GOD'S RESPONSE TO OUR CONFESSION

I John 1:9 ... "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

      When a person obeys the Gospel, his soul is cleansed of the sins of his lifetime, (Acts 2:38; 22:16; I Pet. 3:21). He then walks before God in a new condition of justification, redemption, and righteousness "in His blood through faith," (Rom. 3:24-25). This condition does not, however, render the individual immune to sin. The New Testament contains abundant passages exhorting Christians to be aware of temptation, to resist evil, and to look unto God incessantly for protection, wisdom, and strength against the activities of sin in the world about them. Such Scriptures would be superfluous and meaningless if Jesus' disciples were impervious to sin. Christians, in fact, can and do sometimes fall to temptation and become mired in sin. The New Testament records specific cases when this indeed happened during the period of the early church.

      This initial chapter of the epistle, which is not addressed to the unregenerate but to "children of God," (3:2), emphasizes the failure of Christians to defeat every temptation and remain perfectly free from all sin. The verse preceding 1:9 declares that to deny one's sin indicates that (a) he is self-deceived, (b) devoid of the truth, and (c) is a liar. Verse 10 adds that the person also makes a liar of God. This is very strong and serious language! Remembering that we are God's redeemed people, what must we do about it? Or, is there nothing we can do except admit final defeat and resign our destiny to the wrath of God?

      We need not despair as we confess our sins, because God, who is fully aware of our weak nature, has provided just the help we need. His grace is greater than our sin, (Rom. 5:20b-21), and the blood of His Son is still efficacious to cleanse us of the sins we commit after it initially purges us in baptism from our pre-Christian sins, (I Pet. 3:21). To avail ourselves of the continuing purification of Jesus' blood, however, I John 1:9 requires that we must begin by confessing our sins. Whenever we perceive that we have sinned, we must immediately go to the Lord with our guilt, lay it out openly before Him, and beseech Him to remove it with His forgiveness.

      Although this text does not explicitly mention it, there is no doubt that it assumes the prerequisite of repentance. As mentioned earlier, God's grace negates sin, but only that sin which is abandoned by the one who committed it. We read in Rom. 6:1-2, "Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?"

      Here we discover another area wherein the Gospel deserves the literal meaning of what the word denotes, "GOOD NEWS." God continues to extend His grace to His children, although at times we go astray and corrupt our souls with sin. He does not cast us off into the mass of the lost who are reserved for eternal punishment. To the contrary! He opens for us a way to be acquitted of our sins and restored to spiritual purity. This way incorporates two essential actions which we must perform, repentance and confession. Repentance involves the total abandonment of sinful practices because we understand they are indeed sinful and because we know they offend God. The confession, moreover, must be both comprehensive and specific. Not only must ALL SINS be confessed, but EACH ONE of them must be confessed. One who entreats God to cleanse him must bare his soul naked to reveal in utmost shame every ugly spot of sin. A perfunctory mumbling, "Forgive me of all my sins," is insufficient, and from God's vantage point, probably looks more like presumption than abject contrition. This does not mean, however, that the individual must expose the fact of sin with a full description of its nature to people. Very often our sins are known only to God, and then it is only to God that we need confess them. But if we have sinned before people, we must also confess those sins before them, (Jas. 5:16). The principle is that repentance must be as broad as the knowledge of the sin.

GROW IN GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE

II Pet. 3:18 ... "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

      One of the major characteristics of physical life is growth. Jesus once said it was the purpose of His mission here to confer this gift: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly," (John 10:10). Physical life is God's gift in various degrees to the vast diversity of creatures which constitute the plant and animal kingdoms. But spiritual life is granted only to humans, and then only when they are "born again" (John 3:3) in the water of baptism, having believed in Jesus as God's Son, repented of their sins, and confessed the name of Christ. As converts to Christ, we are told that "we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life," (Rom. 6:4).

      The first stage of this new spiritual life is infancy, corresponding to the initial stage of physical life. With proper diet and exercise, however, infants gradually grow to physical maturity, and with proper education they will attain to mental maturity. The growth of the soul to spiritual maturity is also of vital importance, and God has put at our disposal all the resources necessary to accomplish it. Referring to these provisions by God, we are told they are given "for the building up of the body of Christ (that is, the church corporately and hence individuals), until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ,"(Eph. 4:12-13).

    The featured text above specifies two of the essential dimensions in which our growth from spiritual infancy in Christ must progress. The first is grace. Well defined as "the unmerited favor of God granted to us through Christ," grace is a fundamental characteristic of life in the Lord. The reception of God's grace imposes upon us the duty to make an appropriate response thereunto. That is, grace must stir us to action. We must never accept it passively and indifferently. Paul once speaks of "nullify(ing) the grace of God," (Gal. 2:21), and that is what the recipient does who is unmotivated to yield his life to its purpose.  The first and then perpetual response of a Christian to grace must be appreciation and thanks-giving, followed by steady growth in such essential virtues as faith, love, humility, reverence, and good stewardship. Another vital response to grace is steadfastness in doing the "good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them," (Eph. 2:10). When we are thus engaged in the work of the Lord, we actually become instruments by which He confers grace upon still other souls. When we enlarge these two essential responses to God's grace, we are indeed "grow(ing) in grace as the text urges.

