Okay, the book of 1 John. 1 John, for all you homeschoolers, that’s right before 2 John. Okay, 1 John, just having a good time with you.

Okay, how many of you are homeschoolers? You’ll admit it. Okay, right there.

Okay, wow, we got a lot of homeschoolers. Can’t make fun of them. Okay, so I raised three homeschoolers, so you have to understand I’m in the deal.

Okay, so how many Christian school? How many Christian school kids do we have? Okay, there it is.

That’s the cool kids right here in the group. You can see that. Okay, and then public school.

public school how many public schools do we have these are the missionaries right here great good job actually we all are missionaries so but anyway wow that’s a great representation there of the different venues of education and I trust you’re having a great time here this this time in fact right now I can see Dr. Pepper there you can just you say even though you’re not wearing your shirts I can tell who’s Dr. Pepper.

They’re a little cocky. They’re overconfident. They’re already assuming they’ve won the thing.

But, um, hey, look at the Brewers the last two ball games. I mean, just because you’re up to one doesn’t mean anything. Okay, so, or whatever they were up.

Uh, so, um, it must—there must not be for any Brewer fans. I don’t get that. I could use this analogy: what about the Atlanta Falcons in the second half of the Super Bowl a few years ago?

Okay, there was that, the meltdown. And then, of course, the Chicago Cubs—that’s always a meltdown unless it’s 2016. Okay, that was our one exception.

I actually really enjoyed this year watching the Cubs. I mean, I got a question for you. How can you be the best record in the National League and 96 hours later be completely out of the playoffs?

Now, how is that possible? And there’s only one answer, Chicago Cubs. That’s it.

There is no other answer. That’s the answer. It’s just unbelievable.

It’s just like, wow, that was so classic. I mean, here you are. Best record, you’re going to have, you’re going to take it all the way through the home field advantage, all the way through the playoffs, and then you’re out 96 hours later.

So, but anyway, some of you are not into baseball. That’s fine. I can understand that.

Millennials don’t like baseball. It’s too slow. And it also, it requires too much thought, okay?

But anyway, so a little too much, a little too much brain power for a millennial. But Is it a curveball? Is it a slider?

Is it a fastball? Which corner did it hit? And that’s the way I watch baseball.

Most of you watch baseball like girls do. Okay, but… Which means you don’t watch it at all, okay?

You’re there for another reason. Fellowshiping, ice cream, popcorn, whatever. Okay, but…

But anyway, I woke up this morning about… I think it was 1… 1, which would that be?

1, I guess, about 50-something Eastern time, which is 1250-year time. So it’s been a long day. But I do believe the Lord has something for you tonight.

And I hope you’ll open your heart to it. But we’re going to look at the 1 John chapter number 1 and verse number 9. A very familiar verse of scripture and one of which I from time to time deal with even at the college and different venues.

Because it’s such a key verse in the Christian life. 1 John 1.9. I want to preach tonight on the power of 1 John 1.9.

The power of 1 John 1.9. Now what I’d like to do is quote the verse. If you know the verse, quote it with me.

If you don’t know the verse, would you just read it? Just read the Bible as we’re saying it together. And let’s all say it together.

And then we’ll dive into the message, the power of 1 John 1.9. Okay, so let’s try it together. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It was the fall of 2010. We arrived at a large Christian school out in the state of Virginia. And I remember on that Sunday as I was talking with some of the people there, a man came up to me and began to talk to me.

I got the impression he had not been saved very long. It was an evangelistic church. So that was certainly not unusual.

As I was talking to him, he said, Brother Van Gelderen, he said, would you pray for my son Paul? He said, I’m going to really work hard. And I’m going to be praying to get my son Paul here on Wednesday night.

You see, my son Paul is an atheist. He may have used the word agnostic. I can’t remember which word he used.

He said, but I kind of got the idea that Paul didn’t live with him. I don’t think he did. I think they were divorced or separated, and he had just gotten saved.

And so he said, would you pray that my son Paul comes on Wednesday night? Of course, our team, I shared it with our team. I believe we began to pray.

And sure enough, Wednesday night rolled around, and a nice pickup truck pulled in the parking lot there. It’s a nice affluent area outside of Washington, D.C. And the door opened, and out stepped Paul.

Now, Paul did not look athletic at all. He looked a little bit overweight. He had a long ponytail, I believe, down his back.

And he was wearing a T-shirt, and he just didn’t look athletic at all. I found out later he was very, very smart, very cerebral, but it was a miracle he came. He didn’t come with anybody.

He didn’t know anybody. He just came. I remember that night he came in.

Of course, the youth group had a heart for God. They included Paul, and he certainly felt a part of it and got involved in the competition. And we came inside and went through the scoring, kind of like we do at Cola Clash Plus.

And it came time to preach, and one of the guys gave a testimony. I got up, just preached a simple gospel message. I remember at the very end, heads were bowed and eyes were closed.

I said, if you’re a hellbound sinner concerned about it, raise your hand. And Paul raised his hand, one of the first ones to do so. Now, that’s pretty good for an atheist.

He says, he raised his hand. I thought, okay, that’s good. And gave the invitation.

I said, if you’re concerned about your hellbound condition, you want Jesus to save you and something of that nature. I said, you can stand on your feet and head to the back. And Paul got up, opened his eyes, head to the aisle and went to the back.

I thought, wow. Well, later in the night, I found out who counseled with him. I said, hey, how did it go with Paul?

They go, “Oh, man,” he said. “We came right up to the decision, and Paul said, ‘I got to think about this some more.’”

Well, of course, I was certainly grateful that the personal worker didn’t over push it, but we certainly continue to be burdened for Paul. And so we prayed for him, and the next night Paul showed up again.

