Confession of sin
1 John 1:9-10 · Andrew Molloy · Mar 13, 2022
Letters of John (2022), No. 06
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261926156766

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Okay, 1 John 1-9, I need to put the first in there, don't I, in that introduction screen. We are in 1 John, verses, chapter one, nine and 10, and we come to confession of sin this morning. Let me read from verse six, because it's, It's in context of what we're discussing this morning, verse six through 10.

If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to 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.

And that's verse 10. So I'll start off right with 1 John 1, 9, the very famous verse, one that I, have memorized. I'm a very bad scripture memorization person, but this one I've had down since I was, you know, two or three years old, so it's easy for me this morning. Let's look at that first phrase, if we confess our sins. If is again are a conjunction And there's a conjunction in verse 6 and that if in verse 7 Verse 7 is but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light and verse 8 even Verse 8 says if we say we have no sin and verse 6 so we have this this conjunctive phrase in verse 6, 7, 8, and 9, and 10, right? So we're in this section here of what John is talking about.

It's a subjunctive verb phrase, I'm calling it. And it's a present tense, active voice, subjunctive, and first person, if we confess our sins. And that subjunctive, let's see, that subjunctive mood, I'm having trouble with my pronunciation. Subjunctive mood says that it's a mode of potentiality, maybe, maybe not a mode of possibility.

And this is this whole section where I'm six through 10. But the word confess is homo legeo. And I'm just going back to the simple Greek this morning, just bringing for myself, for my own purposes, for my own edification, I'm going back to a very simple looking at the words, just the words this morning, and really looking at this verse in detail. But I've learned so much and I went through so much this week.

So, this is, it's, you know, teaching class is more for the teacher than sometimes the hearers. So, this word homo legeo is, that first part is homo, which is same. Second part of that Greek word is logos, word. To say the same words as one another, or usually rendered as we say, to say the same as.

Now compare that to verse eight, if we have no sin, and that God does not agree with that hypothetical statement. He says that we do have sin. Thus we, in verse eight, we are not saying the same thing as God says about our sins. So in context, and this is, maybe you guys have seen this all along, I just, I'm seeing it, I saw it for the first time this week, but it's in context, it makes perfect sense that in 1 John 1, 9, it's a positive statement if we confess our sins, but in verse 6, 7 and 8, Eight, they're negative. They're, if we say we have no sin, et cetera, like that. Verse 10, another negative, if clause. If we say we have not sinned, there again, we're not in agreement with what God's saying. And often we make this argument ourselves internally, don't we? If we say internally we have not sinned, But this 1 John 1, 9 is a positive statement, and it's critical for our Christian life and maintenance of our walk.

So let's look at the word sin. And sin is harmatia. It's missing the mark of falling short, falling short of the glory of God, we add that preposition. The glory of God is God's perfect, unchanging, pure, and virtuous nature. And in this context, it comes across as his light, right? Light versus darkness. This is the theme we're in, that John has us in, in these first 10 verses. Light and dark. Sins would be dark. His glory would be light. I made a little refrigerator list here of sins. There's sins of commission, omission, past sins, present sins, future sins, sins of acts, deeds, thoughts, attitudes, mindsets, and dispositions. And chime in here if you can think of any others, but there's a lot of ways and ways you can sin.

And sin isn't, it is the focal point of the cross of Christ. It's the main issue of why God sent his son to be a satisfaction for the issue of sin. Sin is the reason we need to be pulled, redeemed from the marketplace, to be pulled out of the place of death, It put us in separation from God, and that separation needs to be removed, and the cross removes that separation. So it's the whole issue of Christ coming to earth. This slide, moving on to the second phrase here, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins. This had a big impact on me.

I found this gentleman's diagram, sentence diagrams, Dr. John McLean in my dad's files. And so I'm not going to copy, I didn't copy them because he said, don't copy it. It's copyright protected and I needed written permission. And I didn't want to sin and put up the copy of his work on my diagram. So I sort of just This is just going to be a picture of what it looks like.

