Icebreaker:
A teacher asks a little boy as to why he was late to school. He replies that his mother served the breakfast late. When his mother was asked, she replied that the milkman delivered the milk late. The milkman, in turn, replied that the cow didn’t give milk on time. But the cow blamed the owner and said that he gave the grass late. Now we can go on adding excuses for why the owner gave the grass late.
Introduction:
Friends, one of our main struggles is to confess our mistakes.
We don’t take responsibility for the mistakes that we make, but we learn to justify our mistakes by blaming something or someone else.
This mode of life is defined as ‘Living in denial’.
Denial simply means, ‘not accepting the reality’ and most of the times it is because it hurts us.
In Psychology, denial is one of the unconscious defense mechanism people sometimes use to deal with unpleasant situations.
For example,
There was a woman named Sandra, who was 45 + years. She did all she can, to look young. She denied the fact that she is getting old and when people asked her age she hated to admit it. She couldn’t face the reality of her age and kept denying it by grooming herself more and more.
Friends, just like Sandra, we are not willing to admit our weaknesses, but we often deny our shortcomings.
We fail to realize that many things that happen in our life, whether it is good or bad is because of our own choices and not because of other external reasons or people.
For example, we often blame the traffic for not being on time for an important appointment.
In Genesis 3, we see how Adam blames Eve and even God, for the choice Adam made, and Eve blames the snake for the choice she made.
Psychologically, ‘living in denial means trying to hold onto our own perception of reality, when in fact we are denying the truth.’
And the sign of denial is when we refuse to listen to truth and argue over it instead of accepting the truth.
People deny different kinds of things:
Some deny health. Some people cannot accept the fact that there is something wrong with their physical body and avoid visiting the doctor.
Some deny their financial condition. Some do not accept the fact that they are not doing well in their finances and in spite of having a lot of debts, they keep spending a lot and project an image to the world that they are doing good financially.
People deny several other aspects of their lives.
But I want to talk about how people deny facts about their spiritual lives.
In denial of spiritual matters, people consciously and sometimes unconsciously deny the spiritual truth of their lives and cover them with their own reasonings and arguments.
For example, I often come across Christians who are addicted to drinking justifying their sins by misinterpreting the Bible.
They try to cover their sinfulness with worldly logic.
Some men give an excuse that they are late for church because their wives served breakfast late or served coffee late.
However, Proverbs 28:13 says that ‘whoever conceals their sins do not prosper’. They cannot grow!
And sadly, denial of spiritual starvation is widely seen among Christians and especially among those who are in faith for a long time.
It is more difficult for a Christian to accept that they have done something wrong or are struggling with sin than an unbeliever.
Friends, when live in such denial, we often fail to enjoy the true life in Christ Jesus.
Text: But according to our text for today, 1 John 1:7 ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’
We receive God’s undeserving forgiveness when we confess our sins.
Confessing our sins helps us to enjoy the true meaning of life in Christ.
Title: I have entitled today’s message as ‘The power of confessing sins.’
We can enjoy our life in Christ when we stop living in denial and start living in the truth.
Firstly, we will look at the problems that hinder us in not confessing our sins. Secondly, we will look at the biblical solution.
Main Points:
I. The Problems.
In my observation, I noticed two main reasons why some Christians choose to live in a state of denial in spiritual matters.
Firstly, it is because of the ‘fear of Rejection’ or otherwise said as ‘approval addiction!’
We all like to be accepted and do not like to be rejected.
But when this desire exceeds beyond what God intends for us, then it becomes a problem.
For example, in Exodus 32 chapter, we see how Aaron goes against the will of God and makes a golden calf to get the approval of the people of Israel.
Because he was afraid of getting rejected by the people, he had to compromise with God’s will.
He sought people’s approval above God’s.
And in verses 21 and 22, we see that when Moses confronted Aaron, he couldn’t acknowledge his sin. Rather, he blames the people of Israel completely.
Friends, when we deny the truth and fail to admit the reality of our sin we create space for the enemy to steal, kill and destroy our lives.
We should not allow the approval of the people around us to determine how we should live above what God wants for us.
Though denial starts with conscious choices, later, unconsciously we tend to please people above God.
We sometimes compromise with Christian values and fail to proclaim Christ in our schools, colleges, workplace and even in our families.....just to avoid rejection from people.
For example, I still remember when I was in my college and my friends asked me to eat food offered to idols, I couldn’t say no to them just for the fear of getting rejected. But God convicted me one day and since then, he always helped me to stand for Him among my unbelieving friends.
Paul writes in Galatians 1:10 that he would not have been a servant of God if he was still a people-pleaser.
When we are constantly seeking people’s approval rather than God’s, how can we really cherish the fullness of life which Christ has promised for His children?
Denying the truth for just gaining people’s approval will steal the abundant life that Christ has promised us.
Friends, before we do anything in life, let us pause a bit and search our hearts and attitudes and know whether we are doing it for fear of people or God?
Secondly, another reason for living in denial of spiritual matters is ‘Pride’.
