CONFESSION OF SIN

Confession of Sin

July 28, 2016

Greetings,
I have worked the confession of sin numerous times in teaching, Scripture study and reference and use in my personal prayer notebook.  The following is covering some of that information I have already shared, but it may be your first time in reading that from me.  IN recent times of sharing I have come across again to those in the church that have been there for a long time, but seemingly unknowing of Scriptures in light of the prayer of confession.  I desire to write it out for the church to have and use in corporate and personal prayer times of confession. 

There are two main focuses for us in confession:
1.  the pronouns used are very important;  personal confession, as in David's Psalm 51 is filled with "I", and "me";  while other prayed for a people/nation and it was plural, "we", or "us';
2.  a very detailed knowledge of what God has said is sin and how we should acknowledge and know our high offence. 

I do not know how many sins there are that are found in Scriptures, but we should know wherein our high offence is before the Lord.  these are the specific things that the Lord has spoken and said 'this is sin'.  Should we not be concerned with what costs us our relationship/walk with the LOrd?  should we not be concerned with what hinders our prayers? (psalm 66:18, 'If I regard iniquity within my heart, the Lord will not hear me')  Should we not upset with what costs us the closeness, nearness and power of the Holy Ghost? (ephesians, "Quench not the Holy Spirit")

Teaching, learning and understanding what is offensive to the Lord should keep us from it and cause us to stay true to Him and in Him.  We know how much our sin has costs our Lord when we view His crucifixion.  We know how much sin has cost the church, our families and our nation when we understand our sins have forced Him to withdraw from us.  Therefore, we should be resolved not to sin and in order to know what not to sin in, we have to know what sin is specifically. 

Here we begin to search the Scripture for what is pronounced as sin in the eyes of the Lord.  WE see sins pronounced  by the Lord as general in our choices as unbelief, forsaking Him and disobedient.  WE see the specifics of these as to what we have not believed; how have we forsaken Him and wherein have we been disobedient.  So we look at the Scripture for the two measures of sins pronounced generally speaking and specificially speaking.  (It is not my desire to differentiate between the two but simply list them before us.)

Galatians 5: 19 - 21; Revelation 22:15; Mark 7:21-23;
This is the longest lists of sins of the flesh.  Many of these are repeated throughout Scripure but some are referenced specifically for the first time. 
--Adultery - definition - illicit sexual behavior by husband/wife, breaking their marriage vows;  identified as the works of the flesh in Galatians 5;  Jesus declared in Mark 7 out of an evil heart comes this sin; the 7th commandment in Exodus 20, Deut. 5, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.'  Jesus declared in Matthew 5 in the SErmon on the Mount, if a man looks on a woman to lust after her, he has already committed adultery.  Many will justify themselves that they have not actually committed adultery, but they will never confess that they have lusted, thought, been tempted in this and their hearts have gone out after this sin. 
--fornication - definition - illicit sexual behavior outside of marriage, by those that are unmarried;
identified as the works of the flesh; Jesus declared in Mark 7 out of an evil heart comes this sin; the first church in Acts met and declared that this sexual immoral behavior was rampant among the heathen and that Christians in the church should keep themselves pure and from this sin - Acts 15:20, abstain from idols and fornication;  also in I Thess. 4:3, 'For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication." In Ephesians 5:3, 'But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints'
Herein we see the defilement of the flesh is a cancer to the soul.  How much more should we pronounce this sin, in a generation that is bent on sexual immorality in the church and out of the church and never confessed in corporate settings it seems. 
--uncleanness -the opposite of purity; unnatural practices;  We see throughout the Old Testament God's standards of unclean through touch.  'Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing' is issued byPaul to the Corinthians.  For not only touch, but contact, influence and persusation goes a long way in making them unclean in the sight of God.  If being without sin, makes one clean; by the blood of Christ.  Then unclean is with sin, and void of Christ.  The things of this world in sight, lust, flesh makes us unclean and we are constant to separate from the things of this world and draw nigh to Him WHo makes us clean in Him.  Confession should be of all that has tainted us in practice, habits, seeing, hearing, influence, impact, and choices.
--lasciviousness - contrary to chastity; all lewdness of the flesh;  The perversions of the flesh in this society mirrors that which was practiced by Sodom, by Babylon, by Rome; and all the other heathen, pagan nations that had no restraint on acting out in the flesh.   This is a huge sin in our midst of wickedness as a nation.  All the practices in our society that men do openly and secretly to pervert what God intended leads us to greater and greater sin.  Lasciviousness comes from tempetation, which leads to lusts, which leads to acting out, which leads to greater perversions.  It is the pinnacle of perversion and wickedness of men acting out on what lusts has opened to them.  Confession of this sin in practice, in mind, in heart that has led many to the perversion of our famlies, our society, the church, etc.
--idolatry - worship of false gods;  false religions, cults, rebellion against the Good and Right Way of Christ and His Word; 

Romans 1:29 -31;
Here in Romans God uses the phrase, 'And God gave them up' due to their great iniquity and sins.  This is a listed of 23 specific sins and again, we have the assurance that those that practice such shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.  Because, in all good reasoning, if God gives you up, what hope is there?  There is none.
Many of these are repeat sins mentioned, and I will not take time to go over them again that has already been covered.
'Being filled with all. . . '
--unrighteousness - righteousness of God is defined as being right with God and in God;  therefore unrighteousness is as not right with God and that actions and choices are not for God's glory but man's; not of the Spirit but of self;
--fornication - previously dealt with;
--wickedness - morally very bad; causes harm, distress, and trouble;

Colossians 3:5 - 6
Paul write that they are to 'mortify' - kill your members which are upon the earth;  for it is these memebers of our flesh that commit such sins.  The membwers are the eyes, the heart, the mind, the body that falls prey to yielding to temptation and sin.  Then he goes on to lists 6 sins, all of which we have covered before.
Sins:  fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness, which is idolatry;

I Timothy 1:9 - 10
Paul writing to Timothy explaining the lawless and unrighteous and what they are guilty of.  he titles them 'lawless and idobedient, ungodly, sinners, unholy nad profane, of which they are guilty of the following sins:
--murderers of father and mothers, manslayers; 


Started:  July 28, 2016

Continued: 7/30;8/5; 8/6;8/12;

Finished: