Bob Cassell, Messenger
What are you, as a believer in Jesus Christ, to do about your sins? Some simply see their sin as a mistake and do not recognize that fellowship with God is broken. The well-intentioned believer may see the mistake and try harder the next time or say, “I will never do that again!” You may be assured that God condemns any act of sin committed by his believing family members, but what happens to your relationship with God when you sin? Nothing happens with your relationship when you sin because God never leaves nor forsakes you! If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are an eternal Child of God and are held securely by His mighty hand.
For I the Lord thy God will hold thy hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee (Isa.40:13).
However, when any form of sin is committed either overtly or covertly, the Holy Spirit is quenched or grieved and fellowship with God is broken. Notice, relationship with God is forever. However, fellowship with God is often broken by the believer’s sin.
If out of fellowship with God, the sin you have committed must be confessed, but at the same time it must be realized that confession was not given to keep the believer from sinning. A keen awareness of the sins you have committed will become more apparent as you grow spiritually through learning and applying the word of God. If sin continues or remains in the life without immediate confession discipline could be employed by God for correction.
Confession or acknowledgment of the sin is the means of being restored to proper fellowship with God. You may be assured it is not because you are a nice or well-intentioned person and deserve it! God’s forgiveness is based on grace alone and not on the best of your best efforts.
Suppose there is doubt as to whether you will be restored to full fellowship with God after the sin has been confessed. Another important consideration is how will you know that being restored to fellowship means you are, at the same time, filled with the Holy Spirit?
Please answer this question… is it possible to have full fellowship with God and not be controlled by the Holy Spirit? The answer is a firm NO!
His word distinctly teaches that we are either controlled by the flesh (the old sin nature) or by the Holy Spirit. The word of God is clear…
“So, they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8).
“This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law (Gal. 5:16-18).
Is it not clear that at any point in time you are either a spiritual believer (in fellowship) or a carnal believer (out of fellowship)?
“And I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ” (1 Cor.3:1).
Nothing that is produced by means of the flesh will be accepted by God as divine good and furthermore, you are commanded not to live in the flesh as the corrupt flesh produces after its own kind.
“For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing; for to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not” (Romans 7:18).
There is no middle ground. As a believer you are either carnal or spiritual, but not both. When you have no unconfessed sin in your life the Holy Spirit is not grieved, and you are in fellowship with God and controlled by the Holy Spirit.
This is true Spirituality and confession of sin is the exclusive means of attaining it.
Subsequent to confessing your sins, you may look back and be ashamed or think you are unworthy (You are), but Grace would not be grace if you were not an unworthy object of his love and grace. How many believers, at this very moment, are committing sins, either overtly or covertly? Do you believe God is going to throw away His children who have believed in His Son because of their sins? Christ has done something about those sins; he has paid the full penalty for each and every one. If the Lord is let down by any sin, he would always be down trodden. He is not downtrodden by your sin, because it simply doesn’t work that way. Why? Because God is sovereign and righteous and is never brought down by anything, let alone your sin since they were paid for by the sinless Son of God totally and completely on the cross. This God planned cross work is the only way for Him to be propitiated (satisfied). It is by means of the full payment for the penalty of all sins made by His Son that is propitiatory. Nothing you can do will propitiate God as He is only well satisfied or propitiated with the finished cross work of his Son Jesus Christ.
If your thought’s are focused on Him and not on yourself, you may begin to understand that as a human being you sin frequently, and it will never end. Thanks be unto God because he extends grace and mercy and not condemnation and judgment. Need I remind you that all sins and condemnation have been paid for by and through the precious atoning blood of Jesus Christ.
You may have a few overt sins under control such as drinking to excess, cursing, adultery, stealing, lying, etc., but do you have all of your mental sins under control also? You do not! Why? Because it is likely the emphasis of teaching, preaching, and reading that you have been exposed to has made you aware of numerous overt sins, such as cursing, lying, stealing, fornicating, etc. Surely you know sin is sin, and mental sins, (covert) cause you to be out of fellowship with the Lord just as much as overt sins. However, it is rare to hear messages that mention covert sins.
Suppose you knew better, but you committed the sin or sins anyway. You may confess the sin or sins, but you are to confess and forsake the sin, or you are still in sin and out of fellowship. What should your attitude be if you have confessed all of your known sins and still feel guilty and unforgiven? It is miserable to feel unworthy, ashamed, or guilty, or that you have no faith to believe his sure promises. You may become so stricken with guilt that you can’t even lift your voice to the Lord in prayer.
