What happens when we confess our sins?
Listen to Adrian Rogers. If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from what? All unrighteousness! Don't you let that devil accuse you, don't you let that devil condemn you? I am telling you, that he is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
consciousness. You confess that sin confidently. Do it immediately.
Do it specifically. You don't have to go around carrying that load of guilt. This is the wonderful thing about being a child of God. ANNOUNCER 1 Welcome to Love Worth Finding featuring profound truth simply stated by Pastor Adrian Rogers. The formula for fellowship is a cleansed life. And in part one of the message we're going to hear today, we learned that fellowship with God begins with exposing our sin to the light. And as we just heard Pastor Rogers reveal, we must also confess our sins to God immediately, specifically and confidently. If you have your Bible, turn now to First John chapter one. We'll begin in verse three as Adrian Rogers gives the conclusion of a formula for fellowship. ADRIAN ROGERS Now, how do you get right with God and stay right with God?
It's right here. Here's the formula for fellowship. First of all, your sin must be exposed to the light. Now notice what it says here, if we walk in the light, verse 7. Your sin must be exposed to the light. Who is the light? God is light. And in Him is no darkness at all.
You just open up your life to God and you say, Lord is there anything in my heart and in my life that is not right with you. Now many times we don't want to do that. We hate the light because our deeds are evil. But your sin must be exposed to the light.
It's a very interesting thing. Look if you will in verse 6, if we say. Do you see that little trinity of words, if we say? Look down in verse 8, if we say. Do you see it? Look down in verse 10, if we say.
Three times, if we say, if we say, if we say. Now what is happening is this, there are people who say one thing when the other thing is true. And John here is talking about the evolution of a lie.
He says in verse 6, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth. We begin first of all by lying to others. And then we begin to lie to ourselves. Look in verse 8, if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If you tell other people a lie long enough you begin to believe it.
You begin to lie to yourself and you begin to say, well I'm really alright, I'm really not so bad. I mean after all it is justifiable, it was just a mistake, it was an error. Or what I'm doing is really God doesn't frown on that or whatever. And so you begin to alibi, you begin to excuse, you begin to call it a mistake, rename it or whatever and say it wasn't a sin. You begin by lying to others, verse 6, then you begin to lie to yourself and finally you lie to God.
Look in verse 10, if we say that we have not sinned we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us. You see God says that's a sin, that's wrong. God's Word is speaking to you. You say, oh no God, oh no, no, no, no, you're wrong Lord, you're wrong. And we begin to lie to God. When you do that you just stonewall God and you shut out the light, you just shut out the light.
You lie to others, you lie to yourself, you lie to God. And therefore you never really have that fellowship with God because you're not walking in light, you're walking in darkness. You have pulled the veil of darkness over your sin.
Now, what you must do is just expose yourself to the light. Just say, here I am Lord, here I am. Holy Spirit of God shine your light, the searchlight of your holiness into my life and let me know Lord if there is some sin, some wicked way in me. Search me, oh God, and try me and know my heart and see if there will be some wicked way in me. Just simply open yourself up to God. Now don't be afraid to do it because this is not God's way to punish, this is God's way to bless.
God wants to lead you to fellowship and God wants to lead you to joy. But so many of us just want to pull the cloak of darkness over our lives and we say, oh we've not sinned, we deceive ourselves, we deceive others, we deceive God. So just expose your sin to the light. Now the light is the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God will point out to you that thing in your heart, in your life that may be wrong.
And He's quite capable of doing it. You don't have to go through morbid introspection, probing around in your innards trying to find out what's wrong. The Holy Spirit of God is quite sufficient and the Holy Spirit of God will show you if there is anything that has brought disfellowship between you and your Heavenly Father. Now listen carefully, you need to learn the difference between Holy Spirit conviction and satanic accusation. The Holy Spirit convicts, the devil accuses.
Have you got it? The Holy Spirit convicts, the devil accuses. Now Jesus said, He will convict you of sin, but He says of Satan, He is the accuser of the brethren. He accuses you before God and He accuses you to yourself.
Now what is the difference? If you don't know the difference between Holy Spirit conviction and satanic accusation you are going to be in deep trouble most of the time trying to have fellowship with God. Let me tell you how the Holy Spirit convicts in contradistinction to the way the devil accuses. First of all, the Holy Spirit of God will convict you legitimately.
Now what do I mean by that? I mean that the Holy Spirit of God will never convict you of any sin that's already been confessed and cleansed. Now He will not bring you into double jeopardy.
He will not bring it up again. Let's say that you lied to your wife and you said, Oh God, I'm so sorry. I've told a lie.
