I heard over the radio the other day that all we have to do is confess and God will forgive anything and everything that we have done against Him. I have to admit that I spoke aloud, “Wrong”. I remembered back to a conversation I had with a group of people. We were on the topic of God and how He forgives. I asked, “So all I have to do is confess to Him what I have done wrong and He forgives me?” “That’s right, all we have to do is ask and He just forgives” was the response I got. I then asked, “What if I do it again?” Then He will forgive again. Wow, what a forgiving God!
The truth of the matter is God will forgive if we confess, but there is a lot more going on in that forgiveness that most people pass right over. A couple of years ago, I wrote “Go Ahead, Say it”, a blog explaining what confession is. If you have not read it, please do so then return back to this blog. Confession simply means to say the same thing. We talked about in order to say the same thing, means to spend intimate time with someone to the point where you think a lot alike. Confession, to me, is only half the battle. Confession without repentance is not even confession at all. Let me give you an example: Suppose I had an affair and my wife found out. I then go to her and tell her I had an affair and that I know it is wrong. I tell her I will never do it again and I cry crocodile tears while I’m down on my knees. Begging her forgiveness and she forgives. The next day, I go back to the same person and I am unfaithful to my wife again. She finds out. I get back down on my knees, cry crocodile tears, tell her I was wrong and beg for forgiveness. She forgives. The next day, I go back to the same person and I am unfaithful again. You get the pattern now? This happens over and over again; day after day. Let me ask you; did I really confess? If confession means to say the same thing, do you think my wife and I “say the same thing” about faithfulness in that scenario? Confession is not really confession unless it is coupled with repentance.
So what is repentance? Repentance is not simply feeling grief or sorrow. Grief and sorrow can come from a myriad of things. The source of feeling grief or sorrow can, however, lead to true repentance. 2 Cor 7:10 says, “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” Paul here is speaking of the true repentance that the Church in Corinth experienced. It was evident by their obedience which came as a result of their godly grief. Too often times we feel grief and call it repentance. Though grief is involved, it is not the stop-all of repentance.
What is involved in order to truly experience repentance? Repentance begins with fear; godly reverential fear. This fear is ONLY experienced by true believers who have placed their faith in the finished work of Christ. This fear, coupled along with a complete understanding of the magnitude of their sin and God’s just wrath due them, leads them to confession. Confession then, acknowledging their hopelessness, brings about godly grief or sorrow. Godly grief will then appeal to their conscience which either accuses them or excuses them (Rom 2:15). Being convicted by their conscience, their heart and mind is transformed and renewed. This renewal leads them to a change of mind; which is the definition of repentance. Not only do they turn from their sin, they turn to something righteous. As you can see, confession is only a small part of a transforming change. Confession really isn’t confession unless the whole body (heart, soul and mind) is changed unto something righteous.
Ephesians 4 speaks of the new life we have in Christ. If you truly are a Disciple of Christ, the things written in Ephesians will be true of you. What does Ephesians 4 say?
“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to o put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
There is a lot in this passage, but let’s just focus on the points that speak to the evidence of true repentance. True repentance puts away falsehood and speaks truth; gets angry yet does not give opportunity to the devil; does not steal but labors and gives to those in need; does not speak corruptly but builds people up; does not grieve the Holy Spirit but is sealed by the Holy Spirit; there is no bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor or slander but is kind, tenderhearted and forgiving. Notice how the unrighteous is replaced by the righteous. This is the evidence of true repentance, the old has become new and the old is not repeated over and over again. With all that being said, now is a good time to read 1 John because I know you’ve been thinking about 1 John 1:9 this whole time. I invite you to look at the context of 1 John and who he is speaking to. As true believers, confession and repentance is a huge part of our lives and is the nature of someone who has truly been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
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