"The Confession Test" 1 John 1:9-2:2

all right guys here we are kickoff kickoff time uh thrilled you're here we got a great study in store um let me just say a couple things of of housekeeping on the front end um i'm gonna be out of town the next two weeks so we will be back in three weeks i think it's like the 30th something like that whatever that thursday is so kent wants you to still come and buy coffee uh next thursday okay so uh so that's that's number one number two just kind of a word for everybody watching on live stream uh you can watch these on multiple different avenues but we have a a special podcast that's just set up it's called the bible study and it's an easy access to all of the roman studies and all these first john studies and so just as you're you're watching on on live stream just know that you can access it and there's no cost or anything we just want to get the word of god to you however we can so uh thank you for joining us wherever you are watching from whence you are watching and i want to begin in a word of prayer okay kent a little prayer okay father in heaven thank you for your grace and your goodness that you have lavished upon us in the lord jesus christ thank you that you have not dealt with us according to our transgressions but have dealt with us according to your abundant mercy we are so grateful that you've clothed us with the perfect righteousness of christ that you've washed away our sins that you have given us new status and standing in your family that you have adopted us and made us your own you are committed to meeting all of our needs according to your riches in christ jesus thank you for giving us brothers and sisters in christ with whom we can have fellowship and serve together so we ask now that you would use this study to further uh renew our minds and to further sanctify our hearts and so we ask now that you would visit this study with the fullness of your presence be our teacher in christ's name amen amen okay men first john first john chapter one and today we're going to start with the verse that we looked at last time together verse 9 and then we're going to work our way into chapter 2 and verse 2. the title of this lesson is the confession test the confession test and i think you'll quickly see why we are calling it this beginning in 1st john chapter 1 verse 9. 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 we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us my little children i'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin and if anyone sins we have an advocate with the father jesus christ the righteous and he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for those of the whole world in these verses we have come to the second mark of a true believer and we need to distinguish between someone who merely professes christ with someone who actually possesses christ we have to distinguish between someone who is simply in church with someone who is actually in christ and what first john is all about is making this distinction of separating the wheat from the tares separating the the one who is religious but lost from the one who is truly regenerated that's what the book of first john is all about it is how to know who is truly converted and how to have the assurance of your salvation that's what first john is about and we've already looked at the first mark that we could call the christ test which is that we believe in the true christ not a false christ not a christ of false religion or the cults okay great um the christ who is truly god and truly man and that is christ and there are plenty of counterfeit christ on the market and there are plenty of counterfeit christ that are being preached from pulpits even in this town in this state in this country and around the world those would be a false believer now we come to the second mark of a true christian and it is the confession test it is that a true believer will confess his sin a true believer is convicted a true believer is grieved over his sin a true believer will come before the throne of grace and say god forgive me for i have sinned against you and a true believer will turn away from that sin repentance and that's what john is addressing here so as we look at this section in verse 5 we saw god is light that is the holiness of god the sinlessness of god and to be close to this god it will expose your sin because he is light and so i want you to see again verse 6 verse 8 and verse 10 all begin with the same words if we say and that is someone who merely says they are a christian but the end of each of those verses disprove that because there's no evidence in their life between the root and the fruit if you say that you're a christian there will be the fruit of a changed and transformed life in which you will be being made into the image of jesus christ to put it another way there is an inseparable connection between regeneration and sanctification regeneration is the new birth sanctification is a lifelong process by which you are being shaped and molded to become like jesus christ and so there is this inseparable connection between regeneration and sanctification everyone who is born again will be becoming like jesus christ progressively over the entirety of your christian life to put it one more way there is an inseparable connection between the narrow gate and the narrow path an inseparable connection between the broad gate and the broad path and if