Love Worth Finding

Guest (Male): What happens when we confess our sins? Listen to Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: If we confess our sin, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from what? All unrighteousness. Don't you let that devil accuse you? Don't you let that devil condemn you? I am telling you that He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You confess that sin confidently. Do it immediately. Do it specifically. You don't have to go around carrying that load of guilt. This is the wonderful thing about being a child of God.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring profound truth simply stated by Pastor Adrian Rogers. The formula for fellowship is a cleansed life. And in part one of the message we're going to hear today, we learned that fellowship with God begins with exposing our sin to the light.

Guest (Male): As we just heard Pastor Rogers reveal, we must also confess our sins to God immediately, specifically, and confidently. If you have your Bible, turn now to 1 John, chapter 1. We'll begin in verse 3, as Adrian Rogers gives the conclusion of a formula for fellowship.

Adrian Rogers: Now, how do you get right with God and stay right with God? It's right here. Here's the formula for fellowship. First of all, your sin must be exposed to the light.

Adrian Rogers: Now, notice what it says here, "If we walk in the light," verse 7. Your sin must be exposed to the light. Who is the light? God is light. And in Him is no darkness at all. You just open up your life to God and you say, "Lord, is there anything in my heart and in my life that is not right with You?"

Adrian Rogers: Now, many times we don't want to do that. We hate the light because our deeds are evil, but your sin must be exposed to the light. It's a very interesting thing. Look if you will in verse 6, "If we say." Do you see that little triunity of words, "If we say"?

Adrian Rogers: Look down in verse 8, "If we say." Do you see it? Look down in verse 10, "If we say." Three times, "If we say, if we say, if we say."

Adrian Rogers: Now, what is happening is this. There are people who say one thing when the other thing is true. And John here is talking about the evolution of a lie. He says in verse 6, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth."

Adrian Rogers: We begin, first of all, by lying to others. And then we begin to lie to ourselves. Look in verse 8, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."

Adrian Rogers: If you tell other people a lie long enough, you begin to believe it. You begin to lie to yourself and you begin to say, "Well, I'm I'm really all right. I'm I'm really not so bad. I mean, after all, it's justifiable. It was just a mistake. It was an error, or what I'm doing is really God doesn't frown on that," or whatever.

Adrian Rogers: And so you begin to alibi, you begin to excuse, you begin to call it a mistake, rename it or whatever and say, "It wasn't a sin." You begin by lying to others, verse 6. Then you begin to lie to yourself, and finally you lie to God. Look in verse 10, "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."

Adrian Rogers: You see, God says, "That's a sin, that's wrong." God's word is speaking to you. You say, "Oh no, God. Oh no, no, no, no. You're wrong, Lord. You're wrong." And we begin to lie to God.

Adrian Rogers: When you do that, you just stonewall God and you shut out the light. You just shut out the light. You lie to others, you lie to yourself, you lie to God. And therefore, you never really have that fellowship with God because you're not walking in light, you're walking in darkness. You have pulled the veil of darkness over your sin.

Adrian Rogers: Now, what you must do is just expose yourself to the light. Just say, "Here I am, Lord. Here I am. Holy Spirit of God, shine Your light, the searchlight of Your holiness into my life. And let me know, Lord, if there's some sin, some wicked way in me. Search me, oh God, and try me, and know my heart and see if there be some wicked way in me." Just simply open yourself up to God.

Adrian Rogers: Now, don't be afraid to do it because this is not God's way to punish. This is God's way to bless. God wants to lead you to fellowship and God wants to lead you to joy.

Adrian Rogers: But so many of us just want to pull the cloak of darkness over our lives and we say, "Oh, we've not sinned. We deceive ourselves, we deceive others, we deceive God." But so just expose your sin to the light. Now, the light is the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God will point out to you that thing in your heart, in your life that may be wrong.

Adrian Rogers: And He's quite capable of doing it. You don't have to go through morbid introspection, probing around in your innards, trying to find out what's wrong. The Holy Spirit of God is quite sufficient, and the Holy Spirit of God will show you if there's anything that has brought disfellowship between you and your Heavenly Father.

Adrian Rogers: Now, listen carefully. You need to learn the difference between Holy Spirit conviction and satanic accusation. The Holy Spirit convicts, the devil accuses. Have you got it? The Holy Spirit convicts, the devil accuses.

