Confession & Assurance

Thank you for reading this sermon from Christ Fellowship. I hope and pray that this sermon will be a blessing of grace and truth to you. With that said, let me encourage you not to use this sermon as a replacement for your local church. Christ Jesus did not establish his Church simply for us to consume content. Instead, He calls us to be part of a real, covenant family.

This morning, we will consider a recent addition to our regular worship liturgy: corporate confession of sin, silent confession, and the assurance of pardon.

For us, this is a recent addition. But it has held an important place in Christian worship throughout history. One of the earliest Christian documents, the Didache, instructs the church to confess sins. This practice was recovered by many of the Reformers as part of corporate worship.

More importantly, it’s a pattern we see clearly in Scripture. We find examples of confession in Leviticus and Numbers. King David confesses his sin. Daniel confesses his own sin and the sin of the people. Ezra confesses sin and then leads the people in public confession.

When the exiles returned to Jerusalem, Nehemiah led them to confess their sins as part of the worship gathering.

In the New Testament, we see crowds coming to John to confess sins and be baptized. The Lord’s Prayer includes a confession of sin. In Acts 19, the Ephesians gathered to confess sin. James 5 commands us to confess our sins to one another.

The Apostle Paul confesses his personal sin on numerous occasions. And in Revelation 2-3, whole churches are called to repentance and promised pardon.

And so, the elders of this church have decided to make corporate confession, silent confession, and an assurance of pardon a regular part of our worship here at Christ Fellowship.

There are several reasons we think this is a good idea:

• It keeps repentance normal, not occasional, because “the entire life of believers” is meant to be one of repentance, not just private remorse.
• It highlights God’s holiness, which exposes sin and makes grace feel important rather than assumed.
• It gives the congregation a shared vocabulary for honesty before God, especially for people who struggle to confess privately.
• It places the whole church on level ground, weakening pride and the habit of comparing ourselves to others.
• It strengthens assurance by pairing confession with the announcement that Christ forgives and restores sinners.
• It prepares us for deeper personal repentance and reconciliation during the week.
• It provides a visible witness to outsiders that Christians are not pretending to be perfect but are people who depend on grace.

I want to frame this for us by looking closely at Psalm 32, written by King David.

[1] Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
[2] Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Notice David starts with forgiveness. When Christians confess their sin, we’re not doing it to gain forgiveness. We already know we’ve been forgiven. Our sin is no longer counted against us in Christ.

As Paul says in Romans 8, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This allows us to come boldly to the Father. We don’t come to Him trying to hide our sin, but in honesty. “With no deceit” as David says.

[3] For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
[4] For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

David acknowledges that withholding confession is bad for us. It harms us to avoid taking responsibility for the damage caused by our sin. God’s hand may be heavy on us when we refuse repentance, because He is a good Father. He disciplines the ones He loves.

God won’t allow His children to stay silent about sin. Trying to keep sin hidden creates misery for us. Confessing sin is the path to healing and restoration.

[5] I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

This is the turning point. Most people think Psalm 32 was written later than Psalm 51, where David explicitly repents of his sin with Bathsheba. Remember, David was guilty of murder and adultery. And God forgave Him.

Except for permanently rejecting the grace that is offered to us in Christ, there is no sin too great for God’s forgiveness. Unless you think you’re better than David. Or Abraham who committed similar crimes. Or Rahab the prostitute. Or Samson, whose life was like an entire season of Jerry Springer.

[6] Therefore let everyone who is godly
offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
they shall not reach him.

Notice the “godly” are the ones willing to name their sin to God, not perfect people who don’t think they need forgiveness.

[7] You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance.

Confession is where healing begins, because it makes us dependent on God. He is our hiding place, which is a beautiful foreshadowing of the cross. Our life is hidden in Christ, who paid for our many sins on the cross. He is our deliverance!

[8] I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

He’s looking at us, now. You and me.

[9] Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
or it will not stay near you.

David knows that we are stubborn. We are not quick to admit our sin, are we? We wander away from God and into danger like dumb animals.

You know it’s true. How many times have the people close to you tried to talk to you about your sin? And how many times have you listened with humility, quick to take responsibility and seek repair?

Not me. I’m more likely to defend myself and turn the tables on the person confronting me.

But God is patient with us. He’s using the people in our lives to reveal our sin to us and lead us to repentance. But we’re like wild animals that need to be broken. That’s the example David uses. And we might need to dig deep to see it.

Look at how the Psalm ends:

[10] Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.
[11] Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Who gets to be called righteous? The ones who confess their sin and put their trust in the Lord. The wicked are the ones who refuse to confess their sin and refuse to put their trust in the Lord.

But the people who put their trust in the Lord will end up worshipping Him! We shout for joy because we’ve been forgiven. Our confession is always met with the assurance that God will pardon the humble.

This is the pattern of Scripture. We see it extremely often in the Gospels as well. Jesus opposed the Pharisees, not because they were trying to keep the law, but because they refused to acknowledge their own sin. Their pride was keeping them from being honest.

Remember the parable in Luke 18?

[10] “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

[11] The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

[12] I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

[13] But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

[14] I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

This is a great example, because what happened at the temple? Corporate worship. And these two men illustrate perfectly the dilemma of Psalm 32.

The Pharisee honored Himself. He was upright in his own eyes, but not in his heart. The tax collector confessed his sin with a sincere heart.

According to Jesus, which of them was closer to God? The one who was humble.

Humility is THE major mark of Christian growth, and confession is the essential action of humility. As Christians grow, we become less defensive, more honest, and quicker to confess.

We see this trajectory clearly in the life of the Apostle Paul. In his first letter, he refers to Himself as the least of the Apostles. Years later, he called himself the least of all the saints. And at the end of his life, Paul writes to Timothy, calling himself the chief of sinners.

Paul wasn’t getting worse, but he was growing in humility. He was becoming more honest about his sin.

And when that happens, we trust God more than we did before. The desire to worship Him starts to grow in our hearts.

So, when we pray these corporate prayers of confession together and when we pray silently, I hope it won’t just be something we do because everyone else is doing it. Instead, I hope we will use it as a guide… a point of conviction… in which we honestly evaluate our lives and name the reasons why we need Jesus.

The more honest you can be, the better. And rest assured, it will be met with grace.