A Letter to the Children (Part 2)
What is Confession, and What is it Not?
© 2025 by C. O. Bishop
1st John 1:9, 10 “9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
Introduction:
Last week we began to discuss the first epistle of John…(usually just called “1st John.”) Our study stopped with 1st John 1:9. We promised to begin again with a bit of an overlap, before entering chapter 2. While 1st John 1:9 is an important verse for every believer, it can easily be misunderstood. It can be seen as some sort of “get-out-of-trouble-free” card. Then people take it as license to “do whatever I want: I’m going to confess it when I am done!”
If a person views this promise in that way, I have serious doubts about their relationship with the Lord. He is God! He is Holy! And He sees exactly what is in our hearts, at all times. Paul warns, in Galatians 6:7, 8, if we take sin lightly, we are in danger of “mocking God.”
God says, “whatever we sow, that we shall also reap.”
We cannot be disrespectful toward God’s holiness and have a blessed relationship with God. When you approach God in confession, remember: We are still dealing with a Holy God who hates sin!
So, What is Confession?
The Greek word, translated as “confession,” is “homologomen”—it means to “say the same thing”—to agree with God concerning our sin. But we don’t tend to see sin the same way as God does. We don’t see sin, in general, as the thing that is destroying us and our loved ones.
We see all the symptoms:
Racial tensions, hatred, poverty, crime of every kind, gross sexual immorality, violence, drug addiction, human trafficking, etc.)
These are obviously destroying our entire culture. But, we seldom stop and think about the root cause of ALL such ills.
What is the Root?
The root cause is Sin! We fell into our epidemic addiction to sin when Adam chose disobedience to God.
And, the fact is, we like sin. We don’t like to admit it, but that’s the simple truth. Nobody drags us out and makes us gossip. Nor do they make us be angry, or make us “shade the truth” (God calls it “lying.” We sin because we choose to sin. Then we excuse our sin, and think of very reasonable-sounding explanations for our behavior.
Furthermore, our entertainment industry commercializes all the things we say we hate; the very things that destroy lives and enslave people in corruption. The best way for a movie or TV series to improve its ratings is to include a lot of “all of the above.” It is difficult to find a movie today that does not include a great deal of blatant sin. They include violence and sexual immorality, or broad hints of such immorality. And it is presented in a manner that encourages us to secretly approve of it.
They usually also include much vile language by both the “good guys” and the “bad guys.” And they celebrate deceit: Tricking people, and stealing things in clever ways, always meet with an appreciative audience.
Deceit and Theft
Whole movies are made about clever smugglers, thieves, and spies. We like stories of successful pirates, and clever jewel thieves… We like to hear about people “getting away with sin,” especially if, in some way, it gratifies our feeling that “Well, they had it coming!”
When the famous thief, “D.B. Cooper,” hijacked a commercial airliner in 1971 and stole $200,000, ($1.2M in today’s money) the world saw him as some kind of folk hero. They thought, “Well, look! He didn’t hurt anyone, and the only ones he stole from, ultimately, were the insurance companies!” Most people secretly hoped he got away!
And if the crimes involved in the films are truly horrendous, then we enjoy seeing the “bad guys” getting destroyed by the “good guys.” Additionally, in today’s stories, the “good guys” don’t seem to be very “good.” They enjoy all the vices, and, vicariously, we enjoy those vices through their on-screen personas! That is why Romans 1:32 says, “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them.”
Why do those movies and TV shows have such high ratings? Because, as a culture, we approve of what they do: we like what they are showing us for our entertainment.
What Kind of Confession Does God Require?
Is that the level of confession God is requiring? Doesn’t He call me to not only “agree with God” about what I have done, but also about the root cause…that I am a sinner? My old sin nature is completely incorrigible. God says so! (Romans 8:7 “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be.”
Even God cannot “repair” my old nature: That is why, in John 3:7, Jesus told Nicodemus, “Marvel not that I said unto thee Ye must be born again…” The Lord has to give us a new nature through the new birth, before He can associate with us at all! But then He claims us as His offspring, His little children, and He carefully shepherds us throughout the rest of our lives, calling us to walk with Him in the Light of His Word.
Make No Mistake: This Applies to YOU!
“10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”
John goes one step further. He says that people who deny having sinned are making God a liar. And they demonstrate that His word is not in them. It is not easy to know for sure whether the implication is that “one who denies being a sinner isn’t saved,” or just that “any saved person who denies having a sin problem is really way out in left field, and doesn’t know God’s word!” Either would be true, but I don’t have any way to know for sure which one he means.
Who is “Us?”
For one thing, why does he use the word “us?” Does he only refer to believers, here, or is the word, “us” simply including the whole human race? All the rest of the occurrences of the first-person plural, “us,” in this book seem to point to members of the body of Christ.
But if I compare scripture with scripture, I find strong indications that it means any person saying such a thing is not a believer. It’s pretty strong language, to say “his word is not in us”—especially considering the fact that this is the same writer who revealed Jesus Christ as “The Word.” If he is saying that the Word, (Christ) is not in us, then he definitely is saying a person who denies being a sinner, is not saved.
And that is how I tend to understand this passage. It is a warning to check where you really stand with Jesus. And it makes sense that way: if I am not a sinner, I have nothing from which to be saved! By denying that I am a sinner, I declare that I have never had a need for Jesus…and that would certainly be a strong indicator of an unregenerate heart!
