Mensa Otabil - Keep It Real (11/07/2025)
Today we conclude our teaching on first John chapter 1. I trust that it’s been useful to you. And we conclude with verse number 10. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.
I want you to pay attention to the number of times that John repeats this assertion of those who deny the reality of sin and and he condemns the attitude. And many times in 1 John chapter 1, he repeats, «If you say you have no sin, if you say you have no sin, if we say we have no sin», why is he making the same assertion over and over and over again? because it is very important and he doesn’t want us to get to that point because it is a heresy. It is against the truth of God.
And so anybody who in our modern times says that they’re so perfect in their Christian life that they have no sin are are living a self-diluted life. And John actually says if you do that then you’re trying to make God a liar because you you are opposite. you’re going contrary to the revealed truth of God. And then he says if you have that belief system, then the word of God doesn’t live in you. In essence, he’s saying if you have this point of view, then you are not a Christian because the word of God is not in you. If the word of God is not in you, then you don’t belong to him.
So please, this is something very critical that John uh wants Christians of his time and our time to pay attention to. Nobody should go about saying ah sin has no power over me. I am so righteous. I’m so perfect that I can’t sin. Yes, it’s good to aim at living righteous before God and living a holy life. But the more we see the holiness of God, the more we also see our need of him. And that is the fundamental of our faith.
God has called us to a life of holiness but not to selfrighteousness and not to self delusion. And we cannot presume that simply by repeating to ourselves that we are holy and we are righteous and we are doing well. Uh then we are free uh from the responsibility of guarding against sin. Guarding our hearts from temptation and and seeking to daily trust in the sufficiency of God’s grace to help us to live the righteous Christian life.
So we have learned from John that the Christian life is built on the foundation of the reality of Christ. The Christ who came, who was heard, who was seen, who was examined, and who was touched. Our faith is an examined faith. It is a faith that has come because people inquired and came to a conclusion of who Jesus Christ is.
So Jesus Christ, the son of God, came in the flesh. He died in the flesh. He resurrected in the flesh and he’s seated at the right hand of the father. That is the foundation of our faith. And we must hold on to that foundation throughout our Christian life. And when we come before the Lord, the same Jesus receives us. It is his sacrifice that makes it possible for God to forgive us of our sins. The sins of our old nature which is forgiving us salvation and the sins we commit after we have come to know Christ. Because in both cases, Christ is our advocate. In both cases, Christ’s sacrifice takes care of us.
I trust that you commit to the Christian life to know Jesus Christ to love him to serve him to make him the center of your life and that you live your Christian life relying on him every day every moment every step to guide you to lead you and to help you to live for him in a way that affirms the truth of God so that his word continues to grow in us.
Let’s pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, you know me through and through. I come before you just as I am. Help me to live for you in Jesus name». Amen. And amen.