What About Sin?

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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Please remain standing and turn in your Bibles to the first epistle of John I'm going to read the entirety of chapter 1

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This is God's holy and an infallible word first John 1

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That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life for the life was

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Manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you That eternal life which was with the father and was manifested unto us that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with us and Truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son

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Jesus Christ and These things we write unto you that your joy may be full

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This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him

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Is no darkness at all if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness

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We lie and do not the truth But if we walk in the light as he is in the light

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We have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin

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If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us

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If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness

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If we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us and the

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Lord be pleased with our Consideration of his most excellent word. Please pray with me

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Lord we thank you for The salvation that you bring to us your people

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We thank you for the victory we have in you. Oh We also give thanks today that that you give help to us not just in a categorical or conceptual way, but You help us with our sin even our sin today

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The Lord I pray that we would be a confessing people That we might be cleansed and we asked all this in Jesus name.

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Please be seated What happens when you begin to meditate on a certain passage of scripture over time a

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Theme or an idea will emerge that is more prominent than you first expected

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After reading the text dozens of times it occurred to me that sin is very prominent in our last section of chapter 1

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And so the title of the message today is what about sin

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What about sin we're gonna look at the last half of verse 7 through verse 10

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Christianity is the religion for sinners

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Christianity is the religion for sinners For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God The Christian as we've been learning recently in James and even in 1st

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John must take ownership of his sin and He does this so that his sin might be purged

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He must cut off the full extent of his disease

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We often hear of oncology surgeons wanting clean margins

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So to the Christian must accurately see the breadth and depth of his own sin

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That the curing balm of Christ may be fully applied and that he might be cleansed and healed and and purged

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It's not surprising that as the scripture interprets scripture There's similar language found in Paul and elsewhere in the scriptures that resonate with 1st

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John It says in Ephesians 1 in Christ in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace

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We must rightly understand sin that we might apprehend the riches of his grace

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I have a thesis statement which should be broken into an outline that you would be helpful for you if you need that It's this

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Christ frees us from both the pollution and power of sin

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Christ frees us from the pollution and power of sin

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John has established you'll remember the the divine nature of the

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Lord Jesus Christ and we should be struck again with the incredible power of the language that The one who was from the beginning has come in the flesh and he has revealed himself to disciples and to women and to the the early church the the creator of all things has come to rescue his creation from sin and death and to make it a new creation in him and he has built and formed a church a fellowship of believers and he is

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Drawing men women and children Unto himself and bringing them and fixing them into this fellowship, which is a cause of great rejoicing and the fullness of joy and last week we learned about God is light and That there is no darkness at all in him and that we are

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Obligated to walk in the light in order to have a proper fellowship with God and his people

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And then our text today beginning in verse 7 the last half and oh, what a truth it is in the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin

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Brethren, there is nothing more glorious than having your sins forgiven to be reconciled to God To have your guilt and your shame covered by the blood of Christ It's a very famous quote from Thomas Watson and he says until sin become bitter

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Christ will not be sweet Until Sin becomes bitter to us then that's the time that Christ will be sweet So the first question

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I have for you today is sin your sin odious to you

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We find fault with the culture. We can tell you what's wrong with all the churches, but is your sin

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Odious and bitter to you If it's not bitter to you, then

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Christ will not be sweet If you are comfortable with your own sin

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If you can tolerate it if you can swish it around in your mouth and you can stomach it

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That bitterness you've been deceived into thinking maybe that's sweet Maybe that sinful tendency is sweet Maybe the sins that I cherish are sweet until those sins become odious and bitter to us

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Christ Will not be sweet We have a

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Savior who cleanses us from all sin it is Jesus Christ his son and This is a glorious truth

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So, why do we need confession Look again at our order of worship today

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On the left page on the inside. We have a corporate confession of sin

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One of the things we sometimes get from people who are visitors

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They wonder about this practice of confessing our sins Why do you confess your sins

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Didn't Christ and his sacrifice you've just read it the blood of Jesus Christ his son

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Cleanses us from all sin. It's done. It's covered. It's taken care of.

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Why would you go back in there again? Are you denying the gospel of Christ?

