Partly based on Chapter 2 of “Spiritual Depression”
by Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Chew Magna Baptist Church – 9th Oct 2011
Today’s text is from the first letter of John, and it is about the true nature of God and our relationship with him. John, in the first part of his letter, dwells on the subject and nature of sin, confession and forgiveness. Sin is not a popular subject for sermons these days. In our modern churches it appears that we would rather not dwell too much on subject of sin; or more specially our own sins. You see our failings and faults can be a bit depressing, and congregations would like to hear something uplifting. Preachers who also want to encourage them seek parts of the cannon of scripture that are a little more sweet.
But today, we are going to dig deep into God’s word and not avoid unpleasant truths. For I believe, as our Lord Jesus said, the truth shall set you free[1], the truth will bring you from darkness into the light[2] and the truth shall bring you to the heart of God[3].
We all struggle with the complexities of life. We try to find a balance between all the completing demands placed on us by others and ourselves. We struggle to make sense of life when it takes a turn for the worse: like when loosing a job, or a friend; like when loosing our hope for the future or even our desire to follow Jesus. We struggle with the messages we are given through the TV and media: the hopeless “gospel of materialism” – that is “what you have is what you are, you are defined by your possessions” and the pitiable “gospel of self” – which is “You have only one life you better put yourself first, seek personal happiness first above everything else”. No, we do not believe this.
So we struggle with these western messages of “work to consume, work to get you a better place in this life, with more comfort, status and more of the things you really like.” We struggle with people, with their little betrayals, their lack of consideration of our feelings. We struggle when so called “friends” show that others are more important to them than we are. We struggle, we groan inwardly, when we face and see death. We see and read an all too depressing catalogue of man’s inhumanity to man. We know our modern western culture seems only to believe in form of nihilism; i.e. life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. What consolation, what hope does our western culture offer in the face of death?
As a supposedly Christian people we do not live in a neutral environment, the culture around us is toxic; but we have become completely desensitised to it. We cannot see it clearly for what it is. We find ourselves as the Isaiah puts it “walking in darkness” or as Ezekiel put it “walking in the valley of bones”[4], or as David put it walking in “the valley of the shadow of death”[5]
This prevailing culture has an effect on our churches. This is what we see today, in our modern churches (in the UK): declining numbers and falling attendances. We see many Christian churches a pale reflection of the New Testament norms. We see the fire, the passion for God almost burnt out. We see Christians conforming some consciously and all unconsciously to the pattern of this world. The Late Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones put it like this
“We live in a pragmatic age, people are not primarily interested in abstract truth, they are interested in results. The one question they ask is this : does it work?”[6]
Does Christianity work? People are seeking and searching for something that works. If we as Christians give the impression that we do not know any better way, any other way … that produces results then why should they be interested, why should they come to gather with us in our churches? I am amazed at how often I hear someone say, “I’m a Christian but I no longer go to church. I believe in God, but I don’t like Church”. The unsaid subtext is that people in churches give the impression that following Jesus is all about conforming to set of hard, unpleasant patterns of behaviour that are politically incorrect and that produce little joy.
Those who are not Christians, if they consider us at all, contrast us with those who are in the world, people who are thrilled by what they believe in. They are devoted to their mates, to their football clubs, they love to talk about the X factor and Big Brother, they show passion for having fun ‘out on the town’, they are enthusiastic and full of excitement and want everyone to know it. Yet we modern western Christians can, too often, show little passion or joy.
Is this not the main reason for the falling attendance of our modern churches? Is this not something that we must admit? Those who are not Christians see little in our churches that seems to work. It is for us to admit and confess that there is some truth in what they say and think.
The reasons for this state is clear, we have fallen short of the Glory of God[7], we have sinned, we have followed the desires of our own heart, we have leaned too much on our own understanding[8], we have conformed to the pattern of this world rather than transformed by God’s Holy Spirit, we have been drawn away from the truth by the call of this material world[9]. Unless we understand this, believe this, trust this is the case, then the decline will continue.
Paradoxically, even though the evidence is clear, we do not really believe that we are in a wretched state. As modern Christians we conform to the perceptions and sensibilities of our culture. If we have jobs, if we have family, if we are middle class and reasonably law abiding how can we be in a wretched state? Yes, as Christians we know we are sinners but are we that bad? We have a comfortable place in society and then we compare ourselves with others we see and say to ourselves “I am not that bad!”
Now this is the chief problem, we have the wrong idea of sin. We are lead astray because we have not been truly convicted of our sin. This is a very really problem for those who have been in the Church for a long time. Dr Martin Lloyd Jones tells this story of a woman he knew; she had been brought up in a very religious home, and regularly attended church and busied herself with church activity. She was a member of a church that had recently seen a number of people converted suddenly from the world and from various kinds of evil living – alcoholism and such like. He recounted her words; she said “I almost wish I had not been brought up in the way I had been brought up. I almost wish I had been living their kind of lifestyle so that I might have their marvellous conversion experience”. What did she mean? What she was saying is that she has never thought of herself as a real sinner. Why not?
There are many reasons. This type of person thinks of sin only in terms of actions. Not only that, they think of sin only in terms of certain particular actions. So their thinking is that because they are not guilty of those actions they are not really sinners at all.
