Confession Is Good For The Soul

I don’t think I know anyone who enjoys confession. It is defined as a formal statement admitting one is guilty of wrong doing. I don’t know anyone who enjoys that. But today’s lesson takes us right to that point…confession.

Mother Teresa’s Confession

Confession is nothing but humility in action. When there is a gap between me and Christ, when my love is divided, anything can come to fill the gap. Confession is a place where I allow Jesus to take away from me everything that divides, that destroys.

—Mother Teresa, quoted in “Reflections,” Christianity Today, Vol. 45, no. 1.

In our story today there is a group of people that have realized there is a great chasm between them and God. An observation in this is that God hasn’t moved. So, if there is a distance between us and God, then we have to ask, “who moved?”

A few lessons ago I mentioned the 4 “P’s”. Prayer, Precautions, Preparedness, and Perseverance. Well today I’m giving you the 5 “C’s”. Congregated, Comprehended, Consummated, Confession and Covenant. (repeat) If you’re writing these down, don’t worry I’ll repeat them again throughout the message.

The first couple of “C’s” I covered last week and won’t spend a lot of time on today.

Congregated— We read in 8:1 that all the people gathered… they united in one place for one thing. There was unity of purpose. To hear the Law read and understanding given.

Comprehended— We read in 8:2 and 3 that the people heard with understanding and were attentive to the Book of the Law. Later on we’re told that the priests gave the sense and meaning of the passages. It was more than just hearing … they understood the meaning.

Consummated— This is where I really want to get into today’s lesson. It means they acted upon. It was just like a wedding ceremony. There was the service where they heard all the words and made commitments to one another, but the true act of marriage came at the act of intimacy and oneness. They didn’t just speak loving words … they were acted upon. They were consummated. Let’s read this in our text—

8:13 Now on the second day the heads of the fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe, in order to understand the words of the Law. 14 And they found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, 15 and that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the mountain, and bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.”

16 Then the people went out and brought them and made themselves booths, each one on the roof of his house, or in their courtyards or the courts of the house of God, and in the open square of the Water Gate and in the open square of the Gate of Ephraim. 17 So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths; for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness. 18 Also day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day there was a sacred assembly, according to the prescribed manner.

The heard, they understood, they acted… Acts 8

The New King James Version Chapter 8

26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”

30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this:

“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;

And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,

So He opened not His mouth.

33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away,

And who will declare His generation?

For His life is taken from the earth.”

34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”

37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”

And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.

Confession— You know that dream — I bet we’ve all had it. You know the one where you’re out in a public setting and your naked or at least partially so. Try as you might you can’t seem to get dressed, then you wake up. This story is kind of like that, except it isn’t a dream. They’ve heard the Word of God and they realize they are undressed. They’re embarrassed and trying to put clothes on. The Word of God has exposed them and they need to get dressed. It starts with confession. In our story today we find that they listened to the Word then confessed—

9:1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads. 2 Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the LORD their God.

What we have over the next chapter is them recounting their history and asking for God’s forgiveness. They’re covering hundreds and hundreds of years.

The New King James Version Chapter 9

16 “But they and our fathers acted proudly,

Hardened their necks,

And did not heed Your commandments.

17 They refused to obey,

And they were not mindful of Your wonders

That You did among them.

But they hardened their necks,

And in their rebellion

They appointed a leader

To return to their bondage.

But You are God,

Ready to pardon,

Gracious and merciful,

Slow to anger,

Abundant in kindness,

And did not forsake them.

Covenant— They made a covenant, a promise with teeth if you will. There would be consequences if they didn’t follow the promise made—

The New King James Version Chapter 10

all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding—29 these joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes:

You know they worked hard at keeping that covenant. Some 400 years later, when Jesus came on the scene, they had added many little fine points to the Law. They were trying on their own power to keep the covenant they had made, the only problem they had was — it was impossible to keep without God’s help. They couldn’t do it on their own. Neither can we. I find an interesting thing here, after this covenant was made we have no report of the Jews entering into idol worship. For many it became fanatical in the other direction. Let’s look at Romans 7—

The New King James Version Chapter 7

21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Free from Indwelling Sin

8 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Dear one, we’re no different than the Children of Israel. We try in our own strength to live good lives. But the bottom line is — we can’t do it on our own. We need Jesus.

They came together, congregated, to hear the Word of God. They heard and comprehended what was being read. They acted upon it and consummated what they heard. They made confession and dealt with the past so they could move on into the future. And they sealed the deal with a promise, a covenant to follow God’s word. They did the best they could with what they had and with what they understood.

You know the greatest infection to hit mankind is sin. The only remedy is Jesus. Some took the remedy and others are still trying to get by on their own. I John 1—

The New King James Version Chapter 1

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.