you've gone through the narrow gate you can only walk one path and that is the narrow path so john is is saying the very same thing that jesus taught that paul taught in in many other passages of scripture that if you say you're a christian but you still walk in darkness and you do not confess your sin john is just very straightforward he says you're a liar the truth is not in you your testimony is a counterfeit testimony on the other hand if verse 6 8 and 10 is if you say verse 7 and 9 is if you do if you do walk in the light if you do confess your sin that is the evidence that you have actually come through the narrow gate that is the evidence that you actually have been born of god that's the point that's the big picture so there is this back and forth kind of like a tennis match going on in these verses verse 6 if you say verse 7 if we walk verse 8 if we say verse 9 if we confess verse 10 if we say and it continues into chapter two uh verse three for example of chapter two if we know but and and keep his commandments verse four if we merely say verse five if we keep his word verse 6 oh if we only say and it comes down to verse 9 the one who says so there is this back and forth going on in in first john and really i hear jesus saying in matthew 7 verse 21 not everyone who says to me lord lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven so the the ultimate assurance of salvation do you see god at work in your life do you see grace at work in your life changing and transforming you because many people walk in aisle raise a hand pray a prayer join a church are baptized join the choir teach a class but their life has never changed they're just still the same person they always were and john is saying to that person and really mercifully you need the right diagnosis of your life where you are you need to understand that you've never really been born again because if you've been born again there would be a new life in christ inside of you so i think this is very clear so i want to step in now to verse 9 having uh set this all up and i've got some headings for us here that i that i want us to to use as as really markers along the way and verse 9 is the declaration of sin all true believers will declare their sin before god not only at the point of entrance into the kingdom but throughout the rest of their christian life they will be lifelong confessors of sin they will be lifelong repenters of sin it's not that they will never sin again no they will still sin chapter 2 verse 1 tells us that it's just that when they do sin they now feel convicted about it and they now want to make things right with the lord and they acknowledge it to god that's what verse 9 is saying so let's look at it and we looked at the first part last week and we took time i'm not going to do that again but he begins by saying if we confess our sins the we refers to all true believers though they are the ones who confess their sin because they are the ones who are honest before god to confess your sin means to agree with god about your sin it means to say the same about your sin with god god says you have sinned and you agree with god because the holy spirit has convicted you now here's the good part here's why we should be quick to forgive quick to confess our sin he says he himself referring to god the father is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins that's why we should be so quick to confess our sin because he is first of all faithful that means he will do what he has said he will do and what has god said he will do he has said that he will cleanse us from all of our sin and he is also righteous which means he's just he is equitable and he has laid our sins upon the lord jesus christ and christ has suffered for our sins and paid the penalty for our sins god will not require a double payment from us that would be unjust and unequitable christ has already paid for our sins at the cross and so god is righteous to forgive us our sins because they've already been paid for in full at the cross of christ this is great news this should liberate us to come before the throne of grace and say father i i have sinned again i've been short with my wife i have been unkind to someone at work i have allowed worldliness to to creep into my heart there should be no hesitancy on our part to to bring this before god because he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins now the word forgive literally means to send away that he will just send our sins away it means to hurl something away to give just to discharge of it and god when we confess our sins god just sends our sins away and and they no longer will no longer will we feel a sense of guilt and if we do feel a sense of guilt it's not from god it's from the devil who's a gravedigger and who likes to keep bringing up past sin and to haunt us after we have confessed it but that's not coming from god because god has already sent our sins away and this too is good news because every man in this room has a lot of sin and i have a lot of sin and i have a lot of sin that needs to be sent away i have a lot of sin that needs to be confessed and and and this is saying that when i confess my sin god dismisses it then it's gone he says and also to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and the need for cleansing means that our sin does cause us to feel dirty and and and that's reality guilt is real we should feel unclean when we have sinned and