We saw one set of people who seek only people’s approval but there are other sets of people who don’t seek people’s approval at all and not even God’s.
They are self-approved people.
They are not bothered about what God wants and what godly people expect from them.
They are the ones who cannot face the reality that they can do anything wrong.
They believe they are doing excellent in their spiritual lives, but in reality, they are struggling.
But according to 1 John 1:8 and 10, ‘If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.’ Vs. 10, ‘If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us’
Friends, many times God corrects us through many ways—through His word, people and even through Pastors, but pride distracts us from the reality of our spiritual lives and pushes us into a life of denial, assuming that we are perfect and we cannot be wrong.
Pride rejects the truth that we are sinners and we are only saved by the grace and love of Jesus Christ.
Let us look at a person from the Bible, who faced such struggle. Matthew 26: 31:35. Here we see Jesus revealing a truth about Peter’s life but Peter rejects them.
He refused to believe that he could betray Jesus and had confidence in himself more than the words of Jesus.
But in the same chapter, we see from verse 69 to 75 the reality of his life.
Friends, we can learn great things from our mistakes only when we stop denying them.
The Bible clearly tells us in Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall”.
Friends, let us not allow pride and self-confidence to steal our real life in Christ Jesus.
Let us now look at the biblical solution that can deliver us from such denied state of our spiritual life.
II. The Solution.
I would like to show it through an illustration.
Illustration:
Let us assume this bottle as our life and water as our spirit. Now I’m adding drops of ink into the water which symbolizes sin.
Every time we deny that this water is dirty, we are bottling up this dirty water.
As the days go by, we know what will happen to this water.
Foul smell will come out of this bottle and later fungus will start growing in the bottle as well.
Friends, unless when we realize that the water is polluted in the bottle and change it, we cannot enjoy clean water.
Friends, in the same way, unless we realize our sins and confess them, we cannot enjoy the fullness of life in Christ Jesus.
That’s why we must confess our sins.
A. Confession to God:
First, we should confess our sins to God.
Read 1 John 1:9-10, ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’
We must obey God’s Word and confess our sins in order to enjoy His forgiveness in our lives.
Every time we deny our sinfulness, we bottle up our sins and hinder our fellowship with the Lord. Even if God wants to bless us, He can’t because we are full of sin within.
King David says this in Psalm 32:3-5, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. 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”
And when we cover our sins, according to Proverbs 28:13, we will not prosper. But we will find mercy when we confess.
Friends, confession of our sins to God on a regular basis releases us from the consequences of that sin and helps us to enjoy God’s mercy in our lives.
B. Confession to others.
Secondly, it is equally important to confess our sins to others.
What happens when we confess our sins to others?
Let us Read James 5:15, 16. ‘And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.’
We don’t realize this, but our unforgiveness can lead to sickness. We sometimes suffer in our body due to unforgiveness in our hearts.
So, it is very important for us to search our hearts every time we suffer.
Please note this friend, our confession to others should not have boundaries or limitations.
Sometimes we keep conditions if that person tells me sorry I will tell him/her, or it could be any other condition.
For example: when we reviewed our marriage during our 2nd Anniversary, we made a vow in our marriage. We should tell sorry when the other person is hurt, even if we don’t feel by ourselves that we have hurt them. I still remember during the initial days of our marriage, I often used the word ‘Shut up!’ This word was a very casual word for me. I used it often among my friends. But my husband felt offended every time I used that word. Though according to me, ‘shut up’ was not an offending word, I realized it was hurting him and intentionally stopped using that word.
We should realize that we all are made different, and the things that hurt others may not be hurting us, but still, it is necessary as children of God to apologize to them to enjoy this beautiful life in Christ.
It is very important to confess to others, both when we hurt them and also when others are hurt by us (but we should do it in love). Sometimes, unless you tell them they will not know you were hurt.
And please don’t be in a false assumption that time will heal hurts....hurts are healed through confession, not through time. Sometimes, hurts remain within ourselves until we die.
C. Confession to self,
Thirdly, it is also important to confess the reality of our spiritual life to ourselves.
In other words, it is important to examine our hearts and lives on a regular basis so that we will not move away from the standards of God.
Read 2 Corinthian 13:5, ‘Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?’
As we examine our hearts, we should judge our spiritual lives fairly. We should never consider ourselves more spiritual than others. We should live in a way that we need God more and more.
And Paul writes in Romans 12:3, ‘For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
Our works alone will not determine whether we are spiritual or not, but our character does.
True spirituality is when we consider others more valuable than our selves. Philippians 2:3.
Conclusion:
You know what made Apostle Peter different from Judas. Both denied God, but what made Apostle Peter accepted and used by God is that ‘he confessed his sins!’ but Judas didn’t.
Friends, when our lives are full of sin.... (Show them the glass of water) how can we offer good things to others? How can we be a blessing to others when we ourselves are full of sin?
Friends, if we want to enjoy the abundant life in Christ Jesus, we should make confession our lifestyle.