Adrian Rogers: Now, Jesus said, "He will convict you of sin," but He says of Satan, "He is the accuser of the brethren." He accuses you before God, and He accuses you to yourself.

Adrian Rogers: Now, what is the difference? If you don't know the difference between Holy Spirit conviction and satanic accusation, you're going to be in deep trouble most of the time trying to have fellowship with God. Let me tell you how the Holy Spirit convicts in contradistinction to the way the devil accuses.

Adrian Rogers: First of all, the Holy Spirit of God will convict you legitimately. Now, what do I mean by that? I mean that the Holy Spirit of God will never convict you of any sin that's already been confessed and cleansed.

Adrian Rogers: Now, He'll not bring you into double jeopardy. He will not bring it up again.

Adrian Rogers: If, let's say that you lied to your wife, and you said, "Oh God, I'm so sorry. I've told a lie," and you confessed that, and in this case you need to confess it to your wife also. "I I told a lie. I'm sorry. God forgive me." And God forgives you, whether she does or not, God forgives you. God forgives you. And that's the important thing. God forgives you, and you're forgiven.

Adrian Rogers: Then later on, you feel dirty and guilty about that. Who brought it up again? Not God. Not God. The devil brought it up. The devil wants to accuse you to bring you into double jeopardy. Now, the devil is dirty. Remember what I told you? Before you sin, do you know what the devil says to you? "Oh, go ahead and do it! You can get away with it!" But after you sin, he'll say, "You'll never get away with it! You'll never get away with it!" Isn't he something?

Adrian Rogers: You see, he wants to bring up that sin that has been buried in the grave of God's forgetfulness. Don't you let him do it. The Holy Spirit will convict you legitimately only of sin that's not yet been confessed,

Adrian Rogers: but the devil will accuse you illegitimately of sin that's already been forgiven.

Adrian Rogers: Here's another way the Holy Spirit of God will convict you. The Holy Spirit of God not only will convict you legitimately, but He will convict you specifically.

Adrian Rogers: Specifically. Now, the devil will accuse you generally. If he cannot get you to dredge up some sin that's already been forgiven, he'll just try to make you feel guilty over anything, or over nothing.

Adrian Rogers: He'll just say, "You're no good." Has he ever pulled that on you? "You're just no good. You're unworthy. God doesn't love you. You're just vile. You're just a sinner. You're no good." Well, you're not a sinner. You're the righteousness of God in Christ. You've been saved, redeemed, born again, made a partaker of the Holy Spirit. But the devil will just like to accuse you generally.

Adrian Rogers: But the Holy Spirit of God convicts you specifically. The Holy Spirit of God will tell you exactly, precisely where it is that you've gone wrong.

Adrian Rogers: You don't have to do it. You don't have to dig around. You don't have to probe around. You just expose yourself to the light. And the Holy Spirit, like a skilled physician, will put his finger on the sore spot and push. And he'll say, "You told a lie."

Adrian Rogers: "Are you were proud? Are you were arrogant? Are you were cruel? Are you were selfish? Are you were dishonest? Are you were lustful? Are you watched that show that you ought not to have watched? You told that lie that you ought not to have told." He will name it exactly, specifically.

Adrian Rogers: You see, until he puts his finger on the sore spot and tells you exactly what it is, you really will never ever have a sense of forgiveness. But when the Holy Spirit of God convicts you legitimately and specifically, then you're going to have that sense when you get cleansed of wonderful cleansing and wonderful forgiveness.

Adrian Rogers: I'll tell you the third thing. The Holy Spirit of God will convict you redemptively.

Adrian Rogers: I mean by that this, that He wants to bring you back into fellowship. He wants to give you joy. He wants to bring you back. Now, accusation leads to despair. Conviction leads to confession and cleansing.

Adrian Rogers: Accusation drives you from God and and causes you to become morose and and guilt-ridden. That's not of the Holy Spirit. That's of the devil. The devil is the accuser. He doesn't want to redeem, he wants to condemn, but the Holy Spirit of God wants to draw you into fellowship with Himself.

Adrian Rogers: And so, first of all, sin must be exposed to the light.

Adrian Rogers: Number two. Not only must your sin be exposed to the light, but it must be expressed to the Lord.

