If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8
A Christian who had become engaged in conversation with D.L. Moody told the preacher that he had reached the point in his Christian experience where he no longer sinned. In his practical way, Moody replied, ‘Well, I would like to ask your wife about that.’ We shake our heads at the folly of anyone claiming to have reached the state of sinless perfection while still living in this world. And yet, there are some people, including some so-called ‘holiness’ groups, who actually make such a claim. You would not need to be around these people very long before you would find out how badly they are deceiving themselves. Our text today condemns such people, and their lives will quickly confirm that our text is right. It is only by admitting our sinfulness that we have any hope of victory in our Christian experience.
If anyone could claim to have reached sinlessness, it must be the great apostle Paul. But Paul denies this when he declares, ‘For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do’ (Romans 7:19). When we preach the Gospel, we recognize that nobody will ever be saved unless they understand how great a sinner they are. Jesus said, ‘I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). It’s just the same for those who are now saved. We can never appreciate the intercession of Christ, the cleansing power of His Word, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit if we think we are sinless and don’t need God’s help anymore. The only thing that will cause us to think that we can remain sinless is pride in our own selves and in our own strength. It is on the basis of our admission of our own weakness that we access the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is on the basis of our acceptance of our own tendency and likelihood to sin that we receive grace from our Lord to trust in His ability to give us power over that sin.
The sin of pride tells us that we are strong enough to have no sin. But the humble acknowledgment that we are all too prone to sin will allow us to accept the grace of God to deliver us from sin’s power over us. – Jim MacIntosh