​Any news bulletin about an allegation seems inevitably to include the phrase that the accused “denies any wrongdoing”. It seems to indicate a reflex response of stoutly resisting the glare of scrutiny. Whether accused in the court of public opinion or the law courts, no guilt can be admitted. Its constant use gives the impression of a society of either very scrupulous or unscrupulous consciences. It comes straight from the lawyer’s office of course. It is used in the narrow sense of breaking civil law and the liability that this would involve. The phrase makes us think more deeply, however, about the nature of what is required from us morally. Can any of us say that in any action or event we have not been guilty of any kind of wrongdoing whatsoever? Are we tempted to claim that? What should be our response to the claims of God’s law on us?

Scripture makes it clear that we cannot say that we are without sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20).  There is a constant battle (Galatians 5:17) in which we all offend in many things (James 3:2). None of us are able “perfectly to keep the commandments of God” we “daily break them in thought, word, and deed” (Larger Catechism, Q149). Sin is present with us in our best actions (Romans 7:18-19). But do our prayers, words and attitudes reflect this? In this updated extract, Hugh Binning addresses this in applying 1 John 1:8,10, verses that deal with denying our sin. Isn’t it striking that the same phrase is repeated in those two verses?

1. Does Anyone Really Secretly Deny Any Wrongdoing?

Solomon gives a challenge to the whole world, “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” (Proverbs 20:9). No one is so great a stranger to themselves that they will not confess this. If they soberly and calmly retreat into their own heart, the very evidence of its impurity will make them confess it. Inwardly they feel what outwardly they deny. They cannot but sometime or other be filled with horror and anguish in their consciences. The time will come (either when the mighty hand of God is on them here, or when they must enter eternity) that they will awake. They will find all their iniquities mustered by the Lord of hosts in battle array against themselves in their conscience.

2. Can Believers Implicitly Deny Any Wrongdoing?

But this verse does not only restrain those who openly profess sinless, spotless sanctity. There is another way of saying this than by the tongue. There are many other ways of self-deceiving; they are more dangerous, because less discernible. Even true believers may fall into something of this.

(a) If We Think Too Much of Our Progress

Some are ready to think too highly of themselves. They have attained fervent desires and progress in relation to holiness and walking with God. They have something of the presence of God in the soul filling it with some sweetness. Perhaps they are ready to look on others with some disdain. There is no sense of their true condition and a humble mourning with it; rather they measure their attainments by their desires.  This is in effect, really saying, “we have no sin.” It is a self-deceiving delusion. We are actually infinitely below either our duty or our desire. We must be reminded of this often. Otherwise we are in danger of being drunk with self-love and self-deceit in this.

(b) If We Are Not Concerned About Making Further Progress

There are many Christians who once had a powerful experience of sorrow for sin, fear of wrath and comfort by the gospel. But they have not progressed. They are accustomed to certain public and private religious duties. But they have stopped here and do not think about further progress. They think that if they keep that condition all is well. They have few concerns or attempts for greater communion with God or purification from sin.

This makes them degenerate into formalism. They wither and become barren. They are exposed to many temptations which overcome them. But is this not really saying, “we have no sin?” Is it not living as if you had no sin to wrestle with, no more holiness to aspire to? Is it not as if you had no further race to run to obtain the crown? Do not deceive yourselves by thinking it is enough to have just enough grace as may (in your opinion) put you over the line. As if you seek no more than what is precisely necessary for salvation. If you continue without stirring up yourselves to a daily conversion and renewal, you do much to blot out the evidence of your conversion.

(b) If We Only Confess Sin in a Vague and General Way

You confess you are sinners and break all the commandments, but if we come to specifics not one in twenty seriously admit any sin. What you grant regarding sin in general you retract and deny in relation to specific sins. This is the danger of being strangers to the real truth of it and being over-blinded with self-love. Is a general acknowledgement of sin a mask to deceive yourself or a blind to hide you from yourself?  Many justify themselves when they are challenged for committing or being inclined to any particular sin.

(c) If We are Content to Continue in Sin

Do you live in sin as impenitently as if you had no sin and no fear of God’s wrath? Most people’s lives proclaim that they think they have no sin. Do you live without any earnest and serious striving to change your ways and purify your hearts? Though you confess sin in general, does your whole conduct declare that you do not think it is a thing to be feared greatly? Does your life declare that someone may go on in sin and it will be well with them in this life and the one to come? Is this not denying the very nature of sin and deceiving your own souls?

3. Why do We Deny Any Wrongdoing?

“If we say we have no sin, we make him a liar” (1 John 1:10). Why is this repeated again? It is to show us (even Christians who believe in Christ and are washed in His blood), how hard it is to know ourselves aright. Worldly people scarcely acknowledge they have any sin. Any they do acknowledge are not seen in their vile nature. So they live in peace as if they had no sin. This self-deceiving is not so subtle but quickly seen through. But this verse speaks against you Christians, who are to some extent acquainted with yourselves.