And again, it was a large, larger crowd, about 150 kids, which for a rally night is a large crowd. And, and it’s getting just that one church and the kids we invited from the community.

And I remember that night, it was what we would call for a War night, and a War of Special Forces War night.

It was perfect conditions. I mean, you cannot get better conditions. 75 degrees, no wind, and a drizzle rain that takes about an hour, and you’re totally soaked.

There are no better conditions. None. Believe me.

And we had them a few weeks ago in Edinburgh, Virginia. Just unbelievable. And so that’s the kind of night it was.

And so we got out there, and of course, you’re done with basketball. I mean, everybody is, you know, from the knee down. They’re just totally muddied.

and mud splattered everywhere. And then it comes time for Spoke Tackle, America’s Roughest Race. It’s like racing in a pig pen.

I am telling you, unbelievable. The footage you get off that kind of stuff. And we played that, and Paul’s right in it.

I mean, cerebral kid, but he’s in it. You know, it’d be like Dr. Paul playing Spoke Tackle, okay, to kind of give you an idea of our Dr.

Paul, you know, somebody really, really smart, okay. But, and he’s into it, he’s playing hard. And so we come inside, and I preach the gospel, but he didn’t raise his hand.

Gave an invitation, but he didn’t respond. thought, oh, we’re going backwards. I’ll never forget Friday night.

It was, you know, how cold front comes through. I think that just happened here and temperatures go off the cliff. And that’s exactly what happened on Friday.

It started, game time started about 60, but it slid way down. It hit probably in the 40s. And Paul just came with a t-shirt.

Have you ever known people who were really, really smart, but they had no common sense? Okay. You know what I’m talking about?

That was Paul. Okay. Hopefully that’s not Dr.

Paul. But anyway, that was Paul. And we, so we’re doing the games, and then we come to the campfire service, and we had all the bleachers, you know, packed out, filled, and the kids, you know, their faces were painted, glow sticks everywhere.

It was just 150 kids, total bedlam. It kind of reminds you what we’re doing, okay? And so we did the scoring, and we had a great time, and opened a microphone for testimonies, and I will never forget that testimony service.

God had really moved in the hearts of those young people, and I mean one of them right after another. I remember a kid named Casey was a 10th grader. I’ll never forget this.

He stood to the microphone. He had no voice left. And he gave his testimony like this into the microphone.

And it was powerful. I mean, we went 45 minutes, probably more like 60 minutes, testimony after testimony after testimony. Kids going home, getting right with mom and dad.

Kids confessing, cheating to teachers. And just a variety. Kids dealing with bitterness and anger.

And just a variety of just tremendously powerful testimonies. I remember, of course, I’m thinking about Paul. In fact, the testimonies were so long, it came to the point where I knew I wasn’t going to be able to preach, and so I just gave an invitation.

Remember when I gave the invitation, I don’t know, about 15 kids responded to get saved. It was that kind of a testimony service where it was so clearly impacting that unsaved kids, they responded. Of course, the workers, we had a heated garage that we took them into, and the workers were giving them the gospel.

And I remember when I closed it all down, I had everything worked out, And I walked up to Paul, and I said, Paul, do you mind if I took my Bible and opened it and show you how you go over it again and show you how you can be saved, know your sins forgiven, you’re on your way to heaven? Paul looked at me and says, no, you’ve already done that.

And I didn’t feel led to in any way press it, so I walked away. And when I did, Paul, he’s got his shirt, he’s, you know, it’s freezing. He’s got a T-shirt on, he’s got his arms inside, and the armhole sitting like this.

And he makes a beeline for the campfire. There was a campfire there, and the youth group kids, if I could put this, we’re waiting for him. Man, when he hit that campfire, it was like bees on honey.

Those kids were walking with God. Man, they were on Paul. They began to talk to Paul.

I walked away five minutes later. I come back to campfire. Little girls there had been talking with Paul.

And she said, Dr. Jim, Paul wants to get saved. I said, great, Paul, come with me.

I didn’t ask any questions. We went over to the heated garage area. I found out later a senior in high school by the name of Daniel had during the testimony service opened his Bible and gone through the gospel with Paul.

but he had rejected it. I said to somebody, go get Daniel. We sat down in that heated garage.

I remember Daniel was there. I was there. Paul was there.

We went through the gospel. And I will tell you, young people, and I came to the very end, I don’t normally do this, but I felt like I really want to make sure this kid was getting it. I said, now, Paul, do you have any questions?

And I’ll never forget, he looked at my Bible, kind of pointed at my Bible. He said, yeah. He said, how do you know that book’s true?

And I wish, young people, I could do this every week. But I looked at him and said, come on, Paul. I said, you just saw 45 minutes to an hour of young people your age getting up testifying about the power and the truth in this book has literally transformed their life.

I said, come on, Paul. And Paul looked at me, I’ll never forget it. He didn’t ask anything else.

He said, I’d like to get saved. And I’m going to tell you, friend, I did not lead Paul to Jesus Christ. I’ll tell you what, it was young people who testified of the power of 1 John 1, 9.

They were the ones that led Paul to Jesus Christ. The power of 1 John 1.9, and I know exactly what some of you are thinking, well, it’s not real powerful in my life. And I’m going to tell you why it’s not powerful, is because you do not understand the verse.

Because if you understand the verse, it is extremely powerful. So I want you to see three things tonight about 1 John 1.9, and I want us to really understand what the verse means, because it’s a powerful verse. Number one, you have an if statement, so a condition.

Could we just say there’s a condition? I want us to see, it says if, we. Okay, now let’s just say we got an if.

We have a condition, we. What does the we mean? That’s W-E, not W-I-I.

Okay, what does the we mean? Well, the we comes from the us. 1 John 1, 7, the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin.