And you confess that and in this case you need to confess it to your wife also. I told a lie. I'm sorry. God forgive me. And God forgives you whether she does or not. God forgives you. God forgives you.
And that is the important thing. God forgives you and you are forgiven. Then later on you feel dirty and guilty about that. Who brought it up again? Not God.
Not God. The devil brought it up. The devil wants to accuse you to bring you into double jeopardy. Now the devil is dirty. Remember what I told you? Before you sin do you know what the devil says to you?
Oh, go ahead and do it. You can get away with it. But after you sin he'll say, you'll never get away with it. You'll never get away with it.
Isn't he something? You see he wants to bring up that sin that has been buried in the grave of God's forgetfulness. Don't you let him do it. The Holy Spirit will convict you legitimately only of sin that's not yet been confessed, but the devil will accuse you illegitimately of sin that's already been forgiven. Now here is another way the Holy Spirit of God will convict you. The Holy Spirit of God not only will convict you legitimately, but He will convict you specifically, specifically. Now the devil will accuse you generally. If he cannot get you to dredge up some sin that's already been forgiven he'll just try to make you feel guilty over anything, or over nothing. He'll just say, you're no good.
Has he ever pulled that on you? You're just no good. You're unworthy.
God doesn't love you. You're just vile. You're just a sinner.
You're no good. Well, you're not a sinner. You're the righteousness of God in Christ. You've been saved, redeemed, born again, made a partaker of the Holy Spirit. But the devil will just like to accuse you generally, but the Holy Spirit of God convicts you specifically.
The Holy Spirit of God will tell you exactly precisely where it is that you've gone wrong. You don't have to do it. You don't have to dig around. You don't have to probe around. You just expose yourself to the light.
And the Holy Spirit like a skilled physician will put His finger on the sore spot and push. And He'll say, you told a lie. Are you a proud? Are you a arrogant? Are you a cruel? Are you a selfish? Are you a dishonest? Are you a lustful?
Are you watch that show that you ought not to have watched? You told that lie that you ought not to have told. He will name it exactly, specifically. You see until He puts His finger on the sore spot and tells you exactly what it is you really will never, ever have a sense of forgiveness. But when the Holy Spirit of God convicts you legitimately and specifically then you're going to have that sense of when you get cleansed of wonderful cleansing and wonderful forgiveness.
I'll tell you the third thing, the Holy Spirit of God will convict you redemptively. I mean by that this, that He wants to bring you back into fellowship. He wants to give you joy.
He wants to bring you back. Now, accusation leads to despair. Conviction leads to confession and cleansing. Accusation drives you from God and causes you to become morose and guilt ridden. That's not of the Holy Spirit. That's of the devil. The devil is the accuser.
He doesn't want to redeem. He wants to condemn. But the Holy Spirit of God wants to draw you into fellowship with Himself. And so, first of all, sin must be exposed to the light. Number two, not only must your sin be exposed to the light, but it must be expressed to the Lord. It must be expressed to the Lord. Now look if you will in verse 9. He says here, "'If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'"
Do you see that? You see once the Holy Spirit of God shows you what's wrong, then what do you do? You confess it. Now the word confess is made up of two Greek words homo which means the same, homo legao which means to speak or to say. It means to say the same thing. To say the same thing.
Even our English word confess is very similar, kon meaning with, fest to speak, like fest up, say the same thing. Now the Holy Spirit of God legitimately, specifically, redemptively says that Adrian is wrong in your life. Then I say what He says about it. I confess my sin. I agree with God.
I don't stonewall God. I don't say I have no sin. I don't lie to others. I don't lie to myself. I don't lie to God. I agree with God. I agree with God. I express it to the Lord. I confess it. I agree with God.
Do you see that? If we confess our sin that is if we agree with God, if we say with God what God says about it that it is wrong then we are getting ready for this fellowship with God. This is the confession of sin to agree with God about that sin. There is one thing that God will not accept for sin and that is an alibi or an excuse. Don't try to rename the sin.
Don't say it's a mistake and I need to be fixed. Say it is a sin and I need to be forgiven. Now if you will do that then the Bible says you will be cleansed. But now wait a minute how do you confess that sin?
How do you do it? Let me mention three things. First of all confess it immediately. Immediately. This is in the present tense if we confess. That means do it right now. Don't just wait until the end of the day to confess your sin. Don't get down at the end of the day by your bed and say, now Lord as I look back over this day I see I did all these things forgive me.
That's better than nothing but that's sure not the best way. Much less don't just do it at the end of the week or ever so often. But do it immediately as soon as you are aware of sin.
You need to come into place in your life where you are very sensitive to sin. You know the most sensitive part of your body is probably your eyeball. And if you were to get a little bit of grit or sand in your eye would you say I'll get that out tonight? Or I'll get that out at the end of the week?
