Obsession with Confession (1 John 1:9, sin confession)

[peacefulbeliever]

Well, I guess I am one of those "obsessed with confession"! I know that when I confessed Jesus as Lord and believed God raised him from the dead that I was saved, placed into the family of God all my past sins were forgiven. Now I begin my walk within the family and when I do something wrong - God convicts me - my conscience bothers me UNTIL I come to my Father and ask for forgiveness - that can be just simply telling Him I am sorry . . . my fellowship with the Father and the Son is restored. I don't think that I could go through life without asking for forgiveness . . . LOL - it has now become second nature to me. Can sin become a barrier between my relationship with the Father and His Son? I believe so and that is why we should always be up front and honest in our relationship with God (not that He doesn't know anyway) but I believe He wants us to come to Him and confess our faults and failures.

 

[crossnote]

Well, I guess I am one of those "obsessed with confession"! I know that when I confessed Jesus as Lord and believed God raised him from the dead that I was saved, placed into the family of God all my past sins were forgiven. Now I begin my walk within the family and when I do something wrong - God convicts me - my conscience bothers me UNTIL I come to my Father and ask for forgiveness - that can be just simply telling Him I am sorry . . . my fellowship with the Father and the Son is restored. I don't think that I could go through life without asking for forgiveness . . . LOL - it has now become second nature to me. Can sin become a barrier between my relationship with the Father and His Son? I believe so and that is why we should always be up front and honest in our relationship with God (not that He doesn't know anyway) but I believe He wants us to come to Him and confess our faults and failures.

right, and when you go to your Father asking for forgiveness, some here will not want you to say 'forgiveness of my sin'.
I just don't get it.

 

[peacefulbeliever]

right, and when you go to your Father asking for forgiveness, some here will not want you to say 'forgiveness of my sin'.
I just don't get it.

Oops . . . I didn't say "forgiveness of my sin" but used "faults and failures", e.g. SINS!

And when I go to my Father - I ask for forgiveness - I may mention the "sin" specifically or I may not - I may just say I'm sorry . . . . Heck, He doesn't need me to tell Him what I did - He knows!!

I just don't get someone NOT wanting to go to God forgiveness . . . . If you wrong a friend, or even someone you don't really know - Don't you apologize . . .

 

[shotgunner]

right, and when you go to your Father asking for forgiveness, some here will not want you to say 'forgiveness of my sin'.
I just don't get it.

People get in the ditch on both sides of the road. One side says that sin isn't dealt with until it is confessed. The other side acts as if there is no need for communication of forgiveness and repentance between a father and son.

 

[Willie-T]

Well, personally, I believe Jesus when He says I am already forgiven. I let Him know I am sorry when I blow it, but I'd rather not insult Him by acting like I didn't believe Him, and beg for what He already told me I have.

 

[BenFTW]

Well, I guess I am one of those "obsessed with confession"! I know that when I confessed Jesus as Lord and believed God raised him from the dead that I was saved, placed into the family of God all my past sins were forgiven. Now I begin my walk within the family and when I do something wrong - God convicts me - my conscience bothers me UNTIL I come to my Father and ask for forgiveness - that can be just simply telling Him I am sorry . . . my fellowship with the Father and the Son is restored. I don't think that I could go through life without asking for forgiveness . . . LOL - it has now become second nature to me. Can sin become a barrier between my relationship with the Father and His Son? I believe so and that is why we should always be up front and honest in our relationship with God (not that He doesn't know anyway) but I believe He wants us to come to Him and confess our faults and failures.

Your honesty before God is not in question. By all means, be open with the Lord. You can confess areas that you are struggling with. Nothing here said otherwise. You should be open with the Lord and desire to be victorious in areas that you are weak. The point, however, is that your confession does not grant forgiveness. You already have it in Jesus Christ. That is precisely why you can be open with your Heavenly Father about your shortcomings.

