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Confess and Repent

Last month we began to look at some of what the Bible says about confession and repentance. This is the biblical doctrine of owning it before the Lord. It does us no good if all we do is acknowledge the sins of others and put all of the responsibility on them for the mess we find ourselves in. This blame shifting goes all the way back to the garden and is a symptom of the fall, not a way to undo it. Christ calls us to acknowledge our sin before him and that is what we are to do in order for reconciliation to take place.


Confess means to acknowledge and agree (literally, say again). When we confess our sins, we are acknowledging them before Almighty God. We recognize that they are sins primarily against him, that they violate his standards of justice and holiness, that they break his commandments. More than that, confession is agreeing with the standards that God has defined. It means seeing and calling sin what he sees and calls sin. He gets to determine what sins are and what they are not. This means that I have to confess my sins of covetousness to the Lord, but not the “sins” the cultural police may accuse me of according to their subjective standards of justice.


Repent means a change of mind and a change of direction. Repent means to admit that you were going the wrong direction and to do something about. It means to stop heading down the path you were heading and to turn and go a different way.


It should be clear by now that these two actions belong together. It does us no good if we “confess” our sins to God with no intention or desire to change. Think of how crazy it sounds to say that I’ll confess my sin of exploding anger at my kids to the Lord, but have no intention of changing that behavior. “Lord, I’m sorry for my sins of anger, but I’m planning on coming right back here tomorrow to agree with you about the same things.” Sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn’t it? Confession without repentance is empty.


These ideas come together nicely in Psalm 32. This psalm was written by David, a great man who committed grievous sins. He describes his state before confession in these words: “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer” (vv. 3-4). The anguish, grief, and shame that David felt was from the Lord, struck him at his core, and seemed to physically exhaust him. At some point during this emotional torment, David came to his senses and said, “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” (v. 5). This helps us to see the relational reality of confession and forgiveness. Confession is not a therapeutic practice that helps us find emotional healing and wholeness. There is a real, objective transaction that takes place. We confess to the Lord and he forgives. We bring our crimes before him and he acquits us on the basis of his steadfast love expressed in the atoning work of his Son.


But our response does not end there. We do not have our slates cleaned just to go mess them up again. Repentance follows confession. And in Psalm 32 repentance looks like a promise and a warning. Look what the Lord says in verses 8-9: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.” The promise is that Christ doesn’t leave us on our own to repent by our own strength. He leads, guides, teaches, admonishes, instructs, empowers, and counsels us as we go. Repentance looks like paying attention to Christ’s lead as he helps us avoid the sins in our path. We should do this attentively and responsively, not like a stubborn and ignorant horse or mule. Fighting against the Lord is folly and a sure way to increase our sorrow. But the blessed man is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, and against whom the Lord counts NO iniquity. So, confess, repent, and rejoice in the Lord!

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