4.18.21 1 John 1:8–2:2
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his Word is not in us. 1 My children, I write these things to you so that you will not sin. If anyone does sin, we have an Advocate before the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world.
Finding Strength in Forgiveness
Just recently the Church Council went through a survey in order to evaluate what makes us tick. One purpose in this is in order to get us to know our strengths so that we can utilize those strengths and build on them as we work together. It’s called a “Strength Finder.” I have a very high restorative strength, which means that I really want people to get along and I want to get along. But there are times where my strong belief system realizes that someone needs to be confronted, which often brings conflict. So with these two competing strengths, I find that I am at war within myself.
When it comes to our relationship with God, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit in the exact opposite direction. He goes on a “sin finder.” He digs into our soul and points out our flaws and our weaknesses. As Christians, God primarily wants us to do our own sin finding of the soul by searching through the Word. Here’s an example. Just this past week, in going through the book of Matthew and studying when Jesus calms the storm, the disciples came to Him and said, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” When we studied that, we gained insight into our own sinful natures. When we are going through a near-drowning situation, one of the first things we tend to do is ACCUSE God of NOT CARING. And that’s a pretty terrible thought to have about someone. Sin finding reflects on the thoughts and accusations we come up with in the midst of trouble.
It shouldn’t be too hard to see plenty of flaws. John says, 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. The first sin is to say we have no sin. Now who would say that? The world would say it, first of all. Everyone is basically good. Everyone can find their own truth and just be themselves. The only “sin” people commit today is by calling anything a sin or telling anyone to change. So they prefer to be stuck in their sin, no matter how destructive it is. And we can see what it is doing to our society. It’s a sad thing.
Any seasoned Christian shouldn’t have a problem with calling themselves sinners. We’re all sinners. As good Lutherans we repeat it every week. But the sinful nature can even use this confession as a non-confession. What do I mean? When we say, “We all sin,” or “we are sinful from birth” couldn’t we in effect be watering it down or making excuses for it in our minds? For instance, it’s one thing to admit, “I’m bad with money.” But then when my spouse points out a specific purchase I made that was foolish and he or she is angry at me for that SPECIFIC thing, then I get angry and defensive. Why? Because that sin made me feel foolish and selfish. How often do we do that, in effect denying ANY SPECIFIC sin? We come up with reasons why we did what we did - how your spouse MADE you that way. Or we over react and say, “I just can’t do ANYTHING right.” Why? So that the other spouse will be defensive and tell us things that are GOOD about us. A child doesn’t do his homework, so he immediately comes up with excuses. “I didn’t know. You didn’t remind me. I forgot. It was too much. I was sick.”
What does God want from us? It’s not anything in-depth. If we confess our sins . . . The literal word in the Greek is to “homologeo” it. You don’t have to invent anything. You don’t have to make stuff up. Say the same thing with a sense of remorse and sorrow over what you’ve done. Speak back to God what He is saying about your sin. Confirm it. “You’re right God. This is where I sinned. This is how I sinned, just as you said.” Maybe get down into the nitty gritty and search deep down into your soul, find out and confess WHY you sinned, without pointing the finger at everyone else. Be HONEST with yourself.
Otherwise, John says that you’re just DECEIVING yourself. And the amazing thing is that you CAN deceive yourself. Then what happens? Turn on American Idol, and the young girl has convinced herself that she has a great voice. Her parents have never taught her otherwise. What a shock when she embarrasses herself on public television, coming to the rude realization that she can’t sing! She’s tone deaf! It happens plenty of times, and often with continual reminders. No matter how many times you hear it, “You’re rude. You’re lazy. You’re selfish,” we manage to convince ourselves that the world just doesn’t understand us. We’re really not that way at all. “I’m not THAT bad. I wouldn’t be that way if she didn’t . . .” So we go through life making the same mistakes and sins without ever learning from ourselves, because we refuse to confess what we are specifically doing wrong. People end up divorced and broke and with all kinds of problems because their life is everyone else’s fault and not their own, all because they failed to CONFESS their sins.
And that’s not all. John says, If we say we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his Word is not in us. If you deny to see your sin for what it is, you are in fact calling God a liar. We can lie to ourselves about all kinds of things, uncontrolled temper, harsh words, premarital sex, drunkenness, lying, laziness, disrespect, and fear. They’re all sins. But we find different WORDS for them. “Exploring my sexuality. Discovering myself. Being cautious. Telling it like it is. Exercising my rights. Looking after myself for once.” We make excuses for what we do or our loved ones do because we have special circumstances that God would understand. “That’s nice in theory, but it just doesn’t work in today’s world.” So ultimately, this denial of sin ends up chasing God’s WORD out of your life and calling God a LIAR, a rube, and a dunce. You know better than God. That is the natural consequence of denying your sins. Why not just tell the truth!?!
Why? What’s the point? There’s basically two points that are laid out in today’s text. First of all, John writes that, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God isn’t part of the cancel culture. He doesn’t just want you to grovel and point out your sin so He can embarrass you and throw you into hell. He wants to FORGIVE you. He wants to CLEANSE you from ALL unrighteousness.
