Paul goes on to tell us about the rebellion that is in the human heart. He says, "...the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (
Rom. 8:7). We are living in a world today that is in rebellion against almighty God. God is holy. I am a sinner. I am saved by grace, yes, but how am I going to have fellowship with Him? How am I going to walk with Him? Men have attempted to do this in three different ways which are presented here, and two of those ways are wrong.
False Doctrine of trying to Reduce God To Man's Level? (1:6-7)
The first method is to bring God down to the level of man.
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth [
1John 1:6].
"If we say that we have fellowship with him" -- there are a lot of folk claiming to have fellowship with Him when they do not in reality at all.
"We lie, and do not the truth." Do you understand what John says in this verse? He is rather blunt, don't you think so? He says that we lie.
It is not a nice thing to call another man a liar. John says that if you say that you have fellowship with God and you walk in darkness --
that is, in sin -- you are lying.
. . .
Noticing that the cleansing of the blood depends upon our walking in the light, he read it as though it said, "If we walk according to the light, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." He thought it meant that if he was very punctilious about obeying every command of God, God would cleanse him. Then he noticed that it does not say if we walk according to light, but if we walk in the light. The important thing is where we walk, not how we walk. Have we come into the presence of God and allowed the Word of God to shine upon our sinful hearts? You see, it is possible to walk in darkness, thinking you are all right.
. . .
Confess Sin (1:8-10)
Another method which is often used is an attempt to bring man up to God's level. They say that man has reached sinless perfection and that he is living on that very high plateau. Well, John deals with that approach. Listen to him --
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us [
1John 1:8].
This is even worse than being a liar. When you get to the place where you say you have no sin in your life, there is no truth in you at all. This doesn't mean you are simply a liar; it means you don't even have the truth. You are deceiving yourself. You don't deceive anyone else. You deceive only yourself.
. . .
My friend, if you feel that you have reached the state of perfection, I really feel sorry for your spouse because it is hard to live with someone who thinks he is perfect. John says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." We cannot bring ourselves up to God's level. It is impossible to reach perfection in this life.
. . .
Thru The Bible with J. Vernon McGee.