Open your Bibles with me to 1
John chapter 1. 1 John 1. We can read it in verse 1. That which was from the beginning
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word
of life. For the life was manifested,
and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that
eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto
us. That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you. that ye also may have fellowship
with us. And truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And these things
write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is
the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you,
that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we
say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we
lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light,
as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all
sin. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Verse 9,
this is where I'd like to take our text this morning. If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The title of the message, Confession,
Forgiveness, Cleansing. John writes here confession,
if we confess our sins. Now, a man who's done no wrong,
he has nothing to confess. But a guilty man, a guilty man
has something to confess, doesn't he? Are we guilty? Huh? What are we guilty of? You can
summarize it in one word, sin. We're guilty of sin. Now, the
word confess, it has a couple meanings. One, it means to declare
oneself guilty. Now, we struggle to declare ourselves
guilty. We say things like, I didn't
mean to do that. Or, I thought I stopped at that
stop sign. I thought I made a complete stop. I was going that fast. Or, I
know it was bad, but it's not as bad as what Frank did. Adam said, this goes all the
way back to the beginning, Adam said, the woman, the woman you
gave me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat it. Try to justify our actions, don't
we? How often do we ever say, I'm
guilty? I'm guilty. It's against our
nature, isn't it? Completely against our nature. But now,
this again, confession, it has two meanings. The second, I am
completely in agreement. Completely in agreement. Completely
in agreement with who? Completely in agreement with
Almighty God. What does God say about our sin?
Well, God's word says all have sinned. You say, I know that's
true about me. Maybe you can say that. I know
that's true. But what about my mom? Oh, she's
a dear, sweet lady. She bakes goods for those people
down at the nursing home, and she visits the sick. What about
mom? Well, it's true. It's true about
mom. It's true about me. It's true
about you. It's true about our children. It's true about our
grandchildren even. We're all guilty of sin. He says
all, all have sinned. God's Word says from the sole
of our feet to the top of our heads. There's no soundness in
it. It's wounds and bruises, future crying sores. They've
not been closed up. No ointment's been applied to
them. Am I in agreement with God about that? Is that truly
what I look like before Almighty God? Well, I think it was Todd
Nyberg said a while back, he said, it's easy. It's easy to say I believe in
total depravity. But it's a far greater thing
to say I'm totally depraved. God's Word said there's none
righteous, no, not one. But if the Spirit of God is pleased
to convince a sinner, to convince us of our sin, we'll cry out
like that publican of old, God be merciful, made a sinner. And listen, it's not just the
evil that I do. It's just not my sinfulness.
Frank, you mentioned this. Even our best works. Even the
best I bring is filthy rags in the sight of God. Paul said over
in Romans 7.21, he said, I find in a law that when I would do
good, when I would do good, when my intent and my purpose and
my desire is to do good, evil is present with me. We're sinners
by birth. We're sinners by choice. We're
sinners by practice, and by nature we will not seek him. We will
not come to him unless he draws us unto himself. John says here
in 1 John 1, he says, if we confess our sins. Turn with me to Psalm
51. David, David of whom God said,
I found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart. We know the story. We know that
story of David, how he took Bathsheba, took Uriah's wife, and when he
found out when he found out that she was carrying his child. And when he figured out he couldn't
cover it up, he tried to bring Uriah home, and Uriah slept there
at his door. So what did he do? He sent him
in to the heaviest part of the battle. I told you, I've sent
him into the heaviest part of the battle, and you draw back
from him. Draw completely back from him,
and he killed him. He killed him. Well, after all this happened, Nathan,
God sent Nathan, the prophet, and he told David that parable.
He said there were two men. One was rich. One was poor. They both lived in the city.