So the we is the us, which means the we is talking about people who are blood cleansed, blood washed. We’ve been saved on our way to heaven. So clearly this is to believers.

If we confess, now the word confess is a key, a very key word. It comes from two Greek words. One is the word homo, which is a word that is on the milk carton.

It’s also a word probably primarily in our culture known from the word homosexual, and it simply means same. That’s what it means. And the word logos is the next word.

It’s the word for the word word. So literally the word confess means same word. Now obviously an etymology does not always properly define a word, but in this particular case it comes really really close.

The idea of confess is not just saying the same words it’s agreeing with them. So I want us to see two aspects of agreement here tonight that may help us. Number one I want you to understand 1 John 1 9 is simply saying number one you must agree with God about how your sin looks.

In other words it’s like climbing into the courtroom of heaven, taking the stand, pointing at yourself and saying, God, I’m guilty. You’re right. I am wrong.

That’s the idea of 1 John 1, 9, friend. It’s agreeing with God about how your sin looks. Now, in modern culture, I will be honest with you, we have a tendency to dumb sin down.

Our culture has a tendency to dumb sin, and there are certain sins we don’t think are that big a deal. So really what 1 John 1, 9 is saying, agree with God about it. For instance, in the Old Testament, in the book of Exodus chapter 21.

It says, if you curse your father or mother, you shall surely be put to death in the Old Testament. Now, obviously that was a theocracy. And when it was a theocracy, God was in control.

And all that means is simply this, is when God ruled Israel, he said, if kids curse their mom and dad, they need to suffer the death penalty. Now you might just shrug your shoulders and say, I’ve never cussed out my mom and dad. Well, it certainly includes that, but the word curse means far more than cuss out.

It literally, according to the theological word book of the Old Testament, means to be light or to be slight. And it is found in the New Testament in contrast to the word honor. In Matthew 15, 4 and Mark 7 and verse number 10, Jesus Christ himself said, honor thy father and mother, and he that curthetheth father and mother, let him die the death.

Jesus quoted both honor thy father and mother, And that particular verse in Exodus, in the very same verse. Why? Because they’re opposites.

You see, in the Old Testament, the word curse means to be light. And the word honor has the idea to treat heavily. Now, we use the terminology treat somebody lightly.

Hey, you know, don’t do that. Don’t treat that person lightly. Okay, we use that terminology.

But we do not use the terminology treat somebody heavily. We don’t do that in our culture. But the idea was one of weight.

Now, I could use an analogy. It’s not perfect, certainly, but it gives you the idea. I could put it this way.

Honor would have the idea of treating someone like they’re a heavyweight. Now, I know in our modern culture, boxing has gone way down, and probably needfully so, especially with our modern technology and CTEs and brain issues. We certainly understand it, but when I was growing up, boxing was a big deal.

Boxing matches were kind of like a presidential election. Everybody knew who was fighting, kind of like a presidential election. Everybody knew who was fighting, and everybody took sides.

I remember Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali. How many remember that fight? There are a few in the room.

That dates us, Brother Stratton. It dates us. Okay, but anyway, I remember Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali.

It was a big deal. And, of course, Mike Tyson. Most of you don’t remember Mike Tyson.

He was quite an interesting boxer. But let’s just use Mike Tyson. if Mike Tyson were to walk in this auditorium and be out in the lobby after the service, most of you would treat him like he’s a heavyweight.

You say, preacher, what’s that mean? It means you treat him with respect. You wouldn’t go up and put your finger in his chest and say, okay, Mike, you and me outside.

Let’s throw up the, you and me outside. Why? Because Mike is one of those people that could leave an impression on your life.

You know what I’m talking about? A lasting impression. So you would, you know, I’d be honest with you, I don’t have a lot of respect for Mike Tyson.

I really don’t, I really don’t. But if he walked in here, I’d treat him with, I wouldn’t go up and say, hey, ear biter, how you doing? There’s only a few of you got that, but anyway.

But the point is, why? Because he’s a heavyweight. You treat him with respect, okay?

That’s the idea of the word honor. So the point, friends, is simply this. I’m talking to young people out here who treat friends like dirt.

And you don’t think it’s a big deal. And all I’m simply saying is, if you want to 1 John 1, 9 confess, you get on your knees and you say, God, in the Old Testament, I’d have been executed. Evidently, you think it’s a big deal, and I don’t.

God, I’m wrong. That’s how 1 John 1, 9 confession is. Now, I want you to understand, you can say to God, please forgive me, but 1 John 1, 9 is not telling you to use the words, please forgive me.

The moment you just get honest with God and say, God, I was wrong. God, I had treated my parents disrespectfully. You executed people in the Old Testament for that.

I obviously don’t see it like you do. And oh God, I’m wrong. And that’s the moment he forgives you.

Isn’t that great? It’s the moment you get honest with God. It’s the moment you agree with God about what your sin really looks like.

I haven’t preached the message, but many times I preach a message on moral purity and I deal with the fact that moral impurity is theft out of 1 Thessalonians chapter number four. You look at a piece of pornography, you’re a thief. You mess around with a boyfriend or girlfriend, you’re a thief.

You watch something dirty on television, you are a thief. you’re stealing from your future marriage. And if you want to thoroughly get right with God, what you do is you get on your knees and say, God, I’m a thief.

Why? Because God says you are. See, 1 John 1, 9 is just saying, God, I agree with you.

It’s basically going to the throne room, said, God, I’m wrong. You are right on this thing. So it’s agreeing with God about how your sin looks.

Many years ago, there was a king, King Frederick the Great in Prussia. he was touring a prison in Berlin for some reason. And as he toured the prison, he noticed, he came in, I guess, and of course there was his royal entourage, and he had his soldiers with him.

