Confession
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The Dictionary says that "Confess" means to "acknowledge or disclose one's misdeed, fault, or sin.
This is exactly what most Christians do today and by doing only this we have not confessed our sin. God already knows what we have done, and He knows that we know what we have done. He is not interested in getting us to just admit it to Him. The Greek term (homologeo), goes much further.
The term means to say the same thing. In other words to be in the same state of mind about the sin and why we did it as God is. Keep in mind that God hates sin and knows that the sin is a product of out own desire spawned by our own heart. Sin is a willful choice of every person in every case. No one ever has to sin even though we all do, but we do so because of personal choice. Thus the sinfulness of our sin! The outside promptings that we face only bring to surface what lies deep within, but they are not in any way the cause of sin. Our hearts are however. The sin is hiding within waiting to rear its ugly head.
Many today will say well I did such and such, but I was under a great deal of pressure or offer some other excuse. Those things negates any confession. The fact that we do not literally say that to God does not matter. If we hold it in our heart that there was some reason that pushed us so that we sinned other then because our heart is sinful and needs cleansed then the confession is invalid. In other words we chose to sin the sin against a Holy God because we alone have a heart that is not in total surrender to God, and the reason that we sin the sin is we do not love Him as we ought while trying and make others, and even ourselves, think that we do.
Listen to the words Of Jesus;
Mat 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
Mar 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders
If you notice He does not say unless we are really tempted or we just slipped, or no one is perfect. All those would be excuses and keep us from true biblical confession. He says that the sins came form the heart. When we have anything at all that we feel that lends to our sin other then our own desires and lusts then we are not confessing as God calls for. It is not until we take full accountability for what we have done that we can come to the Lord with biblical confession.
Many Christians today admit their sin, but few confess it. Until we have the same mind as God about what we have done there is no confession. God never confronts a person in the bible about their sin and says, and yes I know that you have been going through some tough times, even though some had. Or, Yes I am aware that satan has really been working on you. Or yes I know that you were weak today. Those things only contribute to the revealing of what already exists within our hearts and those things exist because of our own rebellion and personal choices from rebellion against God. True confession requires full accountability. Our sins are all done because of our hearts condition. We need true confession to get the heart changed.
Here is an example of what most of us do with God. A husband is unfaithful. He has a one night stand with his secretary. He gets found out by the wife and she asks why. He says yes I was wrong, but I was tired or under a great deal of pressure or she really came onto me and by the way it meant nothing. I love only you, please for give me. If he did love her nothing could have gotten him to lay with his secretary. Also that is not a confession. That is admitting what he did with an excuse. She really is not interested in his excuses and neither is God when we sin. His confession has no real meaning to her and serves no purpose. It is exactly how most of us come to God. We may not state the excuses but we have them within our hearts and mind and God sees them and does not accept that type of confession.
Some Christians try to get on God's good side through some means other than the confession which is prescribed by God. Sometimes a person thinks that a demonstration of sorrowfulness is called for, or that weeping will impress God with one's contrition. Others "compensate" for their sin by increasing their religious activities. Another might admit their sin before others thinking that public humiliation will solve the problem. Some will pray more often and longer and read their Bibles more. Some will try to bribe God with additional tithes and offerings, or with acts of self-denial, sacrifice, or service. Some will present themselves in re-dedication services and attend church functions more often. But these things cannot be substituted for biblical confession of sin. God is interested only in a person's mental attitude toward the sin and the sincere intent to turn from it.
Listen to David and what he says about his sin;
Psalm 51:4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done [this] evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, [and] be clear when thou judgest.
.
God is not interested in forcing a confession. Unless it comes from a broken and contrite heart the confession is useless. That means that we agree that the sin was all ours willfully done against God and nothing outside of us caused us to sin.
James 1:13-15 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
We are told in scripture that IF we sin He (God) will forgive it. However the English word "Confess" and the Greek word (homologeo), carry different meanings.
The Dictionary says that "Confess" means to "acknowledge or disclose one's misdeed, fault, or sin.
This is exactly what most Christians do today and by doing only this we have not confessed our sin. God already knows what we have done, and He knows that we know what we have done. He is not interested in getting us to just admit it to Him. The Greek term (homologeo), goes much further.
The term means to say the same thing. In other words to be in the same state of mind about the sin and why we did it as God is. Keep in mind that God hates sin and knows that the sin is a product of out own desire spawned by our own heart. Sin is a willful choice of every person in every case. No one ever has to sin even though we all do, but we do so because of personal choice. Thus the sinfulness of our sin! The outside promptings that we face only bring to surface what lies deep within, but they are not in any way the cause of sin. Our hearts are however. The sin is hiding within waiting to rear its ugly head.
Many today will say well I did such and such, but I was under a great deal of pressure or offer some other excuse. Those things negates any confession. The fact that we do not literally say that to God does not matter. If we hold it in our heart that there was some reason that pushed us so that we sinned other then because our heart is sinful and needs cleansed then the confession is invalid. In other words we chose to sin the sin against a Holy God because we alone have a heart that is not in total surrender to God, and the reason that we sin the sin is we do not love Him as we ought while trying and make others, and even ourselves, think that we do.
Listen to the words Of Jesus;
Mat 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
Mar 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders
If you notice He does not say unless we are really tempted or we just slipped, or no one is perfect. All those would be excuses and keep us from true biblical confession. He says that the sins came form the heart. When we have anything at all that we feel that lends to our sin other then our own desires and lusts then we are not confessing as God calls for. It is not until we take full accountability for what we have done that we can come to the Lord with biblical confession.
