1 John 1:7-10

The prodigal son, when he got home, before he got that robe, friends, he had a bath. You don’t think the Father would have put a new robe on that ragged, dirty boy, smelling like a pig pen, do you? No, He gave him a good bath; he was cleansed, and a new robe was put on him. And the next week he didn’t say, “Dad, I think I’m going to go to the far country and end up in a pig pen again.” Not that boy. May I say to you—when you have confessed your sin to God, it means, my friend, that you’ve turned from that sin. It means you have said the same thing God has said. Sin is a terrible thing. God hates it. You hate it now, but you’ve now been restored to your Father.

When was the last time that you really heard a child of God say, “I’ve sinned; I’ve been wrong, I’ve done wrong, I’m wrong.” And every now and then you hear somebody. I just talked the other day with a man that, I tell you, he got into deep trouble. And I very frankly said to him, I said, “Don’t cry on my shoulder. Go and tell God that. He wants you to. Tell Him that you’ve failed; tell Him that you’re wrong and you want His help. He’s your Father. You’re in the family. You’ve lost fellowship with Him, but you can have fellowship restored.” “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.”

“If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” Now don’t make God a liar. Why don’t you go to the Lord, friends, and just open your heart and talk to Him as you can talk to no one else. Tell Him your problems. “If we confess our sins, he’s faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” And then what does He do? He cleanses us. Tell Him your sins. Tell Him your weaknesses. Confess it all to Him, and tell your Father that you want to have fellowship and you want to serve. My, He’s made a marvelous, wonderful way back to Himself.