Hi, this is the Hymn We Proclaim podcast. The last several years has seen a bit of a falling away of churchgoers, hasn't it? The reasons are many, but, none the less, it's a real issue to pray about. The early church faced a similar issue.
some of the folks were leaving the fellowship and would turn around and preach another gospel and spread doubt among those who stayed. It's at this point where we get the passage that talks about walking in the light as he's in the light. Here's John with God Is Light, Part two. If you have your Bibles, you can turn to the book of 1 John. And we're looking at chapter 1, verses 5 through chapter 2, verse 2.
Look back just really quick, just to get the context. Verses 1 through 4 of chapter 1. John, as we say, he begins his letter. By stating the purpose of why he proclaims the word of life, this is the gospel, this is the incarnation of Christ, the revelation of God to man in Christ. He says, This is the purpose of why we proclaim the word of life.
He says it is to bring believers into fellowship with each other and, he says, with the triune God. He says, verse 3: And what we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you, and here it is, so that you may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son, Jesus Christ. He proceeds to elaborate on the nature of this fellowship in chapter 1, verse 5 through chapter 2, verse 2. And so, John, as he's teaching on what this fellowship, the nature of this fellowship looks like in chapter 1, verse 5, he introduces an important theme that he deals with in this letter, which is the topic of sin and how sin has great effect, negative effects on fellowship with God and with each other. And so, John is taking up this topic of sin and how it affects this fellowship that is brought about by the preaching of the gospel in the Christ visible church.
So, in chapter one through chapter two, this first. A cycle of teaching in his letter. This is John's burden. His burden is to give comfort, is to assure the believers. In his congregation, After the recent departure of some of the former church members, look at chapter 2, verse 19.
He's talking about some people who were members of the church and they hadn't left. Chapter 2, verse 19, he says they went out from us. They have left the church. They have departed the fellowship. They're not a part of the fellowship of churches that John and the apostles had planted and established through the preaching of the gospel, chapter 1, verses 1 through 4.
And what had happened is this, is that those who had left the fellowship of the apostolic churches that John had planted, they had adopted different views about the person and work of Christ. They were teaching that Jesus was not God come in human flesh. They also adopted different views of sin. They were denying, as we're going to see today, the reality of human sinfulness. And because of this, chapter 2 verses 1 through 2, we're denying the need for Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross for sins.
And so these claims that they were making, these denials that they were making. It had created doubts in people's minds who had remained in John's churches. And these people were thinking thoughts perhaps like this.
Well, they say that they don't sin anymore because they've got this higher knowledge of God, but we continue to sin.
So, do we really have fellowship with God? Because they claim to have fellowship with God and they claim to not sin. But We thought we had fellowship with God, but we continue to sin. And they were wondering, you know, do we have eternal life? They had lost the assurance of their salvation.
They were thinking, well, is Jesus sacrificed on the cross for sin? Is it necessary? Did Jesus come in the flesh? Is he God in human flesh? And so they had doubts.
They had lost the assurance of their faith. And that's the broad context here.
So, John is writing to assure those who are in the fellowship of his churches. That they do have eternal life, that they have true salvation in Christ. This brings us to chapter 1, verses 5 through 10, where John refutes three false claims to fellowship made by those who left the church. Look at verses 6, 8, and 10 of chapter 1. These are where the three false claims are found.
He says, verse 6, he says, if we claim to have fellowship, he's talking about not those who are in the church. He's not talking about those who had remained in the church. And we're confessing the truth of the gospel, chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, that the apostles had proclaimed to them. He's not talking about those believers. It's very important that you understand this.
Verse 6, he says, if we claim to have fellowship, who? Those who have departed. We're going to come back to that. Verse 8: If we claim to be without sin. Those who were in the church, who remained in the churches, they were not claiming to be without sin.
It was those who had departed. Who claimed to now be without sin? We're going to come back to that in a minute. Verse 10: If we claimed we have not sinned. And so, what John does is by refuting these three false claims of those who have left the church, John assures those who remained in the fellowship of the churches that they have fellowship with God, that they have salvation, that they have eternal life.
Does everybody see this broad context here? If you don't get this broad context, you will not understand what John is doing to bring assurance to believers. Because this is the purpose this morning, not just for who John wrote to, but for you. to leave here with assurance. With rest, with comfort, with confidence.
John says, he says, at the end of this letter, he says, this is the confidence. confidence that we have in the day of judgment.