He said that rich man, he had everything. He had cattle. He had all these things. The
poor man, He had this one little lamb, one little lamb that he
had raised up like he'd raised up his children. This lamb had
slept beside of him. This lamb had ate with him. This
lamb he had fed up with the bottle. That's all he had was this lamb. He said it was dear to him as
a daughter, dear to him as a little girl. And he said, a visitor
came to town and that rich man, Instead of taking from his great
multitude, he went and he took that poor man's lamb and he slated. He slated to offer a meal to
this visitor. Instead of taking from his own,
he took his only lamb. This is all he had. And David,
when he heard this, he was furious. He was absolutely
furious and he said, He said, the man that did this, he said,
as sure as the Lord liveth, the man that did this shall surely
die. Now, in reading that account,
in preparation for this message, it occurred to me, it occurred
to me, here David had done these things. And when he hears this
story, how quick he was to cast judgment, how quick he was in
It's not just David, how quick we are, how quick we are to cast
judgment, how slow we are to recognize our own sin, but how
quick we are to cast judgment on others. He said, how often have we said
that? If that were me, well, this is
what I'm going to do. I think they should have done
that. I can't believe they did that. It's easy, isn't it? It's so easy to look at others
and cast judgment on them. David said, the man that did
this, he still doesn't get it. He said, the man that did this
shall surely die and restore the land fourfold because he
did this and he had no pity. But then we know what Nathan,
Nathan looked at him and he said, David, I'm not talking about
anybody else. David, thou art, thou art the
man. Thou art the man. God revealed
unto David through Nathan, he revealed unto him his sin. And
here, here in Psalm 51, we read David's confession. Let's just
read a few verses here in Psalm 51. David said, Have mercy upon me,
O God. According to Thy lovingkindness,
according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out
my transgressions. Wash me throughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. Reacknowledge my transgressions.
My sin is ever before me. Who have we sinned against? We
have sinned against Almighty God. Against Thee, and Thee only,
have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight, that Thou
mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and clear when Thou
judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, Thou desirest truth
in the inward parts, and in the hidden Thou shalt make me to
know thy wisdom, purge me with thyself. Thou shalt be clean,
wash me, and I shall be whiter than the snow. Make me to hear
the joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken
may rejoice. Hide thy face far from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from
thy presence. Take not thy Holy Spirit from
me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with
thy free spirit." No excuses, no attempt to put the blame somewhere
else. He said, I sinned and my sin
is against thee. I'm guilty and I'm in total agreement
with you. You're just when you speak, you're
clear when you judge. This confession, it's not to
somebody in a closet with a curtain pulled down between them. This
confession is to Almighty God, true confession. And I want you
to know here, this confession, it takes place after God used
Nathan to reveal unto David his sin. You see that up there? It says, a psalm of David when
Nathan the prophet came to him. after he'd gone into Bathsheba.
Almighty God used his prophet to reveal his sin to David. Now back to our text, 1 John
1, verse 9, says if we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Here we see forgiveness. He's faithful and he's just to
forgive. Now, this is almighty God, God
who is infinitely holy. Over Habakkuk, he said, thou
art of pure eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity. If we look back a few verses
in our text, in verse five, we read this then as the message
which we've heard of him in declaring, God is light. God is light and
in Him is no darkness at all. God who sees all things, nothing
is hid from Him. Back in Genesis chapter 3, after
the fall, Adam and Eve, they tried to hide from God, didn't
they? You can't hide from God. God
knew where they were. Achan, after the fall of Jericho,
he tried to take some of that spoil and he took it back and
he hid it in his tent. Didn't matter where he hid it.
God sees all things. Nothing is hid from him. Nothing
is hid from him. Turn to Hebrews 4.13. Verse 13, neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes
of him of whom we have to do." God sees all things. And listen,
Almighty God who must punish sin. Ezekiel 18, verse 4, "...Behold,
all souls are mine, as the soul of the Father, so also the soul
of the Son is mine, and the soul of the Sinner. It shall die."