Your fellowship is not restored when you confess your sins, for your fellowship never departed. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit, where is He going to go? He will never forsake you. You, in your sin, may have distanced yourself from the Lord, but the Lord didn't step back. It was you, as with Adam and Eve, who hid. You can have confidence towards God, and in knowing of the forgiveness you have in Jesus, you can be completely open with the Lord.

You say your conscience condemns you and then you confess, but the relief is in thinking that the confession has made you right with God. You get to that state after confessing, where as a person who grasps God's grace by revelation of the Holy Spirit is already in that state (or mindset). They don't feel the need to confess to have peace of mind because they already walk in that mindset of no condemnation and forgiveness.

Hope that clarifies it a little for you.

 

[crossnote]

Oops . . . I didn't say "forgiveness of my sin" but used "faults and failures", e.g. SINS!

And when I go to my Father - I ask for forgiveness - I may mention the "sin" specifically or I may not - I may just say I'm sorry . . . . Heck, He doesn't need me to tell Him what I did - He knows!!

I just don't get someone NOT wanting to go to God forgiveness . . . . If you wrong a friend, or even someone you don't really know - Don't you apologize . . .

Yes, and when that friend is Jesus, I call it sin

 

[crossnote]

Well, personally, I believe Jesus when He says I am already forgiven. I let Him know I am sorry when I blow it, but I'd rather not insult Him by acting like I didn't believe Him, and beg for what He already told me I have.

You mean by asking for forgiveness? Where in Scripture does it say we are insulting Him for asking for forgiveness?
Heck, we ask for everything else.

 

[Maynard]

Chapter and verse?

Brother, don't play your silly Fundamentalist games with me.
Regarding confession, sacred scripture says so! The word of God says so! Jesus Christ is the Word. The living Word!

You take one verse, disregarding others, and then build your theology around that. Conforming the Word to serve yourself and your own sinful life, conforming Christ the Living Word to your life rather than conforming your life to the Living Word who is Christ.

Sacred scripture says we are to confess our sins, and that Christ gave power to his Apostles (those teachers and leaders of his Church) the authority to forgive those confessed sins.

So, Ben, who are you to teach different?

Who are ANY of you to teach different?

This garbage about never needing to confess your sins, and that your Jesus prayer at the time you accepted Him as your Savior is sufficient to cleanse you from all the sins that you'll ever commit throughout your life. That is utterly unscriptural nonsense, nonsense which flies in the face of Christ and His Apostles.

You are all playing with fire, in a quite literal sense.

 

[Willie-T]

You mean by asking for forgiveness? Where in Scripture does it say we are insulting Him for asking for forgiveness?
Heck, we ask for everything else.

Do you believe you are forgiven because you are in Christ? Or do you feel that if you "sin" you are, at that moment, "unforgiven?"

 

[crossnote]

Do you believe you are forgiven because you are in Christ? Or do you feel that if you "sin" you are, at that moment, "unforgiven?"

YES!!!....

 

[Willie-T]

Brother, don't play your silly Fundamentalist games with me.
Regarding confession, sacred scripture says so! The word of God says so! Jesus Christ is the Word. The living Word!

You take one verse, disregarding others, and then build your theology around that. Conforming the Word to serve yourself and your own sinful life, conforming Christ the Living Word to your life rather than conforming your life to the Living Word who is Christ.

Sacred scripture says we are to confess our sins, and that Christ gave power to his Apostles (those teachers and leaders of his Church) the authority to forgive those confessed sins.

So, Ben, who are you to teach different?

Who are ANY of you to teach different?

This garbage about never needing to confess your sins, and that your Jesus prayer at the time you accepted Him as your Savior is sufficient to cleanse you from all the sins that you'll ever commit throughout your life. That is utterly unscriptural nonsense, nonsense which flies in the face of Christ and His Apostles.

You are all playing with fire, in a quite literal sense.

Sorry, I'm not Catholic. So, I wasn't told to think this way.

