Why We Don't HAVE To Sin (Part 3)

God is light, and in Him there is no darkness.  No.  No darkness.  At all.

Many think we have to keep sinning, or that we're going to keep sinning, because of these verses:

• If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
• If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. 1Jn:1:8,10

But follow John's inspired words from the beginning of the chapter up to these verses, and connect these words to the Gospel of John Chapter 3.  Do this with me.

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.  We write this to make our joy complete. 1 John 1:3-4

These verses give a good summary of verses 1-2, and tell the purpose of the letter:  That those who read will share in the very real fellowship with the very real and physical Jesus that John himself had seen with his eyes, touched with his hands, and heard with his ears.  And in this enjoyed fellowship, their would be complete joy.  Now for John's argument.

1. God is light and in Him there is no darkness.  (Verse 5)
2. Therefore light and darkness have no fellowship or relationship whatsoever.  Now remember, John is writing so that the reader may join in his very real fellowship with Christ.
3.  Verses 6-10 are variations on the same truth, speaking about the same kind of person: Someone who claims to have the fellowship with the God who is light, while at the same time living in the darkness of sin.  And what is the darkness of sin?  This is where context comes in.  Go to the Gospel of John chapter 3 with me:

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. 
John 3:19-21

Who is the Light that has come into the world?  None other than Jesus Christ.  But Jesus, the light of the world, was rejected by those who love to do evil things, things they do not want to be exposed.  Yet there were those in John's day that claimed to have fellowship with God, even deep knowledge from God, yet rejected Jesus Christ, The Light of the World. They walked in darkness, in rejection of Jesus Christ, yet claimed intimate fellowship with God.

These are the ones John is referring to in First John Chapter 1.  He is not describing an inability to live without sin, or to even say that you have no sin at any point in your Christian life.  How do I know?

First, the issue is fellowship from the beginning of the letter, and the conditions of fellowship:  Walking in the light, having confessed all sin, letting all sin be exposed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus.  Once sin is confessed, and Jesus is accepted as the Light, then the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.  All sin.  What does that mean?

The moment I confess my sins, and the moment they are forgiven, if someone came to me and asked, "Do you have any sin in your life at all?"  I could boldly say, according to the scripture, "I have no sin."  But wouldn't that be a contradiction to what John said? If I haven't confessed my sin, of course it would.  But after my sins are forgiven, I have no sin.  At the moment after the confession,  I could even say, "I have not sinned," at least as of that moment.   At the moment of confession and faith in Christ, we are indeed sinless.  God has been faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.  So John can't mean that a believer can never say in his or her life, "I have no sin." 

Then John goes on to say these verses, after showing us the way of fellowship with the God who is light:

• My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.  1 John 2:1-2
• No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 1 John 3:6
• No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 1 John 3:9

Now we get into the whole "habitual sin" versus "occasional sin" thing that some of us do.  Make it real.  I'm married.  What is the difference between habitual adultery and occasional adultery to my wife?  Really.  How many times a year do I have to have sex with a woman that is not my wife before it is "habitual?"  Does my wife Lucy find "occasional adultery" acceptable?  No.  Now put the word "adultery" in place of the word "sin" in the verses above and we'll see what they have to mean:

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not commit adultery. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.  1 John 2:1-2

No one who lives in him keeps on committing adultery. No one who continues to commit adultery has either seen him or known him. 1 John 3:6

No one who is born of God will continue to commit adultery, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on committing adultery, because they have been born of God. 1 John 3:9

Or substitute any other "big sin" for the word "sin," and see how it works. Like murder.  Or rape. In other words, sins that clearly need to STOP.  An occasional murder is unacceptable.  A rapist may not be a "habitual rapist," but does that really matter? 

Sin leads to death. 

How many forbidden fruit did Adam and Eve have to eat to plunge all of humanity into death?  How many bites did they have to take before their eyes were opened to sin? They ate a piece of fruit.  They didn't do any of "the big sins."  Their one act of direct disobedience to God caused them, and us, to die.  They didn't occasionally or habitually eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  They ate from it one time, and that was enough. 

We need to stop taking sin so lightly, because it destroys our relationship to God and each other.  Jesus died and bled to forgive us and free us.  And we are free indeed.  We are free from the penalty and power of sinning.

How do I know?
God says so.

If God believed Cain could master the sin that desired him, surely He believes the same about us, especially after giving us His Son and His Spirit to live inside of us.  Cain had neither a new nature, nor the Spirit of God in him. Yet God said that Cain MUST master the sin that desired him.  So must we people of God.  By the Spirit of Christ in us, so must we.