1-3 John - 1st John 1:9-10 Confession of Sin

I thought what we might do, though, to remember everything in the Bibles in context and rightly dividing the word of truth isn't just picking two verses and looking at them. I think it's really important that we set the stage again for verses 9 and 10. And by the way, chapter 2, 1 and 2 really relates very much to what we're doing here today in 9 and 10 in 1 John 1.

So we, as we think, hi Randy, as we think about today's verses, who's teaching next week? You are. So Roger's going to carry on the theme of it next week. Actually, what we're going to do, we're going to have a review session on Chapter 1. And we can talk about First Down One Night again if he wants to. Who's got two, one and two? I have two, one and two. Okay, so anyway. So Roger says yes to both. All right, Randy.

So I was just indicating that what a special letter John has written here and it's so important for us to take our time and really make sure we're rightly dividing the word of truth. I listened to your lesson last week in preparation for today. I've enjoyed that very much.

I saw you, importantly, delayed a few challenging questions in relation to the rest of 1 John that we're going to get to ultimately. But I think, you know, this is my opinion, but I think John's theme doesn't change much from 1 John 1 to the end of the book. I mean, John's John, he writes in a special way to a special ear. And again, I feel very importantly the Lord has 1 John near the end of the New Testament for a reason.

And if this were the first book after Acts, we might have trouble putting that into historical perspective. Alright, so let's set the stage for today. Again, everything is interpreted in context. And I'm going to ask Roger to read, if he would, 1 John 1. Let's start with verse 5 and read down through 10. In fact, Roger, let's read down through 2.2. Okay?

So we're going to read 1 John 1.5 through 1 John 2.2.

And this is a message we have heard from Him and announced to you that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

My little children, I am writing these things to you, that you may not sin, and if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he himself is a propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

Now, I think last week we heard kind of thematically, as Randy taught us, is this important contrast between sins, acts of falling short of God's righteousness from the sin nature. We're actually talking about sins here. But in a sense, we're going to reflect back on the source of the sins today. And here's where I think rightly dividing is so, so critically important. We'll see how that develops as we go through the lesson.

So the first verse, Bud, your favorite. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. soft pillow for a tired head." Boy, isn't that good? But you know, the Bible's just not this verse. I mean, if this were the only verse, we maybe could be comforted some by it, but unless we understand this verse and put it into careful consideration in terms of interpretation, we're missing it.

We really are. So let's begin. If or since here? Since. That's what I want. If it shows up in the first five verses, Well, conditional would mean what? If or since. This is a conditional participle. What's a conditional, you know, let's broadly interpret, what's conditional? That means I love you, Yeah. Since. Right. If you do this. Well I think Randy gave a good example that when he gave your wish.

I don't remember. What do you do when I go to school. Maybe it wasn't so good. If I go to school and I fail the class. I thought it was the engineering. No no no. Yeah it was. I thought computer science. Well. It's conditional. If I don't study, I'm going to fail the class. If the clouds part, snow will stop. If the clouds don't part, snow may or may not.

The issue is we're depending on something for a result to occur. It makes reference to time and to experience and also introduces something future. If now, something will follow. It's a qualification of a statement. And it's not determining, but not determining before the event, it's whether it is certainly to take place.

And I think along that line, therefore, here in context, it's if in case, you know, we confess our sins. Oh, by the way, if you don't, I mean, there's a consequence of that, but if we do, there's a consequence to follow. So it's conditional. This is not sense. I like it sense, because sense says the believer is connected positionally, and he or she knows that they fall short.

As believers, we confess our sins, right? I mean, that's a natural consequence, and we're going to come to this right now as we look at the verb confess. Let's pause here just for a second, though, and say, but I thought our sins had already been forgiven. Thad, what about this? I think that's just what you, when you're confessing, you're agreeing with God that he's right. You've jumped ahead, but the lesson's done.

Let's go ahead and look at this in a little more detail. We confess, this is a present active subjunctive. So what's that mean? Present tense is when, now, active. We're in fact responsible for this behavior. Subjunctive, important term, subjunctive. What's that mean? potential or possibility.

