If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
16 sermons cite this verse
… If we say we're without sin, we deceive ourselves. But if we confess our sins, you know the rest. We're faithful in what? Faithful. He is faithful, rather, and just. Just. Why would it not say he's faithful and merciful? He's faithful and loving. He's faithful and gracious. But it says he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. righteousness because that act of confession in 1 John 1, 9 is just the flip side of faith in Romans 3 and 4, the faith of repentance and a repentant faith, so that that faith renders God propitious toward us as it joins together, redemption accomplished, becoming redemption applied so that God's forgiveness of you in Christ is an act, yes, of his mercy, but also of his justice. You think of those three terms, God the just, the justifier of the ungodly. It's as glorious and as simple as that. Do you have a right view of God and all of his holiness and splendor and majesty and implacable holiness and righteousness? …
… and we're gonna surrender our life to Jesus. If we confess our sins, the Bible says, God is faithful and just to forgive us of all of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When you call on Jesus, he doesn't just make you better. He makes you new. The old is gone and the new is here in all of our churches. If that's you today, you need him. You need his forgiveness. You don't know where you stand with God. You are not here by accident. Today is the day of your salvation. All of our churches, you say, that's me. I know it. It's me. Today is the day. Today is the day. Someday is today. Today is the day I say, yes, Jesus, be the savior, the Lord of my life. That's your prayer. Lift your hand high right now. All over the place and say, yes, that's me. Lift up your hands and say, yes, Jesus. Right back over there. God bless you over here as well. …
… world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned. How about 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. As we're repenting, that comes to life for us. And it did for David. You can see there's a turn. I'm going to be clean because God can do that. He didn't have it fully revealed, but we do. We see Christ. We know why God can say that. It's because of Christ. These truths are incredibly powerful for the true repenter. They allow him to truly die to the old self because this Christ came exactly for their ugliest sin. You're not in a position that Christ did not come to die for. That's exactly why he came. And that comes to life in true repentance. Here's a second way that rising to new life looks. It looks like zeal for restoration. …
… the Bible promised to me was true. Everything the Bible says to me, I have found to be true. For instance, the Bible says, God would forgive me of my sin. 1 John 1.9 says, if I will confess my sin, he's faithful and just to forgive me my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. So I read that verse and I said, Lord, cleanse me of my sin. One of the first things I remember experiencing as a brand new Christian was the sensation of having a massive weight removed from me. Now I didn't know what I'd just done. I prayed and asked Jesus into my life. I hadn't read that I should cast all of my care upon him for he cared for me. I hadn't read any verses yet, but I remember feeling this weight lifted off of me. That was God forgiving me of my sins. The Bible says to me, if any man be in Christ, he is an altogether different kind of person. The old things have passed away. Behold, everything becomes fresh and new. I became a different person after I gave my life to Christ. I saw that change inside of me, and I knew it was real. I tried to be a better person. I wanted to be a more caring person. I wanted to be different than I was, but I couldn't change myself. And suddenly with Christ living in me and reading the Word of God, I saw that these things happened for me as the Bible said they would. I read in the Bible that God could give to me …
… Well, you need to be cleansed with his only detergent, the blood. 1 John 1.9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to cleanse us, to wash us, to forgive us, right? You don't need a bath. You don't need to be born again and again and again, just once. but you do need that constant daily cleansing. That's the secret of the spirit-filled life is taking care of the dirt when you notice dirt is present. Peter finally said, Lord, you know, here I am. Well, Jesus finished with the washing of the feet and I want you to notice something. Verse 12 says, when he had washed their feet and taken his garments, reclined at the table again, he said to them, do you know what I've done to you? Let me give you a couple of principles that we should mention as we wrap up our thoughts. We've given you two. The third is humility is not a sign of weakness. Put that out of your mind. …