And it’s interesting how John describes the way through which this forgiveness comes to us. He writes, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world.” What John is trying to show his hearers is that Jesus didn’t just die for those who would BELIEVE in Him. He died for the whole world. So it’s not like there’s a shortage of mercy to go around. He paid for the sins of the entire world, whether they want it or not. He wants to use that sacrifice to its fullest extent.
He says that Jesus is the ATONING SACRIFICE for the sins of the world. Atonement really means a covering of sorts. For instance, the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament was known to the Jews as Yom Kippur, the Day of Covering. So the High Priest would go into the Most Holy Place on this Day and put the blood of a lamb on the top cover of the Ark of the Covenant, which was also known as the Mercy Seat. So God would specially dwell in the place between the angels on top of the Ark, while the Ten Commandments were in the Ark, which showed the Israelites their sin. How would the Holy God have a relationship with His people? Only through the blood of the lamb that would cover their sins on the Mercy Seat.
Jesus was called the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So Jesus' death provided a great “cover up” so to speak, of the sins of the world. However, this isn’t a cover up where people are getting away with something without anyone finding out about it or anyone paying the price. This is a cover up where Jesus openly and knowingly paid the price for the sins of the world, sins which we confess. So there is NO SIN that Jesus hasn’t paid for or sacrificed Himself for. There is no excuse for sinning. There is a sacrifice for sinning. If your sins were done in this world, and you are a part of this world, then your sins are paid for. There’s no way that your sins could ever or would ever not be paid for.
And here’s the great part, God WANTS to forgive you. God WANTS to cleanse you and cover you. He enjoys doing it! But if you don't want to confess your sins, then you’re not letting Him be who He wants to be for you, who He DIED to be for you. And then the sad thing is you can never really live!
I have no idea why, but once in a while our dog goes outside and decides to roll in dog poo. She comes back in and you start to smell something. You sniff around, and find a patch of her fur that has dog poo on it. That’s when I get designated as the dog shower guy. And I have to tell you, I don’t enjoy being dog shower guy. I’d rather someone else do it. And my dog, it seems that she likes to smell like dog poo, otherwise why would she roll in it? So she doesn’t make it any easier for me to cleanse her. I love my dog, but that isn’t something I love to do.
God loves us too. God doesn’t want us to smell like that with our sins, stinking up our world. But when we come to Him discovering our own stench and wanting to be cleansed, He doesn’t complain about it. He doesn’t say, “What did you get yourself into now!?!” He is happy when we come to Him. He loves it when He has the opportunity to wash us and cleanse us. So He bids us to come to Him for the Lord’s Supper. He invites us to confess our sins and stop trying to pretend we aren’t as bad as He says we are. He would love to tell us, “You’re forgiven! You’re clean in Jesus!” It’s like taking an old car with a terrible finish and shining it back up. Some people love remaking cars and shining them up to look brand new. That’s what Jesus does with us. But if we’d rather live our lives telling ourselves we really aren’t that bad, well we aren’t doing ourselves any favors or anyone else for that matter. We are distancing ourselves from God. Sure, it can be embarrassing and painful at times when you’re called out for a stinky sin. But all of us have been there. How much better is it to be forgiven and cleansed?
Look at how much better David felt! For probably over a year he tried to cover up his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah. He wrote in Psalm 32
3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”— and you forgave the guilt of my sin. 6 Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.
Confession brought his sin out in the open, and God forgave him! It comforted him greatly to finally get his sin out in the open so he could be forgiven. This is what Jesus died for!
One more thing that comes from confession! John writes, 1 My children, I write these things to you so that you will not sin. If anyone does sin, we have an Advocate before the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. What an interesting thing! A purpose in confessing our sins is not that we keep on sinning, but that we stop sinning. When you confess your sins it keeps you from making excuses for them and repeating them time and time again. It makes you self aware. It makes you humble. It makes you try to stay away from sin. Why? Because you now know what it smells like, and you enjoy being cleansed! The more you receive God’s forgiveness, the more you want!
And here’s where the resurrection of Jesus comes into play as we celebrate Easter. Jesus is still alive and well. He is able to use His sacrifice as a constant source of mercy, so that when we do sin and when we do fall short, we won’t be under God’s wrath. When we have Jesus as our living and holy defense attorney, He gives us a lifetime of God’s patience and mercy. With a smile on His face, with a huge vat of His blood, He says, “Come and be clean! Come and live!” Through confession and forgiveness we can try to improve our lives and become better at living the way God called us to live, knowing all the while that we are forgiven no matter how much we improve or how many times we fail.
Going through the Strength Finder for church forced me to see myself in a way I didn’t necessarily like in some ways, even though they were couched as strengths. Going through the Sin Finder can be much more painful. But the only way to really come to peace and live a powerful life is by coming to God with an honest and sorrowful confession of sins. The good news is that throughout this painful process, you find that your sins are ALL paid for. What is better? You know that Jesus is alive, and He is still your defender. He is still your forgiveness. He still speaks on your defense. Through confession of sin and forgiveness, then we can truly live in strength, in the power of the resurrection. Amen.
