Fellowshipping With The Father And The Son - Part 7

(1 John 1:8 NKJV) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

John didn't want his readers to be led astray by the Gnostic heresy of sinless perfection.

Last time we learned that the fact is, we do sin, and continue to say we have no sin is a sign of self-deception. The fact is, continuing to say we have no sin is proof that the truth is not in us.

If the truth is not in you, Jesus is not in you because Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life…" (John 14:6)

John wanted his readers to stop denying their sin and to start confessing their sins.

(1 John 1:9 NKJV) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Today we’re going to look at what it means to confess our sins. Today we are going to look at:

1. The Meaning of Confession

2. The Method of Confession

3. The Mark of Confession

1.) The Meaning of Confession

(1 John 1:9 NKJV) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The word “confess” is a combination of two Greek words, homo, meaning "same," and lego, meaning "to say."

Literally it is "saying the same thing as another or agreeing to what another has said. It includes a recognition that sin needs to be forgiven and an acknowledgment of specific sins.

In other words, John is teaching that one must come to the point of realizing they are a sinner who needs to be forgiven. Remember, some in John's day were saying they had no sin.

Not only should there be a recognition that sin needs to be forgiven, there must also be an acknowledgment of specific sins. John is teaching that once you agree with God that you are a sinner you need to agree with God about how you have sinned.

We have lost our grip on the art of confession in our society. We no longer confess in the biblical sense of the word; we say something like, "I'm sorry." But this isn’t a confession.

A confession is "saying the same thing." It is agreeing with what God has said about who you are and what you have done.

Confession is more than saying, "I'm sorry." It is acknowledging the fact that you have broken God's Law and rejected His authority. It is a heart attitude that says: "Lord, I am nothing without you. I've blown it; I've messed up; I've disobeyed you; I need You to change me."

Many try to confess their sins all in a big lump by saying "God, I'm sorry if I've sinned."

Imagine a man going to his wife whom he had mistreated and abused for years and saying candidly, "Honey, I'm sorry if I've done anything wrong in the past."

What an insult! Instead, we should confess our sins to God one-by-one...as specific as possible and with a heart attitude of desperately wanting to turn away from our sin (repentance).

Sometimes we use the "I'm sorry" utterance to deflect the blame to someone or something else. We want to blame externals for our sins:

"I'm sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night."

"I'm sorry, but my alarm clock didn’t wake me up, and so I’m late."

"I'm sorry, but I have just been having a bad day."

"I'm sorry, but I've been so busy."

In each case, it is the situation that is the problem, not my own thoughtlessness

It is my circumstance that is the problem, not my own inability to love or to think about others.

It is my environment that is the problem, not my own lack of faithfulness to keeping my word.

Even if we will acknowledge a particular sin we want people to think it is the rare exception.

“I hardly ever say that word.” Yeah right.

“I don’t know how I forgot about you. I always pay my debts.”

"I'm sorry" doesn't acknowledge sin--Saying “I’m sorry” is simply an admission that some less than desirable state has occurred;

"I'm sorry" is one-sided--Saying “I’m sorry” doesn’t require a response. It doesn't necessarily imply repentance.

Some of us have even reduced our apology from an "I'm sorry" to "Sorry…" in an attempt to further distance ourselves from taking personal responsibility for what we’ve done.

What is needed is a biblical confession.

What is needed is an acknowledgment of the fact that you have offended someone. You do this by naming the offense or offenses.

What is needed is a heart attitude that says: “I’ve blown it, I've messed up, and I need your forgiveness." "Will you forgive me?"