Great, Randy, and it really gets into the conditional participle, if, right? Oh, by the way, if we confess, not only to say if is conditional, but the subjective tense of the verb suggests, gee, not since we confess our sins, and again, that's what's expected by God, since we confess our sins, we're falling short of His glory, we confess and we move on. This is if we confess our sins, and the verb tense is subjunctive, we may not. By the way, if we may not, we're going to see the consequences of that. Keep in mind the theme here is fellowship, not eternal damnation. Put in a general sense, when we keep on declaring or admitting that we are guilty is the concept. By the way, when's the last time this thought entered your mind?

I think it's an ongoing declaration. Well, and that's what's cool. I'm sorry. You've got the present. Like you said, the present tense is continuing action. If we continue to confess our sins, with the fallen Adam within us, that's a continual deal. That's really so true. And we're going to see that played as we go on. But I have a question.

Is this also because we continue to recognize that we in fact are sinners saved by grace? It's sort of like that's always in our heads. that we're sinners saved by grace. So, that's the present active subjunctive of you keep on declaring our reckoning. What happens if we say we have no sin? Look at verse 10. We make God a liar. And by the way, verse 8, Randy covered this last week. Do we say we have no sin?

That's why you came late. We followed you. We've been there and done that. You come on time next time, okay? By the way, Roy, we're going to come back to this. And by the way, I heard you last week say this. And Randy acknowledged how right you were in terms of what you said. Okay, let's continue. Notice, and again, you came in at the right time, Roy.

Note sins, not sin here. These are sins. And we're going to define them a little bit more in a second. So the same Greek verb here is almost always used. I did a word study on this. It really took a little time to do this. I looked at all the New Testament scriptures that use this Greek verb. It means every time except one in the epistles, profess, not confess.

What are your thoughts about that? Why do you think that this is the only time in the epistles that confess is used rather than profess? Just to remind you that you still have Adam in your nature and that you can sin. Okay, it admits that we do acknowledge that we all have a sin nature and out of that sin nature comes sins. Where it's coming from. but it doesn't seem to dismiss you from the fact that you're not confessing. I'm going to try to challenge this interpretation. I think profess is actually, and let's go ahead and look for it, of what are we guilty and what is the consequence? These sins, are we guilty permanently for these sins that we are confessing or professing?

If you go to the verses, the comments I'll cover in chapter two, He's already paid for those sins. So what's the consequences? Our sins and broken fellowship really is what we're guilty of. We're guilty of our sins. Those still caused the price to be paid, did they not? We're going to look at that in great detail in a second. Our sins are what we're guilty of. But since they've been paid for, where's our mind at here? Where's the spirit in our life, convicting us of the truth, rightly dividing it?

But what's broken is our fellowship, and we can go back to verse 6. If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. So either we're not saved, and we're lying that we're saved, or alternatively, we in fact are walking in darkness. And that fellowship is then denied.

I mean, God's not punishing us. We're the ones that have chosen not to profess or confess our sins. One of many roles of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of that sin nature manifested in our sins. That nature never changes, by the way. Remember, Holly Hills, we know this well. I would confess or profess. that much of the saved body of Christ, in fact, doesn't recognize that that sin nature still exists. All these bad habits, I mean, Paul George and his one naturism, bad habits, right? Those aren't sins. They're just bad habits that we, in fact, brought with us after we got saved. Wrong.

And by the way, how's your old man doing as you grow in grace? Does he become, you know, groomed or buffed up or better or manifests himself in a different way? If it is, it's a hypocrisy. You know what I've said in previous classes in here, and I'll say it again and again, the more you grow in God's grace and in his light, the greater the darkness is revealed for what it really is. Boy, the depths of my old man are so ugly. But yet, we don't dwell there, do we? We confess that these are results of our old man, and we move on. And that's what position is so important in terms of God's relationship to us.

Keep in mind again, Roy, Gail, I said this before you came in, 1 John is near the end of the New Testament for a reason. You've got to be positionally grounded before you take on 1 John. You know, I was reading a little bit about that, Bob. In the early New Testaments that were circulated, these epistles were put right after Acts. This group along with the ones right ahead of them, 1st and 2nd Peter and Jude, were all in that area before Romans. It's interesting isn't it? In the first manuscripts that were circulated it was that way.

But then later on they moved it back here. Well, you can envision how slow the transmission of written documents were to the New Church at the time of the Apostolic Age. And, you know, historically, I'm sure you're correct. But God's will was to have the Bible. I mean, you know, I can't believe that this is a mistake, the way these books are arranged. I'm not saying that.

