Our Response to Love Part 2
Notes
Transcript
At nineteen, Al Johnson had joined two other men in robbing a Kansas bank. The case was closed by police after two other convicts were killed in an auto crash and mistakenly identified by bank officials as the robbers. Al felt sure he would never be caught.
He married a Christian girl and pretended to be a Christian before her. She knew nothing of his past crime. Then someone sent him a tract in the mail, titled “God’s Plan of Salvation.” Reading it, he noticed that one of the Bible verses said, “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
The realization struck that salvation was for him. He could be forgiven and his conscience set free. He knelt in prayer and accepted Christ.
His life changed. He stopped a lifelong habit of lying. And after much thought and prayer he confessed his crime. His confession made television newscasts and newspaper headlines even in Canada.
Under a Kansas statute of limitations, he was set free, although he chose to repay his share of the stolen funds to the bank. Today, Al Johnson is the manager of a service station, the father of three admiring children, and an outstanding Christian layman.
Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 1128–1129.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
What is confession? Is confession saying, “Sorry for what I’ve done...” or is it feeling sorrowful for wrongdoing? The first thing that we must understand is that when we either mentally or verbally confess our sins we are not informing God about something that He didn’t already know. God knows everything. He saw what would lead to us sinning before we sinned, He is not limited to time. The past, the present, and the future are all before Him. This is why He is referred to as “I am”. Not I was, or I will be, but I am. When Adam sinned, He was “I am”, when Moses...
In the original language of the NT, confess means four things
① to commit oneself to do something for someone, promise, assure
② to share a common view or be of common mind about a matter, agree
③ to concede that something is factual or true, grant, admit, confess
④ to acknowledge something., ordinarily in public, acknowledge, claim, profess, praise
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 708.
Out of the four definitions, when you think about the all-knowing nature of God which of the four definitions suits the context of 1 Jn 1:9, the second definition...
② to share a common view or be of common mind about a matter, agree
In other words, when we confess we are agreeing with what God already knows. We are saying, “Lord, You saw me...”
Now, there are four things about confession that we must grasp. The first is...
1. Confess and Forsake Sin
1. Confess and Forsake Sin
13 He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
The conditions of obtaining mercy of God are simple and just and reasonable. The Lord does not require us to do some grievous thing in order that we may have the forgiveness of sin. We need not make long and wearisome pilgrimages, or perform painful penances, to commend our souls to the God of heaven or to expiate our transgression; but he that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall have mercy.
Ellen Gould White, Steps to Christ (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1892), 37.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Confess your sins to God, who only can forgive them, and your faults to one another.
Ellen Gould White, Steps to Christ (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1892), 37.
This is very important to understand. [Talk about needless public confession of private sin]
However, if we have a trespass against someone, something that is known to them and us as an individual, we must confess our fault or trespass to that person. Remember, when we hurt others we hurt Christ.
9 In all their affliction He was afflicted,
And the Angel of His Presence saved them;
In His love and in His pity He redeemed them;
And He bore them and carried them
All the days of old.
Furthermore, when we confess our faults to one another it needs to be done with sincerity and brokenness. It should not be flippant, and it should never be forced.
Those who have not humbled their souls before God in acknowledging their guilt, have not yet fulfilled the first condition of acceptance. If we have not experienced that repentance which is not to be repented of, and have not with true humiliation of soul and brokenness of spirit confessed our sins, abhorring our iniquity, we have never truly sought for the forgiveness of sin; and if we have never sought, we have never found the peace of God.
Ellen Gould White, Steps to Christ (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1892), 37–38.
2. Confession Must be Specific
2. Confession Must be Specific
Confession of sin to God or faults to one another must be specific. Don’t you hate it when people who wrong you in a specific manner i.e. slander… say, “I’m sorry for hurting you” Hurting me how? if it’s not specific its worthless and betrays a lack of sincerity.
When someone is brought up on charges before a judge and convicted, the judge doesn’t say, “I am sentencing you to X amount of years for your crimes. No...
19 And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die; for we have added to all our sins the evil of asking a king for ourselves.”
3. Confession Reforms the Life
3. Confession Reforms the Life
Confession will not be acceptable to God without sincere repentance and reformation. There must be decided changes in the life; everything offensive to God must be put away. This will be the result of genuine sorrow for sin.
Ellen Gould White, Steps to Christ (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1892), 39.
16 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
Cease to do evil,
17 Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.
11 For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
When we are truly repentant, and led to confess, we will confess everything and seek to put away everything that offends God. This will be our prayer...
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
4. Confession Offers No Excuses
4. Confession Offers No Excuses
When sin has deadened the moral perceptions, the wrongdoer does not discern the defects of his character nor realize the enormity of the evil he has committed; and unless he yields to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit he remains in partial blindness to his sin. His confessions are not sincere and in earnest. To every acknowledgment of his guilt he adds an apology in excuse of his course, declaring that if it had not been for certain circumstances he would not have done this or that for which he is reproved.
Ellen Gould White, Steps to Christ (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1892), 40.
When God questioned Adam and Eve about their wrongdoing how did they respond?
9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Notice how from the very beginning Adam offers excuses… “I was afraid because… I was naked”… Really, that’s why you were afraid. What should he have said… “I was afraid because I ate...”
The spirit of self-justification originated in the father of lies and has been exhibited by all the sons and daughters of Adam. Confessions of this order are not inspired by the divine Spirit and will not be acceptable to God. True repentance will lead a man to bear his guilt himself and acknowledge it without deception or hypocrisy.
Ellen Gould White, Steps to Christ (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1892), 40.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.