1 John 1:9 ESV  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Dear Fellowship of the Burning Heart:

Confess is the word used to describe what we need to do about our sin. The word in the Greek language is homologeo, a word that literally means: to say the same thing (homo – the same and logeo – to speak). We must agree (to say the same thing) with God about sin, if we are going to be able to successfully deal with it.

So, what does it mean to agree with God about sin? I’m glad you asked. I have a list of things I’d like to share. We must agree with God:

1. That what God says is sin is sin—He is the one who defines sin for us
2. That it is a bad as God says it is
3. That it has disastrous consequences, both in the present and in the future
4. That we deserve to be disciplined because of it
5. That our excuses to cover it up or explain it away won’t remove the guilt and shame of it
6. That others have been affected and harmed by it
7. That we have been affected and harmed by it
8. That it is something we need to deal with immediately and decisively
9. That we can’t blame others for our sin
10. That it is still sin, whether others find out or not

Now, these are important points of agreement. If we don’t let God, who is the Creator and knows best how we are supposed to function and relate, define sin, then we are left to ourselves to define it, and we will most likely define sin as whatever doesn’t affect us or isn’t our problem. Sin will be someone else’s problem.

If we don’t agree that it is as bad as God says it is, we won’t seek to avoid it or to renounce it. We will be content with it and allow it to continue to control our lives. Sin doesn’t just infect us; like spreading cancer, it takes over and consumes.

If we don’t accept the disastrous consequences of sin, both in the present and in the future, we won’t be motivated to deal with it in our lives.

If we don’t accept that sin brings discipline, we will resent that discipline, not realizing that the chastening of the Lord brings correction and shows his love for us, just as the discipline of parents show their concern and love.

If we don’t let go of our excuses and deal with sin, it will continue to cause us to experience shame and guilt. Trying to excuse it, to explain it away, to ignore it will not help us deal with it. We only prolong the pain and agony by using such tactics.

By refusing to see the terrible effects of sin in our lives and the lives of others, by disregarding the consequences of sin, we allow those effects to multiply and go unchecked.

By failing to deal with sin immediately and decisively, we allow it to continue exerting destructive force in our lives.

By blaming others and ignoring it until it’s found out, we continue to allow it to reek havoc in our lives.

By agreeing with God and admitting our sin, we take the first step to seeking, finding, and accepting his forgiveness.

It is obvious that THE BARRIER that separates us from God is our sin.

Isaiah 59:2 ESV  but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. Jeremiah 5:25 ESV  Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you.

God is faithful, both to his law and to his promise, by providing a way for true forgiveness to be offered and experienced through the death of his Son. He is just, because he hasn’t ignored the terrible consequences of sin and the demands of his law.

Romans 8:3-4 ESV  For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,  (4)  in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Romans 3:26 ESV  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

God has not ignored his law, nor its requirements. God has not ignored our sin, nor its destructiveness. God has not looked the other way, treated sin lightly, or pronounced us forgiven. He has fully dealt with sin by allowing the just punishment we deserve to be borne by our Savior. We are now able to experience full pardon and full release from sin.

Romans 6:14 ESV  For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Now, let’s agree with God about our sin and remove this dreadful barrier that separates us from the fellowship that he desires and that we desperately need!