But I think, you know, how many new believers at the time of shortly after Christ's ascension ultimately had documents that they could carefully study and apply to their Christian lives. Probably very few remember. Maybe in a sense that's why Paul's letters are so directed as they are. If the epistles of John were made you know, available to people, and they read that, how much failure would be existent when you look at how harsh John is about evil and good, or being saved versus not saved.

Gee, if any man's sin and he's not of his, what's that all about? Anyway, so I think these are important thoughts as we continue the study. Never forget your position. That's where he has us, and that's where the break in fellowship is so critically relevant to interpretation of confessing our sins. So I'm going to say to you that perhaps profess, or if you will, colloquially tell it like it is, is more positionally correct here than confess. Bob, just a comment.

I read through 1 John several times this past week, by John, he doesn't say it comes out of the sin nature, but he says categorically these are the sons of the devil, the ones who sin. And we can attribute that because we know it to the old sin nature. And so as I was reading through it, over and over I said, wow, if I didn't know that I nature, in contrast to it, I would really get confused. Again, Paul's epistles precede those of Peter, James, and John Furries. I think it's so important to be grounded in position of truth before you take on 1 John. This is one thing I was wondering on. We as Christians, we know that the Bible tells us that God can discipline us. Does he discipline us? Discipline is just one work of the Holy Spirit in us?

Yes, that's right. And I just see the reason that was put there and not changed in that way. It was a fact to let you know that if sometimes you are sinning, you are reminded of that and know that you have to confess it. Right, and that's the power of the Spirit in us, and that's why profession is a better interpretation. God, I agree with you. This falls short. Let's get on with it. I confess. I mean, I profess that what I've done is not consistent with my position. Let's get on and get that fellowship restored.

We were just saying earlier that the Greek verb for confess, which is used here, if we confess our sins, conditional, we may or may not confess them. But if we confess them, this is the only time in the epistles. Now in the gospel, confess is used by Mark and Matthew both as confess. Truly mean to the unbeliever that they must confess their sins.

But here, almost all in the epistles of Paul and to some extent by other writers of the epistles, it's profess, always. So the difference between profess and cofess is a significant one. Professing is just telling it like it is, you know, admitting or declaring that these are the facts. And I think this is consistent with positional truth. Just one more and then I'll stop. No, bud, you're fine.

You know what's here in this same epistle about Christ as an advocate? We have an advocate for the Father? Who is Jesus Christ? which he's there in this very present time and he's the one that intercedes on our behalf when we do sin. The only reason we are asked to confess our sins is to put that on him.

He takes care of it. He's already taken care of it. Because we're identified with him. Because we're identified with him, even though we're professing it, It doesn't change anything about that identification or that fact. It's a fact already. You're not going to lose your salvation. I don't mean that. I'm not even talking about that stuff. for Christians to do it. Bud, let's take this concept of discipline one step further.

If we had to reduce the definition of the Holy Spirit and who He is in one sentence, what would we say, or one phrase? The Holy Spirit is there to remind us of these things. It's to point to Christ. Well, that's what I'm saying, to point to Christ. But that's all He does. He points us back to Christ, which is our position and our identification is with Christ. It's not to discipline us, but we do get convicted for sure. But that conviction is more as opposed to discipline to focus us back to Christ. He's now proved a lot of pros and cons in that very subject.

That's why I sit here and wonder something. I don't read my Bible. I don't know where it says that, honey, about the Holy Spirit's job. I think it's in John 14. The purpose of the Spirit is really to manifest the Lord Jesus Christ in each and every one of us. And that's every aspect of the Lord Jesus Christ. His act of redemption, His burial, His resurrection, everything that is of Christ, positionally, is what the Spirit's about. sin to us.

He says, you goofed. I can do better than that. And Roy, I think that comments along this line of professing rather than confessing. But I'm not belittling our sins. I really am not. I'm just saying we all have a sin nature and as we grow and graze, that sin nature becomes more apparent for what it really is. But when we confess or profess to God, that's not you. The Spirit is conforming me into the image of your son by revealing that this is ugly and not of you.

