1 John 1:8-10; Psalm 15

1 John 1:8-10
Today's passage represents one of the most important concepts for our Christian lives. Remember that John is writing this letter to believers. Apparently some false teachers were teaching that once we are saved, cleansed by the blood of Jesus, we no longer sin. John says if we claim this we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. When we trusted Jesus for our salvation, God delivered us from the eternal penalty of sin. We can never be lost or eternally separated from God. But just like children in a family sometimes disobey and disappoint their parents, we as God's children will disobey and disappoint Him. This breaks fellowship with Him (just as rebellious children can be more or less estranged from their parents.) But He doesn't throw us out of the "family"! He knows that we are human and that we still have a sinful nature, so He has made provision for our sins. "But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness." "Confess" means to agree with God about our sins. We don't minimize them or make excuses for them. We agree with God that we have sinned, and I think it's understood that we feel sorrow for our sins and that we do not plan to continue in them. Then God promises that He will forgive us and cleanse us! Then John reiterates the truth that we will still commit sin even though we are God's children. "If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts."

Psalm 15
We have just looked at 1 John 1:8-10 which tells us how to be right with God on a daily or even an hourly basis. When we are right with God, we can have fellowship with Him in prayer and Bible study, and we can truly worship Him. This Psalm lists some of the characteristics of a person who is in fellowship with God.

• We lead blameless lives. As we saw in 1 John, this does not mean we are perfect, but rather that we are quick to confess and forsake our sins.
• We do what is right. Again, we're not perfect, but our desire is to do what pleases God.
• We speak the truth from sincere hearts.
• We refuse to gossip. This is a hard one!
• We don't harm our neighbors.
• We don't speak evil of our friends.
• We despise sin.
• We honor the faithful followers of the Lord.
• We keep our promises even when it hurts!
• We are generous with the needy. 
• We can't be bribed.