¹How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ²Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

-        there will come a day when we will be with Jesus face to face

-        rapture or heaven

-        We currently are striving to be more like Jesus but one day we will be like Him

³Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

-        Hope, as in we know it is going to happen

-        We know we are going to totally be like Jesus some day, but until then, we do our best to purify ourselves

-        Purify ourselves from what??  From sin.

o       God wants us to be actively removing sin from our lives

§        The closer we come to Him the more He makes smaller sins visible to us

Why do we want to actively remove sin from our lives?

Jesus was without sin: he is pure (3) and if we are going to be more like Him we need to have less sin

The more sin we have, the less we are like Jesus.  The less sin we have, the more we are like Jesus

 ⁴Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. ⁵But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. ⁶No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

Did you get that?

-        Jesus came to take away our sin

-        He had no sin in Him

-        If we live in Him/ find our identity in Him/ become more like Him then we will not sin

o       Not that we will never sin again once we become Christians, but that we should not sin

§        It does not make sense to understand the cross and stay in sin

§        When we sin, we add sins to the cross

§        When we sin, we are making light of the cross

§        We trample the blood

§        Jesus came to take away sin, not to give us permission to sin

 ⁷Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. ⁸He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. ⁹No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. ¹⁰This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

Children of God should not sin.  Sin is never OK

When I say we are all sinners in need of a Saviour, I am not giving permission to sin, I am just being open and honest about the fact that we all have sin and need His help to overcome sin.

Ok, Ok, so I know sin is bad, but what do I do about it?

(wanting to do something about it is actually the first step)

I.  Know what sin is so you can stay away from it.

How do we know what a sin is?

A. The Holy Spirit convicts us

John 16:7-9.  ⁷But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me;

B. The Word of God shows what sin is

Romans 5 shows us that the law (the Word of God) is in written for so we can be aware of our sin and also be aware of our need for a savior to save us from our sin.

If the Bible says don’t do it, don’t do it.

II. If you realize you have sin, repent of it

-        Admit you have sin and confess it to Jesus

1 John 1:8-10

 ⁸If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Confess your sins.  Repent.  Repentance is to be sick and tired of your sin

So sick and tired of it that you want to make a change.  You want to move in the opposite direction.  Sin is disgusting. 

I hate sin.  It is a poison in our lives.

Important note:  admitting you have sin does not mean that you have permission to go around and point out others’ sins.

John 8:7
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."

III.  If you struggle with sin, stay away from it

James 1:13-15.

 ¹³When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; ¹⁴but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. ¹⁵Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

-         our own evil desire…the flesh…drags us away

-         the initial desire, the tempting is not the sin

o       sin is a process like childbirth

o       it takes time to develop

-         you need to remove yourself from situations that will lead you into, cause you to develop sin

Matthew 6:13. 

 ¹³And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one

-         take advantage of those around you, of history, learn from others mistakes, follow the word of God that tells you to stay away from certain things because if you don’t it promises you sin as a result

IV.  If you are having trouble overcoming sin, get some help

Ecclesiastes 4:11-13 

 ¹¹ Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
       But how can one keep warm alone?  ¹² Though one may be overpowered,
       two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

-         We as a Christian family are there top encourage one another, to build each other up, to help each other become great men and woman of God

-         Get an accountability buddy or an accountability technique

o       Example: naked picture of you to eat with, website e-mail, weekly meeting

-         confess your sins to a Christian friend you can trust and ask them to pray with you to overcome your sin

V. Run away from sin and run towards God

2 Peter 1:3-9.

 ³His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

-         God has placed within us everything we need to become more like Christ

-         You can do it!

 ⁵For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. ⁸For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

-         We need to put forth the effort

-         We need to make a choice to not just try and stop sinning, but to actively try living a Godly life

-         Strive for the things of God. 

-         As you become more like Jesus, you will be less like the old you. 

-         Example:  When you fill the cup with clean water and the dirty water gets flushed out

Closing:  we need to confess some sins (remember we all have sins)