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.
So in a judicial sense, our sins, all of them, past, present and future, where atoned for on the cross and we received this forgiveness when we received Jesus as our Savior.
Now, I want you to understand, that even though Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, if you have not received Jesus as your Savior, you are not forgiven and you need to receive Christ.
You do that by believing in Him and confessing your belief to Him,
that you believe that Jesus really is the Son of God,
that He in fact is God in the flesh,
that He died for your sins in your place and
that He rose again from the dead after 3 days.
When you truly believe that and confess that to Him, you have salvation and you are forgiven in a judicial sense in that you will stand before the Lord on judgment day clean in the righteousness of Jesus.
Romans 10:9 – if you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Praise the Lord for the free gift of salvation and the forgiveness he gives us when we receive Jesus.
Now, even though, we receive Jesus as our Savior and we have God’s forgiveness in a judicial sense,
As Christians, we need forgiveness in a relational sense
Slide
Throughout the Scripture, we see those who are followers of God, seeking and needing forgiveness.
David, the writer of this Psalm we are looking at this morning, was a man after God’s own heart, and he confessed his sin to the Lord, not for salvation, but because he was out of fellowship with God.
Washing the Disciples feet
There is another great illustration of the fact that Christians, those in relationship with the Lord, still need forgiveness. The night before Jesus went to the cross, He was washing the disciples feet. When he got to Peter, listen to the exchange between them.
John 13:6-11
6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"
7Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
8"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet."
Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."
9"Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"
10Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." 11For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
Christ said that the Apostles were clean except for Judas, meaning that they were forgiven in a judicial sense, but as we walk around in this world, we are going to sin just like the apostles would walk around and their feet would get dirty even though they had bathed.
We need Jesus to wash our feet, we need Him to forgive us so we are restored relationally into fellowship with Him.
Ok, so even Christians need to be confessing and receiving forgiveness so we can be in fellowship with the Lord.
But, what does it mean to confess? When we confess our sins, what are we saying?
What does Confession include?
Slide
Confession is more than just some words we mutter to God.
Our words would be part of what confession includes, but biblical confessions must also include
Agreement with God that you have sinned
Slide
You have to believe what you have done is wrong. If you don’t you aren’t really confessing.
1 John 1:8
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
We all know we have sinned. It is those sins we need to confess before the Lord and be in agreement that they in fact are sin, that they are wrong and that we did it.
So, confession includes recognizing and agreeing with God that we have sinned.
Confession also includes
Godly Sorrow over your sin
Slide
All true confession has to include repentance, a godly sorrow over your sin, not just being sorry about the consequences, but sorry for that you have done wrong.
Often people have a worldly sorrow, that is, a sorrow for the consequences they experience.
Esau
Esau had this kind of worldly sorrow after he sold his birth right as the first born. Afterward he was sorry that he lost his birthright, but he really wasn’t sorry for what he did, only for the consequences.
Hebrews 12:17 tells us that “when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.”
He wanted the blessing and had a worldly sorrow that he couldn’t have it now. He wasn’t sorry for selling his birthright, only for not getting the blessing.
Paul writes to the Corinthians about the difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow, the type that the Corinthians had when they received a letter from Paul.
He writes in 2 Corinthians 7:8-10
8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it — I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— 9 yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us.
Slide
10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
A true confession is going to include godly sorrow over your sin.
Finally, a biblical confession will also include a
Desire & Determination not to commit this sin again
Slide
This doesn’t mean that if you have confessed a sin in the past and committed it again, that you didn’t really feel a godly sorrow or that you were not repentant and that your confession was fake.
We are all going to face sins that we struggle to overcome.
This does mean though that we cannot confess our sin before the Lord with the intention of going and doing it again.
That is not really confession and really has no effect upon our life.
In the religion I grew up in where confession was a sacrament, there were people who thought that I could just go into the confessional and confess and then I would be ok and could go and sin again and just confess again.
“Confess on Sunday and you will be good for another week of sinning on Monday.” That is not biblical confession.
That would be repulsive to God and his grace.
Hebrews 10:26-30
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
NIV
If we confess with that mindset, we are insulting the Spirit of grace and we should not expect any forgiveness from a confession that is in word only and not from our heart with repentance.