Either way, as believers, our fellowship with God can only continue when all known sin is confessed. An unbeliever has never experienced that fellowship at all, so this warning is especially appropriate.
How Does God Feel About Sin?
To get a small glimpse of how God feels about sin, imagine that you lived in a neighborhood where a known drug-house was doing business. Imagine, further, that your son or daughter, (or brother or sister, or close friend) had fallen prey to drugs and had died from the use of them. (Probably everyone here knows, or has known of, someone who died of a drug overdose.)
Now, imagine that you see the pusher on the street…he’s smiling and talking to your younger sister, or your youngest son! The pusher is groping in his pocket for something, and the child is expectantly looking, waiting to receive what the pusher has to offer. Now, how do you feel about that vision?
Do you want to just complacently watch, and say, “Well, go ahead! It will be valuable experience—I’m sure you will learn a great deal about yourself…?” Or are there some rather different feelings coming up inside you? Would you stand by, quietly, and say, “Well, it really is a personal choice…?” Or would you take action?
God watched Lucifer, a holy, beautiful creation of God, become Satan, the enemy—the adversary—a monster of evil–due to Sin. He saw Adam and Eve fall prey to that sin, and they died, spiritually, on the spot!
God has watched the torment of six thousand years of bloody human history, as billions of souls, whom He loved, have lived in Sin, and died in Sin, and finally have been lost to a Christless eternity because of Sin.
He sent his only begotten Son to the Cross, to be tortured and mutilated, and to die; naked and humiliated, because of Sin, and in the midst of that, He had to turn His own face from the sight of Jesus, who had literally become Sin, for us.
Do You Understand What we are Confessing?
Can you see why God sees ALL sin as repugnant, and will not tolerate it at any level? We need to see that every sin “steps outside of time and space, and spits in the face of God,” saying, “Stand back! You are not in charge, here, I am! I am the master! I am ‘God’ in my little world!”
You see: Every sin defies God. By necessity, then, Every sin separates us from fellowship with God, and works destruction in our lives. Although it is certainly true that some sins affect our fellow humans more dramatically than others, there is no such thing as a “small sin.”
We need to catch a glimpse of how God sees sin, in order to see sin the way He does, and to have a genuine desire to repent and turn away from our patterns of sin. There are other passages that go into a lot more detail on the subject (Romans 1:18-32 tells the history of our slide into corruption.) But, for now, we will just say that confession is seeing Sin from God’s perspective, and agreeing with Him concerning our sin. And that it is absolutely necessary for discipleship.
What About Joy?
So, what about the Joy he mentioned, back in verse 4? Did he just drop that one? Did he forget? Do you know: the word “joy” is not mentioned at all, in the rest of the book? So, what should I conclude, here? Is Joy of a lesser importance?
I believe the answer is in the fulfillment of the other four purpose clauses. And it is also only mentioned once in each of John’s other Epistles.
Take a look at 2nd John 4; and 3rd John 3, 4, John says his greatest joy is to see that “my children are walking in truth.” In 2nd John 12, He also mentions the joy of fellowship with other believers, I believe if we can learn the truths in the rest of the book, the Joy will be ours, as well, since we will have fellowship, assurance, answered prayer, and continued faith in Him.
Conclusions…
Perhaps some of you wonder whether I am suggesting that our church is lacking in the awareness of sin, and the confession of sin. I’m not suggesting any such thing, but, if we are going to seriously study God’s Word, we also study the portions regarding which we may feel we already have a full understanding. (That is why, for example, we never skip the Gospel message, when it shows up in scripture.)
There may come a time when we realize (either in our own lives as individuals, or in the church at large) that we have become lax, and complacent about sin in our lives. In such an event, I hope that everyone can take this passage to heart and realize what confession is really about.
What is “Not” Confession?
Does God ask that we “grovel on the ground, and despise ourselves?” No, He doesn’t!
As with Peter, we will never be able to “walk on water:” The Lord asks us to be aware that we cannot live the Christian life without His constant empowerment and filling. And, as Peter did when he began to sink; we need to immediately cry out, and confess that we are failing, and ask Him to take over again!
Maturity is Complete Dependence!
Unlike the natural growth of a human child (or even in the animal world,) “maturity” in a Christian does not mean “greater independence:” It means more consistent dependence on Jesus in the Person of the Holy Spirit, to guide us and empower us for every step.
That is why we call it “walking!” it is a step-by-step dependence on, and trust in, Jesus for every moment of the Christian life. We have pointed this out before, but it bears repeating: “The Christian Life is not ‘difficult:’ It is Impossible, apart from the moment-by-moment control and empowerment of the Lord Himself.”
And that is what we are confessing! God knows our frailty: He understands our weakness, and He treats us with compassion, as one treats a small child. He says so, in Psalm 103:13-14 “13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. 14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.”
We need to have this in mind when we approach the Lord in Confession.
Lord Jesus, we know we are frail, and, apart from Your love, Your power, Your care, and Your forgiveness, we are helpless against our enemy. We ask that you teach our hearts to keep short accounts with God, and to immediately turn to You in confession when we fall. Raise us up as an army of ambassadors, and empower us to serve You!