The Good Confession
1 Timothy 6:12
Introduction.
Confession illustration.
Four preachers met for a monthly preachers meeting.
Toward the end of the meeting, one preacher said, “Our people come to us and pour out their hearts, confess certain sins and needs. Let’s do the same. Confession is good for the soul.”
They all thought it was a good idea and began to confess their sins to one another.
One confessed to lusting after a sister in the church, another confessed to going to bars, and the third one confessed to gambling at the poker table.
When it came to the fourth one, he wouldn’t confess.
The others pressed him saying, “Come now, we confessed ours. It’s only fair that you confess yours.”
Finally he answered, “It is gossiping and I can hardly wait to get out of here!”
Confession.
What is it? How do you do it? Why do we say this is a requirement for salvation?
We have been discussing in various ways the requirements and conditions for salvation, the plan of salvation.
The “plan of salvation” is often shorthand for what our response to the gospel ought to be if we want to be saved.
A few weeks ago, we considered faith when we looked at Hebrews 11.
A couple weeks ago, we looked at repentance from Psalm 51.
Today we are going to consider confession, that good confession (1 Tim. 6:12).
Preview.
Synonyms and Antonyms.
Confessing Christ.
Confessing Our Sins.
Body.
Synonyms and Antonyms.
Definition.
One way in which we can define a word is by using synonyms, other words that mean the same thing.
Another way is through antonyms, considering their opposite.
That’s what we’re going to do this morning to help us have a greater understanding of this word, of this concept.
Synonyms.
The idea of confession is a somewhat older way of saying “profession,” not a job as we might think of it, but a declaration.
To confess means to profess, to say out loud, to declare.
Of course, we can’t just profess anything and be saved—otherwise any “professor” would be saved automatically!
So the synonyms we might use for confession: declaration, profession.
To confess means to declare or to profess.
Antonyms.
What does the opposite of this then? To keep quiet?
Well, that’s part of it, but there is a greater opposite that we must consider.
There are a few places we can go to, but one very important one is Matt. 10:32-33.
Confessing Christ is mentioned in vs. 32, but denying Christ is in vs. 33.
The opposite of confession is denial.
Is there a middle ground, one where we say nothing?
Perhaps, but saying nothing is an implicit denial, isn’t it?
If someone asks you if you’re a Christian, and you respond with silence, how will that silence be perceived?
It’s hard to say, but it might as well be a denial.
After all, shouldn’t you be proud to be a Christian.
If Christ has saved your soul, why wouldn’t you want to let others know about it?
In truth, there is no middle ground! You are either with God or you’re not. We must not, cannot waver in our determination and our good confession.
Confessing Christ.
Who are we confessing?
In a word: Jesus (Rom. 10:9).
The Maker of Heaven and Earth (John 1:1-3; Col. 1:16-17).
The One born of a virgin, having come in the flesh.
The One who loved me so much that He gave His life for me as payment for the bad things I’ve done.
After all, if someone saved your life by giving his, wouldn’t you share that with others?
We confess the Son of God, the Son of Man, the great I AM.
What are we confessing?
We are merely confessing a reality, confessing the truth of who Jesus is.
John says we are to confess that He came in the flesh and that He is the Son of God. If we do not confess this, we are “a deceiver and an antichrist” (2 John 7). If we do, God abides in us and we in God (1 John 4:15).
We are to confess that He is the Lord Jesus, that Jesus Christ is Lord (Rom. 10:9; Phil. 2:11).
It isn’t a big confession, and yet it is the biggest confession you can ever make!
It’s just a few words, yet if stated sincerely, it can change your life!
Our confession doesn’t change the reality. He is Lord regardless of our stated belief in Him.
What’s true is true no matter what we believe!
But we must make that decision to place Him forefront in our lives, to make Him our Lord and Savior.
How do we make Him our Lord? By obeying Him!
You see, we can deny Him with our works while still professing, or confessing, His name (Tit. 1:16). What hypocrisy!
If we confess He is our Lord, we need to live like it! Why? Well, we’ll see …
Why are we confessing?
I could say it’s something the Bible tells us to do to be saved (Rom. 10:9-10).
But it’s far more than that—there is an evangelistic element to it.
If we truly love the Lord and love others as we are told to do, we would want to share with them God’s love through the gospel of Jesus Christ!
How can we do that unless we confess Him before others?
There’s another element, too—where do you want your praise to come from?
You see, there were some rulers of the Jews who did believe in Jesus, but they didn’t confess Him. Why? (John 12:42-43).
