Through Confession

What is confession?

An acknowledgement or admission of guilt

Confession can be individual or cooperate. But you cannot confess for someone else

You can be caught in sin, and still not confess

Confession is not mandated by the NT, but encouraged.

Why do we need to confess?

We all have sin ()

Through confession we obtain mercy () and cleansing ()

“The The LORD is merciful and gracious,

“The confession of evil works is the beginning of good works” Augustine of Hippo

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

9  He will not always chide,

nor will he keep his anger forever.

10  He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 103:8–10.

Confession leads to cleansing ()

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

9  He will not always chide,

nor will he keep his anger forever.

10  He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), . The LORD is merciful and gracious,

300 Quotations for Preachers The Beginning of Good Works

The confession of evil works is the beginning of good works

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

9  He will not always chide,

nor will he keep his anger forever.

10  He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

What keeps us from confessing?

Fear

Pride

Complacency

Spiritual Blindness

Enjoyment

How is confession related to healing?

In confession we are making ourselves vulnerable

In confession we admit our need for God

In confession we open up space for others to walk alongside us

1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Sin, Confession Of

A college freshman went to the dorm laundry room with his dirty clothes bundled into an old sweatshirt. But he was so embarrassed by how dirty his clothes were that he never opened the bundle. He merely pushed it into a washing machine and when the machine stopped pushed the bundle into a dryer and finally took the still-unopened bundle back to his room. He discovered, of course, that the clothes had gotten wet and then dry, but not clean.

God says, “Don’t keep your sins in a safe little bundle. I want to do a thorough cleansing in your life—all the dirty laundry of your life.”1243

What is confession? While the answer may seem simple, in many ways confession can be complex. Literally defined confession is the admission or acknowledgment of guilt. Standing up and saying I was wrong. We see this kind of confession in the Bible, but also in court rooms and police stations.

in Biblical terms there is another kind of confession. This kind of confession is less about admitting guilt, and more about admitting that something is true. Think about “If you CONFESS with you mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead you shall be saved.” This is not confessing something about you, but something about God! Both of these kinds of confession are Biblical and useful.

Confession can be individual or cooperate. We see both of these aspects of the confession in the Bible. The OT speaks more to cooperate confession- most of the confession passages in the OT are related to the joint confession of Israel. In other words, the entire nation or group of people were called to confess together. We still do group confession today, in joint prayers and worship services. The NT talks more about individual confession, which is probably what most of us think about when we think about confession- an individual confessing for their individual transgressions.

Next, and catch this because it is really important, you can be caught in sin and still not confess. Think about someone on trail for a crime. How many times has a perpetrator been caught red handed and they still maintain their innocence all the way through. Our confession is bold proclamation of GUILTY when we are face in our sin. However, many times our cry is “but God will understand” or “that was different” or “that was not my fault”

So, once we understand what confession is, our next question to answer is why do we need to confess?

is the primary answer to this question- we all need to confess because we all have sin. We are ALL GUILTY. We all have sin and we all need to confess our sinfulness. While we may each struggle with different kinds of sin, none of us are immune or above some kind of sin.

Second, confession is the doorway to mercy. Listen to

English Standard Version Chapter 28

Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper,

but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

If we are honest, everyone wants mercy Even those who do not believe in God want mercy- if not from God than from someone else. I do not know anyone who wants to be punished and punished to the full extent for the transgressions they have committed. The Bible is clear that the doorway to mercy from God is confession. It really is that simple. So many people try to make it more complicated than it needs to be. reminds us that God is:

English Standard Version Psalm 103

The LORD is merciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

9  He will not always chide,

nor will he keep his anger forever.

10  He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities

is one of the key if/then statements of the Scripture. IF we confess our sins THEN he is faithful to forgive us. Our forgiveness in the eyes of God begins with confession.

We also need to confess in order to place ourselves on the path of righteousness. Augustine of Hippo said that the confession of evil works is the begging of good works. I think about a man who refuses to stop for directions when he is clearly lost. The first step to getting on the right track would be for the man to admit that he is lost and needs directions, and then find someone to help him. Confession is the same idea- the first step in getting our lives back on track with Christ is to admit that we have fail and ask him to put us back on the right path.

What keeps us from confessing? If it is something that we need, and something that the Bible advocates and encourages so openly, why is it that so many people struggle with confession? I thought of 5 that popped in my head quite quickly

Fear- we can be fearful, of rejection or embarrassment. Confession makes us vulnerable and open to other’s opinions of us. Many people will go their entire lives and never experience true freedom because of fear. They will never find a place where they can be honest about their sin and struggle. In many ways it will always feel like a part of them is locked in a cell and never let out. But the truth is that most Christians will not reject you or judge you, because as we all talked about we ALL sin- some just different than others. But as long as Satan can keep you from confession he can keep you from complete healing.

Pride- As I said before, confession makes us vulnerable, and many people have too much pride to ever be vulnerable. Reminds me a lot of King David after the Bathsheba incident. Some people will never allow other humans to see them as weak or broken- too risky, too open, not them. They do not need anyone or anything, they can handle it on their own. Their pride will not allow them to confess But as long as Satan can keep you from confession he can keep you from complete healing

Complacency- I’m fine! Everything is fine! I do not need to rehash all of that. Complacency is the enemy of greatness. Many people settle for “good enough” when it comes to their relationship with God. They know that there are steps that they could take to make their relationship with Christ deeper and stronger, but they do not want to sacrifice in order to make that happen. Their “everything is fine” attitude keeps them from confession. But as long as Satan can keep you from confession he can keep you from complete healing

Spiritual blindness- Many people do not confess because of spiritual blindness. One of the things that I am aware of as a pastor, and that grieves me about the current state of the church is the lack of talk about sin. More and more churches are turning to nothing more than self-help sermons that pump up people’s spirits, but fail to address sin. Sin is not popular, and certainly does not always make us feel good- but my job as a pastor is not to make you feel good- it is to preach the entire Word of God, and that includes the results of sin in our lives and our need for repentance.

Enjoyment- A lastly, some people will not confess because they enjoy what they are doing- plain and simple. There is no need to confess or repent because they are not interested in changing their actions- even if they know that they are wrong.

So, how then is this confession related to healing? Much like last week, the healing that we are talking about here is more spiritual than physical, but we know that spiritual healing and physical healing are often connected.

First, in confession we make ourselves vulnerable. Listen to :

English Standard Version Chapter 12

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

God’s power cannot be evident in your life until you are willing to be vulnerable before him! It is impossible to be full of the spirit of God until you are emptied of yourself!

Second, in confession we confess our need for God. Here’s the next challenge, some people are willing to admit their weakness, but they fail to confess their need for God! They think they need money, or a gym membership, or a prescription, or a new spouse. They are willing to be emptied, but they will themselves up with the wrong things.