Blessings of Confession, Part 1
Notes
Transcript
Call to Worship
Call to Worship
Zephaniah 3:14-15
Prayer
Prayer
Adoration: Blessing, honor, glory, power… almighty defender
Confession: …we have sinned: instead of fearing you, feared opinions of people/decisions of human authorities/power of nations; instead of hoping in you, we have hoped in false promises of human intelligence and skill, of self-indulgence, and of pride. With our hearts astray in this way, we have sinned in many ways against you and neighbor.
Thanksgiving: You have taken away the judgement against us! You have cleansed us through the death of Christ, and so you dwell among us.
Supplication: Teach us to behold your majesty + grace = fear + hope = worship; unity; DCC—culture of discipleship + sanctification, strong preaching of the Word, evangelism; Christians in Turkey (endurance, justice, courage to witness); governor Kotek (protect + bless, save, open eyes to most vulnerable)
Family Matters
Family Matters
Benediction
Benediction
Now may the God for whom you wait, lift you up out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire and set your feet upon a rock, and may He place you in the shadow of His wings until the storms of destruction pass by. Amen. (various scriptures, Dale Ralph Davis)
Sermon
Sermon
Main Idea: Confession is a necessary place of blessing for sinners
Intro
Intro
Wonderful pic. from Ps. 1 + Ps. 147 => delight in God’s Word => God makes himself known to you in his Word => you behold his sovereign power + steadfast love => commune w/ him in worship.
Yet, it’s not that simple.
One reason: we sin, which disrupts our walk with God! “For we all stumble in many ways” (James 3:2). Am I excluded from such worship when I sin? Where does that leave me?
Ps. 1 tells us that blessing comes to the person who delights in God’s Law + lives righteously… so then, as sinners, are we cut off from blessing?
The answer to the problem is God’s forgiveness:
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
But notice the last line: “in whose spirit there is no deceit” = in context, means: blessing comes to those who don’t try to hide guilt, but confess it to God
So: blessing comes to those who confess sin to God
Problem: skewed views of confession—
Ex 1: “When stuff gets really bad, maybe I’ll need to confess… but otherwise, I think I’m doing OK as is...”
=> Confession sounds unpleasant, so—desire to minimize it… //
=> maybe, just doesn’t come to mind as an option: “If I ever embezzle money or murder someone, I guess I’ll need to figure out that confession thing…” but you don’t think about it for:
having spoken sharply to your kids (for every parent, that cuts!)
“small” act of pride toward neighbor
=> This is called, “Silence” = opposite of confession
Ex 2: “By saying a confession, you deal w/ your sin, so that then you can get back to the path of blessing.” …almost true… but, can become this idea where God is some divine machine: put a confession into the slot and he deletes a sin…
=> Story: my speeding ticket—take this class, and it will be dismissed from your record…
=> Less and less a true confession, not actually bringing your sins before the God of the universe, but just going through the motions—a form of Silence
Ex 3: Story: confession a self-righteous work… have to imagine, wasn’t a place of joy… massive, grave tragedy!
=> Not true confession to God…
=> actually a form of Silence about sin
A: The Madness of Silence
A: The Madness of Silence
Silence about sin is a kind of madness/insanity
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
[silence and screaming]
Idea of silence = “I’ve sinned, but if I keep quiet about it, it will go away...”
But David found: tried to keep silent => could not—
=> silent toward God ==> groaning = loud sounds made by someone in gut-wrenching anguish (could trans. ‘screaming’)
=> Irony: David was silent toward God, but screaming in his soul
Why? WE cannot silence sin—if we do not take it to God, it will come out in some other way
But why?
[God’s wisdom, discipline, and justice]
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
David’s soul-torment was caused by God— “day and night YOUR hand was heavy upon me”
Under the heaviness of God’s hand… felt his bones were disintegrating//life dried up like a puddle of water in the hot summer sun…
How does God do this?
=> Wisdom—he has woven his wisdom into the fabric of the universe in such a way that righteousness + purity tend to produce satisfaction + peace in the heart//unrighteousness + pride + impurity tend to produce a feeling of sickness
=> Conscience—God’s law is written on the hearts of all/human heart accuses itself when it sins:
They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them
=> Justice + Discipline—God personally intervenes against sin in human lives
(1) For unbeliever: beginning of judgement… refusal to confess sin to God and seek his mercy => soul-anguish => either despair or kill the conscience
(2) For believer: discipline… through external consequences or Spirit’s work… soul-anguish until repentance
[summary]
So: insanity of silence is this:
=> that we think that God does not know/won’t act
=> that we think the human can remain silent about sin it has committed without anguish/damage
=> silence toward God brings loud groans of misery
The heart can be quieted over time through silence, but this is not true peace— ‘death of the conscience’
But for believers, this misery is a mercy: it is the discipline of the Father who loves us, and is not willing for us to destroy ourselves by walking down the “path of the wicked”
My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.