Good news follows: It is very important to realize that confession of any and all sin is the only way of regaining fellowship with the Lord and attaining true spirituality. You can be assured and comforted to learn that if you have confessed your known sins, the Holy Spirit is no longer grieved or quenched, and if you are walking in the spirit, then you are filled with the spirit and are spiritual.
Confession of all known sins is all that can be done to be restored to fellowship with the Lord. You may wonder, what about the sins I commit in ignorance because I have not reached sufficient maturity to realize they are sins. And then there is a concern about any unknown sins? This concern is addressed in the last half of verse 9. “And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When we confess the sins that we know about, God in His sovereign grace also cleanses from all the sins we have committed in ignorance. When we confess all known sins, He cleanses us from all known and unknown sins. The dross is taken away, and by His amazing grace we are restored to full fellowship with him and may continue to walk by means of the Holy Spirit.
It is a supreme blessing to know that if you have fulfilled the biblical requirement to be in fellowship and spiritual you must realize that faith comes alongside and says if you have fulfilled the commands, quench not, and grieve not the Spirit by using (1 John 1 :9) “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” You are filled with the Spirit, and if you are filled with the Spirit, you may know well that God the Holy Spirit is controlling your life. If the Holy Spirit is controlling your life, you are spiritual because you have met the Bible condition. When there is no unconfessed sin in your life, you are in fellowship with the Lord and can know that you are filled with the Spirit.
When you understood: “He that believeth on me hath everlasting life” (John 6:47) and applied it personally by faith and were saved, so you must believe the promise in 1 John 1:9, to know you are forgiven and returned to fellowship.
When you confess your sins and personally apply believing faith in his word you may know you are filled with the Holy Spirit. You may not fully realize you are filled with the Spirit, but the Word of God says you are!
Whether you believe it or not, you can never lose your salvation after you claim John 6:47, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. It is also true whether you believe it or not, you are filled with the Holy Spirit when you claim 1 John 1:9. Faith in this promise is one of the results of the filling of the Spirit and is to realize that Spirituality is attained by confession alone.
Humankind always wants to put a foot in the door and contribute just a little of self from their best and most productive day. This human effort is silenced by God’s super surpassing grace which demands that nothing can be done to cause Gods’ grace to be greater than it is.
If a sin is committed; confess it immediately, and then know that you are forgiven and restored to full fellowship and have the immediate means to produce the fruit of the Spirit, which is… love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law (Gal 5: 22,23).
With your sins confessed you will then be under the controlling ministry of the Holy Spirit and will be able to execute the command in (Galatians (5:16), “keep on walking by means of the Spirit.” Until you choose to sin again you will have all of the divine operating assets that equip you to live a powerful, meaningful, and obedient life. It is your choice. I trust you will fully realize that you must be controlled by the Holy Spirit to produce divine good, and that all of the work in the energy of the flesh produces only human good which vanishes away with your last breath?
When you admit to Him and confess that you have sinned, you will be forced to realize that apart from His power and strength through the Holy Spirit you are unable to accomplish anything that pleases Him, and that you must depend on Him for everything. When you confess your known sins to Him, He is faithful and just to immediately forgive you of the confessed sins and will cleanse you from all unrighteousness, which includes all unconfessed or unrecognized sins.
How can His grace be so amazing? It is because He indeed is gracious and amazing yesterday, today, and forevermore. He extends His amazing grace to you day by day and moment by moment. He is amazing in forgiveness. He is amazing to extend His power to weak and vacillating believers. He is amazing to teach you His Holy word. He is amazing to provide all your needs according to His riches in Glory. He is amazing to help and comfort when you are helpless. He indeed is amazing. He can do all of these things and keep on doing them because the penalty for all your sins was paid for on the cross and …
“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son keeps on cleansing us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
What a wonderful, saving, loving, and forgiving God is He. He is full of love and mercy and has a heart that is overflowing with grace and will save your eternal soul if you call on Him in believing faith and deposit all of that believing faith in the person of Jesus Christ.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved (Acts 16:31).
Take Him at His word…He will not let you down!
Call to me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you know not (Jeremiah 33:3). “He that believeth on me has everlasting life” (John 6:47).