No. You stop and you say, hey I've got something in my eye I need to get that out it's bothering me, it's irritating me. You need to be that sensitive to sin to get that out of your life immediately through the day. Whenever I'm aware that I have done something that displeases the Lord I stop immediately at that moment, at that moment and say, oh dear God I confess that is wrong. The Holy Spirit of God put His finger on my heart and said, that's wrong. I said, you're right Lord that's wrong.
I agree with you. Just do it right there. Now do it, do it, do it immediately. Now what so many of us do is we kind of ride a spiritual roller coaster. Look up here and I want you to see this. We're down here, we're out of fellowship with God. And then we hear somebody preach and we go to a revival meeting and God the Holy Spirit speaks to us and we come up here and we confess our sin and we're right with God. And then we get out of fellowship and we get away and we start to go down again and we're down here. And then somebody speaks to us or we read the Bible or something and then we come back up here and then we're back down here.
The only problem is this that our valleys take much more time than our peaks. We're way down here for a long time. And then we'll rise up and then we're back down here. And then we'll rise up and then we're back down here. Have you ever ridden that roller coaster?
A lot of folks have. You know what I'm talking about in fellowship, out of fellowship. Now that's what they think the Christian life is. But let me tell you what the Christian life is. It is not so much riding that roller coaster.
The victorious life is you're not right with God and you get right with God and you're up here. And you're going along and then a lustful thought comes in. Or then a dishonest thing comes in. Or then anger comes in. Or then pride comes in.
Whatever. And you're aware that sin is there. At that point before you go down there, and before you fail, and before you get so far away. At that moment you confess that sin.
Do it immediately. That's the way you deliver victoriously. It's not that you never sin. It's not that you don't have temptations. It's not that you don't fail. But my dear friend you do not have to go through those long valleys of despair. If we confess our sin do it immediately.
Secondly, do it specifically. Don't just pray, Lord if I have sinned forgive me. Aren't we all guilty of doing that? Oh Lord if I have sinned forgive me. But how does the Holy Spirit of God convict you?
He convicts you specifically. How do you confess? Confess specifically.
Call it by name, nail it and name it and it will be cleansed. Say, Lord I told a lie. Or Lord I should not have read that. Or Lord I should not have done that. Or Lord I failed to do this. And call it by name. He says if we confess our sins, not our sin, not our sin nature just that we somehow have failed, but if we confess our sins.
Do you see that? We sing that little song, count your many blessings, name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Count your many sins, name them one by one it will surprise you what you've done.
If you'll do it. But now listen, only the sin that the Holy Spirit convicts you of that has not yet been cleansed. Anything that is in the grave of God's forgetfulness you don't have to bring up again.
God will never bring you into double jeopardy. Do it immediately. Do it specifically.
Thirdly, do it confidently. Well I love this part. If we confess our sins, verse 9, He is what? Fateful.
And what? Just to forgive us our sins. And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now think about the words fateful and just. Did you know that if He did not do it therefore He would be unfaithful and unjust?
Why? Why must God forgive? Can we speak of God must doing something? Yes, because Jesus died for those sins. And the Bible says in the next chapter He is the propitiation, the satisfaction for our sins. The blood of Jesus Christ would make God unfaithful and unjust if He did not forgive you because it is that blood that has the cleansing power. Verse 7, the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son does what?
It cleanses from all sin. If He were to fail to forgive you, if He were to fail to cleanse you He would be going back on the contract of Calvary. He would be dishonest. He would be unfaithful. He would be unjust. He would be a liar.
He would be a crook. I can know that I know, hallelujah, praise God, that if I agree with God the Holy Spirit about my sin, if I agree with Him He is faithful and just to forgive me. Well you say, yeah, some things.
Oh, no. If we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from what? All. Hallelujah.
All unrighteousness. Don't you let that devil accuse you? Don't you let that devil condemn you?
I am telling you that He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You confess that sin confidently. Do it immediately.
Do it specifically. Do it confidently. You don't have to go around carrying that load of guilt. This is the wonderful thing about being a child of God.
Now, here's the third thing and I'm finished. Not only must that sin be exposed to the light, and not only must it be expressed to the Lord, it needs to be expelled from the life. Look in chapter 2 now in verse 1 and see why John is doing this. Is John just trying to tell us, oh, it really doesn't make any difference how we sin?
Oh, no. Or whether we sin, oh, no. He says this, my little children these things write unto you that you sin not. You're saying, Pastor Rogers you're making it awfully easy to get forgiven. Why you're just making it sound like sin is of no consequence. All we have to do is just simply tell God, just tell Him, oh God I sinned, I'm sorry. Why it sounds to me Pastor, it just sounds to me like that's just a license to sin. Oh, no.
