Confession Pt 2
By Chap Bettis

Our family has purchased and been given many sets of Legos. Several weeks ago, we received a set that had several pieces missing. They weren’t lost in the birthday confusion, they were definitely missing. With some trepidation, we called Legos and were immediately and cheerfully put through to the Missing Part Department.

After our recent trip to Alabama, I found that my credit card had been charged for something I did not authorize. With some trepidation, I called the credit card company and was immediately and cheerfully put through to the Dispute Resolution Department.

Several months ago, my neighbor backed into my car. He did not report it in time for a number of reasons and, out of fear, wanted to lie about the accident date. When he finally reported it, the insurance company heard his claim cheerfully.

If you are going to be in business, you must have a plan for the fact that we live in a fallen, sinful, mistake filled world. Does God understand that? When he set up the Christian life, he gave us the power to live above sin. But what about when we mess up? What about when we have a missing part or dispute or need to draw on our insurance? What happens when we sin?

What happens when we carelessly lose some of the pieces of our lives?

What happens when we willfully misuse the credit card of sin?

What happens when our sin dents somebody’s else’s life?

What is sin anyway?

· Sin is missing the mark – God’s goal was to be like Jesus. Any time we are not like Jesus we fall short of the glory of God.

· Sin is transgression. The word means to go beyond. To go beyond the limits of the law. God gives us all this freedom, but there are limits to it. To go beyond.

· Sin is a debt. Since we break God’s law we become indebted to God. Matthew 18:21ff A king and a servant that owes him a million dollars. “Be patient with me, and I will pay back everything. Before Christ.

· Sin is disobedience – word comes from unpersuadable or unhearing.

· Sin is lawlessness – a nomos = not lawful.

· Sin is unrighteousness = a dikia = not rightness. There is a standard of rightness

· We are guilty of two types of sin. We are guilty because of Adam’s sin. We are guilty because of our own sins.

· When we come to Christ, we are brought into a new relationship with God.

· After we receive Christ, when we sin, we are more like the prodigal son. The relationship between us and God has changed. He is our father. Yes we are in debt to him but he is our father.

When we sin, we incur real guilt and sometimes real guilt feelings. Erich Fromm has said, “It is indeed amazing that in as fundamentally irreligious culture as ours, the sense of guilt should be so wide-spread and deeply rooted as it is.

Our job as leaders is to equip you for works of ministry. I believe one of the big hindrances to Christians living above sin is the unresolved guilt we still have.

Theological Basis - 1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sin, he if faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Luke 15:11-31 How the Prodigal returned home.

What should we do when we realize we have been a prodigal?

He came to his senses and went back to his father.

· v 17-20

· Sin causes us to wander from God. Not geographically, but relationally.

· Sin has pleasure for a while.

· But eventually sin leaves one empty, feeding pigs, eating what the pigs are eating.

· Some of us come to our senses and get depressed.

o Never let us be discouraged with ourselves; it is not when we are conscious of our faults that we are the most wicked: on the contrary, we are less so. We see by a brighter light. And let us remember, for our consolation, that we never perceive our sins till He begin to cure them. -- François Fénélon

· But he went back to his father. He knew his father would receive him back.

He renounces his sin and confessed his sins.

· v.18 I will set out and go back and say to my Father,…

· If we confess our sins.

What is confession?

· To confess is to call it what God calls it. The Greek word is homologeo. to speak the same thing. We confess a sin when we call it what God calls it.

o We use Biblical words. Its coveting, or lust or gossip, etc.

o We stop our defensiveness and agree with God.

o We realize that all sin is against God, some may also be against our neighbor.

o Notice here how the prodigal’s confession says that he has sinned against God and his father.

· But there is another aspect of true confession. Renouncing our sin.

o Just as coming to Christ involves repentance and confession. There is confession that Jesus is Lord, but there is also repentance from sins.

· So true confession is not only calling sin what God calls it but with the confession there must be sense of renouncing it.

· He who covers over his sin falls into trouble, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

o Definition = to give up, usually by a formal declaration. To give up as a habit or practice. To forsake.

o Confess and renounce sounds like two different things. But it is really one thing. But if I say to you leave Providence and go to Boston, it sounds like a two fold request but it is really one; it is impossible to go to Boston with leaving Providence. (original idea J. Edwin Orr)

o To many times we are caught up in the sin – confess – sin – confess cycle. The missing link is renouncing our sin. Formally breaking with it in some way.

· Notice this says, if we confess our sins. Not that we are sinners. But that we sin particularly.

Part of the quote last time by Oswald bears repeating.

o When I get into the presence of God, I do not realize that I am a sinner in an indefinite sense; I realize the concentration of sin in a particular feature of my life.

o Thomas Watson said the same thing, “A child of God will confess sin in particular, an unsound Christian will confess sin by wholesale – he will acknowledge that he is a sinner in general.

