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1 John 1:8-10 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 John 2:1-4 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world. 3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

In my morning devotional today I read a dialogue between an Atheist and Freddy Davis of MarketFaith Ministries. It was going as I expected. As he tried to share Christ with the Atheist that lost fellow couldn’t see it at all. Darkness cannot understand light. I knew that as the debate began, and expected nothing would come of it but wasted time.

The unbelievers – and especially the Atheists – do not believe in God. If you do not believe in God, then you do not believe that righteousness has a standard. This is not to say that Atheists and unbelievers are intrinsically immoral. There are many who follow a certain standard of morality. But they do not believe in sin.

1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Atheism and Evolutionary Theory does not believe in God, or in a Creator. If you do not believe in God, then you do not believe that God created things according to a standard. If you have little belief in God, or are a so called “Nominal” or carnal Christian, then you believe that sin is little or nothing at all. The secular mind does not believe in God, and therefore does not believe in what the Bible calls “sin”.

We Say That We Have No Sin

Secular thought and evolutionary theory tells us that man was not created, but evolved from lower life forms. According to secular thought man (and woman, of course) is no more than a higher evolved form of animal. If there is no Creator, then morality is whatever we as humans make it. There was a time when what the Bible defined as sexual sins – heterosexual or homosexual – were shunned in polite society. Today these concepts are no longer “sins”. Why? Because secular thought has rejected the concept of a Creator. We are not created, but evolved.

To the world there is no such thing as “sin”.
But even the world doesn’t believe this.

If evolutionary theory is true and “survival of the fittest” is true, then why was there a World War II? Why did we as a nation stand against Adolf Hitler? Why do we have laws that protect minors from sexual predators? If we are but animals – howbeit higher evolved animals – then why are there any laws whatsoever?

The truth is there is a Creator God, and there is such a thing called sin. The Apostle said:

1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

To say that there is no such thing as “sin” then we deceive ourselves. I was watching a show on HULU the other day called “Designing Women”. In that show a young man asked the ladies to help arrange his funeral. As he was a young man they were all shocked. Why was he – just 21 or 22 years old – arranging his own funeral? Then came the bombshell. The young man had AIDS. He was a sexually active homosexual, and had contracted the disease. Throughout the rest of the show the cast berated drug manufacturers and researchers for not finding a cure for AIDS.

There is a cure for AIDS. The cure is in realizing that there is such a One as a Creator, and that this Creator has labeled certain acts or emotions as “sin”.

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t believe God was punishing this fictitious young man for his acts in life. I don’t believe that AIDS or HIV or Syphilis or any one of the many terrible diseases that are in the world today are a punishment from God. And I do pray that medical science would find a cure for these terrible diseases. But as I say this (and I know there are many, many people who will vehemently disagree with me) let me direct you to what our Creator has said. He said:

1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

I tried explaining this scripture to a Christian a few weeks ago, but even he wouldn’t hear me. The Bible says that Every sin that a man doeth is without the body. When you commit murder then that sin is against someone else. It is without or outside of your body. When you lie then that sin is against someone else. It is without or outside of your body. When you dishonor your parents, or refuse to honor God, or steal or covet what another has these are sins against other person, both divine and human. But when you commit sexual sin this type of sin hurts your body directly. This is why the Creator tells us not to do it. He made our bodies, and He knows what our bodies can take. Again, he that committeth fornication literally is sexually immoral sinneth against his own body.

When we say there is no such thing as sin because we do not truly believe in the Creator we do not hurt the Creator.
We hurt ourselves.

The very first truth presented in Scripture is not that God is Love but that God is Light. God knows what is best for us. There are things that God considers bad for us, so He defines these things as “sin”. He does not define something as “sin” because He wants to ruin our fun. He defines sin as sin and establishes morality because God knows what is best for the creatures He designed. When God told Adam:

Genesis 2:16-17 … Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Notice what the Tree that was forbidden was named. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was a tree who’s fruit could help the eater determine what was right and what was wrong. God did not want Adam – nor us – making decisions based on our feelings or on what we think. God alone – the Creator of all – knows what is and is not sin. He is the Maker. He knows what is best.

