Dialing 911
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 NASB
Confess – “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus,” wrote Robert Lowry in this famous hymn from the 19th Century. He was absolutely right. Nothing can clean off the pollution of deliberate sin except the crimson red disinfectant. Once cleansed, we are free to obey out of hearts of gratitude. We come blameless before the throne, unashamed to enter into the presence of the King of the universe.
But what happens if we mess up again? John provides the answer. There is emergency help. It’s called confession.
Confession is not like a daily shower. God does not expect His redeemed children to play in the mud. He expects them to live righteously. He expects them to stay clean once they are washed with red soap. There would be no point at all in providing instructions for living if God thought that we were so magnetically attracted to life’s dirt that we couldn’t avoid it. Torah would be useless if it were impossible to obey. The point of getting cleaned up is to stay cleaned up, not to run back to the mud. That means that sin subsequent to being washed in the blood is not the norm. It is the exception to the rule. Nevertheless, it happens – and when it does, emergency measures must be taken. Confession is one of those emergency measures. In the event of a calamity, in the case where we stumble in spite of our deliberate redirection after cleansing, God provides a 911 emergency number. It is 266 3377.[1] And it’s toll free.
When I was the victim of Augustinian-Lutheran thinking, I used to believe that repentance was a daily exercise. If I am born a sinner and a sinful nature directs my every action, I obviously must confess continuously. Even after I am “saved,” that sinful predilection persists. I am in an eternal spiritual battle, fighting to keep the faith while observing that I sin every day in word, thought and deed. When Augustine decided that Romans 7 was a description of every Christian, when Martin Luther adopted Augustine’s point of view and declared that sin springs out of every pour, the trap was set. Confession is no longer an emergency provision. It was the mainstay of religious life. One can only wonder why there wasn’t a confessor priest in every village in Israel. The Roman Catholic Church certainly operated on the principle that confession was interminable.
But John doesn’t speak like the Pope. He writes in order that we will not sin! Once cleansed, sinning is an aberration. He says, “If anyone sins,” not “when anyone sins.” He used the Greek word homologeo (confess), a word that means to acknowledge openly. In an emergency, we admit that we have stumbled and Yeshua accepts our admission in the same way that YHWH accepted Abraham’s trust. Restoration is instantaneous and complete. We are ready to go back to obedience. The Hebrew equivalent of homologeo is yada’, the verb that covers “to know” in the widest possible sense. Confession is not only knowing that I have stumbled, admitting that I have fallen, it is also knowing the intimacy of His promise to forgive and experiencing restoration.
If you have to dial 911, do it now. Then get back to the Way.
Topical Index: 1 John 1:9, sin, emergency, confess
[1] For those who need more than a hint, CON-FESS
Thanks Skip,
This was powerful, as well as, clarifying, convicting, and comforting.
This is so true. But, I have found that there are some more details in the Scripture concerning this. Most churches or Christian groups today have a form of religion, but deny the power and working of the Ruach ha Kodesh or Holy Spirit that could empower them like Yeshua’s disciples. Today great “preaching” abounds but most who preach do not practice it in there hearts. They talk a good talk but don’t confess with godly sorrow to produce repentance, nor live according to their declared words. Thus it may be said, “They are heaters only, and not doers.” For “to do” means to speak the truth and act upon it with faith.
“There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
Changing your heart–this is the real aim of deliverance.
BRAVO Robin Jeep… ♥
confess omologōmen to speak the same, to agree from homologos (of one mind)
What if we were to view our sin or see our sin the same way G-d does. What if we knew the mindset of Christ toward sin or what if knew how G-d feels about sin. Is YHWH serious about sin? What nailed Yeshua to the tslav? What caused Adam and Eve to have to leave paradise? It was sin.
Do we see sin as G-d sees sin? It’s so easy to see the sins of another, but what about our own? I can whip out the finger of accusation with the best of them but what about the dude I shave every day? Do I agree with, or speak the same as YHWH concerning sin. G-d does not play when it comes to sin. He is dead serious about sin with a holy hatred. – What about us?
Playing with sin is like playing with matches in a dynamite shack- not a good idea. Are you as afraid of sin as I am? Do we hate sin as G-d hates sin or are we stlll making up our minds as to what to believe concerning sin?
Now what is my confession concernng sin? In the words of my former pastor and adopting his same stance- “I once leaped into sin and loved it (as a hog loves slop), but now I lapse into sin and loathe it.” I fear sin. It is not the will of the Father that I sin. It does not please my Father for me to sin, so why would I want to? “Am I perfect?.” No, not by a long shot or by any stretch of the imagination..- Do I want to be? Do I want to be conformed to the image of the son? Am I an ambassodor for Christ? Am I an epistle for YHWH- known and read by all men? What of YHWH’s instructions to us?- “Be ye holy for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1.16)
And who are we confessing our sins to? To a priest? -In a manner of speaking, -yes. Our Elohim loves it when we “speak the same as Him and agree with what He has said. ”
Confession is good for the soul. (It is!) -Ask David.
I hope tomorrow we will go over part two to this wonderful reality- “He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.. It’s a wonderful thing to be clean before the LORD-
“Of David. A maskil. Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.” (Psalm 32.1)
“…how much more shall the blood of the Messiah, who through the everlasting Spirit offered Himself unblemished to Elohim, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living Elohim” (Heb. 9:14; ISR)?
Some additional thoughts on tamai and tahor: http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Scripture/Parashah/Summaries/Tzav/Holiness/holiness.html
Part III: A year in bed…able to do nothing…from a guy who took perfect care of himself for years upon years. Eating totally healthy, exercising daily, lifting weights, turning my stress over to God, working in ministry for the Kingdom and this still happened! Has to be a reason right?? Sometimes things don’t make sense and no amount of thinking about them or my favorite “trying to figure them out” is going to do any good. All of my life, I have been able to figure things out. I was valedictorian of every class ever attended from junior high through graduate school, but intellect just doesn’t cut it in cases like this. I had turned every single area of my life into God’s hands years ago, so what is up with this?? Then it hit me- the scripture that has become my life scripture- “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and he will direct your paths”. Now, I had to decide- either I believe that 100% or I don’t. Personally, I do. What I came to realize is that through all of this, I had to trust Him even though I did NOT understand why it was happening. I had to know that He would “work all things together for my good”. The LAST AREA of my life that I had been hanging on to for years as a teacher of health to my patients and a living example of a healthy lifestyle was MY HEALTH. I always thought it was something that I could handle. Then I got blasted with something totally out of my control and “MY STRENGTH” in my healthy lifestyle was thrown out the window! I had to put HIM in charge of even my health- the last area that I had subconsciously hung onto as “my own”. That is just one of many things I learned but you will have to wait until Part IV for more!
I remember how, when I was growing up, my “sinful nature” and continuous sinfulness and imperfection were pounded into my head. That was “natural” and we were bad through and through, despite the sacrifice of Yeshua. I think this results in scared, timid Christ followers who see themselves as weak and unable to do the things YHWH has called us to do. I’m not saying that we don’t need to strength and provision of YHWH to fulfill His plans for us, but I don’t think He sees us the way we say we are. I like what you write here because it steps back and looks at the passage without the skew of recent history. I know that I mess up, but knowing that I can (and am expected) to “go and sin no more” is comforting and empowering. I have been given life and authority in Yeshua. And it’s nice to know that His sacrifice wasn’t in vain.