I’m sure we all have certain passages marked in our Bibles that the Holy Spirit has highlighted for us.  Sometimes I mark them, then forget them, but when I’m reading back through the Bible, I run across them again and remember why I  put brackets around the text. One of those is in Proverbs.

“Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy” (Prov. 28:13).

John said a similar thing in his first letter.  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9).

One of the most frequent points of access Satan has in a believer’s life is unconfessed, unrepented sin.  One of the most persistent themes in scripture is God calling Israel to repent and come back to him so that he might bless them again.  A sample is found in Joel 2 after another extended period of rebellion by God’s chosen people.  These seasons of rebellion lasted for years.  They were filled with national idolatry, blatant sexual immorality, injustice for the poor, disrespect for the God of Israel, children offered in the fires of Molech, and indifference for the temple of God.

In the Book of Joel, we see a final warning of coming devastation if Israel does not acknowledge their sin and repent. He warns them of a natural disaster that is already on the way…swarms of locust that will dwarf the plague that fell on Egypt.  When this “army” comes, it will devastate every living plant in the nation.  Nothing will remain.  Trees will be stripped down to their bark.  All grains, grass, olive trees, vineyards, and vegetables will be devoured by these swarms.  There will be no grass or grain to feed the animals, no grain for bread, no grapes for wine, no olives for olive oil, no fruit from the trees.  There will be famine and all the suffering that accompanies that curse.  Yet in the midst of God’s warning and admonition to his people, He says…

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God” (Joel 2:12-14)

In another place, Ezekiel records the words of God when he says, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? (Ezek. 18:23).

Although God is clearly revealed as a forgiving and compassionate God, there still remains a strong propensity in the nature of man, even in believers, to conceal our sin and not confess. 

Sometimes, we are ignorant of our sin…we didn’t know it was wrong.  Many believers have not been discipled well or taught the whole counsel of God.  When they discover that they are sinning, they are genuinely surprised.  For instance, an amazing number of young single Christians in America come to church and share, without hesitation, the fact they are living together.  They are living out a cultural norm and are often shocked to find that God does not approve.  

The rest of us may not want to give up something in our lives…maybe alcohol we can’t control, power, control, manipulation, sexual sin we are keeping secret, anger that makes us feel powerful, etc.  We rationalize the sin or minimize it as something that is not “that bad.”  Sometimes we keep it secret because we fear the fallout, if others knew.  Adultery is often hidden for years or always.  Pornography is often a secret sin that can go on for decades. 

Satan convinces us that we can’t help it, therefore, God should not hold us accountable.  He convinces us that “everyone does it,” so we should get a pass on the issue.  He also convinces us that we participated, but someone else is actually to blame so God will overlook our failures. So…the sin goes unacknowledged, unconfessed and unrepented.   But God says, that person will not prosper in the things that truly matter…body, soul, spirit, and relationships.  Those will all suffer when sin is hidden, excused, minimized or denied.

David and Saul may be the greatest examples of this dynamic.  Saul was disobedient on several significant occasions, but, when confronted, always found a way to blame others, declare he had obeyed God when his obedience was only partial, or claim he couldn’t help it.   Eventually, he lost his kingdom, his life and the lives of his sons, and is remembered as a failed king. 

Then there was David.  He did things even Saul didn’t do…adultery, murder, and abusing his power to cover up the sin.  Yet in Psalm 51, we find David openly confessing his sin.  He doesn’t deny it, blame others for it, minimize it, or claim he couldn’t help himself.  He never tried to bargain with God or talk about all the good things he had done that should get him a “get-out-of- jail-free card for this one “incident.”

True, David hid the sin for a number of months out of shame and out of fear regarding the fallout if people knew the truth.  But the Spirit of God through,, the prophet Nathan, brought him to a place of confession and repentance. Trusting in the character of God, he began the Psalm, “Have mercy on me O God according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion.”  The moment David showed godly sorrow and confessed his sin, it was forgiven.  There would be consequences in the natural realm for David’s sin, but his relationship with God was immediately restored and God promised to walk with him through the fires of the fallout.  Despite, his moral failure, David is still remembered as the greatest king of Israel and “a man after God’s own heart.”   Part of his greatness was in owning his failures, declaring that God’s standards were righteous, and trusting in the heart of a good, good Father.