They “loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”
How amazing and wonderful and humbling to receive the praise of God!
And if you can confess His name before others, you have it!
We show that we are not ashamed of Him.
Paul certainly wasn’t ashamed of the good news that brought salvation (Rom. 1:16).
Recall, Jesus tells us that if we are ashamed of Him, He will be ashamed of us—wait, He didn’t say that?
Hmm, what’s the difference between denying Christ and being ashamed of Him?
As we talked about in class this morning, Peter denied Christ, not once, not twice, but three times in a single night.
He even did so with an oath, uttering a curse upon himself or upon the Lord!
What shame Peter must have felt in that moment, particularly after he realized what he had done—he went away, weeping bitterly.
The good news is Peter was able to come back from that. Denying Christ did not end him as a follower of Christ.
He was restored and we can be, too. Part of that is confessing that sin.
Confessing Our Sins.
Confessing sins in the OT.
For the last couple of weeks, we have talked about the importance of confession in conjunction with repentance.
It was an acknowledgment that what they did was wrong.
David acknowledged that his sin with Bathsheba against Uriah was wrong.
On the Day of Atonement, the high priest was to confess the sins of the people to have their sins forgiven (Lev. 16:21).
The Jews in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah confessed their sins while in the Babylonian Captivity (Ezra 10:11; Neh. 9:2).
Even Daniel and Ezra confessed on behalf of the Jewish people (Ezra 10:1; Dan. 9:20). Daniel says he confessed his sins and the sins of his fathers.
This was something the Law told them to do (Lev. 26:40).
It wasn’t just personal sins but the sins of their ancestors that also had to be confessed.
Daniel and Ezra did not commit those sins, but if they did not confess them, their silence showed their complicity.
Confessing sins in the NT.
There aren’t a whole lot of examples of people outright confessing their sins.
We do see that the people wanting to be baptized by John the Baptist did confess their sins when they were baptized (Mark 1:5).
But they were still under the Old Testament Law at this point.
One person we might consider is Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8.
Surely Simon didn’t try to deny his sin to Peter, the sin of trying to purchase the gift of God with money (Acts 8:18-20).
How might he deny that sin? It was clear to all what he had done.
Well, he could have easily said, “What? That’s sinful? No, it’s not!”
It can be frightfully easy to justify ourselves and our most wicked deeds.
Thankfully Simon didn’t do that, but asked that Peter pray for him.
There are two places in the NT that explicitly talk about confessing sins (1 John 1:9; James 5:16).
We quote them often in our invitations at the end of each service.
How can we apply these to us?
How do we confess our sins?
We declare our sins, profess them, say them out loud.
James says to, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another.”
This does not imply a confession booth, and there are no set times when you must do this, like before or after worship.
But as we saw in the illustration, “Confession is good for the soul.”
While that may not be a phrase found in the Bible it certainly is true.
Doesn’t it feel good to get things off your chest?
It might not feel great in the moment, and certainly not leading up to it, but it’s so important for us to do.
We often fail to do this because we are afraid the other person will look at us differently, or we’re afraid they will tell others like that gossiping preacher in that illustration.
Well, that’s why you choose someone you trust to confess your trespasses to.
But even if they do, what’s the worst that could happen? It simply shows you’re human like everyone else.
It might even feel liberating to not have to keep that secret anymore.
And the thing is, that kind of confession, if we remain open and honest with those whom you trust, it will make it so we are less likely to keep doing that sin.
Of course, if the sin was of a public nature—meaning everyone knows about it—it would be wise to confess that sin as openly as it was committed to let others know you are acknowledging that sin and actively working to do better.
So there are great benefits to confessing one’s sins!
But ultimately, we are to confess our sins to God as David did.
He didn’t try to hide it, as if you could hide anything from God.
And what’s the result? “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Conclusion.
You see all of the things we have talked about for salvation.
Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6).
Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation (2 Cor. 7:10).
And now confessing the Lord Jesus is part of our salvation.
A couple months ago we also talked about baptism in connection with Noah’s ark, that baptism now saves us (1 Pet. 3:21).
Confession is also a big part of staying saved, too; the confession of one’s sins.
But of course, it’s not a “get out of hell free” card.
Confession doesn’t do anything for you unless you repent, truly repent, and get back on that right path toward God.
This morning, I encourage you to make that good confession in the presence of many witnesses just like Timothy did.
When you do that, don’t stop—obey the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Let us know if you would like to do that, and we can show you from the Bible what one must do to be saved!