So That You May Not Sin 1 John 2:1-6

Adapted from a Steve Shepherd sermonhttp://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/so-that-you-will-not-

sin-steve-shepherd-sermon-on-sin-general-144695.asp

1 John 2:1 NET (My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.) But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the

righteous One, 2 and he himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world. 3

Now by this we know that we have come to know God: if we keep his commandments.

4 The one who says "I have come to know God" and yet does not keep his

commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person. 5 But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that

we are in him. 6 The one who says he resides in God ought himself to walk just as

Jesus walked.

A 77-year-old granny made a citizen’s arrest in Germany when she rugby-tackled

a 25-year-old jay walker.The old granny sat on him until police

arrived - because he had walked across a road before the light was green.

The woman shouted at the man as he crossed the road before the little green man

flashed up.

The old lady said she became even angrier when he hit her with his rucksack as he

pushed past her when he reached the other side of the road.

She grabbed his hair and managed to wrestle him to the ground where she sat on him until police, who had been called by a passer-by, came. He was taken to a local police station where he was fined for jay

walking.

There are worse things than jay walking but not more embarrassing than having a 77

year old granny tackle you!

1(My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.) A life

without sin. How does that sound? Would you like to live without any sin at all? Is it

really possible?

A preacher proclaimed in a sermon that there were 726 different sins listed in the

Bible. The next week he was overcome with letters from people requesting a list of those

sins.

Maybe they were afraid they were doing things they didn’t know were sins. Or could it be they thought they were missing out on

something?

I think some people don’t want to live a life without sin. They may think in the first place

that it’s impossible. In the second place, they may want some sin in their lives.

HOW COULD THIS BE?

Or why would anyone?

The Holy Spirit inspired Solomon to write about what the LORD hates.

Proverbs 6:16 NET There are six things that the LORD hates, even seven things that are an abomination to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that are swift to run to evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies, and a person

who spreads discord among family members.

The line that always hits me is; “feet that are swift to run to evil.” Some people are

anxious to run into sin!Paul instructs Timothy to be ready for

people who will not tolerate sound teaching. These people want to follow… their own

desires.2 Timothy 4:2 NET Preach the message, be

ready whether it is convenient or not, reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete

patience and instruction.

3 For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves,

because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things. 4 And they will turn away

from hearing the truth, but on the other hand they will turn aside to myths.

Paul gave a brief description of who these people are in his first letter to Timothy.

1 Timothy 1:8 NET But we know that the law is good if someone uses it legitimately,

9 realizing that law is not intended for a righteous person, but for lawless and rebellious people, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for

those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 sexually immoral people,

practicing homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, perjurers — in fact, for any who live

contrary to sound teaching.

Moses is a prime example of one who did not want sin in his life.

Hebrews 11:24 NET By faith, when he grew up, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25 choosing rather to be ill-treated with the people of God than to

enjoy sin's fleeting pleasure.

Admittedly, some sins are or can be quite pleasurable. Of course, this is why some

people say, "If it feels so good, how could it be so wrong?" We know the answer to that question. It’s wrong because God says it’s wrong. But some sins are pleasurable to

people and this is one reason why they are not quick to give them up.

A Sunday School teacher asked a little girl: “What are the sins of omission?” After some

thought, she answered: “They’re the sins we ought to have committed, but haven’t.”

Given enough time on planet earth we will commit plenty of sins. We talk about

counting our blessings and we should, but have we ever tried to count our sins?

OH NO! We don’t want to do that. We don’t want to

be faced with our sin, but sin haunts us nevertheless.

That deed done. That word said. That look. That lust. That greed.

That anger. That pride.A man, reading about an "eat-all-you-want"

diet, said to friend: "I knew there’d be a catch to it. You have to run seven hundred

miles a day!"

That’s the way it is with sin. THERE’S ALWAYS A ’CATCH’ TO IT. That

"catch" can be disastrous. It can wreak havoc in our daily lives and it carries eternal

consequences!

WHAT MUST WE DO?

We must do everything we can with God’s help to overcome sin!

John tells us what we can do to overcome sin.

1- We must accept God’s sacrifice for our sins

2- We must obey His commands

3- We must walk as Jesus walked

WE MUST ACCEPT GOD’S SACRIFICE FOR OUR SINS

1 (My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.) But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One, 2 and he himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also

for the whole world.Sin must be paid for.

There is always a price for sinning.