And when he came into the courtyard of the prison, there were several prisoners there, and I think they were stunned. It would be like the President of the United States with his Secret Service walking into a prison. They were just stunned.

Once they got over their shock, prisoners began to fall at the great emperor’s feet, declaring their innocence. They realized, this is my only way out of here. They began to declare their innocency, begging for release.

One by one, they fell before the great monarch. Finally, the great king noticed that everybody in the courtyard had fallen on his feet except for one. He noticed the man looking over in the shadows.

He said, you, sir, what are you in here for? They said the man turned and looked at the great monarch, calmly looked him in the eye and said, your majesty, I am in here for armed robbery. He turned back and said, what do you have to say for yourself?

He looked the king back in his eye and said, your majesty, I am guilty. and I deserve my sentence. Immediately it said the king said, guards, open the gates.

Get that vile wretch out of here. I’ll not have that vile wretch defile all these innocent prisoners. Let him go.

And the man who got honest was the man who got out. Listen, the moment you justify what you’re doing, the moment you say it’s not bad, I know people doing worse than me, I’m telling you is the moment, friend, that you’re going to stay in the prison house of guilt. But the moment you say, God, I’m wrong, it doesn’t matter about anybody else in the youth group, God, I’m wrong, I shouldn’t have laughed at that.

God, I’m wrong. The moment God says, let him go. You’ve got to agree with God about your sin, and you’ve got to find, that’s where you find in the Word of God, God will tell you what your sin really looks like.

I’m telling you, friends, we dumbed down sin today. Our culture just dumbs it out. And I will tell you, a lot of Christian culture does too.

The point is, what does the Word of God have to say about it? So number one, you must agree with God about what your sin looks like. Number two, you must agree with God.

And this is the point that people miss. And that’s why 1 John 1, 9 doesn’t seem very powerful to you. But if you get all of this, in fact, again, today in Craig’s testimony, I know I keep referring to that, but Craig testified about what I’m about to tell you.

Number two, you must agree with God about his solution. Sometimes a kid will say, I cheated in fifth grade. I’ve asked God to forgive me a million times.

Then you ask him, have you ever talked to your teacher or to your school? Oh no, I’ve never done that. Well, you really haven’t 1 John 1, 9 confessed.

Because friends, God has a solution in the Word of God. How about this one? If I bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift at the altar, go thy way.

First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. In other words, friends, it’s like this. It’s using Old Testament imagery.

But if you come to be involved in religious worship of some kind, And God reminds you, you remember those unkind things you said to your mother? Do you remember the hurtful things you said to your friend? Do you remember what you said or did?

And he reminds you of it. You know what God says you need to do? You leave your gift there.

Now the Bible says that brother hath ought against thee. Why do you, the idea, you know they have ought against you. Why?

Because you did them wrong. You know you did. You know you did something you shouldn’t have done.

You said something you shouldn’t have said. You hurt them. You understand that.

So we’re talking about a situation you’re aware of. God says what you need to do is you’ve got to get back there to the person who wronged you, and you need to say, I was wrong, would you forgive me? Then come and offer your gift.

That’s the idea. And so, friends, I want you to understand it’s agreeing with God about the solution. God’s got a solution for your sin.

And he’s simply saying, it’s like this. It’s like the kid who asks, like I mentioned, he asks God to forgive him over and over and over again. And the point is, God is simply saying, if you really want to agree with me, then you need to get that right with whoever.

It would be, how about this verse? Proverbs 28, verse 13. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them, that’s the sin, shall have mercy.

So God says simply this, you cover your sin, won’t prosper. Now, can you cover sin from an all-seeing, all-hearing, ever-present God? And the answer is no.

Everywhere that man can be, thou God art present there. I will tell you, friend, you cannot hide from God. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

God’s eyes are in your bedroom. He knows every internet site you’ve been to. He knows the stuff you’ve done there.

God knows. God knows every dirty joke you’ve laughed at in the bathroom of your Christian school or your church youth group. God knows.

God knows the times you’ve cheated homeschooler when your mom or dad wasn’t around. God knows. His eyes are in every place.

He beholds the evil and the good. He sees it all. So the verse can’t be talking about God.

You can’t cover sin from God. So who’s it talking about? It’s clearly talking about covering sin from people who deserve to know.

It would be covering sin from a mom or a dad. You say, well, Richard, what do you mean? Years ago I was preaching from this pulpit up here, and as I was preaching on a Sunday night, I believe here at Falls Baptist Church, I simply made this statement.

Young person, it’s the first time I’d ever made this statement, because I remember making it thinking, where did that come from? I said, young person, if you’ve ever done anything behind your parents’ back, and you know if your parents knew about it, they’d be grieved and they’d be burdened. You will never be right with God until you get right with your parents.

I remember saying it thinking, well, I’ve never said it that way before. I think it was two or three days later. I think it was on a Wednesday night.

A senior in high school here at Falls Baptist Academy came up to me and he was beaming. He said, Brother Van Gelder, you remember making that statement? Of course I did because I remember in the preaching noting it.

He said, when you made that statement, he said, I knew what I had to do. He said, many years ago, I did something bad. He said it was really bad.

Preacher, so bad, I’m not even going to tell you what it was. Not that he needed to. But he said, for years I’ve told myself, I don’t need to tell my parents.

But he said, when you made that statement, I knew, I knew. I had to tell my parents. He said, Preacher, I want you to know it was either the night before or two nights before.

He said, I sat down with my parents. He said, I’m going to be honest with you, Preacher. It wasn’t easy.

They cried. I cried. He said, but Preacher, I feel closer to God than I’ve felt in a long time.

I feel closer to my parents than I’ve felt in a long time. And I’m going to tell you something, friend. That young man’s in full-time Christian work.

