The Third Principle of authentic Christian discipleship is that God's word contains many great promises. Most of God's promises contain qualifiers and conditions which reflect God's character. To receive the promises, we must obey the conditions in a manner that reflects God's character.
This Blog Will Discuss:
- The Gospel of Salvation.
- Sin left untreated is a 100% terminal disease.
- Sin has a threefold treatment; believe, confess, and repent. It hasn't changed.
- God promises that he will forgive the believer who confesses their sin (1 John 1:9), but we must confess as God defines the term.
- What is a Genuine Biblical Confession?
- How do I make a biblical confession of sin?
How Do I Deal with Sin?
So now we know that God has specific standards of right and wrong. We know that God does not want people tampering or adjusting the standards God has set to suit our own preferences, because it makes it harder for people to know and find God. We know that the fourfold standard of God's righteousness is Love, Faith, Obedience, and doing everything we do on purpose to Glorify God. We know that missing the mark of God's highest standards is called sin. We also know that just as God has specific standards for righteousness, there are also specific consequences for sin which include; broken relationship with God and our fellow human beings, slavery and captivity, death, and finally, hell and eternal torment. Any single one of these consequences would be absolutely dreadful, and any person with an ounce of good sense would want to avoid any and all of these consequences.So the most logical question then is how do we deal with sin? We must believe and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's because Jesus Christ made the only atoning sacrifice that God will accept to forgive our sins (1 John 2:2; 4:10). After we've accepted Christ, whenever we do happen to sin, we must confess our sin, and then repent. Today we focus on true biblical confession, and next time we will focus on how to biblically repent.
We Must Accept, Submit to and Confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
If a person has not yet received the free gift of salvation by accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they must begin by believing the Gospel and accepting God's free gift of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ. How is this done? We must first believe that humanity is not basically good but is basically sinful and needs God's salvation. We must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Most High God. We must believe that Jesus Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit. He was born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, completely obedient to Almighty God the Father. He voluntarily died on the cross to take the punishment that each of our own personal sins deserve. God physically resurrected Jesus Christ His Son from the dead. We must believe all of these things which Scripture collectively calls the Gospel. Once we believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then we must consent to allow Jesus Christ to take His rightful place as the leader, Lord and boss of our lives. When we do that, God promises to save us, (Romans 10:9-10, 13; cf. John 3:36; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23; 1 John 1:8; John 3:16-17; Luke 19:10; 1 Timothy 1:15; 4:10; Hebrews 4:15; Matthew 27:39-64; John 20:1-10; 1 John 2:2; 4:10; John 6:37; Romans 10:13).There are tons of other biblical passages both old and New Testament which confirm all of these, but you get the idea. Once we have accepted and submitted to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, then whenever we discover that we have sinned and come short of God's highest standards; we must first confess, and then repent.
We Must Confess Our Sins to be Forgiven: (This Is Critical, Please Do Not Skip)
Everything we have studied so far has been leading up to this key concept, so I beg you to please pay close attention. God makes a great number of terrific promises in the Scriptures. Here's one of his very best:1 John 1:8-9 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8-9 (NKJV)
Did you catch the great promises that God made in His word? God promises to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. those are terrific promises. By the same token, did you notice that these awesome promises of God also come with a particular proviso or condition? Please look at the first underlined phrase again: "If we confess our sins..." So please take notice. We receive God's gift of salvation when we confess and believe Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9-10). We receive forgiveness of sins whenever we confess our sins (1 John 1:9). If we do not confess we will not be saved, and if we do not confess our sins we cannot be forgiven. With so much of our relationship with God and our eternal life depending on the word "confess," would it not be infinitely worthwhile to learn how God's word defines the term confess and for us to make certain to apply this properly?
How God's Word Defines "Confess"
In the original Greek Biblical language the word confess is "homologeô" which most precisely means to be of one mind, and to speak the same thing.So this means that in order to properly confess something I have to come into mental agreement (to be of one mind or of mental accord) with God about a particular subject, and then I have to speak the same thing that God says about that subject. If I don't come into agreement with God mentally and at the same time, if I don't agree with God verbally about a particular thing, then I really did not biblically confess, and if I do not biblically confess I cannot be saved or forgiven. Getting this right makes the difference between life or death; salvation or condemnation; heaven or hell. Folks, it doesn't get more critical than learning to confess properly.
