of God – James 1:18;
1 Pet.1:22,23
b) As long as one allows the word of God to influence his life he
will not continuously practice sin. Instead he will strive to
practice righteousness.
c) God’s divine nature has been planted within us & we cannot go
on sinning. – 2 Pet.1:3,4
d) He will continue to pester & provoke us & convict us through
His word & His Spirit that we cannot stand to live in sin.
(1) However if we continually resist Him we will be lost
(2) 2 Pet.1:8-11; Heb.6:1-8;
10:26-31
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3) Barclay in his commentary says - “John is not setting before us here a
terrifying perfectionism, in which he is
demanding a life which is totally and
absolutely without sin; but he is demanding
a life which is ever on the watch
against sin, a life which ever fights the
battle of goodness, a life which has never
surrendered to sin, a life in which sin is
not the permanent state, but only the
temporary aberration, a life in which sin
is not the normal accepted way, but the
abnormal moment of defeat. John is not
saying that the man who abides in God
cannot sin; but he is saying that the man
who abides in God cannot continue to
be a consistent and deliberate sinner” (The
Letters of John and Jude, p.96f).
4) In Jesus the idea is that sin is to be gone forever.
(a) Christians must try to make that true, and, with the help of
Christ, they must struggle to avoid individual acts of sin,
occasional lapses into that which is wrong, temporary
departures from goodness.
(b) In point of fact all men do have these lapses, and, when they
have them, they must humbly confess them to God, who
will always forgive the penitent and the contrite heart.
(c) But, in spite of that, no Christian can possibly be a deliberate
and a consistent sinner; no Christian can make sin the
policy of his life; no Christian can live a life in which sin is
dominant and decisive in all his actions. He may have
lapses, but he cannot live in sin as the very atmosphere of
his life.”
5) 1 Jn.1:6-10; 2:1,2; Heb.12:14; 1 Pet.1:16; 2 Pet.3:11