One of the top rated dramas on ABC is "Grey's Anatomy". The show traces the racy and promiscuous lifestyle of young surgical interns, and is hugely popular among the 18-35 year old demographic. Incidentally, one of the top selling books among the female demographic has a similar title, "50 Shades of Grey". Both the television drama and the book (though unrelated) are based on characters named Grey. Regardless, they both set forth the same basic philosophical viewpoint-- that life, love, and morality are gray. They indicate that there isn't a hard line between right and wrong, good and evil, or light and darkness. Their message is that there isn't any such thing as pure darkness or pure light. There are only shades of gray. One shade of gray is virtually indistinguishable from the next.
I wasn't born in the 1950's, but from my research I know that a psychological revolution of sorts took place in that decade that paved the way for the gross immorality of the 60's and 70's. Author Brant Lee Doty explains it well in his now out-of-print book "What the Bible Says about Sin." He explains how psychologists declared war on the word "sin" and began to deplore its use in the professional realm. The term sin was replaced with terms like error, mistake, infraction, maladjustment, crime, sickness, behavioral deficiency, symptomatic action, and other terms too numerous to mention.
Why did psychologists ban this word? Doty says that they banned it because of its, strong, reproachful connotations, its vague and non-specific quality, and because sin implies guilt and the need for reparation and atonement. In place of sin, psychologists have developed an ever-expanding vocabulary of therapeutic language including diagnostic words like behavioral disorder, seasonal-affective disorder, loneliness, depression, sadness, and tens of thousands of other terms. The terms are published in a book called the DSM Diagnostic Manual, which you will find sitting on the shelf of almost any psychologist or counselor. From that manual, every behavior gets coded for your insurance company and is listed in your medical records, which your government can access.
But sin? Sin is obsolete. Listen carefully to your favorite pastors, and what you will realize is that they no longer mention the word sin. Instead, they mention terms from the DSM manual. These terms blur the reality of our core human problem-- namely that we are sinners. Sin is our problem. And Christ is both the solution to our problem and is our savior, and the Holy Spirit is the sanctifier.
The Bible speaks clearly and unequivocally about the black and white reality of sin. It also speaks about our need for redemption. The Bible says in 1 John 5:17 (ESV), "All wrongdoing (unrighteousness) is sin..." Remember the man card sermon from a few weeks ago? It says that sin is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
Our text this morning establishes nine basic facts about sin, but let me first begin with an overarching truth about sin mentioned earlier in 1 John.
1. Sin is the color black, not gray.
A foundational truth that we learn about God in 1 John 1:5-6 (ESV) is, "...that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." Gray is a humanistic perspective on sin. But from God's vantage point, sin is black, sin is darkness, sin is distinct and clearly-defined, and sin is the opposite of all who God is. Now we might not know what sin is, except that God gives us his law, he sent us his prophets, and even sent his Son to earth to teach us about sin. The same God who called the light day and the darkness night, calls sin darkness and his righteousness light. And God also wrote his law on our conscience and brains, so that we'd inherently know good from evil. We'd do well to sharpen the line between light and darkness, not blur it. And we'd do well to learn to hate what is evil. The devil has tried to blur the line from the beginning, and seduce us into loving evil. "Did God really say...? Are you sure?" These questions that he asked Eve have been his ploy from the beginning.
2. Sin is lawlessness, not Lordship.
1 John 3:4 (ESV) tells us, "Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness." At the root of sin is rebellion and self-centeredness. That's what sin is. It's an attitude and a philosophy of life. When we sin, we imagine ourselves to be a law unto ourselves. The one who sins doesn't believe that he or she is answerable to any authority-- especially not to God. "It's my life", we boast. "I'll live how I want to live. Don't judge me. Leave me to my business." So we have lawmakers who are lawless. We have pop icons who are lawless. Our morality is lawless. We are neither bound to God, nor to one another. In fact, we go so far as to practice lawlessness, or act out just to see how far we can go. We say to ourselves, "How far can I go? How far can I push the line?"
3. Sin is to be extinguished, not entertained.
In 1 John 3:5 (ESV) we're told, "You know that he (Jesus) appeared in order to take away sins, and in him (Jesus) there is no sin." Sin is a cancer, a toxic philosophy that should be done away with altogether. What if we were to endeavor to be like Jesus in regard to sin? This verse says that Jesus came to decimate sin, and in him there is no sin. Yet what do we do? Do we follow in Jesus' footsteps? Or do we entertain ourselves with sin? Do we pay for sin to be piped into our homes on the television? Do we enjoy hearing about it on the news or internet? Do we give ear to it, lust after it, flirt with it, and enjoy the temptation of it? What would it look like to decimate sin instead of leaving it lying around everywhere? What if there were no trace of sin lurking about in our heart and mind?
