Anush A. John Podcast
Anush A. John Podcast
Please Forgive Me - On Confession
We make mistakes constantly. How can one obtain forgiveness? This sermon looks at the kinds of confessions we make, explores repentance, and evaluates the consequences of our actions.
https://www.anushjohn.com/post/please-forgive-me
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Thank you, abby. Good morning, good morning. So if you're feeling lonely, don't You're the only one I ever want. I just want to make it good. So if I love you a little more than I should, please forgive me. I know not what to do. Please forgive me, I can't stop loving you. Don't deny me this pain I'm going through. Please forgive me. If I need you like I do, Please believe me. Every word I say is true. Please forgive me, I can't stop loving you. That was Canadian singer Brian Adams from his 1993 number one single, please Forgive Me.
Speaker 1:There may be many kinds of confessions, but I think there are at least three different kinds of confessions. The first one is what I'll call I am amazing Confession. This is a kind of confession that Brian Adams says please forgive me, I can't stop loving you. Sometimes, when you go for an interview and they ask you what is your weakness, and you say my weakness is I work so hard. I'm going to be such an asset to your company because I work so hard, that is a I am amazing confession. The second kind of confession is a you are horrible confession, and that is when you feel like you have to confess, but you don't really feel humble and you don't think you did anything wrong, but you have to say something, so you blame it on the other person and say I'm sorry, you misunderstood this. The third kind of confession is I am horrible confession. This is a true kind of confession where we actually feel humble about the thing that we did this morning in a sermon entitled please forgive me. I want to talk about this third kind of confession.
Speaker 1:The text that has been given to me is Psalm 51. And we will be reading a few verses in this Psalm. Let me give you a quick background of the story. This Psalm is a Psalm of confession that David wrote after some very bad situations in his life, and you can read the sordid details of his story in 2 Samuel, chapter 11 and 12. I want us to keep our Bibles open to Psalm 51 and we will look at multiple verses throughout the sermon.
Speaker 1:I've divided the sermon into three parts. In the first part, we will look at what confession entails. Second, we will look at the consequences of sin and third, we will look at what happens when we confess. First, let's look at what confession entails. Well, what is confession? Confession is the humble admission of guilt. That's confession. Confession is the humble admission of guilt. Now, for the astute Bible student amongst us, you may ask me well, what is the difference between confession and repentance? The difference is that repentance doesn't stop with confession. Confession is the first step of repentance, but repentance carries on to change what you are confessing about. So for the purposes of the sermon, I'll be using the terms interchangeably, but what I mean is confession and repentance, where you start by admitting your guilt and then move forward to changing what you are confessing about. What does confession entail?
Speaker 1:There are three things that I want to point out. First, confession is agony for the past. Agony for the past, confession acknowledges wrongdoing. Confession acknowledges wrongdoing. It is the opposite of pride. In verse 3, david says in Psalm 51, verse 3, he says for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. He carries the guilt of unconfessed sin and he actually carries this for 12 months before he writes this Psalm. And he has been carrying this agony of an unconfessed sin for all this time, and now he faces it head on.
Speaker 1:Many of us carry the agony of past actions. We've done stuff in the past that we are not proud about. We did stuff in the past that we should have known better and yet we did it, and we carry the agony of the past. The second thing that is in confession is beseeching in the present. Let me read some verses from Psalm 51, verses 1 and 2. And you can follow along in your Bibles have mercy on me, o God. According to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions Verse 2, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. He is pleading with God. He is pleading with God. If we did a crawling and the judge was about to sentence us for 20 years in jail, and if you had that opportunity to meet the judge before he was passing out his sentence, what would you tell him? Would you talk about the weather? Would you talk about how your sports team did bad last week? Would you talk about the upcoming election season? No, we would be pleading with him. We would be begging him. If there was a way, can you let me out? We would do anything we could to avoid being sentenced. The reason why we don't plead with God about sin, the reason why we are so lackadaisical about sin, is because we don't see sin the way God sees sin.