And I'm going to tell it like it is. And boy, that fellowship is immediately restored. Yeah, right. You're using the word profess, and I don't dispute that, but the text says the same thing. I mean, that's the root of this word. Same thing speak. And when we Jesus, He's going to show us what is sin. He's going to show us what is truth here. And if we say the same thing as He's telling us, that's what we're after.

Nice. Perfectly said. Other thoughts here? Yes. This second phrase, and I'll speak this in the negative sense, if we don't going to forgive us, because it says, if we confess, he will forgive, implying that we need forgiveness. And this seems to be contradictory, just saying that we've already been forgiven. Good question. You're jumping ahead, Roger. I was going to say, you somewhat already covered that before you walked in. Keep going, you're fine. Yeah, I mean his one act of redemption, and keep in mind the cross has two purposes in terms of the believer. The first is have the sin nature crucified. And we were crucified with him.

So therefore, God doesn't see our sin nature at all anymore. It's just us that breaks fellowship by our sins. And that sins result from the sin nature. Now, what we're talking about here is the concept of existing fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. By the way, the consequence of our sins not being confessed is what we kind of dealt with. What is the consequences of our sins, our view of our sins not being forgiven? Let's go ahead, because we're going to get into this. So we see our sins as God sees them, therefore the emphasis is on fellowship, this idea of why we confess. second part of the verse.

He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. So does that mean that if we don't confess them that we in fact do not have our sins forgiven? Absolutely not. The topic is fellowship here. It's not the one act of one time forever in terms of sins and sin nature being crucified.

He is present indicative meaning now factually he's just and faithful. to forgive us, or dispense, or put away, second aorist active subjunctive. Let's look at the verse tense. Second aorist means what? Aorist tense? Past tense. One point in time? Or past tense. Could be past, sometimes present or future, but second aorist active meaning he's about his business, it's he that forgives, subjunctive Subjective dislikes us confessing.

If we confess, we get the sense of his faithfulness and his just nature in terms of restoring that fellowship. The only eternal penalty here is not eternal, but temporal, in that our fellowship is broken. Now we're going to come into more detail about those who call God a liar. That may be a different person. But I think his question is, let's take the negative case. Let's say you don't confess.

I think you go back, and you did a good job, back to verse 6. Because then you're walking in darkness. I mean, you're disagreeing with God. You should be agreeing with God. Now you're disagreeing with God, so the result of that is you're still saved, but you're walking in darkness.

Actually, the verse says Because he's telling us that sins were not... And Ken's going to tell us it's even worse than that, you're calling the liar. And do not the truth. So do not the truth is an active participle that reflects the Christ life in us, doesn't it? When we do not the truth in terms of the believer.

Remember, I was saved, I'm being saved, and I will be saved. I'm being saved is a constant process that we're all going through day in and day out. And that growth and grace is the truth of who we are in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we don't confess our sins, we're walking in darkness. And the truth is not being manifest in us.

So it's a consequence. Don't you think, John is saying here too, that you already know who you are. you're positionally, this is who you are. Well, John doesn't specifically say that. He assumes you know that. No, but my point is, if we say that we have fellowship with him in six and walk in darkness, then we've made God a liar because we actually are identified with him already. Our positional, you know, position, is with him, and we do have fellowship if we're in our normal position. But if we're walking in darkness, which means we're doing these sins, then We're not in that fellowship. We're separate.

Okay, now verse 10, we're going to really look at that very, very carefully, because the question comes up, is this written to the believer only, or is this in fact going a step further? And in context, the way we interpret the birth camps, it may well mean that if in fact you say you haven't sinned, you're not saved.

I mean, it's possible. And we're going to look at that in more detail in a second. So let's keep going here forward. Typically, this forgiveness or just response of the Lord is not a process, but a single act. So this is a repetitive thing. I mean, God's always just and faithful, right? Faithful to his word and just in terms of declaring righteousness for what it is. And where's righteousness? What's righteousness?

Christ himself. So he's just to follow his word, and here the verb tense, is it relevant here? I really think so. I think it is. And to what is God faithful and just? Well, he's faithful to his word. And his word is the written word, and the word is the living word. Logos, the Lord Jesus Christ. One of many verses, and I could cite numerous ones.

Hebrews 10.20, let's hold fast the confessions of our hope without wavering. for he who promised is faithful. Okay, so I mean that's just not restricted in context of Hebrews. We can show plenty of other examples that God is faithful and his word is true. And God is perfectly just.