Adrian Rogers: It must be expressed to the Lord. Now, look if you will in verse 9. He says here, "If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Adrian Rogers: Do you see that? You see, once the Holy Spirit of God shows you what's wrong, then what do you do? You confess it. Now, the word confess is made up of two Greek words, homo, which means the same, homologeo, which means to speak or to say. It means to say the same thing.

Adrian Rogers: To say the same thing. Even our English word confess is very similar. Con, meaning with, fess, to speak, like fess up. Say the same thing.

Adrian Rogers: Now, the Holy Spirit of God legitimately, specifically, redemptively says, "That, Adrian, is wrong in your life." Then I say what He says about it. I confess my sin.

Adrian Rogers: I agree with God. I don't stonewall God. I don't say I have no sin. I don't lie to others, I don't lie to myself, I don't lie to God. I agree with God. I agree with God. I express it to the Lord. I confess it.

Adrian Rogers: I agree with God. Do you see that? If we confess our sin, that is, if we agree with God, if we say with God what God says about it, that it is wrong, then we're getting ready for this fellowship with God.

Adrian Rogers: This is the confession of sin to agree with God about that sin. There's one thing that God will not accept for sin, and that is an alibi or an excuse. Don't try to rename the sin. Don't say it's a mistake and I need to be fixed. Say it is a sin and I need to be forgiven.

Adrian Rogers: Now, if you will do that, then the Bible says you'll be cleansed. But now, wait a minute, how do you confess that sin?

Adrian Rogers: How do you do it? Let me mention three things. First of all, confess it immediately. Immediately. This is in the present tense, "If we confess." That means do it right now. Don't don't just wait till the end of the day to confess your sin.

Adrian Rogers: Don't get down at the end of the day by your bed and say, "Now, Lord, as I look back over this day, I see I did all these things, forgive me." That's better than nothing, but that's sure not the best way.

Adrian Rogers: Much less, don't just do it at the end of the week or ever so often. But do it immediately as soon as you're aware of sin.

Adrian Rogers: You need to come into a place in your life where you're very sensitive to sin. You know the most sensitive part of your body is probably your eyeball. And if you were to get a little bit of grit or sand in your eye, would you say, "I'll get that out tonight," or "I'll get that out at the end of the week"? No. You stop, you say, "Hey, I've got something in my eye. I need to get that out. It's bothering me. It's it's irritating me."

Adrian Rogers: You need to be that sensitive to sin to get that out of your life immediately. Through the day, whenever I'm aware that I have done something that displeases the Lord, I stop immediately at that moment, at that moment, and say, "Oh dear God, I confess that is wrong." The Holy Spirit of God put his finger on my heart, says, "That's wrong." I said, "You're right, Lord, that's wrong. I agree with You." Just do it right there.

Adrian Rogers: Now, do it, do it, do it immediately.

Adrian Rogers: Now, what so many of us do is we kind of ride a spiritual rollercoaster. Look up here and I want you to see this. We're down here. We're out of fellowship with God. And then we hear somebody preach, and we go to a revival meeting, and God, the Holy Spirit speaks to us, and we come up here, and we confess our sin, and we're right with God. And then we get out of fellowship, and we get away, and we start to go down again. We're down here, and then we somebody speaks to us or we read the Bible or something. Then we come back up here, and then we're back down here.

Adrian Rogers: The only problem is is this, that our valleys take much more time than our peaks. We're way down here for a long time, and then we'll rise up, and then we're back down here, and then we'll rise up, and then we're back down here. Have you ever ridden that rollercoaster? A lot of folks have. You know what I'm talking about, in fellowship, out of fellowship.

Adrian Rogers: Now, that's what they think the Christian life is, but let me tell you what the Christian life is. It is not so much riding that rollercoaster.

Adrian Rogers: The victorious life is, you're not right with God, and you get right with God, and you're up here. And you're going along, and then a lustful thought comes in, or then a dishonest thing comes in, or then anger comes in, or then pride comes in, whatever, and you're aware that sin is there. At that point, before you go down there, and before you fail, and before you get so far away, at that moment you confess that sin. Do it immediately.

