Scripture: 1 Peter 3:18 [ For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh , but quickened by the Spirit. KJV. ]
There are some folks who believe that Christ died for their past sins alone. They believe Christ did not die for their present and future sins. They think the only way God would forgive them their sins is to confess them.
Hebrews 9:22 [ And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. ] Sins are remitted by shedding of blood and not confession. Confessions do not bring to us remission of sins but remission comes as a result of the blood of Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament, since the blood of animals were not enough to take away sins, the sacrifice was repeated every year. How many sacrifices has Jesus offered for sins? One is the answer. This means His sacrifice was able to take away all sins. Christ is not offering any sacrifice for present and future sins. He is seated at the right hand side of God.
He does not need to offer any sacrifice again because He took away past, present and future sins (all sins). Christ didn’t leave something undone. He did a finished and complete work. Christ paid all. Hallelujah!
CONFESSION Father I thank you for the gift of remission of sins. Christ died for all my sins. His blood was perfect to take away my past, present and future sins. I stand blameless and perfect in the sight of God because of Christ. Amen.
Scripture: Ephesians 1:1 [ Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus,… KJV ]
“Saint” and “Sinner” are two important names used in the Bible several times. Some folks link these names to how people live or act. They believe a sinner is someone who commits sins and does not live right. They also believe a saint is someone who lives right and does not commit any sin.
Beloved, being a saint or a sinner is not determined by the way you live but it’s rather determined by your position in God’s sight. We don’t live right to become saints neither do we live bad to become sinners. This has nothing to do with works or actions.
Romans 5:19 [ For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. ]
Adam disobeyed and all men became sinners as a result. Christ obeyed and we have become the outcome of His obedience. By our faith in Christ, God sees us as saints. He sees us as holy people without blames.
A sinner is a man in the first Adam. This cannot be changed by works but it can be changed only when the position of the man changes. A man in Christ is a saint not because of what he does but because of his position. Never call yourself as a sinner saved by grace again. Call yourself a saint in Christ Jesus.
CONFESSION Dear Father, I thank you for making me holy in Christ Jesus. I’m in Christ and I’m counted as a saint among God’s holy people. I’m without blame and sins because I’m perfected in Christ Jesus. Amen.
We continue from yesterday. Recall that John has two audiences in mind when he wrote that epistle. We identified that we are of the audience who have eternal life and fellowship with the Father.
1st John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
Observe very carefully that there was a change of tone. The audience actually changed. How? • Verse 6: “if we say” • Verse 7: “if we walk” • Verse 8: “if we walk” • Verse 9: “if we confess” Who was John referring to by saying “We”?
Note: First, he was not specific but when he wrote to believers he was very specific.
• 1st John 1:4… I write unto you
• 1st John 2:1….I write unto you Children
• 1st John 2:7…..I write…
• 1st John 2:12-14…..I write unto you fathers, young men and little children
So who are the “We”? Verse 6-7-8 gives us a lead:
• They were still in darkness
• They were still in sin
• They have no fellowship with the father, the son and other believers.
Hence, he told them in Verse 7….WHY a man has fellowship with the Father, son and other believers or WHY a man is cleansed from his sins “…..by the blood of Jesus”.
VERSE 9 John now told them how: That is, HOW a man has fellowship with the father, the son and other believers; and HOW a man is cleansed from his sins.
1st John 1:9 if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.
Now, was John teaching confession of sins to God? Definitely NOT.
In the light of all that has been explained so far about confession; Jesus was the emphasis and when he talked about sins, his emphasis was on the blood of Jesus.
Let us therefore rearrange the text and re-punctuate it as well to enable us understand what John was indeed talking about.
The original Greek manuscripts did not include punctuation marks; neither chapters nor verses. They were introduced by the translators while translating from the original language to modern day language.
So, let us therefore explain by replacing the comma, to be immediately after ‘confess’ and not after ‘sins’ like it appears in the King James Version of the books of the bible.
If we confess, our sins he is faithful and Just to forgive us, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness
So what were they to confess?
VERSE 7 • They were to confess what the blood of Jesus has done, how that it has cleansed man from his sins
• They were to confess Jesus as the propitiation for sins (1st John 2:2) Hence anyone who therefore does not agree with the above fact of what Jesus’ blood has done (forgiveness; cleansing and propitiation for sins) are those addressed from verses 6 to 8.