LEXINGTON, Neb. (AP) - Authorities say a 53-year-old Nebraska man whose son had

been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving was arrested on the same charge

after bailing out his son.The Nebraska State Patrol said Thursday

that 19-year-old Trevor Brown of Gothenburg was arrested around 2 a.m.

Saturday and taken to the county jail. Brown called his dad to come bail him out.

The patrol says when Anthony Brown arrived at the jail a trooper noticed that the

elder Brown seemed drunk and warned him not to drive. The patrol says a trooper then saw the Browns get into a pickup, the elder Brown behind the wheel. The trooper then

arrested Anthony Brown and took him to the jail.

It’s nice when your father bails you out of jail, but it’s not nice when your father is

guilty of the same sin.

However, we have a Father who has bailed us out of sin and it’s a done deal because of

who our Father is and what He is!

Holy, pure, undefiled, etc.

There is no darkness of sin in our Heavenly Father! And He has made a way out of sin

for us all.

What is that way? John 14:6 NET Jesus replied, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to

the Father except through me.

Ezekiel 18:20 NET The person who sins is the one who will die. A son will not suffer for

his father's iniquity, and a father will not suffer for his son's iniquity; the righteous

person will be judged according to his righteousness, and the wicked person

according to his wickedness.Sin must be paid for and

Christ did that for us!

2 Corinthians 5:21 NET God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so

that in him we would become the righteousness of God.

1 Peter 2:24 NET He himself bore our

sins (Isaiah 53:4; 12) in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning and live for righteousness. By his wounds you were

healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

If you ever find yourself having to go to court you better have a good lawyer to

represent you. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN THERE? Christ is our lawyer, our go-between, our mediator whenever we sin. He speaks to the Father

on our behalf.

What does He say? I don’t know for sure, but perhaps something like this: "Father, I

paid for their sin on the cross.

Please don’t hold it against them." And God won’t hold it against us but it’s not because

of us, IT’S BECAUSE OF JESUS.

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and for the whole world. Of course, the whole

world doesn’t accept Jesus as the sacrifice for their sins. God wants them to do that.

And we need to plead with them to do that, but that doesn’t mean they will.

Thank God the price has been paid! Thank God He sent Jesus to save us! And thank God Jesus is still our lawyer, speaking on

our behalf whenever we sin!

Romans 4:7 NET "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and

whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the one against whom the Lord will never

count sin." (Psalms 32:1-2)

WE MUST OBEY HIS COMMANDS

3 Now by this we know that we have come to know God: if we keep his

commandments. 4 The one who says "I have come to know God" and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the

truth is not in such a person. 5 But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love

of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.

An armed robber called his mother on his mobile phone when he found himself

cornered by police during a raid. The man, 26, was trying to rob an electronics shop in

Sao Paulo, Brazil, when police arrived.He then threatened the hostages and said that he would not do anything until he had

spoken to his mother.The robber, who had four accomplices,

called his mother and, after speaking to her, agreed to release the hostages.

A police spokesman said: "I never saw anything like this before, he was the classic

case of a mama’s boy until the end. He followed everything she advised and all

went well."

I’m not sure about being a "mama’s boy," but I do believe we should be our "daddy’s

child." By this, I mean we should be our Father’s child and do whatever He says.

WE MUST OBEY OUR HEAVENLY FATHER!

His will is best. He is always right. And when we do His will, instead of getting into trouble, we will be blessed! I’d much rather be blessed by God than blistered by Him.

Wouldn’t you?

John 14:23 NET Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to

him and take up residence with him. 24 The person who does not love me does not

obey my words. And the word you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me.

Luke 11:28 NET But he replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God

and obey it!”James 1:25 NET But the one who peers

into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a

forgetful listener but one who lives it out — he will be blessed in what he does.

1 John 2:3 Now by this we know that we have come to know God: if we keep his

commandments.

What about this obedience business?

Thomas à Kempis wrote: Instant obedience is the only kind of

obedience there is; delayed obedience is disobedience. Whoever strives to withdraw

from obedience, withdraws from Grace.

Where does this put most of us? GUILTY!

I think maybe John is using the same technique as the old preacher used when

instructing the young preachers.

He said, “you tells-em what ya gonna tells-em, then you tells-em, then you tells-em

what you just telleds-em.”

You recall some verses we took special notice of in chapter one?

1:8 If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make

him a liar and his word is not in us.

