CONFESSION

IS IT NECESSARY IN SEEKING HOLINESS? -- No. 1

     You might as well ask, Are prayer and faith necessary? Sin, to be forgiven, must be confessed, and grace can go only as deep as the confession and repentance have gone.

     There are three kinds of confession: 1. Personal confession, directed to God alone when no other individual is concerned. 2. Confession to, or in the presence of, one who has been injured outwardly or criticized in heart. 3. Public confession, necessary when the sin or grievance has been of a public character.

     God has laid down certain conditions to be met in seeking pardon or purity, and those conditions are as unalterable as the throne in heaven. (1) One such condition is recorded in Prov. 28:13, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy."

     "When Adam and Eve fell into sin, the very next thing they wanted to do was to hide and cover up their guilt. This is the natural result of sin -- a desire to hide and cover itself. Jesus said, 'Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.' That it is natural for a sinner to want to hide his sin is proved also from the fact that when a small child has done something he knows is wrong, he will at once try to hide his sin and shrink from any light that would make his deed manifest. As the child grows older this evil tendency is strengthened, until the old sinner has become an expert in hiding sin.

     "Well, since sin and carnality feed on and flourish under secrecy, and a cloak of covering, it will readily be seen that some heavy doses of hearty confession and uncovering, or dragging to the light, will bring forth the death of sin. Sin can not stand the light of the Holy Ghost any better than earthworms can the scorching heat of the summer sun, but will sicken and die if exposed to His light."

     (2) Another such condition is recorded in 1 John 1:9. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Adam Clarke, in commenting upon this verse, says, "Guilt, to be forgiven, must be confessed; and pollution, to be cleansed, must be confessed. In order to find mercy a man must know and feel himself to be a sinner, that he may frequently apply to God for pardon; in order to get a clean heart a man must know and feel its depravity, acknowledge and deplore it before God, in order to be fully sanctified. Few are pardoned, because they do not feel and confess their sins, and few are sanctified or cleansed from all sin, because they do not feel and confess their own sore and the plague of their own hearts."

     (3) And again, "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed" (James 5:16). This may apply to the body or the soul. Since "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," It is very natural to confess its wickedness in the strictest privacy and seclusion. Perhaps this is one reason why God has made confession a necessary step to appropriating faith; it helps to humble the proud heart. "One to another;" there is no virtue in anything but the blood, hence it is dishonoring to God to depend upon any one to hear your confessions, however spiritually minded he may be. This is what led to the Romish church. Jesus Christ is our great High Priest and the prayer must be directed to Him, even though it may be helpful to have an intimate friend of the same sex help exercise faith with and for you. However, the seeking soul will get more help by being alone with God, if it is his disposition to lean and depend upon some special one. On the other hand, should he be given to deception and shrinking from faithful dealing, then he will get more help to have those pray with him, who know by experience the deceitfulness of carnality. "Confess in earnest to God all the inward stirrings of the carnal mind, as the Spirit may lead." The "old man" will protest against exposure. Oh, how he will squirm as you drag to light some of his manifestations! He will beg and plead for his life as Agag did. but like old Samuel, continue to hew away in the Spirit! The most awful, hateful, sneaking things that the Spirit may reveal as the outcroppings of this immoral tree, tell to Jesus and bewail them in the presence of Him and His clean ones. Be as frank and open and honest in their presence now as you will have to be in that day when the secrets of all hearts are revealed.

     If you will follow this plan and "drag out by frequent and deep confessions" these abominations, you will all along have the approbation of God, and at times may experience such blessed touches of His divine love and grace as you will be unable to contain. In such times it is all right to shout and give God the praise, only don't manifest more than you feel, nor claim any more than you receive, and then as soon as the tide of ecstasy has gone down, return to the place where you left off and resume your war on the "old man." If you will thus continue to walk in all God-given light, as He is in the light, you will soon have fellowship with His true saints on earth, for "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son" will cleanse you from all sin. 1 John 1:7.