when we confess it god purges us god scrubs us down god washes our sin and away and cleanses us from all unrighteousness see the word all there is no sin but that god is yet greater in his forgiveness to forgive and you may may be thinking well you don't know the sin that i've committed i i don't see how god could forgive me well you don't know how great is the grace of the lord jesus christ your sin is a drop in the bucket his forgiveness is oceans and oceans of mercy and grace and forgiveness where sin does abound grace does much more abound there is no sin that anyone will ever commit no matter how how heinous it may be but that the blood of the lord jesus christ is yet greater to wash away that sin that that is the good news of salvation and sanctification that is in christ let me give you one cross-reference isaiah 1 verse 18. i love this verse come now and let us reason together says the lord it's like the lord is inviting us to come sit down with him and to have counsel with him he says the lord says though your sins are as scarlet they will be white as snow though they are red like crimson they will be like wool that is such great news because every one of us have been big sinners and we have an even bigger savior the lord jesus christ so that's the declaration of sin and true believers confess their sin to god as soon as they are made aware of that sin on an ongoing basis so let me ask you do you confess your sin to god are you convicted by your sin when you have transgressed and disobeyed the law of god do you are you quick to take this matter before the lord do you realize that all sin is against god and it is before god you must go and you have a mediator the lord jesus christ who provides the forgiveness for every sin that you will ever confess you may be slow to confess but he is always quick to forgive the declaration of sin now notice verse 10 i want you to see the denying of sin this is the total opposite the denying of sin this is this begins if we say and this is the person now who's just playing church this is the one who's just religious but not regenerated this is the one who has a form of godliness but denies the lord and so he says if we say that we have not sinned are you kidding me what what what what galaxy are you living in if if you claim you have not sinned it's obvious you don't know the one who is the light because the light reveals sin the light shines into the darkness and exposes the deeds of darkness and it's obvious you're not walking in the light as verse 7 says because if you were walking in the light it would be very self-apparent that there is sin in your life so it's obvious you don't know the lord and you're just in total denial that you've done anything wrong if we say we have not sinned and maybe you just kind of re-categorize it is well you know that's just my personality you know that's just my dna you know or that's just my national background and we're known for having a temper you know or whatever it is or you know that was just a mistake we say we have not sinned sin is to to is it is any violation of the holiness of god if we say we have not sinned now notice what he says we make him referring to god a liar well that's not good now why would we make god a liar because god says you have sinned and the holy spirit has convicted you you have sinned and the word of god which is the plum line the standard by which we are all measured says that you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god now this is even worse in verse 6 you'll notice in verse 6 it says if if we say we have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness we lie okay meaning my confession of faith in christ is a lie well this escalates to verse 10. now it's not that i lie now i'm saying god lies so this just ratcheted this up to a far more serious crime of cosmic treason against almighty god and now we are saying that god is not a truth teller that that god has forged a lie to say that i have sinned i mean you're just in an alternate universe to be at this point but an unconverted person is blind and cannot see an unconverted person is deaf and cannot hear dead men feel nothing and notice how it ends in verse 10 and his word is not in us that's clear-cut slam dunk and unbeliever if his word is not in you his gospel is not in you his saving message is not in you and so this gives clear evidence of of an unbeliever that you have never by faith believed the word of god and received it into your life so the stark contrast between verse 9 and verse 10 could not be any more apparent now you and i know people just like this in verse 10. these are people that when we talk to them there there's they don't nod their head in agreement back with us when we talk about sin i mean they they it's like we're talking in english they're listening in russian i mean there's just no connection that's going on because they are oblivious to their spiritual state of being spiritually dead and being in transgression before god no one in the history of the world has ever been saved without being convicted of their sin it is absolutely essential and that is why in john 16 verse verse 8 jesus says i have sent the holy spirit who has come into the world who will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment this is the office work of the holy spirit to bring conviction of sin and you can resist that conviction of sin to the point your conscience becomes seared as with a