Confession Of Sin
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 1:19
Confession of our sinfulness is a must to overcome this epidemic. Those who have given themselves over to fornication must confess their sinfulness and return to the teachings and authority of Christ. Let those who have sinned, stop sinning. Is there any doubt that fornication is a sin? So why do we continue in sin that grace may abound.[1] God forbid. We who are saved are supposed to be dead to sin, dead to the old man or woman. We are supposed to be new creations.[2] Yet we keep sinning. Why do we keep giving the old man CPR? We keep him on life support again and again. The Word says if I come before God and confess I will be not only forgiven, but also cleansed.
In confessing our sinfulness to God, the first thing we have to understand is that our confessions are not for God. The scriptures say that the “eyes of the LORD” are in every place and they see everything.[3] So why do I need to confess what God already knows? No. So some would ask why we need to confess at all. God already knows everything. The confession process is to help increase our faith relationship with God. Who we trust we confess our secrets to. If we do not trust someone, we do not tell them our secrets. We do not confide in strangers. For many people that is their relationship with God, they are strangers. They may know the Word of God, but they do not know God. As our relationship with God increases He begins to convict us of our sins on a deeper level. This forces us to do one of two things: either we run away in shame and continue to sin or we run to God and confess our sinfulness.
Confession also begins the process of transfer of trust from ourselves to God. As we trust more and more in God our willingness to hide from Him who we are diminishes; as if I could hide from Him anyway.[4] If we are to follow and obey God, we should start trusting in Him. We must become as little children. I often use the example of a parent leading a small child across a busy highway, the child will not question the wisdom of the parent even if they do not understand the situation. Though there are cars speeding by, the child will rely on and trust the parent. This is the type of faith that God is desiring from us. To offer Him blind faith. Why we as humans feel entitled to an explanation from God is beyond my comprehension. It is as if Gods every little movement must be run past us for our approval or acceptance. This blind faith only comes from total faith and trust in God.[5] Remember Jesus Christ told Peter, “What is that to you? You follow Me.”[6] We do not get to ask questions, we only get to follow if we choose.
“He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever
confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”
Proverbs 28:13
Finally confession begins the practice of loosening the hold of the “old man”. As long as we pretend we have no sins, we stay bound to the dead man. None of our ventures will succeed with this attitude. No matter how much we plan, or how smart we think we are it all comes to nothing. The reason it is so difficult to let go of the dead man is that so much of us is entwined in him. He was who we were for so long. If we acknowledge his failures, we acknowledge our reliance on ourselves is a failure. If we have not allowed God to create a new man to replace him, where do we go? If we are still in the old man when he dies we die. By coming to God in confession we begin the change of the old to the new. The old man held all of our secrets, all of our sins. The things we were going to take to the grave. As we confess these deep dark secrets and sins the hold of the old man is loosened little by little. The thing about God is that He only reveals what we can handle at that time, He never gives us too much. Why must I die to the old man before I can take up the new man? Because we only have one spirit and that spirit cannot be in two places. We have to choose where we put it, where we put our trust. The reason many of us do not change is because we do not trust in the new man. The old man (life) may be messed up, but we at least have life, we know that life. Without faith in the resurrecting power of God we do not think there will be a new life. And let’s face it who among us really wants to die? I say to live, you must die. There can be no resurrection until someone dies. We want to go to heaven, yet we do not want to die. Christ says we must be born again, that means something has died.[7] Do not be afraid to die little ones for our God is more than able to raise us up as He raised up Christ. In order for us to overcome this sinful epidemic we must all confess and be born again. We must all die to our past lives.
True confession comes from conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit. It is not by being troubled by the uneasiness of being reminded of the wrong I have done. It is a deep sense of remorse not towards my fellow man, but towards God. The psalmist declares, “Against You, and You only have I sinned.”[8] Are we responsible for the damage we do to our brothers? Of course, we are but it is the damage to our relationship to God that should trouble us the most. That relationship is our saving grace. It is more important than anything else we do in the Father’s name.
Confession begins the development of bringing that relationship with the Father back into its proper place. Before there can be repentance and forgiveness there must be confession. We must clean the slate and begin our relationship with God anew. God has done His part by providing the propitiation for our sins in Christ Jesus to bring our relationship back to its right state. Our work begins by acknowledging the fact that we needed a propitiation for our sins or that we are sinners. If we have committed no sin then there is no need for confession or redemption. Through conviction of the Holy Spirit confession is made to salvation.[9] I pray that the Holy Spirit may convict you of your sinfulness, that you heed the Word, and that you confess the Lord Jesus Christ.