Listen, pay attention now. John says, I'm not writing these things to encourage you to sin. I am writing these things that you sin not. But if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He is the propitiation, the satisfaction for our sins. And not fires only but also for the sin of the whole world. What he's saying is this, my desire, my goal for you is that you live a sinless life.
That's the goal, that's the aim. But if you sin, here's the way to be cleansed, here's the way to be forgiven. John knowing that we're not perfect and will not be until we get to heaven holds nothing less than a perfect standard however. Why do I love God?
Why do I serve God? Well, so far as condemnation I'll never come into condemnation no matter how much I may sin after I get saved if I'm truly saved. I'll still go to heaven if I'm truly saved. You say, wait a minute, that's right if I'm truly saved, if I'm truly saved God will carry me to the woodshed, God will chastise me. But if I'm truly saved I'm going to heaven.
Then why Adrian are you so careful about dealing with these day-by-day things in a practical way? Because I want fellowship with God. Because I want joy. John says I'm writing that you might have fellowship, that you might have joy. Well, why do I therefore serve God? I'd just as soon eat dirt as to willingly sin.
Why? Listen, there are three reasons why anybody would serve God. A slave serves because he has to. An employee serves because he needs to.
A son serves because he wants to. I'm all three. I am a slave. I'm a servant. And I'm a son. And I serve him because I have to, because I need to, but most of all because I want to.
He's done so much for me. And so this is not an inducement to sin, it's an inducement not to sin. These things write unto you that you sin not. But isn't this a wonderful salvation?
I mean really isn't it? Isn't it wonderful to know that He forgives our sins judicially and never again will sin be brought up against us to send us to Hell. But then as a son in order that we might have fellowship with us He tells us if our sin will be exposed to the light, if our sin will be expressed to the Lord it can be expelled from the life.
That's wonderful. Today there is only one way to have this wonderful salvation and it is to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord. You don't become a Christian by joining a church or getting baptized by giving your money, by keeping the Ten Commandments, or by obeying the golden rule.
None of these nor all of these can save. Salvation is the gift of God. The minute you receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord every sin is put beneath His blood and you are forgiven and cleansed and made whiter than the driven snow the moment you receive Christ. Your sin debt is paid for by what Jesus did on the cross. And God comes into your heart and He gives you a new nature and Heaven becomes your home the minute you receive Christ. The Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That doesn't mean intellectual belief alone.
That word believe means trust. Trust Christ and you will be saved. And the same Jesus that saved me as a young teenage boy is the Jesus who will save you. And the same Jesus who has kept me all these years is the Jesus who will keep you.
And the same Jesus that thrills my heart is the one who will thrill you. Oh, if I could do it for you today, if I could make that decision for you I would, but I cannot. I have preached as best I know how, but nobody can make that decision for you. You must receive Christ.
You must do it. And if you will receive Him He will come into your heart and save you. Let's pray together. Father God, thank you for your word.
What a blessing. And Lord, I just pray that you draw many people to yourself. In Jesus' name, amen. Maybe today you have questions regarding your faith in Jesus. We'd love to offer you an insightful resource on our website. It's our Discover Jesus page. There you'll find answers you may need about your faith, as well as a response section. You can share how this message and others have impacted your life. Go to LWF.org slash radio and click on the tab that says Discover Jesus.
We can't wait to hear from you. Again, LWF.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, request the title, A Formula for Fellowship, when you call 1-877-LOVE-GOD. This message is also part of a powerful series, Standing for Light and Truth, for that complete audio collection, all 11 insightful messages.
Call that number, 1-877-LOVE-GOD, or go online to order at LWF.org slash radio, or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee, 38183. Thanks for studying in God's Word with us today. Take with you these profound, yet simple words from Pastor Rogers, Life is short, death is sure, sin the curse, Christ the cure. We hope you'll join us next time for more timeless truth right here on Love Worth Finding. As the political climate intensifies, we need solid biblical answers to difficult questions. At Love Worth Finding Ministries, our greatest hope is to offer timeless truth for timely conversations. That's why we're honored to share our new book, Battle for the Soul of America, containing popular messages from Adrian Rogers, such as, Does Character Count?
and Christian Citizenship. This book can be used as your resource of biblical response in the crucial days ahead. For more information about the book, or to receive a copy for a gift of any amount, call that number, 1-877-LOVE-GOD, or go online to LWF.org slash radio. Again, for your copy of Battle for the Soul of America, go to LWF.org slash radio, and thanks for your continued support of Love Worth Finding.
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