If Christ Has Me Covered, Why Do I Need To Confess & Repent?

Hebrews 10:14 January 25, 2004

If Christ Has Me Covered, Why Do I Need to Confess & Repent?

Last week I started a series in The Purpose Driven Life. And it seems that immediately we are going to take a break. Last week left some questions unanswered, and I felt the need to deal with them.

Today we were supposed to deal with the topic “You were made for God’s Pleasure” Not the other way around!” – we’ll come back to that topic as soon as I can (in the mean time meditate on that – you were made for God’s pleasure, not him for ours! Read the chapters in the book, and you could go on the web and see past sermons I have preached on worship.)

Over the last few weeks I’ve really concentrated on How God’s grace transforms our lives – how when we come to Christ he takes all the things that we have done wrong in our lives and forgives them and takes away the guilt and shame. We take off the old clothes of shame fear and control that we tried to hide our shortcomings with and we are clothed with Christ who is perfect and sinless, well loved by God the Father and standing in God’s pleasure.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

We learned how, when we are “In Christ” God sees us through the lens of is Son and the payment he made on the cross. There is nothing that can condemn us in the courts of heaven. All that we have ever done outside of the will of God is covered by Jesus and his death on the cross.

Rom 8:1-4, 28-39

1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,[1] 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death

31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? …(nothing)

So the question is… If Christ Has Me Covered, Why Do I Need to Confess & Repent?

John Piper ask the question this way in his devotional book “A Godward Life”

“How can we be justified by faith, once for all, and yet need to go on confessing our daily sins so that we will be forgiven?”

Why does Jesus, in his model prayer encourage us to pray “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive our trespasses as we forgive others…” the pairing of confession with daily bread would make us think that we are to confess daily.

1 John 1:8-2:2 says to the Christians

8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for[1] the sins of the whole world.

To answer the question we need to turn to the Bible.

The writer to the Hebrews is making a comparison between the priests in the Old Testament who made daily sacrifices for the people’s sins – their sacrifices had a temporary effect, but Jesus sacrifice was once and for all, permanently covering all or sin. This is what it says…

Hebrews 10 NIV

11Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.