Is that a surprise? I don’t think it’s a surprise at all. You know why, friends?

Because he was agreeing with God’s solution. See, some of you know what I’m talking about. You remember when you went to that friend’s house?

You remember that, don’t you? And the CD went in and the movie started to play. You weren’t two or three minutes into that movie and all of a sudden you’re thinking, wait a second.

I don’t think mom and dad would want me to watch this. but remember what you did? You watched it.

You went home with a guilty conscience because you knew your parents wouldn’t want you to have watched it. And then to make matters worse, when you walked through the door, your dad or your mom said, hey, how’d it go to so-and-so’s place? And here’s exactly what you did.

Well, fine. Can I say this as carefully as I know how? You lied.

You deceived. And the truth is, you know, you know. You know you need to tell your parents.

You see, friends, that’s what we’re talking about. You’re covering your sin. And then you weren’t honest about it.

It wasn’t, everything wasn’t fine. See, it’s like this, friends. I grew up in a conservative home.

I’m sure many people think, wow, your home was really strict. But I’ll be honest with you, when Jesus lives in your home, it doesn’t feel strict at all, really is the truth. But I will tell you that you would probably think, oh yeah, it was a pretty conservative home.

But I’m gonna be honest with you, friends. I don’t remember ever in my entire growing up ever seeing a written rule, not one time. Not one written rule, not one time.

But I will tell you this. I knew my parents’ heart. I knew their heart.

I think it was fourth grade, I went to the Chicago Public Schools, and this was back in the golden era of television. NBC, CBS, ABC, and Chicago, we had WGN. We had four.

Wow. Four television stations. WGN had all the reruns, Andy Griffith Show.

I think that was at four o’clock. But anyway, and so, well, this is the golden era. And we’d go to school and guess what we’d hear.

Some of you guys that are out here my age, you know what I’m talking about. We’d hear, hey, you’re gonna watch Sunset tonight? That happened all the time.

I mean, there weren’t many options, you know what I’m talking about, but you’re gonna watch Sunset tonight. And I’ll never forget the day, I think it was fourth grade, all day long. Hey, you’re gonna watch Elvis tonight?

Now, I know this is gonna be hard for you to believe. When I was a kid, Elvis Presley was still alive. He was still alive.

He really was still alive. And I know some of you think he still is. But anyway, but we’ll help you later on.

Okay, because you need help. Okay, but anyway, we can tell you a few other conspiracy theories. Okay, but the point is, everybody said, you’ve got to watch Elvis.

Now, Elvis, you probably didn’t know this, but Elvis used to make made-for-television specials for hour long. How many knew that? Raise your hand, please.

I knew there were a few carnal people. Brother Stratton, he is here, good, and Brother Savage even. Okay, yeah.

Okay, made for television specials. So I’m there at school, and everybody says, you’re going to watch Elvis tonight? Now, I’m a preacher’s kid.

Elvis? Who’s Elvis? I thought he played second base for the New York Mets.

Okay, who’s Elvis? Okay, and so I was kind of innocent in it. I mean, I kind of knew too, but okay, Elvis, we got to watch Elvis tonight.

So I come home, I might say to my older sister, Joy, hey, we got to watch Elvis tonight. Well, she knew. She went to school.

I said to my younger brother, John, we got to watch Elvis tonight. Well, he knew too. we have to watch Elvis.

Everybody said you did. Okay, so this was back in the day when a television was a piece of furniture. You kids have no idea.

We used to have to dust the television. Something called pledge. How many know what I’m talking about?

Pledge. Okay. Yeah, I got a few more on that one.

Okay, yeah, dust the TV. But anyway, you’d always arrive five minutes early. So you’re central people, so seven central.

You arrive five minutes early. Well, some of you are eastern people. That would be eight eastern.

But seven o’clock, you’d arrive about five minutes early because when you turn on the television, there was a blizzard on every channel. There was a blizzard. And so you say, well, how did you do this?

Well, what you did, they had these things called rabbit ears. You guys know what I’m talking about? Rabbit ears.

Ask your grandfather. Okay, but anyway. And you’d move the rabbit ears around the room.

And finally, oh, that’s it? And the blizzard would slowly clear up and there it would be. Okay, now just keep those rabbit ears right there.

Nobody touch them. And you’d start watching. Boy, there it is.

Seven o’clock. The peacock would come on. And of course, it was just, you know, just black and white.

So I didn’t, it took me years before I realized it was in color. But anyway, the peacock would come across and NBC television special, man, we’re pumped, Elvis. This is great, Elvis.

And so we’re gonna be able to, we’re gonna be popular the next day in school. We’ll be in with everybody. And so sure enough, Elvis comes on.

Here’s my younger brother, John, my older sister, Joy, myself. We’re all sitting there. Boy, this is great, Elvis Presley.

Okay, we’re getting ready. And my parents are totally clueless, you know. And so we’re sitting there and Elvis comes on.

Now, I’m being honest with you, honest truth. It wasn’t five minutes, it was probably less. But it was not more than five minutes.

When we are looking at each other thinking, I don’t think mom and dad would want us to watch this. And I remember getting up and going to the television and turning it off. Now, I’m going to be honest with you.

I did not turn it off because I was a spiritual giant, because at that point I wasn’t. I’m still not. But the point is, I did not turn it off because I was a spiritual giant.

I’m going to tell you why I turned it off. Because I knew my parents’ heart. And the truth is, stop playing games.

You do too. See, you know when you’re watching something, my parents won’t want me to watch that. You know when you’re listening to music, I don’t think my parents would want me to listen to that.

You know when you’re with friends, I don’t think my parents would want me to have these kind of friends. You know. The point, young person, is this.

