If our sins are forgiven in Christ, then why do we need to confess them as believers. After all, doesn’t the blood of Christ continually wash away our sins? That is a great question and an important one. I want to briefly look at that from several perspectives.
John tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9). He is writing to believers in this text, not those he is trying to persuade to come to Jesus. In John’s letters, he is often addressing what has been called the Gnostic Heresies. There were individuals trying to bring a teaching to the church that what was done in the body had no effect on the soul or the destiny of the soul. One brand of this heresy declared that we are saved by what we know, not by how we live. In his first letter, he reminds the believers to maintain an attitude of neediness in regard to the blood of Christ and the forgiveness it brings. He reminded them that their sins separated them from God not their intellectual weaknesses. Therefore, they should stay sensitive to the sin that cropped up in their lives and make a habit of bringing those failings before the Father.
John calls for a life of confession after salvation as part of a healthy sanctification process. Many believers don’t maintain a life of confession. None of us like to be reminded of our weaknesses and our failings. Many of us learned from parents that we were only loved when we did all the right things and did them well. We anticipate rejection if we fall short, so we develop a defense mechanism that ignores our weaknesses, excuses them, or blames others when we fail. We fear that God will reject us too if we acknowledge our sins.
Other believers only confess on occasions when they have committed what they consider to be “serious sin.” In their minds, that category might include adultery, abortion, extreme pornography, etc. After being discovered and feeling the shame of what they have done, they might confess over and over as they try to escape their feelings of shame and condemnation. But other than on those occasions, they rarely confess sins they consider to just be part of the human condition. However, when we own our sin and confess it with godly sorrow or with a genuine desire to please God, he quickly forgives and is pleased with us. When we deny or hide our sins, he is displeased.
I’m not suggesting we should we should spend every day cataloguing each sin and offering up our confessions hour after hour. To do so would give sin more power in our lives that grace. However, asking the Holy Spirit to highlight attitudes and actions that are getting in the way of our relationship with Jesus or giving the enemy a legal right to afflict us, would be a prudent part of our quiet time with the Lord.
Even though sin in a believer’s life may not cost him salvation, it can hinder and even damage the relationship. A marriage in which one partner continually wrongs the other but never acknowledges the wrongs or asks for forgiveness is not going to be intimate and fulfilling. In the same way, unconfessed and unrepented sin will create distance between us and our Father in heaven
Secondly, sin that goes unconfessed is sin that is not acknowledged nor repented of. Persistent, unrepented sin can give Satan a legal right to enforce curses in our life which hurt us and our families. Unconfessed sin is an open door for demonic activity. We , like David, also need to ask God to search our hearts and show us anything we are unaware of that is offensive to God.
Thirdly, when we don’t acknowledge the sin in our lives, and confess it, we become insensitive to that sin. As we become insensitive, we will downgrade the wickedness of certain sins and rationalize their presence in our own lives. Think of sins that are prevalent in our culture today: adultery, lying, fornication, homosexuality, dishonesty, gossip, slander, and so forth. A few decades ago, we were grieved and outraged by these sins. But now, we may still disapprove of the sins but are no longer shocked or disgusted by them. We make them a part of our entertainment without blushing and entertain them in our own minds without crying out to God to cleanse our thoughts. We simply have been desensitized and Satan convinces us that God no longer finds them offensive either.
When we don’t consider our own sins, ask the Holy Spirit to bring conviction, and confess where we have fallen short and rebelled, we become desensitized to the sin in our own lives and no longer speak out against these things in public. When we tolerate these things as “normal,” we fail to be the conscience of our nation and our own conscience becomes dulled as well.
If we reject his standards by excusing or minimizing our own sin, then we are declaring that his standards are not just and, therefore, he is not just. That line is right out of the devil’s playbook. A failure to acknowledge the sin in our life also opens us up to discipline and even sickness. Paul admonished the privileged in the church at Corinth who were taking the Lord’s supper while ignoring and disdaining the poor among them. He said, “That is why many among you are weak and sick and a number of you have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 11:30). James also says, “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (Ja. 5:14-16).
So let me encourage you (and myself) to build a little introspection time into our devotional time when we ask the Holy Spirit to highlight anything we need to confess and repent of. To do so keeps our relationship with God offense free, keeps the devil at bay, and enables us to grow because we acknowledge our weakness in certain areas. Just as important, It also keeps us sensitive to sin in our own lives and in the world around us. Lord…help us to see sin as you see it, while at the same time celebrating your grace that frees us from the condemnation of sin!