This is why the first principle of discipleship is that we must learn to define all key terms the way that God defines them. It's so that we will train our minds to think in agreement and in accord with God and His Word. This is why we have been spending so much time meticulously defining sin, its consequences, and defining righteousness in the way that God does. It was all to make certain that we could be in mental agreement with God, so then we could speak as God speaks. We will then be saved and forgiven according to His promises.
How to Make a Biblical Confession of Sin
Now that we know the meaning of a biblical confession, I thought it would be advantageous to look at how to make a biblical confession of sin in such a manner that applies the biblical definition of that term. I will begin by first laying out the procedure step-by-step and then giving a real-life example. This is a lot like learning one's multiplication tables, or learning to ride a bicycle, or learning to tie our shoes. When we first start learning these things, it feels tedious trying to develop the mental and physical coordination and learning the proper steps necessary in the right order so that you can succeed, but once they are properly learned, doing them successfully becomes second nature and almost automatic to us, and we have learned a skill that will benefit us for a lifetime. The same principle holds true with learning how to apply a biblical confession of sin. Learning its step-by-step may at first seem tedious, but the benefit of learning to do it correctly has eternal value, so it is well worth the extra effort.So how do we confess sin? Please do not forget that a proper confession of sin means to be of one mind with God, and to speak the same thing God says concerning my sin. So I must come into agreement with God mentally and then speak in agreement with God verbally concerning my sin, otherwise I did not biblically confess. Keeping all that in mind, here is the dynamic of a biblical confession of sin:
1. Acknowledge God and His true standards concerning this situation.
2. Specifically admit whatever it was that you desired, thought, said, or did, which came short or missed the mark of God's highest standard, and if you can, also acknowledge exactly in what manner it was that what you did came short of God's highest standards.
3. Ask God to forgive you. Now you have completed a biblical confession of sin, but the next step I recommend will lay the groundwork for effective repentance which we will talk about next time, but if you begin doing this at the same time you confess your sins, the work of repentance will already be well underway.
4. Consider and then verbally acknowledge how you could have responded correctly to the situation instead of doing what you did.
Now, let's take those dynamics and put them into a simple, real-life scenario. Let's say that you got into an argument with a friend whom you normally love for example but on this occasion, you behaved badly. You had thoughts and desires that you should not have, and you said things that you definitely shouldn't have, which hurt their feelings. You have already committed your life to Jesus Christ, and you know you behaved badly because the Holy Spirit is convicting you and reminding you of God's and Christ's Word (John 14:26), and so you should be convicted when you come short of it (John 16:8-11). As a child of God, how would you make a true Biblical confession of sin in this type of scenario? By all rights the biblical confession should look something like this:
Acknowledge God's True Standards:
"Almighty God Heavenly Father. Have mercy upon me in the name of Jesus. You heard and saw the argument that I just had with my friend. The truth is, my friend is every bit as important, precious, and valuable to You as I am, and so I had no business thinking the way I thought or speaking to them the way that I did, because according to Your standards, everything I desire, think, say, and do, should be done according to love, faith, obedience and honoring You.Specifically Admit What You Did, and Specifically How You Can See that You in Fact Missed God's Mark:
"I know I missed the mark of Your standard because, when I thought________, and when I said, "______, __________, and ___________________, I wasn't being patient, I wasn't being kind and I wasn't being gentle. So I was not thinking, talking or walking in love when I did that, (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). I also wasn't thinking towards, or talking to my friend in the same manner that I would want to be treated (Matthew 7:12), so there again, I missed the mark of love. You also say that I can be angry, but do not sin (Ephesians 4:26). I definitely missed that one too.Ask God to Forgive You:
"Papa God, I definitely missed the mark of your highest standard here, and I ask you please to forgive me."At this point you would have completed a true and biblical confession of sin, but if you wanted to be a proactive disciple and lay the groundwork for a solid repentance, or prepare yourself to do better next time, it would be very beneficial to add the following step:
Consider and Acknowledge Some Ways You Could Have Responded Differently then You Did:
"Papa God, I should have admitted to my friend I was struggling with what they were saying. I could've said something like, 'Look, I understand you feel very strongly about this. Right now I can't see it that way, but I want to respect what you're saying. I just feel very differently. Can we delay this conversation until I have a chance to pray and get my heart right because I want to respond correctly and I don't want to sin?"Notice how you're examining and preparing ways to respond correctly and avoid sinning in the future.
God bless you, and thank you very much for allowing me the privilege of supporting your walk of faith.
Brother R. Michel Lankford
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