Confession (1)
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Confession
Confession
“Confession” = To Openly Admit or Take Ownership of Something
2 Main Types of “Confession” in the Scriptures:
Confessing Sin
Confessing Jesus
Let’s Begin By Looking at:
Confessing Sin
Confessing Sin
Openly Admitting or Taking Ownership of One’s Own Sin
The Opposite of Confessing Your Sin…
Is Trying to Hide Your Sin
The Scriptures Teach that God Forgives Sin When it is Confessed
But When You Try to Hide/Conceal Your Sin…
It Will Remain Unforgiven
Proverbs 28:13 (NASB95)
13 He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.
Psalm 32:1–5 (NASB95)
1 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! 2 How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit! 3 When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah. 5 I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.
1 John 1:5–10 (NASB95)
5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
One Aspect of Walking in the Light…
And Therefore having Fellowship with God…
Is Confessing Our Sins to God
When We Openly Admit & Take Ownership of Our Sins…
God Forgives & Cleanses Us
But if We Try to Hide Our Sins By Claiming We have None…
We are Liars & are Walking in Darkness
Which Means We Don’t
David is the Perfect Example of this
He Struggled with Sin like the Rest of Us
But the Time in His Life Where He was Living in Darkness…
And His Fellowship with God was Severed…
Was When He was Trying to Hide/Conceal…
His Sin with Bathsheba
But as Soon as He Confessed His Sin…
God Forgave Him:
2 Samuel 12:13 (NASB95)
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.
Then David Wrote a Psalm of Confession to God:
Psalm 51 (NASB95)
1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.
4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. 6 Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice. 9 Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise.
16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
18 By Your favor do good to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, In burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.
God Forgives Our Sins:
When We Openly Admit & Take Ownership of Them
But the Scriptures Also Instruct Us to Confess Our Sins to Each Other
James 5:14–16 (NASB95)
14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
Here’s a Passage that We All Know…
But We Never Practice
If a Person is Sick, What should They Do?
Call/Summon the Elders to Pray for Them
So Often in the Church You Hear People Say:
“No One Visited Me When I was Sick”
I’m Sorry if that has Happened to You…
But According to James…
You Share Part of the Blame in that
The Sick are to Invite the Elders
Also, from My Experience…
It’s Rarely the Elders’ Prayers that the Sick Seek
People Often Want the Preacher’s Prayers
Here’s a Dangerous Proposition:
What if We Got Back to the Scriptural Way of Doing it?
What if Whenever One of Us Gets Sick…
We Ask the Elders to Come Pray Over Us?
Maybe Then We’d See the Blessings that We Seek?
James Says We Ought to Confess Our Sins to One Another
In this Comes Forgiveness & Healing
Matthew 5:23–24 (NASB95)
23 “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.
If We’ve Sinned Against a Sibling in Christ…
We Must Be Reconciled to Them Before We can Properly Worship
That Includes Repenting & Confessing Our Sin Against Them
Luke 17:3–4 (NASB95)
3 “Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 “And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”
Repentance & Confession Go Hand in Hand
Repentance Without Confession is Like Saying:
“I Am Changing My Ways Even Though My Ways were Fine Before.”
Confession Without Repentance is Like Saying:
“I Sinned Against You, But I’m Not Sorry & I Plan on Doing it Again.”
When You’ve Sinned Against Someone…
Openly Admitting & Taking Ownership of that Sin is Essential
And When Someone Repents & Confesses Their Sin Against You…
It’s Essential that You Forgive Them
Confessing Sin isn’t Just for Disciples
Confessing Sin is a Crucial Part of Conversion
The People Being Baptized By John Confessed Their Sins:
Matthew 3:5–6 (NASB95)
5 Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan; 6 and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.
Many in Ephesus Who Became Believers…
Came Confessing Their Sinful Practices
Acts 19:18 (NASB95)
18 Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices.
To the entire church, where some crime has created public scandal. As “secret sins are to be rebuked secretly, and public sins publicly,” in the apostolic age, where there was genuine penitence for a notorious offence, the acknowledgment was as public as the deed itself. An illustration of this is found in the well-known case at Corinth (cf 1 Cor 5:3 ff with 2 Cor 2:6 f).
Now Let’s Look at:
Confessing Jesus
Confessing Jesus
Confession of Jesus is Not So Much a Vocal Action (Though Sometimes it is) But a Fixed Belief/Conviction
The expression of a conviction of the heart.
They are declarations of unqualified confidence in Christ, and of surrender to His service
Often Called a Confession of Faith
It is Openly Admitting Allegiance to Jesus & All that He Stands for
In Everyday Life, it Looks Like Not Being Ashamed of Being a Disciple of Jesus
Being Willing to Boldly Claim Him as Your Lord & King
Confessing Jesus Passages:
(Philippians 2:11; Romans 14:11 [Isaiah 45:23]; 2 Corinthians 9:13; 1 Timothy 6:12-13; Hebrews 3:1, 4:14, 10:23; Matthew 10:32; Luke 12:8; John 9:22, 12:42; Acts 24:14; Romans 10:9-10; Titus 1:16; Hebrews 13:15; 1 John 2:23, 4:2-3, 15; 2 John 7)
The two types of confession are often combined in the Bible, producing many psalms of thanksgiving. In general those psalms contain some or all of the following ideas: (1) I sinned; (2) I became ill and nearly died; (3) I prayed to God, who delivered me; and (4) now I offer this song of confession, which I promised him (Pss 22; 30; 32; 34; 40; 51; 116). The same Hebrew word means both “praise” and “confession of sin”; the two meanings were part of a single concept. The psalmist began by admitting sin and God’s justice and ended by confessing God’s forgiveness and delivering power.
James presented a fuller picture: when a Christian is ill, the elders are to visit and give the person opportunity to confess any sins. As in the psalms, forgiveness and healing (the moral and the physical) are tied to confession. Recalling that principle, James urged Christians to confess their sins to one another (Jas 5:13–16).
In the Church. Both types of confession continued to be practiced in the church. During the first 300 years of the church, confessing Christ publicly, especially in a court of law, was very important. Those who did so were honored with the title “martyr” (from a Greek word meaning “witness” or “confessor”), whether or not they were actually put to death for their faith. During that same period, in addition to congregational confessions of sin (which continue in virtually all churches), any Christian who sinned seriously was required to make a public confession in church.