If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. – 1John 1:8
Whatever shape our denial of our sinful nature and state may take, please remember that that denial is a mere say, and nothing more, —”If we say we have no sin.” You know how little value we attach to evidence of the nature of “I say,” and “they say.” There may be no truth whatever in such evidence, and in the present case there is nothing whatever to warrant the proud saying—”We have no sin.” There will come a day when the righteous will have no sin, as a matter of fact; but now, whether saint or sinner, if you say, “I have no sin,” you say it, and that is all. The words sound very prettily, but there is no fact to correspond with them.
Moreover, the idea of having no sin is a delusion; you are altogether deceived if you say so; the truth is not in you, and you have not seen things in the true light; you must have shut your eyes to the high requirements of the law, you must be a stranger to your own heart, you must be blind to your own conduct every day, and you must have forgotten to search your thoughts and to weigh your motives, or you would have detected the presence of sin. He who cannot find water in the sea is not more foolish than the man who cannot perceive sin in his members. As the salt flavours every drop of the Atlantic, so does sin affect every atom of our nature. It is so sadly there, so abundantly there, that if you cannot detect it you are deceived.
