How God Restores His Children

1 John 1:8-2:2

Rev. Juvenal Cervantes, Pastor
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Greeley, Colorado
September 26, 2021

I John 1:8-2:2 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

You may have heard of the four preachers who met for a friendly gathering. During the conversation one preacher said, "Our people come to us and pour out their hears, confess certain sins and needs. Let's do the same. Confession is good for the soul." In due time all agreed. One confessed he liked to go to movies and would sneak off when away from his church. The second confessed to liking to smoke cigars and the third one confessed to liking to play cards. When it came to the fourth one, he wouldn't confess. The others pressed him saying, "Come now, we confessed ours. What is your secret or vice?" Finally he answered, "It is gossiping and I can hardly wait to get out of here." There is right way and a wrong way to deal with confession.

There are three things we can do with our sins: 1) we can conceal our sin, 2) we can confess our sin, or 3) we can correct our sin. Last week we talked about the painful consequences of concealing our sin. Today, let’s talk about confessing and correcting our sins.

2. YOU CAN CONFESS YOUR SINS AND FIND CLEANSING.

1 John 1:9 is one of the most important verses in the Bible. It says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

I’ve already mentioned that we don’t have to confess every sin we’ve ever committed to go to Heaven. Instead, we confess our sins to stay in fellowship with the Father. The word “confess” means to agree with God about our disobedience. There is a lot of confusion about confession. Have you ever heard somebody pray, “God, forgive us of our sins.”? That’s kind of a blanket confession, and that's not what that word means.

The Greek word for confession is a combination word: homo lego. You know what the word homo means? It means “the same kind.” Lego means “to say.” And so when we confess our sins, we are saying the same thing about our sins that God says about our sins. We are agreeing with God that our sin is serious. We're agreeing with him that our sin is an affront to a Holy God.

You may say, “Well Jesus taught us to pray, ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’” That sounds like a blanket confession. First of all, that’s a model prayer – a guide. Jesus would never actually pray that prayer Himself because He never sinned.

Confession should be specific. “Father, I confess that I lost my temper with my spouse this afternoon. I agree with you that I sinned. Please cleanse me of this sin.” Or, “Father, today I chose to be miserable and have negative and toxic attitude. Help me to see this day as a miracle, to be grateful and hopeful because I have an awesome and amazing God.”

In Proverbs 28:13 we read: “The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.” So here’s the choice: try to cover your sins or confess them.

Concealing and confessing our sin. Imagine you are getting ready to go to a special event, the baptismal service of a relative. You wear your favorite white suit, white shirt or blouse, white shoes, and white socks. Before going to the family event, you decide to stop at a local restaurant and the hostess served one of your favorites, boiled shrimp with red cocktail sauce. You should have taken off your white coat, but you didn’t. And in the process of dipping a shrimp in the sauce and bringing it to your mouth, you dropped a big dollop of cocktail sauce right on the lapel of your white suit. You said, “Oh no! That looks awful. I guess I can’t wear this coat for the baptismal service.” The hostess gets very creative. She probably had been reading hints from Heloise or something. She said, “I’ll take care of that. She blots out the stain with water, but a red circle still could be seen. Then she takes some baking flour and pats it on the spot – and it disappeared.

You said, “You’re a genius!” However, later that night at church, due to a combination of moving around and the heat and humidity, that flour began to flake off – and mysteriously, a red spot began to appear on your lapel. You’d like to say it looks like a tiny red rose, but this was not a tiny red rose. Most people saw it as a stain that you had tried to cover up.

So the Bible is correct – when we try to conceal our sins, we won’t prosper. But when we confess them, we will find mercy.

Here’s a quick formula on how to deal with your sins. Admit it. Quit it. Forget it. As soon as the Holy Spirit convicts you of a sin, confess it to God. Then be willing to let go of that sin – quit it. Occasional sins for a Christian are a tragic truth, but when a Christian continues in sin, that can lead to much deeper problems. Let go of it.

3. YOU CAN CORRECT YOUR SINS BY FOCUSING ON CHRIST. That's what chapter two in 1 John is all about. He says, “I write these things to you that you sin not.” It is possible for you to attain a level being confessed up to date, and clean before the Lord. That’s not perfection, that’s being a clean vessel that God can use. We can’t become sinless, but it should be our goal to SIN LESS. That is what the Christian life is all about. God is trying to conform us to the image of

Christ. Every day and in every way, the One who began a good work on you will keep on completing it until the day of Jesus Christ. There are two powerful truths about Jesus that will help us when we stumble into sin.