So he wants you to have confidence. This Look at the first claim. We just really quickly, we looked at this last time. He says there's this claim to have fellowship with God yet walk in darkness. If verses 6 and 7, if we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, he says we lie and do not live by the truth.
He says, but if we walk in the light, as he isn't in the light, chapter 1, verse 5, God is light in him, and there's no darkness at all.
So he's just referring back to chapter 1, verse 5. If we walk in the light, as he isn't in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. And so first, John refutes the claim by those who departed the fellowship of the churches. They were saying, well, we have fellowship with God. He says, but you continue to walk in the darkness.
He says in chapter 1, verse 5, which is his thesis statement, he says, God is light. And he says, Because God is light, those who are in fellowship with God don't walk in the darkness, they walk in the light. What is it we said is to walk in darkness? To walk in darkness in this context is to reject the gospel that the apostles preached. Chapter 1 verses 1 through 4.
If you reject the gospel, which brings Light, right? Because that's what Jesus says without John's gospel. I am the what? Light of the world. You believe that me will not what?
Walk in darkness. Walking in darkness is to reject this apostolic gospel that was given by the eyewitnesses of these apostles in chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. To walk in darkness is also because you reject the gospel, therefore, it results in, listen, not living in accordance with God's commandments. Because what does the gospel produce? The fruit of what?
Obedience. And so he says, walking in darkness is to live and behave in a way that is antithetical to God's revealed will. What is that in this context? For us to abandon the apostolic gospel. To deny, he says throughout this letter, to deny that Jesus is God come in human flesh.
To deny that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross is necessary for the salvation from sin. Third thing it is to claim, as is due here, to have fellowship with God, but yet you don't share fellowship with other fellow believers. Look at chapter 2, verses 8 through 11. And John tells you exactly what he means here in chapter 1, verse 6, about walking in darkness. He says in verse 8, he says, I'm writing this new commandment to you, which is true in him, in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.
Look, verse 9: the one who says he is in the light, the secessionists, those who have departed from the churches. Mm. Look, and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. Verse 10, he says, The one who loves his brother, who is that? And those are the ones who remained in the fellowship of the churches and have not departed.
He says those, the one who loves his brother, abides in the light, and there's no cause for stumbling in him. One who hates his brother, those who depart from the fellowship of these apostolic churches that were planted and established and created through the preaching of the gospel, right? He says, The one who hates his mother and departs from the church. He says, these are the ones who walk in darkness. He says, and they're in the darkness because they've not been illumined by the gospel, and they walk in darkness.
And he says, and they don't know where they're going because the darkness has blinded their eyes, his eyes. But he says on the flip side, he says, walk in the light. What is that? It means simply to walk in the light. It means to come into the light of the truth of the gospel that has been proclaimed by the apostles.
It's to receive Christ. Incarnate God in human flesh who died on the cross, which is necessary for the salvation and forgiveness and cleansing of your sin. He says to walk in light is not to depart from churches that proclaim the apostolic gospel, he says, but is to remain in those churches. He says walk in the light is to obey Christ's command, chapter 2, to love God's people in the church, to love his church. And lastly, in this context, to walk in the light means that you confess sin, you don't deny sin.
So This leads us to verses 8 and 9, where John refutes a second false claim to fellowship with God made by those who left the church. Look at verses 8 and 9. John refutes this claim, the claim to have fellowship with God, and therefore you have ceased to sin. He refutes that false claim. Look at versions 8 and 9.
He says, if we say that we have no sin, he's talking again about the secessionists, those who have departed from the church. He says, if we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves. And the truth is not in us. Verse 9, if we confess our sins, who are these people and those who remained in the church? And who are doing this on a weekly basis in the church?
We'll come back to that. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And John says, those who left the fellowship of the churches established by the apostles through the preaching of the word of life, chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. They left that, but yet they claim to have entered into a higher fellowship. And then those who were still in the church.
They have this higher fellowship than is experienced by what is experienced by most other Christians. They are super spiritual Christians now. They have this super knowledge of God. They have this higher fellowship. heightened fellowship with God.
And because of this heightened super anointing that John talks about in this letter, where he refers to you have the anointing and this and that.
Well, I'll tell you what that is later, but they're saying they have this super anointing. And so there are these super high-level spiritual Christians who know God in a way that most Christians don't know God. John says, as a result of that, they no longer are guilty of committing sins. They have come into a state of fellowship with God where they no longer commit sins. John refutes this false claim in this passage.