Speaker 1:David uses three words in this passage. He says blot out my transgressions, and the word blot out is to blot out, literally a permanent record. Back in the day, when we used to type on typewriters and we practice ASDFGF, semicolon LKJHJ and when we did that and something went wrong as we were typing it out, we would take it out from the typewriter and use a white out and blot out. That is what David is saying blot out my transgression. And then he says wash me thoroughly, and the word for wash me is to trample with the feet. Why does it mean trample with the feet? Because back in the day everybody washed their clothes with their hands. And when you washed your clothes with your hands, you came across a piece of cloth that had such a big stain that your hands were not enough to get rid of it. So you put it on the ground and you trampled on it with your feet to get rid of this big stain. And then he says cleanse me from my sin, and the word cleanse is an Old Testament word.
Speaker 1:When there was a person in the Old Testament is there a light group with a skin disease? He would have to come to the priest who would check the skin disease to see if it was contagious or not, because they wanted to avoid an epidemic in the community. And so if it was a contagious skin disease, the person with the skin disease was sent outside of the community and every week he would come in and have the priest check him. And the priest would look at it and say, no, it's still contagious, you need to stay out. And he was outside the community devoid of any communion with his countrymen. But there might come a day when he would come to see the priest and the priest would look at that skin disease and say, finally, it is not contagious, you are clean. And that meant the world to him because he could now come back into the community and be part of the fellowship. And this is what David is saying cleanse me, count me as clean. We may have agony for the past and we have beseeching in the present.
Speaker 1:And thirdly, confession entails a change for the future. True confession leads to repentance. True confession leads to repentance. Confession is not the end point, but confession is the starting point of a long road of recovery and restoration and repentance. David says in verse 10, 13, and 14, create in me a clean heart, god, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, o God, o God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
Speaker 1:There are many examples in the Bible of people that confessed but did not repent. In the Old Testament there is a story of Esau. He confessed about the marriages he had, but he did not repent and change his ways. And then you come to the New Testament. The greatest example is Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. He confessed as soon as he saw that Jesus was arrested, but he did not repent. But this was a true confession by David.
Speaker 1:Many times we think that confession is enough, but it is not. It needs to lead to repentance. I wish that this was the end of the sermon, but it's not, because in part two we're going to look at the consequences of sin. Like I said, the reason why we don't understand the seriousness of sin is because we don't see sin from God's perspective. Let's assume that a three-year-old, instead of having a regular temper tantrum where they throw themselves on the ground and flop their hands and feet, instead, this three-year-old takes a loaded gun that was sitting on the table and shoots his father. Obviously it's a hypothetical situation because, as we know, every gun owner has the gun double locked in the basement and the bullets double locked in the attic. So obviously this is a hypothetical situation. But let's say that this three-year-old, in a temper tantrum, took the gun and shot his father. He may feel sad about it, but he doesn't understand the repercussions of his actions, and many times, maybe all the time, that is how we are. We do sin and we don't know the complete repercussions of our actions and we don't know how much of the thing that we did has hurt God.
Speaker 1:Nathan, the prophet, came to David and said in 2 Samuel, chapter 12, verse 9, why have you despised the word of the Lord To do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised me. Verse 13,. David said to Nathan I have sinned against the Lord and this is a true confession. And Nathan said to David the Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die, nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.
Speaker 1:There are two consequences for every sin. The first one is the finite consequence of sin. Every sin has a finite consequence. Some finite consequences are big, some finite consequences are small. So, for example, if you disobey your parents and you don't do your homework, you don't study hard and you end up getting a lousy job, that is a finite consequence. If you did something that and you're spending the rest of your life in prison, it is a big consequence, but it is still a finite consequence. The second consequence of sin is the infinite consequence of sin, and this involves a disturbance in the relationship with God.
Speaker 1:David writes in verse 11, do not cast me away from your presence. What is he talking about? He's talking of a broken relationship with God because of sin. The relationship with God is the main reason for our existence. When God created Adam and Eve in the garden, it was for relationship. And when sin happened and they couldn't have the relationship, the rest of human history is about how God was trying to restore that relationship. And we come to the end of the book of Revelation. It talks about how, in heaven, we will be back in the presence of God. In fact, the difference between heaven and hell is that in heaven we have the presence of God. In hell, there is the absence of the face presence of God.
