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Scriptural Confession


RETIREDFAN1

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Scriptural Confession

 

There are a lot of questions in regards to confession. There are also many concerns as to whether or not we, as Christians, are confessing in a scriptural manner. Please open your Bible to I John. We are going to begin with a reading from there and hold that page as we will reference back to it throughout the lesson.

I John 1:5-10

 

When talking about the Gospel with Baptists, they’ll often ask what we in the Lord’s Church believe. They will then have some questions in regards to baptism. One of the questions they ask most often is that if we believe that our sins are washed away by the Blood of Christ at baptism, do we have to be baptized every time that we sin? They also ask how many times must someone be baptized? 

 

Brethren in Christ also have some misunderstandings about this. A statement that I have read several times from some of my brethren in reference to committing a sin is that if you commit a sin, in order to be forgiven of that sin you have to confess it as soon as you can. They say that if you are out in public when you commit the sin, then as soon as you can get home you need to pray to God and confess that sin and then He will forgive you. They also claim that if you don’t confess that sin, then there is no forgiveness and you are lost until you make that confession.

 

 To them, if you die before making that confession, then it’s just too bad. They get this idea from verse 7 which we just read. 

 

What we need to ask ourselves is are these ideas true? Verses 8 and 10 tell us that even though we are Christians, we are still sinners. When I commit a sin do I need to hurry home and pray to God, confessing what I have just done, and ask Him to forgive me? Am I lost until I do? When I sin do I need to be baptized again since that is where the forgiveness of sins takes place? 

 

The answer to these questions is found in 6 of the verses we are studying today, so let’s go through them. Look at verse 5.

I John 1: 5

 

John is writing to counter the teachings of the Gnostics. There were all kinds of different Gnostic groups in those days. There were the Docetists, Cerinthians, the Libertines, Ebionites, Denialists, Ascetics, Monastics, and the Essenes. Some of these groups said that since man was made of flesh, and since all flesh is evil, that there is no way that a Holy God could have anything to do with man. 

 

Well, John dismantled that idea in the first four verses of this letter. Pay close attention to what he said in verse 3. 

I John 1: 1 - 4

 

 

The Apostles had experienced the fellowship with Jesus. It was personal with them. It was experienced multiple times, and it wasn’t something that just one of them claimed to have experienced. So, for some of these Gnostics to say that man cannot have fellowship with God was a lie. 

 

Some of the Gnostics were totally opposite of this. The Libertines were saying that what you did in the flesh had no bearing on the spiritual. They believed that they could live an immoral, ungodly, pagan life and still have fellowship with God. John deals with this starting in verse 5, where he sets the standard. 

I John 1: 5

 

John is talking about fellowship here and if we are going to have fellowship with God there are some things we must understand. First of all, God is light. This refers to God’s moral quality. Light is a symbol of God’s moral perfection. He does not fellowship darkness, and here darkness refers to sin. There will be no sin permitted in His presence, as shown with Adam and Eve. There are no gray areas with God. There is no darkness at all. So God is the standard set for us.

 

 

 

Now, read verse 6. This verse says that if we say that we have fellowship with Him but still walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. This just contradicted the Libertines, and it contradicts a lot of people today. A lot of people today think they can walk in a sin-filled way and still have fellowship with God. It’s no wonder that they believe this because there are all kinds of teachers and preachers telling them this. 

 

To say that there is fellowship no matter what they do, is to say that God doesn’t care about sin. If you walk in darkness there is no fellowship with God. What the man who walks in darkness and claims that he has fellowship with God is really just saying that he has no need for Christ. 

 

Now, I want you to notice the word walk. What do we know about a walk? We know that a walk has certain characteristics. It has direction, either toward darkness or toward light. It has separation and progression. The farther  you walk in light the farther you get away from darkness. A walk is never static, there is no such thing as a non-walk. A walk has a destination. Walking in darkness is heading for hell. Walking in light is headed for heaven. A walk has companionship. Your companion in a walk in darkness is Satan. Your companion in a walk in light is God. 

 

The walk being talked about here refers to a certain lifestyle. When John speaks of a man walking in darkness he is speaking of that man’s lifestyle and his practices. 

Now, look at verse 7.

 

Here we see a contrast to the man in verse 6. If our lifestyle follows a path of light, if we walk in the lifestyle in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with each other. That means we have fellowship with God, the Apostles, and fellow Christians. By walking in the light, the Blood of Jesus cleanses us from all our sins. This verse contradicts the Gnostic lie which was exposed in verse 6. In that verse, they said that they were in the light even though they walked in darkness. The only way to truly be in the light is to walk in the light.

 

Verse 7 sets the standard by which we are to walk. If we walk by His standard when it comes to right and wrong morally, He will have fellowship with us. 

