"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us" I John 1:9-10 (ESV)
It has been said that there are only two things certain in life -- death and taxes. In reality there are other things just as certain, and one of those certainties is that
you and I will mess up. Some may call our messes "poor choices," others may say we have "problems," but the Bible calls it "sin." Sin is what happens when we live our lives independent of Christ and His ways. We have sins of behavior as well as sins of the heart (envy, bitterness, anger, pride, etc.). A key to living with the complete joy that comes from experiencing the grace of God is to know what to do when we sin as
believers in Christ. There is a principle or precept of grace that seems to have been lost in evangelical circles:
We are called by Christ to regularly confess our sins to God and others.
I don't know if it seems to you, as it does me, that there is just the opposite spirit in evangelical Christianity. Most of us seem to be doing everything possible to NOT confess sins to God and to others. The loss of this grace principle is, in my estimation, one of the reasons evangelical Christianity lacks the power of Christ and is becoming like any other religion in this world.
"If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (v.9). Confession is the Greek word homolegeo which means
"to say the same thing as." To confess sin means you know that God thinks that what you have done, or what you have said, or what you feel is a violation of His precepts, and
you agree with Him--and are unafraid to tell others.
The mark of true Christianity is not sinlessness but sin-consciousness. We are sin sensitive. But the reason we Christians often find it hard to "confess" our sins to God and to others is because our perspective about our sins is wrong.
We see the sin, but we don't see it like God sees it. Confession becomes part of my life when three things occur:
I. I have confidence in God that He has already dealt with my sins.
This is where our brothers who emphasize their works, their faith, their commitment etc... and not the effectual, powerful and eternal work of Christ often fail. Those who add to the grace of God by exalting human works wind up tripping and falling in their confession because to admit sin and failure negates the grace of God in a system that places human works on par with God's grace.
The "confession" of I John 1:9 mentions nothing about what you
do, nothing about what you
promise, nothing about what you
perform, and absolutely everything about what God does for you as you confess your faults and sins to God and others and then rest in the finished work of Christ. Christ died for sinners, not the righteous, and confession of sin exalts the work of Christ.
II. I have confidence in God's faithfulness to fulfill His promises to believing sinners.
He will be faithful and perform all the promises that He has made to those who trust in Christ. "
As far as the east is from the west He has removed our sins from us" (Psalm 103:12). Now, you and I must ask a very important question. On what basis has God removed our sins and fulfilled his promises to sinners who trust Him? Love? Yes, but there is an attribute of God that is even more important when it comes to freeing us up to confess our sins to God and to others. God is love, but the faithfulness of God in regards to our sin is found in the attribute of His justice. Until you comprehend God's justice at Calvary, you will never be a believer prone to confess your sins to others.
To have confidence in God's justice means that He, as my Judge, has already punished my sins in the substitutionary death of His Son at Calvary. The wrath and condemnation of God will never be experienced by the believer who continually confesses his faults and sins to God and others because God's holy anger toward those sins has already been satiated at Calvary.
And it is the confession of sins to God and others that is the evidence of trust in the Son.
Christians often have very little understanding what it means to trust in God's justice. It is this inability to understand that God is
faithful and just that makes confession hard. In Romans 3:26 Paul writes about our sins, Christ's work, God's justice, and our faith. Christ died that
"God might be just and justifier of one who has faith in Jesus." I have confidence that my sins were borne by Christ and paid for by Jesus Christ. Therefore, I don't mind telling you of my sins because my confession of them portrays to you the confidence I have in Christ's work of Christ for me.
III. I have confidence in God's grace in me to actually remove my sins the more I confess them.
Forgiveness means that God views and treats me, the offender, as
not guilty of the sin which I have committed. Not because He blinks at my sin and ignores it, but because His Son has become my sin and borne the punishment due it. The grace of God will cleanse me of the remnants of sins in me as I confess to God and others my actual sins.
