But now the other doctrine that was emphasized
in the Revival, do you remember I quoted
Evan Roberts' four points?
You must confess any known sin to God
and put any wrong done to man right.
And the third, the final point was you
must confess your faith in Christ publicly.
Confession became a doctrine of the Revival.
Now this is a touchy subject because some
movements have gone astray at the point of
confession.
Sometimes confession can break down into sheer exhibitionism.
But if there's Revival, there will be confession
of sin among God's people, without a doubt.
I've always given the advice, let the circle
of the sin be the circle of the
confession.
If you have sinned secretly and no one
in the world knows about it except God,
tell God.
But if you sin privately and someone else
has been hurt by the thing or by
your example, put it right privately as well.
And if you sin openly, let everyone who
knows about it know that you've put things
right.
That I give as sound advice.
You see, some people think that because confession
occurs in Revival that confession is the work
of the Holy Spirit.
Confession is not the work of the Holy
Spirit.
Conviction is the work of the Holy Spirit
and confession is our response to it.
And our response will be governed by our
temperament and circumstances and example and pressure and
the like.
I think it was Sidney Powell of Tremont
Temple in Boston told me that he had
a deacon in his congregation who was what
he called a sourpuss.
Do you know what I mean by a
sourpuss?
He disagreed with everything.
He gave the pastor a bad time.
Now the Oxford group movement, the Bookman movement,
came to Boston and this deacon went to
a house party of the Oxford group.
His theology was already orthodox.
So that their emphasis on putting things right
helped him.
He was a transformed man.
In fact, when he said to the pastor,
pastor I'd like to give my testimony, the
pastor said we're all waiting to hear it.
The church was packed, the deacon got up
and gave his testimony, he said you know
what a sourpuss I was.
He said I don't know how the pastor
and the rest of you put up with
me, but he said thanks be to God
my life has changed.
A lot of people said amen.
Then he said the first thing the Holy
Spirit convicted me of was, and he mentioned
some adolescent sex aberration.
His wife was in the meeting, but she
was so ashamed she never raised her eyes
from the floor.
People were shocked.
He shook hands with people, the two of
them came to church next Sunday morning, but
his wife was so embarrassed.
Then they left the church and then they
left Boston.
Now my point is this, I have no
doubt that the Holy Spirit brings conviction in
a private matter regarding the sex life, but
I don't think the Holy Spirit told him
to tell two thousand eight hundred people those
private details, so there are limits.
Now what does the word confession mean?
What does it mean to confess?
It comes from three roots, ek, homo, logos,
out of the same word.
Isn't that a strange thing?
Logos, word, homo, same, ek, out of.
You'll understand it better when you remember what
the Lord Jesus said.
Who do men say that I am?
Someone said, some say you're a prophet.
Another disciple said, some say you're Elijah returned.
But who do you say I am?
Peter spoke up and said, you are the
Christ, the Son of the living God.
And the Lord Jesus immediately commended him.
He said, flesh and blood did not reveal
that to you.
You didn't pick that up from someone.
It was revealed to you from heaven.
The Holy Spirit told him what to say.
We call that the confession of Peter.
He expressed outwardly what the Holy Spirit had
shown him inwardly about the deity of Christ.
We talk about confessing Christ in baptism, confessing
Christ in the right hand of fellowship, and
so on.
That's what the word confess means.
Now negatively, to confess sin means to express
outwardly what the Holy Spirit has shown you
inwardly about it.
In other words, to acknowledge your fault.
Now I can't stress this too hard.
There was a book published by Zondervan some
years ago called Love is Now, by a
young man that I knew in Campus Crusade,
but he left Campus Crusade over this very
issue.
The book has got some excellent material, but
he had a chapter called Obsession with Confession.
And I immediately thought it would be a
treatment of this difficulty I've just mentioned to
you.
Too much confession.
But instead of that, he taught that all
you need to do is to admit that
it's wrong and thank God you're a Christian,
you're forgiven.
Some kids in Covina got a hold of
this and said, isn't that wonderful, you can
shack up for the weekend so long as
you admit that it's wrong, it's okay.
That broke up their youth fellowship.
Someone told me on the East Coast that
my friend has changed his mind about this.
I wish he had changed the publication too,
because that book did harm at that point.
I was talking to Professor Julius Menti, this
great Greek expert in Florida in December, and
I raised this question with him again, just
to confirm my own impression.
To confess doesn't mean just to agree, as
the author of that book said.
It means to express, not to agree.
The illustration that he gave in his book
was that he was driving from Detroit to
Toledo, and I'm quoting his words, feasting his
mind on wrong thoughts.
Now, without speculating too much what kind of
wrong thoughts they could have been, I began
to think, well, what was his treatment of
them?
He said, well, he suddenly realized, I'm a
Christian and I'm forgiven.
Where was the repentance?
This is what we call antinomianism, and it's
quite popular today.
There are three kinds of antinomianism among evangelical
Christians.