One of many examples, Romans 3.26, to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So our faith in Jesus isn't to be better people. I mean, everything that relates to Christ, who He is, His act, His deed, His love, His mercy, all that's Christ. In fact, God justifies us as righteous people.

I just looked in Hebrews 10.23, and that's the same word that we have here.

And it says confession, doesn't it? Yeah, I was looking at the active verb rather than the noun, but here's the noun, use confession, same thing. So you think profession fits well here too? Yeah, I didn't look at it in that. Let us hold fast to the profession of our hope without wavering. So the profession is positional, is it not?

Okay, good. All right, and as I just said, it's all wrapped up in Christ. Righteousness and justice are all wrapped up in Christ. Remember, the sacrifice of bulls and goats can never take away sin. Just the blood, yes. So why do we need forgiveness? Well, the forgiveness is for the fellowship. We need to recognize... It's conventional, it's earthly, fellowship related, not eternally related. If we were not to confess our sins, and in fact, again, the sin nature is unchanging in all of us. Do you agree with that? Yes. Okay. So I think that's an important place to start. If we think our old nature, sin nature, ultimately can change, then this doesn't fit. But the fact that we have a sin nature that's unchanging, there's a result to our sin nature.

And we said before you came in, how many times a day do we fall short of God's glory? And when we do that, the Spirit is just to discipline, Bud said, but just revealing Christ in us that this is consistent with who we are in Christ. And that's really why we confess to say, God, you know, this is the way it is. I agree with this is not you.

And we're lifted up and restored in fellowship. So I think we as human existence and people who have carried sin natures need this constant communication that reflects on our falling short. God doesn't see us any differently. It's just keeping our relationship ripe and what it should be.

But agreeing, let's say you swear at some guy and you're angry and everything else. Have you done this? Maybe we should go in the back room. Go ahead. No, believe me, it's manifested in a lot of ways. So then, like a good Catholic, I say, oh, I better get forgiveness of this sin. And this is exactly what this sounds like, is you need forgiveness. You need to confess what you did. But the forgiveness is factual. It's needed factually because God declared that we need to be reminded of His great act. It's spiritual, it's in fact emotional, it's psychological.

I mean, it's everything that bonds us with Christ is this confession of our falling short and agreeing with God, this is not of you. God's not going to get back on the cross again, is he? I mean, if we don't believe that our sins have been permanently dealt with, we're really working to please God. That's why this seems inconsistent, because he died once for all, yet we need forgiveness again? Well, no, the forgiveness relates to the need for forgiveness, to recognize his forgiveness for the fellowship to be restored. It's just to reckon that we've already been forgiven, but it's to go back to our faith that we believe that we've already been forgiven, so that's not consistent with who he is. who we are now, that bad behavior that we all do all the time. That's not consistent with who we are in Christ. Walking in darkness is not manifesting the truth, right? And walking in darkness is not, by the way, not confessing our sins or professing them.

This may be your favorite version. You're just taking too much time here. Christ said it is finished. He said it is finished and when he said that That is the sin all ever will be committed, has been committed, and all that has already been paid for by me. It's finished. And so there's no need to, all you ask us to do that for is to acknowledge this so that we can regain our fellowship. Perfect, but now let me extend this a little bit.

You know, the criticism of a theology that is so confident and actually cocky about this truth is that, therefore, let go, let God. I think this let go, let God theology is manifested directly in this verse, because this let go, let God and walking in darkness is separated from the fellowship we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not the truth of who we are in Christ Jesus. The truth is to walk in light as He is in the light. And when we confess, we are reminded of what you just said, but it's finished. Our sin nature has been crucified once and for all before God, and our sins have been forgiven once and for all.

How do you see his advocacy for us up there? How do you interpret his advocacy on behalf of us up there? He's our advocate. He's our advocate? What is that responsibility he has? Is that a forgiveness issue? To advocate the forgiveness again? When we think of forgiveness, we tend to think in time, of that moment in time, that if I do it right now and confess this sin, there is a forgiveness applied to me by God.