Many Christians today admit their sin, but few confess it. Until we have the same mind as God about what we have done there is no confession. God never confronts a person in the bible about their sin and says, and yes I know that you have been going through some tough times, even though some had. Or, Yes I am aware that satan has really been working on you. Or yes I know that you were weak today. Those things only contribute to the revealing of what already exists within our hearts and those things exist because of our own rebellion and personal choices from rebellion against God. True confession requires full accountability. Our sins are all done because of our hearts condition. We need true confession to get the heart changed.
Here is an example of what most of us do with God. A husband is unfaithful. He has a one night stand with his secretary. He gets found out by the wife and she asks why. He says yes I was wrong, but I was tired or under a great deal of pressure or she really came onto me and by the way it meant nothing. I love only you, please for give me. If he did love her nothing could have gotten him to lay with his secretary. Also that is not a confession. That is admitting what he did with an excuse. She really is not interested in his excuses and neither is God when we sin. His confession has no real meaning to her and serves no purpose. It is exactly how most of us come to God. We may not state the excuses but we have them within our hearts and mind and God sees them and does not accept that type of confession.
Some Christians try to get on God's good side through some means other than the confession which is prescribed by God. Sometimes a person thinks that a demonstration of sorrowfulness is called for, or that weeping will impress God with one's contrition. Others "compensate" for their sin by increasing their religious activities. Another might admit their sin before others thinking that public humiliation will solve the problem. Some will pray more often and longer and read their Bibles more. Some will try to bribe God with additional tithes and offerings, or with acts of self-denial, sacrifice, or service. Some will present themselves in re-dedication services and attend church functions more often. But these things cannot be substituted for biblical confession of sin. God is interested only in a person's mental attitude toward the sin and the sincere intent to turn from it.
Listen to David and what he says about his sin;
Psalm 51:4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done [this] evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, [and] be clear when thou judgest.
.
God is not interested in forcing a confession against our will. Unless it comes from a broken and contrite heart the confession is useless. That means that we agree that the sin was all ours willfully done against God and nothing outside of us caused us to sin.
James 1:13-15 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Nor can we hold that the sin was simply too much for us to overcome;
1Corinthian 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it].
Confession does not provide us with a license to sin.
The idea that "I can sin and confess repeatedly because God will always forgive" is sinful in itself because it indicates that the believer does not actually think the same about his sin that God does. With this type of belief there is no real repentance or confession.
The bottom line is that many today who profess Christ think that they are confessing their sin when they are actually only stating it as a fact. All that they end up with is words stated and no forgiveness. They may at the moment walk away feeling justified, but later on they end up with emptiness and the feeling of abandonment by God with the constant feeling that they need to confess it again. Many times this becomes a life long pattern and nothing is accomplished. Until we can come to the heart filled acceptance that any sin we do is totally willful and avoidable on our part, that there is no excuses for us, and we are coming to God to have Him deal with us as He sees fit, though seeking His mercy, while holding the desire to be loosed from the sin, we have not confessed the sin.
Our country is in great peril, but more significant is that our churches and homes are in greater peril because we have adopted beliefs that are not of God and then question why we do not see God working in our lives as we know that He can. We are left with un-confessed sin in the mist of our supposed confessions, blindly claiming something that we have not received.
Our Lord has given us the answers to our problems IF we will hear and obey;
If we will hear from heaven and see our sin God can and will heal both.
2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Let us seek God asking Him to reveal our hearts to us, being willing to accept that any sin we do comes from within and is of our own making and not some inherent nature that we have no control over. All our sins come from choices that we make and are without excuse. May God reveal to us how to really confess our sins so that we find peace and forgiveness and we become a witness to the world by our lives..
Nor can we hold that the sin was simply too much for us to overcome;
1Corinthian 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it].
Confession does not provide us with a license to sin.
The idea that "I can sin and confess repeatedly because God will always forgive" is sinful in itself because it indicates that the believer does not actually think the same about his sin that God does. With this type of belief there is no real repentance or confession.
The bottom line is that many today who profess Christ think that they are confessing their sin when they are actually only stating it as a fact. All that they end up with is words stated and no forgiveness. They may at the moment walk away feeling justified, but they end up with emptiness and the feeling of abandonment by God with the constant feeling that they need to confess it again. Many times this becomes a life long pattern and nothing is accomplished. Until we can come to the heart filled acceptance that any sin we do is totally willful and avoidable on our part, that there is no excuses for us, and we are coming to God to have Him deal with us as He sees fit, though seeking His mercy, while holding the desire to be loosed from the sin, we have not confessed the sin.
Our country is in great peril, but more significant is that our churches and homes are in greater peril because we have adopted beliefs that are not of God and then question why we do not see God working in our lives as we know that He can. We are left with un-confessed sin in the mist of our supposed confessions, blindly claiming something that we have not received.
Our Lord has given us the answers to our problems IF we will hear and obey;
If we will hear from heaven and see our sin God can and will heal both.
2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Let us seek God asking Him to reveal our hearts to us, being willing to accept that any sin we do comes from within and is of our own making and not some inherent nature that we have no control over. All our sins come from choices that we make and are without excuse. May God reveal to us how to really confess our sins and find peace and forgiveness.
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