The Confession of Our Sin - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, May 27th. If you've received God's gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, your forgiveness is eternal. But in the meantime, 1 John chapter 1 helps us understand why the confession of our sin is necessary. Our relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ began the moment you and I confess the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. Now, there's a difference in confessing Jesus as my Savior and confessing sin. Confessing Jesus Christ as my personal Savior is what you and I do when we trust Him at salvation so that our relationship with Him begins the moment we are born again or we trust Him as personal Savior. We ask Him to forgive us of our sins. We confess our sins and then we confess Jesus as our Savior based on what He did at the cross in shedding His blood and atoning for our sin. So what happens at that moment? We take on the position no longer as enemy of God, but now we become sons and daughters of God.

That's our new position. Sons and daughters of God have a new relationship. That sonship is sealed, the Bible says, by the Holy Spirit under the day of redemption, that is until He calls us home so that therefore every single child of God is one who has been saved by His grace and goodness and love and mercy, provided that Jesus at the cross, sealed by the Holy Spirit, forever a child of God, listen, nothing can tamper with your relationship. This is why all through the Scripture, Paul says, for example, in Romans chapter eight, what can separators in the love of God, neither death, life, principalities, powers, and He names all these things and He says none of these things can separate us from God's love.

He says, my sheep hear my voice, I know them, they follow me, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone pluck them out of my hand. The moment you and I trust that Jesus as our Savior, relationship was settled once and for all, always, He says in the Scriptures, you and I will forever be a son or a daughter of God. Now, so that's the relationship, but what about fellowship? Fellowship is what you and I carry on daily in our relationship with Him.

We get up in the morning, for example, we talk to Him, we listen to Him, we talk to Him during the day, we walk in obedience to Him, we fellowship with other people, we share Him, He's at the head of our conversation, He's always in our thoughts and our minds, we're fellowshipping with Him. So what John is referring to here when he's talking about confessing sin, he's talking about keeping our fellowship right, not our relationship. Now I believe that God intends for us who are believers to enjoy Him.

I believe God wants us to love Him but to enjoy Him, to take pleasure in fellowshipping with Him and enjoy being His friend as well as His child. And so therefore if I'm going to enjoy the Christian life, one of the things I have to learn how to deal with is I have to learn how to deal with sin, because sin is a problem in the Christian life. And I want you to notice here in the very beginning of this passage that what this is all about is a problem we face. Notice if you will in verse five, he says, this is the message we heard from Him and announced to you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Then he says, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet we walk in darkness, we're not telling the truth, we're not practicing the truth.

So here's what I want you to notice. The problem here that all of us have is this, the problem is that God who is light, which means He is perfect and pure and absolutely righteous, He loves us and desires to have fellowship with us. When you and I are walking obediently before Him, we can have fellowship with Him. When you and I choose darkness in our life, and that is a good symbol in the Scriptures always in the Scriptures for sin, darkness is indication here of sin. When you and I invite darkness into our life, what we have is an immediate conflict.

How do you mix darkness and light? You cannot. How can you mix impurity with purity?

You cannot. How can you mix imperfection with perfection, you cannot. What he's talking about here is how do we live a joyful, pleasurable relationship, fellowship with the Son of God who requires holiness and purity in our life when we live in a dirty world and we're going to sin. Now someone may say, well now, what you're about to do is you're about to take away our responsibility for living holy and just tell us all we have to do is confess.

That's why I want you to listen very carefully because that is not what I'm going to say. Another one I want us to see here is this, that God Almighty understands that you and I live in a sinful, dirty world. He also understands, as the Apostle Paul describes in Galatians chapter five, and if you'll turn there for just a moment, that one of the problems we have is not just the fact that we live in a dirty world, but the Scripture says in chapter five of Galatians in verse sixteen. He says, But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh, for the flesh sets the desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. Now what does He mean by flesh?

Now once in a while I will explain something over and over and over again because there's some people, for example, who miss it. When the Bible talks about flesh, we're talking about our naturalness. We're talking about that principle, that something within me that still wants to sin at times in spite of the fact that I have been born again by the grace of God, and the Bible says that you and I have become new creations in Christ. Somebody says, Well, if you become a new creature in Christ Jesus, how is it that you can sin? Because we still live in this human physical body.

We still have those natural tendencies and senses that God gave us, a desire for rest and food and pleasure and sex and so forth, all those things God has given us to be brought under control of the Holy Spirit so we can live a joyful, happy life. And the Christian life has never been meant to be some burden that God places on us. Now one of the problems that people have oftentimes is believing that somehow God really and truly has forgiven them.

It's a real struggle. And it's a struggle for believers sometimes because of what they've been taught, sometimes because they feel so unworthy, sometimes because of certain particular sins in their life, they will say, How in the world could God ever forgive me for that? How could God ever forgive me? Look at the cross. This is the reason God can forgive you of every single solitary thing you have ever done, no matter what. It has nothing to do with your promises of being good.