(1) Jesus is our advocate. The word advocate is the same word Jesus used in John’s Gospel to describe the Holy Spirit. He is the paraclete – one called to stand alongside us. 1 John 2:1 says, “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one.”

Advocate means “defense attorney.” That means that when we do stumble and sin, we have Someone to speak up on our behalf.

A few days ago we had a garage sale and I helped a retired couple move some furniture in their house. My daughter Sylvia volunteered me. She said, “Dad, here is a couple who need someone with a weak mind and a strong back and you’re it.” He is now adjunct professor of statistics at the University of Northern Colorado, and she retired as hospice nurse. They recently sold their old house to a man, and they purchased a new home. Suppose a few months after the sale, they were contacted by the man’s lawyer about something he didn’t like about the house. He was threatening legal action. The couple had never gotten a letter from a lawyer before, so they went to an attorney friend who was a member of their church. He looks at the letter and he say to them, “Don’t worry about this one bit. If they contact you again, just tell them to contact your lawyer. I’ll take care of it.” That must have felt good to the couple. The next time they hear from the gentleman’s lawyer, they say, “Just speak to our attorney.” And the issue gets resolved with no problem.

That’s what Jesus does for us. When we sin and confess that sin, we have an advocate, Jesus, who stands before the Judge of the Universe and says, “Father, that’s my child. He’s guilty, but I’ve already paid for his crime, so I declare Him forgiven.”

Of course, the devil is the prosecuting attorney – the accuser of believers. He accused Job before the Lord. And he accuses us to make us feel guilty when we’ve been forgiven. So, the next time he slides up to you and whispers how guilty and rotten you are, just say. “Satan, just speak to my lawyer, Jesus Christ.” And Satan says, “Sorry. All charges are dropped!” We have an advocate in our hearts – the Holy Spirit; and we have an advocate in Heaven – Jesus Christ.

(2) Jesus is our atonement. That means that Jesus has already paid the price to redeem us from the slavery of sin. 1 John 2:2 says: “He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.”

The word “atone” or “atonement” is a little tricky because we don’t use in our everyday conversations. The Jews have a Day of Atonement, called Yom Kippur. When there was a Temple, the priests would sacrifice a lamb and take its blood and sprinkle it on the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies. It was to cover the guilt of the sins of the people for the previous year.

Another goat would be taken out into the wilderness and released to symbolize that God had removed their sins. The Jews today still recognize Yom Kippur as the holiest day of the year. Nobody works and they fast all day long.

Jesus died as the lamb of God to take away our sins – not annually – but once for all time. Let’s take the word “atone” and take it apart into two words: “at one.” It’s a good way to understand the meaning. Our sin problem separated us from God. But Jesus’ death on the cross made us AT ONE with God again. He paid the price so we could be one with our Creator.

CONCLUSION: I think many Christians don’t take sin seriously. We’re forgiven, and we know that if we confess our sins, God cleanses us. But the whole point of growth in the Christian life is to become more and more like Jesus. Our goal should be to sin less and less. And to do that you’ve got to HATE SIN the way God hates sin. Do you hate sin in your life the way God hates sin?

Let me give you a very crude illustration. Just imagine that when my daughters were toddlers that one of them was playing in our backyard, and I look up and she was lying on the ground not moving – This never happened, thank God, it’s just an illustration- our kind and compassionate daughters are here with us this morning. So, I rush over to her and pick up her little body and it is cold and lifeless. I notice two swollen puncture marks on her leg. And then I hear a rattle and look to the side and see a huge rattlesnake. And I realize in that moment that the rattlesnake was responsible for the death of my child. Now, what is going to be my attitude toward that snake?

Am I going to say, “Don’t worry, Mr. Rattlesnake. I know it’s your nature to be poisonous, you can’t help it. And she probably provoked you.” Am I going to say that?

No! Instead, I’m going to take a machete and chop of the snake’s head and then keep chopping until there’s not much left. You can only imagine how intense would be my hatred for that snake.

Now that didn’t happen. But let me ask you, “What was it that killed God’s only Son?” It wasn’t a crown of thorns, or a cross, or a spear in His side. It was my sin and your sin that killed His Son. That’s how much God hates sin- and we should hate sin with that same intensity.

Don’t conceal your sins – that leads to painful consequences. Instead confess your sins and correct your sins by focusing on the holiness of Jesus. Will you pray: “God give me a holy hatred for sin in my life. Father, please convict me when I commit sins so that I can confess them to you and be in fellowship with you again.”