Confession of Sin
1st John 1:8-2:2
Jeff Hughes
I. Introduction
a. By way of introduction, let’s briefly go over the three verses we studied last time.
b. First, we looked at The Message - God’s sinless perfection, and how God’s message to us is a promise, and not just a message, by looking at the original language of the text. We also saw that God is light, and in Him is no sin.
c. Next, we looked at the Lie – which is walking in darkness. Also, that if we say we have fellowship with Christ, but yet walk in darkness, we are lying to ourselves. Now one thing interesting we noted is that the phrase “walking in darkness” doesn’t refer to occasionally failing into sin, but rather, it refers to a lifestyle of sin, an unregenerate life.
d. Third, we looked at the Truth - which is walking in the light. We saw that if we have fellowship with Jesus in our lives, and walk after Him, that we would then, as the body of Christ have fellowship with one another. Also, we receive the continual cleansing from sin by Jesus’ sacrifice.
e. Finally, to wrap it all up, we looked at the wide gate and narrow gate Jesus described in Matthew Chapter 7, and we looked at some of the reasons why people would choose to walk in darkness, and take the broad gate leading to destruction.
f. Tonight we are going to look at the topic of Confession of Sin. Our text comes from 1 John 1:8-10, and we also are going to include Chapter 2 verses 1 and 2.
II. Illustration – There is nothing that so takes the joy out of life like unconfessed sin on the conscience. The late Dr. F.E. Marsh told a story that on one occasion he was preaching and urging upon his hearers the importance of confession of sin and wherever possible of restitution for wrong done to others. At the close a young man, a member of the church, came up to him very troubled. "Pastor," he explained, "you have put me in a sad fix. I have wronged a man and I am ashamed to confess it or to try to put it right. You see, I am a boat builder and the man I work for is an infidel. I have talked to him often about his need for Christ and asked him to come and hear you preach, but he scoffs and ridicules me every time I do. Now, I have been guilty of something that, if I tell it to him, it will ruin my testimony forever." He then went on to say that sometime ago he started to build a boat for himself in his own yard. In this work copper nails are used because they do not rust in the water. These nails are quite expensive and the young man had been carrying home quantities of them to use on the job. He knew it was stealing, but he tried to ease his conscience be telling himself that the master had so many he would never miss them and besides he was not being paid all that he thought he deserved. But this sermon had brought him to face the fact that he was just a common thief, for whose dishonest actions there was no excuse. "But," said the young man, "I cannot go to my boss and tell him what I have done or offer to pay for those I have used and return the rest. If I do he will think I am just a hypocrite. And yet those copper nails are digging into my conscience and I know I will never have peace until I put this matter right." For weeks the struggle went on. Then one night he came to Dr. Marsh and exclaimed, "Pastor, I’ve settled for the copper nails and my conscience is relieved at last." "What happened when you confessed to your employer what you had done?" asked the pastor. "Oh," the young man answered, "he looked at me, then exclaimed, ’George, I always did think you were just a hypocrite, but now I begin to feel there’s something in this Christianity after all. Any religion that would make a dishonest workman come back and confess to me that he had been stealing copper nails and offer to settle for them, must be worth having.’" Reformation and restitution do not save. But where one is truly repentant and has come to God in sincere confession, he will want to the best of his ability to put things right with others.
III. Text
a. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
b. Tonight, we’ll look at four points from this text: The Deception (8 and 10), Confession and Forgiveness (9), Our Advocate (2:1), and The Propitiation (2:2)
IV. Study
a. The Deception (verses 8 and 10)
i. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
ii. It is interesting to note is that these two scriptures parallel each other. I believe that God did this in order to stress a point, while emphasizing the verse in between, which happens to be a cornerstone of the faith. God is trying to highlight verse nine with these two parallel thoughts in 8 and 10.
iii. First let’s examine verse 8. What scripture is re-iterating here to the church (since it confirms itself) is that all of us sin, and fall short of the Glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Also, he is re-iterating Psalm 14:3 and Romans 3:10 – There is not one righteous, no not one.
iv. If we break down verse 8 some more - If we say that we have no sin – That word sin there in the Greek is singular, as opposed to verse 9, which is plural. Now, what that means is that verse 8 is talking about our sin nature, rather than the sins themselves that we commit. We all have a natural proclivity to sin, which entered the word with Adam and Eve. So, those that seek to say man is naturally good, as I have heard some New Age and other cults put out there, these are the very people John is writing against. They are deceiving themselves, because scripture tells us that God can’t be deceived, only we can. Also, the truth is not in them.
v. Now verse 10 is very similar, even parallel in thought to verse 8. The basic idea here is similar to verse 8. If we say that we have not sinned, then we make Him out to be a liar, and His Word is not in us.
vi. The wrinkle here is that we see a different word for sin again, different from verse 9 or verse 8. It is in the past tense. It is talking about the sins we commit every day, and have committed, rather than the sin nature. Some cults teach that through a life of chastening and denying oneself, we can reach a state of sinlessness as a believer. In actuality, we are counted as sinless or righteous through the blood of Jesus, but we are fallen vessels in a fallen world. We read here that this is wrong, and if we believe it true, we make Jesus out to be a liar. Notice the gradation – “we lie” verse 6, “we deceive” verse 8, and “we make Him out to be a liar” verse 10. We, as believer only attain the sinless life through being translated into our new likenesses in heaven.
