Praying in Repentance

Today as we continue in our series, “praying towards renewal”…we want to begin by looking at how Jesus taught His disciples to pray and then flow from there into the the idea of how John spoke to his readers about this same idea.

Matthew 6:9–13 ESV

9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

You see Jesus started the idea of the model prayer with the honoring of God’s name.

He also taught His disciples, in John 14:13-14, anything we ask in Jesus name will be give.

Recognizing the goal of our prayer life will bring us to pray with the right heart/pattern to give the glory where it is deserved.

Notice:

Hallowed be your name

Your Kingdom come

Your will be done here as there

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Walk in the Light!

1 John 1:9 (ESV)

9 If we confess our sins,...

Augustine once said:

“He who confesses and condemns his sins already acts with God. God condemns thy sins: if thou also dost condemn them, thou art linked to God.”

The burden comes when we think we don’t have sin...

or when we think:

“back when I was a sinner”

This comment is not necessarily something people spout out, but more of an attitude or thought pattern.

It is one of those things that we struggle with as we walk with Christ.

Maybe its not in the beginning of that relationship, but a place people arrive at in the contentment of their walk with the Lord.

It is essentially the pattern of life becoming numb due to normalcy of relationship, His forgiveness, and are willingness to be content where we are.

1 John 1:8 (ESV)

8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is NOT in us.

John is clear to point to the concept that people forget who we are and how we are in our human nature.

1 John 1:10 ESV

10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

It’s also the recognition to deny our sin is to call out God as proclaiming about us something that is untrue.

Let’s look back a second at our text...

1 John 1:9 (ESV)

9 If we confess our sins,…

Let’s be mindful the Greek word translated in the first clause of our text is plural.

The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition Chapter 1

ἁμαρτίας

John is communicating, under the leadership of the Spirit, that we did not do only one thing at one time, but it is that there is always sin or sins that we struggle with.

But this is only the beginning.

Yes, God wants us to confess/condemn sins, yet John has more for us.

He says...

1 John 2:1 ESV

1 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.

We Sin, But Christ...

1 John 1:9 (ESV)

9 ...he is faithful and just...

He meaning Christ displays a portion of His character in the midst of our confession:

Faithful — to himself & His promises

Just — Holy & Correct

How is He faithful?

Romans 3:25 ESV

25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

Hebrews 10:23 ESV

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Jeremiah 31:34 ESV

34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Micah 7:19–20 ESV

19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. 20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

And yet how is He just?

Isaiah 53:10–12 ESV

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Because the penalty/debt of sin was paid.

You see, if God did not apply the penalty He would be unjust.

His justice is maintained in the outpouring of His work through the sacrifice of Christ.

He Forgives & Cleanses

1 John 1:9 (ESV)

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Romans 8:28–30 (ESV)

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Walking Away, But In...

Lay down the what separates!

Do What You Want in My Life; Do What You Want to My Life; Do What You Want with My Life; & Get What You Want from My Life.