(a) Sin Doesn’t Seem So Obvious

When we get peace from the conviction of sin and hope of pardon we often cease to know ourselves. Sin may not break out so visibly. So you remain strangers to your hearts. You ought rather to believe what is in you based on God’s testimony rather than wait to see it breaking out.  The goodness of God restraining our corruption should increase rather than diminish the sense of our own wickedness.

(b) Self-Love Blinds Us

We look on ourselves through self-love and it makes everything seem more beautiful than it is. “We deceive ourselves, and make God a liar.” It is strange to think how clear someone’s assessment can be against the evils in others which he cannot see in himself. How many Christians are ready so spot the least appearance of sins in others and condemn it who are partial in judging themselves. How often people declaim against pride, covetousness, self-seeking, and other such evils! They pour out a flood of eloquence and zeal against them. But it is strange they do not easily perceive these evils predominate in themselves (Romans 2:1).

Judge yourself in anything that others can judge. Strive to know your personal evils before others can know them. This will keep you humble and preserve you from much sin. You will not deceive yourself nor dishonour God in making him a liar.

(c) We Measure Ourselves By Others Rather than God’s Law

Commonly we judge ourselves by comparing ourselves amongst ourselves, which is, as Paul says  “not wise” (2 Corinthians 10:12). We do not measure ourselves by the perfect rule of God’s holy Word, but rather by others who come short of that standard. We compare ourselves with the worst, and if we are not as bad as they are, we think ourselves good.

Others will compare with those who are good, but with the worst in them not that which is best. How often people identify a good man who is subject to certain weaknesses. Thus, self-love flatters itself, and, by flattering, deceives itself. But when we do this our pride and self conceit ascends, but the higher we in our own esteem the lower we are in God’s account. But the higher God is in our account, the higher we are in His (Matthew 23:12).

4. How Do We Avoid Denying Any Wrongdoing?

What should we do then, since sin is always within? Between 1 John 1:8 and 1 John 1:10 which warn against denying our sin is 1 John 1:9 which speaks of confession and forgiveness. This confession should continue as long as we are in this life. Confess your sins as long as you have them. Continually mourn over your daily failings. If that stream of corruption runs continually, let the stream of your confession run as incessantly. There is another stream: Christ’s blood. This runs constantly too, to cleanse you.

This shows the deceitfulness of many of our public and private confessions. They soon dry up and are not constant. There is no daily humbling of ourselves. It is merely by fits and starts responding to certain fleeting convictions. Thus, we quickly cover and bury our sins in oblivion and forget what kind of persons we are.

You have two desires and prayers to Christ: (a) that your sins may be forgiven; (b) that they may be subdued. Christ has two promises to satisfy you: (a) to forgive your sins; (b) to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. This is the great desire of such a truly penitent heart, to have sin purified and purged out of us as well as pardoned. The promise is not only to pardon sin, but to purge from sin. It is not only to cover it with the garment of Christ’s righteousness and the breadth of His infinite love. It is also to cleanse it by his Spirit effectually applying that blood to the purifying of the heart.  Believe He will both forgive you and in due time cleanse your heart from the love and delight of sin. Believe His promise, for “he is just and faithful to forgive sins.” His justice being now satisfied, is engaged to forgive, not to punish.

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Even Richard Dawkins admits that when we consider the intricate complexity of the natural world around us it reveals design. The difference of course is that he says that our eyes are deceiving us. It is only the appearance or illusion of design. In other words, he extols a triumph of blind faith over common sense. We see design all around us in terms of technology and media and we never dream of questioning if there was a designer. Faith and God’s Word, however, confirm what our senses and common sense tell us, there is design in nature and there must be a Designer, which is God.

Nature reveals an astonishing intricacy in terms of design. Wherever we look, near or far, we see design –  the galaxies, the earth’s ecosystem, the living cell, bacteria, DNA, bird flight and the human body. The inescapable conclusion is that there is a Designer. Many organisms have a beauty and sophistication far beyond what is needed to make them merely fittest to survive.

Hugh Binning (1627–1653) taught philosophy at the University of Glasgow and later a minister in the same city. A prolific author, he had a formidable intellect and knowledge of theology and philosophy. Yet he was able to explain things in a clear and concise way. Here he dwells on the way that the glory of God revealed in His Creation should fill us with wonder.

1. The Evidence for a Designer

God is that self-being who gave all things a being, who made the heavens and the earth. This is the most glorious manifestation of an invisible and eternal Being. The things that are made show Him forth. Suppose a man was travelling into a far country and wandered into a wilderness where he could see no inhabitants but only houses, villages and built up cities. He would immediately conclude that some workmen had done this; this had not been done casually but by the skill of some rational creatures.

