Are you a good person?
1 John 1:5-10 ESV
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But 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 cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
I have a buddy who once sarcastically asked me a question about God. His intentions were to make a joke, I don’t think he was expecting a response, but I thought about it for a minute and then gave him the best answer I could think of at the time. It was probably a horrible answer but it got a conversation started. I gave him a quick testimony of how God has been faithful to me and my wife and how he has helped us through some hard times. His response was that his life was going god right now, he had a wife that loved him, a beautiful baby boy, and a good job. He said that he had calmed down a lot since high school, that he didn’t drink anywhere near how much he used to. He said that he didn’t really need God right now. The third misconception is that you don’t need forgiveness of sin through the cross of Christ because you are a good person. His view of God was that God was some piñata in the sky full of blessings for the less fortunate and a crutch for those who are week willed. He was able to stand on his own two feet and provide for his family and over all a good person. But what is the standard of righteousness that we are supposed to live up to? If we don’t set an absolute standard that applies to everyone it becomes far to easy to look around and find someone who looks much more screwed up than yourself in order to elevate yourself to being a good person in your own eyes. The Bible tells us that our standard of righteousness is Jesus. He tells us in 5:48 that we are to be perfect. Uh oh! Well Romans 3:23 says that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” So what happens to all of us sinners who do not meet the perfection of Christ. Romans 6:23 says that “ The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This means that everyone is a sinner and that everyone from birth is dying and on their way to hell. It is only through the cross of Christ that we can be redeemed from sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us that on the cross Christ exchanged our sin for his righteousness. The truth is that either Jesus paid for your sin or you will.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But 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 cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
I have a buddy who once sarcastically asked me a question about God. His intentions were to make a joke, I don’t think he was expecting a response, but I thought about it for a minute and then gave him the best answer I could think of at the time. It was probably a horrible answer but it got a conversation started. I gave him a quick testimony of how God has been faithful to me and my wife and how he has helped us through some hard times. His response was that his life was going god right now, he had a wife that loved him, a beautiful baby boy, and a good job. He said that he had calmed down a lot since high school, that he didn’t drink anywhere near how much he used to. He said that he didn’t really need God right now. The third misconception is that you don’t need forgiveness of sin through the cross of Christ because you are a good person. His view of God was that God was some piñata in the sky full of blessings for the less fortunate and a crutch for those who are week willed. He was able to stand on his own two feet and provide for his family and over all a good person. But what is the standard of righteousness that we are supposed to live up to? If we don’t set an absolute standard that applies to everyone it becomes far to easy to look around and find someone who looks much more screwed up than yourself in order to elevate yourself to being a good person in your own eyes. The Bible tells us that our standard of righteousness is Jesus. He tells us in 5:48 that we are to be perfect. Uh oh! Well Romans 3:23 says that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” So what happens to all of us sinners who do not meet the perfection of Christ. Romans 6:23 says that “ The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This means that everyone is a sinner and that everyone from birth is dying and on their way to hell. It is only through the cross of Christ that we can be redeemed from sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us that on the cross Christ exchanged our sin for his righteousness. The truth is that either Jesus paid for your sin or you will.