1 João 1

1 João 1:10

Ryle says, “a holy violence, a conflict, a warfare, a fight, a soldier’s life, a wrestling against sin.” That’s the characteristic of the true Christian life: it’s a fight against sin. (Gal 5:16-note, Gal 5:17-note, cp 1Ti 6:12) (3) Thirdly, believers are no longer under the domination or the dominion or the mastery of sin. Jesus has liberated us from the bondage of sin (Ro 6:6-note, Ro 6:11-note, Ro 6:12-note, Ro 6:14-note). There was a once upon a time when we were under darkness and night, and we could do no right. But now in the mercy of God, we have been brought into saving relationship with Jesus Christ, and we are no longer bent in our wills towards sin. Our desires have been changed (ED: Have your desires changed?) so that our desire is for the glory of Christ, for the love of Christ, for the honor of Christ, to live for Christ, though we do not do it perfectly. Our desires have been changed, and we are no longer under the dominion of sin. (4) And fourth and finally, the Christian life is characterized by growth and holiness, but not perfection. As Augustine said to Pelagius, “No, the church is not the place for perfect Christians; it’s a hospital where sick sinners get well.” Yes, there’s growth; yes, there’s sanctification, but there’s never perfection (Ed: Not in this life, but there is in the life to come!). We grow in holiness (Heb 12:14KJV+) , and holiness is serious business, but sin will always dog us here. In this world, we fight against sin, but sin will not have the last word. And at the last day, God will liberate us from sin (1Cor 15:55, 56, 57+). John wants us to understand that reality about the Christian life over against all false teaching which either says, “Sin doesn’t matter,” and, “so who cares?” on the one hand; and that teaching which says, “In the Christian life, there’s no need to war against sin anymore. You already have received the victory over sin; you don’t need to war against it any more.” John says both of those are wrong. Both of those are errors, and they cause a defection in Christian experience. And he’ll tell us how we definitively deal with that in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 2, which we’ll get to next week. Let’s go to the Lord in prayer. (1 John 1:8-10 - Dealing With Sin) John