 

We must also remember that to walk in the light, we must actually be in the light. John wrote this letter to those who he knew had already entered the light through their obedience to the Gospel. This does not include anyone who has not heard, believed, and obeyed the Gospel by repenting of their past sins, confessing publicly their belief that Jesus is the Messiah, and being immersed in water to have those past sins washed away.  

 

Now, does this mean that our walk in the light will have no sin in it? 

I John 1: 8

 

Our walk as Christians is not going to be perfect. All of us are going to sin, some many times a day.  

 

Oh no! What do we do? Does this mean that I am lost? Do I need to be baptized again? How do I get rid of this sin? 

Well, look back at the end of verse 7. 

 

There it says that as long as we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. First of all, see where it says “and the blood of Jesus.” That “and” speaks of simultaneous action. We have fellowship with one another and simultaneously the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. The cleansing power of the blood of Jesus keeps us in fellowship with one another even though we sin. 

 

Now, the word cleanses is the present tense. This means that it is a continuous action. This means your sin does not break your fellowship.  When you were baptized into Christ the blood of Jesus washed away all of your sins. That blood continues to wash away all of your sins. However, there is a condition, and that condition is your walk.  If you are walking in the light, you are walking where God wants you to. 

You are headed in the right direction. If you are doing this and you sin, guess what? As long as you are walking in the light, the blood of Christ immediately washes it away. It is gone. Fellowship has not been broken. 

 

Do you need to be baptized again? No, the blood of Christ that washed you clean at baptism still cleanses you of all sin. When you sin, fellowship with God is not broken. How do you know? Are you still walking in the light? Have you changed directions of your walk? If you are still walking in the light, your fellowship with God is secure. 

 

Are you walking in darkness? What is your progression? What is your direction? Your continued fellowship with God depends on your walk. It depends on the standard you are trying to keep. Are you trying to walk according to His word? What guides your decisions: Darkness or the Light? 

 

Verse 8 contradicts the Monastics and the Ascetics, because they denied their sins and therefore they were lying to themselves.  They could lie to themselves, but they were not deceiving God. 

I John 1: 9

 

It’s from this verse that we get the idea that we must confess our sins in order to be forgiven. Many get the idea that they have to hurry home and confess before something happens to them and they don’t get the chance. 

In this verse the word “confess” is the opposite of the Gnostics denial found in verse 8. In verse 8 the Gnostic said; “I am not a sinner” and therefore I don’t need God. Here in this verse we are talking about someone who says, “Lord, I am a sinner and I need you.” 

 

So who do we confess our sin to? Do we confess them to other brothers or sisters in Christ? We can, but this is to help us to overcome them, not to receive forgiveness. 

James 5: 16

 

Do we confess them in front of the congregation? Do we have to confess to a preacher? Or do we simply confess our sins to God? From our reading in I John, to be forgiven, we confess them to God. 

 

What if you leave a sin out during your confession? Will that sin not be forgiven? What if you commit a sin, and before you can confess it to God, you get killed. Are you lost? A lot of people believe this, and basically what they do is to make verse 9 nullify what they have been told in verse 7. 

 

That word confess simply means to acknowledge. Do you really need to confess your sins to God? No, He already knows. What this word is talking about here is to say the same thing about yourself that God already knows about you, ”God I am a sinner, and God says, “I know that.” 

 

The acknowledgement to God that you are a sinner tells God that you acknowledge Him as the only One who can forgive, and He does this immediately as we saw in verse 7, and the fellowship is not broken. Acknowledging that you are a sinner makes it possible for Him to forgive you. 

 

But the Gnostic doesn’t acknowledge that he is a sinner. He doesn’t agree with God. Instead he says, “I have no sin therefore I don’t need God and I don’t need Him to forgive me” What happens  when he does that?  NO forgiveness, and no fellowship. 

 

This passage is not talking about having to confess each and every single sin by name for fear of losing fellowship. This passage is talking about agreeing with God that you are a sinner in need of constant forgiveness. When we do this, fellowship is not broken. 

I John 1: 10

 

If you are walking in the light, that is the direction, the progression, the destination of your walk, then when you sin, and you will, you do not need to be baptized again. The blood of Christ cleanses that sin immediately and fellowship has not been broken. 

 

What if you change the direction of your walk? What if you start walking in darkness? Then there is no fellowship. You have fallen from Grace and are now lost. However, just like the Prodigal Son, you can always come home when you repent and turn back to God.  

 

So remember, you do not have to confess your every single sin by name, like some teach and practice. There’s nothing wrong if you do confess in this manner, but remember, you don’t have to live in fear that you forgot to name one in your prayer and are lost eternally. 

 

All you have to do is acknowledge what God says, that you are a sinner and in need of God’s forgiveness. When you do this, God is faithful to forgive. 

 

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