5. 1 John 1:9-10 Confession of Sins

1 John 1:8-10 and the Call to Confession

Turn in your Bibles once again to the epistle of 1st John, 1st John chapter 1, starting in verse 8. Hear now the inspired word of God. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

Let's pray. Father, once again as we look into your word, we ask that you would just be pleased to open our eyes, we might see, our ears we would hear, and our hearts that we might obey what you have to teach us in your word this morning.

We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. There's an old idiom that says confession is good for the soul. In fact, when someone is caught doing wrong, he's often admonished, just tell us what you did and get it off your chest, you'll feel better.

I can testify that this is true in many criminal cases. When I meet someone and they find out that I was a homicide investigator, there's usually one question that is asked at some point in the conversation and that's this, how do you convince someone who is facing life imprisonment, how do you get them to confess?

Which is more often than you would think that they actually do confess. Now, the cases where they do confess, it's usually what they call crimes of passion. You're not going to get a professional murderer to confess, no matter what you do.

But in the crimes of passion, a trained interrogator will often appeal to the conscience. And that works, the person who has taken someone's life without that premeditation, they really want to get it off their chest.

And you can see the relief come over them when they actually confess and say, yes, I did it. So yes, there's a sense in which compassion is good for the soul, even in this material world. But it is also a biblical principle.

Confession, Conscience, and the Witness of Scripture

James says in the fifth chapter of his epistle, therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. In other words, James is saying that if you're holding sin in your heart, it can actually have physical consequences.

But make no mistake about it, there is a connection between spiritual health and physical health. Psalm 32, David says in verse 3, when I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away. Through my groaning all day long for day and night, your hand was heavy upon me.

My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Now we see this connection between the spiritual health and physical health many places in Scripture. When God was giving the Israelites instructions for occupying the promised land, he admonished them, keep the covenant and obey the law.

And if they did, they could expect all kinds of prosperity. And yes, he promised them good health. Look at Deuteronomy 7 .12. These are instructions for entering the promised land. Then it shall come about because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them that the Lord your God will keep with you his covenant and his loving kindness which he swore to your forefathers.

And look at one of the promises he makes in verse 15. The Lord will remove from you all sickness. And he will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but he will lay them all on those who hate you.

And of course, if this is a maxim that is to guide us throughout life, we would expect the book of Proverbs to weigh in on this. And it does. Proverbs 28 .13 says, he who conceals his transgressions will not prosper.

But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion. In this letter from the Apostle John, we find him speaking not just about good health and a clear conscience, but of the absolute necessity of confession.

Confession of sin is a necessity of salvation. Look at 1 John 1 .9 again. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is an extremely important verse as John seeks to give the church assurance of salvation, which every Christian desires.

Last we concluded with the last clause of verse 7, which says, and the blood of Jesus' Son cleanses us from all sin. And John continues with these words now in verse 8. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Hmm, interesting transition. It seems that John was concerned that having given to the church that good news, that the blood of Jesus, his Son cleanses us from all sin, that some would take it to mean we no longer sin.

But that's not only logically invalid. It flies in the face of scripture and it flies in the face of reality. We all struggle with sin and will until the end of time. Paul's exposition on remaining sin in Romans 7 is quite instructive.

Remember what Paul says, the very thing I want to do, I don't do. The thing I don't want to do, that's the thing I do. But yet it's encouraging because as he speaks of this ongoing war ranging in his body, he concludes with these words,.

Wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death? That's his conclusion. He says, I'm a wretched man. But he doesn't leave us there. He quickly answers his rhetorical question.

Who will set me free? Because Romans 8 follows Romans 7. And the beginning of Romans 8 is,. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And he finishes Romans 8, which is one of my favorite chapters of scripture.

But he finishes with these words,. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That's a bold statement. From wretched man that I am to I am convinced nothing can separate me from the love of God. And then don't forget his words to the Philippians. So then, chapter 2, verse 12,. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not as in my presence only, but much more now in my absence.

And what does he tell them to do? Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. These are not descriptions of sinless perfection. The life of the Christian is one of putting off the old man and putting on the new man.

Yet, despite the teaching of scripture to the contrary, there are several Christian denominations functioning today who teach that you can reach sinless perfection in this life. John continues by saying these people are deceiving themselves.

And remember, this epistle is written to those who believe. So this danger is lurking within the walls of the church. Self-deception. Notice John doesn't say they have been deceived by someone else or that they have been influenced by a false teacher.

