This is a common question, which shows this is something that many believers are concerned about.  Suppose that after accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, you live a life that honors Him.  You seek to honor Him in your words and actions.  You are a person of prayer who longs to walk in obedience to God’s Word.  Then, right before you die, you commit a sin and do not have time to confess it before you pass away.  Or perhaps you commit a sin and simply forget to confess it to the Lord before you pass away.  Is your life of living for Christ all for nothing because you died with one or more unconfessed sins? 

The confession of the sins of the believers is important.  We read in 1 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.”  Even as Christians, we sin.  The Lord wants us to confess that sin to Him.  When we do, He will forgive that sin and cleanse us from the unrighteousness that resulted from that act of sin.  Let us be very clear here because this is very important for us.  It is more than simply saying, “God, I’m sorry.”  It is the heartfelt confession of a repentant heart that realizes he has sinned and has dishonored His savior. 

As believers on the Lord Jesus, the confession of our sins is for the sake of a close relationship with the Lord.  It has nothing to do with our salvation.  When we believe on the Lord Jesus we are saved (Acts 16:31).  We are brought into a close relationship with the Lord.  The Lord promises us in Hebrews 13:5, “…I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”  Through faith in the Lord Jesus, God is our Father, and we are His children.  As believers, we can say as the bride says in Song of Solomon 6:3, “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.”  So close is this relationship with the Lord.  We are His and He is ours!

When we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior, we receive eternal life…immediately.  What is eternal life?  It is a life that NEVER ENDS!  The Lord assures us in John 10:27-28, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them ETERNAL LIFE; and they shall NEVER PERISH, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”  Let us not be afraid to take God at His Word.  He has promised us ETERNAL LIFE and He has promised us that we shall NEVER PERISH.  Isn’t that simple?  The Lord tells us in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION to them which are in Christ Jesus…”  The Lord may discipline us as a Father disciplines His child as He says in Revelation 3:19, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten…”

God CANNOT condemn us because He has already judged His Son in our place and punished Him for the debt of our sins.  When the Lord Jesus said in John 19:30, “IT IS FINISHED”, that is the same as Him saying, “PAID.”  Our debt of sin to God has been completely paid and judgment is lifted from us.  I encourage you to confess your sins quickly to the Lord when you do sin, but do not think your salvation is in danger because you did not or forgot to confess a sin.  We are told in 1 John 1:7 that, “…the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from ALL SIN.”  ALL SIN!  Even if we do not confess a sin in our lives, the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ has cleansed us from that sin.  We are “clean every whit.” (John 13:10).  What a wondrous savior we have!  (CC)  (618.6)