He says to those who have departed, making this false claim, he says, if we say that we have no sin, we are, listen to this, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Iran says that those who claim to no longer sin are deceived, and the truth is not in them. Look at the phrase in verse 8, chapter 1, verse 8. Look at the phrase at the end of verse 8. He says, The truth is not in us.
Look at chapter 2, verse 4. He has a parallel phrase in chapter 2, verse 4. He says, The one who says, I have come to know him, he's talking about those who have left the fellowship, those who have departed. He is quoting a claim made by those who have departed and entered into this higher fellowship with God. He says, The one who says, I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments, is a liar.
And look at this, and the truth is not in him. He says it again. And so what John says is the person who claims to no longer commit sins deceives himself because he's lying to himself. Look at chapter 1, verse 6. John says to claim to have fellowship with God, but walk in darkness.
He says this makes a person a liar.
Now, look at verse chapter 1, verse 8. He says the claim to have fellowship in God and no longer commit sins involves lying to oneself. This deceived state is evidence, he says, that the truth is not in that person. Why? Because if you look carefully throughout the letter of 1 John, what does John understand by this truth that is in a believer?
Truth, first of all, John says in this letter, is the apostolic proclamation of the word of life. It's the gospel. The truth of the message, which they said they had heard with their ears, they had seen with their eyes, they had looked at and examined under a microscope, they had touched with their physical hands in the beginning as eyewitnesses and handed on to the readers. John says that's the truth that is in people, that brings them into the light. In chapter four, verse six, listen to what he says about this truth.
He says this truth, this truth of the gospel is illuminated through the action of the Holy Spirit. Chapter 4, verse 6, John calls the Holy Spirit, quote, the Spirit of truth. And so he distinguishes in chapter 4, verse 6, the spirit of truth from what he calls the spirit of error. What is the spirit of error in this letter? First, it's the denial of the incarnation of Christ.
Second, it's the denial of the need. for the atoning sacrifice of Jesus for your sins. Third, it's the claim that he's refuting here to no longer commit sins if you're in fellowship with God. That's the spirit of error. That's not the truth that the Holy Spirit illuminates in a person who is truly in fellowship with God.
John insists that those who are truly in fellowship with God, who receive the apostolic proclamation of the gospel by faith, Commenting on light. They're not deceived. They're not in the darkness. Their minds have been. Uh and illuminated.
It's like sitting in a dark room. And you can't sit your hand in front of your face, and all of a sudden, Light comes on you go wow, I never saw that before And you're like, exactly. And John says, Those who come into the light, who are illuminated by the Spirit of truth, through the working through God's truth. Right. They come and begin to live out the implications of the gospel.
What are the implications of the gospel in this context that John is talking about? He says, you don't deny sin if you're in fellowship with God. If you haven't been illuminated by the truth of God's word through his gospel and awakened by this Holy Spirit who's working inside of you, you don't deny that you cease to sin. You acknowledge that that's what you do all the time. You see, because the Holy Spirit working through the truth brings the believer into the light where he or she.
is no longer deceived. but can see clearly for the first time. The Holy Spirit of truth illuminates, does not conceal sin. He reveals John in his gospel. In John chapter 16, verse 8, Jesus says, Listen to what he says, and he, when he comes, the Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness in judgment.
John says, when the truth is in you. You don't deny your sin. You don't claim to have ceased to sin. You don't claim to be no longer guilty of committing sins when the Spirit of Truth is in you, when the truth is in us. The Holy Spirit's work is to convict, it is to lay bare, it is to illuminate and shed light on the fact that you have sinned.
It is to awaken in us a consciousness of guilt. To waken in us an awareness. of our constant sin. And listen carefully. I'm going to get to the good part because you're thinking, golly, that's just so heavy.
No, no, no, no. That truth is for your comfort. You cannot have assurance of salvation if you think you cease to sin. Why? Because you don't bring your need to Christ to have it forgiven and cleansed.
Which brings us to verses 8 and 9. John says there is a double fruit of God's response to people who confess their sins, who are walking in the light. They have forgiveness and cleansing. John says the person who is truly in fellowship with God does not deny that he or she commits sin. Rather, they confess that they sin because the truth is in them.
The Holy Spirit of truth is working in them. Confession of sin is the result of walking in the light. It is the result of having the truth in us. And John says in verse 9.
Now, this is very important to get. You don't see this in the English, but in verse 9, he says, Those who are in fellowship with God. Constantly acknowledge they sin. Because the verb tenses show us that this is a constant, continual practice of those who are in fellowship with God. They acknowledge, they're cognizant, they're aware, they have self-awareness, they're not deceived.
