Tuesday, September 10, 2024

PT-4 "Confessing" (1 John 1:9)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/10/2024 9:40 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                  Focus:  PT-4 “Confessing”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  1 John 1:9

 

            Message of the verse:  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

 

            Once again I want to tell those who read my Spiritual Diaries around the world that it is my goal to be able to put things onto my blogs in order to first of all be used by the Holy Spirit to convict those who are not believers to be convicted of their sins and then trust Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.  Next I desire to see believers who read these Spiritual Diaries to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18).  Next I desire to see those who are believers to experience revival in their lives as they walk with the Lord.  Lastly it is my desire that the Holy Spirit continue to send these Spiritual Diaries around the world to bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Now I wish to continue quoting the last part of this important section from John MacArthur’s commentary on this very important verse we have been looking at.

 

            “The apostle was not referring to feeling bad about the consequences of one’s sinful conduct, which is the worldly sorrow characterized by despair, depression, and sometimes suicide (Matt. 27:3-5).  Rather, he was describing the kind of godly sorrow that produces real repentance that leads to salvation.  Biblical repentance will result in ‘earnestness,’ ‘vindication,’ ‘indignation,’ ‘fear,’ ‘longing,’ ‘zeal,’ and ‘avenging.’  (For more on these results, see comments on 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 in John MacArthur, 2 Corinthians, MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 2003], 264-67.)  When repentance is present, believers will have a strong desire for God to deal with sin and at any cost (cf. Matt. 5:29-30), even when that cost may be high for them personally (cf. Luke 19:8-10).  True believers are therefore habitual confessors who demonstrate that God has not only pardoned their sin and is faithfully cleansing them daily from it, but has truly regenerated them, making them new creatures with holy desires that dominate their will.  (Later in this epistle, John shows how true believers do not go on sinning [3:4-10], but strive to obey God [3:19-24].)

 

            “In spite of this straightforward meaning, many throughout history have misinterpreted and misapplied the concept of confession.  The Roman Catholic Church, for example, sees confession as the anonymous divulging of sins to a human priest in a confessional booth.  Catholics believe such confession to be a meritorious act, one that earns the confessor forgiveness, if followed by the performance of some penitential ritual (such as repeating a prayer or saying the rosary a certain number of times).  Under that system, one essentially receives forgiveness based on the good works of confession and penance.

 

            “Others view confession as psychologically and emotionally therapeutic—and act that helps people feel good about feeling bad, ensuring that they ‘feel’ forgiven and experience healing.  Still others teach that the confession in this verse refers only to the moment of salvation, with no regard for subsequent times of acknowledging sin.  But if one truly trusts in Christ as Lord and Savior (Luke 9:23; Acts 2:38-39; 16:31; Rom. 10:9-10; cf. Mark 10:21-27; John 15:4-8), he will regularly admit his sins before God, as the present, active form of the verb confess indicates.

 

            “Perhaps the most popular but erroneous view of confession in this context is that believers are forgiven of only those sins they confess.  If that were correct, it would mean that unconfessed sins remain with believers until the judgment seat of Christ, at which time they will have to give an account for those iniquities.  But such is simply not the case.  No one will enter heaven with a list of unconfessed sins still hanging over his head (cf. 1 Cor. 15:50; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5; Rev. 22:15), because the finished work of Jesus Christ completely covers all of the sins of those who believe, including those that remain unconfessed (see commentary on 2:12 in chapter 7 of this volume).  As the apostle Paul wrote:

 

“David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:  ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered.  Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account’ (Rom 4:6-8; cf. 8:33; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13; Col. 2:13).”

 

            If there is one thing that I get out of this verse it is that it was written to both unbelievers and believers.  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  Now if a non-believer confesses his sins before the Lord asking Him to be his Lord and Savior then Christ will save Him.  If a believer agrees with the Lord that what he did was sinful and admits it to the Lord then the believer is thankful that all of sins have been forgiven when he became a believer, past, present, and future.  The rest of the verse shows that an unbeliever will be forgiven of his sins and cleansed from all unrighteousness. 

 

9/10/2024 10:12 PM

 

 

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