So I met my wife, Natalie, a little over 23 years ago now, I guess. And one of the things that really drew me to her, other than I thought she was beautiful, was her love for the Lord. I mean, I could tell that she just loved Jesus. She was so grateful for her salvation and her relationship with him. It was so meaningful and important to her and and early on, as we were getting to to know each other and see where the Lord was taking this, we talked about Jesus. We spent time praying together. We read the Bible together. We went to church together. I mean, it was really great, but I did start to notice over time, how she started to express that she doubted her salvation and that she doubted it quite a bit. And when I began to press her and dig in to find out what was really going on with that is she began to trust me a little bit more. She told me that it really kind of all boiled down to just one simple verse. And it was first John one nine, which many of you know, but it says this. It says, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Now what she told me was that her youth pastor, when she was in high school or a teenager at some point in time, did a lesson over this, and what she learned was that this was about ongoing confession of sin as a Christian, that as you continue to confess your sins to God, He will be faithful and He will continue to forgive you. And there was just this heavy emphasis on confession and always asking the Lord to forgive you well that produced a tremendous amount of fear in her life, because what if you forget to confess one I mean seriously, if we're forgiven after we confess our sins to God, but we forget to confess one of them, then you're not truly forgiven. And if you're not truly forgiven, then you can't go to heaven when you die. And so that was the day when she heard that lesson, and was taught that's what this means, that she began to keep a record of all of her sins. Not only that, but she felt like if she did something wrong, or she even had kind of a bad thought in her head, she had to find a way to confess it immediately, because she didn't want to forget it. I mean, what happens if you actually forget one? So you better do it right after you realize that you've sinned in that moment. And you probably wouldn't have picked up on this if you didn't know her real well. But as I began to watch and get to know her better, I even watched her do this when we were at different gatherings around other people. She would be involved in a conversation with someone, but all of a sudden she began to kind of check out of the conversation. She was there, and she had a way of hiding it fairly well, but you could pick up on the fact that she wasn't really there, and the reason she wasn't really there was because mentally, she was confessing something in that moment while she's even in the middle of talking to other people, talk about bondage, right? I mean, she could not forget one. She would if she couldn't really get rid of that feeling in that moment, she would disappear and go to the restroom or find a quiet place in a house, she would have to get it off of her chest, make sure that she felt like God heard her, and that she felt better about actually being cleansed and purified from all of her unrighteousness, that she was feeling in that particular moment. She didn't want to forget one because she knew if something happened and there was an accident, and she died with that unconfessed sin in her life. Then she was going to hell. Talk about bondage. Talk about feeling like you have chains wrapped around you. She would so much fear, so much anxiety, so much worry. Now, at some point, she talked to some people about that, and they tried to comfort her by telling her this, no, no, listen, Natalie, Your sins are forgiven. It's just that they're forgiven positionally, right? It's just that when you sin, your sins are technically forgiven positionally, but it's just that you're out of fellowship with Jesus, there's kind of this separation that happens between you and him because of the sin in your life, but when you confess confess, he applies that forgiveness that you have positionally now to you experientially. So now you'll begin to experience His forgiveness. And you'll actually be back in good fellowship with Him and can then enjoy your relationship with him. They were trying to teach her that to comfort her and give her some peace, so that she wouldn't worry and have so much anxiety and live in fear. But guess what? That didn't help at all, because who wants to be out of fellowship with Jesus, right? Okay, well, maybe I'm not going to hell, but I don't want to be out of fellowship with Him. I want to be in good standing. I always want to be in good fellowship with Him. So that just made her keep an account of her sins even more, to try to remember, to make sure that she confessed them and confessed them immediately and completely, so that she could always be in good fellowship with the Lord. The thing is, some of you live your lives in this way too, where you used to at one point. And I know because I've talked to some of you about that and about this verse in particular, and the bondage that you've felt. I had someone come up to me in tears after the first service, and was saying, I have always wrestled with that and felt like I was in such bondage. And it just makes the Christian life seem not fun, right? I mean, just like this duty and this thing you've always kind of have to worry about, some of you aren't necessarily feeling that, or haven't felt it in the past, and maybe that's because maybe this is the first time you're ever even really hearing this or even thinking about it. You've read it, but you didn't really, I don't know, believe it, because if you really believe that's what that says, then you better make sure you are confessing every single one of them, because otherwise he's not going to cleanse you and purify you from all of your sins. And quite honestly, that's the problem. I mean, with this kind of teaching, it is basically absolutely impossible, absolutely impossible to be in good fellowship with Jesus or to go to heaven when you die, if that's what it means. Because even, listen, even if you confess, 99.9% of them, but you