Yes, I sin. And John says, there's this double fruit that comes. God, as a response to those who are in this state of walking in the light and going, gosh, I acknowledge, I confess. That's just confession is just acknowledgement. Yes, I see it.
And so, what's the remedy? And where's the comfort? Here it is. John says, God forgives and he cleanses. First, John says God forgives our sins.
If you claim that you're without sin, you can't receive forgiveness. In His grace, God forgives us from every sin we commit in thought, word, and deed every single day. 24/7, 365 forgives it all. In chapter 1, verse 7, look what John says. He says, The forgiveness of our sins is possible because of the blood of Jesus.
What is the blood of Jesus? That's a way of speaking about his substitutionary atonement, his death on the cross for our sins. Because Christ shed his blood for us on the cross, our sins can be forgiven. Listen carefully. Stop referring to yourself as a debtor to God.
You're not a debtor. Listen carefully. We were debtors to God's law. But we're no longer in debt to his law. Why?
Because Christ. paid our debt. By his death on the cross, and graciously canceled all our debt. We're not debtors. We must not think of ourselves as debtors because debt.
is wrong correlation to grace. Grace pays all your debt. And frees you from a state of indebtedness. We owe nothing to God's law now for our standing before God forevermore. When God forgives our sin, He no longer remembers them.
He does not bring them to His mind. He does not hold our sins in thought, word, and deed against us evermore for Christ's sake. Listen to the question and the answer of 56 in the Heinberg Catechism. And I read this often because I find great comfort. In it, what do you believe concerning the forgiveness of sins as it's referring to the Apostles' Creed?
You know, I believe in the forgiveness of sins. What do you believe about that? Listen to this answer that God. Because of Christ's satisfaction. You're seeing.
Because of Christ's satisfaction, debt satisfied. Gotten's law, penalty, everything satisfied. That because of Christ's satisfaction, God will no longer remember my sins. Listen to this, nor my sinful nature against which I have to struggle all my life. Who has been struggling this past week against your sinful nature?
Every hand goes up, or else you're a false believer, right? You've departed the fellowship, John says. We all struggle against our sinful nature every single day of our lives. Think God, because of Christ's satisfaction, doesn't hold that against us. Why?
Because he graciously imputes to me the righteousness of Christ so that I may never come into condemnation. That's the first benefit. Second, John says that God cleanses us from all unrighteousness. In His grace, God purifies us. From all, not some, but all unrighteousness that we commit in thought, word, and deed.
Every person in here is guilty of having committed some kind of sin that just made you feel polluted and defiled and dirty before God. And because you felt dirty, because you felt defiled, because you felt unclean and polluted, you're just thinking, oh my goodness, what is wrong with me? And your conscience is just exploding with guilt. The blood of Jesus cleanses you from all that. God Cleanses us from Um unrighteousness.
Everything. We have echoes of Eden, where Adam and Eve incurred guilt and defilement before God when they broke the covenant of works. As a result, this perfect fellowship that they had, that they experienced with God and with each other, was destroyed. And they hid before God in their guilt, and their shame, and their defilement, and their pollution before God. When we sin, John says, we not just incur guilt, but we also incur defilement.
We feel filthy, we feel dirty, polluted. Both guilt and defilement prevent fellowship with God in each other. Because God is light, chapter one, verse five. Because God is light, because God is holy and he's the source of all truth. John says he cannot have fellowship with darkness.
He cannot have fellowship with those who are in their guilt and in their defilement. But in His grace, God for Christ's sake removes our guilt, removes our defilement, which prevents fellowship with God and prevents fellowship with each other. We see this removal of guilt and this removal of defilement in David's confession of sin in Psalm 51. Listen to this confession. This is the confession of a true believer walking in fellowship, walking in the light.
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness, according to the multitude of your tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Listen, here's the defilement. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. I acknowledge my transgressions.
I confess them. My sin is always before me. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin, my mother conceived me. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, a new steadfast spirit within me, a spirit that doesn't want to go back again, but continue pressing forward.
Now here's the question. Frowhole Can't we have assurance? That God is actually going to forgive and cleanse, and that He actually. does these things for us on a daily, constant, consistent basis. John tells you in verse chapter 1 verse 9, look at chapter 1 verse 9.
John says God is faithful. and the righteous. What is God? If somebody asked you that question, how would you answer? What is God?
What is God like? John tells us three things here in chapter one. He tells us in chapter one, verse five: he says, God is light. What is that? God is holy.