Speaker 1:Now I want to clarify something. I'm not saying that, as believers, when we sin we are condemned to hell. That is not what I'm saying. When you're a believer, we are in the family of God and sin does not condemn us to hell. But sin breaks the relationship, even in the family of God. All of us are families and sometimes things don't agree with each other in the family. It's not like you disown one another, it's just that you don't talk to each other for a couple of weeks. Right, I mean there is a problem in the relationship. So, as believers, it's not that we are going to go to hell every time we sin or have the potential to do so, it's just that there is a break in the relationship.
Speaker 1:All sin carries an infinite consequence. Why? Because all sin is against God. So in verse 4, david writes against you you only have I sinned. What on earth is he talking about? He sinned against Bechiba. He sinned against Uriah, whom he killed. He sinned against Joab, the commander of the army. What is he talking about? At the end of the day, all sin is against God and therefore it is infinite.
Speaker 1:Let me give you an example that I've given multiple times over the last 15 years. This is from John Philips' book Exploring Romans. Let's say that a marine struck another marine. If he did that, he may get three days' detention. Let's say that, instead of striking another marine, this marine struck a sergeant, and for striking a sergeant he may get three weeks' detention. Let's say, instead of striking the sergeant, he struck his general, and he may get three months' detention. But let's say that, instead of striking the general, he attempted to strike the visiting president of the United States, who is the commander-in-chief, and for that he may be executed on the spot or spend a lifetime in prison. You see what's happening here. The crime is the same. It's one man striking another man, but depending on the rank against whom that crime has been committed, the consequence dramatically increases.
Speaker 1:Ladies and gentlemen, since God is infinite and every sin is against God, therefore we are liable, even for the smallest sin, to face infinite consequence. There are both finite and infinite consequences for every sin we do. Thirdly, what happens when we confess? There are genuine confessions and then there are dishonest confessions. What makes a confession genuine? We looked at it. It has agony, it has beseeching and it has a plan to change for the future. What makes a confession dishonest? It's something that we do all the time. We have no plans to change. We say sorry, but we have not the slightest plan to change the thing that we are sorry about. There are two effects of confession and repentance. The first is that the removal of the finite consequence is not guaranteed. The removal of the finite consequence is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1:The iron law in Western philosophy is this law called the law of causality or the law of cause and effect. It says that every effect has a cause, every cause has an effect. This law is presupposed in every scientific endeavor. You look at an experiment and you look at the effect and you wonder what the cause is. In fact, even when we make arguments for the existence of God, we look at the universe and we say that is an effect. What is the first cause? The first cause is God.
Speaker 1:Now I want to introduce two other laws. There is the law of gravity, and this law of causality is similar to the law of gravity. Now let me introduce a third law, the law of example in mathematics. So there's a law in mathematics which does not change. So 2 plus 2 is 4, whether you're on Mars, whether you lived 200 years ago or whether you're Norwegian, 2 plus 2 is 4. The law of gravity can change On Earth. As we know, on the surface of Earth, gravitational force the gravitational force is 9.8 meters per square second and on the moon it is 1.6. Of that, it's 1.62 meters per square second. So the law of gravity can change. The law of causality also can change.
Speaker 1:Much before Western philosophy there was the Bible. And what does the Bible say about the law of causality? In Galatians, chapter 6, verse 7, it says Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap the law of sowing and reaping. Now, if God wants, he can temporarily suspend the law of gravity, as he did when Jesus walked on water. He temporarily suspended it. God can also temporarily suspend the law of causality, in this case because David confessed. What did Nathan tell him? You shall not die. According to the Torah, for adultery or murder you are supposed to face the death penalty. But because he confessed, nathan told David you shall not die. But David was a warrior, and as a warrior he fought many successful wars, but after this instance he had only one successful war against the Ammonites. He never had another successful war after. In fact, he was driven into exile by his own family and his country descended into civil war. Uriah had died because of David's sin and now death would come into David's house. Four of David's sons died.
Speaker 1:God will forgive your sin if you ask, but the scars may remain. Let's say that you went to Taco Bell last night for a late-night snack. About 30 minutes later you felt a rumbling in your stomach. By the way, is there any Taco Bell owner here? Just so I don't? Okay, great, because I can always switch to some other password place. Let's say that when you heard the rumbling in your stomach, even if you ask forgiveness from God and went back to the Taco Bell manager and asked forgiveness, that doesn't mean the rumbling in your stomach is gonna go away.