… but you can turn back to him in a moment. It's an easy problem to fix in the grand scheme of it. And this is the beautiful promise that we see in 1 John, that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Open invite. God says, I am with you. So God is saying to us right now, here's the second principle. My past is a poor motivator. My past is a poor motivator. We're about to see that nostalgia can be just as dangerous for the believer as apathy can be. Look in chapter two, we're going to jump over. In the seventh month, on the 21st day of the month, this is about a month and a half after Haggai's first prophecy, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet saying, speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel. I told you, the governor of Judah and to Joshua, the son of Jehoshadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of all the people, saying, who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing? Nostalgia can be difficult. …
… are they related to you yep are they your blood yep they're in the family but you're not talking fellowship's been broken first john chapter one verse nine says if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Thank you. If you're not a Christian today, you need to repent of your sins and come to Christ so that you'll have salvation. If you are a Christian today, when we sin, God says we're not talking. You don't lose your salvation. He just says, you need to repent of this. Very important. he says to us in this activity, in fact, I have this quote here, God's promises are eternal, but our possessions, or our possession of those promises is contingent upon us. They are waiting for us to lay hold of them. Imagine God's promises are right here, but they're within arm's reach, but you've got to reach for them. You don't make them up, they're his. …
… is as far as he has removed our sins from us. First John chapter one, verse nine says, if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just not to remind us, not to beat us over the head, but to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I was just reading recently a great passage in the Old Testament on the day of atonement. What the high priest would do is he would lay his hand on a goat and him laying his hands on that goat was emblematic of him transferring all of the sins of the people of God on that goat. And then they would send that goat away into the wilderness, never to be seen again. It was emblematic of our sins being removed from us. Well, Jesus Christ is the ultimate scapegoat. When on the cross, all of our sins was laid on him, never to return. I don't know about you, but that's something to have gratitude, to be grateful to God for. …
… John goes on to mention two ways in which the faith of those who left differed from the Christians who remained. So listen to this. The first one is found in 1 John 1, verses 8-10. I'd love for you to read this together. Just follow it. Follow me along. Follow along with me. 1 John 1, 8 through 10. He says, if we claim we don't have any sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from everything we've done wrong. If we claim we have never sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. So reading between the lines, it appears as though there was a group within the church who claimed that they no longer had sin. Maybe they never had sin. They didn't feel like they were sinners. There's nothing wrong with me. I'm not a sinner. And if you're not a sinner, then you don't need a savior. If you're not a sinner, then you think you're pretty perfect. …
… from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, whack, right? We deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, this is that believer's bar of soap I was telling you about. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Thank you, God, for your word. What we just read, the first chapter, the first 10 verses of this book, is essentially the book in miniature. Now, to understand that, let me back up. Out of all the 66 books of the Bible, 1 John is very unique for a number of reasons. One is it is written by the oldest person who, at the time they wrote a New Testament book, penned it. The author is pushing as many as 95 years of life, which is amazing. Go John, right? That's incredible. The year is 95 AD, give or take a few years in either direction. …
In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 32, God in Christ has forgiven you. First 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. When you go into the Old Testament, you find the same thing. Here are the words of Exodus 34, the Lord God Himself said, the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth, who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin." God is introducing Himself there, as you remember in the mountain, to Moses, and He wants Moses to know His character. And He describes Himself as compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Nehemiah 9.17, You are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness. And I read earlier Psalm 103, as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. …
… our anger sins, our abuse sins. He abhorred them in his own body on the cross. And when we believe that Jesus died for us, God transfers our sin to Jesus. If we confess our sins, just confess them. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That promise is for you, brothers and sisters. The resurrection is God overturning the curse of death and destruction brought on by our sin and infusing the power of new life into the dead tomb of a broken heart. The empty tomb is the answer for the empty soul that has been ravaged by divorce. By the way, I just feel a special word for some people out there, somebody out there going through real marriage trouble right now. I just want to tell you that God is going to do something amazing in your marriage. If you will trust him and you will give him time, he is going to do something amazing in your marriage that's gonna make it far stronger and more beautiful than anything you have ever imagined. …