· Confess to others as appropriate.

o Confess to the one sinned against.

o Confess to another for healing

o James 5:16 implies that confession has a therapeutic effect. Sidebar advertisement for James 5:16 which tells us to confess our sins and pray for one another that we might be healed. It is that kind of spiritual conversation that benefits our souls.

o Paul Tournier said, “What astonishes me… is the prodigious effect a real confession can have. Very often it is not only the decisive religious experience of freedom from guilt but the sudden cure of the physical or psychological illness.

How to confess?

· Confess with renouncing

· Confess with Biblical words

· Confess specifically not generally

· Confess how the sin was against God.

· Confess as public or private the sin is.

· Confess to others for healing.

What is God’s part?

To forgive us and to cleanse us. 1 John 1:9

· That is we have release from sin’s punishment and sin’s pollution.

· Active sin has two effects in our lives – it breaks our relationship with our heavenly father and it pollutes our daily lives.

· It pollutes the filling of the Holy Spirit. Scripture says that we can grieve and quench the Spirit.

· When we sin we have real guilt before God. And as a result, we may or may not have real guilt feelings. But the two are separate. My guilt before God is objective. My guilt feelings come and go based on many factors including my conscience.

· The prodigal son had a very real guilt before his father when he sinned. He did not start feeling guilty until much later. He was indebted to his father.

· But he was also indebted to God (heaven). I have sinned against heaven and you.

But the father is overjoyed at having him back. The father was watching for him to come back. The father runs and embarrassingly throws himself at his son.

· There is no sin that God will not forgive us of.

· There is no sin that causes him to hold us at arm’s lengths.

· We don’t even have to confess the sins correctly.

o There is not a hint of one person who was afraid to draw near him [Jesus]. There were those who mocked him. There were those who were envious of him. There were those who misunderstood him. There were those who revered him. But there was not one person who considered him too holy, too divine, or too celestial to touch. There was not one person who was reluctant to approach him for fear of being rejected. -- Max Lucado from "God Came Near"

· Not only does the father forgive him, he cleanses him.

o There is the best robe, the rings, the sandals.

When we come back to God in confession, the Lord will forgive us and cleanse us.

· The debt that we owe him is forgotten. The guilt that we have incurred is gone.

· The prodigal did not have to pay back the money he wasted. He just had to come back.

· But God doesn’t leave us legally forgiven but outwardly impoverished, he cleanses us from the impure effects of sin.

Why does he do that? How can we know?

Here the story of the prodigal breaks down and we must return to 1 John. Because he is faithful and just. 1 John 1:9

· Faithful to what? To being loving? No.

· Faithful to his promise – Faithful to his covenant, agreement, “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

o If God makes a promise, he will keep it.

· What about the just part. God is the most just being in the whole universe. If he has accepted Jesus blood on the cross as a sacrifice for your sins, then it would be unjust for him to continue letting that sin separate him from you.

· So ultimately when we come back to God the Father confessing our sins before him, asking and claiming his forgiveness, we don’t do it based on his love, his compassion.

· Instead, we claim God’s forgiveness based on his justice. Jesus has died for this sin, therefore it is right and fair and just that we be forgiven and cleansed.

· We need to understand the legality of the cross of Christ. The cross makes our forgiveness just. We are not depending on the niceness of God but the justice of God. When we bought our house, we wanted to get in early to paint. Would the lady be so kind? No, it was not legally ours and she was leaving herself open to a lawsuit. When we closed it was legally ours and we could do with it what we wanted. We did not have to rely on her kindness. Similarly, we are legally forgiven by the cross of Christ. When we are guilty before the justice of God, we don’t plead for his love, we plead the justice of the blood.

· The Christian life is a life of continued repentance, humiliation for and mortification of sin, of continual faith in, thankfulness for, and love to the Redeemer, and hopeful joyful expectation of a day of glorious redemption, in which the believer shall be fully and finally acquitted, and sin abolished for ever. Matthew Henry

No man is ever more than four steps from God: conviction, repentance, consecration, and faith. -- Roy L. Smith Whenever a man is ready to uncover his sins, God is always ready to cover them. – Unknown

Do you feel the pipe connecting you to God is clogged with sin. Don’t deny. Don’t drown it. Dissolve the built up sin with the blood of Christ. The Father is waiting for you to come to him. He will forgive the debts. He will cleanse you from the dirty clothes. Just come back. Just come back.

If you have any questions, comments or observations, please call Chapman Bettis at 401 727-2367 or John Riley at 401-453-5550 or email at johnr@cornerstoneri.com