REBOUND FROM SIN (Confession)
(Luke 15:11-32)
[HTML formatted version of this sermon is located at:
http://members.aol.com/abidingitw/rebound.html]
Jesus Himself tells us in John 8:31-32, "...if you abide (live continually or be at home) in My word, then you are truly disciples (or students) of mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (NAS) If we truly want to be disciples of Jesus Christ, then we will be students of His word, the Bible. Before we study today’s topic, let’s take a moment to silently confess our sins to God. This insures that we are in fellowship with Him, that we are under the control of the Holy Spirit. Let’s pray and confess silently for a moment.
Father, we thank you that we are able to come to you and confess our sins, knowing that you have promised always to forgive us. Be with us as we study your Word. May your Holy Spirit make your Word clear to us, use it to renew our minds, and change us to be more like your Son. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
When I first became a Christian, one of the first struggles I had was with the question, "Why do I need to confess my sins?" Yes, the Bible tells me to do this, but again, why? I know that Jesus died for those sins, that He paid the price for them on the cross. That’s why I can go to heaven now. So if the price for my sins is paid, and if I’m already forgiven as far as my salvation is concerned, why do I need to confess sins to God whenever I commit them?
That’s what today’s lesson is about. By looking at Jesus’ parable about the "Prodigal Son", I want to answer several questions that we as Christians often have concerning sin and confession:
SOME QUESTIONS THIS STUDY SHOULD ANSWER
1. Since the penalty for our sins was paid at the cross, why do we still need to confess sins to God?
2. How can we know that our sins are forgiven when we confess them?
3. What does the Bible mean by "confess"?
4. Does it matter whether or not we confess our sins?
5. How often should we confess sins, and are there particular times when it is important to do so?
In answering these questions, I want to use a term that I was taught concerning recovery from personal sins. That word is "rebound". Rebound is a grace process by which believers examine themselves for unconfessed personal sins, and then name or acknowledge such sins to God in prayer. The word itself is not found in the Bible, just like other words we know such as "rapture", "trinity", and "prodigal son" are not found. However, the principle of rebound is taught in 1 John 1:9:
1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness".
The word rebound is used in a number of ways that we already know, such as in basketball. When a player shoots for the basket and misses the goal, but gets the ball back to try again, that’s a "rebound". The word rebound is also used sometimes in personal relationships. When a relationship between two people fails, and one of them soon meets a new person and begins to try again, that’s often described as "rebounding".
Spiritually, the word has the same meaning. When we fail spiritually in our relationship with God, that is, when we "miss the mark" (the meaning of "sin"), God gives us the opportunity to confess that sin and try again. That’s what is meant by rebound. We confess our sin and we return to our relationship with God and try again.
God makes it easy for us to do this, not because sin is not serious. It is, and please don’t mistake anything that I say as suggesting that sin is not serious! However, Jesus died for that sin on the cross, and God makes it easy for us to confess it so that we can get back into fellowship with Him. God wants us to return to Him, and get back to growing spiritually. He wants us to continue to develop our relationship with Him. When we sin, God wants us to rebound from it, and to grow closer to Him again.
Today, I want to look at a New Testament example of spiritual rebound from sin that Jesus gives us, the parable we call the "Prodigal Son". Most Christians are familiar with this parable, but it is not always taught properly by pastors, evangelists, and teachers. I hope to show you some things often overlooked or poorly taught.
A NEW TESTAMENT EXAMPLE OF REBOUND (CONFESSING SIN)
Luke 15:11-32
11 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons.
12 The younger one said to his father, `Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.
14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.
15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.
16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 "When he came to his senses, he said, `How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’
20 So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 "The son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 "But the father said to his servants, `Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.
24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.
27 `Your brother has come,’ he replied, `and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.
29 But he answered his father, `Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 "`My son,’ the father said, `you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’" (NIV)
THE DOCTRINE OF REBOUND (GRACE RECOVERY FROM SIN)
1. The father in this parable represents GOD THE FATHER.
Luke 15:11 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons.
