Let It Out: Why Confessing Your Sin Is Critical

³ If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
    O Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But with you there is forgiveness,
    that you may be feared.

⁵ I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;
⁶ my soul waits for the Lord
    more than watchmen for the morning,
    more than watchmen for the morning.

⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord!
    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
    and with him is plentiful redemption.
⁸ And he will redeem Israel
    from all his iniquities.

That’s the word of God.

I was recently in a conversation with a brother here. And as we spoke it got to a point where one of us was confessing a certain sin and was just sharing ways in which he was seeking to walk in repentance in that sin.

The Embarrassment of Sin

And as we reflected on that it hit us what kind of shame or embarrassment at times comes when we are confessing to one another – and when we show ourselves to be people who are actually walking in repentance.

It’s actually easy for us to believe theologically that we are sinful people. But when that sin shows itself practically, or functionally, it actually surprises us. Even though we had been confessing it in the gospel that we were just saying.

It’s easy for us to believe theologically that we are sinful people. But when that sin shows itself practically, it surprises us.

We know that the gospel is true for this person. We know that this person is a great sinner. We know that we are great sinners and have a need for Christ who is our great saviour. But when that sin actually shows up – that great sin that we confess is true of us and one another – it just throws us off completely.

It shocks us. It scandalises us. It confuses us. It catches us off-guard. And it actually should bring us to question if what we are firm theologically about – our sin and other people’s sin – we actually expect in reality and functionally.

The Days When We See Ourselves Fully…

But thank God, that God has a way of overcoming this contradiction in us. And God knows to give us some days when our own sinfulness gives us a reality check. There are days when he allows us to see our hearts, and see our souls, and see our sin, and see our actions in full colour.

In fact we see our sins in flying colours in those days.

God knows to give us some days when our own sinfulness gives us a reality check.

Days when we don’t just feel the weight of our sin, but the weight of it weighs us down. Days when it feels like our theological sinfulness has met with our functional and practical sinfulness. And they have had coffee. And they have agreed, and they have gotten married. And they are bearing many children in our sight – in our own hearts.

Days when you see the horror of sin in your own soul and in your life. Days when you want to run and hide and not be known. Days when you are aware of your condemnation and your failure before your children – or before your co-workers – or before your spouse. Or before your browser history. It is right there in front of you.

It is in one of those days that the Psalmist writes.

“Oh Lord!”

And at the very beginning he just begins with a cry. He says “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!” The depths is used in the Psalms often to refer to being under water. Being submerged, being overwhelmed.

In Psalm 69:14 David says deliver me from the “deep waters;” from the depths. “Let not the flood sweep over me or the deep swallow me up.”

And so as he is talking the floods have come over him and the deeps have swallowed him up. He is pulled down. He is swept over to the very depths. It is there – it is in those depths that David cries out.

And these depths are depths of sin. We see that. That is his main anguish in the Psalm. He says “hear my pleas for mercy! If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,” I want forgiveness from you O Lord. Look to the Lord Israel – he will give you redemption – he will redeem your iniquities.

Overwhelmed in ‘The Depths’

So his main burden in the Psalm is a burden of sin. What overwhelms him? What sweeps him over? What he is under; what he is in the depths of, is the depths of sin.

John Owen makes the same point. He says that “the Psalmist desires to be delivered from these depths out of which he cries. And he deals with God only about mercy and forgiveness. It is sin alone from which forgiveness is a deliverance.”

Christians Like You and Me

These are the depths. This is the Psalm. The words of a pastor who wants to be faithful to God alone, but he finds in his heart a seemingly undefeatable lust for people’s approval.

These are the words of a mother who knows that God has justified her, but she can’t help finding her self-justification, and her self-condemnation in her performance as a mother. And her children’s struggle is a constant inditement to her and a reminder of her failure.

The words of a pastor who wants to be faithful to God alone, but finds in his heart a seemingly undefeatable lust for people’s approval.

This Psalm is the cry of a Christian adult who wants to get over hurt that he’s faced in the past. But it takes just a little word or a little action from others, and just the cynicism and the bitterness just floods back – and it overwhelms their will to forgive and to love.

These are the words of a worker, an employee, who wants to be a good steward of his time. But is almost always finding himself just having wasted time in things that don’t feel that important after you are done doing them.

This Psalm is the words of a husband and a father who trying to tame his tongue. But his fearful children and his timid wife are now a living witness of his harsh tone and his strong arm.

Our Eyes Have Been Opened

All these believers cried the words of Romans 7:24 “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” It is a painful cry. And it is painful for a believer to confess these things. Because God has allowed him as a believer – God has allowed her as a believer to have the eyes that see the sinfulness of sin.

it is hard to find a an adjective evil enough to describe sin.

God has allowed them to have the horrific vision. They’ve see the sinfulness of sin. A Puritan preacher called Ralph Venning speaks about sin in a book aptly titled The Sinfulness of Sin. And he describes sin as the malignant, pestilent and pernicious nature and operation of sin. It’s own name being the worst that can be given to it.

So basically he is saying that it is hard to find a an adjective evil enough to describe sin. So that the worst word you can use to describe sin is actually ‘sin’. It is it’s own worst word.

And so a believer who has seen this, and understands something of the horror or sin, and then sees that sin in his own life, how can you have seen this and then lift your sinful face towards God? How does the Psalmist do it? How do you live with that?

But the Psalmist does precisely that. He says “I am in the depths” but then he goes on to lift his voice up and cry to God.