4. Sin suppresses true knowledge of Jesus.
1 John 3:6 (ESV) continues, "No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him." In order to continue sinning, you have to turn the lights out. You have to stop worshiping Jesus and stop others from worshiping him too! You have to turn Jesus off, you have to physically suppress any knowledge of him, you have to silence prayers in his name, you have to remove his words from classrooms and the public sphere, and you have to erase the Ten Commandments off monuments and court houses.
In John 3:19 (ESV) Jesus himself describes how he has come. "...the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil." And Jesus explains in John 3:20 (ESV), "For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed." Such is the power of light. Light drives out the darkness. Light overcomes darkness. They cannot coexist. The surest strategy to expel darkness from your heart and mind is to shine high beams of God's glory into the recesses of your soul.
5. Sin involves self-deception.
1 John 3:7 (ESV) tells us, "Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous." The deception is that righteousness is sin, and sin is righteousness. The deception is that sin is good for you, and righteousness is bad for you. Sin is the longest running false advertisement on the face of the earth. The core message of sin is that you will be happier without God, happier bucking his authority, and happier living for the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Wisdom is taking a sin and following it to its logical conclusion. Wisdom discerns, "Hmmm... where does this thing logically lead?" Wisdom is what the Proverbs are all about. The wisdom of God unmasks the deception of sin, and shows sin for what it is! There is the way of life, but then there is the path of death. Wisdom shows that sin truly leads to death.
6. Sin originated with the devil.
1 John 1:8 (ESV) says, "Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil." No elaboration is needed, except to point out that sin is a relational influence, just as righteousness is a relational influence. The devil is the first and original instigator of sin. When a sinful idea pops into your head ask yourself, "Where did that come from?" All sin originates with the evil one. The Bible says he has been a murderer and liar from the very beginning.
7. Sin destroys and is being destroyed.
Ultimately, 1 John 1:8 reminds us that the works of the devil that destroy our lives will be destroyed. Nothing evil will stand.
8. Sin does not practice righteousness.
9. Sin does not love.
1 John 3:9-10 (ESV) says, "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother."
Love and righteousness are the marks of a true child of God. Lawlessness and unrighteousness are the marks of a child of the devil. God's influence over our lives is seen in love and righteous acts. Satan's influence on our lives is found in hatred, lawlessness, acts of the flesh, etc. A good tree produces good fruit, while a bad tree produces bad fruit. If in doubt, you can always judge sin by its fruit. It's odd how tolerant we are of our own sin, but how intolerant we are of others' unrighteousness and lovelessness. Sin is hypocritical like that.
So let's recap. Sin is distinctly darkness. It is black, not grey. It is black, not white. Attitudinally, sin is lawlessness. Jesus came to take away and to decimate sin. In Jesus there is no sin, and filling our soul with a knowledge of him through worship and teaching, expels the darkness from our soul. Sin is a false advertisement that promises life, but in the end leads us to death's doorstep. Satan, being a murderer and liar, has relationally influenced us toward death form the beginning of time. Jesus came not just to take away our sin, but to destroy the devil and his works. The evidence of God's power is love and righteousness. You can't fake love and righteousness. They are of God.
So what do we do about sin? Let me give you five steps to take this week.
First, the cure for sin is confessing and being forgiven.
Why not agree with God that sin has been the problem all along? If you confess, God will forgive you and will purify you of all unrighteousness. It's a promise that John tells us about in 1 John 1:9. Let's deal with reality from God's perspective!
Second, the cure for sin is seeing and knowing him.
To say this another way, the cure is worship! Try it. When you worship, sin suddenly loses its grip on your heart. When you flood your mind with the light of Christ's glory, the darkness dissipates.
Third, the cure for sin is being born anew.
In John 3 Jesus tells Nicodemus that the Spirit gives birth to spirit, but the flesh gives birth to the flesh. He also tells Nicodemus that he must be born of water and the Spirit. To be born again is to dedicate your life in baptism to live for righteousness and not for sin. Baptism is something we do of our own accord. It's a personal response of faith that invites Jesus to take away our sins, and allows the Spirit to dwell within us. The Spirit will then sanctify us and purify us of all unrighteousness.
Fourth, the cure for sin is abiding in God's word.
Why not take some time this week to read the gospel of John? If you like, just read the red letters. The red letters are everything Jesus said to the apostle John. The cure for sin is taking Jesus' words to heart, and letting them permeate our thoughts.
Fifth, the cure for sin is walking as Jesus walked.
The power of sin is broken as we love each other and as we practice righteousness. Try it! Do something this week you've never done before. Do a selfless act of love or a bold act of righteousness that is something undeniably of God, that he shows you in his word or that he places on your heart. Don't walk in darkness. Don't muddle around in the gray. Walk in the light.
Sin implies guilt. Guilt means that there is a need for reparation and atonement. As we sing, and a little bit later as take communion, let's thank God for showing us our sin, but also for taking our sin away! Let's recommit ourselves to walking as Jesus walked.