Introduction:
We are going to continue our study in 1 John. Please open your Bibles to 1 John 1. This morning we are going to read verses 8-10, but, first, by way of introduction. I don’t know about you, but I have seen a sharp uptick in littering over the last few years. It seems like there is a greater abundance of trash that is not making it to the landfill or wherever it is dumped. I have taken pride in my own house not looking like the side of a highway. I enjoy a clean home and I like the outside of it to be appealing to the eye as well. It saddens me to see people not care about the world around them and the people that spend their time to clean the sides of highways. Go out to 663 and at some point, I am sure, there will be a litter crew cleaning it up. A number of years ago we were driving down to the Ark in Kentucky and on our way down we saw traffic slowing down a few miles outside of Williamstown. As we sat at the McDonalds eating dinner, we had wondered what could have caused the stop in traffic. A bad accident was what we thought was the most likely culprit. However, we came to find out by smell and visuals that a trash truck had taken a turn to sharp and flipped over and unloaded all of the trash out of the back. Clean up crews were out there cleaning all of the trash out of the road so that traffic could ensue. Now, they did this out of necessity, but if people today only thought that way about their sandwich wrapper or cigarette butt, this world would look much better.
Not only are people in need of this on the outside, but on the inside too. There is a great need in every person and that need is to be cleaned up on the inside. And just like physical trash, many people today don’t see the need to be cleansed inside. They think there is nothing wrong with them. They are blinded to their condition. This morning I want to look at Confession and Cleansing which is the title of this sermon. And I want to view this, three ways: 1. Deceitful Confession, Consequences of Deceitful Confession, and True Confession. We are going to look at this text a little out of order starting in verse 8, moving to verse 10, and concluding with verse 9. Let’s read verses 8-10.
- Deceitful Confession (v.8)
Continuing with the “if we” statements we looked at last week, John culminates with the thought that a person can think that he has no sin. This is different from verse 10 although the wording is similar. In verse 8, John refers to having no sin in a way that connotes a ‘feature’ of a human being. Now, John does not believe that a human being can live this side of heaven and have no sin, but he brings forth the possibility of it being questioned. Solomon agrees with John that no human being is without sin. He says in Ecclesiastes 7:20, “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.” Hear Solomon once more in Proverbs 20:7-9, “A righteous man who walks in his integrity – how blessed are his sons after him. A king who sits on the throne of justice disperses all evil with his eyes. Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure, I am clean from my sin”?” Do you hear what Solomon is saying? In all of the wisdom and prowess that Solomon had, he, too was incapable of being without sin. Further, with man being in his absolute best state, he recognizes that it is impossible for man to be unstained from sin. This is spoken of in an all-encompassing sense. He asks the question about being clean or pure from sin in an accusatory fashion. Similarly, it would be like me standing here saying, “And which one of you could say that you are without sin?” However, we see in a sin cursed world that human beings will try anything to show their independence apart from God. Thus, it is not a far-fetched thought that humans could think that they actually possess no sin. I believe that this statement is different from the others we looked at last week in that I do not think that a Christiancould be deceived to think that there is no sin in him. This is different from the person who has been deceived into thinking that he is a Christian or an individual who once proclaimed to be in the sheepfold and has since left the faith. It can be said that such a one was never one of us.
Christians can be blinded at times of their sin. We might think that our sin is not that bad, we might think that God views a particular action or thought is sinful, but it does not get to the point that we would think that there is absolutely no sin that resides in us. Those bought by the blood of Christ are cognizant of the work that Christ has done. It may for periods of time be dim or not in the frontals of our minds, but we do not lose that. We are identified with Christ and thus we can never be loosed from His hand.
Now, the reason that the thought of having no sin occurs is because of deception. We see that towards the end of verse 8. The text says that “we deceive ourselves”. How does this happen? The text does not describe this deception as immediate, but rather in a subtle over time sort of deception. One writer defines it as a being “led astray”. It happens because we are led astray.
The end of verse 8 is, also, somewhat similar to us as well. In verse 6, we looked at how it is possible for us to not “do the truth.” Here, in verse 8 upon being deceived, the very truth that we hold onto is not really in us. As I alluded to earlier, we do not lose our salvation and this verse does not promote that in any way. However, there is a warning for us to consider. And that warning is that there are those who are so deceived, not only those who think they are without sin, but that they count themselves with the faithful and subject to the gospel. We looked at this last week, so I will not harp on it again, I say these things so we may see the warning that John gives.