I don't think God looks at it that way. I believe God looks at it this way. Sin was so heinous done to forgive that sin, to cleanse you from that sin. When we look at it from God's perspective, we're saying the same thing as He's thinking. That's what's involved here. It goes way beyond what we would put in here in our thinking about this sin. Our thinking about this sin is, it's less than a sin that needed Christ's death on the cross. I need something in addition to the cross. I need forgiveness. That's the old sin nature talking.

The truth is, when we see it as God sees it, every sin separates us from Him and makes us worthy of eternal separation from Him. Every single one. Right, Roy, and I think the intent of the verb here does imply that God repeatedly, at one point in time, acknowledges this confession or profession. What about looking at it from And as an advocate, that's what he's doing before the Father. I died for that sin. I am the advocate for that sin. The accuser is standing before the Father and saying, Roy sinned. And Christ is saying, I paid for it.

Now, let's look at this in a little bit more detail. To forgive us our sins. So, this is removing the guilt. The forgiveness of the sins, remember, restores fellowship. The guilt is on our behalf. God's done it, right? We're the ones, when we sin and don't confess it, the Spirit says, you're a guilty guy. What's the matter with you? And when the Spirit raises us up to profess and acknowledge that, the fellowship's restored.

When we in fact don't, we're burdened by that sin. And we don't sense the forgiveness. I don't know, when you decide to go the earthly path for a while, you're reminded, but you're ignoring it. You're walking in darkness, and we don't have that fellowship at that time. So this reminds us of what's really been done. We're going to look at every one of these verses to make sure we understand that our sins have been entirely forgiven.

The way the heiress is typically described is as a factual truth that is a past action with ongoing consequences. So it would be like, I got married to Jessica on October 3rd, 1998. It was a past action with ongoing consequences. I have an heiress marriage.

Not E-R-R-O-R-I-S-E. consequences and results. I'm saying it's the one time which could be now. Yeah, but that's our being removed from our guilt. That's the one time. That's a fellowship restoration. Exactly. And that happens repeatedly, by the way. And that's for us, not for him. Entirely for us.

Gail? Yeah, I was thinking about people that say, I don't want to do this or that or whatever ever. And I think I've actually heard from the pulpit that when we sin, after salvation we heap more suffering on the Lord on the cross. And that I don't want to sin, I don't want to do X, Y, Z, because, and I'm refraining from these things that I would like to do or I'm tempted to do, because that's more suffering for Christ. So if we say to someone like that it's all paid for, a done deal, Isn't that, in a sense, like saying, well, okay, you're free to do those things if you want to. So, the motivation is not to keep from heaping more sin on, or more suffering on Christ, as if he's still on the cross doing that.

But, we don't want to break the fellowship. And so our motivation for walking in the light and choosing not to sin, which sounds to me like you're not walking in the light at that point, kind of dabbling with the thing. And if we do it mentally, that's the same as if we had done it. So what we really don't want is to break the fellowship. It's not just that we don't want to sin.

You know, we're going to come to kind of the analogy the constable put very, very nice in one of his commentaries, but it's kind of like the courtroom for a victim and then the victim's consequences at home subsequent to that. The courtroom is the judge. The judge has already declared we're sinners and ultimately to be cast out eternally, but by God's great love and grace, we're saved. Okay. So the courtroom has already dealt with the issue.

We come home to dad, dad loves us unequivocally because he, you know, just, and now we're in a position of the family. And the family has, it's not a courtroom any longer. We're not judged guilty. Dad is there to restore and build up and encourage as believers. That's the process we're all about. Remember what I said earlier, you know, this is one of the best responses to people saying that the theology that we believe in and accept that God has revealed in his word is let go, let God, we can do whatever we want. I would say if you're honestly saved, and you walk in darkness, that that is really not a walking fellowship. You make God a liar.

And the question is, in fact, if his word's not in us and we say we've never sinned, we're jumping ahead, we may not be saved. If we say we have no sin nature, what's the basis of our salvation? You know, the brought, I've never sinned. And the Greek verb interpretation would suggest it's in the negative mood. The negative use of that verb ultimately may say, we have never sinned. It's not we don't sin after we're a believer, but we may have never sinned. There I think you have to take it to the extent, is the word really in us? Have we really been saved? We're jumping ahead. I want to look at these verses, so let's go around the room. The Tracys, let's do 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and Galatians 1, 4. Margaret, Hebrews 1, 3. Roger, 1 Peter 2, 24.

Bonnie, 1 John 2.2. We read that already. We're going to do it again.