It has nothing to do with how good you are and how worthy you are. It has to do with what Jesus did at the cross. You see, this is what grace is all about. If there's one message I want the world to hear, it is this, the grace of God in His love for you and me will keep us and cleanse us from our sin and keep us in right fellowship with Him so that you would not enjoy Him. And listen, as you and I learn to walk in, as He says, in the light, enjoying the Lord Jesus Christ and receiving His pleasures and His blessings, that is one of the greatest testimonies we can have because the unbelieving world is looking to see to find some happy, joyous, contented Christian, someone who is going through difficulty and hardship at the same time has this overwhelming sense of joy and confidence in their life. That is the most convincing and persuasive testimony we can give them is our life lived out in joy in the presence of the Lord.

And so if I'm not sure and if I'm really struggling over, well, has He forgiven me or has He not? Listen, we stand in saying, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine, hour of salvation, purchased of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Blessed assurance of what? Not only my relationship, but blessed assurance that I am a forgiven child of God walking in the light. Listen, but now wait a minute now, are you walking in the light?

And let's say that sin comes in your life. You walking in the light? Yes, I'm walking in the light, but I have allowed darkness into my life of that moment and I have to deal with it. That doesn't mean that I get out of the light, get over in the darkness, and now my relationship's all broken and now I'm walking in darkness. No, I am walking in the light, being cleansed with the blood of Jesus Christ and dealing with the dirt in life, dealing not only with the dirt in life, but dealing with this naturalness within me which will be there until the moment you and I die.

Now here's what I want you to notice. Listen to what He said in this passage in verse nine. He says, if you and I come to Him honestly and confessing our sins to Him, He says He will do what? He says He is faithful and righteous to forgive. Now what does forgive mean?

It means to put away. It means to put away the penalty, take away the guilt, and it means to release us from any debt of sin that we owe. He says if you and I confess it, He says He is faithful and just to forgive us and not only that, He says He's not just interested in forgiving us, He's interested in cleansing us. That is, God wants us to walk clean before Him. He wants us to walk purely before Him. But He knows that because of this naturalness within us, because this dirty world we live in, we're not going to stay that way very long. That's why He says the blood of Jesus Christ is continually cleansing us from all sin. And He says this is my promise. You confess it, you're forgiven. That's the promise of God. Not only that, He says, but I will cleanse your life so that you and I can walk in obedience before Him. And so when should a person confess?

Instantly. Because listen, if I deal with it right then and there, I am forgiven instantly and I don't require God to get on my case. Now the last thing I want to say in this message, and I'm coming to it, if I don't deal with it, something is going to happen. So He says here's the promise. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just. Now, He backs that promise up with saying He's faithful and just.

What does He mean? When He says He's faithful, that means He's reliable. You can always count on Him.

Every single solitary thing God promises, God will perform. Now listen to what He says. If we confess our sins, He's faithful. You can trust Him.

You can bet on it. He's reliable. He's faithful.

He'll do it. His promise will be kept. He's faithful and just. What does He mean by just? That He is right in forgiving us.

Now listen carefully. I've explained this many times. How can God, who is holy, forgive one who is guilty and unholy? Because when Jesus Christ went to the cross, took your sin, placed it on Him, He died, He paid the penalty. Therefore God can put you and me in the stream, in the ever... Listen, in the daily river of His cleansing and forgiveness in every single moment of our life, we are living in the cleansing forgiveness of Almighty God. Confession keeps my fellowship right.

The blood of Jesus Christ is what it is in my life that cleanses me. So He says He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Then He comes along to give us added assurance. Listen to what He says in chapter 2. Now He says, My little children, He says, I have written these things to you. I'm writing these things to you that you may not sin. He didn't say so you'd never sin, but that you may not sin. He says, and or but, if anyone sins, we have been advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Now what does He mean with that? Now listen to what He says. This is John desiring that you and I learn to live in continuing, listen, uninterrupted fellowship with the Lord.

And here's what He says. He says, we have an advocate with the Father. Not only has He promised to forgive us, but we have an advocate with the Father. Now that's the same word that John uses in his gospel when he says, our comfort to our parakletos, the one that comes alongside of us. He says, we have one, the Lord Jesus Christ, who stands in our stead.

Now today, we know that the Lord Jesus is seated at the Father's right hand. What is He doing? According to Hebrews, He's making intercession for us. He's bringing our needs and our attention to the Father.

So when you and I come to Him, it makes no difference what we come to Him for. He's there, He says there's one mediator between God and man, that's the person Jesus Christ. We have someone, listen, seated at the Father's right hand, who's on our side.

Now the Father is too, of course. He's there to make intercession for us. He's there to plead our cause, plead our case. He's there to affirm our relationship that we're one of the children of God. We are part of His sonship, part of His family. He's our advocate. We have Him to stand in our stead. Not only He says He's our advocate, but He's our sacrifice.