When you do things you know your parents wouldn’t want you to do, and then you act like you didn’t do them, you are covering your sin. And you will not prosper. You see, friends, you’ve got to agree with God’s solution.

He says you need to confess and forsake. Some of you need to make a phone call tonight and say, Mom and Dad, when I went to so-and-so’s house, I watched such-and-so’s movie. I know you wouldn’t want me to watch it.

Because I’ll tell you, if you will do that, you will find the power of 1 John 1.9. It’s a powerful verse. But you must agree with God’s solution.

Some of you need to go home and say, Mom and Dad, I’ve been treating you disrespectfully. I’ve been wrong. Maybe some of you treat your younger brother and sister like trash.

You need to go home and tell them, I’ve been wrong. You need to agree with God’s solution. Yeah, just agree with God’s solution.

See, that’s where the power of 1 John 1.9. You must agree with God about what sin looks like. You must agree with God about his solution.

And certainly parents is one application. Another application would be this, if you’ve ever cheated. You know, there’s a few public school kids out here and we all kind of joke, oh yeah, public school kids, they cheat.

I’ve been 35 years working with teenagers. I’m gonna just tell you right now. I know I’m not trying to shock anybody, but Christian school kids cheat.

Did you know that? And you homeschool kids think you’re off, but I’m gonna be honest with you. Between Christian school and homeschool, The worst is homeschool.

You know why? Mom and dad aren’t around. And I’m talking to homeschool cheaters in this room right now.

And you’re going to never be right with God until you sit down with your parents and say, I’ve cheated here, here, here, and here. And let me just tell you something about cheating. The biggest loser in cheating is you.

Because you don’t know information that you really will one day need to know. I want to ask you a question. If you had surgery tomorrow, fairly serious surgery, Would you like to be operated on by a surgeon who cheated in anatomy class?

Hey, Sam, what’s that? I don’t know. I cheated on that section.

Stuff it back in there. Yeah, I cheated too, man. You know, the point is, I think I’d like a guy who got straight A’s.

What do you think? See, when you cheat, young people, you’re the one that, it amazes me. It’s like, who would ever get a gun out, stick your foot up, and go, put a hole right through your foot.

Then go brag to it about everything. I took a gun, I put a hole right in my foot. Isn’t that cool?

Like, what? That’s what cheating is. It’s like the kid going, hey, you know what, I cheated in math class.

It’s like, well, it’s like you’re saying, I’m an idiot, man, I just shot myself in the foot. Isn’t that funny? See, the point is, gang, cheating makes no sense at all.

It makes none, and really none at all. And my point is, if you cover your sin, you won’t prosper. So if you’ve ever cheated, you homeschoolers need to get to mom and dad and need to tell them.

Christian schoolers, public schools, you’ve cheated, same thing. See, the point is, confession is agreeing with God, saying, God, I agree with you. I don’t agree with me anymore.

I’m taking your side on the thing. What about theft? You ever stolen something?

You’re never going to be right with God until you go back to the person you stole it from and say, hey, I took this from you. I’m here to make restitution. If you can’t do it at the moment, give me time.

I’ll make restitution. See, friends, understand what confess. It’s agreeing with God about the solution.

Now, that brings us to a very important second point. Now, most of the message is point one, so don’t panic too much. But first of all, we saw a condition.

Secondly, I want us to see the character, the character of the one who forgives. It says he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Now faithfulness simply means that you will not be the first exception.

Sometimes young people say, I can’t get right with my parents. I can’t do that. I’m going to be in terrible, I’m going to be grounded for life.

Remember this, that Satan will always want you to think it’s worse than it’s going to be. I’ve never had a teenager come back and I have challenged thousands of teenagers to get right with their parents. I have had hundreds come back and tell me that they were glad they did it.

I have not had one come back and said it was worse than I thought it was going to be. I’ve had them come back and say, wow, it wasn’t easy, but I’m glad I did it. You see, friends, I’ve never had one come back and say, wow, that was really a whole lot worse than I thought it was going to be.

Because it’s never worse. Why? Because God says if you confess and forsake, you’ll have mercy.

Mercy means it’s not as bad as it would have been if you’d have gotten caught. And all I’m simply saying, friends, is God’s faithful. You will not be the first exception.

He will keep His promise. You’ve got to believe God. And tonight there’s young people that need to get some things right about things you’ve done behind your parents’ back.

Music you’ve listened to. Friends you’ve told dirty jokes with. Movies you’ve watched.

Internet sites you’ve been to. And we talked about in our session a moment ago, a couple hours ago, about the addictive cloak. This is where the addictive cloak gets pulled away.

For all you guys that are looking at garbage on the Internet, and sometimes girls as well, the best thing you can do is go to the people that love you the most and say, Mom and Dad, I have been looking at garbage on the Internet. You’ve got to get rid of the addictive cloak because it’s killing you. You get on both sides.

You deal with the addictive cloak. And a moment ago, we dealt with the addictive root. You start eating away at both sides of the equation.

But 1 John 1, 9 is what it’s saying. Confess it. Confess it.

First to God and then agree with God about the solution. He’s faithful and he’s just. Now what justice simply means is he has the right to forgive you.

He has the right. He’s just. He’s justified.

It would be like if this, if you were really guilty. Let’s say you’ve been shoplifting from Walmart and you’ve maybe stolen about $1,000 worth of stuff. And so you go, you’re just really, really guilty.

And one day you see a homeless person. Of course, I don’t know about you, not many homeless people around here that I see. I’m down south, man, they’re everywhere.

And so you see a homeless person and you come running up to this homeless person and you say, Hey, I ripped off Walmart $1,000. Would you forgive me? And the hopeless one looks at you, yeah, yeah, sure.

I’ve stolen more than that, no big deal. Do you know he has no right to forgive you? You know why?