So he's got Greek words, I have it in English. But you see that the main point of this verse is he is, that's the main verb, and that's the main, the subject is God himself. He's faithful and righteous. That's the top line. And then you add the prepositional phrases and the supporting phrases, and they look like this. So they're down here. under he is faithful and righteous. And that's sort of how the sentence diagram looks like. in a sense that he is faithful and righteous is the part of the boat that's above water. And then below water, the whole, I guess, equally important because it keeps the ship floating, but is the information about forgiving and cleansing of sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness. So I just thought that that was, that in my mind was helpful. to understand the verse even better than I had before I started. So it just shows emphasis there.

The word faithful is pistos, one worthy of trust, one worthy of placing your confidence in. So in a business transaction, it's one who faithfully does the execution or the discharge of his duties. And I just added up recently this morning, one who performs perfectly in their fiduciary duties. That's a faithful person. And that's who God is. He's that infinitely.

And that's part of his character and his essential nature. The word righteous, he was faithful and righteous. Righteous is dikaios, and you see the meaning there, innocent, faultless, and guiltless, the Greek word dikaios. I had never really looked at these words related to righteous in detail, and it was very informative. The root of that, the chios, is dike, that's the noun, it means just, but it has everything to do with a suit brought at law, at a court of law, or a judicial hearing, or the execution of a hearing, or it can be avenging justice, dike, so one who performs positively in like a courtroom or a court is one who is righteous. And then, of course, one who doesn't perform positively, negatively, is eidikos.

You see that A, which negates it, and that's unrighteousness. It's really interesting that in today's world, the court system and justice is sort of being assaulted, right? People are going free for crimes and sentences are being reduced to ridiculous amounts. So that's not God's righteousness, that's man's righteousness and it's unrighteousness. So both faithfulness and righteousness together is, as I said, God's essential nature and his character. And he has these in infinite amounts.

To forgive is our main topic today, the word forgive. And that word is epheme. It's an aorist active, again, subjunctive in the third person, because this whole section, we're in this subjunctive mode, the mode of possibility, epheme. I've never really studied the root of this word either, forgiveness, and it means to send away or to go away from or to let go of a debt.

And I probably knew that in the past, but this this week, it really kind of hit home better. You see the. In the second part of that Greek word, you see the emi, and that's the status quo verb. And here it means to go, but the first part of it, that apho, I think it is, or apho, is to send. So we're sending away from something. Or sometimes it means a husband sending away a wife in divorce.

Or you think of that scapegoat where they let the goat go out of the... the presence of the Israelites, and they put the sin on that little scapegoat, and he went away, also kind of related to forgiveness. There's two aspects of forgiveness. One is judicial, and that's the aspect of forgiveness that's once for all that Christ did on the cross. He applied of forgiveness as a legal outcome to the righteous judgment of God that he placed on Christ. But then you and I had the benefit of that legal outcome, and we got the writ of satisfaction was given to us, even though Christ was crucified and Christ had the judgment poured upon him. The second aspect of forgiveness is familial or related to the family.

Schaeffer and Ironside and many others make this distinction of the two aspects. And it's just dealing with how a father deals with an erring child or an erring son. And we'll see this in the coming weeks, but John's first letter here is heavily weighted on the family aspect of all things, and in this case, forgiveness.

In fact, First John 2.1, he addresses us as my little children. So there's family issues going on here in verses 1 through 10 here. The judicial, the first aspect judicial can't say that this morning, judicial. That's our standing, or our position.

Then the second aspect of family, or the familial is. our state, so standing in state, our state of affairs, moment by moment, or our condition, or the practice, it's practical, our familial, the familial aspect of forgiveness is practical, and it's conditional. The judicial is, you know, set, and it's a standing, our position, An example I thought of is the prodigal son returning to his father in Luke 15 when he sinned and then he came back.

Forgiveness also entails restoration of that relationship, that severed relationship. And our Lord Jesus Christ in Luke 15 also gives two other examples. One, this one sheep of 99 who was lost, and the shepherd goes after to find the one lost. Or the widow who loses one coin out of 10, and she sweeps her entire house to find this one coin.

And it's so this restoration is an aspect of forgiveness that results. So I say the resulting rejoicing and satisfaction of one, our Father God, when we're forgiven, or B, the prodigal's father, or C, the shepherd, when that one sheep is restored and his whole flock is restored to wholeness, is the kind of thought there. So our aim in our Christian walk day-to-day, moment-by-moment, is our peripeteia, is that Greek word that we looked at two weeks ago, is to remain where we started.