• They were still in darkness
• They were still in sin
• They have no fellowship with the father, the son and other believers. He later goes further in 1st John 2 and 1st John 4, to call them as “antichrist.”
1st John 2:18 little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. 22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
1st John 4:3 and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
• They denied the Deity and Humanity of Jesus
• They do not believe that Jesus’ blood is the propitiation for Sins
1st John 5:5 who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 6 this is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
Obviously the church he wrote to had people in their midst who believed but taught otherwise and as such misled people.
John wrote to them (believers) to clear the confusion, explaining how a man who is saved, has eternal life and has fellowship with the Father, the son and other believers by faith and faith alone in the blood of Jesus.
CONFESSION: I confess that Jesus died for me and therefore I am saved eternally. The word is true and I am what the word says I am.
The only text that seems to ask believers to confess their sins for God to forgive them is 1st John 1:9
1st John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
However with proper interpretation, we will see that there was no contradiction at all and that what he wrote was in agreement with the other Epistles. One must always read the epistles with the understanding that all the books are in agreement and there are no contradictions in any book. Having this understanding will make bible study productive. One would not begin to doubt the character of God and the integrity of His word.
The first thing to note here is that John quoted from an Old Testament scripture with a New Testament understanding.
Psalms 32:5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
NOTE: Paul also quoted from Psalm 32, however from verse 1 and 2
Psalm 32:1 A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
Romans 4:3 for what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. 6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, 7 Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Paul in quoting this in verses 3, 6, and 7 talked about FAITH and FORGIVENESS.
Back to 1st John 1:9. The best approach to understand the above portion of scripture will be to:
• Firstly, isolate the verse and then see what John taught in his Epistles about “confession”
• Secondly , see if it agrees with all the Epistles on the same subject matter. Based on this, we will now explain the above text to understand exactly what John was saying.
VERSE 1: Observe firstly, that the letter was not addressed to anyone in particular. Unlike 2nd John, which was addressed to “the elder unto the elect lady and her children” and 3rd John which was addressed to Gaius.
Observe also, that every time John talked about believers, he was very specific.
• 1st John 2:1, 12 and 13: he wrote to little children.
• 1st John 2:13: he wrote to the fathers.
• 1st John 2:13: he wrote to young men. Very clear from Verse 1 also, John was talking about the message (the word of life)
VERSE 3: At this Point, John begins to speak about fellowship. Observe that he spoke about 2 different audiences.
Verse 3a ……..“That ye also may have fellowship with us.
Verse 3b……..” and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his son Jesus Christ.
Clearly, • The first audience did not have eternal life and did not have fellowship with the Father, the son and other believers
• The second audience, John inclusive, have eternal life and have fellowship with the father, the son and other believers
VERSE 4: Here John was very specific “I write unto you that your Joy may be full”
Who is he referring to as “YOU”?
• Very clear: the second audience; those who have eternal life and who have fellowship with the father, the son and other believers
• This is in tandem with what he taught in 1st John 2:13-14 …..they have known the father, he that was from the beginning.
• He went further to call them “BRETHREN” in 1st John 2:7
VERSE 5: Again he spoke of the message- … God is light and in him is no darkness at all…
So, we see that John wrote to different audiences in that epistle. We however are part of the second audience- those who have eternal life and have fellowship with the Father.
CONFESSION: I have eternal life and I have fellowship with ABBA Father.
JOHN 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (KJV)
Jesus Christ did not come to die so we can have good behavior. He did not die so we can have money. He did not die so we can have good marriage or perform well in school. He did not come to die so that we can have power to work miracles. He did not come to die so that God can hear our prayers. These are all good. These are all expressions of God’s goodness to all creation. This is because a person can have all these good things without being a Christian.
Jesus Christ came to die and resurrect so that we can have forgiveness of sins and a new life. He came purposely for the salvation of man from the power of sin which is death. He came as the Lamb of God. The wages of sin is death, therefore he became sin for us by substitution and died our death. Anything which was possible and available before his death was not part of the reasons Jesus died.
We also died with him by participation so that as he resurrected from death, we also resurrected with new life. Jesus came and achieved his purpose. Anybody who believes in him enjoys the benefits of why Jesus came. In him we have redemption which is the forgiveness of our sins. In him we have eternal life. outside Jesus there is no life and no forgiveness of sins.
Jesus died for me by substitution and I died to sin and rose with new life by participation.
