The Four "Ifs” 1 John 1 V 7-10 - God’s Forgiveness Is Cleansing And Peace Series

THE FOUR “IFs” 1 JOHN 1 v 7-10 - GOD’S FORGIVENESS IS CLEANSING AND PEACE

A MESSAGE FROM THE FIRST LETTER OF THE APOSTLE JOHN

1John 1 v 7 but IF we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1John 1 v 8 IF we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1John 1 v 9 IF we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1John 1 v 10 IF we say that we have not sinned we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

This message could also be called, “The Four IFs” because there are 4 conditional statements in the passage.

In verse 9 there is a collection of very important words. Those words concern confession, faithfulness, righteousness or justice, forgiveness and cleansing. I am not aware of another verse where these monumental words exist side by side, or contain the intensity of this verse.

A simplistic understanding of verse 9 is this – “If I confess my sins, God forgives me and cleanses me.” That is very true, and is of the greatest comfort, for without it, there is no peace, or communion, or direction in one’s life if we slide into sin. We would be confused and unstable. Just look at the world around you to see the confusion and the instability, as people live with unconfessed sin and pursue a life of estrangement from God.

Before we come to our key verse 9, we must place that verse in context. Verse 10 follows after verse 9, but verse 9 hangs on verse 8, and verses 8, 9 and 10 rely on the truth of verse 7. So we will look at verse 7 now – {{1John 1 v 7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.}} John has a lot to say in his letter about light and darkness, and about walking in the light. A thief won’t walk in the light. A person of criminal intent avoids the light. A cockroach loves the dark, and when you put a light on, it scuttles away to find a dark place. Sinners are like cockroaches. A Christian who is living in sin, or who has unconfessed sin in his or her life, is not at all anxious to come into the light and be happy there. The light exposes what is wrong; it highlights what is wrong. The sinful human heart does not like exposure, and most sins are kept hidden. In that regard, a sinning Christian will carry around a bag of guilt everywhere . . . until the light points at that sin and directs to the remedy.

One of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to convict of sin and of righteousness, and of judgement. The Lord told us that in John’s gospel. The sin in a Christian life must face conviction, to have that sin judged, that is, as in being forgiven by God. The Holy Spirit’s work in a Christian’s life is a precious one. He is with us forever. Who would contemplate entertaining the Holy Spirit in a filthy room, yet too many Christians do so, because they love their sin, or are too proud to humble themselves before God to have that sin forgiven.

We all know the expression, “water off a duck’s back”. Sin to the non-Christian is like water off a duck’s back. When it comes to sin, Christians must be like chickens and not like ducks. This is what I mean. When it rains, a little chicken gets wet and all bedraggled, but a duck disregards the rain. For the non-Christian, that person can lie and deceive and get drunk and anything else you want to suggest, but does not have any real consciousness of sin. It does not worry their consciences. That is a soul that is hard and cold to the requirements of God. On the other hand, when a Christian sins, there is usually a barb of conviction that enters the soul, an awareness of guilt that clouds the person’s spirit and soul. That is because a Christian is a new creation in Jesus Christ and has a new awareness and new values. Sin then becomes an affront to that new life, hence the uneasiness and guilt and feeling wrong when sin occurs in a Christian walk. That is why a Christian with sin is like that poor disheveled, unkempt chicken in the rain. A chicken caught in the rain is like a Christian caught up in sin. The duck could not care less about the rain; a chicken does.