hot iron it's just like if i took a hot iron and pressed it down on my hand and left it there long enough it would be numb there would be no feeling in it whatsoever and that is the point at which a person can come now let's continue we're in chapter 2 now in verse 1. but it's the same flow of thought just remember this when the bible was written there were no chapters and there were no verses it was just like one long there weren't even paragraphs it was just like one long scroll and so this is an unfortunate chapter division and so it just continues the same thought so i want you to note third the deterrent the deterrent to sin that's in the first part of verse one because john now acknowledges that a christian can sin and a christian will sin and so he doesn't want someone to think now wow i still sin maybe i'm not a christian no that's not the point the point for a christian is you no longer live in sin you no longer swim in sin you no longer take pleasure in sin though you do still trip and fall into sin but when you trip and fall into sin you can't enjoy that sin you feel convicted about it you confess it to god you get up and you get back in walking in the light but let me read the first part of a verse one he says my little children so he's addressing believers paul of excuse me john is in his 90s everyone is a little child to john okay little children he's referring to brothers and sisters in christ who are in the family of god who have been born again no longer children of the devil now children of god have been adopted by god into god's family my little children i'm writing these things to you and he gives us one of the purposes of the gospel of john the first was in chapter one verse four the last will be in chapter 5 verse 13. there are three verses in the book of first john in which he says this is why i'm writing this letter and here it is what follows so that you may not sin christians can still sin it just no longer is to be the habitual practice and moment-by-moment lifestyle that we're on a new path now we're heading a new direction we still sin we just don't sin as much as we used to sin and he says now i'm writing this so that you may not sin so that you will continue to walk down this new path and that you will turn away from sin in your life now this is an important statement because some people say this i've heard it you've heard it well if i became a christian and i knew all my sins are forgiven then i would just sin all i want to well you're just giving evidence you're not a believer that you've never had a new heart because one who is born again has a new heart and new desires and you want to please the lord and you no longer want to sin and so this is important and i'm going to give you a sentence and this this is very a very important sentence forgiveness of sin does not mean freedom to sin forgiveness of sin does not mean freedom to sin in fact forgiveness of sin should be a deterrent to sin so no christian has a license to sin when we sin number one we dishonor god no christian wants to dishonor god number two we lose our joy i mean no christian wants to lose their joy but when sin moves in joy moves out number three we forfeit spiritual power when we have unconfessed sin in our life that just stacks up we forfeit spiritual power in our life to resist temptation number number four when we sin we dull our ministry i mean the sharp edge of our words now have become dulled and we no longer can teach transgressors the way of the lord as psalm 51 says and then finally when we sin we harm our witness whenever we sin it never only affects us it always affects someone else sin is like a stink bomb going off in a room that may be your stink but everyone else is having to smell it and everyone else in your family is having to smell it and all your friends are having to smell it and it it has an effect on other people and and it harms your witness for christ it always hurts others when you sin well this leads us now to the last heading that i want us to see and this again this is the a really good part it is the defense of the savior the defense of the savior so what happens when we as christians do sin that's a good question isn't it john addresses it beginning in the middle of verse 1. and if anyone sins now who's the anyone who's believers any believer it's the little children in verse 1 if anyone sins and again the word sins is to miss the mark of god's perfect holiness and we could really easily translate this and win anyone's sins this isn't hypothetical this is reality if anyone sins we have an advocate with the father now who's the we well the we is the little children in verse 1. the we is those who confess their sins in verse 9 of the previous chapter the we is those who walk in the light as he is in the light in verse 7 of of chapter 1. that's who the we is uh the we is not the world the we is only believers it's a it's a exclusivity of believers only we have please note the verb tense right now present tense have not two thousand years ago now today at the right hand of god the father an advocate with the father jesus christ the righteous now let's just pick this apart a bit the word advocate is a word in the original language that means one who is called alongside to support literally paracletos it was translated in john 14 as the comforter or the helper the helper here it's translated advocate because this is a courtroom scene that is being painted here