"We Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins" 1 John 1:5-10 Pastor Allan Wooters, D.Min.

We continue our consideration of the Apostle’s Creed with the incredibly comforting affirmation: “I believe… in the forgiveness of sins.” Who does not need this? Martin Luther said that this tenet of the creed is its most important article. He wrote, “If [forgiveness] is not true, what does it matter whether God is almighty, or Jesus Christ was born and died and rose again? It is because these things have a bearing upon my forgiveness that they are important to me.” 

To be forgiven, to know you are set free from your past with all its failures, rebellion, all the plain stupidity that goes into that word “sins” is stunning to say the least. But more, all our future sins can be forgiven as well. It’s almost too much. Yet, that is precisely what Scripture teaches. And one of the most amazing texts which speaks to this reality is 1 John 1:5 – 10. This is an intriguing passage and it covers a lot of issues. Right off it tells us why we need forgiveness at all.  

Why We Need Forgiveness 

This may seem like a silly point. After all, doesn’t everyone know they have messed up royally at times? Yes, but interestingly, John doesn’t base forgiveness on the obvious fact that we all have sinned. He anchors our need for forgiveness in God’s character. “God is Light,” he says and adds for emphasis, “in Him there is no darkness at all.” The old commentator Adam Clarke notes that, “Light is the purest, the most subtle, the most useful, and the most diffuse of all God’s creatures; it is, therefore, a very proper emblem of the purity, perfection, and goodness of the Divine nature.” What Clarke is stressing is that God is absolutely holy meaning He is perfect in moral goodness.  

This means that God is the standard of what is good and bad. Just as there is an International Bureau of Weights and Measures whose mandate is to provide the basis for a single, coherent system of measurements throughout the world,¹ so the Triune God is the Eternal Bureau of Right and Wrong! Let me add a note about this. God didn’t just decree what is right and wrong, good, or evil. What is right, pure, and good is based on God’s character not some arbitrary choice God made.  

This means that society or our decisions don’t determine what is right and wrong and whether or not we need forgiveness. God is Light not us, not history, not the enlightened self, not the universe, but God! So, when we sin, we sin against God. That is why king David in his confession of his numerous sins involving Bathsheba cries out in Psalm 51, “Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight…” (v.4). Yes, David had sinned terribly against others but in the main he recognized that his sin was against God. His soul had been darkened by his lust setting in motion a chain of events that are utterly shocking. But David knew against whom he had ultimately sinned, and he knew it was that very One – the Lord God Almighty – who could forgive him.  

And so, it is with us. When we see that any sin, great or small, is against God, we have all the reason we need to seek forgiveness. So, God’s nature determines why it is we need forgiveness, but John does not leave the matter there. He goes on to show us that we need to understand what is involved in forgiveness.  

We Need to Understand What Forgiveness Involves 

Four factors can be discerned in vs. 6 – 10 that clarify the promise of forgiveness. First, forgiveness involves being right with God, vs.6 – 7. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” We hear a lot these days about being on “the right side of history.” What truly matters is being right with God. If we want this, then seeking forgiveness is needed.  

Closely related to this is that forgiveness involves our continual rejection of evil. We do not “walk in the way of darkness,” (v.6). To “walk” refers to how we live our life. In this case it means we are not in the habit of sinning. Sin does not characterize our life. Instead of sinning naturally, we instead fight against sin. For example, we avoid sin by not putting ourselves in places of temptation. We know what John Owen said is true that we must be “killing sin or it will be killing you.”  

Third, forgiveness involves the practice of confession. Even though we make it our habit to live in the Light, we will fail at times. The Bible is honest about this. “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” The writer of Hebrews reminds us that sin “easily entangles us” (12:1). So, we engage in confession meaning we don’t excuse our sin but call it what God does. The word “confession” literally means, “to say the same as.” This means we call sin, sin. No excuses. No self-justification. We tell God we rebelled, we failed, and ask His forgiveness.  