The man in the parable is the "father" of two "sons", which represent two kinds of believers. The Father provides the same opportunities and privileges for both sons for the present time: the same house, same food, clothes, and other day-to-day blessings. Eventually, both sons will have the same opportunity to share in an inheritance from their Father. The father provides for his sons by grace simply because of the father/son relationship, giving to them blessings which they have neither earned nor deserved.
2. The younger PRODIGAL SON represents a BELIEVER who leaves the fellowship of God for the things of this world.
Luke 15:12 The younger one said to his father, `Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
The prodigal son does not represent an unsaved person. We know this because he is a "son" of the father, just as each believer is an adopted "son" in the royal family of God. We also know this because he is a "brother" to the son who did not leave, just as all believers are brethren in God’s royal family. Thirdly, Jesus tells two other parables in Luke 15, the parables of the lost coin and the lost sheep. In all three parables, a person temporarily loses something which they already own. The parables illustrate a believer who wanders away or breaks fellowship with God, but never stops belonging to Him.
3. The prodigal son does NOT represent a believer LOSING HIS SALVATION. A person can not lose his salvation once saved (Romans 8:38-39). The prodigal son is ALWAYS A SON. His relationship with his father is permanent, and does not cease because the son leaves. His status as part of the family does not change because he walks away to fellowship with the world. Biologically, once a person is born into a family, he or she can someday leave the home and the fellowship of their father or mother. However, the parent/child relationship established at birth can never be broken.
When we are saved by believing in Jesus Christ, we receive eternal life and the filling of the Holy Spirit, as well as many other free gifts from God. When we later commit sin, we lose the filling or the control of the Holy Spirit, which is required for us to have fellowship with God. We can never lose our salvation.
Personal sins are not even an issue in salvation, because Christ died on the cross to pay for all of the sins of the entire world (1 John 2:2). Our salvation is based on what we believe about Jesus Christ. It is a free gift based on our faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Salvation can not be lost when we sin. If it could, then that means that it depends in part on OUR person and work, and also means that CHRIST’S work on the cross is NOT COMPLETE.
4. The prodigal son, by choosing to live in the world rather than to live in fellowship with his father, lost the DAILY BLESSINGS and FUTURE INHERITANCE which he could have had otherwise.
Luke 15:13 "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.
The prodigal son never lost his membership, his relationship to his family. What he lost temporarily was the daily fellowship with his father, and the blessings that would have resulted from that fellowship.
5. Living in the world rather than living with the father eventually leads a prodigal son to POVERTY.
Luke 15:14-16
14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.
15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.
16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
A lesson taught in this verse is that sin never makes you a better person or improves your situation in any way. Sin eventually leads to its own negative outcomes.
6. Eventually, a prodigal son living in sin is forced to confront his situation and to either make a FREE WILL DECISION to return to his father, or to continue looking for a solution to his problems in the world.
Luke 15:17-18
17 "When he came to his senses, he said, `How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
7. Even when he decides to return to his father, a prodigal son still often feels the need to suffer or repent in some way to DEMONSTRATE HIS SORROW, rather than to just rest on his father’s willingness and ability to care for him.
Luke 15:19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’
This is why so many Christians reject this Bible teaching about rebound. They say it’s "too easy", in the same way that many unbelievers reject the gospel of salvation through simple faith in the work of Jesus Christ. Many Christians can’t believe that God will simply forgive them unless they first cry, grovel, do some good works to make up for their sin, and never commit such sin again!
8. The father is ALWAYS THERE WAITING and hoping for his prodigal son’s return, and will himself travel most of the way to meet and welcome a returning child.
Luke 15:20-21
20 So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 "The son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
The Father not only wants to forgive you and welcome you back, but does everything He can to make it as easy as possible for you to do so.
9. The father is ready to QUICKLY RESTORE a prodigal son who returns. This restoration takes place based on the father’s relationship with his son and the father’s love for him. It is not based on anything the son does, other than a willingness to return and admit his mistake to his father.
Luke 15:22-24
22 "But the father said to his servants, `Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.
