Getting Real with God
1 John 1:8-2:6
Jeff Armbrester
8If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. 9But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
2:1My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if you do sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who pleases God completely. 2He is the sacrifice for our sins. He takes away not only our sins but the sins of all the world.
3And how can we be sure that we belong to him? By obeying his commandments. 4If someone says, “I belong to God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and does not live in the truth. 5But those who obey God’s word really do love him. That is the way to know whether or not we live in him. 6Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Christ did.
(New Living Translation)
Confession is good for the soul - I guess. Police in Los Angeles had good luck with a robbery suspect who just couldn’t control himself during a lineup. They assembled a group of six or eight rough characters who were placed in front of the victim in hope that the identity of the robber would be quickly confirmed.
The detectives asked each man in the lineup to repeat the words, “Give me all your money or I’ll shoot.” The robber shouted, “That’s not what I said!”
Not the sharpest knife in the drawer. But confession is good - especially for the believer who wants to stay spiritually sharp.
- adapted by Dr. David Sylvester
We do not like to admit our faults, but some times, we can’t help ourselves.
John teaches us 3 things about sin and confession.
1. I am a sinner. (1:8, 10)
If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth...If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
The longer we are Christians, the easier it becomes to forget that we are sinners.
We stand in need of God’s grace every day.
We sin in our thoughts, our attitudes, and our actions.
Sin = missing the mark (purpose)
2. When I confess my sin, God forgives me. (1:9)
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.
Why should we confess if God knows what we’ve done? Confession means admitting that I messed up!
Confession is born out sorrow.
2 Corinthians 7:10 (NIV)
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
Why are you sorrowful for your sin? Is it because you got caught? Or, is it because you truly regret what you’ve done?
Being sorry for your sin isn’t enough. Godly sorrow produces confession that leads to repentance. Here’s how to tell the difference. Ask you self this question, “Am I continually falling into the power of this particular sin?” If you are, then you haven’t truly confessed and repented. Repentance means to “change the way you think and act.”
Psalm 51:17 (KJV)
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
3. I do not have to sin. (2:1-2)
2:1My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if you do sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who pleases God completely. 2He is the sacrifice for our sins. He takes away not only our sins but the sins of all the world.
2 Ways Not to Sin
· Stay away from tempting situations
1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLT)
But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.
Donald Robert Perry Marquis wrote a poem based on an imaginary conversation between a rat and a moth. The rat asked some hard questions. Why did moths fly into candles and other bright lights and risk getting themselves fried to death? The answer, written in the poet’s unpunctuated style, is very instructive:
we get bored with routine
and crave beauty
and excitement
fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
and what does that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while
Surely that must also be the insane logic of drug addicts and alcoholics and all others who deliberately kill themselves for a few minutes of excitement.
-- Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).
· Keep the commandments of God (1 John 2:3-6)
3And how can we be sure that we belong to him? By obeying his commandments. 4If someone says, “I belong to God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and does not live in the truth. 5But those who obey God’s word really do love him. That is the way to know whether or not we live in him. 6Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Christ did.
Obeying God will keep you focused on Jesus because you cannot keep the commandments of God on your one.
Closing
There is something terribly right about ... realizing that our struggle with sin is in many ways similar to an alcoholic’s struggle with drinking. It’s never over. How often I find myself talking about sin in the past tense as if being a sinner is something I’m beyond--a page turned in the book of my life. But sin is like alcoholism. Sinners are never cured; they simply decide to stop sinning ... and it’s a daily decision.
-- John Fischer in Contemporary Christian Music (Sept. 1987). Christianity Today, Vol. 31, no. 16.
One day, while I was grieving over some past failures, I received a letter from a friend who told me how she and her granddaughter had been watching a plane skywrite. The little girl was puzzled when the words began disappearing, but suddenly piped up, "Maybe Jesus has an eraser!" In her innocent wisdom I realized that just as skywriting disappears, Jesus wipes away all things I so bitterly regret. No matter how much we mature as Christians, and try desperately to compensate, memories of our own failures can rise up and haunt us. But, with God’s forgiveness, they will fade away--Jesus does have an eraser.
-- Marjorie Holmes, "Heart to Heart," Today’s Christian Woman.
Invitation
Do you need to confess your sin to God? Do you need his forgiveness?
Is there a sin that you keep falling prey to? Until you’re ready to turn and walk away from it, it will always control you.
Prayer
