True Confessions

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: True Confessions ------------------- Date: 3/2/2003
Keywords: “confess”
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Passage: 1 John 1:9*

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Questions

1. What does John promise to the believer who "confesses" his/her sins?

 

2. I wonder what happens to the believer who does not confess his/her sins? What do you think…?

 

Practical help

Our verse for the day tells us that confession — agreeing with God that the sinful act we have just committed is actually sinful — brings cleansing and forgiveness.

Does that mean, then, that unconfessed sin is, in the absolute sense, unforgiven? No! If that had been what John meant to say, he would have said it. 1 John 1:9 would have read something like, "and if we don’t confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to not forgive us." But the verse doesn’t read that way.

The Gospel message is that the sins of the Christian are forgiven. Period. Jesus’ death on the cross paid the penalty for my sins and for yours. Because I have trusted in His sacrifice, I am forgiven and clean in God’s sight. Not potentially clean. Not partially clean. Not conditionally clean. Clean! (to learn how to be clean — that is, how to become a Christian, click here).

Does 1 John 1:9, then, add anything to our experience of the Christian life? Yes! It serves as a constant reminder of God’s grace and it convinces us that we need never hide or pretend that we haven’t sinned (if, in fact, we have). Go ahead and confess. Agree with God that what you did is wrong — maybe it is surfing the web for porn — and walk into a clean, forgiven future with the confidence that God is never going to unforgive you.

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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."