we have literally a defense attorney at the right hand of god the father jesus christ the righteous and what is implied is there is a prosecuting attorney who is bringing charges against us on a continual and ongoing basis and we know who that prosecuting attorney is it is the devil it is satan whose name means the adversary and in revelation 12 verse 10 the bible refers to satan as the accuser of the brethren that that is what satan is about in your life he is digging up the dirt in your life and appearing before the throne of god in heaven and bringing really damning evidence against every one of us that would condemn us to hell forever we know that job 1 verse 11 we see the devil and you may ask me in the q a so how does the devil get into heaven and how does the devil come before the throne of grace so let me just save that question being asked and the answer is i don't know and nobody knows okay he's we just take the bible for what it says he's there okay and he is bringing condemning charges against us and you remember what the devil said to god and god actually initiated this have you considered my servant joe for there's no one like him he just tosses his name into the ring and the devil says well i'll tell you why he serves you you're too good to him you're so good to him you've bought his worship if you took away all these blessings he will curse you to your face and so god says okay you may do anything to him you just can't touch him so the devil who is the god of this age the prince of this world descends upon the earth and creates whirlwinds and incites hatred in the chaldeans and the different groups and they storm against the house of job's children and seven sons are killed and three daughters are killed and job's business is wiped out in a moment and job sits down and says the lord gives and the lord takes away blessed be the name of the lord well the devil is furious about this so he hot tails it no pun intended hot tails it back before the throne of god and says well again this you're just too good to him you've bought him god says okay you can touch him now and the devil inflicts hideous disease upon him and over time job begins to wilt because of his three friends but the point is there's the devil before the throne of god condemning job before god i'll give you one more verse and that that second one was job 2 5. the next verse is zechariah 3 verse 1. then he showed me joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the lord and satan standing at his right hand to accuse him that pulls back the veil just one more time and allows us to see the devil having access to accuse a believer before god and so what we have here is a courtroom scene so let me lay this out for us number one the prosecutor the prosecuting attorney is satan number two the judge is god the father number three the condemning evidence that is is submitted before the courts of heaven is our sin number four the law of god has been broken number five the wages of sin is death the death sentence comes with sin number six the advocate jesus christ is our divine defense attorney seven his plea before the court is his perfect substitutionary death on our behalf upon the cross and number eight the outcome is a full acquittal number nine he's never lost a case the lord jesus has never lost one of his sheep so why does he say jesus christ the righteous it is that we would know that jesus has a perfect standing in the courts of heaven that he does not stand in our shoes as though he is a sinner he himself needing someone to represent him no jesus is the righteous he is holy he is perfect he is morally perfect he is without sin he is the sinless one and he is the one who is standing at the right hand of god the father and verse two tells us what he is doing it says and he himself in the word he refers to jesus himself as very important meaning he doesn't need anyone else to help him just he himself a committee of one is the propitiation for our sins here is the doctrine of propitiation it's one of the great and glorious doctrines that that is in the bible and the doctrine of propitiation means the word itself just means satisfaction appeasement placation and what this means because god is so holy remember god is light and in him there is no darkness at all and because god is holy god hates all sin and god is violently opposed to all sin and there has never been a sin in the history of the world that would never be punished by holy god there is no sin in your life that will never be punished to the full extent of the law by holy god every sin will either be punished in hell or punished in christ upon the cross but every sin will be punished to the full extent of the law and the wages of sin is what is death and that is why jesus had to die upon the cross even the blood that came out of his pores in the garden of gethsemane gethsemane was not sufficient the blood that was shed when he was circumcised on the eighth day as a little baby was not sufficient jesus had to shed blood unto death upon the cross because the penalty for sin is death eternal death eternal condemnation that is how holy god is one sin eternal death so jesus this says in verse two he himself is the propitiation for our sins what does that mean that means through the sin bearing substitutionary death of jesus christ upon the cross bearing our sins dying in our place shedding his blood he alone has appeased the righteous anger of god