 

[ladylynn]

Hey brother Ben!!! This is a major "grace" curve for Christians to be able to comprehend as you know. But once comprehended, the gospel for the believer comes alive just as if we keep getting saved over and over again because we get to experience the wonder and grace of God's love for us each time we are brought to the throne of grace when we see our flesh falling so short ..and already the verses are flying through my mind that apply..to receive help in time of need. No condemnation., but instead.,grace.

This is waaaay to amazing for even many seasoned believers to stop and see. It's just too good., too shocking. How can God not be bothered with our behavior enough to NOT turn away from us in fellowship? How can God who is Holy and totally pure judicially right having NO sin even close to Him; have anything to do with the likes of us as we are living our human lives as believers? As we are not in our 100% completed resurrected bodies? How can He stand us as we are right now; incomplete? It's because of Jesus.., it's about IMPUTATION.,and all that word means that we have not studied as believers. Many of us do not even know the meaning of that word and if we do, we take it as far as salvation from hell but not for salvation in all it's meaning for our daily lives as saved born again Christians.

The term "get our minds wrapped around this" takes on big meaning here. But once the revelation comes, there is a HolySpirit clarity that gets the mind through to keep on seeking what He gives us a taste of. Grace is a subject that is so unlike anything us humans are used to. Life just doesn't reflect grace in our every day human lives unless we get the revelation of it. In life we reap what we sow. In grace we reap what Jesus sowed. David got a revelation of our judicial place when God the HolySpirit revealed to him how blessed those believers are whose sins will NOT be imputed to them. That was a HolySpirit revelation given to David. David did not experience this the same way we do under grace. He was punished for His sins of murder and adultery., but God allowed him to live. We are not punished for our sins, we suffer the consequences here on earth but they do not come as punishments from God. Major covenant of grace not covenant of law benefit. Many of us Christians have no idea of this covenant blessing under grace.

Many of us new testament believers do not know we are under a new covenant of grace. We live and relate to God as if we are like David or Moses or the other saints who were not under the new covenant.

Notice., the editorial "WE" I am no longer living like a old covenant believer. But because I know the struggle of the believer who is not aware he is actually a new covenant saint, I can put that word "WE" in the sentence and not sound like I am superior or as if I've arrived. But I came to this about a year or so ago. There are many believers here on CC who have also grasped the truth of being a new covenant believer who is under Grace and not law.

More to come in later posts. Don't want to make this any longer. Please read the opening of this thread Ben has started even though it is so long. This is not a new and current trendy thing., "grace" or hyper grace as some have called it. This is the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and truth., many saints we know and love who have written songs in our hymnals at church came to grasp the grace God offers in Christ. They wrote amazing songs in tribute about God's love and grace and the doctrinal truths of the Bible.

Moses brought the law, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

 

[Willie-T]

YES!!!....

I asked two questions, and "Yes" cannot cover both. So, by what you've been saying, I guess you were answering the second part. Then you must feel your assurance in Christ depends upon you making sure you kept up with every possible sin, and regained Salvation by repeated confessions. Is that about it?

 

[Gr8grace]

Name it, site it, and give it back to the one who paid for it and forget it and carry on. If we don't recognize our sin(Grieving the Spirit) and name it and site it to the Lord, we are out of the divine protocol for the believer.

We also need to name and site our evil, also called human good, to the Lord. If we don't recognize our evil(Quenching the Spirit) and name it and site it to the Lord, we are out of the divine protocol for the believer.


Its not a matter of gaining forgiveness.........Its a matter of giving it all back to the only one who can and did take care of it.

If we don't recognize or name and site our sin and evil, we will live in guilt, worry and fear. And we will eventually start to work, feel sorry and believe that we CAN do something about our sin and evil.

It doesn't matter how "sorry" we feel, how "bad", how "guilty" or how many tears we shed for our sin.............it does nothing.

We name and site our sin and get back into the divine protocol of being filled and walking in the Spirit.

 

[Mitspa]

Brother, don't play your silly Fundamentalist games with me.
Regarding confession, sacred scripture says so! The word of God says so! Jesus Christ is the Word. The living Word!

