1 John 1:9 - Confession Brings Forgiveness and Cleansing.
1 John 1:9 (KJV) If we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
INTRODUCTION
All people are sinners by nature and by
practice. At conversion all our sins are
forgiven--past, present, and future. Yet even after we
become Christians, we still sin and still need to
confess. This kind of confession is not offered to
gain God's acceptance, but to remove the barrier
to fellowship that our sin has put between us
and him. It is difficult, however, for many
people to admit their faults and shortcomings, even
to God. It takes humility and honesty to
recognize our weaknesses, and most of us would rather
pretend that we are strong. But we need not fear
revealing our sins to God - he knows them already. He
will not push us away, no matter what we've done.
Instead he will draw us to himself.
True confession also involves a
commitment not to continue in sin. We wouldn't be
genuinely confessing our sins to God if we planned to
commit them again and just wanted temporary
forgiveness. We should also pray for strength to defeat
temptation the next time we face it. [Life Application
SB]
COMMENTARY PEARL
A Fresh Start After Sexual Sin
Gods standards never change:
Premarital sex is unacceptable. It always has been. It
always will be. Living together without getting
married is unacceptable to God. It always has been.
It always will be. Adultery - being unfaithful
in your marriage - is unacceptable to God. It
always has been. It always will be. Pornography is
unacceptable to God. It always has been. It always will
be.
But if youve been guilty of one of
those sins, thats not the end of your story.
God gives you a chance to come clean and start
over.
How do you do that?
Repent. Repent means to change your
mind. You say, You were right, God. I was
wrong. What I did was sin. You dont
rationalize your sin or excuse it. The most important
part is, you do this now. If youre currently
in the middle of an affair, end it today.
Receive forgiveness. God is waiting to
forgive, cleanse, and restore you. Hell release
you from the shame, regrets, hidden hurts, and
pain that come from your sin so you dont carry
them into your next relationship. God wants to
wipe the slate clean. The good news is, once
hes forgiven you, you can forgive yourself.
Refocus and replace. You make a
commitment to live morally pure by Gods standard
from this day forward. That means having sex only
with the person youre married to.
Request help daily. Commit your life to
Christ (if you havent already). Ask him to help
you manage your mind, because you know that your
decisions about sex start with the way you think.
Dont just ask him for help for the next week or
the next month. Ask him for help every day -
even minute by minute as you fight to stay
sexually pure.
Your sexual drive can destroy you if you
let it. Its your choice! Choose to repent and
receive Gods forgiveness today. God will give you
a fresh start and will even bless your future
relationship when you follow him in faith. [Daily
Devotional by Rick Warren:
https://pastorrick.com/devotional/]
COMMENTARY
The Road of Denial
Denial is a refusal to admit the truth or
accept reality - most often of something
unpleasant. The defense mechanism of denial kicked in
right after our first parents disobeyed God and
tried to hide; Adam denied reality, blaming his
sin on Eve (Genesis 3:1-13). Now it is common to
see children denying a disobedient deed, or
perpetrators pleading not guilty; or even people denying
life-threatening illnesses. But although those in denial seem
to succeed in avoiding their issues, sooner or
later, as John Bunyan wrote, "the road of denial
leads to the precipice of destruction.
The apostle John explained the grave
consequences of denial by introducing five hypothetical
rebukes in 1 John 1. These "if/then" conditional
statements unveil illogical conclusions created by the
denial of truth: "If we say that we have no sin,
[then] we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not
in us" (v. 8) is one example. Another is: "If
we say that we have not sinned, [then] we make
Him a liar, and His word is not in us" (v. 10).
But tucked in between these two examples
is a promise repeated by millions in moments of
honesty: today's verse. If we don't deny - but
confess - the truth that we are sinners, God
promises to not only forgive our wrongs but also
cleanse us. That is, He's going to help us cease
from "all unrighteousness" (emphasis added) -
from ever doing wrong again. Denying denial is
the means to receiving God's richest promise: He
will wipe your slate clean and keep it clean.
So turn around if you're on "the road of
denial. There's still time to experience God's
promise of full rehabilitation.
Lord Jesus, I am a sinner in desperate
need of forgiveness. I confess freely that I have
broken Your law. Please forgive me. [The Most
Amazing Bible Promises by Amazing Facts]
We should not try to lessen our guilt by
excusing sin. We must accept God's estimate of sin,
and that is heavy indeed. Calvary alone can
reveal the terrible enormity of sin. If we had to
bear our own guilt, it would crush us. But the
sinless One has taken our place; though undeserving,
He has borne our iniquity. "If we confess our
sins," God "is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
1 John 1:9. Glorious truth! - just to His own
law, and yet the Justifier of all that believe in
Jesus. {MB 116}
When we pray for earthly blessings, the
answer to our prayer may be delayed, or God may
give us something other than we ask, but not so
when we ask for deliverance from sin. It is His
will to cleanse us from sin, to make us His
children, and to enable us to live a holy life. Christ
"gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver
us from this present evil world, according to
the will of God and our Father." DA266
Confess your sins to God, who only can
forgive them, and your faults to one another. If you
have given offense to your friend or neighbor,
you are to acknowledge your wrong, and it is his
duty freely to forgive you. Then you are to seek
the forgiveness of God, because the brother you
have wounded is the property of God, and in
injuring him you sinned against his Creator and
Redeemer
True confession is always of a specific
character, and acknowledges particular sins. They may
be of such a nature as to be brought before God
only; they may be wrongs that should be confessed
to individuals who have suffered injury through
them; or they may be of a public character, and
should then be as publicly confessed. But all
confession should be definite and to the point,
acknowledging the very sins of which you are guilty.
SC37, 8
LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY
1 John 1:9 - Confession Brings Forgiveness
and Cleansing.
https://www.abible.com/devotions/2023/20230731-1057.html
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2023/20230131-0945.html
1 John 3:4 - Definition of Sin.
https://www.abible.com/devotions/2009/20090219-1311.html
LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT
https://abible.com/links/
