Men's Bible Study 8/20/22

1 John 1 :6-8 “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he 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 we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

1 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.”

Righteousness is build on confession

if we confess - he cleanses us from ALL unrighteousness

if we think on that - it makes sense.

if we faithfully confess our sins, it builds a habit. It builds retention in the mind. understanding of what our sin is. and a desire to not do it anymore.

it’s a practice of discipline, in other words.

when we discipline our children, what are we really doing?We’re teaching them the way they should go. We’re training them, and training a child takes repetition.

Learning something new takes repetition, study takes repetition.

confession - repetition - leads to righteousness.

If we CONFESS our sins. - it’s not saying “if we did this once”

but if we CONTINUALLY do so. if we continue to confess.

there is no ceasing of confession of sin. we continually confess.

Not only that, but to confess is an AUDIBLE practice.

homologeo - throughout the Bible is used over and over again as a statement made from the mouth.

not just in our minds.

and if we think for a moment, why does that matter?

Well, let’s say it another way - why don’t you want to?

it’s shameful. we don’t want to admit what we’ve done out loud. we don’t want to own our sin in that degree.

in other words, we’re still hiding it. we’re not really confessing.

now this isn’t to say that a mute person can’t be forgiven, God has grace.

and that if you’ve only confessed your sins in your silent prayers then they aren’t forgiven, i don’t believe that’s true either. God is gracious.

But what I am saying, is that the Bible makes a clear connection between audible confession of our sins and being cleansed from ALL unrighteousness - being made mature.

I remember a long time ago I was counseling somebody who had an addiction issue, and we talked about the need to confess audibly - and that they should, and when they did… it broke them.

They were sad over their sin in a new way, the Spirit used their confession and gave them the gift of conviction, and as a result, they were able to put that sin to death.

It also gives us the gift of humility.

to confess out sins out loud is a humbling thing. it causes us to be aware of our sinful nature and our desperate need for the grace of God.

It reminds us of our moment-by-moment dependency upon his grace

helps us to see that we aren’t saving ourselves, it’s the Lord’s doing.

Here, John also contrasts it with a lack of confession.

“If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves - but if we confess our sin - if we SAY we have sin - he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins”

to not confess our sins is to walk in darkness. is to lie. to not practice the truth.

and it is also to make JESUS out to be a liar. 1 John 1:10 “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

to make him UNBELIEVABLE to those around us.

If we say we have no sin… then the Gospel is for nothing… then we are just self-righteous idiots who don’t bring the light into the world around us.

there is no Gospel hope in Christ when you’ve managed to solve all your problems by yourself.

(you haven’t, btw, you just think you have)

So, confess your sins, confess them to those you’ve sinned against, confess them outloud to the Lord

and the Lord will mature you - and the Lord will preach his Gospel through you.

Amen.