THE REWARDS OF CONFESSION

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

Proverbs 28:13

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 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, purifies us from all sin.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word is not in us. 1 John 1:5-10

The words of John, a message coming from the Lord Himself, ring out loud and clear to all of God’s people or at least the ones who give heed to them.

If we do not acknowledge the fact that we are sinners, we are living a life of deception, a life living in the dark as to who we really are and who the Lord is in relation to us. We live a life of lying to ourselves, lying to others, and worst of all, making God out to be a liar, something that is completely impossible because He is the Author and Perfector of all truth. It’s an absolute fantasy to think that you are in relationship to the Lord and yet deny and/or reject your sinful nature. And a life lived like this simply lets everyone know that the word of God is not within your heart, mind, or soul. Your life is a testimony to that.

This is a pretty hopeless state, wouldn’t you agree? And yet, so many people in our world today are in it.

Solomon spoke on this subject in today’s verse from Proverbs, Chapter 28. Look what he had to say about the matter of sin and repentance:

Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Proverbs 28:13

The Lord is not going to bless anyone who sins and does not repent of those sins. It’s as simple as that.

It makes sense doesn’t it? You wouldn’t reward someone with prosperity who did something you despise and there is no doubt that God despises sinfulness. After all, it’s what caused Him to give up His one and only Son as a living sacrifice, the unblemished Lamb of God who was sent to take away the sins of the world by bearing them on the cross of Calvary. God loved us all that much and will not stand for anyone who fails to take sin seriously and approach human failure with the utmost sense of mourning and contriteness.

Conversely, look at what the word of the Lord has to say to us about those who do choose to acknowledge their sins and seek forgiveness, openly confessing their transgressions to the only One with the power to pardon them. They will receive the following rewards:

1. We are purified from all unrighteousness by the blood of Jesus.

One who truly repents and confesses their sins understands that they are only washed clean again by the atoning shed blood of their Savior, Jesus Christ, the only One who can save them and the only One who can lead them to the Father and eternal life when this worldly life is over (John 14:6).

2. We experience the faithfulness of God.

Even when we have failed to be faithful to God, having fallen into sin, we discover that He never fails us. Ever.

We learn when we confess our sins that He still is willing to love us, still willing to extend to us His rich mercy and grace, still willing to have fellowship with us, still willing to teach us, and never willing to give up on us. No one is that faithful to us. No one. And we should see this as one of the richest rewards we receive over and over and over again through our willingness to come solemnly and humbly before the One who made us and admit that we have not been obedient to His will and way.   

3. We experience the justice of God.

There is no doubt that the only perfect justice we’ll experience in life is the justice of God.

When we sin, we can expect consequences. When we live righteously, we can expect blessing. We’ll never be corrected when we don’t deserve it. Likewise, we’ll not be rewarded when we’re in the midst of disobedience and insubordination to our Master, the Lord who rules and reigns over our lives.

God’s word is truth. If we confess and renounce our sins He, the Lord God Almighty, is faithful and just, purifying us from our unrighteousness and granting us His forgiveness which leads to the final confession reward we gain as gleaned from our scriptures today.

4. We find the mercy of God.

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23 (NKJV)

None of us deserve to even be here on earth. Such is the depth of our sinful nature before an almighty, powerful Lord and Judge. And yet, He spares us His wrath and we are not consumed. His compassions never fail and are new each and every morning as we wake and draw in His grace with every breath taken.

When we confess our sins with heartfelt sincerity, we experience what mercy is all about, mercy in its purest unadulterated sense, a mercy that we are expected to show to one another in all our relations in life.

Purity. Faithfulness. Justice. Mercy. All wonderful rewards given freely to us by the Lord who loves us, our heavenly Father who is ever trying to mold and shape us into His own image, even when we fail and fall into disobedience and sin. These rewards are just a confession away for us when we repent of our sins and receive the power of God’s amazing grace. 

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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