Adrian Rogers: That's the way you to live victoriously. It's not that you never sin, it's not that you don't have temptations, it's not that you don't fail, but my dear friend, you do not have to go through those long valleys of despair. If we confess our sin, do it immediately.

Adrian Rogers: Secondly, do it specifically. Don't just pray, "Lord, if I've sinned, forgive me."

Adrian Rogers: Aren't we all guilty of doing that? "Oh, Lord, if I've sinned, forgive me." But how does the Holy Spirit of God convict you? He convicts you specifically. How do you confess? Confess specifically. Call it by name. Nail it and name it, and it will be cleansed.

Adrian Rogers: Say, "Lord, I told a lie," or "Lord, I should not have read that," or "Lord, I should not have done that," or "Lord, I failed to do this." And call it by name. He says, "If we confess our sins," not our sin, not our sin nature, just that we somehow have failed, but "If we confess our sins." Do you see that?

Adrian Rogers: We sing that little song, "Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done." Count your many sins, name them one by one. It'll surprise you what you've done. If you'll do it.

Adrian Rogers: But now listen, only the sin that the Holy Spirit convicts you of that has not yet been cleansed. Anything that's in the grave of God's forgetfulness, you don't have to bring up again. God will never bring you into double jeopardy.

Adrian Rogers: Do it immediately, do it specifically. Thirdly, do it confidently.

Adrian Rogers: Oh, I love this part. "If we confess our sins," verse 9. He is, what? Faithful. And what? Just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Adrian Rogers: Now, think about the words faithful and just. Did you know that if He did not do it, therefore, He would be unfaithful and unjust? Why? Why must God forgive? Can we speak of God must doing something? Yes, because Jesus died for those sins.

Adrian Rogers: And the Bible says in the next chapter, He is the propitiation, the satisfaction for our sins. The blood of Jesus Christ would make God unfaithful and unjust if He did not forgive you because it is that blood that has the cleansing power. Verse 7, "The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, does what? It cleanses from all sin."

Adrian Rogers: If He were to fail to forgive you, if He were to fail to cleanse you, He would be going back on the contract of Calvary. He would be dishonest. He would be unfaithful. He would be unjust. He would be a liar. He would be a crook. I can know that I know, Hallelujah, praise God, that if I agree with God, the Holy Spirit, about my sin, if I agree with Him,

Adrian Rogers: He is faithful and just to forgive me.

Adrian Rogers: Well, you say, "Yes, some things." Oh, no. "If we confess our sin, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from what? All." Hallelujah! All unrighteousness.

Adrian Rogers: Don't you let that devil accuse you? Don't you let that devil condemn you? I am telling you that He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You confess that sin confidently. Do it immediately. Do it specifically. Do it confidently. You don't have to go around carrying that load of guilt.

Adrian Rogers: This is the wonderful thing about being a child of God. Now, here's the third thing and I'm finished. Not only must that sin be exposed to the light, not only must it be expressed to the Lord, it needs to be expelled from the life.

Adrian Rogers: Look in chapter 2 now in verse 1 and see why John is doing this. Is John just trying to tell us, "Oh, it really doesn't make any difference how we sin"? Oh no. Or whether we sin? Oh no. He says this:

Adrian Rogers: "My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not." You're saying, "Pastor Rogers, you're making it awful easy to get forgiven.

Adrian Rogers: Why, you're just making it sound like sin is of no consequence. All we have to do is just simply tell God. Just tell him, 'Oh God, I sinned. I'm sorry.'" Why, it sounds to me, pastor, it just sounds to me like that's just a license to sin. Oh no, listen.

Adrian Rogers: Pay attention now. John says, "I'm not writing these things to encourage you to sin. I am writing these things that you sin not."

Adrian Rogers: "But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He is the propitiation, the satisfaction for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sin of the whole world."

Adrian Rogers: What he's saying is this, "My desire, my goal for you is that you live a sinless life." That's the goal, that's the aim. But if you sin, here's the way to be cleansed, here's the way to be forgiven.

Adrian Rogers: John, knowing that we're not perfect and will not be till we get to Heaven, holds nothing less than a perfect standard, however.

Adrian Rogers: Why do I love God? Why do I serve God? Well, so far as condemnation, I'll never come into condemnation, no matter how much I may sin after I get saved if I'm truly saved. I'll still go to Heaven if I'm truly saved. You say, "Wait a minute." That's right. If I'm truly saved, if I'm truly saved. God will carry me to the woodshed. God will chastise me. But if I'm truly saved, I'm going to Heaven.