We want to remain on the estate with the dad, if we are the prodigal. We want to remain in the woman's purse if we are a coin. And we want to remain if we're a sheep with that shepherd. And we don't want to leave that place. And in all cases, those items left where they were.

Or we want to remain in the light, as John 1 7 says. We want to remain in God's light and not in the darkness of sin. We went, because we go away from, and I kind of mentioned this before, but here's the bullet point, we go away from where we started. So if we have that ephemi from the previous slide to send away, and that's us, we went away from it, and we need that forgiveness here in 1 John 1, 9. Okay, let's go on to this word cleanse.

And this is a really neat word. It's catarizo. It's a verb. It's an aorist tense active voice. And again, subjunctive because, you know, if we confess our sins, maybe we do, maybe we don't. So that's why it's He is faithful and righteous to forgive us of sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, but same subjunctive mode, because the first part, if we confess our sins, is subjunctive, so it matches there, those moods. And the definition of catharizo is to clear or to purify. And this is, Roy mentioned this, I think, two weeks ago.

And this is Jesus at the last supper. He got up from the supper and he laid aside his garments from John 13. And he took a towel and he girded himself and he poured water in a basin. And he began to wash his disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel which he had girded. So he came to Simon Peter and he said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet?

And Jesus answered to him and said, what I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter. And Peter said, never will you wash my feet. And Jesus answered him. If I do not wash you, you have no part with me. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, then wash not only my feet, but my hands and my head. And Jesus said to him, he who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean.

And you are clean, but not all of you. And he was referring to Judas Iscariot there. But that word for completely clean is katharos, and that matches our word here, katharizo, in 1 John 1, 9. And it's interesting that he's doing this for the disciples, and they have no idea why he's doing it. But they'll understand later and certainly we understand now why he was doing it, this forgiveness of sins and clearing our sins and purifying us from the stain of sin. And I just have this point that so many messages you hear from John 13 and the washing of feet, kind of concentrates itself on service, service to others, which is fine. The point of this parable gets to service later on in the story, but this first part really kind of ties into this 1 John 1, 9 of cleansing.

So yeah, so the first part is our catharizo. And I just want to say here with the second bullet point that even though we are completely cleaned or bathed positionally by forgiveness, positionally by his death, burial and resurrection, we need our feet washed from time to time. Another aspect of this capturizzo, or to clear, or purify, or clean, is the Christ's true vine discourse in John 15. I am the true vine. My father is the vinedresser.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. And he says, you are already clean, katharos, there we go again, because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, and he who abides in me, and I in him, bear much fruit, for with me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, He is cast out as a branch, and they are withered, and they are gathered up, and they throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it shall be done to you.

By this, my Father is glorified, in verse eight here of John 15. By this, my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples. So in this, I've copied this section, and I have that you are already clean, that he says in verse three, that's our word, kathros.

And it's an imperative, I'm sorry, it's indicative, and not that subjunctive that we're now hearing 1 John 1, 9. It's an indicative fact, and it's in the present tense. And down in verse six, you see, if anyone does not abide in me, see that if, that's kind of like where we're at in 1 John 1, 9, it's that subjunctive again. So it's a mode of possibility. Maybe we abide, maybe we don't. This is our daily walk, our moment by moment walk. In verse seven, another subjunctive, if you abide in me.

So I really think that these John 15 and John 13 go really well with this first John 1-9 passage of cleansing us from sin. Now moving on to this, I have to address this every branch in me that does not bear fruit," in verse 2 of John 15, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes or purges that it may bear more fruit.

And that's some scary stuff if you take, takes away, if you take it to mean getting rid of, or cutting out, or ejecting from, or three strikes and you're out. That's what I think of when I think of take away. If I'm not bearing fruit, he takes me away and takes me out of the scene. It's kind of scary. It's kind of judgment, it sounds judgmental.

However, If we look at the Greek, the Greek makes it clear that the word is ero, takes away is to raise up, to elevate, to lift up, to raise one from the ground, to raise upwards, to drop like a fish out of the water if you're on a boat, to take upon oneself and carry what has been raised up, to bear. What he's doing is, if you're a branch that's drooped down and injured and now down in the mud, in the mire, he doesn't cast you away and cut you out. He lifts you up and then cleans you, cleans you off. tie in, they take that string, they tie that to the overhead wires so that the branch doesn't droop down, it kind of goes upward, and that's how a vine dresser kind of does his job to make sure these branches on this vine are growing in the proper direction. So that's what our Heavenly Father is doing with us here in John 15.