You take one verse, disregarding others, and then build your theology around that. Conforming the Word to serve yourself and your own sinful life, conforming Christ the Living Word to your life rather than conforming your life to the Living Word who is Christ.

Sacred scripture says we are to confess our sins, and that Christ gave power to his Apostles (those teachers and leaders of his Church) the authority to forgive those confessed sins.

So, Ben, who are you to teach different?

Who are ANY of you to teach different?

This garbage about never needing to confess your sins, and that your Jesus prayer at the time you accepted Him as your Savior is sufficient to cleanse you from all the sins that you'll ever commit throughout your life. That is utterly unscriptural nonsense, nonsense which flies in the face of Christ and His Apostles.

You are all playing with fire, in a quite literal sense.

Where does the Apostle Paul (by whos gospel all men will be judged) teach the confessions of sins? He don't but he does teach a honest conscience before the Lord always, based on the righteousness of faith. James teaches confession of faults to each other, not sin against God. And this thread and our brother Ben here has given a very accurate and biblical explanation of 1 John 1:9. The idea incidental confession of sin is a creation of the RCC to gain control of those who would seek after Christ.

 

[dcontroversal]

I look at it like this.....

1. I have been born into the kingdom of God by faith having been eternally saved, sealed, justified and sanctified in Christ positionally which cannot be lost, gained, earned and or facilitated by works I have done and or a lack thereof.

2. Where sin abounds in my life the grace of God much more abounds and takes care of my sin before the Father as Christ continually mediates for me.

3. My fellowship with God can be broken by willful sin...this does not change the status of my (sonship) as that is eternally secure in Christ.

4. My fellowship (walk with God) is restored when I acknowledge my sin before God

 

[VioletReigns]

Confessing of one's sin does not mean the person does not have faith in the Lord, it means they do trust in Him to cleanse them and thus we pray to Him out of love and respect for committing those sins to be forgiven of them.

If you as a believer sin you take yourself out of that fellowship in the light because sin is darkness.
The way to restore that fellowship into the Light is to confess your sins and the Lord being just will forgive us of those.

To take the confession out of it then you are saying a person can still continue to serve those sins and be saved, which is completely unbiblical as it says you can not serve both flesh and the Spirit both. Apostle Paul shows that if you continue to serve sin everyday that is your master, not the Lord Jesus Christ.

How do we stop serving sin: By repenting and confessing of them !!!

But how many times should we ask the Lord to cleanse us? I believe He completed that miraculous task on the Cross.

 

[Willie-T]

I look at it like this.....

1. I have been born into the kingdom of God by faith having been eternally saved, sealed, justified and sanctified in Christ positionally which cannot be lost, gained, earned and or facilitated by works I have done and or a lack thereof.

2. Where sin abounds in my life the grace of God much more abounds and takes care of my sin before the Father as Christ continually mediates for me.

3. My fellowship with God can be broken by willful sin...this does not change the status of my (sonship) as that is eternally secure in Christ.

4. My fellowship (walk with God) is restored when I acknowledge my sin before God

I wonder why God still stayed right there with Adam and Eve? I mean, He even came looking for them after they sinned, and was calling out to them. Then He even fashioned coverings for them.

 

[Gr8grace]

I look at it like this.....

1. I have been born into the kingdom of God by faith having been eternally saved, sealed, justified and sanctified in Christ positionally which cannot be lost, gained, earned and or facilitated by works I have done and or a lack thereof.

2. Where sin abounds in my life the grace of God much more abounds and takes care of my sin before the Father as Christ continually mediates for me.

3. My fellowship with God can be broken by willful sin...this does not change the status of my (sonship) as that is eternally secure in Christ.

4. My fellowship (walk with God) is restored when I acknowledge my sin before God

This is truth Brother. We need to recognize/acknowledge our sin or evil to GOD, not other gossiping sinners, and get back into fellowship.

There would be no verses of grieving or quenching the Spirit, If we are ALWAYS in fellowship with the Lord.