Do you remember the account of the man who came to see Jesus[10] (in Luke’s Gospel)
A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 20You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’ 21“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said. 22When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
This man, like our woman, was thinking of sin in terms of actions, particular actions, adultery, murder, stealing, lying etc. He was comparing himself with others and their experiences. In his own eyes he was doing quite well. The implication of his thinking was this “I haven’t done any of these really bad things so I’m not truly a sinner”
He had never been really convicted of sin, because he had not seen his utter and absolute need for Jesus Christ. And is this not what Jesus say to him? Give up everything else and follow me. People like this may have heard it preached that Christ died for our sins and they may even say they believe it, but have they known that it is an absolute necessity for themselves?
How are we convicted of sin? The apostle Paul, in his great letter to the Romans, tackles this subject. He states is chapter 3
“There is no one righteous, not even one; 11there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one”[11] … “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”23
Who is this “all” that Paul talks about? Is it not Jews as well as gentiles? The Jews agreed that the gentiles were sinners: they were outside the people of God, living and accepting sinful ways, so they were by definition sinners. But Paul was saying “wait a minute, you are sinners too; you are just the same” The reason why the Jews hated Christ and persecuted Paul was because of this. He asserted that the person who lives a ‘righteous life’ is just as much a sinner as the most flagrant sinner among the gentiles. Are we modern Christians in danger of thinking like the Jews?
The same is true today; if we want to understand conviction of sin we must stop thinking of particular sins. How difficult this is for us! We all have certain ways of thinking, we restrict our thinking to those certain things that we are not guilty of, and so, even though we don’t say it, we think we are not really sinners.
Do you know about John Wesley, that great evangelist? Do you know how he came to be convicted of sin? It began when he saw the way certain Moravian Christian behaved in a storm during an Atlantic crossing (and he was at that time already committed to the work of God). John Wesley was terrified and was afraid he would die; but the Moravians were not. They seemed to be as happy in the midst of the storm as when it was sunny and calm. John Wesley realised that he was afraid of death; that somehow he did not seem to know God as well as these people did. So he began to see his need for God, and this is the beginning of conviction of sin.
And this is how you know yourself a sinner, it is when we know that you have a real and urgent need for God. You may want to focus on “thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal etc..” but this is not the essence of the law, this is not the entirety of God’s law. Would you like to know what is at the heart of God’s law? Here it is:
“30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”[12] This is first commandment and “The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Forget all about, drunkards and murderer, forget about all that you read in the papers or see on TV. The test for you and for me, here and now, is this: do you love God with all your being?” If not, you are a sinner. You are a sinner of the deepest dye, as bad as any other! This is want scripture says, this is what the Church has always believed.
You see God has made us and He made us for Himself. His plan and purpose for our lives is that we live in close fellowship with Him, our lives in His hands, that we know Him as we are known by Him. His plan is that we have sweet communion, intimate oneness with Him. His plan, as the Westminster confession puts it is this: The chief end of men and women is that we worship God and enjoy Him forever. Yes, it is all about fellowship with the living creator God, it is all about being connected to source of all life, the source of all knowledge, the source of all wisdom, the source of all love. And when we are in this state we will know Joy in all its fullness. Does the church have something that works? – Oh yes.
Being a sinner is the default position for all of us; and the reason is simple this, we do not draw close to God as we should; we do not love God as we should, we do not honour God as we should and we do not trust God as we should. But the solution is simple, we must return to Him, acknowledge our waywardness, like the prodigal son said to his father, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you and I am no longer worthy to be called your son” we must do the same. Conviction of sin, at its heart is acknowledging that our relationship with our father God is not what it should be. We have become satisfied with almost nothing from God and His presence is an abundant blessing. The weakness of our western Churches is that we do not depend on Him enough; simple as that.
This brings me finally to our passage in the first letter of John, which is really so self explanatory, so clear that it needs little exposition.
5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
Just in case you are worried, remember God is Good, He is fair and just, He is light and there is not even the slightest hint of darkness or evil in Him. Focus your thoughts and hopes on this: His love for us is so perfect and strong that nothing we do can ever change this. The real problem for us is this: when we claim to know him when we don’t; if we think we are something when we are not and when we think we can survive without Him when we cannot. John doesn’t pull any punches; he just comes out and says straight to our faces, if you are doing this you are a hypocrite and a liar!
But if we acknowledge our waywardness, our lack of passion, our need for God; or plainly the sin rooted deep within us, God will forgive us because of the blood of Jesus that was shed for us. Yes, as sinners we are guilty, all of us without exception, … but God loves us so much that the punishment that is rightfully ours was placed on Jesus on the Cross. By the whipping of his broken back, by the blood he shed, by his death, - he took all judgement and punishment that is rightfully ours.
That sweet and perfect exchange, he swapped places with us, he taking our griefs, our sins, our guilt that we may take up his clean and white robes, his perfection and closeness to our Father God. Yes, we must still seek to walk in the light, to do good, to love one another, but all the eternal consequences of our failures and weakness have been wiped away. Remember Jesus did not come to call the righteous, but sinners[13].
We are free now to draw close to the perfect and holy God. If make good and honest confession of our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
The heart of the Gospel is here; it has not changed – it will never change. Our modern Christian churches, we modern Christians need to return and acknowledge afresh to our utter and absolute need of God. For Jesus has opened up a living way that will never grow old. Our good news is this: everything you need in life is here, found in the arms of our loving creator God. Don’t try and look elsewhere, nothing else will work, nothing else will ever do, and no one else has the words that lead to life in all its fullness, only Jesus. … Amen
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