He never paid for it. You know what the Bible says about Jesus, about God? He has the right to forgive you.

Why? Because he’s paid for it. He’s justified.

He’s just. He’s faithful and he’s just. Okay, so we see the character of the cleanser.

But last of all, I want you to see the consequences. It says he’s faithful and just to do two things. To forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

What does it mean to forgive us our sins? You say, preacher, I thought when I got saved my sins were forgiven. May I say this?

That is talking about judicial forgiveness. Clearly if you look at the passage, the context is about fellowship. So this is talking about relational forgiveness.

Now relational forgiveness is different. Why? Because relational forgiveness is like this.

When you’re born into family, you have a mom, you have a birth mom, a birth dad. if you grow up in that birth parents’ homes, they will always be your parents. There’s nothing you can do to change that, but you can do things to make a wall between you and one of your parents or both of them.

And all of you know what I’m talking about. You ever done something your parents didn’t want you to do? And even if they didn’t know about it, there was a wall, right?

There was a wall. You didn’t want to be around them. I have a friend of mine, and I think he was preaching from this pulpit.

He gave this illustration. He was in junior high. No offense junior hires, but this is typical junior high, totally typical junior high.

The brakes are not formed. Okay, on this deal. Okay.

So he’s in his room and he’s grounded and he’s bored and he’s thinking, oh, what can I do? What can I do? Then it hit him.

Bottle rockets. I’ve got bottle rockets in my closet. Now, how many know what a bottle rocket is?

Some of you do. Okay. I grew up in Chicago.

Okay. We know what they all are. MADs, Dagobahms, sticks of dynamite.

Okay. Okay. Okay, that’s Chicago.

Okay, everything was illegal, but everybody used it. I mean, it was cherry bombs, you know. It sounded like a battle zone for about three or four days around the 4th of July.

But anyway, so bottle rockets. Yeah, they’d be whizzing around all the time. And so he had this, a bunch of bottle rockets.

And a bottle rocket, for those who may not know, it has a little propellant. It looks like a firecracker on a stick. And the little wick goes up.

It hits the propellant, shoots it up in the air. And the very end of it, it’s got gunpowder. hits the gunpowder, and it has a nice little pop, kind of like about a half of a firecracker for those of you that are a little bit aware of fireworks, et cetera.

So he had a bunch of those in, and he thought, yeah, I could shoot bottle rockets off. And then, of course, he has a vision of his father basically saying to him, Frank, if you ever play with fireworks in this house, you know what I’m talking about. But he figures, no, I can get away with it.

What I’ll do is I’ll shoot them over the neighbor’s house. The neighbors are always shooting off bottle rockets, and my parents will never know. Then he realizes, I don’t have a bottle.

Don’t have a bottle. Don’t have a bottle. Oh, I’ve got a straw.

So he takes a plastic straw, holds the plastic straw. He puts the bottle rocket in the plastic straw. He lights the bottle rocket, and as it, you know, the heat melts the plastic.

If you know much about plastic, it just shrunk. It shrunk right around, and it gripped the stick. Well, as soon as it hit the propellant, the propellant was not enough.

It could take the stick out, but it couldn’t take the straw. It was too heavy. so it’s not leaving his hand.

Now, you have to understand, if you know anything about bottle rockets, the propellant only lasts about two seconds, maybe three. It’s really quick. But, you know, it takes a while for your brain to react like it’s not leaving my hand, okay?

And so all of a sudden he panics, throws it, it only goes about two feet. Poof, like that, big, huge noise. Man, he knew he was in trouble.

Down goes the window, runs over to where he was seated, grabs a book and starts reading it. Too bad it was upside down. But anyway, he acts like he’s reading it.

You know what I’m talking about? All of a sudden, he hears his dad’s footsteps coming down the hall. Everybody in this room knows the sound of your dad’s footsteps when the next thing that happens is violent death.

You know what I’m talking about. You know what I’m talking about. All of a sudden, the door opens and he looks at him, Frank, what’s going on in here?

And Frank made the awful mistake of looking at his dad like innocence, just total paragon of innocence, looked up and said, Dad, what are you talking about? There was only one problem. The entire room was filled with smoke.

Totally filled with smoke. Sulfur hanging midway and just hanging there in the middle of the room. Now I want to ask you a question.

Do you think Frank and his dad were getting along with each other at that point? No, there’s a wall. We all know there’s a wall.

So you say, well, preacher, what did he have to do? Well, Frank, it’s exactly what Frank did do. he finally said, you know, Dad, I was wrong.

It was exactly what happened. Took the punishment, which Frank never told me what it was. But anyway, and, but the point, friend, is simply this.

That’s relational forgiveness. When you go to the father and say, you know, Dad, I did this. You know, I know you wouldn’t want me to do this.

Okay, that’s the idea. So when God says he forgives our sins, it’s restoring fellowship with God. Isn’t that great?

So that’s what 1 John 1, 9 does. It’s like so many times young people have said to me, boy, I got joy in my heart now. Or I feel closer to God than I felt in a long time.

What are they talking about? They’re talking about that the wall is down. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God.

And your sins have hid his face from you so that he will not hear. What a tragic place to be. And some of you are there right now.

Your prayers can’t get answered. It’s a wall between you and God. And God is simply saying when you agree with God about the sin.

And you agree with God about the solution. And take the faith step to get it right. Whatever steps those are.

The wall comes down. He forgives you. Oh, but there’s a second part.

And he cleanseth us from all unrighteousness. Now, cleansing is obviously tied to the blood. A few verses earlier, it talks about that.

The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. So what’s this talking about? Well, I’m not saying that this is all the aspect, but the part I’d like to look at is what Hebrew says, that the blood of Jesus cleanses our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

So I believe this is not just talking about relational forgiveness, okay, the wall coming down. It’s talking about the cleansing of the conscience. Can I say this?