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Why are you confessing your sin again if Christ has forgiven you? and the very theological and sophisticated answer is

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We confess our sin because we continue to sin. That's why we confess our sins our sins are forgiven in Christ, but Our doesn't our life show that we continue to sin

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And so it follows then that being redeemed and saved in Christ and having your sins

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Forgiven and to be cleansed and washed in this way Leads to a new kind of pattern a new way of living

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We become confessors of sin And there's great hope for us in this let's consider verse 8 if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and The truth is not in us

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Now you would say I understand total depravity. I understand radical corruption

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I understand my own heart and I understand that I am a sinner

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And today I want you to go Down deeper from that category that kind of blanket statement

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I am a sinner and I want to ask the question. How are you a sinner? In what ways in particular are you a sinner?

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Christ died on the cross to save me from my sins. He did which sins for you?

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How are you a sinner? How does a sinful? Nature in your life.

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What does it look like? What are the sins of pride and and haughtiness and bitterness and lust?

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What is your sins? To say that you have no sin or to minimize

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The extent of your sin is to be self -deceived sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God according to our

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Shorter catechism, but it most definitely is guilt and failure a failure to hit the mark or the target

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It's bad actions and evil deeds and evil thoughts and it is for this very

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Reason that Christ has to come into the world and to take on flesh

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That we might be cleansed Nothing could be more irreverent for the people of God than to take sin their sin lightly

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We're so theologically sophisticated We understand homardiology

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But here today pastorally, I'm urging you to identify your particular sins

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How are you sinning today? You say why is this important?

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Because if you do not confess it if you do not repent of it

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You are effectively saying that you have no sin. That's what you're saying. If we say that we have no sin

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We deceive ourselves We're led astray we go off course

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We deviate from the correct path We cannot minimize sin downplay it

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Or ignore it To diminish our sin is to diminish our need for Christ to diminish our need for Christ diminishes the glory and the

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Significance of the salvation that is ours in Christ. I believe walking in the light

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Serving a God who is the light and a Savior who is the light of the world and a

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Holy Spirit who illumines our minds and our hearts Requires us to shine a bright light on our own hearts

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That we might confess our own sins like you to turn to the book of Psalms and Psalm 32 one of the more

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Familiar Texts to us on this subject. This is a popular message today.

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I can tell we're rejoicing in it Psalm 32

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Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven Whose sin is covered

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We need to uncover our sin That Christ might cover it and his righteousness if we hide it if we conceal it

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We don't enjoy the benefits and blessings Practically that is there and reserved for the people of God who?

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Are cleansed by Christ Verse 2 says blessed is the man unto whom the

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Lord imputes not iniquity and in whose spirit

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There is no guile We're self -deceived if we don't confess our sins, isn't this crazy?

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We believe that Jesus Christ has atoned for our sin on the cross

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And we believe also that we have a practical ongoing need as a work of our own

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Sanctification to confess our sin to not be self -deceived so that we can be ones in whom there is no guile

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What are the negative consequences of failing to confess

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David says verse 3 When I kept silence my bones waxed old

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Through my roaring all day For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me.

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My moisture is turned into the drought of summer the

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Christian not confessing his sin Wears a heavy burden on his back and it need not be so You and I all of it as David prayed is laid bare before him in his sight

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And it is the highest form of folly for us to try to conceal it

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We are burdening ourselves we are Filled with guile we are

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Self -deceived if we don't speak the truth about our hearts before God And this may be the reason some of us aren't experiencing the joy of our salvation today

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It's not that your salvation is in jeopardy You're not reaping the benefits of your salvation

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There is cleansing and forgiveness there for you in Christ avail yourself of the cleansing and the freedom and the liberty that God has secured for us in Christ Listen what

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David says about confessing his sin. I acknowledge my sin unto thee in Mine iniquity

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I have not hid. I said I will confess my transgressions unto the

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Lord and You O God forgave the iniquity of my sin

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Hallelujah, what a Savior what a gospel Why would you deprive yourself of the joy and the blessing of being unburdened of your sin?

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Why would you cling to it? Why would you hold it in? Why would you conceal it?

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Bring your sin and the transgression of your heart the ugliness of it all and bring it to the

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Lord Jesus Christ and find forgiveness and Salvation and hope and joy and Thanksgiving says for Everyone that is godly

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Prays unto you in a time when they may be found Surely in the floods of great waters.