toward us he has satisfied the father he has placated his holy vengeance against us there is now therefore romans 8 1 no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus romans 5 verse 1 therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ herein is the heart of the gospel hearing is the heart of good news so what happens now when we sin well we need to confess our sin as we talked about last week for parental forgiveness not judicial forgiveness but when we sin we have a defense attorney who's taken up our case he's at the right hand of god the father closest proximity and he is the propitiation for our sins and he pleads the merit of his shed blood upon the cross with the father and no charge that the devil can bring against us can ever stand up in the courts of heaven it is dismissed every time the devil has never gotten one of his charges to stick and jesus has never lost a case because he is the righteous one now notice the end of verse 2. he says and not for ours only but also for those of the whole world now how are we to understand this well we never interpret the entire bible through the keyhole of one verse it's always the other way around we always look at one verse through the keyhole of the entire bible meaning we bring the whole bible to bear upon this one verse now if this was the only verse in the entire bible if our entire bible was just one verse and this was the only verse that we had i think we could easily assume that jesus died for everyone who ever lived but this is not the only verse in the entire bible we have 66 books in the bible and the entire rest of the bible brings clear testimony that jesus laid down his life for his sheep not for his goats or not for the goats but for his sheep who are true believers who follow him that he purchased the church with his own blood that he lay down his life for his bride the church that he will save his people from their sins and so the entire bible teaches what we call definite atonement that jesus died exclusively for believers only that he did not die for those who are in hell that would be a defeatist death upon the cross the bible never teaches that jesus merely made salvation possible depending upon your response the bible says that jesus actually saved at the cross that he actually reconciled holy god to sinful man he didn't say he made the world possibly potentially reconcilable dependent upon man no it says that he reconciled there was a definite transaction that actually occurred at the cross that all those for whom jesus died he actually redeemed them he actually bought them at the cross and so the entire rest of the bible teaches what we call particular redemption some people refer to it as limited atonement i never use that term because even people who believe in a universal atonement limit the atonement by man's response no this the bible teaches a triumphant death of jesus that he was victorious at the cross that he actually won a decisive victory nothing is hinging upon it and that he laid down his life for the elect at the cross now i know that that's a a lot to swallow and a lot to chew on and a lot to to digest but that's the teaching of scripture and i want you to know the teaching of scripture so the way that we would look at this and not for hours only there's two possibilities one is that ours only refers to the little children in verse 1. those who were alive at the time of john who were believers and who were recipients of this letter and who were readers of this letter and not for hours only we who have believed not those in verse 6 and 8 and 10 of chapter 1 but for little children who are in verse 7 and 9 of chapter 1 and the one that jesus is representing before the throne of god in heaven that would be not for hours only but also for those of the whole world meaning beyond this first century uh gathering of believers who for the first time will be reading this but wherever believers are down through the centuries around the world on whatever continent everyone who calls upon the name of jesus christ there is a propitiation that has been made for you the other possibility is that ours only refers to jewish believers and those of the whole world expands beyond israel to include gentile believers wherever they are around the world and there are great reformed theologians who take either one of those two positions and so you can decide for yourself which it is and i kind of favor the first one myself but it could well be uh the second one and john murray in his book redemption accomplished and applied takes the second one and he's always right so um you know we could easily go with him so this takes us to the end of the verses that we want to look at and i just want to end with this application before we open it up for questions which always lead to the application i just want you to see john wants us to see god wants us to see how quick we should for ask for forgiveness of our sins you have an advocate at the right hand who's already paid the price who's already paid the penalty and he will immediately forgive and the righteous anger of god has been satisfied and so we are in a very good place this should never liberate us to go sin this should actually be breaks that hold us back from sinning because i would never want to displease one who has been so merciful and so gracious and so kind and so forgiving why would i ever want to grieve him with my sin so why don't we stop and have some