I hate to use the word, the feeling of being cleansed. Now please understand me. The way you know you’re forgiven and the way you know you’re cleansed is not because you feel forgiven or feel cleansed, oh no.

The way you know you’re forgiven and the way you know you’re cleansed is because it says so. But you have to understand that experience always catches up with reality. And when experience catches up with reality, you know what cleansing is?

It’s the power of a clean conscience. It’s a clean heart. I’m cleansed.

I’m cleansed. I’m clean. I like the way Craig put it.

I don’t keep referring to his testimony, but it was so helpful. I’m free. I remember I was several years ago, 2011 to be exact, in Phoenix, Arizona.

And the very first Sunday I was there, I noticed a young man, I’ll explain it, God burdened my heart. I knew there were needs in his life. You could just tell.

Week went on, didn’t see a lot of movement, wasn’t sure where he was coming from, what was going on, but certainly burdened for him. And I’ll never forget that final night. We had probably 120 kids.

It was a huge crowd. A bunch of unsafe kids were there. The student body almost entirely came out, 70, 80 kids.

And we’re having our testimony service. And I noticed that young man over talking to one of our team captains, getting cleared for a testimony. And of course, I talked to our team captains to make sure the testimony is on focus.

And I was a little nervous about it. I thought, boy, I hope he’s serious because I certainly don’t want him getting up here showboating or whatever. And so they cleared him, which made me nervous.

I thought, boy, I hope they got this one right. And I’m holding the microphone and he comes up. I’ll never forget his testimony.

He looks out at the student body and he says, I just came from Walmart. He said, I just came from the manager’s office at Walmart. He said, I just told him all the stuff I’d been stealing from him.

You could almost hear an audible gasp. I don’t think the student body knew he was a thief. He said, he smiled real big, real big smile.

And he said, he gave me mercy. I never asked him what that meant. Clearly, obviously indicated it wasn’t bad as it would have been.

He said, he gave me mercy. And then he looked out at the student body. I’ll never forget this.

And he said, just moments ago, he said, I’m walking out of Walmart. And he said, joy overflowed my heart. He’s been cleansed.

And my friends, that same blood can cleanse your heart too. If you’ll just confess. Agree with God about your sin and agree with God about God’s solution.

Could I ask every head bowed please and every eye closed? Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. I’m gonna ask a simple question.

How many in this room would simply say, preacher, as I’m sitting here right now, I can honestly say between God and man, nobody’s perfect, I understand. But you say, preacher, best I can tell. I can’t think of any sin that I haven’t already gotten right with my parents.

I can’t think of anything I’ve stolen I haven’t already gotten right. I can’t think of anything I’ve cheated on or any rule I’ve broken in my school that I haven’t already gotten right, can’t think of anything. Not that a perfect no man is.

But preacher, I just can’t think. Before God and man, I can honestly say I can’t think of anything behind my parents’ back that I’ve done that’s already not cleared up. I can’t think of anything I’ve stolen.

I can’t think of anything I’ve cheated on that I haven’t already cleared up. If that’s you, friend, Would you just raise your hand? Put it up there just for a moment.

I just can’t think anything. Just can’t think anything. Okay, put your hands down.

Now, many of you kept your hands down. In fact, over 50% of you did, and I want to tell you right now, I commend your honesty. It’s not everything, but it’s a great start.

It’s like a really good start. Now, heads up out and eyes are closed. I’m going to ask you to listen very carefully.

I’m going to ask our team captains and our squad leaders to head to the lobby. Would you do that? All squad leaders and all team captains, if you’d head to the lobby.

And here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to ask everybody right now to stand to your feet. Would you do that?

Keep your heads bowed and eyes closed. Just stand to your feet. Heads bowed and eyes are closed.

In a moment I’m going to point to the pianist and she’s going to begin to play. Now some of you right now, God’s on your front porch and said that preacher’s talking about you. I’m talking to some of you right now.

You know, you know, you know there’s stuff you’ve done behind your parents’ back and it’s time to come clean. You get back there, many of these squad leaders have had years back, have done exactly what you’re gonna have to do right now. They’ll be glad to help you, hold you accountable.

If need be, hand you a cell phone and let you call your parents right now. I remember a kid in West Columbia, South Carolina, tears streaming on his face, called his businessman father right in the middle of the day and said, dad, I can’t wait tonight. I gotta tell you, I gotta tell you.

Came clean with his dad on that phone. I’m telling you, friend, if God’s dealing with you right now, I urge you in just a moment when that piano begins to play, open your eyes into the closest aisle and go to the back. Don’t play games with God.

There’s some stuff you need to do. You know what confession is? It’s agreeing with God about his solution.

You’ve got to confess it and forsake it. You’ve got to get it right with your parents or your school if you’ve cheated or whatever. And you’ve got to forsake it.

The head’s about and eyes are closed and no one’s looking. If God’s dealing in your heart, as soon as that first note of the piano comes, I’m going to ask you to open your eyes, head to the back. Any pastors or assistant pastors here, if somebody moves that’s from your ministry and you feel led, you certainly feel free to link up with them.

You do whatever the Lord leads you to do. If God’s touched your heart, teenager, don’t say no to God. Don’t play games with God.

This is how you restore fellowship with God. It’s not rocket science. It’s the power of 1 John 1.9.

So as soon as that first note hits, in just a moment I’ll point to the piano, you get ready. Some of you just know right now, you’ve got to open those eyes, head to the closest aisle, and head to the back, and get accountable. I’ll ask our counselors, to let the person that comes pray first, do business with God first, and then you work together the battle plan for victory.

As the piano plays, you respond. Would you do that?