      The second essential dimension of spiritual growth is knowledge. In the initial stage of religious education we learn about Christ, that is, we commit to memory the facts about what He said and did and why. Our growth in knowledge, however, must not stop as we gain mastery in this area, (cf. Heb. 5:11 - 6:3). As it proceeds, it must expand into the more important phase of knowing Christ as a daily companion. This is accomplished by internalizing the meaning and implications of what is learned in the first stage. It is of this second, internal phase of growth "in knowledge" that Rom. 12:2 speaks in these challenging words: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and accept-able and perfect." As one's knowledge about Christ penetrates into his conscience and soul to the extent of knowing Christ as a living Person rather than as a mere biographical character, the person's mind is being renewed, and he is being transformed as a person into "the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ."

RESCUE FROM TEMPTATION

II Pet. 2:9a ... "The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation."

      When a person is tempted by evil, it is very likely that he feels alone and isolated. Help may seem far away. It might indeed appear that he must stand there in his own strength, trusting in his own wisdom and experience, and offering whatever resistance he can manage from within his own resources. This view of temptation is, nevertheless wrong and even dangerous, for the tempter is Satan, who is stronger than men in their own strength. This was emphasized by Martin Luther in the old, but still appropriate hymn, Ein' Feste Burg, as follows:

      "For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe,                                                                                     His craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate,                                                                           On earth is not his equal."

      In reality, however, no Christian must face temptation alone, or feel that help is distant and difficult, or think that he has no choice but to trust in his own resources of wisdom and experience. The text above from Peter offers us great assurance, encouragement, and conviction that God is very close to His children and is instantly ready to offer effective resistance unto their deliverance. But how close is God to a Christian? He answers this question Himself in I Cor. 3:16, "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"  He adds in I John 4:4, "Greater is He who is in you than he (Satan the tempter) who is in the world."

      Although each person has his own responsibility to resist temptation, and is therefore ultimately accountable for his own success or failure, the Lord is faithful to help him by putting at his disposal everything necessary for him to succeed.

      First, God never allows the tempter to corner the Christian where he has no choice but to commit sin. The Lord always keeps open a route of escape, as I Cor. 10:13 promises: "God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it."

      Second, God limits the power of any temptation within the range of human resistibility, as the words just quoted assure, "who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able."

      Third, God permits no temptation to come upon a Christian which has not already been met and overcome by many other people: "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man," (I Cor. 10:13a). 

      Fourth, God has given us a perfect model in Christ who met and defeated every temptation, thus forever removing some of its power. The inspired writer says of Jesus that He was the "One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin," (Heb 4:15).

      Fifth, God has given us a suit of spiritual armor that is efficacious in resisting temptation. We are urged to "put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil," (Eph. 6:11). This armor consists of a girdle of truth, a breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel of peace, a shield of faith, and a helmet of salvation.

      Sixth, God puts into the hands of His children "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," (Eph. 6:17). With this "armor of God" the Christian can defend his soul against the assaults of evil, and with the "sword of the Spirit" he can counterattack and defeat his foe, routing temptation and sin from the field of his life, at least for a while, (Luk. 4:1-13). The apostle Peter therefore refers to a very great benefit from God when he writes, "The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation." 

        

THE BLESSING OF GRACE AND PEACE

II Pet. 1:2 ... "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord."

      This text is one of those verses in the Bible that people usually read over with little attention in their haste to go to something else that seems more interesting and worthy of study. When this statement is thus overlooked, however, a precious and beautiful part of our relationship as Christians with our Lord is missed. These words do not constitute a mere formality in opening this inspired epistle. Much to the contrary, they are actually the expression of a wonderful development in our spiritual lives as we yield them more fully to the molding fingers of our heavenly Father.

      Grace signifies God's favor bestowed upon people who have done nothing to deserve it. Everyone likes to think that he is special and that God therefore values him a little more than others. But God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34); neither is He obligated to anyone. Of His own will, on His own initiative, and at the time of His own choosing, God manifested His amazing grace to man by sending His Son to die for our sins and reconcile us unto Himself. His grace is further revealed by adding to His church those who obey His will, giving us the guidance of His Spirit, and granting to us the power and wisdom to persevere in the way He wishes us to live. As fallen creatures subjected to the excesses of sin, mankind stood in desperate need of God's grace, for there was nothing men could do on their own to escape the tyranny and eventual ruin of sin. But God loved man whom He had created in His own image so much that He freely bestowed His grace, as we are informed in Rom. 5:20, "But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."

      Peace is a product of God's grace. When God by His grace overpowered the reign of sin in human life, He laid the foundation for peace between Himself and man. The apostle Paul explains: "For He (Jesus) is our peace, who made both groups (Jews and non-Jews) into one ... by abolishing in His flesh the enmity ... so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near, for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father, (Eph. 2:14f). When peace with God is established through the elimination of sin, it can flow through our lives into our relations with other people. One cannot be hostile and adverse to his fellow men and still live on terms of peace with God, (Mat. 5:22-25; Rom. 12:17-21; Jas. 1:19-20). Also, the conviction that one is at peace with God produces a wonderful consolation that brings together the various parts of the human psyche into a peaceful unity. Christians are assured of this inner peace, which is "of God," (i.e., from God, or based on the action of God's grace), in these words of Php. 4:7, "The peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

      Finally, we must notice in our featured text that this most glorious "grace and peace" is "multiplied to (us) in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." This is not the knowledge of the accumulation and retention of masses of facts so that the individual is a walking encyclopedia. It is rather the know-ledge gained in the course of real experience as one struggles with the issues of life in fellowship with Christ and under the guidance of His teaching preserved in the New Testament. It is through this kind of practical knowledge that God multiplies to us His incomparable "grace and peace."