What does He say? A reminder that, listen, you and I do not have to pay for our sin. The blood of Jesus Christ, His sacrificial death 2,000 years ago keeps me clean 2,000 years later. My confession is my way of opening the door in order that what? The blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses me, I take advantage of that and I keep my fellowship with Him absolutely right. And so what this passage is all about is a child of God, keeping that fellowship right with the Lord Jesus Christ, walking in fellowship with Him so that you and I are positioned to receive the blessings and the goodness and the pleasures that God wants to place in our life. But suppose I choose not to confess.

Well, my friend, listen carefully. If you and I confess our sin at that moment, the cleansing process means that at that moment, God not only forgives us but takes that out of our life and He wipes away the consequences of it. Now let me say quickly, there are some sins for which there are consequences that even forgiveness does not eliminate the result of what happens in that particular sin. And so, but we're not talking about God's not punishing that person. If He forgives us, He takes it away. He doesn't hold us to guilt and He's not holding it over our head.

He's not penalizing us. But the very nature of some sin is that there are some consequences. Now but suppose I say, well, but you know what, I'm not dealing with this.

Then I'll tell you what happens, my friend, you have one or two choices. You either confess your sin and deal with it, or what you do is you force God to deal with you. And that word for His children is called chastisement.

Chastisement is the loving but oftentimes stinging discipline of a loving Father who loves you so much He is not about to allow you to get by with sin, therefore He will send into your life whatever is necessary to bring you to conviction and bring you to remorse over your sin and bring you to brokenness until you are willing to confess and repent of that and get right with God. Now I don't know about you, but I'd much rather me deal with me than having Him have to deal with me. All of us more than likely at some time or other have experienced God's chastening.

And I don't know about you, but I'd like to tell Him I've had enough of it in my life and I'd like to eliminate it from now on. But you know what, that's His decision, not ours. Because sometimes in His breaking process, He sees things in us that are not necessarily sins as such, but areas of our life that He wants to change, change of attitude that best fits who we are as His children. And so the brokenness process goes on.

But we have one or two choices. We either confess it, we deal with it, we ask Him to forgive us, we correct it. Now let me say this, and I'm saying this to the last because it's important. In confession, it isn't just a matter of saying, Lord, I want to ask you to forgive me this and I know I'm going to do it again tomorrow. But I'm asking you to forgive me anyway, besides you said if I'm, if I ask you to forgive me, I'm forgiven and you didn't say I couldn't do it again. And that's not genuine forgiveness. And that's not genuine confession.

Genuine confession says, I realize I have violated you. I have violated your law. And I have transgressed against you. That doesn't fit who I am. And I am sorry. And I am ashamed.

And Lord, I don't want that in my life. This stuff of just nonchalantly, haphazardly claiming 1 John 1-9 knowing that all you're going to do is just turn and do it again, I'm not saying that you won't. It may be some habit in your life.

It may be some weakness in your life that you are really struggling with. Now let me clarify something. If there's something going on in your life that you're struggling with, and you hate that sin, but somehow that it's there, and it's got a hole and it's got a grip on you, you say, well, should I confess it? Absolutely.

If I'm going to do it again, absolutely. Listen, you confess and you repent of that. And you ask the Spirit of God to enable you who lives on the inside of you to enable you strengthen you. And my friend, listen, if in all the trial that you know how, and somehow you just feel like this thing has a grip on you, you find some, listen carefully, very, very, very godly counselor or pastor with whom you can deal who will help you understand what it means to have Christ as your life, knowing and understanding what it means to have Him living on the inside of you and living through you His life. So I want to say to those who are trapped and who feel caught, and they've confessed and confessed and confessed and they say, well, it's not doing any good, shall I cease?

No. Every single time the Spirit of God convicts you, you confess that to Him and ask God to enable you to genuinely repent of that. And I say again, if you find yourself not knowing the Scriptures very well, don't know the principles, don't know how to rely upon Him, don't know how to trust in Him as you should, don't understand how God operates in your life, find someone who will help you walk through that until you come out victorious in your life. Salvation is a normal, natural part of the believer's life to keep our fellowship.

Remember that relationship is fixed forever. It is God who has an eternal grip on you and me. It is God who has an eternal grip on us at salvation from that moment on. Our fellowship is something that comes and goes. As long as I'm walking in His Spirit, walking in obedience to Him, I'm going to have fellowship. The moment I choose disobedience, something happens.

I can let that something happen and drift and drift and drift until I get myself in a big mess. Or I can instantaneously say, Father, forgive me of my sin in Jesus' name. I know this doesn't fit who I am. Instantly that fellowship is right. So First John chapter one, these verses are dealing with the believer's fellowship.

What am I saying? Simply this, you and I have the privilege of enjoying the Christian life. Walking in fellowship, walking in love, enjoying the Savior and the Father who loves us dearly. Thank you for listening to the Confession of Our Sin. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.