… hide your face from my iniquities it's done it's done and i started thinking about the new testament and going hey idiot what part of first john 1 9 do you not understand okay that if you confess your sins that he again look at him he is faithful you're saying he's not faithful he is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and cleanse you from 99 of your unrighteousness like what are you thinking are you doubting the word of are you doubting the power of god are you doubting that he's capable of this type of mercy but some of us we just have this shame, and I don't know what type of baggage I carried with me all those years that makes me go, no, I'm still a little dirty. I'm still a little dirty. It's like, no, that's not what the Word of God says. That's what the accuser is getting into our mind, trying to get us to think that maybe we're just not there, because I believe if we really believed 100% in our purity, we'd be going nuts. Like, you know, the Bible talks about we'd be like skipping around like deer, you know, like, you know, however they skip, you know, like, like that's the way our life, and I'm looking at these passages, I'm going, yeah, that's, that's exactly it, the enemy doesn't want that, he wants us still walking in our shame, he wants us still a little bit doubtful, going into judgment day, and spending …
… I just started claiming scripture. I just started going, okay, what part of 1 John 1.9 do I not understand? If we confess our sins, he is faithful. and just. It's about his faithfulness, his justice to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I began to just read in the New Testament about his salvation and about how he made him who knew no sin, become sin on our behalf, that through him we might become the righteousness, the righteousness of God. Like that's what God sees, this righteousness. And I just started confessing every sin I knew of. And I encourage you, some of you listening, you know what I'm talking about. You're still holding on to things. you don't feel totally pure. You aren't able to move on and do great things like David did because you're still riddled with guilt and shame. and so then I turned to Psalm 51, and I just had to read this out loud several times, and think about every verse, let me just read the first couple verses, have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. …
… PRAY AND CONFESS HIS OR HER SIN AS WE SIN OR WHILE WE SIN. BUT THANK GOD, IF WE CONFESS OUR SIN, HE IS FAITHFUL AND JUST TO FORGIVE US OUR SINS AND TO CLEANSE US FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. NOT SOME. THERE IS NO SIN, NONE, NONE, NONE, THAT IS BEYOND GOD'S FORGIVENESS. RAPE, MURDER, PILLAGE, ABORTION, SODOMY. HE IS FAITHFUL AND JUST TO FORGIVE US OUR SIN AND TO CLEANSE US FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. AND DANIEL PRAYED FOR FORGIVENESS FOR PERSONAL SIN. BUT NOW LISTEN CAREFULLY. HE ALSO PRAYED FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF NATIONAL SIN. NOW THESE WERE NOT SINS THAT DANIEL HAD COMMITTED PER SAY. BUT THIS IS WHAT I CALL IDENTIFICATION PRAYER. HE IDENTIFIED HIMSELF WITH A NATION AND HE SAID, OH GOD, MY NATION HAS SINNED. GOD HAVE MERCY. YOU CAN IDENTIFY WITH THIS NATION AND PRAY FOR THIS NATION BECAUSE THE SINFUL, WICKED PEOPLE OF THIS NATION ARE NOT GOING TO PRAY FOR THEMSELVES. WHAT KIND OF A CONFESSION SHOULD WE MAKE CONCERNING AMERICA. FIRST OF ALL, WE NEED TO CONFESS OUR GREED, OUR GREED. WE ARE A MATERIALISTIC NATION. WE KNOW MORE ABOUT WALL STREET AND MADISON AVENUE THAN WE KNOW ABOUT THE PROPHET DANIEL. AND THEN WE NEED TO PRAY AND ASK GOD TO FORGIVE US FOR THE NEGLECT OF THE POOR. WE HAVE BREAD ENOUGH AND TO SPARE AND WE'RE SPENDING MONEY ON ALL KINDS OF THINGS AND HAVE FORGOTTEN THE POOR AND THE NEEDY. …
… and washing over you and making you absolutely clean. I John chapter 1 and verse 9 says this, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us and to cleanse us from all, not some, but all, all unrighteousness. Every man, woman, boy and girl here today can be absolutely, totally, perfectly clean. Imagine the Lord Jesus Christ coming into your temple and doing spring cleaning. Imagine the Lord Jesus Christ just coming in and cleansing your heart, your mind, your life, just cleaning it completely and leaving it absolutely spotlessly squeaky clean. You see, before you can stay clean, you've got to get clean. You've got to get clean. There's no reason that anybody who is listening to me today should not be absolutely, totally pure and clean. FOR FIRST JOHN 1, 9 SAYS, IF WE CONFESS OUR SIN, HE IS FAITHFUL AND JUST TO FORGIVE US OUR SIN AND TO CLEANSE US FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. HAVE YOU EVER CLEANED YOUR GARAGE, HUH, ONE OR TWICE ANYWAY, OR THE STORAGE ROOM OR WHATEVER THAT ROOM IS THAT TENDS TO ACCUMULATE ALL THOSE THINGS AND ONE SATURDAY YOU GO OUT THERE AND YOU PUT IT ALL UP AND YOU SWEEP IT OUT AND YOU GET IT JUST RIGHT AND IT LOOKS JUST RIGHT, THEN YOU REMEMBER HOW MUCH MORE DIFFICULT IT WAS TO THROW THAT TRASH OUT THERE, TO THROW THAT STUFF, JUST STAND AT THE DOOR AND DUMP things because it's all clean now. And, and once it gets clean, …