We must admit we’ve sinned & understand we bear the guilt of sin. But if we confess

our sins Jesus can & will remove that guilt.

And now, just 4 verses later, he teaches the same concept a 3rd time when he writes we

must be actively keeping his commandments by obeying his word.

2:4 The one who says "I have come to know God" and yet does not keep his

commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person. 5 But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that

we are in him.

Do we know that we are in him? Are we obeying his word?

Roger Staubach who led the Dallas Cowboys to win Super Bowls VI and XII

admitted that his position as a quarterback who didn’t call his own signals was a source of trial for him. Coach Landry sent in every play. He told Roger when to pass, when to run and only in emergency situations could

he change the play (and he had better be right!).

Even though Roger considered coach Landry to have a "genius mind" when it

came to football strategy, pride said that he should be able to run his own team.

Roger later said, "I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there

was harmony, fulfillment, and victory.“

What does this say about us in relationship to our Father?

There is nothing else to be said.

We must obey Him if we want to overcome sin in our lives.

WE MUST WALK AS JESUS WALKED

6 The one who says he resides in God ought himself to walk just as Jesus walked.A man went to the store with his 3-year-old daughter in tow. Since he was just there to grab some essentials like milk and bread,

he opted to save some time by not pushing a cart around the store.

"That’s not the way Mommy does it," his daughter informed him. "I know, dear, but

Daddy’s way is OK, too," he replied.Leaving the store in the rain and without a cart, he carried the bag of groceries, his daughter, and the milk quickly to the car. Not wanting to set anything down on the

wet ground, he set the jug of milk on top of the car, efficiently whisked open the car door with his now free hand, scooted the groceries in and set his daughter into the

car seat in one swift motion.

Then he hopped in himself."That’s not the way Mommy does it," his daughter informed him again. "Honey,

there’s more than one way to do things," he replied patiently. "Daddy’s way is OK, too.“

As they pulled out and headed down the street, he became aware of the scraping sound on the roof as the jug of milk slid

down the length of the rooftop, bounced off the trunk of the car and splattered to the ground, sending a froth of white milk in

every direction.In the millisecond he took to process his

mistake, his young daughter looked at him, and in a most serious voice said, "That’s

NOT the way Mommy does it."

Cute. The way mommy does some things is very good. But the important thing,

however, is for us all to remember is to do things "daddy’s" way. That is, our heavenly

Father’s way!Or we could say, we must do things as

Jesus did. That will always keep us out of trouble and in God’s good graces.

Luke 6:46 NET "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and don't do what I tell you?

What a powerful scripture! Or Jesus could have said, "Why do you call me ’Lord’ and

not do as I do?"

When you talk to Gayla’s sister Carolyn on the phone she sounds very much like Gayla & vice-versa. For years the two have been

confused for one another. When they worked at the same place someone would

start a conversation with one of them & would not realize they were talking to the

wrong sister.

How can this be? I guess because they lived with each other for such a long time.

Gayla always looked to her older sister Carolyn as she learned to talk & walk. SHE LIVED WITH HER and must have watched

her very closely!

Could this be what we need in our relationship to Jesus?

Do we need to live with Him every day and watch Him more closely?

Jesus went about doing good to all and we need to do the same. Jesus had

compassion on the hurting and helpless. And I suspect by watching Him we will become more compassionate toward

others. Jesus spent time with His heavenly Father. And the more we hang around with

Him, the more we’ll want to do that too!

James Baldwin wrote: Children have never been good at listening to their elders, but

they have never failed to imitate them. Sometimes we, too, don’t listen very well.

I’ve got a deal for you. Here’s some choices to make. Would you prefer a week’s

vacation in Hawaii or a week’s vacation in Osage Beach, MO?

Would you prefer to drive a Lexus or a Yugo?

Would you prefer living in a brand new 5,000 square foot house on 100 acres of

prime real estate in the Ozarks, or a 10X50 foot trailer in Thomasville, MO?

I think it’s pretty obvious what most of us would choose and yet, often in life we settle

for less than the best. But I’m not talking about houses, cars and vacations.

I’m talking about the way we live! Most people choose the way of the world over

the way of Christ. And there are even times when Christians make the wrong choices in

life and choose sin over Christ.

The Psalmist said, "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want."

One little girl said it this way: "The Lord is my shepherd

and that’s all I want." Good thinking.

Why settle for less than the best? Why settle for less than what He offers?

Why settle for sin when we can have Him?