Confession
OCCASION:
1 John 1. Let's look at the occasion and purpose of 1 John. The occasion was that the church was being confronted with a developing form of 'gnosticism'. Gnosticism took on many forms but basically denied the incarnation and deity of Christ. The Greek word 'gnosis' means 'to know'. It is where we get our English word 'knowledge'. The Bible student has to understand that much time has elapsed from the time of the cross, ca. AD 30, until now, ca. AD 90. Very few people are still alive who actually lived in Jesus' day; in fact, John is the only Apostle still alive. These false teachers, the Gnostics, were going around proclaiming "we know (gnosis) the truth", but John cries out, "NO! I saw and handled the Truth (1:1ff)". Therefore, John wrote this letter with three basic purposes in mind: 1) To expose the false teachers (2:26); 2) To give believers assurance of salvation (5:13); and 3) To let believers know that they can enjoy fellowship with God and with fellow believers (1:3-4).
APPLICATION:
But in order to enjoy that fellowship with Christ, one must confess his or her sins. (1:5-10). Fellowship with God cannot exist apart from the confession of sin and cleansing from it. What cleanses us? Two things: 1) Confession- v.9 and 2) His Blood- v.7. The word confess means "to say the same words"; thus it means to say the same thing about sin that God says, or in short, "to call sin, sin." You call it what it is: It is sin in your life. Why is confession before God hard? Because genuine confession means that you take sides with God against yourself and you agree with God that this _________ (you fill in the blank) is sin in my life. It's hard to side with God against ourselves, but dear friend until you do, you cannot commune with Him. To enter into His presence and into His fellowship, we must come with clean hands and a pure heart. But here's the good news. He stands ready to forgive, because He desires that fellowship with you.
PRAYER:
So, fill in your blank this morning and pray, "God I know this is sin in my life. I confess it now and ask that you forgive me and cleanse me. I desire to commune with you today. Thank you Jesus for forgiving me and cleansing me of all unrighteousness. In your strong name I pray, Amen."
1 John 1. Let's look at the occasion and purpose of 1 John. The occasion was that the church was being confronted with a developing form of 'gnosticism'. Gnosticism took on many forms but basically denied the incarnation and deity of Christ. The Greek word 'gnosis' means 'to know'. It is where we get our English word 'knowledge'. The Bible student has to understand that much time has elapsed from the time of the cross, ca. AD 30, until now, ca. AD 90. Very few people are still alive who actually lived in Jesus' day; in fact, John is the only Apostle still alive. These false teachers, the Gnostics, were going around proclaiming "we know (gnosis) the truth", but John cries out, "NO! I saw and handled the Truth (1:1ff)". Therefore, John wrote this letter with three basic purposes in mind: 1) To expose the false teachers (2:26); 2) To give believers assurance of salvation (5:13); and 3) To let believers know that they can enjoy fellowship with God and with fellow believers (1:3-4).
APPLICATION:
But in order to enjoy that fellowship with Christ, one must confess his or her sins. (1:5-10). Fellowship with God cannot exist apart from the confession of sin and cleansing from it. What cleanses us? Two things: 1) Confession- v.9 and 2) His Blood- v.7. The word confess means "to say the same words"; thus it means to say the same thing about sin that God says, or in short, "to call sin, sin." You call it what it is: It is sin in your life. Why is confession before God hard? Because genuine confession means that you take sides with God against yourself and you agree with God that this _________ (you fill in the blank) is sin in my life. It's hard to side with God against ourselves, but dear friend until you do, you cannot commune with Him. To enter into His presence and into His fellowship, we must come with clean hands and a pure heart. But here's the good news. He stands ready to forgive, because He desires that fellowship with you.
PRAYER:
So, fill in your blank this morning and pray, "God I know this is sin in my life. I confess it now and ask that you forgive me and cleanse me. I desire to commune with you today. Thank you Jesus for forgiving me and cleansing me of all unrighteousness. In your strong name I pray, Amen."
posted by Royce Hendry at
5:25 AM
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