When we fail to acknowledge our sin, confess, and repent, we reveal some things about our heart.  Either we don’t love God, because if we love him we obey him, or we believe he is unfair and unreasonable in his standards.  Perhaps, we hide or excuse our sin because we believe he is a harsh and angry God just waiting to punish and abuse us. Perhaps, we believe we are saved by our own righteousness rather than by grace and, therefore, have to deny our sin while we eagerly point to the sins of others, to maintain our standing.  But all of those reasons and that view of God are misplaced.  Satan will establish strongholds through our unbelief or our denial of our sin.  If we think we are hiding our sin from God because we have not acknowledged it, we are also deceived because God knows everything,

Yet God’s heart is always ready to forgive and receive when we return with godly sorrow taking full responsibility for our choices.  The story of the Prodigal Son is the embodiment of our Father’s heart (Luke 15). So…you may want to take an inventory of your life.  Is there a sin you have denied, excused, minimized or hidden that you have not owned or confessed?  If so, Satan has every right to afflict you and those you love. 

The key to prospering in the things that matter, is to lay our sins, our weaknesses and our failings at the foot of the cross, believing that God is a good, good Father just waiting for us to return and be restored.  Besides, your sin will not stay hidden forever.  Either God will reveal it to cleanse you or Satan will reveal it to destroy you. It is best to take it to the Father right away.

Grace

Most of us remember the story from Matthew 18 of a servant who owed his master more money than he could repay.  When the master called in the debt, the man was helpless to repay so the master decided to sell the man and his family into slavery to recoup part of his losses.  The man fell on his knees asking for mercy and the master, in a moment of compassion, forgave the entire amount and continued to keep him on as a servant.   Immediately after receiving the incredible gift of grace from his master, he ran into another servant who owed him a few dollars.  He demanded his money and when that servant couldn’t pay, he had him put in jail until he could get his money.  When the master heard what had happened, he was furious and put the man whose debt he had forgiven in jail, rebuking him for not showing others the mercy he had received.  Jesus finished the story by saying that God will deal with us in the same way if we don’t forgive others their wrongs toward us, because God has forgiven our unpayable debt through his Son.

The question always arises as to why the servant, who was forgiven the enormous debt, was so unbending toward the one who owed him a small debt.  Of course, he could have just been wicked and perverse.  Once he escaped punishment, he still felt the entitlement to demand from others what was not demanded from him.  Some people whose hearts are hard are just like that.   But there may be another reason that we all need to consider.

In the story, when his master demanded payment, the servant cried out, “Please be patient with me.  If you’ll just give me more time, I will repay you all that is owed’ (Matt. 18:29).  When the master completely forgave his debt, the servant may have understood the forgiveness to simply mean that he had extended the note, but would still require payment later.  If that were the case, the first servant would be desperate to collect all he could as soon as he could from others.

The idea that someone would simply forgive an enormous debt without any expectation of repayment is actually hard to get our minds around.  It seems like one of those “too good to be true” offers that will come back to haunt us later.  For many believers, grace has the same feel.  Many of us still live before God thinking that somewhere along the line, our salvation our security, and his blessings will be based on being better than others.  It’s like college entrance exams…only those in the 90^th percentile will get in.

When we slip into self-righteousness, we have slipped into a kind of “meritorious salvation.”  If I believe I only get the favor of God by being better than most, I will be invested in pointing to my own good qualities and good works while zealously pointing out the failures and flaws of others.  That is the nature of judging others and placing them in a psychological category of being less than me. When we can’t be generous in how we deal with the weaknesses and failings of others, we have missed the meaning of God’s grace.  If I know that I have been forgiven much, based totally on the goodness of God and the full payment of my debt made on my behalf by the blood of Christ, how could I not extend that generosity to others?

If we are quick to judge, condemn, criticize, and gossip…we probably have not yet taken hold of the true meaning of God’s grace.  The belief that we have to prove ourselves better than others to deserve love and favor from God is a huge open door for the enemy. We may want to begin to meditate on grace and ask the Holy Spirit to give us a true revelation of that grace in our own hearts.  It is very freeing to know how much God values me without the need to devalue others.