question and answer and i think probably we've got the football tossed around out there someplace yeah grant do you have it over there okay been tossed over there in the back corner very good bring it bring it dr thank you for this wonderful teaching that you've been covering so deeply about our confession of sin i was wondering if you would speak a little bit on i think rc taught on this and it really stuck in my mind because it made a lot of sense but the statement that christ's death burial and resurrection is sufficient to save the entire world but it's only efficient for some now rc doesn't say that um i i've talked with rc about that very sentence and he and i have had a one-on-one conversation and it started out with he asked me what my interpretation was of that sentence and i said r.c that's just double talk that really has no theological barrier i know there are reformed people who who who have come to that position but but i think that they're just trying to satisfy everyone and take the edge off of definite atonement and rc immediately agreed with me i'm so glad to hear you say that that's the way i see it as well so i that would not be our c's position but thank you for uh just bringing that that that thought for us to consider okay grant lawson um we you know of course sunday uh michael stanton taught us with great sobriety he didn't uh he didn't get all fuzzy about all the animals coming into the ark he said it was a very very serious uh moment that we need to consider because the the all the people that were alive at that time save uh uh yeah i saved the the the the voyagers on the ark were only evil continually every thought of their heart was only evil continually but they had fellowship with god he he spoke with them i mean they were among people who had spoken with god directly well that's not fellowship fellowship is a common agreement with that they can talk to god but they have no basis to have an audience with god because you can only come to god to have fellowship through faith in his son the lord jesus christ so those uh in genesis 6 did not have fellowship with god that that would be a misnomer a to have fellowship with god means you have a relationship a saving relationship with god just because you talk to someone doesn't mean that you have fellowship with them i mean i talked to the guy at the toll booth you know to get a ticket i don't have a relationship with him don't even know his name so there needs to be a clarification on that yeah thank you for letting me clarify that yeah so i just had a question um just in conversations with fellow believers i've had some conversations with peers of mine and i feel like they get into this mindset of kind of this idea of pushing away from dwelling on their sin to the point where they have this idea of you know since we are saved now we can go our lives without sinning and i feel like you know and to a certain extent they're obviously not married yeah there's a fourth member of the trinity that would be your wife that that's not going to pass the sniff test okay yeah and so that that's been my biggest concern with that right is the idea are we actively uh pursuing sanctification and holiness and pursuing the lord in that yeah i would come on to question the salvation as someone who would make such a an insane statement like that okay so you would consider it an insane statement then insane yes yeah i really a non-biblical statement a a a wrong doctrine statement a false teaching statement uh number one sinless perfectionism that that's that that's just flat wrong and and then to say i'm not to be concerned with my sin or to focus on my sin that's the devil's talk that's not god's talk so they need to be under better teaching of of the word of god and i i mean i'm just kind of raising my voice because i i hate that teaching because it it so demeans the truth of god and there are many innocent people who you know go to church and they hear that and it's like oh wow i feel a whole lot better i don't have to think about my sin anymore tell me more you know and so that that's just i don't want to say heretical because heretical really is pointed at the person and work of christ and the means of salvation i i'll just say the best thing that we can say is that you have you have a false doctrine of sanctification and there's a lot you know there's this uh young restless and reformed movement that's been going on the last 20 years and there's a book uh by colin hansen young restless and reformed and there's almost a whole chapter in there on me and and he's just documenting the this whole movement coming back to the doctrine of election coming back to the doctrines the five points of calvinism and that's a glorious thing that there has been this return movement but what has been left behind is the doctrine of sanctification and the inseparable connection of what we're talking about here between regeneration and sanctification so it's it's a defunct view of the christian life that doesn't hold water and actually harms people's christian lives so i'm not reacting against you yeah of hearing such shallow yeah teaching yeah i think what was what's difficult for me to navigate that is and i look in some ways and perhaps this is more of a reflection that i should find conviction in but seeing areas where i do see fruit where they are pursuing the lord pursuing scripture prayers you know being obedient and you know pushing away from