I WENT on at length in the last comment about the importance of being specific in “naming” our sins in this vitally important last topic “Sins and Confession.” I want to share one more thought before proceeding with today’s consideration below, and that is the importance of keeping short accounts.
WHEN we think of confession, we often think in terms of those formal times of prayer in drawing near to our God – times of both corporate and personal worship when we go through the process of personal assessment and introspection: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and…” (Ps. 139:23, 24). But when we succumb and give place to sin (James 1: 14-15), we ought not wait for some convenient moment to get away in private to confess sin, as important as those personal examination times alone with our Lord may be. No, when needful we should push that 1John 1:9 “button” by default and immediately, almost as by reflex, rather then proceed out of fellowship for a time, spiritually disconnected as it were.
IN his excellent book Praying Backwards, Bryan Chapell speaks to both formal and informal prayers; those most important times of worshipful prayers in our personal times alone with the Lord or in the fellowship of others, as opposed those reflexive prayers when we need help now! He terms these immediate prayers as “arrows to heaven,” prayed any place and any time in our daily walk. There are many examples from scripture from Peter’s cry for help after his amazing steps of faith seeing Jesus walk upon the water, to that father’s desperate and confessing prayer found in Mark 9:24: “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” Rebounding from sins deadly affect means keep our account with the Lord short by drawing and releasing an arrow of prayer to heaven from the Christian’s faith armament before another step in taken. Our Lord’s ear is ever turned to His own, and no faith shout or whisper ever goes unnoticed.
OKAY, with that exhortation against sins dominion in our mind and heart in keeping close to our loving Savior, let us get to our authors text once again, and pick-up our reading where we left off a couple of comments back.
IN the joy of the Lord,
Joe
Neh. 8:10, Isa. 30:15 & Job 2:10
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Chapter 27—Sins and Confession – Part 2″
Abiding and walking in the light keeps us honestly aware of our sins, while also enhancing our appreciation of His grace. The realization of our sins does not cripple us, because His cleansing frees us. The light that reveals our sins manifests the Son, enabling us honestly to face both without fear. Where we are most detected, there we are most protected. Upon this basis, the sins that are committed are immediately dealt with, and we are able to continue in fellowship and growth. The only alternative is self-confidently to struggle with sin, to fail, and thereby to be hindered in our development.
Our Father’s counter-action is the ministry of the indwelling Spirit of life. To have our sins so freely forgiven does not make us lax as to our walk. For one thing, with the forgiveness there is often His faithful chastisement. A good conscience is cherished too much for it to be lost by license. We admit that “we all often stumble and fall and offend in many things” (James 3:2, Amp.), but there need be no fear of facing up to each offence and confessing it. The light that reveals our sins ever reveals our perfect position in the Lord Jesus. For us, “the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth” (1 John 2:8).
Confession and cleansing enable us to rest before God without guile. Our attitude becomes, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me…” (Ps. 139:23, 24). There is no pretension of being without sins; rather, we want them clearly revealed so that they may be confessed and thereby kept from breaking our all-important fellowship with the Father. We are faithfully taught the lesson not to attempt to hide our sins and refrain from confession. “When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me…” (Ps. 32:3, 4, NASB). Guilt and chastisement do their thorough work, and we learn to appreciate the fact that God’s way of confession is imperative.
All because of our position in the Lord Jesus, and in spite of our condition in ourselves, our Father is able to say to us, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you … thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jer. 29:11). “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile” (Ps. 32:1, 2). “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:1, 2, italics mine).
As we grow, we learn to stand in our standing of grace, abiding in the risen Lord Jesus, and walking in the light of the Father’s presence and fellowship. …….to be continued
