What Is Propitiation? (Part 3)

“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.” (1 John 1:9 NLT)

It occurred to me that yesterday’s article may have raised more questions than it answered, so let me see if I can explain a couple of things that, hopefully, will make what I’m trying to get across more understandable.

My position is, I don’t believe when we come to Christ, all our sins – past, present, and future – are all forgiven. The penalty for all our sins has been paid and forgiveness for all our sins has been appropriated by the blood of Jesus, but we don’t receive forgiveness for sin until it’s confessed. The verse above says: “But IF I confess…” I can’t confess sins I haven’t yet committed; therefore, I don’t yet have forgiveness for them.

Why is that important to understand? Because if someone believes that all their future sins are forgiven and believing that leads them to think they no longer have any need to confess and seek forgiveness for their sin, they can go into eternity with unconfessed and unforgiven sin. They can then become like the man in the parable of the wedding feast that Jesus told in Matthew 22 who wasn’t dressed in a wedding garment. Jesus will not wrap us in His holy robe of righteousness while we’re living in unconfessed sin.

And please don’t “hear” what I’m not saying. I’m not speaking of people who love Jesus and are seeking with everything within them to live a life for Christ’s honor. Their faith is squarely placed in what Jesus accomplished for them on the Cross and are daily walking in submission to His authority in their life, yet sin on occasion.

My concern is for someone who professes faith in Jesus but still lives in darkness. Someone who may have “prayed the prayer” of salvation but has not walked in obedience to God’s commands. Thus, there’s no evidence of repentance. They haven’t nurtured a personal relationship with Jesus because their only desire is to not go to hell. Their faith isn’t based on what Jesus has done on their behalf, it’s based on a misunderstanding of the doctrine of grace, that they believe let’s them follow their will, rather than God’s.

It’s those to whom the verse from Hebrews 10:26 applies: “Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume His enemies.”  

Why is their no longer any sacrifice? Isn’t the price Jesus paid sufficient? Of course, it is! But the frightening implication of this verse is, there’s no sacrifice for sin for which no forgiveness has been sought. The blood of Jesus has covered the sins which we’ve confessed, and appropriation has been made for our every sin, but John says in the verse at the top of the page that Christ’s faithfulness to forgive is contingent upon our willingness to confess.

Confession is essential because it means we come into alignment with God’s estimation of our sin – that it’s deadly if not forgiven. The context of 1 John chapter 1 is we’re either walking in light or darkness. Verse 6 says: “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.” In other words, we profess faith, but continue to live in habitual sin.

This is a critical issue! If someone thinks they are walking in harmony with the will of God yet are continuing to live in sin patterns that are clearly opposed to Biblical truth, they have no relationship with God and are not heading to heaven as they suppose. If they want to be saved, they must repent (turn from their sin) and seek forgiveness before it’s eternally too late.

Blessings, Ed