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They shall not come nigh unto him. Isn't it nice how the Lord Puts the story of Noah together with Psalm 32 for us today.

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Oh You are my hiding place You shall preserve me from trouble you shall compass me about with songs of deliverance

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I Think that great idea of the Lord being the great liturgist singing over us

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Christ singing songs of deliverance and salvation come to me all you who are burdened and heavy laden

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Confess your sins to me and I will forgive you Bring your filthy bodies to me and I will wash you and make you whiter than snow

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You're so foolish to deprive ourselves of these good gifts

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There's another component in relation to the confession of sin certainly

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Repentance is an element where we're really not Confessing if our hearts desire is not to repent and we we don't confess often because we don't want to repent

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But if your desire is to confess your sin if your desire is to repent and to walk in his ways

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You have assurances that God himself will instruct you and teach you in the way that you ought to go

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He appeals to our

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Pride a little bit and says be not as the horse or the mule which have no understanding

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Whose mouth must be held in the bit and brittle? lest they come near unto thee

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Verse 10 says many sorrows shall be to the wicked But he that trusteth in the

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Lord mercy shall compass him About Be glad in the

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Lord and rejoice you righteous and shout for joy All ye that are upright in heart

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In order to be upright in heart we have to Confess our sins.

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Let's go back to our text Proverbs 28 says

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He that covers his sins Shall not prosper

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But he who confesses and forsakes them Shall have mercy

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Happy is the man that feareth always But he that hardens his heart shall fall into mischief.

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Oh brethren. It is great mischief to not confess

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Forsake repent and walk in newness of life in Christ We know better.

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We need to be wiser as a result Let's look again at our text.

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I Don't want to be self -deceived I want to be a man of the truth.

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I have to think rightly about my sin. I have to be honest Told my boys growing up girls, too,

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I'm sure Integrity is what you are in secret You can look good on the outside.

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But who are you in secret? We don't want to be self -deceived.

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We want to be the same in public as we are in secret We want to be cleansed we want to be washed but if you're feeling discouraged

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I want to Bolster your spirits look at verse 9 if we confess our sins

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He is faithful and Just to forgive us our sins

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To cleanse us from all unrighteousness He doesn't give us a litany for penance

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He doesn't call us to sing to pray a bunch of formulaic prayers

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He doesn't say go out and do these a hundred deeds and maybe your sin could be atoned for He says to us as the people of God.

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I have forgiven you you are my children I have cleansed you now

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You have gone and and sullied yourself in the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the lust of the world

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You have been haughty in heart and spirit Come unto me and confess your sins and I will wash you.

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This is so glorious This is so much better than any human conception about what religion is

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Your filthy sin brought to Christ confessed own taken responsibility for Repented of you can have full and complete assurance that Christ will cleanse you and wash you

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And purify you again So why do we?

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fail to confess our sins, I think there's a Discipline to this

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I think our Daily pattern may be before we go to bed.

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Maybe we should take a couple of moments and reflect upon the day and see if there be any sinful way in us and Ask the

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Lord to forgive us How many months and years have we carried around a burden of sin shame and guilt and and weightiness and heaviness and Discouragement and a lack of joy when we can unburden ourselves

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And be cleansed and be washed Simply by Bringing our

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Sin to the Lord in this context the idea of cleansing is to be made clean obviously, but There's some language and some descriptors that I think are helping me to understand this better and that this idea is to be freed from the defilement of sin to be purified from wickedness to be freed from the guilt and Penalty of sin to be purified

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All we have to do is confess Why do you not confess?

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Why do you not confess your sins? I? Wonder what percentage of the sins we commit we confess

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There is going to be no sinless perfection for us, but in our sanctification in this powerful

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Operation of the Spirit and us this covering of Christ and his righteousness in us

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Certainly we can sin less Not gonna be perfect.

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Certainly we can sin less. Oh Today people of God Unburden yourselves

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Confess your sins He's faithful and just to forgive you all of your sins to cleanse you from all unrighteousness

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If someone comes to you confessing their sin against you be like Christ and forgive them

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That's powerful Christianity when Christians act like their Savior and forgive those who have

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Sinned against them. I like the idea of being

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Cleaned I used to be a fanatical Shower taker

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I take less showers now, but I used to take many showers. I hated the feeling of being dirty or sweaty

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How much more so to be? filthy for Unrighteousness Oh Lord wash us and we'll be clean

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Dab the hyssop on us and we'll be clean Pour out your blood upon us and make us white as snow.

