Confessing Sin

[00:00:20] Become A Confident Biblical Counselor. I'm Dr. Dave Jones and today's episode is entitled Confessing Sin.

[00:00:28] Confessing Sin. Now, every counselor is happy when he can prevent problems. We are not interested in

[00:00:37] drumming up any more business than we have. The problem is there are too many people already

[00:00:42] who are hurting in too many ways and we certainly don't need more people hurting. And one of the

[00:00:49] things that we're concerned about is Christian counselors, pastors who are working at counseling,

[00:00:54] is trying to keep people from falling into the difficulties in which they so readily fall as

[00:01:00] sinners. Even those who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ are still sinners and they

[00:01:07] still have problems and they still need to deal with these. Now, we who are concerned about prevention

[00:01:14] have been deeply concerned about teaching children those kinds of practical ways in those practical

[00:01:20] areas in which they can avoid falling into patterns that later on become ways of life for them,

[00:01:26] which as adults and teenagers become very destructive in their own lives, in the lives of their churches,

[00:01:32] in the lives of others around them. And of course, which stunts their Christian growth and keeps them

[00:01:39] from serving Christ as they should. So, we want to see some prevention. And we've talked about how to

[00:01:47] prevent children from falling into blame shifting, from running away from problems, talking to teenagers

[00:01:53] about the need to communicate, not allowing communication breakdowns to occur. And today, we're going to talk

[00:02:01] about teaching children to confess their sin, not just simply to assume the responsibility when somebody

[00:02:07] else catches them at it, as Adam even refused to do when God caught him at it, but to take the initiative

[00:02:14] when one sins, to go to the person whom he has wronged, first to God, and then to anyone else who

[00:02:21] has been wronged, and to confess that sin. Let me read to you what Proverbs 28.13 says about this matter.

[00:02:29] And this is an exciting verse, so pay attention very carefully. It says,

[00:02:35] He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain

[00:02:47] mercy. Wow. I mean, just stop and think about that. You might have some sin in your life that you just

[00:02:57] don't want to say anything. It's just, you're not going to talk about it. You're just going to leave

[00:03:02] it alone, but you've hurt somebody and it's there. Well, this says right here, He who conceals

[00:03:12] a transgression will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. Now,

[00:03:22] there's a tremendously important verse, not to conceal sins. It doesn't lead to any kind of

[00:03:28] prospering in the sight of God or in one's life, but rather to confess and forsake them. That leads

[00:03:36] to the mercy of God being shed abroad in his life. You know, if you're interested in this subject,

[00:03:43] looking into it in some detail, you might look into three Psalms that deal with the question of

[00:03:49] confession. They are Psalm 32, Psalm 38, and Psalm 51. In these three Psalms, David is dealing with his

[00:03:59] own problems where he has sinned. You remember how he sinned against God in murdering Uriah,

[00:04:05] Bathsheba's husband, and how he sinned against God in committing adultery with Bathsheba,

[00:04:11] and how he sinned against Bathsheba also in that act. Well, in these Psalms, he talks about his own

[00:04:18] struggle over confession. He talks about how easy it was, in the one sense, to hold it all inside,

[00:04:25] but how hard it was on him when he did it. How hard it was, on the other hand, to confess it,

[00:04:31] but how easy it was on him when he really did confess it. And throughout the Psalms, he tells us

[00:04:39] about the utter agony that he endured as he held within him the guilt of his sin, and failed to confess it

[00:04:46] to God, and failed to deal with that sin. He talks about that sin acting like a burning arrow that had

[00:04:53] been stuck in his back as a warrior staggering around with an arrow implanted in his back out

[00:04:58] on the battlefield. That's how he felt. He talks about this feeling of misery down inside from

[00:05:05] unconfessed sin that made him feel as if he were crushed, and his bones were cracking,

[00:05:11] that they were old, and they were crushed by the load and the burden of his sin. He talks about God's hand

[00:05:18] pushing down on him. It's as if God had raised a huge hand and had covered his head and his whole life

[00:05:25] with it, and was crushing him under his weight. That's how a person feels when he carries sin within its

[00:05:31] guilt, within all of his feelings of guilt with him. No wonder, then, that he says to us,

[00:05:38] don't be like that stubborn mule that has to be dragged somewhere or another.

[00:05:45] That's, he says, how I was. God had to finally send Nathan, the prophet, around and show me my sin.

[00:05:53] He had to trick me even into confessing my sin. He had to say, you are the man after I had condemned

[00:06:01] someone else for what I myself had done. And so he talks then about the misery, the guilt,

[00:06:07] the depression, the despair, the agony, the physical effects, even upon the body of sin that

[00:06:15] is held within unconfessed. And that's in Psalm 32, Psalm 38, and Psalm 51. You ought to read those

[00:06:26] carefully if you're interested in seeing what David says about it. Indeed, he wrote those Psalms. He says,

[00:06:31] in order to encourage people not to be like he was. He wrote that Psalm rather to tell them about the

[00:06:37] blessedness of confessing sin, how happy a person can be in getting the sin confessed before God

[00:06:44] and dealing with, and then having his sin covered and having it dealt with by the blood of Jesus Christ.

[00:06:53] And so Proverbs again, he who conceals his transgression will not prosper. He who confesses and forsakes them

[00:07:01] will obtain mercy. And so in the garden, Adam and Eve again dealt with this same problem. The first act

[00:07:10] of Adam and Eve after they had sinned was to cover up their shame so that when they faced God, they would

[00:07:15] not have to face him naked and open before his burning eye of conviction. So they made skins or made

[00:07:21] clothes out of the leaves of the garden and covered themselves with these. And so in God's presence,

[00:07:27] they tried to hide their shame and hide their sin and cover up what they had done wrong in eating of

[00:07:34] the forbidden fruit. Only God can truly cover sin. And only God can truly eliminate the feeling of misery

[00:07:41] that comes from unconfessed sin. And so the truth that he taught Adam and Eve when he gave them the

[00:07:48] skins instead of the cover up of their own was that any human cover up of sin will not satisfy. It will

[00:07:56] only bring more fear, more misery, more guilt, more difficulty. That sin must be covered God's way.

[00:08:05] And sin is covered God's way by the blood of his son, Jesus Christ, who came into this world to die on

[00:08:12] the cross and the place of guilty sinners so that those who believe in him, who depend upon what he did

[00:08:18] on that cross will have not only the forgiveness of sin and the assurance of eternal life, but continued

[00:08:25] covering as they confess their sins day by day to God. He is faithful and just. The scriptures tell us

[00:08:33] in 1 John 1 to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's why every young

[00:08:41] child from the very beginning should be taught to confess his sin to God and then go and confess it

[00:08:48] to others. The misery of holding it in is far too much for a child as well as for an adult to bear.

[00:08:56] And so at an early age, encourage your children to go to prayer with God and to talk to others about

[00:09:03] what they have done wrong and to straighten out matters quickly rather than holding in the misery

[00:09:09] of their guilt. Lord, help us to know how to instruct our children. Help us to do this faithfully day by day

[00:09:17] and year by year. It is so hard for us to instruct them because we often find it hard ourselves to confess

[00:09:24] our sins. And yet, Lord, teach us the truth of Proverbs 28 13, that when we conceal our transgressions,

[00:09:33] we do not prosper, that when we confess and forsake them, then you will give us mercy and grace.

[00:09:41] For this we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Have a great day and be blessed.