24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
10. In the parable of the prodigal son, the OLDER BROTHER who remains with the father represents the attitude which many Christians have toward God’s forgiveness and His love, that these things are not free gifts of grace. Much of the discouragement we may receive in trying to rebound will be from other believers, and from attitudes of legalism and self-righteousness that we may have learned.
Luke 15:25-26
25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.
Instead of asking his father what was going on, the older brother asked one of the servants. Like many Christians, when he had a problem with someone, he did not go to the person directly to find out what was happening, but involved another person in "gossip" which he was then ready to believe and act upon.
Luke 15:27-28
27 `Your brother has come,’ he replied, `and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.
The older brother adds to his sin of gossip with other mental attitude sins (envy, anger, bitterness), and now the older son is unwilling to fellowship with his father. The father now comes out for a second time in an attempt to restore fellowship with the older son, just as he was willing to do for the younger son who just returned. The father treats both sons the same, but the older son does not understand or appreciate this kind of unmerited love.
In a many ways, the older brother sins far worse than does the younger. The older brother responds to his younger brother’s perceived sins by judging, envying, anger, bitterness, and gossip. Many believers today respond to the perceived outward "sin" of a person with many more mental and verbal sins, and don’t even consider such actions wrong.
A good indicator of our own spiritual growth is how we view the older brother in this parable. If we think he is justified in his attitude, then we may be self-righteous just like he is. If we can’t see that he, too, is out of fellowship with his father through serious mental and verbal sins, then we may be guilty of the same things. We may be legalistic and religious in our attitudes toward certain public sins that we are not tempted to commit. At the same time, we may fail to see our own judging, maligning, or hatred of others who struggle with such sins.
11. Like so many Christians, the older brother WORKS for his father’s love and blessings (or at least thinks that he does), believing that these things are TO BE EARNED.
Luke 15:29-30
29 But he answered his father, `Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
The older brother believes that he has "slaved" for the father, "never disobeyed" him, that he deserves love and blessing from his father for all that he has done. He is so envious of his younger brother that he won’t even refer to him as a brother, but as "this son of yours". He additionally commits the mental attitude sin of judging his brother, assuming or believing that the younger brother squandered money with prostitutes, when there is no way he could have known that for sure (while it could be true, the Bible only tells us that the younger brother engaged in "riotous" or "wild" living).
12. In a final plea to the older son, the father attempts to explain his equal and unmerited love for his sons. The father explains FORGIVENESS BASED ON GRACE.
Luke 15:31-32
31 "`My son,’ the father said, `you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’" (NIV)
13. ANY SIN BREAKS OUR FELLOWSHIP with God the Father and loses the filling of the Holy Spirit. At this point, we are in the world, carnal, not spiritual. We have not lost our salvation, but we have made a free decision to walk away from God and to go our own way in some situation. (1 Cor. 3:1-3; 1 John 1:8,10)
14. A GOOD EXAMPLE OF REBOUND in the Old Testament is King David, who spent about a year separated from God through unconfessed sin.
2 SAMUEL chapters 11 and 12 describe David’s sin with Bathsheba, his murder of her husband, his attempts to rectify or to hide his sins, and his eventual confession (acknowledgment or admission).
PSALMS 51:3-4 records David’s confession of his sin:
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. (NIV)
This verse emphasizes that sin is against GOD ONLY, not other people. You don’t need to run around confessing your sins to people in order to be forgiven by God. In fact, doing so will probably lead them into committing a multitude of sins (gossip, bitterness, hatred, revenge, etc.). Never confess your sins publicly. You are a priest, and your sins are between you and God only.
15. The way to return to fellowship with God, to regain the filling or control of the Holy Spirit in our lives, is to CONFESS OUR SIN TO THE FATHER.
1 John 1:6-10
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
16. CONFESSION of sin is biblically explained in:
1 John 1:9 IF we CONFESS our sins, he is FAITHFUL and JUST to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS.
- The word IF is a third class condition in the Greek. This means “Maybe we will, maybe we won’t”. It’s up to us to make a free will decision.
