P90x For The Soul - Confession Series

P90X for Your Soul

Confession

Psalms 32:1-5

Do we need to confess our sins as Christians to receive forgiveness?

I thought when I received Jesus as Savior, I was forgiven for all my sins.

First, we need to understand that

As Christians we have been forgiven in a Judicial sense

As Christians, we need to seek forgiveness in a relational sense (John 13)

What does Confession entail?

Confession includes repentance

Agreement with God that you have sinned

Godly Sorrow over your sin (2 Corinthians 7:8-11)

Desire & Determination not to commit this sin again

When we don’t confess, we suffer physically (v.3)

When we don’t confess, we suffer emotionally (v. 4a)(John 13)

When we do confess, we experience Forgiveness (v. 5)(1 John 1:9)

When we do confess we experience cleansing (v. 5)(1 John 1:9)

Good morning.

Slide

Wow, what a beautiful fall day out today. It is supposed to be in the mid 80’s today.

It is getting near the end of the really nice weather for this year. Soon it will be cold so make sure you make the most of this time by getting outside.

I know there are many from Hickory who are running the Chicago Marathon today. On this warm day, I am sure they are going to be working up a sweat.

How many of you have ever done something or worked out to such an extent that you were all sweaty afterward?

Usually when I have done that I get this beautiful smell about me that is great for relationship building and growing in intimacy…NOT.

In fact, when I sweat a lot, I find that it is not at all beneficial to relationship building and people, including my wife, don’t want to be around me for long. That is because I smell bad and I need a shower. I need to remove the sweat and the stench that is on my body.

After I have showered and removed the stink, I am smelling good and it allows me to interact with people and build relationship rather than have that relationship hindered by my bad smell.

Well today we are going to talk about something that is akin to getting the stench off of us as we go about our lives in this world and that is confession.

Slide

Now when I say the word confession, if you have grown up like I had, you might think that confession is not something that is cleansing. In fact, I used to get sweaty just thinking about going to confession.

Well, we are going to look at what the Bible says about confession and specifically see how confession is not something to fear, but truly something that can bring cleansing into our lives and prepare us for deeper relationship with the Lord and others.

Turn with me to Psalm 32:1-5.

Slide

We are going to see what David says about sin and the effects of covering it up versus when he confesses it to the Lord.

This psalm was probably written after David sinned with Bathsheba and had killed Uriah and was confronted by Nathan and after he bore the consequences of the death of the son Bathsheba bore.

Psalm 32:1-5

1 Blessed is he

whose transgressions are forgiven,

whose sins are covered.

2 Blessed is the man

whose sin the LORD does not count against him

and in whose spirit is no deceit.

3 When I kept silent,

my bones wasted away

through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night

your hand was heavy upon me;

my strength was sapped

as in the heat of summer.

Selah

5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you

and did not cover up my iniquity.

I said, "I will confess

my transgressions to the LORD "—

and you forgave

the guilt of my sin.

Pray

David was a man who knew how unconfessed sin could sap his spiritual strength and how confessing sin could bring about renewed strength in the Lord through a closer relationship with Him.

Transition

Now before we get into this passage specifically, we need to ask some bigger questions about confession and forgiveness.

There may be some here already wondering this in their minds. And that is,

If we have received Jesus as our Savior aren’t we already forgiven?

Doesn’t Jesus forgive all of our sins when we receive Him, past, present and future? Why would we need to confess our sins if we are already forgiven?

We need to understand a couple things about confession and forgiveness.

First, we need to understand that

As Christians we have forgiveness in a Judicial sense

Slide

For those who have received Jesus Christ as their Savior, Romans 8:1 tells us that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

When we stand before God on judgment day, if we have received Christ as our Savior, we are covered by the blood of Jesus and we will not be condemned. We have the gift of life. We will stand in His righteousness on that day.