Confession is Key

Have you ever had a revelation of truth from God's Word, a revelation seemingly simple but so profound it could not be anything but the finger of God?  The raw power of God's truth is greater than the most dynamic force found in nature.  The words of scripture are more explosive than a volcano or hurricane.  Rather than bringing death upon His listeners, God's holy Word bursts with life.  I had an epiphany of sorts this morning when I was reading Leviticus 4, a chapter devoted to the "sin offering of ignorance."  If a priest, the whole congregation, a ruler, or a member of the children of Israel sinned in ignorance against God, they were required to bring a prescribed animal before the altar.  They would place their hand on the animal's head and kill it as a sin offering before the priests.  This would be a public ceremony for all to see.

The LORD prompted my thoughts in rapid succession.  The bull, lamb, or goat would be killed before all, just like Jesus the Lamb of God was slain as a sacrifice for sin in public.  He was beaten, scourged, humiliated, mocked, stripped nude, and nailed to a cross for all to see.  There is no need for animal sacrifice anymore under the Old Covenant of the Law because Christ has fulfilled it and ushered in the New Covenant in His blood.  Leviticus 4 deals with sins of ignorance, yet there was public confession and sacrifice.  Jesus became sin for us though He had never sinned.  Today God revealed to me what is missing in many churches today - public confession.  I am not referring to "confession" before a priest as mediator (for there is one Mediator in heaven who is Christ, our High Priest), but the confession of sins before fellow believers.  Is this necessary?  Let God's Word be true and consider it well.

God led me to consider the implications of James 5:16:  "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."  Here are some excerpts I wrote this in my journal this morning:  "A lack of public confession results in a lack of prayer, and a lack of prayer causes us to drown in trespasses and ignore repentance.  Confession is the first step toward repentance.  A lack of repentance brings with it a lack of power and abundance of sin.  Our spiritual progress, growth, and fruitfulness will be severely impeded.  If we say we are without sin we call God a liar (1 John 1:10) for He says clearly, "...all have sinned." (Rom. 3:23).  Today we coddle our pride using embarrassment to cloak it, masking our sin with plastic righteousness.  Forgive me, dear LORD, for protecting myself from confession and in so doing barricading myself from your grace and healing touch."

Biblical confession is sorely missed in the church today.  We need people like Ezra, who were not ashamed to weep over the sins of the congregation before all.  Ezra 10:1 reads, "Now while Ezra was praying, and while he was confessing, weeping, and bowing down before the house of God, a very large assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept very bitterly."  We're so worried today about making people feel ashamed about their sin.  I can hear someone blurt out, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."  (Usually only the first part of Romans 8:1 is quoted by such folk, by the way!)  Shouldn't we feel ashamed when we do wrong?  The Bible condemns sin consistently and constantly.  As children of God we are no longer condemned because all of our sin past and future has been cleansed with Christ's blood.  Even so, sin must be confessed.

Read James 5:16 again:  "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."  If we shirk confession, then prayer will be lacking.  Faith in Christ and prayer are the keys to this healing and restoration, as we see in the verse prior to this:  James 5:15 reads, "And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven."  How the devil would love for us to think confession is an outdated, almost unsanitary notion and thus remain spiritually sick and weighed down by sins.  Why do you think the church is weak and powerless?  One obvious reason is the sin which remains unconfessed within it!  Prayer from just anyone will not do:  effective prayer which avails much is sent from the hearts and lips of the righteous!  We are not righteous in ourselves but Christ's righteousness has been imputed to every believer.  Yet we must walk in righteousness.  We must keep ourselves free from sin.  And if we do not confess our faults to one another, and we do not pray for one another, we will not be healed.  The prayer of a man who stubbornly hides his sin and continues in it will be ineffective and weak.

God gave me this idea.  Allow a portion or yield the entire time of corporate prayer held at church (as the Holy Spirit leads!) to be a time of confession and prayer one for another.  No one must confess, but all will be encouraged to confess because all who are born again are in an intense spiritual battle.  We all fall, we all make mistakes, and sometimes we repeat those mistakes over and over.  Paul rebuked the Corinthians for their disregard for Christ's body during the receiving of the Lord's Supper in remembrance of Christ and for this reason many were sick among them.  God even allowed some to die because of their sin!  Do you see a personal need for healing?  If you do not see your need for prayer you are blinded by the deceitfulness of sin, are somehow ignorant of the necessity and power of prayer, or perhaps not even born again!  Jesus prayed publicly and was made a public spectacle for my sin and your sin.  If we will not be honest and open with each other, how can we say we are open with a God who is a consuming fire?

How secret sin rips at our regenerated souls!  Lot's righteous soul was vexed by the sin which surrounded Him in Sodom:  how much more should we be vexed by sins in our own hearts!  The immorality of the city stopped at his doorstep, but many believers have been bound, gagged, and overcome by sin in the heart.  Jesus came to set the captives free, and we are scared that a Christian convicted by sin might feel uncomfortable!  I ask you:  how uncomfortable was Jesus on the cross?  What kind of shame was He subjected to as He hung naked on the cross of Calvary?  Consider the truth of God's Word.  He wants to shake us out of our complacency, free us from bondage, and heal us of our guilt and shame.  The will of Jesus Christ is for our good.  Sometimes pain must come before healing.  Allow the Christ to lance our wounds with His Word so we might be purged, cleansed, and healed.

Are you willing to confess to one another, pray, and see the healing God brings?  When we are obedient to Christ and to the leading of the Holy Spirit, our lives will be a powerful testimony of the grace, healing, and love of our Savior.  Never barricade yourself from God's grace because of pride.  We serve a God who is gracious, compassionate, full of forgiveness, and slow to anger.  He has punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and has given us great deliverance through Jesus Christ.  Believe and receive!