I took my car down to get the oil changed in it the other day. Now the oil cap on my car specifies that all oil is to be 5w20 oil. The technician put 10w30 in the engine, and I made him drain it and put the right oil in. Now you might say, “Well, what difference does it make?” The truth is the manufacturer had a reason for this. I didn’t understand this until I had to replace a solenoid on my wife’s car engine. Why did I have to replace that solenoid? Because oil flows through it, and the wrong weight oil will cause it to malfunction.

The manufacturer makes the rules because the manufacturer made the vehicle.

God made us. He knows what we can and cannot stand. That which will damage us spiritually and physically He has named as “sin”. If we don’t listen to Him then we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

What Is Sin’s Solution?

1 John 2:1-2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.

Sin’s solution is to quit trying to be God and become one of His children. Our text addresses My little children. A little child does not understand what the parent understands. When I was growing up I used to ask my parents “Why?” every time I was given a standard to follow. I thought that I set the standards.

I remember one time when we were on vacation at the beach, Morehead City North Carolina. Mom and Dad had told us that we were never to go off with strangers. Both I and my brother Mark knew this rule. But when the elder man came up to us at the Arcade and offered to buy us ice cream, both I and my brother accompanied him back to his motel room. Luckily daddy found us both before anything happened. I don’t remember what happened after that, but I do remember being grounded for some time. I remember thinking how unjust momma and daddy were for restricting who we could be friends with. Today as an adult I thank God that I had a momma and daddy who cared enough to punish us.

My little children. The Bible tells us that:

Galatians 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

God tells us that the solution for sin is first to come to Christ Jesus by faith. Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world. The word propitiation is the Greek ἱλασμός hilasmos which means “the covering for, atonement, or satisfactory payment for”. Jesus Christ made payment for our sins by His life and His death. The word is used again in:

1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Romans 3:25-26 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Jesus Christ came to this earth and walked among us as perfect Man. When the time was right God sent forth His Son to bear our sins for us on that Cross of Calvary. The Bible tells us:

1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

He gave Himself for us so that we could by faith enter into the Family of God. He died for us that He might bring us to God. He died for us so that we should live unto righteousness.

Christ did not die just to bring us to Heaven.
He died to bring Heaven to us.
He died and rose again so that we would act right.
That’s what righteousness is.
Acting right.
Thinking right.
Doing what God our Creator tells us to do.

Sin’s solution is Christ. If you belong to God by faith in Christ then God does not want you to sin. Sin is destructive. But always remember that:

1 John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous

God the Father has given us an advocate in Christ. When you receive Him as Lord and Savior the advocate Jesus represents you before the Father. You are part of the family of God because of Him.

Give The Fruit Back To God

1 John 2:3-4 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Very very often in this life things just don’t make sense. Things happen that I don’t understand. I don’t understand why a man like Adolph Hitler can control a whole nation, and nearly destroy the world. I don’t understand how an abortionist can not only kill but sell baby parts, and be fully supported by the Law of this land. I don’t understand why people hurt one another the way they do. I don’t understand why children are born with Downs Syndrome. I don’t understand why good people get bad diseases. I don’t understand.

But when I go to God and ask Him “Why?” He tells me:

David, give the fruit back to Me.

We were never supposed to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Only God knows best. Give the fruit back to God. Be a little Child. Let God set the standard.

As Christians we are told simply to receive Christ by faith. Then we are to imitate Christ, and obey God’s Commandments. The Bible doesn’t ask us to understand why. The Bible just tells us “do it”. Do what God said. Obey Jesus. Avoid sin. If you do sin – and you will eventually and inevitably – admit the sin and trust the Lord to forgive it.

1 John 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

If you are saved you do as He says. Period. And if you sin confess that sin, for He is faithful and just to forgive us all sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I am thankful for that.

This little child is thankful for our Father.

Are you?