[5-1] What Is the Right Confession? (1 John 1:9)

1 John 1:9 is a verse intended for the righteous who have been born again. This verse should not be used by sinners who have sin in their hearts as an attempt to receive cleansing of sins by confessing their current sins. Do you understand? This verse is for the righteous.

In this world, there are sinners who have not been born again who are using 1 John 1:9 as a method to deal with the sins they have committed by making confession prayers. However, can a sinner who has not been born again truly receive complete removal of sins by confessing their sins through prayer? This is clearly an important issue that needs to be addressed.

You need to understand whether the Apostle John was righteous or a sinner before God in order to read 1 John. Let’s ask: Is the Apostle John a righteous person who was born again by believing in the gospel of water and the Spirit given by Jesus, or is he a sinner? If you say the Apostle John was a sinner, then your faith today that claims to believe in Jesus but still considers yourself a sinner would be biblically correct. However, if the Apostle John was a righteous person who believed in Jesus and was born again, then you should realize that his faith is different from your current faith. You should have the same faith as the Apostle John.

Everyone, is the Apostle John writing a letter to the righteous or to sinners? The Apostle John is writing to the righteous.

Therefore, it is meaningless for sinners who have not been born again to use the words of 1 John 1:8-9. However, the righteous confess the sins they commit in their daily lives before God and resolve them by believing in the gospel of water and the Spirit. In other words, the Lord will declare them clean because of the gracious gospel that has already blotted out the sins committed by the righteous in their lives.

The faith of the Apostle John is as follows. In 1 John 5, he stated that his faith is “faith in water, blood, and the Spirit.” Then, do you also believe in Jesus who came by water, blood, and the Spirit? Or do you only believe in Jesus who came by the blood of the cross?

Everyone, do you only know and believe in the gospel of the blood of the cross? If your current faith only knows the gospel of the blood of the cross, I can say that you only know half of the true gospel. If you say that salvation from sin is the blood of the cross + repentance prayer, it’s like you believe that sins are washed away through repentance prayer and the blood of the cross.

Will the sin in your heart disappear just because you believe in Jesus’ blood on the cross and pray for repentance? Such believers inevitably have sin remaining in their hearts. This is because no one can wash away their sins through repentance prayer and the blood of the cross alone. Such believers are mistakenly believing because they do not yet know the gospel of water and the Spirit.

The Apostle John was born again by believing in the gospel that came by water, blood, and the Spirit. But wasn’t your faith only in Jesus and the blood He shed on the cross? How can one lead others when they don’t know the true gospel themselves? A sinner who has never been born again tried to receive cleansing of sins through repentance prayer, so they couldn’t receive the blotting out of sins.

No matter how much a person prays for repentance to wash away their sins, the sins do not disappear. If they think it has disappeared, that is their emotional faith. A person’s repentance prayer can make their heart feel refreshed for about a day. However, they cannot receive complete blotting out of sins.

A sinner who tries to be saved from sin through repentance prayer is always a sinner, both before and after believing in Jesus. This is because they do not know the gospel of water and the Spirit given by God. If you have believed in Jesus but have not been born again, it is because you are believing like this.

If someone tries to cleanse their committed sins through repentance prayer, it proves that they have not been born again. You must correctly decide whether to believe in the gospel that came by water, blood, and the Spirit, like the Apostle John, or to believe in a mixture of human thoughts and personal emotions. One of these is clearly the truth, and the other is clearly not the truth.

The true gospel in the Bible is the gospel of the removal of sin, where Jesus took on the sins of the world once and for all through His baptism and received judgment for sinners on the cross. Therefore, those who believe in Jesus’ baptism and the blood of the cross are saved from all their sins once and for all.

On the contrary, if someone does not believe in Jesus’ baptism and the blood of the cross, but tries to wash away their sins through repentance prayer, such a person will not be able to wash away their sins even after a thousand years.

Is your own repentance prayer the method for being saved from the sins you commit daily? Is that what you know and believe? In the Bible, repentance means turning from wrong beliefs to the true gospel, and for the righteous, it means acknowledging their sinful actions and turning to the bright light by recalling this gospel of truth through faith.

Currently, a sinner should confess like this: “God, I have sin and I am destined for hell. God, I want to be saved from sin. Please save me from all my sins. I am still not born again and destined for hell.” This is the correct confession.

This shows how the confession of a righteous person who has been saved before God differs from the confession of an unsaved sinner.

Currently, sinners hiding in the doctrine of confession prayer will receive fiery judgment for their sins. You must have the faith that the Apostle John had. If not, and a sinner who has not yet been born again hides in the confession prayer of the righteous, they will not escape the terrible punishment that the wages of sin is death. All sinners who do not believe in the gospel of water and blood given by Jesus should not hide under the word ‘confession’, but should return to the true gospel of water, blood, and the Spirit that the Apostle John believed in, and be saved from the sins of the world by faith.

Sinners do not know how terrible the punishment for sin is. They do not know about the sin that God spoke of to people. God said that sin is not believing in the gospel of rebirth that Jesus gave through water, blood, and the Spirit.