- The word "WE" refers to believers. Confession of sins is for believers only. Unbelievers need to believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
- The Greek word for CONFESS, homologeo, means “to acknowledge, agree, name, cite”.
- The word for SINS means our “known offenses against God”. Naturally, we can’t confess our unknown sins, those transgressions that we have forgotten or didn’t realize were sins at the time that we did them.
- The word FAITHFUL means “trustworthy, sure, true”. God will always forgive us.
- The word for JUST means “equitable, holy, righteous”. God the Father is just in forgiving our sins because Christ paid the penalty on the cross. This satisfied God’s perfect justice, and Christ’s sinlessness satisfied God’s perfect righteousness.
- The word "CLEANSE" refers to the fact that God forgives us of our sins, and restores us to fellowship with Him. We again have the filling (control) of the Holy Spirit.
- The Greek word for ALL means “all, any, every, the whole”, and in conjunction with the word for UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, refers to all of our sins. This means that God cleanses us from all our sins, the known ones that we confess, as well as the unknown ones that we have forgotten or of which we were never aware.
17. The Bible teaches that confessing (naming or citing) your sins to God is the ONLY REQUIREMENT for forgiveness, the filling of the Holy Spirit, and restoration of fellowship with God the Father.
18. After confessing our sins, it is then important that we FORGET CONFESSED SINS and ISOLATE THEM from our memory (Philip. 3:13-14; Heb. 12:15).
19. As believers who understand and continually practice rebound, God sometimes provides us in grace with the opportunity to HELP OTHERS TO REBOUND. God’s grace provision in this area regards three things:
a. The OPPORTUNITY to help others rebound (Gal. 6:1);
b. An understanding and practice of GRACE (Col. 3:13; (Matt. 18:23-35);
c. DIVINE REWARDS for helping others rebound (James 5:19-20).
This is not a license to interfere in the lives of other believers, but is an opportunity to help them when they express the need.
20. The OLD TESTAMENT teaches us to rebound (Psalms 32:5, 38:18, 51:3-4; Proverbs 28:13; Jer. 3:13).
21. There are many BIBLICAL SYNONYMS for rebound:
a. Confess (1 John 1:9);
b. Judge self (1 Cor. 11:31);
c. Yield (Rom. 6:13, 12:1);
d. Lay aside every weight (Heb. 12:1);
e. Be in subjection to the Father (Heb. 12:9);
f. Lift up the hands that hang down (Heb. 12:12);
g. Make straight paths (Matt. 3:3; Heb. 12:13);
h. Arise from the dead (Eph. 5:14);
i. Put off the old man (Eph. 4:22);
j. Acknowledge thine iniquity (Jer. 3:13).
22. The following are common but FALSE TEACHINGS about confession of sin and forgiveness by God, all requiring MAN TO DO SOMETHING in order to EARN the filling of the Spirit and restoration to fellowship with God:
a. You need to tell God you are SORRY FOR YOUR SINS.
Problems:
How sorry do you have to be?
How can you be forgiven for sins that you can’t remember, since you can never be sorry for those sins?
How can you be sorry for sins that you don’t realize are sins when you commit them?
How do you measure sorrow, to know if you are sorry enough?
How do you know you are forgiven if you can’t be sure you are sorry enough?
If you commit that sin again, were you really sorry last time you confessed it and said you were?
b. ASK GOD TO FORGIVE YOU.
Problems:
The Bible tells us that forgiveness is the faithful and the just response of God to our confession. It is instant and sure. We do not need to ask God to forgive us, and we insult Him by doing so, since God has already promised to forgive us if we merely confess our sins to Him. He doesn’t require that we cry, beg, crawl, or in some other way grovel for forgiveness.
c. Promise God and yourself to TURN AWAY FROM THAT SIN.
Problems:
How can you KNOW that you will not commit that sin again, especially if you have repeatedly done so in the past?
If you promise God that you won’t commit a sin again but then do, you’ve now lied to God, to yourself, and have added even more sin and guilt to yourself.
d. If our sin was against another person, we need to go to that person, CONFESS OUR SIN TO THEM, and ASK THEM to forgive us.