Adrian Rogers: Then why, Adrian, are you so careful about dealing with these day-by-day things in a practical way? Because I want fellowship with God. Because I want joy. John says, "I'm writing that you might have fellowship, that you might have joy."

Adrian Rogers: Well, why do I therefore serve God? I'd just as soon eat dirt as to willingly sin. Why? Listen. Three reasons why anybody would serve God. A slave serves because he has to.

Adrian Rogers: An employee serves because he needs to. A son serves because he wants to.

Adrian Rogers: I'm all three. I am a slave. I'm a servant and I'm a son. And I serve Him because I have to, because I need to, but most of all, because I want to. He's done so much for me.

Adrian Rogers: So, this is not an inducement to sin, it's an inducement not to sin. These things write I unto you that you sin not.

Adrian Rogers: But isn't this a wonderful salvation? I mean, really, isn't it? Isn't it wonderful to know that He forgives our sins judicially and never again will sin be brought up against us to send us to hell?

Adrian Rogers: But then as a son, in order that we might have fellowship with us, He tells us if our sin will be exposed to the light, if our sin will be expressed to the Lord, it can be expelled from the life.

Adrian Rogers: That's wonderful. Today, there's only one way to have this wonderful salvation, and it is to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord.

Adrian Rogers: You don't become a Christian by joining a church or getting baptized, by giving your money, by keeping the Ten Commandments, or by obeying the Golden Rule. None of these, nor all of these, can save.

Adrian Rogers: Salvation is the gift of God. The minute you receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, every sin is put beneath His blood, and you are forgiven and cleansed and made whiter than the driven snow the moment you receive Christ.

Adrian Rogers: Your sin debt is paid for by what Jesus did on the cross. And God comes into your heart and He gives you a new nature, and Heaven becomes your home the minute you receive Christ.

Adrian Rogers: The Bible says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." That doesn't mean intellectual belief alone. That word believe means trust. Trust Christ and you will be saved. And the same Jesus that saved me as a young teenage boy is the Jesus who will save you.

Adrian Rogers: And the same Jesus who has kept me all these years is the Jesus who will keep you. And the same Jesus that thrills my heart is the one who will thrill you.

Adrian Rogers: Oh, if I could do it for you today. If I could make that decision for you, I would, but I cannot. I've preached as best I know how, but nobody can make that decision for you. You must receive Christ. You must do it.

Adrian Rogers: And if you'll receive Him, He'll come into your heart and save you.

Adrian Rogers: Let's pray together. Father God, thank you for your word. What a blessing. And Lord, I just pray that you'll draw many people to Yourself in Jesus' name.

Adrian Rogers: Amen.

Guest (Male): Maybe today you have questions regarding your faith in Jesus. We'd love to offer you an insightful resource on our website. It's our Discover Jesus page. There you'll find answers you may need about your faith, as well as a response section. You can share how this message and others have impacted your life.

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Guest (Male): Again, LWF.org/radio and click Discover Jesus.

Guest (Male): Hi, this is Kerry Von and this program has been brought to you by Love Worth Finding, a non-profit ministry showcasing the powerful preaching and teaching of Pastor Adrian Rogers.

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Guest (Male): Thank you so much for listening today. Be sure to join us next time for more profound truth simply stated right here on Love Worth Finding.

Guest (Male): We were so encouraged by this email we received from a listener recently. I love to download Pastor Rogers' sermons and listen to them over and over. The ones on America have been such a blessing for me to stay focused on God and His word and not on the political situation in America.

Guest (Male): You know, here at Love Worth Finding, we continue to be passionate about helping you cultivate a vibrant faith in Christ.

Guest (Male): And to thank you for your gift of support this month, we want to send you a copy of The Real Battle for the Soul of America.

Guest (Male): Is America any different from other nations, past or present? Does God really oversee the rise and fall of nations?

Guest (Male): This book contains timeless, foundational principles about human government from Adrian Rogers, all rooted in biblical truth.

Guest (Male): Request a copy when you call with a gift at 1-877-LOVE-GOD. And thanks for your generous support of Love Worth Finding.