All those who believe in Jesus but have not been born again should confess before God, “I am a sinner bound for hell” instead of saying “Wash away my sins.” If you accept in your heart by faith the gospel that saved you through Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River and the cross, you will receive the removal of all your sins once and for all. This is truly the right confession for a sinner to be saved from all their sins before God.

The true confession for a sinner to receive cleansing of sins should be like this: Let’s say a spy from the enemy is in our country and decides to surrender after seeing how well the country is doing, realizing they were deceived. Upon entering a police station, the spy can be completely cleansed of all the crimes committed as a spy with the simple confession, ‘I am a spy from the enemy country.’

Similarly, all sinners can be saved if they confess that they have not yet been born again and believe in the gospel that God accomplished through water and the Spirit to remove the sins of the world through Jesus. The salvation of sinners was completed through the gospel of water and blood by which Jesus saved sinners. 

Acts 4:12 “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” God had His Son Jesus receive baptism from John to take on all the sins of this world once and for all, and He saved sinners who believe in this truth from all sins once and for all.

The Lord has completely eliminated all the sins of the world that people commit through actions and in their hearts, sins they commit until death. We must receive the remission of sins once and for all by believing in the true gospel. This is how we receive salvation from all the sins of our souls. By believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the truth through Jesus Christ, we become righteous once and for all. The true truth is that Jesus took on the sins of the world once and for all through His baptism, died on the cross once and for all, was resurrected after three days, and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father’s throne.

We all must make this confession: “God, I was born with sin in my mother’s womb and am a person who sins until death, and because of the sins I have committed, I was destined for hell. But Jesus came with water, blood, and the Spirit, and became my Savior.” Those who believe in Jesus and are born again were those who believed in the gospel that came with water and blood. Those who accept true salvation are those who have received the Lord in their hearts.

As we live in this world, aren’t we those who sin daily? As it says in Matthew chapter 3, Jesus took on all the sins that people commit until death through His baptism. “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

If the Lord had taken away original sin and told us to resolve our personal sins ourselves, we would have been in agony. However, since Jesus has already resolved all the sins we commit throughout our lives through His baptism and blood, we have been freed from sin. When we believe in and are thankful for the baptism and blood that Jesus gave us, the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts.

Do you believe in Jesus? Do you realize the gospel of His salvation? Surely, your sins have been transferred to Jesus Christ. Since the sins of the world were transferred to Jesus through baptism, Jesus bore all the sins and was judged on the cross on our behalf. This gospel is the true gospel.

The True Meaning of 1 John 1:9

1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This means that when a righteous person who believes in the gospel that came with water and the Spirit, like John, confesses their sins, the Lord has already taken responsibility for their worldly sins through the baptism He received from John the Baptist and was judged on the cross for them. Therefore, all the sins they commit have already been washed clean. Thus, by confessing our own wrongdoings and believing in the gospel that the Lord has cleansed, the problem of sin in our conscience is resolved.

Because it has already been washed clean, those who are born again only needed to make the right confession about the sins they committed. Then this person’s sins are washed away. Because the Lord has the merit of salvation of being baptized and shedding blood for this person in the past, those who are already born again by believing in this merit have all their sins already washed away, no matter how lacking they may be.

This Bible verse becomes a truly blessed word for the righteous. However, if a sinner uses this text in faith, they will inevitably go to hell due to misunderstanding. Therefore, this verse is a representative passage that has led the majority of unborn-again Christians today into numerous misunderstandings and false doctrines.

There is a Korean proverb that says, ‘An inexperienced shaman kills people.’ This means that an unskilled shaman pretends to be good at their job but ends up ruining things.

In this world, it is the principle that anything can only fulfill its proper role when it is completely learned, mastered, and become proficient or skilled. The same is true in the world of faith in God. Those who teach God’s Word must teach the recorded truth accurately, and those who learn must believe exactly as they are taught.

If someone who teaches the Bible teaches incorrectly, and if a believer believes incorrectly, this will result in judgment before God and entering hell. The Bible states that only those who are born again can properly teach learners. Just as even the best medicine can become poison and kill if prescribed incorrectly, so it is with teaching God’s Word. Fire is essential, but if used by children or those with mental illnesses, it can lead to great disaster.

We must correctly understand the biblical text and know how to properly recognize and confess the confession of the righteous and the confession of sinners as recorded in the word. 1 John 1:9 means that when a righteous person confesses their sins of daily life before God, the Lord declares them sinless through confession and faith because He has already eliminated all our sins in the past.

However, it is incorrect knowledge for someone who claims to believe in Jesus but is not yet born again to think that they receive forgiveness each time they confess sins committed in daily life. Isn’t that right? 

How can the sins of an unborn-again person be washed away just by confessing before God when they sin in daily life? God is a righteous God. God saved those who believe in the baptism and blood of His only Son from all worldly sins by having Him receive baptism and shed His blood to remove the sins of the world. 

Therefore, when a righteous person confesses sins committed in daily life, the Lord has already eliminated all these sins through baptism and shedding blood on the cross, so all the sins that the righteous person has committed in daily life have been removed.

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