Now, those things may be true, but in the end, this heresy can only be believed by deceiving yourself. Why would John say such a thing? Because everyone, and I mean everyone in their heart, knows they're not perfect.

Norwegians have a little trouble with that. It's hard to be humble to be Norwegian. I had a T-shirt that said that. But we all know we're not perfect. It's like the person who says there's no God. No matter how much they protest and deny it, they know in their heart that there is God, that God is there.

In fact, when in my path I come across an atheist and I wind up engaging him in conversation, and he tells me, well, I don't believe in God. I just very calmly look at him and say, yes, you do. And no matter how hard he protests and asks for proof, I say, no, you believe.

Never raise my voice. My response is always the same. You don't need proof because you believe. And if you remain calm and steadfast in that point, it's almost amusing to see the veins in their neck start to pop out.

What do you say? I don't believe. Yes, you do. Those people are self-deceived. Self-deception is a serious problem with dire consequences. Look what the Apostle James says about self-deception. In James 126, if anyone thinks himself to be religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his own heart.

Deceiving your own heart. And what does that lead to? This man's religion is worthless, James says. There are numerous warnings in scripture about being deceived or deceiving yourself. Paul warns the Colossians in chapter 2, verse 8.

He says, see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of man, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

Notice what he says. See to it. See to it. Be on guard. Beware of deception. And of course, deception is so dangerous, we would again expect Proverbs to address it. Well, the wise man, Augur, who wrote chapter 30 of the book of Proverbs, says this.

And listen carefully. This is chapter 30, verse 7. Two things I ask of you, do not refuse me before I die. That's quite an introduction. He's saying, before I die, just two things. Keep deception and lies far from me.

Give me neither poverty nor riches. Two temptations he feared above the other. Two great dangers. One of them is too much or too little money, because each one of those has a snare. But number one on his list, keep deception and lies far from me.

Why is deception number one on his list? Because it is so dangerous, because it appeals to the ego, and the results are deadly. Look how Proverbs describes it again. Chapter 14, verse 12. There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

Read that proverb. There is a way which seems right to a man, especially if he's self-deceived. Can't tell him he's wrong. Can't tell him he's wrong. Don't tell me. I know. But its end is the way of death.

And to emphasize the danger, the Holy Spirit causes the writer of Proverbs to include the identical warning right to the very words just two chapters later. Proverbs 16 .25 says exactly the same thing as Proverbs 14 .12.

There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. So take heed to the warning in verse 8. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Confession of Sin, Forgiveness, and Cleansing

But that leads to our main point for this morning. If we don't reach perfection in this life, what do we do when we sin? What happens to us when we sin? 1 John 1 .9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Confession of faith in Jesus Christ is an important part of our response to the gospel message. Paul said in Romans 10 .9. If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. But remember, and don't misunderstand this, that while confession is an integral part of salvation, it is Jesus Christ who saves.

Also, the confession of sin is not just a one-time response to the gospel. It's necessary to continually confess sin as you work out your salvation with fear and trembling. We've already shown how there are consequences for failing to confess our sins to God.

Remember Proverbs 28 .13. He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses forsakes them will find compassion. And don't forget David's description of himself when he failed to confess.

He said, my body was wasting away. Sin weighs heavy on you. Even for the Christian, if you have unconfessed sin, it weighs on you, more so because you have that Holy Spirit telling you, confess that sin, confess that sin.

And the confession that John is speaking is not the confession to ease your conscience or to gain some temporal or earthly benefit. It is the confession of a man who has a burden on his heart because he sees he has offended a holy God.

The Christian is walking in the light, in the light of his countenance. We're told in 1 John to walk in the light as he himself is in the light. And so as the Christian confesses his sin, he comes before God with true repentance in his heart, and he bears his soul and he confesses his sin.

Notice also that verse 9 is conditional. If we confess our sins, then something follows. The benefits that follow are conditional upon this true confession. And what follows? If we confess our sins, then we can expect forgiveness and cleansing.

When we confess our sins, God forgives us our sins. You know, forgiveness, as used in Scripture, has many different analogies, metaphors, and connotations. Two that we see here is it has a legal connotation and an accounting connotation.

Sin is a crime. It's an offense against God. But it's also described as a debt that is owed. And this is important, and unfortunately many Christians, in fact many pastors, don't understand the nature of true biblical forgiveness.

Forgiveness is a promise. When God forgives our sin, he promises never to bring it up to us again. Jeremiah 31, speaking of the new covenant, prophesying of the new covenant. In verse 34, he says, They will not teach again, each man his neighbor, and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them, declares the Lord.

