How to Make a Correct Confession
of Sin
<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."
THE GOSPEL OF THE BLOOD IS
A HALF GOSPEL
Can we enter the
kingdom of heaven
only with the gospel of the blood?
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Never. We have
to believe in the complete gospel
(the gospel of the water and the Spirit).
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1 John 1:9 applies only to the righteous.
If a sinner who was not yet redeemed tried to atone for his daily
sins according to the words of this passage and confessed his wrongdoing,
his sins would not be expiated. Do you see what I'm saying here?
This passage does not apply to sinners who are not born again.
There are many in this world who are
not yet born again, but they take this passage from 1 John chapter
1 and pray and repent for their sins, hoping for forgiveness.
But can one who is not born
again be redeemed completely of his sins through prayers of confession?
This is an important point we have to consider and clarify before
going any further.
Before you read 1 John, you have to
decide whether the apostle John was a righteous man or a sinner.
Let me ask you. Was the apostle John a righteous man who was born
again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, or
was he a sinner?
If you say the apostle John was a
sinner, you are biblically incorrect in your belief. If the apostle
John was a righteous man who was born again when he believed in
Jesus, it becomes clear that his faith was different from yours.
You have to have the same faith as the apostle John.
Let me ask you another question. Was
the apostle John writing those letters to the righteous or sinners?
The apostle John was writing the letters to the righteous.
Therefore, if sinners who are not
born again cited the words of 1 John 1:8-9 and applied them to themselves,
it would be wrong. If you are to become righteous, confess your
sins before God and believe the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Then the Lord will wash away all your sins with the gospel that
has already cleansed the sins of the world.
The apostle John's faith is like this.
In 1 John chapter 5 he says that he has faith in "the water,
the blood, and the Spirit." Do you believe in Jesus Christ
who came by water, blood, and the Spirit? Do you believe only in
Jesus who came by the Cross, or by His baptism, His blood, and the
Spirit?
Can you enter the kingdom of heaven
by believing in the gospel of the blood only? If your faith is only
in the gospel of the blood at the Cross, you know only half the
gospel. If you believe only in the blood at the Cross, no doubt
you find yourself praying for forgiveness every day. Chances are
you believe your sins can be washed away simply through prayers
of repentance.
But can your sins be washed away when
you believe only in the blood at the Cross, repent and pray for
forgiveness of your daily sins? If you are one of these people,
then your sins will remain in your heart, because no one can wash
away his sins through faith in the blood at the Cross alone, or
daily prayers of repentance. If you are one of these people, then
you do not yet know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and
your faith is incomplete.
The apostle John was born again because
he believed in the gospel of the water and the blood and the Spirit.
But you believe only in the blood at the Cross. When you do not
have a clear idea of the gospel yourself, how can you lead others
to salvation? You are not born again yourself, but are trying to
atone for your sins through prayers of repentance. This will never
work.
No matter how hard man prays and repents,
his sins cannot be washed away from his heart. If you feel sometimes
that your sins have been washed away, it is only your imagination
and the power of your emotions. If you pray and repent, you might
be able to feel refreshed for a day or so. But you can never become
free of your sins in this way.
Sinners pray and repent, hoping to
be saved from their sins. That is why they are still sinners even
after believing in Jesus for a long time. They do not know the gospel
of the water and the Spirit. If you believe in Jesus but have not
yet been born again, you might be one of these people. If you are
trying to atone for your sins by praying and repenting every day,
that is a clear testimony that you are not yet born again. You have
to decide whether to believe in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit as the Apostle John did, or to put your faith in your own
thoughts and emotions. One is the clear truth, and the other is
untruth.
The true gospel according to the Bible
is that Jesus was baptized and took away the sins of the world once
and for all and received the judgment for all sinners at the Cross.
If man believes in the baptism of Jesus and His death at the Cross,
he shall be saved at once from all his sins. On the other hand,
if man tries to wash away his transgressions with prayers of repentance,
he will never become free of his sins. Do you think you can remember
all your daily sins? Does God take care of sins for which you have
not repented? Are prayers of repentance a clear solution to the
problem of daily sins? No.
TRUE REPENTANCE AND THE PURPOSE
OF CONFESSION
What are the limits
of confession
and good works?
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Although we have
to confess our sins
throughout our lives, we can never be saved
simply by confessing to our transgressions
and doing good deeds.
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Repentance in the Bible means turning
back from the wrong faith to the true faith, and for the righteous,
it means acknowledging one's wrong doing and coming back into the
light of the gospel.
If you are a sinner now, you should
make a confession like this. "Dear God, I have sinned and I
deserve to be sent to hell. But I long to be saved from my sins.
Please save me from all my sins. I am not yet born again, and I
know am bound for hell." This is a correct confession.
Then what kind of confession should
a born again make? "Dear God, I have committed the sin of following
my flesh. I believe that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist
and saved me from all my sins, even the sins I have just committed,
whereas I should have had to die for my sins. I thank the Lord that
He has saved me with the water and the blood." The confessions
of the born again and those not born again are different.
We should all have the same faith
as the apostle John. If you try to hide your sins behind the confession
that is for the righteous, then you will never be saved from death,
which is the wages of sin.