forget one, right? I mean, you forgot this one in 1997 right? You've remembered every single one of them since then, 100% but that one sin, you didn't confess it, and this is conditional. It says, If this happens, then this happens, that's the result, right? So you didn't so it's absolutely impossible, no matter how many you remember the rest of your life, because you'll never be in fellowship. You'll always be out of fellowship, or potentially go to hell, if that's what this verse means. But is that really what this verse means? Did God really intend for us to live our lives under such bondage and with such worry and fear?The answer to that question is no, that's not what that verse means. And so today, we're going to dive into the proper context of First John one nine and see what it really means and how it applies to our lives. And when we talk about context, we usually start with kind of the immediate and surrounding context, and we certainly will look at that today. But the first thing that I want you to see is that if we take this one verse, this one verse that we see about Confession and that we're not truly forgiven unless we confess each sin, you've got to see that it flies in the face of everything else that the New Testament writers say after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ in the sending of the Holy Spirit, which changed everything at Pentecost. Here's just a few examples of what some of the apostles said and were teaching after that event, the apostle Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus to people in Acts chapter 13, and he says, Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins plural is proclaimed to you through him, everyone who believes is set free from every sin. Do you see anything here that's conditional? I mean, yeah, believe equals set free from sin. Is there the confession in here? I mean, if that, if that was important, if that was something that had to be maintained in this ongoing confession of sin, then why wouldn't Paul make sure that he's including that every single time that he shared the gospel. If he really wanted people to be in heaven, be in good fellowship with Him, you'd think he'd want to include that every single time he was preaching the gospel. But yet, even when he wrote to other New Testament churches, in Jesus, we have the redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the. Of God, grace that He lavished on us, we did a whole verse by verse. Study this spring through Colossians. You know this verse, when you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all of our sins. Let's go get one more. Author of Hebrews chapter nine says in verse 26 he referring to Jesus has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself once again. These are just a few examples, but you will not find another verse after the death, resurrection and ascension and sending of the Holy Spirit under the new covenant, which is when the New Covenant began, after that moment in time about ongoing confession of sin being necessary to forgive us of our sins or to restore our fellowship. The message of the new covenant is that Jesus made a one time sacrifice for all sins, and that when you put your faith and trust in you for salvation, you are 100% completely forgiven of all of your past, present and future sins. Not only that, the message of the new covenant is that you are forever joined in a spiritual union with Jesus. The apostle Paul says in Galatians 220 I've been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. Notice he didn't add anything to the end of that, except for whenever I sin, whenever I sin, he leaves out of me because we're no longer in fellowship, or I'm no longer a Christian anymore, but then he comes back into me whenever I've confessed my sin. Paul also says in first Corinthians 617 that we're one spirit with the Lord. He didn't put a condition on that. He didn't say you're joined in one spirit with him until you sin, but then when you sin, you're no longer really joined to him. You're not a believer, you're out of fellowship, and there's this constant thing where you're in and out in and out in and out in and out right? That's not what he said. And so the question really is, if we're completely forgiven, if we really are completely forgiven, and we're always in fellowship with Jesus, then why would we need to confess sins in order to be forgiven and to be restored in fellowship? The answer, of course, you don't ongoing confession of sin is not necessary to have your sins forgiven. Ongoing confession of sins is not necessary to restore your fellowship or relationship with Jesus. Now the bigger question then would be, why does First John one nine say then that we need to confess our sins in order to be purified and to be cleansed from all unrighteousness? And that's what we're going to dive into in the immediate context today. What you need to know about what John was writing for and what he was writing to address, and this is really important, is Gnosticism. There is this belief, these Gnostic people who kind of believed and taught things like, you know, the spirit is good, and you're a spirit. And so at the very core of your being, you're good. You're a good person in your spirit, and that's who you really are. And matter is evil, and man is not really sinful, because he's a spirit, but he's actually good. The problem is, is that matter is evil and well, physical bodies are matter. And so the real problem is not that man is sinful, but that he's got this sinful body, right? And here's the thing, if that body is just going to go away one day anyway, then you might as well just indulge it and do whatever it is that you want to do, because it doesn't really matter. You're a spirit and not really a body. This is what they were teaching. This was what was being promoted. And the problem with that, of course, is that, first of all, Scripture tells us that we are spirit, soul and body. We are a tri part being. This is who we are. Second of all, Scripture declares that we are not all inherently good, but that we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God, that we have a sin nature. Now, the other thing that the Gnostics taught is that Jesus wasn't really human right. They