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Welcome to Study Scripture Online with our teacher Pastor Mike Andrus. This is an amazing teaching. Come and Enjoy!
FORGIVENESS, REDEMPTION, RELATIONSHIP, PEACE, JOY, RESTORATION
Hello friends, today on Study Scripture Online I want to take a couple of minutes to chat with you about … Confession.
One of the most important verses on confession in the NT is 1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." In the previous verse the author has just stated that “if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” Instead of denying that we sin we must admit and confess our sin; only then can God truly cleanse us and remove the barriers that prevent fellowship.
I believe this is not principally a salvation verse but rather a fellowship verse. Paul's teaching on justification makes it clear that the believing sinner receives by faith a perfectly righteous standing before God at the moment he receives Christ.
While no subsequent sin on the part of a believer in Christ will change God's verdict of "not guilty" at the Judgment Seat, every sin does some damage to our fellowship with Him. When you stop and think about it, sin couldn't help but hurt our fellowship with Him because God is light and in Him is no darkness at all (verse 5).
Let me try to illustrate. Suppose someone adopts a child. From the moment those final papers are signed, that child belongs to the family. He is as secure legally as if he had been born physically into that family. But then suppose that child becomes rebellious and violates his parents' rules and desires. Does he lose his place in the family? No, of course not. But he does lose something of the close relationship with his parents, at least until he acknowledges his rebellion and is forgiven. Then the fellowship is fully restored.
So it is for us in our relationship with God. If we acknowledge our sin-the word "confess" means literally "to say the same thing as"; i.e., if we call our sin what God calls it and don't try to justify it or rationalize it or excuse it-God will forgive us and cleanse us. We can count on it because He is faithful and just, faithful to keep His word, and just because His justice has been satisfied by the cross.
Is there a greater truth anywhere for believers than the fact that any interruption in our fellowship with God can be immediately remedied by our coming to Him in sincere confession?
For further exploration of this topic, click the link in the description below, which will take you to a sermon on 1 John 1:1-10 entitled “Walking in the Light.”