God, by His grace, takes my angry spirit (of which I am forgiven) and replaces it with a soft spirit. God takes my lying, cheating and stealing, and replaces it with truthfulness, integrity, and generosity. But notice:
Too many of us get the concepts of confession and cleansing reversed. We often wish to wait until things are straightened out in us out before we confess our sins to God and others. But the Bible says "Don't wait!" The moment you are conscious of your sin, when you are in the middle of it, confess it to God and to others.
This is path God designed for you to have your life actually and experientially cleansed of that sin. Others won't help you wipe the dirt off your windshield until you point it out to them. God's grace never shields you from dirt as you travel this world, but God's grace will help you instantly get rid of it when you tell Him and others that you have been splattered with it.
I was called "stupid" by someone who declared that there is no way any evangelical leader who has lied about his past should be kept in his position of leadership. I receive the label gladly, because the ways of God are much different than the ways of the world. The Christian leader that is MOST qualified to lead is the one who confesses his sins to God and to others on a regular basis. The Christian leader who should be fired is the one who covers and conceals his sins.
In His Grace,
Wade Burleson
I have enjoyed the recent articles by Cal Thomas and Al Mohler regarding Herman Cain's suspension of his Presidential campaign. Both men make excellent points. In my readings yesterday, however, I was most moved by the words of a dead preacher named Charles Spurgeon. In a message he preached in 1857 from the book of Hebrews, he described three fools. The first is the wounded soldier on the battlefield who queries the medic about the weapon that wounded him rather than the physician's ability to save him. The second fool is the ship's captain in the midst of a horrible storm who goes below deck to read the encyoclopedia about the source and nature of Atlantic winds rather than working feverishly on deck to save his ship. The third fool is the immoral man who spends his time blaming others for his predicament rather than looking to God for his healing. Spurgeon, in his beautiful and eloquent way, points out that people who think themselves sophisticated will argue about the origins of the universe, the sources of evil, and other intricate questions, while neglecting the certain truth that we are all sinners in need of healing. Jesus Christ shed His blood to heal us. The Bible says emphatically and certainly that "without the shedding of (Christ's) blood, there is no forgiveness of sins" (Hebrews 9:22), which stated positively means "through the shedding of (Christ's) blood there is forgiveness of sins." We all have the nature of Herman Cain. We all have the nature of Jerry Sandusky. We all have a natural tendency toward sin. We all have suffered and caused wounds as the result of our words, our actions, our lifestyles, our decisions, our lusts--our sins. The problem is we "trifle with subtleties while we neglect certainties." We argue with others over why we are the way we are, why we have done what we have done, why we find ourselves in the position we are in. We argue about the source of the winds rather fight to their dissipation. We analyze the weapons that have shot us rather than look for the cure for our wounds. The promise of God is profound: "The blood of Christ shall cleanse your consience from dead works to serve the living God" (Hebrews 9:14). One of these days I would love to hear someone humiliated by public exposure of their sin say something like the following:
"I am guilty. I have been inappropriate with women. I have broken the vows of my marriage. I have sinned against God and my wife. The only healing I can find is in the shed blood of Jesus Christ who died for me. This much is certain: My conscience can only be cleansed by Christ's shed blood. By faith I have turned to Him, and I am now beginning to experience that cleansing within my conscience. That does not mean I will not bear the consequences of my sin in this life or that I (or others) will not bear scars brought by my sins. What my faith in Christ means is that He alone can cleanse my conscience. I must not live my life trying to atone for my mistakes by making you promises. I have no claim on God's future goodness and forgiveness (or yours) by my commitment to reform. I am only cleansed and guaranteed God's forgiveness by the sacrifice of Christ who died for sinners like me. The humiliation brought me by the public exposure of my sin is healthy, for it has reminded me why Christ died. Now, in an ever increasing gratefulness for His cleansing, I am growing in my desire to serve Him. I am a man being changed by the grace of God from the inside out, and if you will be patient with me, I think you will see in the future I will not be the same man tomorrow that I was yesterday. If you find you cannot place your trust in a man whose conduct has been like mine, I will understand, and simply remind you, that one's faith is always misplaced when found in men and not in God."