didn't necessarily deny that Jesus is God, but because he's or but because matter, excuse me, is evil and physical bodies are evil, then there's no way they would say that Jesus could have been an actual human being. And so they'd either teach things like, Well, Jesus was just kind of a phantom. He was just a spirit, right? Or they would say, well, Christ. Christ came upon the human man, Jesus, and enabled him to do what he did. But when it came time for the crucifixion, Christ left Jesus the man, because, after all, God can't die, and this was a lot of what was being promoted. The problem, of course, with that is that if Jesus did not become one of us, then he could not save us. Jesus had to be born fully man and fully God, sinless, but yet as a human being, so that he could represent us. If he was going to be a substitute for our sins, then he had to be a human being that could take the punishment for human beings sins, right? And so in order for him to substitute himself for us, he must be fully human and fully God. And so Gnosticism was a big deal, and this is one of the big reasons that John was writing this letter. And knowing that when you go back now and we start to look at each one of these verses leading up to First John one nine, you'll notice that this is what is. He is confronting all over the place, even in the very first verse, very first verse, First John, chapter one, verse one, that which is from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched. This is what we proclaim to you, or proclaim concerning the word of life. I mean, look at the language that is used here, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we have touched, he is acknowledging, right off the bat, that Jesus is human, that he was a human being, fully God, fully man. He's denying what the Gnostics were saying about Jesus, right off the bat, confronting it. And he just keeps going. Second verse, the life that appeared again. We've seen it, and we testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father, but has appeared to us. Jesus made no mistake about it. Was with the Father. He left the glory and riches of heaven and came here, and he has appeared to us as a man, as God Himself. Verse three and four, he goes on, we proclaim to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.We write this to make our joy complete. Now this is, I mean, every verse is important, but when we see, especially things like this right here, we're talking about purpose, right? When you see so that, right? We're proclaiming this. We're making sure that you know these things, and here's why, here's the purpose. Why we want you to know that so that you may have fellowship with us. Now, as soon as he says so that you'll have fellowship with us, he points to the kind of fellowship that they have in our fellowship is with who the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, right? And so he's saying that you guys are are, are not part of our fellowship. And if you're not part of our fellowship and we're part of the fellowship with the Father and God the Son, then you guys don't have it. This is his audience. He's writing to people who don't have fellowship with them or fellowship with the Father and the Son. What do we call those people who don't have fellowship with us and fellowship with the son? Unbelievers, right? Unregenerate people who are not born again into the family of God and so, so, so, so what's he saying here? He's wanting to make sure that these Gnostics who were saying no, no, we're part of the church, we're part of the fellowship with you guys and with God. He's again confronting this head on and saying, I'm writing this to you to make sure that you know you're not part of the fellowship that we have, but I'm writing it to you so that you can be. I desire that. That's why I want you to actually know the truth here i He goes on, says, This is the message we have heard from him. Jesus, fully God, fully man. He declared to you, God is light in him. There is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie. And do not live out the truth. Now think about, as Paul's saying, this again, what the Gnostics claim that I mentioned earlier. They said that the problem was, what that that were. We're not really sinners, that our bodies are sinful, right? And again, since those bodies are going to go away, then we might as well just do whatever it is that we want. It doesn't really matter. And Paul's writing and saying, no, no, it does matter. He's saying, You guys are actually walking in the darkness. You are in the sphere of darkness. You're not in the sphere of light. God is light. And if you were in Christ, you would be in the light. But you're not in Christ. You're not in fellowship. So you're in the darkness. You have a sinful nature. It's not just your body. It's who you are at the core of your being and your spirit. And that darkness and that sin works its way out through your body. And so when you're indulging and saying it doesn't really matter, you need to know you're walking in darkness, and it's from your sinful core that's producing that darkness that you are in. He's saying you are deceived. You've been deceived. You're living lies. You're not living in the truth. So he shares with them the truth. Verse seven. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. So believers are those who are in the light you're in Christ. You're in the light he is light. You're in fellowship with one another, because we're in fellowship with Jesus, who puts us all in fellowship with each other. But John is also, once again, showing the Gnostics here that being in fellowship him with him results in him working through our bodies to shine his light into this dark world. Again, they would say that our bodies are evil. Doesn't really matter what it is that we're doing. And John is showing them that our bodies do matter and that Jesus is actively involved to use them to shine his light in this dark world, it is all over the place that this is what he is combating and trying to refute this heresy and help them come to see the truth that Jesus proclaimed and who he really was and what's really being offered to them. We get to verse eight, and he says, if we claim to be without sin, claim