CONFESSION
Confession is an integral part of every worship service at First Baptist Church. Whether through prayer, song, corporately or through communion; in confession, we go before God acknowledging that we have sin in our lives in need of forgiveness.
WHAT IS CONFESSION?
Confession is our agreement with God that we have sin and it must be killed. If we don’t confess this truth, we are living an illusion. We are the ones who are deceived and in so doing we are calling God a deceiver. When we go to confession before God, it is one of the traits that show we are truly in Christ where all our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus.
WHAT SINS SHOULD WE CONFESS?
Before God, the answer is simple…all of them! Even the sin we are not aware of, as we do in the prayer Jesus taught us (The Lord’s Prayer). We should intentionally confess before God to ask for forgiveness for the sin we know and feel in our hearts.
BUT JESUS PAID IT ALL ON THE CROSS, SO WHY SHOULD I ASK FOR FORGIVENESS TODAY?
That is absolutely true! Jesus did accomplish and pay for all sin on the cross (John 19:30). When God sees us now, He sees us “alive together with [Christ] having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:13-14) Those verses describe that transaction of Jesus canceling our debt once and for all that we could never hope to pay.
The problem with sin is that we also live in a perpetual state of sinning. 1 John 1:8-10 reminds us that, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” (emphasis mine) That last verse is a pretty bold indicator from God’s Word about the context of what our daily perspective needs to be about the context of confession. While the eternal work has been done, the daily work on us needs to be in focus.
Paul tells us in Colossians 3:3 that we have, “died and your life is hidden with Christ with God.” that is incredible news and is a 100% accomplished salvation through the cross of Jesus. Paul also continues to explain that in the following verse in the context of verse 5, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire.” While our eternal salvation has been accomplished through the work of Jesus on the cross, our work on earth is to make war on sin and we do that through confession.