All sinners who are not born again
should stop hiding behind prayers of confession and start believing
in the true gospel of the water and the blood and the Spirit. They
should learn the faith of the apostle John and thereby earn salvation.
Sinners do not realize how terrible
the judgment for their sins will be. The most terrible sin before
God is not to believe in the gospel of being born again of water
and the Spirit.
All those who believe in Jesus but
are not yet born again should confess before God, "Lord, I
am a sinner to be thrown into the burning fires of hell," while
refraining from saying, "Lord, please wash away my sins."
When a sinner takes into his heart the gospel that Jesus saved him
through His baptism at the Jordan and His blood at the Cross, he
can be freed from all his sins. This is a the kind of confession
a sinner should make in order to be saved from all his sins before
God.
A sinner has only to confess that
he has not yet been born again and believe in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. Then he will be saved at once. By the gospel
of the water and the Spirit, the salvation of all sinners was completed.
"Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other
name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved"
(Acts 4:12). God saved all sinners from their sins by having
His Son, Jesus, baptized by John the Baptist and die at the Cross.
The Lord washed away all the sins
that men commit with their flesh and their hearts from their birth
to their death. We have to believe in the true gospel to be saved.
It is the only way we can be freed from all our sins and become
truly sanctified. We can become righteous once and for all when
we believe in the true gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Jesus was baptized, took away the
sins of the world, paid for them at the Cross with His life, was
resurrected after three days and now sits at the right hand of God.
This is the ultimate truth.
We should all make this confession.
"Lord, I cannot help but sin till the day I die. I was born
a sinner from the womb of my mother, and owing to all the sins I
have committed, I should be thrown into the burning fires of hell.
For this reason, I want to believe in Jesus, who came by water,
blood, and the Spirit and became my Savior."
Just as it is written in Matthew chapter
3, Jesus took away the sins of the world, including all the sins
we commit until the day we die, when He was baptized at the Jordan
River. "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make
you free" (John 8:32).
If Jesus saved us only from original
sin and told us to solve the problem of our own sins by ourselves,
we would be in constant agony. But Jesus freed us from all our sins
with His baptism and blood. What do we have to be worried about?
When we believe in the baptism of Jesus and His blood at the Cross,
and thank the Lord, the Spirit dwells in our hearts.
Do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe
the Spirit dwells in you? All your sins were passed on to Jesus
when He took away the sin of the world with His baptism. He was
later judged for our sins at the Cross, freeing us from eternal
damnation. This is the true gospel.
CONFESSION OF THE RIGHTEOUS
What is true confession
of
the righteous?
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To confess that
they sin every day but to have faith
in the fact that Jesus washed away their daily
sins about 2000 years ago.
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1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This means that a
man who decides to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit
must confess his sins, saying, "Lord. I cannot help but sin
all my life but I know I can't be saved from all my sins through
prayers for forgiveness. I believe the wages of sin is death and
nothing except the baptism of Jesus and His crucifixion could wash
away all my sins. I confess I sinned today but I believe Jesus already
washed away the sin that I committed today at the Jordan 2000 years
ago." If he prays in this way, the problem of sins on his conscience
will be solved at once.
Those who are already born again have
only to confess their sins. They only confirm that Jesus has already
washed away whatever sins they commit. Because Jesus was baptized
and died for sinners 2000 years ago, no matter how weak they are,
all their sins were completely washed away.
The text we have read today is a very
good one for the righteous. But if a sinner takes this verse and
uses it in the wrong way, he will end up in hell. Nonetheless, it
is one of the most frequently misused passages in the Bible. It
has for a long time caused great misunderstanding among Christians.
There is a saying that an inept doctor
may kill his patients. When an inept doctor tries to do more than
he is capable of, he may end up killing his patient.
It is a rule of life that a man has
to be well trained and become experienced to perform his duties
well. It is the same with the world of faith. Those who teach the
word of God have to convey the truth as it is written both accurately
and clearly, and those who learn from them should have faith in
what they are taught.
If preachers teach their followers
wrong doctrines, or if believers learn the Bible incorrectly, it
will only result in judgment and hell for both of them. Only the
born again can teach the Bible correctly. Even good medicine can
kill patients if it is misprescribed, and it is the same with teaching
and learning the word of God. It is as essential as fire in our
lives. But just as it would bring on disaster if fire were put in
the hands of children, the word of God can bring terrible disaster
in the wrong hands.
We have to discern the difference
between confession of the righteous and that of sinners. 1 John
1:9 is for the righteous. When a righteous man confesses his sins
before the Lord with faith, he is freed of them because Jesus already
washed away all sin about 2000 years ago.
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It is wrong for sinners to believe
their sins are washed away every time they pray for forgiveness.
When one is not born again, can his sins be washed away just by
confessing?
God is just. He sent His only begotten
Son to this world and had Him take away the sins of the world through
His baptism and save all those who believe in the water of His baptism
and His blood at the Cross. Therefore, when a righteous man confesses
his sins, God tells him that Jesus already took away all sin about
2000 years ago. He thus confirms that he has no sin, even though
his flesh still sins.
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