Problems:
The Bible tells us that sin is against God alone, as David’s confession shows in Psalms 51:3-4.
It’s not always possible to straighten things out on your own, so leave it to God to handle the other people and circumstances involved.
By going to others, you may inadvertently lead them to set in motion a chain of mental attitude sins: hatred, bitterness, gossip, judging, unforgiveness.
There is no Biblical requirements that we do these things. Forgiveness is a FREE GIFT of God by GRACE.
If we feel sorry about our sins when we confess them, that’s fine, but God doesn’t require it or base His forgiveness of us on it. If we commit that sin again, we need to confess it again, to restore the filling of the Spirit and our fellowship with God. We need to confess our sins as soon as we are aware we have committed them, as often as we remember or think about it.
23. FAILURE TO REBOUND will have serious CONSEQUENCES in our spiritual lives, both now and in eternity. Because we are out of fellowship with God through unconfessed sin::
a. We are CARNAL, not spiritual, having lost the filling of the Holy Spirit and returning control of our lives to our old sin nature (1 Cor. 3:1-3; 1 John 1:8,10).
b. As carnal believers, we CAN NOT PLEASE GOD by anything we do (Romans 8:8).
c. Our PRAYERS ARE NOT HEARD by God, no matter how "sincere" they may be (Psalm 66:18-19; Eph. 6:18; Jude 1:20) .
d. We will LOSE MANY REWARDS in eternity. The good deeds we perform are human good done through our own power and not by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible calls such works "wood, hay, and stubble" that will be burned at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Only good deeds done while controlled by the Holy Spirit will survive and be rewarded by God as Divine Good (1 Cor. 3:11-15; 2 Cor. 5:10; Eph. 6:7-8; 2 John 1:8; Rev. 11:18, 22:12).
e. Bible doctrine does NOT RENEW OUR MINDS, nor can it CONFORM US TO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST. The control of the Holy Spirit is essential to learning the Word of God. Without the Holy Spirit, the Bible can only be learned academically, and will soon be forgotten like other academic subjects, with no permanent change to our souls (1 Cor. 2; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:1-2; Col. 3:16; Eph. 3:16, 5:18; 1 Pet. 2:2-3; 1 Tim. 4:15; 2 Tim. 2:15).
f. God will CONTINUALLY DISCIPLINE US, even ultimately unto death, until such time as we confess our sins and return to fellowship with Him (1 Cor. 11:28-32; Heb. 12:5-11; 1 John 5:16-17).
g. PHYSICAL WEAKNESS, ILLNESS, AND DEATH can result from regular participation in the Communion table by any believers in carnality. The Bible tells us to examine ourselves before taking part in the Communion table (1 Cor. 11:28-32).
24. In CONCLUSION, it is important to remember a number of things about rebound:
As the result of confessing our sins constantly, we have the filling of the Spirit which enables us to learn the word of God, have our prayers heard and answered, avoid God’s discipline in our lives, and to continue to grow in the faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ as found in the Bible.
As we grow through confessing our sin and then studying the word of God, His word can change us, can renew our minds, can conform us to the image of Christ, and as this occurs, God’s word takes care of rooting out the sin in our lives and eliminating it.
As we learn more and more about who God is through the filling of the Holy Spirit and Bible study, we learn to love God more and more. Love for God gradually becomes our prime motivation for making decisions, and our sin nature gradually has less control over our decisions. Rebound is critical to this process, and the only way to accomplish it. It is God’s grace process, available to every believer equally because, just as in salvation, it depends entirely on our decision to believe.
Copyright © 2000, Frank J. Gallagher,
Abiding In The Word,
http://members.aol.com/abidingitw
All materials are written by me and are copyrighted. These materials may be freely copied and distributed for the purpose of study and teaching, so long as they are made available to others free of charge, and my copyright is included. These materials may not, in any manner, be sold nor used to solicit "donations" from others, nor may they be included in anything you intend to copyright, sell, or offer for a fee. God the Holy Spirit freely provides this knowledge in grace, and so do I. My copyright is exercised to keep these materials freely available to all.