How much more may we conclude the same when we look on the fabric of this world. We see how the heavens are stretched out for a tent to cover those that dwell on the earth. The earth is settled and established as a firm foundation for men and living creatures to live on. All things have been done in wisdom. We cannot but immediately imagine that there must be some skilful and wise designer and mighty creator of these things.

“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed” (Hebrews 11:3). Indeed only faith in the word of God gives a true and distinct understanding of it. There have been innumerable wanderings and mistakes of the wise of the world about this matter because they lack this lamp and light of the word of God, which alone gives a true and perfect account of it. They have fallen into many strange imaginations. There is so much of the glory of God engraved on the creatures without and so much reason imprinted on the souls of men within that it is certain no-one could seriously and soberly consider the visible world without being constrained to conceive of an invisible God. This would be so were it not for the judgement of a darkened understanding in those who do not glorify Him in as far as they know Him.

Would everyone not think within themselves that all these things, which are so excellent, cannot come from chance or make themselves? They clearly owe their being to something beside themselves. It is certain that that to which they owe their being cannot itself originate from any other thing otherwise it would be endless. There must therefore be some Supreme Being, derived from nothing else and from which all things have come.

2. The Wise Goodness of the Designer

God made all these things “very good” (Genesis 1:31) to declare His goodness and wisdom. Creation may be called a large book extended and spread out before the eyes of all men, to be seen and read of all. It is certain that if these things in their order and harmony, being and qualities were considered in relation to God’s majesty, they would teach and instruct both the fool and the wise man in the knowledge of God. How many engravings He has made on creation to reflect to any seeing eye the very image of God!

Consider the vast and huge dimensions of the heavens and the earth, yet they are merely one throne to His majesty and earth (in which many palaces are constructed by men) His footstool. Consider the sheer multitude of creatures, the variety of birds in the sky and the multiplicity of animals on the earth. They are hosts as Moses speaks (Genesis 2:1). Yet none of all these are useless, all of them have some special purposes that they serve. There is no discord or disorder, nothing superfluous or lacking in this whole kingdom. All declare the wisdom of Him who “made every thing beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Everything is most fit for the use for which it was created so that the whole earth is full of His goodness. He makes every creature good one for another to supply one another’s needs. The elements and the things made from them have so many different natures and compositions yet all these opposites are so moderated by supreme skill that together they make up one excellent and sweet harmony or beautiful proportion in the world. O how wise must He be who alone contrived it all! We can do nothing unless we have some design or pattern before us. But when God stretched out the heaven, and laid the foundation of the earth was instructed or counselled Him. Certainly, none of all these things would have entered into the heart of man to consider or contrive (Isaiah 40:12-13).

There are wonders which faith can contemplate in the smallest and most inconsiderable of the creatures. O the ingenuity and skill of the finger of God in the composition of flies, bees, flowers etc. People ordinarily admire extraordinary things more, but the truth is that the whole course of nature is one continued wonder.

3. Wonder at the Designer

You say that God made heaven and earth but how often do you think on that God? How often do you think on Him with admiration? Do you ever wonder at the glory of God when you gaze on His works? This volume is always observable before your eyes — everything showing and declaring this glorious Creator. Yet who takes any more notice of Him in this than if He were not at all? Such is the general dullness that many never ponder and digest these things in their heart. They should do this until their soul receives the stamp of the glory and greatness of the invisible God which shines most brightly in those things that are visible. By this they ought to be in some measure transformed in their minds and conformed to these glorious manifestations of God engraved in large letters in everything that can be seen.

4. Faith in the Designer

The apostle says “through faith we understand that the worlds were framed”. This is the same faith spoken of in the end of Hebrews 10 by which the “just shall live”. To believe with the heart in God, the Creator and Father Almighty is an aspect of saving faith. Faith should view God’s almighty power, and sufficient goodness and infinite wisdom, shining in the fabric of the world with delight and admiration at such a glorious fountain-being. Faith should climb up to view His majesty by considering it in His creation. The saints in the Old Testament did this to a greater extent than we do. They had more excellent and becoming thoughts of God than we. It should make Christians ashamed that heathens who had no other book opened to them but that of nature, read it more diligently than we do. The saints of old who did not have such a clear testimony of God as we now have, learnt more from the book of Creation than we do both out of it and the Scriptures.

We look on all things with such a careless eye and do not observe what may be found of God in them. Truly, I think there are many Christians and ministers of the gospel, who do not ascend into those high and ravishing thoughts of God in His being and works as would be fitting even mere scientists. How little can they speak of His majesty or think as befits His transcendent glory! There is very little in sermons that contains wonder or unique thoughts of a Deity but in all these we are as careless as if He were an idol.

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Contemporary books which focus on the evidence around us and are easy to follow include Hallmarks of Design and He Made the Stars Also by Stuart Burgess. They are published by Day One Publications.

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