If we sin, do we lose our salvation? If we are truly saved, will we ever sin? And if we do sin, what should we do to get rid of the guilt and the grief that hangs heavy in our heart? Grace is unmerited favor. When you fail is the time you need grace; that’s when you need mercy.
If we sin, do we lose our salvation? If we are truly saved, will we ever sin? And if we do sin, what should we do to get rid of the guilt and the grief that hangs heavy in our heart?
If we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
(1 John 1:9–10;2:1–2)
The word “advocate” means lawyer or one who pleads our cause or case. Jesus acts as our lawyer, pleading our case before the Father. When we are tempted, if we sin, we can claim the promise of First John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
After verse 10, the Apostle John went on to say, “My little children…” (1 John 2:1). Man put the divisions between these chapters; John did not write in chapter and verse like this. Therefore, reading the four verses of our text in sequence, we can see that John was not writing to sinners; he was writing to Christians.
First John 1:9 is often quoted to sinners, telling them to confess their sins. God didn’t tell them to. It would be impossible for a sinner to confess every wrong he had ever done, because his whole life is wrong! No, this verse was written to Christians.
This brings us to a very sensitive subject in the Church world. When you teach about God’s grace and forgiveness, someone always believes you are giving people a license to sin. I always say, however, that people do enough sinning without a license!
Considering the other side of the issue, when people continually want to sin and choose to sin, I doubt that they ever were Christians to begin with. Why? When people live any way they want and do anything they want—cheat, lie, steal, and so forth—I doubt that a true Christian conversion ever took place.
This scripture in First John never was intended to encourage people to sin. John is simply telling us about God’s provision for sin. The Spirit of God will help us overcome sin—not encourage us to practice it! After all, John said, “These things write I unto you, that you sin not.”
In the first place, if a person is born again—if he has accepted Jesus Christ as Savior—he doesn’t want to do wrong. But often the devil tempts him through his flesh and overcomes him because he is not strong spiritually.
If you have sinned or failed, you cannot stand in the Presence of God without a consciousness of sin. But there is One who can go in on your behalf—Jesus Christ, the Righteous. He is the propitiation—the substitute—for our sins; and not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:1,2).
As our advocate, Jesus restores to us our lost sense of righteousness, for He said, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins…” (1 John 1:9). But He does more than just forgive us of our sins; He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. He cleanses us from that sin-consciousness or spiritual inferiority complex that would keep us from going into God’s Presence.
There are those who live under a cloud of fear. They say things like, “I am so afraid of displeasing the Lord. If Jesus comes, I might not make it. I don’t know if I am ready or not.” And they are robbed of their joy in Christ. They are afraid that God is mad at them and will not have anything to do with them.
We do not have to live under such a cloud of fear and gloominess. We can know that if we have failed—if we are Christians—our hearts will be grieved about it. If you can keep sinning and failing, however, and are not grieved about it, you had better check up on your conversion experience. If you have been born again and have the life and nature of God in you, you don’t want to do wrong.
As I look back now, after nearly seventy years of being a Christian, I can see that I missed God many times when I didn’t even know it. At the time, I walked in what light I had, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleansed me from things I didn’t know about.
I can remember the first time I was conscious of the fact I had done wrong after I became a Christian. It nearly broke my heart.
If a believer is tempted and Satan gains mastery over him in something, when the believer cries out for mercy, he can hear Christ whisper, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
And then we also can hear Him say in this marvelous scripture from Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace.” Why? “…That we may obtain mercy….” It is mercy that we need when we have sinned. As long as we are doing right, we can get by on justice.
In Hebrews 4:14 we read, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest….” We have a High Priest who also stands in this office of Advocate that we may “…come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (v.16).
Grace is unmerited favor. When you fail is the time you need grace; that’s when you need mercy.
Mercy and grace are always available to us if we break God’s law. All we need to do is call on Christ our Advocate!
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Rev. Hagin served in Christian ministry for nearly 70 years and was known as the "father of the modern faith movement." His teachings and books are filled with vivid stories that show God's power and truth working in his life and the lives of others.
Rev. Hagin was born on Aug. 20, 1917, in McKinney, Texas, a son of the late Lillie Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin.
Rev. Hagin was sickly as a child, suffering from a deformed heart and an incurable blood disease. He was not expected to live and became bedfast at age 15. In April 1933 during a dramatic conversion experience, he reported dying three times in 10 minutes, each time seeing the horrors of hell and then returning to life.
In August of 1934, Rev. Hagin was miraculously healed, raised off a deathbed by the power of God and the revelation of faith in God's Word. Two years later, he preached his first sermon as pastor of a small community church in Roland, Texas.
In 1937, Rev. Hagin was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began ministering in Pentecostal churches. During the next 12 years he pastored five churches in Texas: in the cities of Tom Bean, Farmersville (twice), Talco, Greggton, and Van. In 1949, he began an itinerant ministry as a Bible teacher and evangelist.
During the next 14 years, Jesus appeared to Rev. Hagin eight times in visions that changed the course of his ministry. In 1966, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he opened a ministry office. That same year, he taught for the first time on radio—on KSKY in Dallas. In 1967, he began a regular radio broadcast that continues today as Faith Seminar of the Air. Teaching by his son, Rev. Kenneth W. Hagin, is also heard on the program.
In 1968, Rev. Hagin published the first issues of The Word of Faith magazine, which now has a monthly circulation of more than 250,000. The publishing outreach he founded, Faith Library Publications, has circulated more than 65 million copies of books by Rev. Hagin, Rev. Hagin Jr., and several other authors worldwide. Faith Library Publications also has produced more than 9 million audio teaching tapes and CDs.
Other outreaches of Kenneth Hagin Ministries include RHEMA Praise, a weekly television broadcast hosted by Rev. and Mrs. Kenneth W. Hagin; RHEMA Correspondence Bible School; RHEMA Alumni Association; RHEMA Ministerial Association International; RHEMA Supportive Ministries Association; the RHEMA Prayer and Healing Center; and a prison ministry.
In 1974, Rev. Hagin founded RHEMA Bible Training Center USA and in 1976 moved the school and ministry offices to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where they remain. To date, RHEMA Bible Training Center USA has 23,000 alumni, and RHEMA Bible Training Centers have opened in 13 other nations: Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Samoa, Singapore, South Africa, and Thailand. Together, the 14 schools have more than 28,000 graduates worldwide.
RHEMA Bible Church, pastored by Rev. Hagin Jr., began holding services in October of 1985 on the RHEMA campus in Broken Arrow and has since grown to become a thriving congregation with more than 8,000 members.
Rev. Hagin's daughter and son-in-law, Pat Harrison and the late Doyle "Buddy" Harrison, founded Harrison House Publishers in 1975 and Faith Christian Fellowship International Church in 1977. Both organizations are based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Until shortly before his death in September 2003, Rev. Hagin continued to travel and teach throughout the United States and into Canada conducting All Faiths' Crusades and other special meetings.