if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I Jn. 1:9). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When the Believer sins, and we speak of a sin that he knows he has committed, he is to take that sin to the Lord and confess it before Him. The Lord has promised to forgive, and that He will do. His faithfulness is involved because He promised to forgive; and His Righteousness is in question, for it would be unjust to punish sin a second time—the penalty of the Believer’s sins having been already borne at Calvary. There is also no limit to the number of times that the Lord will forgive; however, no true Believer habitually sins, unless his faith is in something other than the Cross of Christ. If that is the case, the sin nature will begin to dominate such a Believer, who will then constantly carry out habitual acts of sin, despite trying to do otherwise (Rom. 7:15). The Believer must first of all learn to place his Faith exclusively in Christ and the Cross, which will then give the Holy Spirit latitude to work in his life, which guarantees that sin will no longer have dominion over such a Believer (Rom. 6:14). This does not mean sinless perfection, for the Bible does not teach such; but it does teach that sin is not to have dominion over the Believer. If sin, however, is committed, confession first of all should be made, in fact, must be made, to God. Confession of sin on the part of the Saint means to say the same thing that God says about that sin, to agree with God as to all the implications of that sin: those which relate to the Christian who commits it and to a Holy God against Whom it is committed. That includes the Saint’s hatred of that sin, his sense of guilt because of it, his contrition because of it, and his determination to put it out of his life and never to do that thing again. This is what confession of sin here means. The English word “confess” means “to admit the truth of an accusation, to own up to the fact that one is guilty of having committed the sin.” But the Greek word means far more than that, as we here see. The Greek teaches that the constant attitude of the Saint toward sin should be one of a contrite heart, ever eager to have any sin in the life discovered for him by the Holy Spirit, and ever eager to confess it and put it out of the life by the Power of the Holy Spirit, which is the only way it can be done. Let it ever be understood: When the Lord forgives sin, which He always will do upon proper confession, then the sin is completely, totally, and absolutely forgiven. Not only does God forgive the Believer, but He cleanses him from the defilement which is incurred in committing the act of sin. A true Christian hates sin. As we have repeatedly stated, the only answer for sin is the Cross! - JS
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 16:33:16 +0000
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