And then listen to what he says. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. Do you get the impact of that promise? When you confess your sin, God says, I forgive you. He will never bring that up to you again.

And you can see both connotations in play in this verse. The debt is forgiven, paid in full, stamped across the debt that you owe. There will be no debt collector coming after you saying, remember that debt?

No, it's gone. Wiped off the books. Pages ripped out. And your legal obligation was paid for by Christ. There will be no warrant for your arrest. Your sin is gone. More on that in a few moments. But I wrote in my notes here, I have a little planned digression.

I digress so often, this one just happened to be planned. This understanding of forgiveness has ramifications for how you live in the community of the saints. If God's forgiveness is a promise, and we are told to forgive like God, then when we forgive a brother or sister who has offended us, we are promising never to hold it against them again.

Let me repeat that. When you tell somebody, I forgive you, you're promising never to bring that up to them again. It's forgiven. In fact, the promise is never to bring it up to anyone else again. Not even yourself.

And if we do, we are breaking a promise that was given before God Almighty. Just think, how many families have been torn apart by a lack of forgiveness? Remember the parable of the unforgiving servant that Jesus told in Matthew chapter 18?

The servant owes the king equivalent today of millions of dollars. And the king forgives the debt of millions of dollars. He says, you wipe the slate clean. And then he goes and confronts a fellow servant who owes him a couple of bucks.

And he won't forgive. And he wants to throw him in jail and have him beaten. His master was furious with him. The analogy is clear. If you're a Christian, God has forgiven you a debt that you could never pay if you were the richest man on earth or you lived to the end of time.

How dare we not forgive others who come to us in true repentance when we have been forgiven so much? Back to the text. So verse 9 is really good news for the Christian. For this forgiveness of sin is so complete, so thorough, that John even adds the thought of forgiveness.

God's forgiveness is so complete, it cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Robert Candlish once again says this. Our sins are so forgiven as to ensure that in the very forgiveness of them, we are cleansed from all unrighteousness, all unfair, deceitful, and dishonest dealing about them, all such unrighteous dealing about them, either with our own conscience or with God.

The forgiveness is so free, so frank, so full, so unreserved that it purges our bosom of all reserve, all reticence, all guile in a word of all unrighteousness. And because it is dispensed in faithfulness and righteousness, he is faithful and just in forgiving our sins.

This complete removal of sin is described in two other ways in Scripture. The psalmist says in 103 .12, as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. And again, the prophet Micah says in 7 .19, he will again have compassion on us.

He will tread our iniquities underfoot. Yes, you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea, as far as the east is from the west, as far as the deepest sea never to be raised again. There's another little nugget of information contained in this verse, which is extremely comforting for the Christian.

How can we be assured that when we confess our sin, that we will be granted forgiveness and unrighteousness is cleansed? What if I mess something up? What if I mess it up? What if I don't ask right? What if I miss something?

Here's the answer if you're a Christian. If you confess it, you can't mess it up. Because the forgiveness is based on the character of God, not your character. Look at the verse again. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive.

Not you. It is God's faithfulness to his people that gives us the assurance of salvation. When Jonah was in the belly of the great fish, he didn't sit down and plot and say, all right, now how am I going to get out of here?

He simply cried out, salvation is from the Lord. God's faithfulness is rooted in all his character, but we can especially take comfort in his immutability and his impassibility. There's an old hymn based on Lamentations 3 .22, which sums up this thought very well.

We sing it often here because it is a great hymn and gives us comfort. It's great is thy faithfulness. Oh God, my father, there is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changes not. Thy compassions, they fail not.

As thou has been, thou forever will be. And the chorus. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

But the third verse especially applies to our text. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth. Thine own dear presence to chair and to guide. Strength for today, bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside.

Great is thy faithfulness. So God is faithful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But the text says that he is faithful and just. Where does justice come in? That's where the incarnation comes in.

See, you didn't think this was a Christmas message. But it is. We see God's gracious, loving, he's kind, he's forgiving. Among all his other attributes. But he's also righteous and just. He will not, he cannot have sin in his holy presence.

But to be in his presence, we must be holy. First Peter 1, 15. But like the holy one who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior. Because it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy.

The Puritans summed it up very succinctly. They said no holiness, no heaven. But here's a key. The absence of sin is not holiness. The absence of sin when you confess that just wipes the slate clean. So how do we become holy if confession of sin is not enough?