Let's have Roy do 1 John 3.5.

And Gail, 1 John 4.10.

And Randy, Revelation 1.5. And we've got everybody but you, so I want you to... What was your name again? Pat. So let's hear them. One after another. It's going to get old, but I want to make sure we do this. This is our sins we're talking about now. Go ahead.

Galatians what number? Galatians 1, 4, 1 Corinthians 15, 3. I have delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Thank you. I was working on that one. You and your wife have to get together here. Pat, do you have Galatians 1 for him?

He gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from the present evil world according to the will of God and our Father. Our sins again, right? Margaret? Hebrews 1, 3. who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.

1 Peter 2.24 And he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, that we might die to sin, singular, and live to righteousness, for by his wounds we are healed. Boy, isn't that nice because they're both wrapped up in the same verse. Read that verse again. I'm sorry, I'm excited. And he bore our sins, plural, in his body on the cross, that we might die to sin, singular, and live to righteousness, for by his wounds we are healed.

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. And this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to Him who loves us and released us from our sins in His blood.

So Pat, this is not only for you, it's for all of us, but boy, the verses are repeatedly acknowledging our sins are forgiven. So in context again, the fellowship I think is centrally important in terms of this confessing and professing. Our sins have clearly been dealt with. It's not the Catholics reminding you constantly you've got to go confess it again with them to take that to God. No, we have a direct relationship with our Heavenly Father and we stand on His Word that His Word is true. Our sins have been forgiven. There's no further act that needs to be done.

We confess to restore the fellowship to agree with God that it is not of him that these results or thoughts or deeds have come. It's in fact, now we confess, we restore fellowship, we move on. Boy, that's really comforting to know that we have that fellowship again.

The word that's so frustrating is he's able to forgive. Well, why do we need forgiveness? Well, the forgiveness has already been given. Actually, we're acknowledging with God that He's just and true, that He's forgiven our sins. All these verses we just read are nine or ten examples of our sins having been forgiven. our position.

And it approaches it in this way. Forgiveness here is not going back to the cross, but applying the work of the cross to that moment in time. It's a judicial thing. The other thing, I think I see what your question is. This is nerdy. So think of this in a logic structure and I forgot programming last week.

If we confess our sins is the truth truthy or falsely statement in the in the phrase at no point in time is that he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins negated. So we don't get to reverse and say he is unfaithful or he is unrighteous or unforgiving of our sins. Those things are always true, consistently. The only thing that is in question is our confession or our profession of those things.

Well, if you wanted to be real critical in terms of the language, the forgiveness is subjunctive tense. But the subjunctive, it relates to ours probably. God's only going to give us that fellowship for a story when we, in fact, acknowledge that we're sinners and falling short of his glory. But the subjunctive is only agreeing with the conditional nature in the Greek.

It's not actually being negated. All right, we're on the bullet train going forward. I will be here next week. Roger, if you want to take on a little bit of this next week. Okay, sure. But I am going to finish quickly because we have some important points to make.

And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, cleanse is to make clean physically and or morally in the Greek. We can wipe the table and have it clean for the next person to sit down there or clean the glass so we can put a beverage in it without it being contaminated. and or morally, which is the implication here.

So the question comes up, what's unrighteousness? It's being offensive to God is unrighteousness. And God is just and righteous, so anything that falls short of his justice and righteousness is unrighteousness. So sin is the source of unrighteousness and it leads to sins, which are the acts of unrighteousness. So the sin nature and sins are connected because sins are sourced from the sin nature. So unrighteousness here is a broad term. It reflects the sin nature and also the consequences of us responding to the sin nature within us.

Titus 2.14, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. That's the truth in us. We're zealous for good works. Bud, spirit led. Right? The Spirit lifts up the Lord Jesus Christ in each and every one of us, and good deeds are the consequence of that response by faith.

And in context, let's return to 1 John 1.7, which we have looked at earlier.

But if we walk in the light as he's in the light, we have fellowship one with the other, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sins. That means when we walk in the light, we're living as if we are cleansed. When we rely on darkness and the old nature, we are acting as if we're not saved. God loves us the same and has forgiven us once and for all, under both circumstances. It's just we that break that fellowship.