Let's look at this word prunes, does not mean to cut away from, to be snipped out. You know, I looked in the dictionary and prunes or purges, especially purges means an abrupt or violent removal, or it means to get rid of something unwanted or to evacuate things unpleasant.

One example was to purge a manhole of built-up gases, so that's really unpleasant. These are all English definitions of purges or purged. But that's not what that means. Oh, I fail to mention here that vomiting is a modern usage. I had the flu this week, so that would be a definition of purge. But the Greek word for purge or prune is kathiro, so very closely related to our verb here, kathirizo, and that is to clean, to make clean from filthy impurity.

To prune a branch of useless shoots or to clear guilt is what that means. So here, instead of taking away and pruning and doing all this, This hurtful things, these are really healing things that God the Father is doing for us in John 15. Cleansing and building up and lifting up. So that's just really a comfort to know, isn't it?

Okay, moving on to the second verse that we have today. First John 1 10. It's easy in the sense that we've been in this mode, this First John 110 is just another one of these conjunctions and a third class conditional statement. It's a hypothetical statement again, related to those who are in denial of walking in the darkness or who are saying that they have no sin or they have no sin nature at all. He's going back to this, like the straw man argument is what it would be. But the way to look at 1 John 1 10, and let me read it real quick. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. The way to think of this question is God reveals sin, and he reveals his sin nature, or our sin nature, in the Word of God.

And before that beginning of time, he drafted up the eternal covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ to take care of the sin issue, right? And then he sent Christ to the cross, the incarnation commenced. Jesus Christ was here to fulfill the eternal covenant, and that's Hebrews 13, 20. And then Jesus Christ died, he was buried, and God raised him from the dead, and he raised him in satisfaction of that eternal covenant.

So, I'm making the point here that there's no way, no reason, no justification and no basis that anyone could say, make this hypothetical statement of verse 10 and say they have not sinned without obviously, as the verse says, calling God a liar or claiming that God doesn't have possession of not his facts, but our facts.

And this, if we say this, if someone says what is said in verse 10, you know, it's a delusional, it's a delusion because of all these things that God went through to take care of the sin issue. And he revealed all these things in his word. And think of, And I list those above all the eternal, all that they had to do to take care of this sin issue. And so if we deny all those things, this verse 10 is obvious. We're a liar and his word is not in us. His truth is not in us. As it says in verse eight, kind of the same kind of phrase as what John has used before here.

Okay, final thoughts. I wanted to bring Colossians 1, 13 and 14 to your attention. This is a favorite verse of mine. For he rescued us from the domain of darkness, and he transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And that, you know, two weeks ago, I was, I made the point, I was, if I could go back two weeks and do the lesson over, I would do the entire lesson over on those two spheres. And I would concentrate on, I wouldn't concentrate where I concentrated things that I did two weeks ago. I would do it differently. But I like this, What scripture uses this domain of darkness. And then that contrast that to the light of God so any rescues us from that domain.

And it was once in the past, and it's permanent. And I think it's. We can get into that domain of darkness in our daily walk as well, can't we? And when we confess our sins, he transfers us back into the kingdom of his beloved son, and he gives us a forgiveness of sins.

And then just, I thought of this hymn, Marvelous Grace of Our Loving Lord, that it's grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt, yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured. There the blood, which I have in the spelling there, of the lamb was spilt. Grace, grace, God's grace. And I thought of this phrase, grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sin. So we'll end it there and I'll, anyone wanna give a closing prayer? Yeah, I'll do it, Danver. Okay.

Father, we're thankful for the message delivered today. We're thankful for your word, which is so sound and true, and we're thankful that we have this opportunity to know that we all still have sin natures within us, and that the capability of sin is always there, but yet your blood does cleanse us from all this sin, and we have the opportunity to confess that sin, to be restored in righteousness which you've created us to be and we're thankful for this everlasting promise you give us because in the flesh we fall short but in Christ Jesus we are his righteousness because of what he has accomplished on our behalf. Thank you for the lesson today. Thank you for the service to follow. We pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.