LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
What is the danger/consequence of unconfessed sin?
Submitted to Dr. James Sulfridge
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500
Discipleship Ministries
By
Anthony Bean
What is the danger/consequence of unconfessed sin?
First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This verse is written to Christians and hinges on the word
if. God offers total pardon for every sin His children commit IF we confess it to Him. The word
confess implies agreeing with God about how bad our sin is. Repentance, or turning away from
it, is part of this confession. For those who have not been pardoned by the blood of Jesus, every
sin is unconfessed and unforgiven. Eternal punishment awaits those who refuse to repent of
their sin and accept Jesus’ sacrifice for it (2 Thessalonians 1:8–9; John 3:15–18). But what about
a Christian with unconfessed sin?
According to Scripture, all our sin was paid for when we accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on our
behalf. Second Corinthians 5:21 says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” When we make that divine
exchange at the cross, God chooses to see us as righteous. It is not our righteousness but the
righteousness of Christ that God sees (Titus 3:5). He switches accounts with us: our tarnished
rap sheet for His perfect record. We have the full approval and acceptance of God from then
on.
But what happens when we sin after receiving that perfect record? Imagine standing by a
south window on a cold winter day. The air is frigid, but the sun is shining through the window.
It begins to warm you, and you bask in its glow. Then you pull the drape closed. Instantly, the
warmth stops. Is it because the sun has stopped shining? No, it is because something has come
between you and the sun. The moment you open the drape, the sun can warm you again. But it
is up to you. The barrier is inside the house, not outside.
Unconfessed sin works like that drape. God delights in His children (Psalm 37:23; Romans
8:38–39). He desires to bless us, fellowship with us, and shower His approval upon us (Psalm
84:11; 115:13; 1 Samuel 2:30). He wants us to bask in the warmth of His smile. But when we
choose sin, we build a barrier between ourselves and our holy Father. We pull the drape on
fellowship with Him and begin to feel the chill of spiritual loneliness. Many times, we angrily
accuse God of leaving us when, in truth, we have left Him. When we stubbornly refuse to
repent, we will be disciplined by our loving Father (Hebrews 12:7–11). The Lord’s discipline can
be severe, even leading to death when a heart has hardened to the point of no return (1
Corinthians 11:30; 1 John 5:16). God longs for restored fellowship even more than we do (Isaiah
65:2; 66:13; Matthew 23:37; Joel 2:12–13). He pursues us, disciplines us, and loves us even in
our sin (Romans 5:8). But He leaves our free will intact. We must pull back the drape by
confessing and repenting.
If, as children of God, we choose to remain in our sin, then we choose the consequences
that go with that choice. Broken fellowship and lack of growth result. However, those who
persist in sin need to reexamine their true relationship with God (2 Corinthians 13:5). Scripture
is clear that those who know God do not continue a lifestyle of unrepentant sin (1 John 2:3–6;
3:7–10). A desire for holiness is a hallmark of those who know God. To know God is to love Him
(Matthew 22:37–38). To love Him is to desire to please Him (John 14:15). Unconfessed sin gets
in the way of pleasing Him, so a true child of God wants to confess it, change it, and restore
fellowship with God.
The Bible tells us that we all sin and deserve death because of it (Romans 3:23; 6:23). Sin is
defined biblically as missing the mark that God has set for us. None of us can perfectly meet His
intentions and desires because sin gets in the way. When we believe in Jesus, all our sin is
atoned for, and God now views us as righteous through Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). Instead of
seeing our sin, God sees us by way of Jesus' perfect life and sacrifice (Titus 3:5). Those who
refuse to turn to Jesus receive eternal punishment (2 Thessalonians 1:8–9, John 3:15–18).
Even though Jesus has atoned for all of a Christian's sin and set him free from being a slave
to sin (Romans 6:5–11, 17–18; Galatians 5:1), we know that Christians do still sin. What are we
supposed to do when we sin? If we don't confess, is the sin not forgiven? If all of our sins are
already forgiven, what is the point of confession? Is it dangerous to have unconfessed sin?
John gives some helpful instruction here. In writing to believers, John said, "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). It is important to remember that our eternal salvation is intact. John 10:28–
29; Ephesians 1:14, 4:30; 2 Corinthians 1:22; and Romans 8 are among the passages affirming
that when we come to Christ, our salvation is secure. But when we sin and avoid going to God
in confession and repentance, we begin to build a barrier to our fellowship with Him. Though
sin does not result in eternal death for believers in Jesus, it does result in some sense of
separation from God. Much like a human parent and a disobedient child experience strain in
their relationship (without loss of the parent-child relationship nor of the love of the parent
toward the child), so our sin results in strain in our relationship with God. God wants fellowship
with His people to be restored (Isaiah 65:2 and 66:13, Matthew 23:37, Joel 2:12–13). God
convicts us of sin and leads us to confession so that He may cleanse us and restore us to deeper
fellowship with Him.
When Christians refuse to seek God in confession and repentance, they may experience a
broken fellowship with God, disrupted fellowship with other Christians, and a lack of spiritual
growth. John explains it like this: "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you
may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the
whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his
commandments. Whoever says 'I know him' but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and
the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By
this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same
way in which he walked" (1 John 2:1–6).
Christians desire holiness and therefore seek to live pleasing to God (Matthew 22:37–
38, John 14:15). Unconfessed sin is a barrier to pleasing God.
God desires to delight in us (Psalm 37:23, Romans 8:38–39) and to fellowship with us
(Psalm 84:11, Psalm 115:13, 1 Samuel 2:30). When Christians fail to repent, God will lovingly
discipline us (Hebrews 12:7–11). If we find ourselves sinning without conviction or without a
desire to repent, we may need to take a closer look at our relationship with God and see if we
are really in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5).
