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.
The next part of verse 7 says the one walking in the light has fellowship with one another, with fellow Christians. The opposite is true. A Christian with sin is not really keen about an open fellowship with other Christians and avoids contact with them. That is guilt operating. Two can’t walk together unless they be agreed, and sin will cause disagreement. Before we close verse 7, a pivotal truth ends the verse. “and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin”. “What can wash away my sin; Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” “Without shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin”. {{Revelation 5 v 9 and they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals, for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood, men from every tribe and tongue, and people and nation.”}} I won’t explore that further as I want to get to verse 9.
Verse 8 is the prelude for verse 9. It is no good talking about confession of sin if one does not even admit sin. That is why John has to say, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” We have sin when we were in the unsaved state, and also after we are saved. It is Christians John is addressing here. Do you remember last time we mentioned “habitual sin” when speaking of the verses at the end of chapter 5? A Christian does not sin = “does keep on sinning”. Remember that was the present continuous tense. A Christian is not free from sin and can fall and fail, but can not habitually sin like water off a duck’s back. One who does that is not a Christian.
One might well ask, how far can a Christian go in sinning? I remember discussions when I was young with my fellows and sometimes the topic would come up, “Could a Christian actually commit murder? There are very entrenched people on both sides of that question. All I would say is, “Do you remember a certain time in King David’s life?” I think, no matter what people raise, I would say, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from ALL sin!” What I would urge all Christians to do is not to be careless about sin, but to be on the lookout that we don’t get caught out. I wrote a poem called “Beware the Fowler” which I want to read. A fowler used to catch fowls = old name for birds.
BEWARE THE FOWLER
Beware the fowler in the way,
The schemer with his traps adept;
That cunning trickster who will lay
Ensnaring nets where he has crept.
The fowler knows his craft so well -
Each habit and routine discerns.
The ways of birds expertly tell;
Entrapment plans so well he learns.
To map his prey so cunningly,
And plan with subtle art his haul,
The fowler works strategically.
An expert he, the best of all.
Now Satan has his fowlers trained -
His followers in his control,
Whose traps are set, the cords are strained,
To catch God’s children, is their goal.
Each subtle means will be employed:-
The lust of flesh, the lust of eyes,
To cause God’s work to be destroyed;
To capture saints by wicked lies.
Beware the fowler’s changing guise;
His trickery is most refined.
On every cunning trick relies
To cause God’s own to be maligned.
Deliver us from fowlers’ snares.
On every path these nets are laid.
Direct us, Lord, for our God cares.
Our trust’s in Him. On Him we’re stayed.
[Ron Ferguson. Copyright. May be used for Christian ministry with acknowledgement]
Now, let us look in more detail at verse 9. As I said earlier, this verse contains many of the majestic words of the Christian faith. {{“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”}} The verse begins with an “If” meaning you can be the most miserable person walking around with a guilty sin-conscience, until the Holy Spirit makes you aware of the “IF”. Then the “IF” leads to conviction, and conviction to confession, and confession to forgiveness, and forgiveness to cleansing. Well the procedure is quite straightforward. Genuine confession grants forgiveness and then cleansing. However, there is a serious foundation behind how this happens.
If you can follow this, it does speak about the great character of our God. Will you note the wording just before the middle of verse 9. Note these words “If we confess our sins, “He is faithful and righteous.”” (NASB). The condition that our sins are forgiven us, relies on the premise that the Lord is faithful and righteous. The KJV says “faithful and just”.
Stay with me on this with both ears. God is love. Does a loving God want to shower His affection on us? Yes; God loves His creation. God is kind. Does He want His kindness to be shown to us? Yes. God is merciful. Does He want His mercy to embrace us to help us? Yes. God is gracious. Does His graciousness want to show us undeserved favour? Yes. God is faithful. Will His faithfulness to His own character include us to Himself? No. God is righteous. Will His righteousness accept us into His presence? No. What is happening here?
Because we are sinners, sinners have the wrath of God abiding on them, and His justice, His righteousness, condemn us to utter darkness. There is almost like a division among the attributes of God; those that desire us, and those that penalise us. Verse 9 says that God forgives us because of His faithfulness and righteous justice. How does this work? Well, here is the verse – {{2 Corinthians 5 v 21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”}} Sinners become righteous. How? Through the substitutionary work of Christ on the cross. It is like an exchange.
We could put this another way - God’s love can not forgive sin. God’s compassion can not forgive sin. God’s mercy can not forgive sin. God’s kindness can not forgive sin. God’s love can’t forgive a sinner. God’s compassion can’t forgive a sinner. God’s mercy can’t forgive a sinner. God’s kindness can’t forgive a sinner. Where are we going with this? God’s love is immense but it can’t forgive you. God’s love can give, for it gave us His only begotten Son, but God’s love can’t forgive us. God’s love by ITSELF can’t save us.
