Are We Confessing Our Sins?

Text: 1 John 1:7-2:2 

Though some people deny their sinfulness, believers who confess their sins enjoy victory over them and continuous fellowship with our loving Heavenly Father. Honest and sincere believers come regularly and boldly into the presence of God and they sense in their spirits God’s forgiveness.  Such Christians enjoy a life with their Father. Let us consider how we can fellowship with God by noting the fourfold attitude toward sin:

1. Denying It
2. Confessing It
3. Victory Over It
4. Repeating It or Falling Into It

I.                   DENYING IT (1:8-10)    

II.               CONFESSING IT (1:9)

A.                 The nature of confession

1.      Confess-take sides with God against it.  Admit it.

a.                   God asks that when we have failed Him we confess our sins.

                                                                                                   i.      What does it mean to “confess”? Well, to confess sins mean, “to say the same thing [about].” That is to say the same thing about it that God says about it. It involves admitting to God, “You’re right, I’ve sinned. I’m a sinner. I have not only wronged other people and myself, but I have wronged You.”

                                                                                                ii.      A counselor was trying to help a man who had come forward during an evangelistic meeting. “I’m a Christian,” the man said, “but there’s sin in my life, and I need help.” The counselor showed him 1 John 1:9 and suggested that the man confess his sins to God.

“O Father,” the man began, “if we have done anything wrong—”

“Just a minute!” the counselor interrupted. “Don’t drag me into your sin! My brother, it’s not ‘if’ or ‘we’—you’d better get down to business with God!”

The counselor was right.

b.                  Confession is not praying a lovely prayer, or making pious excuses, or trying to impress God and other Christians.

                                                                                                   i.      True confession is naming sin—calling it by name what God calls it: envy, hatred, lust, deceit, or whatever it may be.

                                                                                                 ii.      Confession simply means being honest with ourselves and with God, and if others are involved, being honest with them too. It is more than admitting sin. It means judging sin and facing it squarely.

c.                   Recognizing the truth—and agreeing with it—that’s confession.

                                                                                                   i.      In order for us to walk day by day in fellowship with God and with our fellow believers, we must confess our sins: sins of commission, sins of omission, sins of thought, sins of act, secret sins, and public sins. We must drag them out into the open before God, call them by their names, take sides with God against them. Confession is vital to our receiving forgiveness.

                                                                                                 ii.      Please bare in mind God already knows you have done wrong. He knows what you did the moment you did it. He knows your thoughts, your motivations, your intent, your will. The sins you confess aren't news to God.

d.                  What is the purpose, then, of confession if God already knows you have sinned, and God is willing to forgive you?

                                                                                                   i.      The purpose is for you to come to grips with what you have done and the sorry position you are in. Confession is a reality check. And it’s the key to your receiving forgiveness into your own life and experiencing the freedom that forgiveness brings.

                                                                                                 ii.      If you do not admit to yourself and to God what you have done, you will not be able to experience what God so desires to give you—release from guilt and shame, and new freedom to walk boldly in your relationship with Him. You confess so you can experience the forgiveness that has been available to you all along, so you can enter fully into relationship with God, and so you can make moves to correct your behavior.

2.      Renounce—forsake what you would have God remit.

a.                   Confession of sins is coupled with forsaking them.

                                                                                                   i.      Yes, true confession involves forsaking sins!

                                                                                                 ii.      Proverbs 28:13, He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

b.                  Renouncing sin is part of repentance. To repent means to “change your mind and behavior.” Repentance is an act of the will. It involves follow-through behavior.

                                                                                                   i.      Confession is an admission; it is saying, “I have sinned.” Repentance takes that confession and puts it into action.

                                                                                                 ii.      It is declaring, “I am changing my mind and my behavior so that I will not sin again.” Repentance involves the actual doing of what we say we are going to do.

c.                   The prodigal son said, “I will arise and go to my father,” and two verses later we read, “He arose and came to his father” (vv. 18, 20). The prodigal son changed his mind, he made a decision about a change in his behavior (which included a change in his circumstances and location), and then he acted on that decision. That’s repentance.

d.                  Honest confession admits sin and asks for God’s forgiveness, and repentance defines a necessary change in behavior to live a righteous life, makes a declaration that one is going to pursue that change, and then follows through with actual change.

                                                                                                   i.      To confess without repentance is to say, “I'm sorry,” without any effort to sin no more. Genuine repentance—the desire and action not to sin again—validates confession.

                                                                                                 ii.      The two are inseparable for any person who desires to walk in close fellowship with God. (2 Tim. 2:25–26; 2 Cor. 7:9).

3.      Believe in the efficacy of the blood of Christ (vv. 7-9).

a.                   The blood of Christ will never lose its cleansing power!

                                                                                                   i.      Now, suppose you as a child of God have lost your fellowship with God. And John says, “And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” That is the blood of Jesus Christ continually cleanses you from all sin making it possible for imperfect believers to have fellowship with a holy God.

                                                                                                 ii.      All God’s forgiveness is based on the blood of His Son that was shed at Calvary. That blood provided God with a righteous basis on which He can forgive sins, and, as we sing, “the blood will never lose its power.” It has lasting efficacy to cleanse us.  Our responsibility is to confess our sins and trust the blood of Christ to keep on cleansing us from all sin.

b.                  Search me, O God, and know my heart today; try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray. See if there be some wicked way in me; cleanse me from ev’ry sin and set me free.