BTW: sometimes that reproof and misery is supposed to come to you through the loving correction of a brother or sister… or through you to them…
B: The Blessing of Confession
B: The Blessing of Confession
So, finally, David turned from madness:
I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
No longer “covered his iniquity/guilt”
Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
vs. 1, “blessed is the one whose sin is covered”—not by himself, but by God
Freely, told his sin to God
Found: “YOU forgave the iniquity of my sin!”
Now, vs. 3-7 are a prayer:
First, David recounts to God the wonder of God’s own forgiveness of his personal sin
Vs. 6, a turn: “May all your people experience such goodness!!!” He prays:
Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.
Here is another prayer to pray for one another:
=> “May each brother and sister confess their sins in prayer”
=> And, “may we do it when you may be found”—may we do it when God’s voice is gentle, urging us to come back to him quickly
=> And, “may we do it before sin ‘shipwrecks us’ in the rush of great waters”—the increasing judgement and discipline of God, and the damaging effect of unconfessed sin
By the way, after Wed. night… “they shall not reach him” means, “rush of great waters shall not reach the one who confesses to God”
So David finishes his prayer:
You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah
Notice the contrast here:
=> Before confession, David only knew God as a heaviness that caused his misery//after, as a hiding place
=>Before, horrible groans of a tormented heart//after, surrounded by shouts of deliverance
In the very act of confession, David found himself forgiven + hidden in the mercy of God toward sinners + preserved from the terrifying waters of judgement + surrounded by the joyful shouts of other forgiven sinners
This is the blessing of confession: it does not merely remove guilt, but it hides us in the goodness of God!
Another skewed practice of confession:
I must remember everything perfectly, see God’s holiness perfectly, see the ugliness of my sin perfectly, confess with perfect purity of heart…
=> or I haven’t confessed/sin is still on me
=> or maybe I forgot something
True: must see something of God’s worthiness/sin’s ugliness/really confess my sin to God
But: consider the mercy and patience of the God you are confessing to—
=> your confessions will never be perfect b/c you are not (in this life)…
=> do you think the confession of the prodigal son was perfect? How did the father react? He interrupted the son’s confession to shout to his servants:
But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.
=> That is the Father’s love for confessing sinners
=> Now look at vs. 7
You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah
=> Confession often travels through a dark valley of humiliation/guilt/shame… BUT in the end, it leads to rejoicing
Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
=> As one of your pastors, I strongly desire for you to experience this joy/exaltation/blessing
[Gospel]
But confession isn’t just for those who are already believers...
The terrifying flash-flood of God’s wrath is coming—he is infinitely pure and wise and hates human evil.
Yet, God’s mercy is boundless
Sent his Son to die on the cross—in the language of Ps. 32, to be swept away in the rush of great waters—to bear God’s judgement against sin, so that sinners from every tongue and tribe and nations might find in God a hiding place, and might praise him forever with shouts of deliverance
So: confess your sin + trust in God’s mercy in Christ for salvation
C: Two Ways: Sorrow vs. Love and Joy
C: Two Ways: Sorrow vs. Love and Joy
Now, David wants to speak directly to you
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
David = example for us: speak into each other’s lives… “I’ve been there. Let me tell you about this. Let me explain to you how to know + honor the Lord.”
What counsel?
Don’t be like a horse or a mule…
‘That’s what I was like… I stayed away from God; I endured the misery of silence rather than the blessing of confession’
Again: the insanity of silence
And: when you are silent//don’t confess, the Lord has to drag you through discipline + misery to bring you to confession, much like a moving a horse against his will w/ bit + bridle
“Don’t do that, but seek the Lord quickly once you realize you’ve sinned”
“Many are the sorrows of the wicked”—of those who refuse to confess…
Yet… confession does not just remove the guilt, misery, discipline...
(vs. 10) “Steadfast Love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.”
Confession => surrounded by God’s mercies
Very similar to Ps. 147—
=> learned, “You can’t impress God”: his power is infinite
=> but also, you can’t impress God b/c your record is riddled w/ sin
=> yet, he takes delight in… who?
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.
=> (as we saw) fear + hope is the core of worship
=> in confession this means:
(1) Fear: God is holy and worth—my sin is ugly—God, have mercy!
(2) Hope: Forgive me, God, for I know that your mercy is endless!
=> God does not merely pardon the confessor… delights in him/surrounds him with steadfast love
Thus David concludes:
Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
So: confession does not merely deal w/ your sin...
=> though, it certainly does that… notice: sinners who confess to God are called here, “righteous” and “upright in heart”
But even as God delights in you + surrounds you with steadfast love…
You see the glory of his mercy… and what? You take delight in him//you worship him for the perfection of his love
You remember anew the grace of his salvation, by which condemnation for sins past, present, and future has already been removed from all true believers by the blood of Christ—and that is blessing indeed.