Transition
Ok, so that is what is included in real confession as the Bible speaks about it.
But
What are the effects of Confession?
Slide
Do we really need to confess? Does it really matter in our life?
Can’t we just move on without dredging up the wrong things we have done?
Wouldn’t it be better just to forget about it and move on?
Well, according to the Scripture we are looking at today in Psalm 32, David talks about the effects it had on him when he didn’t confess and when he did.
Here we find that
When we don’t confess, we suffer physically
Slide
When we have our sin, our transgressions, bottled up inside us it affects us physically.
These “secrets” that we keep inside that we believe are wrong can affect our eating habits. It can cause sleeplessness. It can cause ulcers and stress that affect us in physical ways.
David said that “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.” (Psalm 32:3)
His lack of confession caused him to suffer physically.
But that physical suffering was due to how it affected him emotionally.
Because
When we don’t confess, we suffer emotionally
Slide
Look at verse 4. Right after he talks about his physical suffering he says it is because
“For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.” ( Psalm 32:4) NIV
He felt the heaviness of God’s hand inside him and it sapped his strength.
We cannot keep our sins bottled up inside us without consequence.
It will affect us inside and out.
So often we think if we just keep our sins secret, if nobody knows about them, that will be better for us.
The truth is, is that when we keep our sins inside, unconfessed, in the dark, we give Satan a foothold into our life.
But when we confess our sins, when we acknowledge our sins and bring it into the light, look at what David says in verse 5.
Psalm 32:5
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.
When we confess, we experience Forgiveness
Slide
Oh, the blessing of forgiveness.
Look at how David begins this Psalm
Psalm 32:1-2 - 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. (NIV)
It is a blessing to experience the forgiveness that is available when we confess our sins to the Lord.
Yea, Scott, but you don’t know what I have done. You don’t have the past I have. You haven’t committed the sins I have. I am beyond forgiveness.
This is the lie that Satan wants you to believe.
Forgiveness is available to all who put their trust in Jesus Christ and confess their sins to him.
The apostle John, writing to other believers says in
1 John 1:9a - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins…
God’s promise to us is that when we come to him confessing, confession that includes what we talked about earlier, not just confessing in our words, but confessing in real repentance, He will forgive us.
He is faithful to keep his promise.
He will forgive.
There are no conditions other than real confession in repentance.
But that is not all.
When we confess we experience freedom from guilt
Slide
Psalm 32:5 - 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.
While we have been forgiven but we also experience the freedom from the guilt of our sin.
The apostle John says when we confess that he purifies us.
1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. NIV
That purifying, that release form the guilt of our sin is what brings us back into fellowship with the Lord.
Conclusion
What is your need today?
Do you need to be restored into fellowship with the Lord?
Maybe you need to receive that initial forgiveness in a judicial sense by receiving the forgiveness that Christ provided upon the cross.
I am certain that many if not all of us need to come confessing in some fashion.
Ultimately it is about confessing our sins to the Lord, actually naming them and agreeing with God that they are wrong and seeking forgiveness.
You can do that just between you and God, but I will say that when we confess our sins to another, and bring it out into the light, we experience even greater freedom.
James 5:15b-16
If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
I want to encourage you to have another person in your life that you can confess to, that can help you be accountable, that you give permission to ask you questions, so that you are continually walking in fellowship with the Lord.
I want us to take a few minutes to confess.
Examine yourself this morning and see if there is anything that the Lord reveals to you that you need to confess. If there is do it. Confess it. Agree with the Lord that it is sin, recognize that it caused Jesus to have to go to the cross for you and take the punishment you deserve and determine to take steps to avoid committing that sin in the future.
If you want to come up to the altar and pray, you can come up this morning.
If you want to stay where you are at and confess, you are free to do that.
In a couple of minutes I am going to pray and close us out and then the worship team will come up and we will close in worship.
Time of confession
Pray
We serve a good God.
A God who freely gives us forgiveness when we confess our sins.
He is a God who deserves to be praised.
So join with us as we worship God as we sing Blessed by Your Name.
