1 John 1:10

Today, we consider the third thing that prevents the Believer in Christ from enjoying fellowship with the Lord Jesus. Let me remind you that our relationship with the Lord is different than our fellowship with Him. Our relationship with God is the result of the work that the Lord Jesus accomplished on the cross on our behalf and our trust in that alone. Our fellowship or sanctification is based upon the choices that we make in reference to His definition of things as designated in His word. It is our justification that gets us into heaven when we die, it's our sanctification that gets heaven into us now.

If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and we do not accept God’s teaching. (1 John 1:10). The third thing that prevents our fellowship with the Lord happens when we rationalize or excuse sin in our lives. When we do this, we place ourselves in the position to be numbed to the voice and presence of the Lord in our lives.

John not only says this is an evasion of reality, but it is also a direct accusation against God. "We make him a liar," he says, "and his word is not in us." In other words, we are shifting the blame squarely upon God. There are only two people in life, as far as our basic relationship is concerned, us and God. So if we say it is not our fault, we are saying it is his fault.

Now this excuse goes back to the Garden of Eden. When God came looking for man in Genesis 3:9, he said to him, "Why did you do this thing?" Adam said, "Well, it's the woman you gave me. It's your fault." And when God said to the woman, "Why did you do it?" she said, "It is the serpent. It's your fault because you let him talk to me." So, the blame comes right back to God. We are, in effect, calling God the one at fault.

But John uses even a worse name. He says, "we make him a liar." In Romans, Paul writes, "What can separate us from the love of Christ?" (Romans 8:35). Then he goes through the list of possibilities. Can life, or death, or things present (your circumstances), or things to come (the pressure of the future), or height, or depth, or time, or eternity, or anything else in all creation, separate us from the strength of Christ, the love of Christ. But that is not what we say. We say to God, "There are a lot of things that cut me off from you and make it impossible for me to do what you ask me to do. Difficulties cut me off, fatigue, sickness, and pressure. Therefore, God, you're a liar. You say that none of these things will do it; I say they do! Now, one of us is telling the truth and one of us is lying, and I know who it is; it's you!" Think of that charge! We say, "Lord, it is your fault, you are not true." 

Accepting God's definition of things is what made Abram of the Old Testament a Jew. Before he was called of God, Abram was a Gentile living in a place that is southern Iraq today. This is key for us to understand, and it is the thrust of what our sanctification is all about. Most Believers believe today that our sanctification is about an improving us. But it is not.

Our sanctification is about a dying us. As we die to ourselves, saying "no" to our definition of things, and allow God to define all things, we find that we are walking billboards for the glory of God. This is what you and I were made for. And the enemy, that arch enemy of old, wants to subvert this ultimate goal of God in our lives. You see, the goal of our sanctification, its purpose is pointing others, not to us, but to Him. Therefore, we must be diligent to recognize the enemy's scheme of trying to get us to call our shots. We must be careful not to rationalize or excuse our sinful choices. We must be careful to confess our sin, agreeing with His definition of all things and live out of those definitions.