The next step in our experience of conversion is the work of
Confession.
Once the penitent sinner has realised the guilt of his sins,
and in his remorse seeks to be made right with God and be cleansed of his
unrighteousness, the next step following repentance is confession. We
will consider what exactly true confession involves and how that relates to the
mercy of God.
The means of obtaining mercy
“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso
confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Proverbs 28:13.
Confession of all the known sins is the condition for
receiving mercy, the pardon and the removal of the sins which separate the soul
from God. Thus John writes: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.
That forgiveness and complete cleansing, the mercy which purges man’s sins, is
freely availed to all, and the condition to receive it is simply that of
confessing ones sins to God.
There are 3 points though that must be considered regarding
the kind of confession which is acceptable with God.
1. Confession must be of a heartfelt, and
definite.
True and genuine confession need not just be a general,
“Lord forgive us for our sins,” without a real regard of what it is one has
done to grieve the heart of God. But the confession which God calls for is to
confess all the known deeds and habits which are displeasing to God and to
point them out by name.
We are given an idea of what kind of confession God would
require of us. The wise man writes “He that covereth his sins shall not
prosper…” The comparison made is between one who confesses, and on the other
hand one who covers (as in hides or conceals) his sins. So we may already grasp
the idea that in true confession, one cannot cover his sins. The sinner must be
plain between himself and God regarding his transgressions of God’s law.
We see God calling for this sort of confession. In the book
of Jeremiah, we read the sad account of God’s people who had backslidden from
God to commit spiritual fornication with idols and other false gods. This was
at a time when the 2 tribes had long been split into the camp of Israel and the
camp of Judah (which eventually became the Jews). In God’s earnest and merciful
pleadings to them, we may find a lesson about God’s mercy for ourselves. We read:
“Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say,
Return (or repent), thou backsliding
Israel, saith the LORD; [and] I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for
I [am] merciful, saith the LORD, [and] I will not keep [anger] for ever.”
Jeremiah 3:12
Look at God’s response to the stubborn children of Israel in
their rebellion. While they were still persistent in their sins, God’s first
response was to still call them to return to Himself as their God. He invites
them and lets them know that He will not cause His anger to fall on them even though they deserve it and He would
be right in doing so. But why is that? Why does God still choose to chase after
a rebellious people? Why has He not punished us with fire and brimstone
immediately as we deserve? Well, as He says to Jeremiah, because He is merciful; and for that very fact, He will not keep
His anger forever, though that anger is entirely justified.
Now look at the one request which God makes of them in order
to obtain that mercy:
“Only acknowledge (or confess) thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast
scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith
the LORD.” v.13
God invites sinners to return to Him, the only thing that He
asks is that we might sincerely confess and acknowledge that we are wrong, that
we have gone astray from Gods instruction. His promise to such is that He will
not pour out the punishment which they now acknowledge that they deserve.
True confession is not just to inform Him of the sin which
one has committed, but it is to be honest to God that the act committed is
deserving of punishment and request, sincerely, for His pardon. And we are
assured that it will be given, because He is merciful (mercy is a part of who
He is).
The opposite of this is to justify (as in to defend,
explain or excuse) one’s self. Which is exactly what the backslidden nation was
doing at first before God calls them. We are told that “The backsliding Israel
hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah” Jeremiah 3:11. That is not
the kind of confession God calls for. To seek to justify ones sinful acts, to
explain to God why one has transgressed, is no different than to cover them,
and “he that covereth his sins shall not prosper” but we may thank God that we
are assured that “whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
Within the private quarters of prayer, we may take all our
transgressions to God, and the promise is that He is faithful and just to
forgive, once we have met this simple condition.
2. True confession must come with the
willingness to do away with the sins confessed. A willingness to reform.
Having confessed ones sins, there is a decided change that
must take place. The one who obtains mercy is one who not only “confesses” but
also “forsakes” the sins he has brought before God. (Prov. 28:13)
“Let the wicked forsake
his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the
LORD, and he will have mercy upon
him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:7
How profound the idea. Mercy is offered to the wicked,
granted that one is willing to forsake, to reject and abandon ones sins. That
mercy is not only the promise but it is also the driving motivator to forsake
sin.
Now let us not forget, it is according to God’s mercy that
He saves us (Titus 3:5), and it is He that purifies us of our iniquities by the
very same mercy (Prov. 6:16). So the call to forsake sin before coming to God
is not necessarily that the sinner must have cleansed himself before coming to
God, but rather it is that I may come to God with a sincere desire to “break up”,
so to say, with my sins and have them removed from me by His mercy.
Thus there’s more to confession than acknowledging ones sins
and accepting the fact that one is a sinner, but the truly repentant heart
wants to forsake the very sin itself. To such a one God promises that He will
have mercy, and that He will “abundantly pardon.”
It is therefore possible to confess ones sins to God over
and over and not obtain His transforming mercy, simply due to not being willing
to forsake the sins being confessed. But we may claim the promise “it is God
that works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure…” Phil. 2:13.
Thus, where we are not willing to forsake particular sins, we may even confess
that to God, and He will give that willingness to the one who asks. As we
continue with these steps to conversion, we shall see how God does the work of
turning a man from his sins.
3. Confession must hope in the mercy of God.
We may have confidence, when confessing, that God will accept our sincere
apology.
In Luke 18, Jesus relays a parable about a Pharisee and a
tax collector that illustrates this point. We read:
“Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a
Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with
himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men [are], extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican…” Luke 18:10-11
Notice the attitude of this Pharisee. Jesus “spake this
parable unto certain which trusted in themselves
that they were righteous” (Luke 18:9) and this Pharisee is an example of
that. He may not feel as thou he needs any mercy exercised towards him, but
rather that he deserves whatever blessings he may have, On the other hand:
“the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much
as [his] eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful
to me a sinner." Luke 18:13.
Unlike the Pharisee, when the publican comes to God, he
realises that there is nothing about him that can commend him to God. There is
nothing that he can point to as a reason why God should even give him any
attention. The publican realises though, that as a sinner, he can claim the
mercy of God. God’s mercy, the fact that God is a God who “hath not dealt with
us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities...” is what
gives the sinful publican hope. Psa. 103:10
Now notice the result of such an attitude. Said Jesus,” I
tell you, this man went down to his house justified [rather] than the other:
for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased (brought low); and he that
humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Luke
18:14.
Between these 2
individuals who came praying to God, the Pharisee who trusted in all his good
deeds went away without being justified. On the other hand, the publican whose
only hope was the mercy of God, went away justified (pardoned and cleansed).
The point to be gained is that when the publican confessed
his sin, his only claim for forgiveness was the fact that God is merciful. This
was His hope; and when it comes to our heartfelt confession of our sins, we can
be hopeful that God will forgive us not because of any inherent goodness we may
have within ourselves (for we truly have none), but because He is merciful. For
this reason, he went away “justified” (forgiven).
“The Lord taketh
pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in His mercy” Psalms 147:11.
Those whose hope is in the mercy of God are pleasing to Him, and He will gladly
accept their sincere confessions. God accepts the sinner because He is a God of
mercy, and since “His mercy endureth forever” this mercy may be our hope.