Fourth, forgiveness involves imitating Jesus’ life. Verse 7 says, “If we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light… the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” And this promise is emphasized again in v.9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Here is the stunning promise that we have ongoing, minute by minute forgiveness. If we live our life after the example of Jesus, which is what “walk in the Light” means, then forgiveness is automatic. Forgiveness is not like a time-released medicine which we take once in the morning but is designed to release its ingredients throughout the day. Not at all! It’s not that we don’t need to confess. We do. It’s just that as we live our life consciously as a Christ-follower, we are more and more sensitive to our sin and quick to confess it.  

So, the question that comes now is, “How?” How do we engage this forgiveness that God has for us? What do we do? How do we experience this ongoing forgiveness?  

How do We Experience Ongoing Forgiveness? 

It first involves a shift in our perspective. This sift is that we focus on the Light not the darkness. What I mean is, the best way to keep from needing forgiveness in the first place is to “walk in the Light.” Our focus each day should not be centered on just avoiding wrongdoing. It’s like changing your diet. If all you do is go around saying, “I can’t eat that!” you will fail. Rather, you say, “Today I get to eat some great food!” Just so, to live in the Light means we direct our thoughts on doing what is right. Instead of saying, “Today I’m not going to be impatient.” Rather determine, “Today, with God’s help, I’m going to love.”  

But how do we do this? John gives us the answer, “we walk in the Light as [Jesus] Himself is in the Light.” I touched on this earlier, but I need to say more. The call to “walk” like Jesus is a call learn how to live life from Jesus. It’s the classic idea of “the imitation of Christ,” or practicing the presence of God. In Ephesians 5:1 the Bible says, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us….”  

You and I cannot do this just by deciding to do so. We can’t just up and say WWJD – What would Jesus do? – in a frantic moment and succeed. We can’t do what Jesus would do unless we have been doing what Jesus did. It is high time that we return to embracing Jesus as the teacher for our lives. As we do so, we will be focused on the Light not the darkness.  

Second, we recognize that living Jesus’ way is liberating. To “walk in the Light,” is to experience true abundance. Until you are convinced of that fact little else matters in learning how to live as a Christian. If you had a life free of loneliness, fear, and anxiety and filled with peace and joy, would that be abundance to you? If you really could love your neighbor as yourself and be free of anger, envy, lust, and covetousness, would that define abundance? If you had no need for others to praise you, not judge your worth by what you own, could that be abundance? This is the way of Jesus and it is to be rich indeed.  

Third, we engage in training in Christlikeness. Just as Jesus called people to be His disciples or apprentices so He still calls us today. This means we engage in the classic spiritual disciplines of prayer, worship, meditation on Scripture, solitude and silence, service, and other such disciplines. Disciplines you see are not ends in themselves. They are aimed at producing a Christ-centered life; that life of abundance I just mentioned. We are not good or holy because we do the disciplines. They are not ends in themselves. They are tools for building the good life; a life which imitates Jesus.  

You do have to practice the disciplines. It takes some effort. It’s how life is. If you want to become good at golf, oil painting, shooting baskets, or learning a new language, you do what? You practice. You don’t just start speaking Spanish by just asking in the moment, “What would Juan say?” and low Spanish flows from your lips. No! You work at it and soon, it becomes rather easy to speak in that new language. Just so, we work at following Jesus but in time, it becomes natural. And the light of Jesus enlightens our souls, which changes our thoughts, which compels us to true empowered living, and where forgiveness is real, and life is abundant.  

Does this sound like the way you want to live? You can. You have not sinned away your day of grace. Forgiveness is available and along with it, a new way of living, valuing, relating and joy. That’s what John’s aim is by the way. Right before he penned the words of our text, he wrote in v.4, “These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.” Dealing honestly with your sin is the way to joy but it’s only part of it. Living life with Jesus, following in His steps, that completes the circuit, so God’s power to forgive and lift you up is yours now, tomorrow, even throughout eternity.  

If you’re not a follower of Jesus, it’s time. Turn your life over to Him. Tell Him you want and need His forgiveness. But also tell Him you want Him to be your life! And if you are a Christian but have been constantly defeated in your living, I beg you to begin looking to Jesus as your teacher on life and live, truly live the forgiven life.  

For Further Reading 

The Practice of Godliness, Jerry Bridges 

The Celebration of Discipline, Richard J. Foster 

God is Closer Than You Think, John Ortberg  

The Spirit of the Disciplines, Dallas Willard