God is pure. God is the source of truth for salvation. He has sent Christ to be the revelation of God to man for the salvation of his sins. He's the source of truth. God is faithful.
Chapter one, verse nine, God is faithful. God is righteous. God is just. God is faithful. Why is this important for John to say this?
Because most people doubt that he's going to do what he's promised. This time, I've just sinned too much, too often, too consistently, and there's just no hope for me to ever be forgiven and cleansed. It's just not possible. I've just, I've gone too far this time. Who's ever thought like that?
I'm just too far down the road, so might as well just splat and burn because God, He's just, He's tired of it. He's tired of me. John says, God is faithful. God's faithfulness is a source of assurance and comfort. From the very beginning, right after Adam and Eve sinned, again, we have echoes of Eden.
God surprisingly promises to forgive their sins and restore the fellowship that was lost. They weren't expecting that. If you expect grace, you've never understood it. In Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, the Lord graciously promises to reverse the curse of death on humans through the sending of the champion offspring of Eve. And this promise of Genesis 3:15 is what's called the mother promise in the Bible, from which the rest of the entire story of the Bible unfolds.
And from this promise onward, from Genesis 3:15 onward, we see that the Lord is. faithful to his covenant promise. If God made promises to forgive our sins and then refused to do so, he wouldn't be faithful, he would be unfaithful. In Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 34, which the author of Hebrews quotes twice in Hebrews 8 and Hebrews 10. Listen to what the Lord promises.
I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. This is the good news. John says that when we confess our sins, we can have the full assurance that God will forgive us and He'll cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Why? Because He's faithful to His covenant promise.
He's faithful. The history of redemption. When you read the Bible, what are you looking for? Right, what are you looking for? ASOPS Fables?
Like David, take up your five stones, being like Daniel, dare to be a Daniel kind of thing, right? No, what you're looking for is God being faithful to his covenant promise to send the champion offspring Christ to save you. And the history of redemption from Genesis to Revelation reveals God's perfect track record of keeping his promises. We live in a world that lets us down. Yeah.
We understand what broken promises are like. Broken promises of marriages that wreck marriages. We know what that looks like. But the scriptures reveal to us the assuring truth that God will never go back on his word. That's what we look for when we read the Bible.
To the Corinthian believers who were an absolute mess. They were a total mess in that church. Listen to the promise that Paul gives to those messed up believers. God is faithful. Through whom you are called into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
This is what John is saying in chapter one, verses one through four. In this this uh Eyewitness experience of the incarnation of Christ. It is God's revelation of salvation and truth to men, right? John is saying that when he says God is faithful, he's saying go back and look at the revelation of Christ to you. That we have heard and that we have seen and that we have looked at and touched.
That Apostolic eyewitness account of Jesus God in human flesh is the fullest embodiment and greatest evidence of God's faithfulness to forgive and cleanse sinners. John says the gospel directs the eyes of our faith to the promise-making God who keeps his promises to forgive our sins, to cleanse us from our sins, to take us to be his covenant people in fellowship with him, in fellowship with one another. And the Holy Spirit of truth that abides in us directs our faith to all of this. Where Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:20, for all of God's promises are yes in him. God is faithful.
Second, he says God is just. He's dealing with this problem. How can God be said to be just and a righteous judge when He forgives the guilty? Paul answers this question very clear in Romans 3:20 through 28, but John does it here too. Look at 1 John 2, verse 2.
John understands. God to be just and righteous in forgiving those who confess their sins. Why? Because he says he sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Look at chapter 4, verse 10.
He says, Listen carefully, and this is love. Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. This is great comfort for those who sin because this is an expression of God's love, the Father's love for us. Because of the Father's love for us, He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And if you doubt the Father's love for you, John says, look to Jesus, who was a propitiation on the cross for you, and there you see the Father's love for you.
The Father didn't send the Son to be a propitiation so that the Father could love you. The Father loved you, therefore he sent his Son to be the propitiation for your sins. And John says God acts righteously when He forgives sin. He's just. He's just to purify you when you sin because Christ has satisfied justice.
For you, he is the propitiation for you, justice satisfied. In all of this, John says, is because the Father loves you. And this is love. Not that we have loved God, we haven't kept the great commandment, we haven't loved God and our neighbor perfectly ever. But that He loved us.
And how did he demonstrate it? He sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Justice satisfied. He's just, he's faithful, he's loving, he's light. Welcome to the gospel, John says.
And here's There's so much more to say. Let me just say this. This good news frees us to confess our sins rather than conceal them. If God is not faithful, if He's not just, if He's not loving, if He's not gracious, if He's not light, I'm hiding. I'm gonna hide.