There is an excellent explanation in Romans how God’s forgiveness works. It is in these verses – {{Romans 1 v 15 Thus, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome, Rom 1:16 for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, Rom 1:17 for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”}}
Paul says here the whole power (authority) of God for salvation is contained in the gospel. The gospel is the power of God for salvation, that is, for the forgiveness of sins. What lies at the heart of the gospel? I can summarise it in this fashion –
1. Man is sinful and without hope, separated from God.
2. Man’s sin leads to death, to hell and eventually to the lake of fire.
3. Man is totally unable to lift himself from his sinful condition.
4. Jesus came into the world to take man’s sin upon Himself, and pay the penalty for that sin. He paid it absolutely so that not a vestige of penalty or debt remains.
5. God’s righteousness can not be violated or compromised. His righteousness, or justice, must be kept holy and utterly satisfied.
6. The death of Christ on the cross as the perfect Substitute, totally satisfied the righteousness of God making it now possible for God to forgive sins.
All the love and compassion and mercy and kindness of God, of itself, can not forgive sins. It is through the gospel that the righteousness of God is revealed. It is when righteousness and justice are satisfied, then God’s forgiveness can flow to mankind. Of course the love of God was the strong motivation in working to satisfy the righteousness of a holy God. I won’t get into the discussion of the balance of God’s attributes today, but please remember that it is the righteousness and faithfulness of God that are responsible in your forgiveness and salvation. It is important that we understand that. In Stuart Townend’s hymn, “In Christ Alone“ there is a line, “the wrath of God was satisfied”. May I suggest it was not the wrath that was satisfied, but it was His righteousness that was satisfied. His wrath was set against Christ as the Victim, and He took the full measure of it. He drank the very last drop of the cup of God’s wrath, so you have cloudless peace this morning with not even a tiny inkling of judgement hanging over your head.
Let us see what Paul wrote to the Romans, for here, he sets out the way we are received by God. {{Romans 3 v 21 Now, apart from the Law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, Rom 3:22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe for there is no distinction, Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and (keep) fall(ing) short of the glory of God, Rom 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”}} There you have it. Sin separates from God because we all keep falling short but we are justified through the redemption in Christ Jesus, and redemption is purchased through blood. It is the blood of the Lamb that has married all God’s attributes so the fullness of God is demonstrated to us.
Then, two verses later on he wrote, {{Romans 3 v 26 “for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus”.}} That is our key verse. God’s righteousness is displayed through Calvary, that His justice might be unblemished, and holy, and satisfied, and because of that fact, NOW God can justify the one who has faith in Jesus. There is now no more condemnation.
Returning to our verse 9 in John’s letter, Jesus can forgive our sins because the righteousness and justice of God have been satisfied. What a treasure.
Do you realise if verse 9 was not in the scriptures, how unsettled and uncertain our faith would be. We would be miserable not knowing if our sins are separating us from God, or if we have to be born again over and over. When we sin, we would feel condemned. For me it is one of the most precious verses in all the word of God. It is fundamental in the Christian walk. God does not want us to be uncertain and miserable or wavering in faith. He set out very clearly for us what should happen when a child of God falls into sin. Then we obey this verse, and the peace of God returns and floods our hearts with forgiveness and love from the Father in heaven. There is a contentment, a wonderful peace that flows through the soul when the window is opened to heaven, with heavenly light entering, and not blocked by sin in a believer’s heart.
If we had to pick 5 verses from the bible as a guide for the Christian walk, then certainly, this one I would include.
In Psalm 51 David confessed his sin. So can we when we realise we have failed in our lives. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Once confession happens, our sins are forgiven and forgotten! Yes, forgotten. No more dredging up the failures over and over, or tears or unhappiness. We must appropriate God’s forgiveness. Our consciences may plague us, but naught is against us.
Verse 10 is fact. {“IF we say that we have not sinned we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.} Once, a woman came to Charles Wesley, the great hymn-writer, and asked him to pray for her. She confessed to him, “I am a great sinner. I am a Christian, but I sometimes fail so dreadfully. Please pray for me.” Wesley looked at her rather sternly and replied, “Yes, Madam, I will pray for you; for truly you are a great sinner.” Well, taken aback by Wesley’s demeanour and straightforward reply, she answered, “What do you mean? I have never done anything very wrong.”
Here in verse 10 John is dealing with this type of person. Oh, they may admit they are a sinner by nature (oh, so sinful!), but certainly not by deed. “I’m a sinner, but I haven’t done anything very wrong. I’m a sinner, but I haven’t ever sinned.” That’s the gist of this false claim. And while we may laugh at that Wesley story, this attitude towards sin is no laughing matter. In fact, most commentators agree: This third false claim in the passage is “the most serious of all.” To claim not to have sinned in the past or the present, is a serious mistake in moral judgment. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
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