vii. Remember that John is writing this epistle to combat the heresy of Gnosticism, which was spreading in the first century church. They believed that they had such a high relationship with God that they were above the command of God. It is sad is that there are some around today that still teach and believe the lies that John wrote to combat.
b. Confession and Forgiveness (v. 9)
i. So, we looked at the two verses surrounding this one. Now we get to look at the important point God was trying to emphasize.
ii. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
iii. The basic idea here is that if we confess our sins, we are forgiven and cleansed from them.
iv. If we look a little deeper, John tell us here that God is faithful, encouraging the church. Numbers 23:19 tells us that God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. We saw in our previous study in verse 5 that God is light, and in Him no darkness dwells.
v. But, just as God is faithful to forgive our sins, no matter how numerous, and how terrible, we as Christians are called to forgive others, as in Matthew 6:12 in the Lord’s Prayer. What I take from this verse is that it is especially true when someone comes to us to ask forgiveness.
vi. That is why this verse is a cornerstone of my faith. Many times, when I’ve led someone to Christ, they have asked, “How can I be sure I am forgiven?” I take them here, and let God do the reassuring. Then, I would read the next verse, and they could gain more insight into the forgiveness they just received.
c. The Advocate
i. 1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
ii. This is a rich verse. Here John reveals the second reason why he penned the epistle. We see here that he wrote it so that the church might not sin. So what does he mean here looking at the verse above, saying that we all have sin? What he is saying that, in light of the three verses above, we do not have a license to sin. Paul states this point beautifully in Romans 6:1 - 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not!
iii. As Christians, it is clear that we do not have a license to sin.
iv. But God is so good to us, He gives us something better than a license, He gives us an Advocate.
v. The word advocate is the Greek word Parakletos. It is used 5 times in scripture, all by John. Defined, the word can mean first, a defense counsel before a judge, or one pleading a cause. Or, second, how it is used the other 4 times, all in the Gospel of John, as comforter or helper, these other four times, it is used as a name for the Holy Spirit. In some circles today, they use the word Paraclete as a name for the Holy Spirit, which is this word transliterated.
vi. So, what does this mean for us as believers? Well, most of you know that I work for Enron Corporation. You also know that the company has gone bankrupt, and the Presidents and CEO’s of the company are being brought before various officials on the premise of being interrogated as to what happened. All of these guys have lawyers, some of them many lawyers. Well, in the spiritual realm, we have an accuser, Satan. The judge is God the Father, but our lawyer is Jesus, who is sitting at the Father’s right hand, and He pleads our case. So that if we fall into sin, Jesus is there to remind our accuser that our sins were paid for already, which we will cover in our last verse to look at tonight.
d. The Propitiation
i. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
ii. As a continuation of the thought in verse 1, we see here that Jesus, our advocate, is also our propitiation. Now that’s not a word we generally use in everyday English anymore. Propitiation defined is - the act of atoning for sin or wrongdoing. So, Jesus is the atonement for all our sins, which He did willingly at the Cross.
iii. Notice here though that He is the atonement for not only our sins, but for the whole world. Now this is an important scripture, because it clearly defines that Christ’s atoning death on the cross was for all, not just a select few. One of the five points of Calvinism is “Limited atonement”, this is one of the foundational scriptures as to why Calvary Chapel rejects the “Limited Atonement” point of Calvinism outright.
V. Conclusion
a. In conclusion I wanted to read an excerpt from an article that I read on the Christian Research Institute’s website.
b. Gnosticism is experiencing something of a revival, despite its status within church history as a vanquished Christian heresy. The magazine Gnosis, which bills itself as a "journal of western inner traditions," began publication in 1985 with a circulation of 2,500. As of September 1990, it sported a circulation of 11,000. Gnosis regularly runs articles on Gnosticism and Gnostic themes such as "Valentinus: A Gnostic for All Seasons."
Some have created institutional forms of this ancient religion. In Palo Alto, California, priestess Bishop Rosamonde Miller officiates the weekly gatherings of Ecclesia Gnostica Myteriorum (Church of Gnostic Mysteries), as she has done for the last eleven years. The chapel holds forty to sixty participants each Sunday and includes Gnostic readings in its liturgy. Miller says she knows of twelve organizationally unrelated Gnostic churches throughout the world.2 Stephan Hoeller, a frequent contributor to Gnosis, who since 1967 has been a bishop of Ecclesia Gnostica in Los Angeles, notes that "Gnostic churches...have sprung up in recent years in increasing numbers."3 He refers to an established tradition of "wandering bishops" who retain allegiance to the symbolic and ritual form of orthodox Christianity while reinterpreting its essential content.
c. Some modern theologians question the validity of Scripture and it’s application into the lives of modern man… they re-invent the gospel message and its truth to suit their audience as to not offend. They don’t talk about sin, or consequences, just love, and a feel-good message.
d. To wrap up, let’s turn to 2 Timothy 4:1-5 - 1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at* His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
e. Would to God that each one of us at Calvary Chapel Houston would endure sound doctrine, and worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.
