But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 1st John 1:9
In our Bible study together yesterday, we looked at Jesus’ message for the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2. After acknowledging the church’s endurance and commitment to the truth over evil, Jesus shared His complaint against them. He said, “You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen!” (verses 4-5a). Because their love for Him and each other had faded, Jesus called them to remember. Specifically, they were to remember their love for Him when they first met Him and began following Him. They were also to remember their love for each other, and how they cared for and looked out for one another as they followed Him together. Today, in our Bible study, we are looking at God's next instruction to the church in Ephesus: to repent.
After Jesus called the church in Ephesus to remember their deep love for Him and each other in Revelation 2, He called them to repent of their sin of forgetting Him and fading in their love for Him and each other. He said to them, “Turn back to me” (verse 5). Jesus wanted the church in Ephesus to return to Him and the lives they lived when they first followed Him. Turning back is precisely what repentance means. It means turning away from sin and back toward Christ. Repentance is the next step in restoring our relationship with Christ and each other, including our spouses.
In the book of 1st John, John urges us to repent of any sin in our life. He wrote in this chapter, “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth” (verse 8). As tempting as it may be, when we hide our sins or refuse to recognize our own sins, we are only deceiving ourselves. Why is this? We deceive ourselves when we refuse to see or acknowledge our sins because we all sin. None of us is perfect. We all make mistakes, saying hurtful things to people we love, even our spouses. We have all, at times, forgotten God, our first love. We have all sinned and made mistakes, whether we see and acknowledge them or not. There is a better way of living than refusing to acknowledge our sins, and that is repentance. John continued writing in 1st John 1, “But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness. What an incredible promise we have to claim! When we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive us. When we confess our sins, we find healing and freedom.
While confessing our sin is not always easy, it always leads to restored relationships. Maybe today, you need to confess to God that your love for Him has faded from what it was when you started following Him. Perhaps today, you need to confess to your spouse that you've hurt them with your words or actions. Whatever it looks like for you today, confess your sins, first to God, and second to those whom you have hurt. There is hope and healing on the other side.
Our call today is a call to confession. Confess your sins first to God. Tell Him you are sorry for forsaking Him, your first love. Tell Him you are sorry for any sin that you have given in to. Then, confess your sins to those you have hurt. If you have said or done something to hurt them, confess your sin and tell them that you are sorry for how you have hurt them. After confessing your sins, commit to turning away from them and living differently.
1st John 1:1-10
1We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.
5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
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