I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin; fulfill Thy Word and make me pure within. Fill me with fire where once I burned with shame; grant my desire to magnify Thy name.  –Osbeck, K. W. 1990. Amazing Grace

c.                   The Bible repeatedly declares the blood of Christ as a powerful means of spiritual cleansing!

                                                                                                   i.      John 1:29, The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

                                                                                                 ii.      Ephesians 1:7, In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

                                                                                                iii.      Hebrews 9:14, How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

                                                                                               iv.      Revelation 1:5, And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, (see also 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Peter 1:19; 1 John 2:1-2; 5:6; Revelation 7:14)

4.      Accept God’s declaration of forgiveness, based on His righteousness and justice (v. 9).

a.                   When we confess our sins, God promises to forgive us (1 John 1:9). But this promise is not a “magic rabbit’s foot” that makes it easy for us to disobey God!

b.                  “I went out and sinned,” a student told his campus chaplain, “because I knew I could come back and ask God to forgive me.”

“On what basis can God forgive you?” the chaplain asked, pointing to 1 John 1:9.

“God is faithful and just,” the boy replied.

“Those two words should have kept you out of sin,” the chaplain said. “Do you know what it cost God to forgive your sins?”

The boy hung his head. “Jesus had to die for me.”

Then the chaplain zeroed in. “That’s right—forgiveness isn’t some cheap sideshow trick God performs. God is faithful to His promise, and God is just, because Christ died for your sins and paid the penalty for you. Now, the next time you plan to sin, remember that you are going to sin against a faithful loving God!” –Warren Wiersbe

c.                   Clearly, cleansing has two sides to it: the judicial and the personal. The blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross, delivers us from the guilt of sin and gives us right standing (“justification”) before God. God is able to forgive because Jesus’ death has satisfied His holy Law.

B.                 The result of confession

1.      We are forgiven (v. 9)

a.       To forgive means to send away or dismiss. It involves completely canceling an offense and the entire removal of the cause of offense.

b.      Nothing is beyond God’s forgiveness. No sin is too great, too awful, or too prolific for God to forgive. No person is so deep in sin, so ingrained in a lifestyle, so steeped in evil, that he or she cannot be forgiven.

c.       When God forgives, God forgets. Forgiveness from God results in a complete “fresh start” from God’s perspective. Nothing of the old is remembered or counted against a person.

d.      No matter how many times a person errs or sins against God after he or she is saved, a person can be forgiven and experience a new beginning. Any time we turn to God with a sincere heart and admit our failures, sins, and willful rebellion, God hears our prayer and responds with forgiveness. Once we are forgiven, we stand before God totally cleansed. God never holds our past sin against us. (See Is. 38:17; Ps. 103:12)

2.      We are cleansed from sin’s guilt (v. 7) and sin’s power (v. 9).

a.      Our guilt is gone (v. 7)!

                                                                                                   i.      Many people are walking under a dark cloud, feeling God’s displeasure or believing that they should be feeling God’s displeasure. Let’s recognize several facts about guilt.

1.      First, genuine guilt is the way we feel when we have sinned. It is the normal response to sinful behavior. Genuine guilt arises when we willfully act in a way that we know is contrary to God’s law.

2.      If you have the capacity to know right from wrong, and you know something is wrong but you do it anyway, you will feel guilty and have a need for forgiveness. 

                                                                                                 ii.      We are to walks habitually in the light—truth and holiness—not in darkness –falsehood and sin—(1Jn. 1:7; 3:9). Our walk also results in cleansing from sin as the Lord continually forgives us. The guilt is removed by his gracious forgiveness as fellowship with Him continues.

b.      Sin’s power is broken (v. 9)!

                                                                                                   i.      Recognize that we can be victorious over sin; we do not have to live in defeat.

                                                                                                 ii.      Romans 6:2, God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

                                                                                              iii.      We have been programmed to think, I know I am going to sin, to fail … to fall short today. Since this is true I need to be ready to find cleansing. You have not been programmed to yield yourself unto God as those who have power over sin.

How much better to begin each day thinking victory, not defeat; to awake to grace, not shame; to encounter each temptation with thoughts like, Jesus, You are my Lord and Savior. I am your child—liberated and depending on Your power. Therefore, Christ, this is Your day, to be lived for Your glory. Work through my eyes, my mouth, and through my thoughts and actions to carry out Your victory. And, Lord, do that all day long.

We know we can live a new life free from the bondage of sin because of the death and resurrection of God’s Son. God has won the victory over sin and death. We must ask our Father to be the master of our lives. To protect us from Satan, our fleshly nature, and the temptations of this world. We must invite the purifying power of the Holy Spirit to cleanse our lives. May we stay blameless until the day of Christ’s return. –Charles Swindoll

Confess to the Lord that you have done things, said things, thought things, and believed things that make you uncomfortable in His presence. Ask Him to forgive you for your sins and to remove your feelings of guilt and discomfort in His presence. Believe with your faith that He not only hears your request but also grants it fully. And then walk with the Lord! Talk to Him. Share your life with Him, and invite Him to share His life with you.