Changed as We Confess
Sermon Recording
Sermon Outline
Speaker: Rev. Charles Drew
Sermon Series: How Praying Changes Us
Psalm 32 (ESV)
1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
5 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. Selah
6 Therefore let everyone who is godly
offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
they shall not reach him.
7 You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
9 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.
10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.
11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
1 John 1:5-10 (ESV)
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Sermon Outline
1. How we hide from the truth about ourselves
We blame-shift
We focus on symptoms and circumstances
2. Why confession is so important
Christianity is a relationship
God is like a good parent
3. Why does confessing put things right with God?
Jesus’ strange relationship to Psalm 32
Why?
Prayer of Confession
Gracious Lord, you have made us for you. You grieve when we hide from you: when we pretend that all is well when it isn’t; when we blame our circumstances and other people for the things we have done wrong; when we seek relief from our pain and misfortune without seeking you. Forgive us for hiding. Make vivid what we need to admit to. Motivate us to come clean. Give us the joy of restored fellowship with you. We pray in the name of Jesus, who suffered to secure our welcome. Amen.
Questions for Reflection
Reflect on the following statement.
John reminds us (vv. 8, 10) that If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us… 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and his word is not in us. If confession is not a regular part of our prayer life, then we are living a lie, at least part of the time.We try to hide from our moral lapses in numerous ways. One is to blame-shift (pointing the finger away from ourselves and toward circumstances or the faults in other people—usually, and ironically, faults that most closely resemble our own). Another form of hiding is to give all our energy to feeling better instead of identifying whatever it is we have done wrong. Why do we often find it so difficult to admit to wrong-doing? Ask a close friend to help you identify occasions when you have hidden from the truth about yourself in these, or other, ways.
Read over and then pray, if you can, the following words:
“Dear Father, for my own good, please show me my transgressions and not just my miseries. I am not asking to be beat up by false guilt (protect me from that); but I am asking for light from you on what is actually amiss. I want to walk in the light. So please, tear away any self-deceit if there is any. Show me (if this is the case) how I am like (v. 9) a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. And, if this is the case, help me to admit it straight out.”According to 1 John 1:9, what two good things happen to those who admit to God when they have sinned? How does the second thing differ from the first and why is it important and comforting?
Read over Psalm 32:6-7, 10, bearing in mind that godly means “God-toward”, not perfect (a “God-toward” person is an honest and humble person, someone who, like the psalmist, admits he has been wrong and asks the Lord for forgiveness and help). List the blessings that come to the godly and take five minutes to thank God for them.
Our confession of wrong-doing doesn’t cause the wrong-doing to disappear. And yet, according to Psalm 32 and 1 John 1, God still forgives us comprehensively and welcomes us whole-heartedly. Reflect on what follows and then thank God for Jesus:
When we say that our sins have been covered by God (v 1), we declare that we were like homeless people, “ripe” in our filthy clothing, over whom God has fitted a lovely new set of sweet-smelling garments. The New Testament tells us that those clothes come from Jesus, who knit them together stitch by stitch over a lifetime of obedience and love. On Good Friday Jesus put on our filthy clothes (that’s why he suffered the curses of Psalm 32) and gave us his beautiful ones.