to be without sin. We deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Once again, he's addressing the Gnostic heresy head on. They claim to not be sinners, right? I'm just a spirit, and my spirit's good. Bad is evil. It's my body that's the problem. That's not really who I am anyway. And so they claim not to be a sinner, and God says you can't claim to not be a sinner and still be a Christian and be in fellowship with Him, because there would be no need for Jesus in the first place. If you didn't have a sin problem that he came to address and die for to set you free from, then you wouldn't have needed him even in the first place, so you can't claim that. And besides, Scripture tells us that, again, we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death. But even though we've all fallen short of the glory of God, and we have a sinful nature, and the wages of sin is death, and we're separated from Him, even though that is true, if, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. In other words, who is this verse written two the Gnostic unbelievers, those who didn't believe they were sinners and even really needed to be saved from anything in the first place. This is an evangelistic verse. This is about salvation. If the Gnostics will stop claiming to be without sin and confess that they are sinners and in need of a Savior, then Jesus is faithful, and he will forgive them of their past, present and future sins. It's true for all of us, not just those who were Gnostics and he was addressing in this particular culture. As a matter of fact, we are saying that this is who he's addressing and what he's saying to them right now, in one chapter later, I want to show you what it is that John actually said to those who were believers who had put their faith and trust in Him for salvation. First John, chapter two, verse 12, I'm writing to you, dear children. The family language, those who are in fellowship now, right? Why? Because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. What is it, John, If we confess and continue to ongoing, you know, confess our sins will be forgiven, or have we been forgiven on account of his name? Well, this is to believers, and he's saying, This is what's happened. But those who haven't and are denying these things that we were talking about, this is what will happen. The bottom line is that this verse is not about ongoing confession of sin as a believer. It is about a one time confession of sin to become a believer. So what does that mean for you today? How does that apply to those of you who are here or if you're watching online today? Well, it means that if you've never confessed yourself to be a sinner and in need of a Savior, then the good news is that you can walk out of here saved today, if you'll declare that you actually are a sinner and that your sin separates you from God and that you're in need of a Savior. You recognize that who Jesus is is the Son of God, and that he came here to die for your sins and was raised from the dead, defeating the power of sin and death forever, and gives you that forgiveness as a gift that you receive by faith, then you can walk out of here completely transformed and changed, and have assurance that you will have eternal life with Him. So that could be the first way that it applies to some of us who are here today or to those who are watching online. But what about to those of us who have made that confession before? How does this apply to us today? What we've been learning? How about this? Stop asking for forgiveness of sins. If you're completely forgiven of all of your past, present and future sins. Then why are you asking for him to forgive you? Do you not really believe him? Do you not really trust that what he said was true, he said it was finished. He said all of your sins have been forgiven. Do you not really believe him? Is that why you're continuing? No, no, I know you say that, but I'm going to have to confess them and really feel it to make sure that I trust and know that I'm forgiven in that particular moment.Does that mean that we don't acknowledge that we ever sin? Absolutely not, of course, not acknowledge that you sin in that particular moment. Declare to him that what you did in that moment was sin and not what God desired for you. Declare that you were trying to find life in something other than Jesus, who is your life? Declare to him that you were trying to get a need met in an illegitimate way, because Jesus has met all of your needs, but you were feeling like they weren't really met, so you were trying to get it me met in some other way. Acknowledge that that is the truth in the reality, and don't pretend that it didn't ever really happen. But then at that moment, don't ask him to forgive you. Thank him for the forgiveness that you already have. It shows that you trust him. Shows that you understand what happened when he said it is finished, right? Thank him for the forgiveness that you do have. Thank you for the fellowship that you're still in a spiritual union with Him that never really changed. And then repent, which means to turn your focus back to Jesus and away from the sin. Turn it back to him, and the life that you have in him, rather than trying to find it in something else other than Him, you turn from that, and what you were looking to get out of it and focus on Jesus and go, oh yeah, I've already got it all met in you, and thank you that we're good. Now let's go. Let's get after it, and let's walk with what it is that you're doing in my life and through my life, to be the light and shine it in this dark world. Guys, guys, God does not want you to live in bondage and to keep track of every single sin in your life so that you can be forgiven or constantly to make sure that you have fellowship with him. He wants you to know and live in the freedom of complete forgiveness and to know that he's a loving God who is in a forever relationship with you. He died once for all so that you could experience just that. Are you experiencing it today? It's my hope, that's my prayer, that you would rest in the forgiveness that you have, that you would thank him for it, that you would enjoy the intimate. It forever fellowship that you have with him again, both now and forever. Let's.