- Consequences for Deceitful Confession (v.10)
As we consider deceitful confession, I want us to now consider the consequences of that deceitful confession. The greatest consequence is found in verse 10. Look there with me now. John is speaking to those who ‘actually’ say that they have not sinned. Regarding this verse, I agree with Jerome Smith when he writes, “This refers to those who deny they have committed individual acts of sin.” Can a Christian deny a particular sin? We looked at that earlier, and that is yes, you and I can be blinded to our sin. There is a crucial consequence in this verse. “We make Him a liar.” Think on that for just a moment, the magnitude of what John has just said here. By saying that we have not sinned we make Him a liar. Why? Please turn with me to that familiar passage in Romans 3. We are going to read verses 9-18. As you are turning there, in Romans 3, Paul is writing about the sharp contrast between God and man found in verse 4 “let God be true and every man a liar” and he is telling the church in Rome that the Jews are no better off than the Gentiles. Notice how many times the word “there/their” is used. Did you notice how Paul addresses this to everyone and that ‘all’ man is subject to these things. This is quite the condemnation. Turn back to 1 John. Do you see why making God a liar is of such great importance for our consideration? It must be said that we do not actually make God a liar. Even though mankind is powerless to do that, he is judged and condemned as one who makes God a liar. We have seen in Romans and 1 John that God is very clear as to who He is. With that in mind the end of verse 10 tells us that those who make God a liar, saying they have never sinned clearly do not possess the gospel of God. In other words, those who are declared as such are lost souls that are in desperate need to be saved. John MacArthur asks a good question, “Why would they need a Substitute to take their punishment for something they claim to have never committed?”
Brothers, just because this is the thought process of the lost, does not mean that they are too far gone to be saved. They need to hear the Gospel because God can and has saved those who have called Him a liar.
- True Confession (v.9)
I want to move back to verse 9 which is where I desire to spend most of our time together this morning. It is a familiar verse to us, but may that not cloud our hearts and minds.
Verse 9 gives us true confession in comparison to verses 8 and 10. This confession is ongoing, not just a one-time confession, which as we have seen with some people who claim to be part of the sheepfold a one-time occurrence. However, the Greek term literally means “to speak the same thing”. Further the word confess is used “to declare openly by way of speaking out freely, such confession being the effect of deep conviction of facts” (Strongs). My hope is that you see the difference between what we have looked at with verses 8 and 10 and what we are viewing here.
According to Moses unconfessed sin would cause Israel to rot away and perish (Lev. 26:38-39), but in Leviticus 26:40-42 Moses writes, “If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also how they walked in hostility against Me – I also was walking in hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies – or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they make up for their iniquity, then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land.” In the Scripture reading this morning, we saw that Daniel believed God would forgive him and the nation of Israel of their sins. Hence, why he first, confessed their sins and then pleaded with God to forgive them. Daniel did this confidently and boldly. He had the promises of Scripture to enforce his belief and trust that he had in praying for God to cleanse them! Do you see how similar this is to our text in 1 John? There are many other texts in Scripture that show example after example of those who confessed their sins, not once, but continually. This must be said of you and of me.
So, why do we confess our sins? What is the point? It might seem like a silly question, but there are people that can go days or weeks without confessed sin. For those who just confessed sin before worship this morning and for the person who has some unconfessed sin, the reason for our confession is so that we would be cleansed from our iniquity! That’s what we see at the end of verse 9. You and I are cleansed because God is faithful and righteous to forgive us and cleanse us. This means that we cannot save ourselves, we cannot confess to ourselves or to others our shortcomings and be saved. Sins can only be forgiven by the God of the Bible. What a blessing it is that it is not up to us to be saved. It is not because of our righteousness. Human beings are furthest away from righteousness and faithful living. What a great God we serve. Not only is He faithful in forgiving us but, we have the promised assurance that every single sin will be forgiven, for God knows them all, “You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence” (Psalm 90:8). It should bring you and me great joy that God does not only know every single sin we commit, but that He forgives every sin that we commit.
May we be grieved that we have sinned before God, but may it also be true that we would experience the peace and the cleansing that comes with confessing our sins as David did in
Psalm 51, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight.” Confession and cleansing, two things that go harmoniously together in God’s glorious plan of refining people through the sanctifying work that the Holy Spirit does within each believer.
Conclusion:
Confession of our sins is critical in the Christian life. There is great peace in confessing our sins, already knowing that they will be forgiven. Are you a confessor of your sins? Do your sins bother you to the point of confession? What about the small ones?
May I leave you with a few applications to consider…
- May you and I be diligent to confess our sins. As we saw with our first point, it is not just the person who believes that he has not offended God nor cares if he does that is labeled as one who does not have the truth in him. But for the person who says he is a Christian, yet does not confess his sins the same is true of him. Being identified with Christ and raised with Him must lead us to daily confession of our sin.
- There is not one reason why we should not confess our sins to God. He will forgive us of every single sin, even the repeated ones that we do. But if there is a day that you may forget to confess your sins, may this not bring you down, but further invigorate you to confess your sins the next day.
- Finally, God already knows all of the sins we have committed and will commit in the future. He does not count our sins against us and be comforted that He forgives the sins that we have confessed and the sins that we have not for we are “cleansed from all unrighteousness.