In the days of Noah, he destroyed the world by water. Sodom and
Gomorrah were destroyed as a result of man's wickedness, sin, homosexuality. God destroyed it. God must punish sin. Yet we read
he's faithful and he's just to forgive us our sins. He's faithful,
listen, he's faithful to his name. Turn to Exodus 34. Almighty God is faithful to His
name. Here we read, ìAnd the Lord passed by before him and
proclaimed, ìThe Lord, the Lord God, gracious, long-suffering,
abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no
means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the father upon
the children, upon the children's children, unto the third and
fourth generation. He is faithful to his name. He
is faithful to his Son. Matthew 1.21, she shall bring
forth a son. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shalt save his people from their sins." He's faithful
to his covenant. Back in Psalm 89, turn there
with me, Psalm 89, beginning in verse 28, he says, My mercy will I keep for
him forevermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His
seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the
days of heaven. If his children forsake my law and walk not in
my judgments, if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments,
then will I visit their transgression with a rod and their iniquity
with stripes. Nevertheless, nevertheless, my
lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor succor my
faithfulness to fail, my covenant will I not break, nor alter the
thing that has gone out of my lips." He's faithful to his covenant. And listen, he's, over in Isaiah
55-7, he's faithful to his word. He said, "...let the wicked forsake
his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him
return to the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him." and to
our God, for He will abundantly pardon." Now, how can God, who
is absolutely holy, Almighty God, who is just and righteous,
be faithful and just to forgive sin? How can He accept me as
perfect and sinless and guiltless? How can He accept sinners, sinners
like You and me, how can he do that and still be holy and just? Well, there's just one way. One way, he did it for us. He honored the law. He died in
our room instead to satisfy his justice. And because God loved
us and gave himself for us and made atonement for our sins,
God can be just and holy in justifying the ungodly. In Christ, that's
what we are, just and holy in Him. And He accepts us being
justified in the Beloved. It's only through the blood and
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ our substitute. We read
this, I believe, every service, for He hath made Him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him." It's in him. His people are forgiven for Christ's
sake. Now back to our text. Back to
1 John 1 verse 9. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful just to forgive us our sins. Here's the third point,
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Confession, forgiveness, cleansing. Where does this cleansing come
from? Look back at verse 7 there in
1 John 1. It says, If we walk in the light
as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.
Blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. There has to be a blood sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. But listen, not just any blood
will do. Not just any blood. Not by the blood of bulls and
goats. All those Old Testament pictures,
they pointed to that blood sacrifice, but animal blood and I'll take
away my sin. You just can't do it. Turn to
Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, beginning in verse
1. For the law, having a shadow
of good things to come and not the very image of the things,
can never with those sacrifices which they've offered year by
year continually make the comers there unto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered because that the worshipers once purged
should have no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices
there is a remembrance again made of sins every year for it
is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sin. cannot take away my sin. Those
sacrifices could not make the man perfect. It's not by animal
blood. And listen, it's not by my blood.
It's not by your blood. That infant, that infant that
was cast out into the open field, says she was polluted. Polluted
in what? Polluted in her own blood. Remember when Elijah And those prophets of Baal, they
come together and they said, we'll both offer a sacrifice.
And the one that's accepted by fire, let him be God. And those prophets, they built
their altar and they prayed to Baal from morning till noon.
Nothing happened. And then they jumped up and down
on the altar. They did something. And nothing
happened. And then they took knives and
they cut themselves so that their blood flowed out on that altar.
Still, nothing happened. Man's blood, man's blood can
do nothing. It will not do because it's polluted
just like the rest of our bodies is. It's polluted with sin. It's
not by our blood. It's not by our doing or dying
for that matter. will not put away sin. Moral
duties won't put away sin. Self-righteousness won't put
away sin. Church membership won't put away sin. Baptism will not
put away sin. Sinner's prayer won't put away
sin. And we could go on and on and on and list those things
that so-called preachers of our time say you must do. They cannot put away sin. There's
only one thing that can put away my sin. Our little ones, Mike,
you lead that song to them every year during Bible school. You
guys know it. What can wash away my sin? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, this I see. nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing, this my plea,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can for sin atone, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Not a good that I have done,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. It's the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Nothing else can satisfy God's
justice, God's holiness. Nothing else will do. Turn with
me back to 2 Samuel 12. 2 Samuel chapter 12. Let's take one more look at David
here. Verse 13, David said unto Nathan, he said,
I've sinned against the Lord. He said, I've sinned against
the Lord. Nathan said to David, the Lord also hath put away thy
sin. David's guilt, David's shame,
David's sin. Nathan said, the Lord hath also
put away thy sin. How is that? How is that? David's guilty. Any question,
David's guilty. He's guilty of adultery. He's
guilty of murder. How can David's sin be put away? Well, the same way every believer's
sin is put away, by the sacrifice and substitutionary by our Lord
Jesus Christ, by the blood of the Savior, the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. And listen, what God says is
cleansed, it's cleansed. He told Peter that. He said,
don't you call anything that I've called clean, common. He told that leper, he said,
be thou clean. And what happened? Immediately
that leper was cleansed. Turn back to our text, and we'll
close. First John 1.9, if we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse all unrighteousness. You need forgiveness. We need
forgiveness. Flee to Christ. Flee to Christ. Are you guilty? Is that crushing
weight of sin upon you? Then listen, confess your sins. Has God revealed to you your
desperate condition? Confess your sin. For listen,
God is faithful and just to forgive you to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Confession, forgiveness, cleansing. All right, everybody.