Just like Adam and Eve. But we're free to confess our sins, not deny them because God. Has reconciled us to Himself by Christ's sacrifice. Because He forgives our guilt, because He cleanses us from our defilement, because He makes us holy, makes us pure, makes us righteous to stand before Him, we're free to confess all our sin. We don't have to run and hide.
Because he's not our judge. He is our Father. 1 John chapter 3. See how great, see how great a love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God.
So, as we've got to wrap this up, as we reflect this morning on this great text. This is the ironic truth. And this ironic truth assures our hearts. It's comfort. John says that this false claim by the secessionists, we no longer sin.
We're in fellowship with God, we've come into this higher fellowship. This is ironic truth. John says, those who are in fellowship with God, those who actually walk in the light, as God is in the light, They don't deny their sin, they actually friendly admit it. The person who claims to no longer sin and be free of sin, the ironic thing is, they're not walking in the light, they're not in fellowship with God. This should bring great comfort to our consciences and joy to our hearts.
Because it can be an overwhelming thing to constantly see your sin, can't it? We know what that feels like, but that's not where we stay. Because we can go on to the absolution. That's what we live in that. Note also, John doesn't say that confession of sins is what places us in fellowship with God.
Do you know how many people read this and say, well, if we do this, then God will do this. And if we don't do that, then God will do this. This is not a covenant of works that John's talking about. If you confess, then he'll do this. It's not what he's saying, it's not a covenant of works.
Because he's already told us how we come into fellowship with God in chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, through the preaching of the gospel through faith in Christ. John is saying that this is the consequence. Confession of sin is just the natural consequence of those who are already in fellowship with God. Do you see the difference? Those who by faith trust Christ.
The consequence isn't their lives will be characterized by an honest and ongoing confession and acknowledgement of sin. That don't deny their sins and listen to this and be comforted by this. Your Sinning is not an impediment to your fellowship with God or each other, provided that you're confessing it, right? Because the one who has impeded fellowship with God and each other are the ones who deny that they can no longer sin. Who claimed that they no longer sin?
Here's one final point of application. We're just finished with this. We'll come back next week. New Testament scholars point out that every place in the New Testament where there is a confession of sin is not private, but public. And so scholars think that John might perhaps have been minding chapter 1, verse 9, a public confession of sin in the church.
For example, if you're reading the didique, it says in church, thou shalt confess thy transgressions and shalt not betake thyself to prayer with an evil conscience. This isn't a way of life. The importance of public confession of sin is vital. This is why each week when we come to receive the Lord's Supper, we have a time of corporate confession or sin where those of us who are able to do so, we kneel in humility. Inhumility.
And this is what we confess. Almighty God, Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker and Judge of us all, we acknowledge, we confess and lament our many sins. Sins and offenses which we have committed by thought, word, and deed against your divine majesty, provoking most justly your righteous anger against us. We are deeply sorry for these, our transgressions. The burden on them is more than we can bear.
We confess, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, most merciful Father, for your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Say, forgive us all that is past and grant that we may evermore serve and please you in newness of life to the honor and glory of your name through Jesus Christ. Lord, amen. But this isn't a bare confession that leaves us in a state of doubt concerning God's forgiveness and cleansing, because following the Apostle John's example right here in 1 John. Where we have confession of sin, verses 8 and 9, then we have the absolution of sin, chapter 2, verses 1 through 2.
And we hear these comf words that Kramner wrote for us. If one says we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins. And so our confession of sin concludes in assurance of grace and pardon. Because John says God is faithful.
And he's just. And that's our comfort. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you're faithful. We thank you that you are just, that you are righteous to do these things to forgive us and to cleanse us because of Christ and his propitiation on the cross for our sins.
We thank you that through Christ justice has been satisfied and that we receive grace because of your great love for us to make us your children, not your slaves. We thank you that we're not slaves who have a debt, but we're children who have a father who've given us a glorious inheritance, John says.
So, comfort our hearts this morning as we come to receive the. Your means of grace. And help us to have the assurance by your spirit of truth in us that all that we have heard. proclaim to us in your audible gospel this morning is made. Certain to our hearts through the sign and seal of your visible gospel at your table now, we pray in Jesus' name.
Amen. Thanks again for listening to the Hemi Proclaim podcast. Please subscribe if you haven't already for all our new episodes. And if this message was just what you needed to hear, please let us know in the comments and share it with a friend.