Speaker 1:If we spend all our time doing unnecessary stuff and wasting our time and energy doing nonsense and then we end up in a place where we are not supposed to be, we can ask forgiveness, but that doesn't mean all the time and the energy that we wasted will be completely restored If you took your credit card and you bought everything you saw on Amazon and you were neck deep in debt with no money to pay back. Simply asking forgiveness doesn't mean that your balance is gonna fill up to pay for the credit, isn't it? If we were promiscuous in our youth and we had progeny as a result, that will not go away just because we confess and ask forgiveness. And if we have problems with relationships because of the things we did in our past, it doesn't mean that everything will be fixed just because we come to God and ask forgiveness. Many times the scars remain. God may forgive us, but the scars remain. That is why we tell our young people not to use the freedom that they have to do whatever they want, because actions have consequences and the scars remain.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you a couple of questions. Is it possible that some of the troubles we are going through today is because they are finite consequences of something we did in the past? Let me ask you a second question. Is it possible that we are doing something today against our better judgment and because we don't understand the seriousness of sin that will result in finite consequences in the future? Forgiveness need not remove all the consequences. I wish I could tell you something else, but any finite consequence pales in comparison with two things it pales in comparison with what it would have been if we did not confess and it pales in comparison with the infinite consequences of sin.
Speaker 1:The second thing that happens when we confess is restoration of the infinite consequence is promised. Restoration of the infinite consequence is promised In 1 John 1, verse 9. It reads If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Asking God to forgive us will cleanse us of our guilty conscience, will cleanse us of our guilt and our shame and will restore the relationship with God. In verse 12 David writes Restore to me the joy of your salvation. How much does God hate sin? He hates it so much that he would rather have his son die than for his people to do one more sin.
Speaker 1:Let me end with a story. Peter Wang was a 15-year-old student at the Marjory Douglas High School in Florida. He was a member of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and dreamed of becoming a soldier. At the age of 15, he was accepted at the US Military Academy at West Point. How is it possible that a 15-year-old could be admitted and recognized by this very prestigious academy.
Speaker 1:On February 14, 2018, a mass shooting occurred at his school in Parkland Florida. 17 children were killed and 14 others were injured in an event, making it one of the world's worst school massacres. Peter Wang was one of them. He was one of the victims when everybody else was running when the gunshots started, Peter Wang stood and held the door open so that his classmates could escape, and as he held the door open, he took in more bullets than any other victim that day, including one to the head.
Speaker 1:Ladies and gentlemen, 2,000 years ago, jesus held the door open for you and me to come into a personal relationship with him, and as he held that door open, he took upon his body every infinite consequence of every human being on earth, and that is why we can come into a personal relationship with him and that is why we don't have to face the infinite consequences of sin. I want to give the opportunity for two groups of people to respond to this sermon. If there's anyone here who wants to genuinely confess for things that we have done and plan to change for the future, you can stand up and we will pray together. Secondly, if there's anyone who wants to confess and, for the very first time, wants to come into a personal relationship with Jesus, you can also stand up and we will pray together. If there's anyone here who's never invited Jesus into your life, jesus came, he lived a perfect life, he died a cruel, sacrificial death on your behalf, in mine, and he rose again on the third day.
Speaker 1:You can pray something like this if it's a prayer that comes from the bottom of your heart, god will answer it. You can say Dear Lord Jesus, I am a sinner and I deserve the infinite consequence of sin. Thank you for your life, thank you for your death, thank you for your resurrection, thank you for the promise of eternal life. I confess my sin, I repent of my sin. I ask you to come into my life and make me complete. Help me to live a life that is worthy of you.
Speaker 1:Heavenly Father, I pray for the rest of us who knew what needed to be done and yet, many times, we've done the thing that we should not have. We knew better, we were taught better, we knew how it displeased you and yet, for our own sakes, we continue to do what we should not have. I ask you to forgive us and cleanse us and blot our sin from the permanent record. Purify us and create in us a clean heart of God. We repent of our sins. Give us the strength to change for the future. Help us to seek after you and live for you. In Jesus' name, I pray, amen. I'm going to ask the rest of us to stand up for a final benediction. There will be the prayer team up front. If anybody wants prayer, you're welcome to come up front and they will pray with you Now, with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the sweet fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us, both now and forevermore. Amen, thank you.