“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9
John the Apostle was led by the Holy Spirit to record the words we know as I John 1:9. They are tremendous words of comfort to believers but they are also God’s words of counsel to us concerning how to keep our fellowship with Him healthy and vibrant. John knew that sin grieved God, hindered the Holy Spirit’s work in a believer’s life
and kept believers from bearing fruit for God. But how did the Apostle
John know that to be true? We don’t know for sure but but it may well be that the Holy Spirit caused John to think back on the incident between the Lord and Peter on the Sea of Galilee, to remember what the Lord taught Peter. He had committed a sin that in his sight was one of the most grievous things a believer could ever do. He denied the Lord. Even worse he had done it three times. Even worse than that the Lord had warned him he would commit the sin and he refused to listen. Still worse, he argued with the Lord and lectured him telling Him He was wrong.
Looking back Peter could see the progression of his sin that led him to do this vile sin against his Lord, something that he never imagined he would ever do. Perhaps John remembered his talks with Peter. Perhaps Peter reminisced about what he did and what he should have done. Perhaps he remembered Peter’s grief over things he could not change but could not forget. Perhaps he thought of Peter’s laments over the loss of his position to serve the Lord – what he knew now was the most important calling in the whole world. Perhaps John remembered the anguish Peter suffered in his soul that nothing could remedy. Perhaps the Holy Spirit reminded John that nothing he said to Peter seemed to help. Perhaps the Holy Spirit led him to remember Peter’s meeting the Lord on the Galilean shore. Perhaps the Holy Spirit reminded John that the only thing that helped Peter was meeting face to face with the Lord and admitting his sin. Perhaps all those things swirled in his mind as the Holy Spirit led him to write:
If we confess Did John wonder if Peter confessed his son of denying the Lord? Did he realize that the root sin was not loving the Lord, – the exact thing the Lord confronted Peter with and which Peter confessed, he did not love the Lord, his God?
Our sins Did John hear Peter’s words that he failed to keep God’s very first command – to love the Lord his God with all his mind all his heart, all his soul and all his strength? Did he remember Peter telling the Lord his was a sin against Holy God?
He is faithful and just The Lord is no respecter of persons – he deals with all sin, even when it is from the leader of his disciples. Yet the Lord who had been personally denied, holds no grudge. He responds faithfully and justly according to His character.
To forgive us our sins Did John remember the Lord forgiving Peter and calling him back to his position of service?
And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Did he remember Peter’s call to restoration – the same one he received at the beginning of the Lord’s ministry ”Follow me!” The same command the Lord given to every believer?
What can we learn? Peter walked a path many of us have walked. He forgot the Lord, depended on his own strength to live the Christ-like life and found himself doing things he never imagined he was capable of doing. The Lord records Peter’s story for our edification. In the final analysis we see the path to restoration is not grief, regret or quitting. The only way to find peace with God is to meet with Him face to face and say the same thing about our sin that He already knows. Peter would be the Lord’s slave, he could live with that. He could not live alienated from his Lord..