Now here's what I referred to before by Constable, and I quote, Forgiveness, meaning courtroom kind of forgiveness, makes us acceptable as members of God's family. So we've been acquitted in the courtroom, or maybe even found guilty, but judgment has been passed, and that judgment is on Christ. Continual forgiveness, meaning family forgiveness, enables us to experience intimate fellowship as sons within God's family. You get the difference? We're in a family now. The judicial punishment has been cast on his son. So done deal.

Now our family fellowship depends on, you know, if we offend our father, our mother, we need to confess that. And that's really kind of a problem that yours truly sometimes has. I mean, but anyway, all that aside, family is love and grace and understanding and conversation and interaction done appropriately in the way that the Lord would have us respond.

In closing, if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Verb tenses are critically important here. If we say, second, aero-subjective, again, we have not sinned, perfect, active, indicative, factual. We make him a liar, perfect, active, indicative, factual. We make God a liar if we say we haven't sinned and is, as present, indicative. His word is, right now, is not in us. Look at that, isn't that cute? And in that situation, I think ultimately these Greek terms lead to the fact that we deny the sin nature really exists within us.

1 John 1.8 revisited, we don't need to look at it, and Romans 3.10 is written, there are none righteous, no not one. I mean, you know, you can't get out of that according to God's Word. Thus we make a God a liar. Does the believer really need to be reminded of this?

First John 5.10, he who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself, and he who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given us, his Son.

And his word is not in us. You mean you're not saved? John 5 38 pretty harsh words, but you do not have his word abiding in you because whom he sent Him you do not believe is that just the Christian life the contrast here is the truth from 1st John 1 9 confession restores fellowship with God the truth The false claim for 1st John 1 10 is we've not sinned Okay, really? contrasting statements Is this simply ignorance, such as the one naturist who claims that he has no sin? Or is it the absence of true salvation?

We're not those to be the measurers of that performance. Only each and every person knows. Here's where I make the point about the tense. The perfect tense, and particularly when used in the negative, implies all past time up to the present. Now that's an interpretation, not necessarily the final bottom line.

But what I'm saying is that this idea of saying we've not sinned, according to the Greek, and I think I used thesaurus to get to the roots, implies that we may say we've never sinned. If we in fact say we've never sinned, then we're not saved. I honestly believe that there's no believer that can be consciously saved without acknowledging. That doesn't mean we have to confess, but the point is, so this would indicate then that one has never sinned, if you interpret it that way, and the conclusion is up to you finally, whether this applies only to the believer who is walking in darkness, that we make God a liar and don't accept his truth, or in fact could be someone whose word is not truly in the individual and doesn't confess because he doesn't believe he's sinned. I have trouble with that. And I think you could extend this to ultimately saying that this may be directed to a few who in fact are really not saved. But it certainly applies to the believer who is not restoring fellowship.

Don't you think John could also be kind of using this as a comparison? I mean, maybe he is still talking to believers, but he's using this as a comparison that here's who you are and here's who these other people are who say they've never sinned. but recognize that you're going to sin, but every time you do sin, guess what?

You're already forgiven. And so you don't have to worry about your eternal position, but your fellowship needs to be restored. But these other people that you may run into who say they've never sinned, they're probably, maybe, not believers. I have no problem with it. John's writing to believers. This is written to believers, not unbelievers. Absolutely, I think it is. But the question is, if you say you have never sinned, and we imply, as the Greek verb tense does, that we, somebody's saying they've never, never sinned, then you have to question their salvation.

And again, Fellowship with the believer. Remember, fellowship with one another is depending on walking in light. We don't have fellowship one with the other for walking in darkness. We may think we do, but the verses say here we don't have true fellowship. Tough lesson.

First John 1.9 is so important, Pat.

It's so important to see that God's response is not conditional, but our confession of our sins is conditional. We're encouraged to do so, and that's Spirit-led. And the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to conform us to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's his major work. And it can be disciplinary, it can be uplifting, it can be giving us peace and comfort through trials and tribulations. The Spirit does a great act in us. But remember, we've all been born into a new creation. That life is Christ Jesus.

We need to stop here. Roy, close us in prayer, would you please? Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the love that you've manifested to us. Thank you for accepting us into your family and the fellowship that we have because of your work. Thank you Lord for restoring us when we sin to that fellowship. Thank you for all these things in Christ's name. Amen.