It's the Christmas story. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life. On the cross, he paid for the price of our sin. And when you come to confessing your sin, he is faithful and just to forgive you. And his righteousness is imputed to you.

So it was absolutely necessary for Christ to come as a babe. And live the sinless life. That's the beginning of the Christmas story. The Christmas story isn't just that he was born. But he lived. And that he died on the cross.

He was raised from the dead on the third day. He ascended to the right hand of the father, ruling and reigning, until all his enemies are made a footstool for his feet. And his righteousness is imputed to us when our sin is cleansed.

So holiness is not defined by what you don't do. We don't have a list of you don't do this, you don't do that, you don't do this. Then you get to heaven. No. Holiness is defined not by what you don't do, but by who you are in Christ.

So the instruction of Peter is quite clear. Like the holy one who called you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior. John has already alluded to this holiness in the seventh verse. He says, but if we walk in the light, as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

It is walking in the light. It is not just putting off the old man, but putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. Putting on the new man. It is walking in his steps, as Peter says. He not only died for us, but left us his example to follow.

So because God is both faithful and just, your sins are forgiven, unrighteousness and cleansed, but when God looks at you as the believer, he sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ. But then John does something interesting.

The Warning Against Denying Sin and the Need for True Repentance

He finishes verse 9, and he gives us a second warning. Look at verse 10. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Why the second warning? Well, at first glance, it appears to be the same warning as verse 8, but there are some significant differences.

First, he gives this warning again because the danger he is warning about is serious, and unfortunately quite prevalent in the church. Even Christians tend to minimize their sins. There's a story, and I believe it's a true story, about Charles Wesley.

A woman approached him and asked, Would you pray for me, for I am a great sinner? She continued, I'm a Christian, but sometimes I fail dreadfully. Wesley responded, Yes, madam, I will pray for you, for truly you are a great sinner.

The woman got indignant and replied, What do you mean? I have never done anything very wrong. Self-deception. We can chuckle, but we all have a tendency to mitigate our sin. So John doesn't want anyone to misunderstand and presume upon the grace of God.

But the warning is stepped up this time. It's a little bit different than verse 8. He's no longer warning about self-deception. Look at what he says. He says, If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar.

The tense of the verb has also changed from the present to the aorist tense. That's a tense describing past action with not a certain ending. It's basically tantamount to saying, I've never sinned. To that, John's response is to drop the deception.

And says, Now you're impugning the character of God. If you say that you have not sinned, you're saying God is a liar. And that is true. If that is true, it's easy to prove by the testimony of Scripture that God is not a liar.

Just a couple of passages. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3 .23. Psalm 14, verse 2. The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.

They have all turned aside. Together they have become corrupt. There is no one who does good. Not even one. First Kings 8, verse 46. There's a parenthetical phrase here. I love it. When they sin against you, for there is no man who does not sin.

It's just an aside. But letting us know. So what do we say to those who say they have not sinned? Or even minimize their sin? Is God a liar? The apostle Paul says in chapter 3, verse 1. May it never be.

Rather let God be found true, though every man be found a liar. The last phrase is also condemning. The word is not in them. In other words, they may have read the word of God, but it is not in them. Verse 9 is a great comfort to the Christian.

But it's wrapped in two dire warnings. So be comforted by verse 9. But take heed to verse 8 and 10. So let me ask you again. Is confession good for the soul? Actually, it's a necessity for the Christian.

Not just to ease the conscience, but for the forgiveness of sin. It's necessary for the cleansing of sin. It's part of walking in the light as he is in the light. It's part of having fellowship with him.

It's necessary to maintain fellowship within the body of Christ. It's necessary to be holy as he is holy. And it's necessary for putting off the old self and putting on the new self. But the confession of sin must be from the heart.

True confession is complete and leaving nothing left unsaid. When a criminal confesses to a crime, he always tries to minimize his actions. To make excuses for them. To limit his liability. The true repentant Christian lays it all on the table with no excuses and pleads for the forgiveness only available in the blood of Christ.

That's his only relief. So today, tomorrow, have a merry Christmas. But don't forget to thank God for the greatest gift ever. His son Jesus Christ who gave himself for us. If you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, I don't have to convince you you're a sinner.

I'm not going to try. You know that in your heart. And don't be deceived by thinking, well, I'm not so bad. Yeah, you are. Repent of your sin today. And receive the greatest Christmas present ever given.

And have a merry Christmas. Let's pray.