sin in certain areas so perhaps it's just um a faulty way of their communicating with the action and i'm glad you said that it could be that they're just parenting their pastor they're just parroting a book they've read yeah they're just parenting a tweet that you know that they've read so it to put it in best case scenario that that's what it is and they don't really understand exactly what they're saying words have been put into their mouth they've been fed their lines we would say yeah sorry one last very last thing uh yeah with that i guess would you say and i think this is something that should be maybe more of an encouragement of us as christians encouraging each other in is that confession should bring joy and so realizing sin should be something that we should be celebrating in the sense that we can confess that to the lord and surrender and worship him in his forgiveness for those sins absolutely and so i think if we do have a culture of dwelling in our sins and mulling in it and i think you kind of touched on this last week of just this idea of going back and confessing the same sins every week to the same groups of guys that that's not really that's not really obedience that's not really sanctification yeah no i totally agree and to make your point uh the first two verses of psalm 32 david rejoices in the forgiveness that god has given him and he committed adultery he committed murder i mean those are two pretty big sins um and he rejoiced that god would forgive him of such devastating facts so thank you ken did you have something i saw we have we have questions steve i'll just ask one it is okay good i i just i just can't hear you oh mine's not on oh oh you're putting it up to me anyway okay that's what they told me so christopher from india is watching and he has a question how are you doing um how do we know if it is god who is convicting us or if it is satan who is tempting us with false condemnation well how do we know the difference well first of all when god brings conviction of sin it's very specific i mean he puts his finger on that one live nerve and it's not just a general guilt usually when the devil is accusing us that there is that there's kind of a ambiguity about it though the devil could um could bring uh accusation at a particular point well here's the deal if you have convict if you have confessed it to god be it any time past that that's not coming from god god has already forgiven you and cleansed you and the devil is a great digger and if it keeps coming back up that's not from god so christopher thank you for watching from india wow that's just wonderful to know you're there and thank you for for texting us yeah anything else ken well we have um and we have we have several questions but it's 801. you want one more yeah give me one more and then and then we'll um see if i can find this here [Music] go back to the locker room here's someone from germany they say uh germany yeah they said uh martin luther you know our unmarried our unm are unmarried couples living together without getting married believing that they are born again truly believers though the pastor who knows their situation told them they're saved and they're married and they are a married couple in the eyes of god well they should be put out of the church with church discipline number one and be considered as a gentile gentile and tax collector which means they're to be considered as unbelievers you can't be a member of this church and be living together with someone out of out of marital wedlock and and so the pastor should have considered them to be unbelievers and to witness the gospel to them and and to actually put them out of their church in order to to kind of shock them and awaken them to the nature of their sin and if they continue like this then i think they would find themselves being outside of christ you know how long of a period of time the bible doesn't tell us but if they can just live together shack up together and they feel no conviction of sin and feel no need to confess that sin i mean we just let john speak to that you lie and you make god a liar because it is sin so i mean it's not what i think it's it's what it's what god says okay well thank you ken for that uh well men we will be here in three weeks so the next two weeks we're not going to be here so it's killing me but uh i've i've got to be out of town so um i look forward though picking this back up and let me let me tell you it it just keeps picking up as we go through first john so there's no let down on this we're ramping up so blessings to you i'll be preaching this sunday at trinity bible of dallas across the street genesis chapter 7 and so i'll look forward to seeing many of you there if you need a place to worship please come early because the lord is really bringing quite a number of people to be a part of this body so let me pray father thank you for the forgiveness of our sins thank you for cleansing us and washing us through the blood of your son jesus christ thank you for an advocate at your right hand who pleads the merit of his own death on our behalf thank you for your grace and mercy we so need grace and mercy in jesus name amen all right men thank you blessings to you [Music] you

Channel: OnePassionMinistries

Views: 2,909

Rating: 4.9272728 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 2hvpgzumzdY

Length: 65min 11sec (3911 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 09 2021