First of all, there's Calvinistic antinomianism.
I'm one of the Lord's elect, so it
doesn't matter what I do, I'm going to
heaven anyway.
Then there's Wesleyan antinomianism.
I'm sanctified, so what I do couldn't possibly
be wrong.
And then there's Pentecostal antinomianism.
I still speak in tongues, so things can't
be too bad.
Those are different forms of antinomianism.
But the fact is that if we're convicted
of sin, we should put things right with
the party's concern, first with God, but then
with anyone else.
Now, I just want to give you in
conclusion four verses.
Leviticus 5 and 5 teaches the necessity of
specific confession.
He shall confess that he has sinned in
that thing.
We commit specific sins, we should make specific
confessions.
In other words, we don't get up and
say, oh Lord, if I've done something wrong,
please forgive me.
That's not a confession.
If you're not sure what you've done wrong,
you can pray, search me, oh God, and
know my heart, try me and know my
thoughts, see if there be any wicked way
in me, then lead me in the way
everlasting.
Proverbs 28, 13 teaches the necessity of thorough
confession.
He who covers his sins shall not prosper,
but whoever confesses and forsaketh them shall have
mercy.
You must have done with the sin that
you confess.
Matthew 5, 23, 24 deals with private confession.
So if you're offering your gift at the
altar and there remember that your brother has
something against you, leave your gift before the
altar and go.
First be reconciled with your brother, then come
and offer your gift.
What gift?
It actually takes you back to Leviticus 5
and 5.
In Old Testament days, when a believer wanted
to get right with God, he brought a
lamb or a dove, he laid his hand
upon the head of the offering, and he
confessed that he had sinned in that thing.
Today we have only the Lamb of God.
So when you're saying, Lord, forgive me for
Jesus' sake, if you remember your brother has
something against you, go and put it right
with him first.
Is it more important to be right with
God or with man?
I would say with God.
With whom should we put things right first?
The Lord Jesus says with man.
Why?
Well, God knows whether or not you've sinned.
Your brother doesn't know until you tell him.
God knows whether or not you've repented.
Your brother doesn't know until you've said so.
So the Lord says, I'll wait.
And then public confession, James 5.16, Therefore
confess your faults one to another and pray
for one another that you may be healed.
The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth
much.
Well, that sounds like an open invitation for
general confession.
No, let's take the verse as it applies.
It doesn't say one to one other, it
says among yourselves.
It says, Therefore confess your shortcomings, the word
is tas armatias, your shortcomings among yourselves, and
pray for one another that you may be
delivered.
That's the Greek.
What's your object?
To be delivered.
What's your method?
Get people to pray for you.
Why?
Because the prayers of those who are right
with God can help a lot.
Then how much should you confess?
Just confess enough to get them to pray
for you.
In other words, if it's bad temper, you
get up in the prayer meeting and say,
please pray for me.
My bad temper is such a hindrance to
my testimony.
You don't need to say you had a
row with your wife this morning, put that
right with her.
You don't even tell the choir.
So keep it in mind.
It must be put right privately, but there's
always a place for asking for prayer.
And that's what marks revival.
In all the great revivals, Christians confess their
faults.
They repent of them.
They ask the prayers of their friends.
But then they're delivered.
And once they're delivered, they don't need to
be dug up again.
There are some Christian movements who practice re
-confessing faults.
There are some who even go around testifying
to their confession.
But I think it's extremely unwise.
If God has forgiven and forgotten, why should
we keep the thing alive?
You know that the Apostle Paul did confess
that he was the chief of sinners, but
he didn't go over the whole thing again.
Some people do that.
It's a well-known thing in psychology.
A lot of people enjoy doing this.
They get some kind of satisfaction out of
it.
But it's not at all necessary.
Now don't misunderstand.
I heard Robert doing, the skibble evangelist, talking
to a drunkard, an alcoholic.
And he said, well I was an alcoholic.
The man said, I can't believe it.
Oh yes, he said, I was on a
perpetual pub crawl.
But that wasn't re-confessing, that was testimony,
and there was a difference there.
So I think there are rules.
We can tie it all together by the
verses that were key verses in the Welsh
Revival.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If you don't take that in, put it
in the negative.
If we do not confess our sins, you
may be sure he will withhold forgiveness and
we will remain out of fellowship.
Search me, O God, and know my heart.
Try me and know my thoughts.
See if there be any grieving way in
me, then lead me in the way everlasting.
Lord, we pray Thee for our nation.
We pray Thee for our state.
We pray Thee for this great metropolitan area.
We pray Thee for Pasadena and we pray
Thee for this congregation.
Lord, wilt Thou not revive us again that
Thy people may rejoice in Thee?
Lord, help us to learn the lesson.
It's not by might nor by power.
It's not by organization or chain of command,
but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.
Lord, teach us to pray for revival.
Now may grace, mercy, and peace from Father,
Son, and Spirit be our portion now and
always.
Amen.