If We Confess Our Sins…

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1John 1:9)

In writing to believers well grounded in scriptural truths, John reminds them not to be lured by worldliness and false teaching. He reminds the believers to “walk in the light.” John knew as Paul knew that the old nature and the new nature are in constant opposition in the Christian walk.

The believer is to be “in the world, but not of the world.” Sometimes, that doesn’t work out so well, no matter how hard we try; just ask Paul.

The scriptures warn believers that Satan “roams about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” The closer a believer stays to God, the less of a threat Satan is.  

The scriptures warn the believer to take heed lest you think you stand, you fall. A believer who begins to think they have it together will soon be meeting the ground with their nose. Scripture reminds the believer that “pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

John tells the believer that if they think they have no sin, they deceive themselves. He also reminds them that if they confess their sins, God is faithful to forgive and cleanse them. John warns the believer that if they say they have not sinned, they are calling God a liar…and the word is not in them.

In 1975, right after I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, an elderly Christian woman, whose name was Bertha, came up to me and gave me a scripture, telling me “never to forget it.” I never have. I hid it in my heart.

The scripture was 1John 1:9. Looking back, I realize that she handed me the second greatest scripture I could know. The first greatest scripture was John 3:16, which I heard for the first time at 34 years of age. John 3:16: the scripture that led me to Christ.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and His word is not in us. (1John 1:8-10)

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