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Oh Lord Jesus There's another problem

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Doctrinally and practically look at verse 10 if we say that we have not sinned

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We make him a liar And his word

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Is not in us You see going back to the beginning of the chapter

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The incarnation the saving work of Christ all of this is accomplished to free his people from their sins when we minimize

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Sin, we minimize Christ When we minimize our guilt we minimize his grace

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We have thought too little of Christ in his Salvation and his grace and his redemption if we've said sin is no big deal

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Can you imagine calling the way the truth and the life a liar?

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Saying that his salvation is of no consequences To trample the blood of the covenant under our feet

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We could never do that As the people of God we could never ever

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Diminish our view of sin because if we did we would diminish our view of Christ and that would be

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Blasphemous Well Have a couple of ideas for us today to improve our

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Confession When you're feeling a bit dirty from your sin you ask your question

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How are we cleansed and the answer is we are cleansed by the blood of Christ And I think we have got the idea of the decree of salvation this

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Monumental justification work of Christ on the cross, but we have to now import it into our daily living

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Our sanctification is Dependent upon us believing the gospel of Christ again and again and again

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Confessing our sins as the people of God who have the assurance of pardon

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How can you be deceived? If you're minimizing your sin

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You're saying that you have no sin in you and I mean this by degrees you say oh, I am a sinner

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The catalog of sins is what we have to address If you don't address the catalog of sins, we're in some measure self -deceived

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But when we bring these things into the light as he is in the light We find that he doesn't throw us away and reject us

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We would reject one another in our sin, wouldn't we? But he doesn't do that We come with all of that unpleasantness and we unburden ourselves and we lay it all down And he restores us and he washes us.

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He cleans us. What a great Savior. What a gospel

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What a salvation we enjoy In Christ are you properly acknowledging your sin

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Are you being honest with yourself about your condition If you are when you confess those sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness couple words now of application will close today

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I Want you to really rejoice in the forgiveness that is yours in Christ The blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin

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Rejoice in the forgiveness that Christ gives to us in his gospel second

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You may need to restore the joy of your salvation Because you haven't been asking the question

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What about my sin and you're carrying around as a child of God the guilt and the shame of sin

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Restore the joy of your salvation confess it So we've said several times now he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins

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To cleanse us from all unrighteousness Thirdly confession

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Necessitates both a forsaking of sin and a repenting of sin coupled with a new and fresh walk in The new life we have in Christ That cherished sin must be repented of and forsaken and now you have to walk in newness of life

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What about in your family life and your own personal personal devotion? Have you said that sin is no big deal?

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We minimize sin. Oh the terrible thought

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To minimize my sin is to minimize the great work of Christ in my life

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To save me from that sin and finally children.

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I Think that you're capable of very great things in the area of obedience. I Think you guys can do much more than you think

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If you're sinning You're disobeying your parents or not caring about the things of God or being mean to your siblings

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You need to repent of those to turn from them to confess your sins

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One of the greatest Pieces of advice I ever received I don't know who the original source of this very simple statement is but what an impact it would have on the church

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Fellowship and marriages and families and work relationships If we kept short accounts with God and kept short accounts with one another

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Maybe we need to have a daily confession of our sin to our spouse and say I have not loved you as I ought

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Please forgive me I'm going to vow to labor to do better tomorrow You don't see how

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The grace of Christ would work and something like that so ask the question again

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What about sin The blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin.

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Amen What about our? Continual practice daily of breaking

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God's commands and failing to love each other What about those sins?

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He is faithful and just to forgive us all of those sins to cleanse us from all unrighteousness

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If we just confess them to him Hallelujah, what a

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Savior. Let's rejoice as we come now and approach the table. Let's pray together Oh Lord, we are a stubborn and foolish people

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But you love us and in this we rejoice Oh Lord a basic truth a

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Simple fact of our faith. Oh Lord. I pray that you would enable us to perform it that we would be a confessing forsaking repenting and walking a new