1 Jn 1:7 says that “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” That is a tremendous promise. Today we are going to discuss a few of the consequences of sin in our lives. And then we’re going to see how the blood of Jesus Christ remedies those consequences when we confess our sins. These are remedies of the cleansing blood.
Sins hurt your fellowship with Jesus Christ – 1 John 1:3-7 – when you sin and don’t confess it, your fellowship with Jesus Christ is affected. Sin puts a distance between you and the Lord. The more you sin and neglect to confess and forsake your sins, the more distance there is in your relationship with the Lord. Is 59:2 says, “your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” Your own experience in fellowship with the Lord confirms that what you just read in the Bible is true.
Sins break your fellowship with other believers – 1 Cor 5:11-13 – Christians who commit certain sins generally quit coming to church and they quit spending time with other Christians who are walking with the Lord. The reason is “he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked,” Prov 29:27. They start drifting apart. Christians quit spending time with you, as well. And, under some conditions, the church may be Biblically obligated to break off fellowship with wayward Christians.
Sins defile your flesh and spirit – 2 Cor 7:1 – sin affects your body and your spirit. You can see the effect of sin on your body if you have ever been drunk, or high, or beaten up, or diseased from promiscuity, or the like. The effect of sin on your spirit may not be as readily apparent. But if you have dealt with a wicked imagination, you know that your spirit is trashed and defiled when you see something you’re not supposed to see or if you daydream about something you’re not supposed to think about. That’s why it is so important to guard your eyes and your thoughts.
Sins sear your conscience – 1 Tim 4:2 – when you sin repeatedly in a particular sin, your conscience no longer pricks you about what you’re doing. You can justify any sin in your life when your conscience has been seared. The first time you committed the sin, your conscience was so alarmed that you probably thought you needed to get saved all over again. You probably wondered how you could even be saved and do such a thing. But after you committed that sin again and again, your seared conscience was as good as dead. You were probably bragging about your sin or at least you weren’t ashamed of it anymore.
To keep from getting so messed up by sin, God has given us the blood of Jesus Christ, accessible through the confession of our sins, to reverse these consequences of sin in our lives. We don’t need to confess our sins to an earthly priest; we confess them to our High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he cleanses us.
When you confess your sins, the blood of Jesus Christ:
Restores your fellowship with Jesus Christ – 1 Jn 1:7 – The blood of Christ will restore your fellowship with Jesus. Whereas, sin puts a wedge between you and the Lord, the blood of Christ removes that wedge and closes the separation between you. It is vital that we get to the place where there is nothing between us and our Savior. That way when we do something that causes the least bit of separation between us, we recognize what it is right away and confess it to the Lord. We want to keep our fellowship as sweet as we possibly can on this side of glory. That means confessing even the seemingly little things we do. They are disobedience and they do, in fact, affect the glorious fellowship we can have with the Lord. Confess them and let him apply his cleansing blood.
Restores your fellowship with other believers – 1 Jn 1:7; 2 Cor 2:7-11; Eph 4:32. When your sin causes separation between you and other believers, you must first reconcile with the Lord. After that, you want to reconcile with your brothers and sisters in Christ. At the root of most trouble between believers is sin. When the person who is sinning is willing to turn from his sin and confess it, the brethren should then be willing to forgive him and restore their fellowship with him.
Cleanses your flesh and spirit – 1 Jn 1:7-9 – “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin… cleanse(s) us from all unrighteousness.” We know that God will forgive us because of 1 Jn 2:2. Jesus took care of that at Calvary. But to be forgiven is only part of the reason for confessing your sins. The other part is to be cleansed by his cleansing blood. And the cleansing is what reverses the defiling effect of sin on your flesh and spirit. The cravings in your flesh are subdued and the agitation in your spirit caused by sin is calmed.
Purges your conscience – Heb 9:14 – when you confess your sins, the blood of Christ will “purge your conscience.” When your spirit is cleansed and your conscience is purged by the blood of Christ, the toll of sin on both of these is diminished. You are much more aware of the deceitfulness of sin. You are much quicker to recognize sin’s temptations and to turn from it before you sin. Your conscience is even better than when you were younger and hadn’t seared it yet.
Conclusion: how blessed we are to have the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ available to us through confession. We have the assurance that through the blood of Jesus Christ, our broken fellowship with Jesus and our brothers and sisters in Christ can be restored, that our defiled flesh and spirit can be cleansed, and that our conscience can be purged. Praise the Lord.