The Psalmist Does Not Despair

So we’ve seen the depths. Let’s see the defiance of this sinful person.

He cries out to the Lord. He says “I cry out to you O Lord.” He cries out to the Lord. Notice he does not despair. He does not say I am too sinful – my sin is too much. I have tried. I am overwhelmed. I give up. He does not do that. He does not walk away – he does not give up on redemption.

He does not despair. He does not say I am too sinful

There Is No Self-Justification

Notice also that he does not turn to himself. He does not say, “OK. I am failing really badly in my work as an employee but I am going to do better as a mother at home. And I am kind of going to make it up in another field. Make it up to God. You know I am going to be able to live with myself by excelling in other areas.” He doesn’t do that. That is self-justification which does not do away with your condemnation in another area of life.

He cries out to God. He doesn’t brush it off. He does not say “ah. Let’s ignore it. Let’s just keep moving on. Let’s let bygones be bygones.” Letting bygones be bygones does not take away the right condemnation of those bygones.

He knows too well that sin cannot just be brushed off. He does not turn to penance, to self-sacrifice, to generosity and hard work and serving people and ramping up your spiritual disciplines. Trying to do well to make up for what you’ve done. He does not turn to any of those things.

He wants God to confront his sin and to act on his sin.

A Defiant Appeal To God for Mercy

He wants to confront that one person who is able to deal with his sin. He doesn’t want cheap solutions. Look at what he does. He has a defiant appeal to God for mercy. He says “Lord, hear my voice, let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy.”

On what basis does such a sinner lift up their face and boldly call God to let his ears be attentive to them?

He has remembered that God is a covenant God. That is the cause of his defiance.

How do you claim that? When you are aware of the depths in which you are?

There’s a defiance in his faith. There’s a courage – there’s a bravery in his face and heart as he appeals to God. He has remembered that God is a covenant God. That is the cause of his defiance.

The God Of Covenant Mercy

Look at how he calls God. On verse 1 he says “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! Most of your English Bibles will have LORD in caps. L-O-R-D. “O Lord.” In verse 3 “If you, O Lord,” Yahweh, “should mark iniquities.” Verse 5 “I wait O Lord” L-O-R-D caps. Verse 7 “O Israel, hope in the Lord.”

So in every section he remembers God in his covenant faithfulness. The name ‘Lord,’ the name ‘Jehovah’ appeals to God in his character, in his covenant as a God of steadfast love. He is not just the mighty one – Elohim. He is not just the sovereign one – Adonai. He remembers that this is the God of covenant mercy and steadfast love.

He has to know God in this way for him to have that courage and defiance to come to God, appeal to God, ask God to turn God’s ears towards him. Because he knows God in his covenant. He is the covenant God – Yahweh.

Slow To Anger & Abounding in Steadfast Love

Remember when God revealed himself to Moses in Exodus 34? And God hid Moses in the cleft of a rock and God appeared before Moses. And God manifested his glory basically by giving an exposition of his name.

He said he is the LORD. Jehovah, Jehovah. Yahweh, Yahweh. A God merciful and gracious. Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Forgiving iniquity to thousands of generations. He confessed who he is. He displayed and explained and expounded who he is primarily in his mercy.

The Psalmist remembers this. If you O Yahweh – if you the God of steadfast love should count iniquities who would stand? Verse 3.

The God Of Abraham and Of The Cross

So he remembers that God will not count iniquity because of his covenant faithfulness. This is the God of covenant. He made a covenant with Abraham that the Psalmist looks back to. And as a believer you are not just looking at the God who swore to Abraham that through you, through your offspring, I will bless the world. And the Psalmist knows that that is a blessing of redemption to the whole world.

But he is looking back at God’s faithfulness, who gave his word to Abraham. But then you are looking not just to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You are looking to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He has fulfilled the Abrahamic covenant. Christ has been born. Christ, the offspring of Abraham. Galatians says the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring who is Christ. You are looking back at that promise fulfilled. You are looking back at the hill – at calvary – where it was finished.

And God sealed that covenant with the blood of his son. You are looking at something sure.

This is Why You Can Appeal To God

And so in your sin you are lifting up your face. And you are appealing to the covenant God. If you O Lord, hear my prayers, O covenant God, assurance for a sinner – delight for a sinner – peace for a sinner – rest for a sinner – is only possible if they know God in his covenant faithfulness.

however deep I’ve gone I can always crawl back and find the same God I left last time.

They know that however deep I’ve gone I can always crawl back and find the same God I left last time. He is a covenant God. A God of steadfast love.

I would like you to notice then that he doesn’t just remember God as a God of covenant in calling him Yahweh. And so his faith is justified. But he remembers the character of God.

The Character God

So in Psalm 130:3-4 he says things. He says things about God that would be jarring. He says “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.”

God’s covenant does not direct him to act contrary to his nature.

Now when we speak about the covenant of God, one might thing that God is holy, and he is so wrathful and it’s as thought he restrains himself by making a covenant with us – lest he should just be in his wrath and justice. As though he is only merciful in covenant and he is unforgiving as he is in himself. But that is not the case.

God is Merciful

God’s covenant does not direct him to act contrary to his nature. It does not correct who God is. It only directs what God does. God is in covenant – what he is in himself. It’s not as though he is merciful in covenant but wrathful outside it. It is the merciful God who will judge unbelievers. And it is the just God who will have mercy on unbelievers.

And so God is a God who forgives. With him there is forgiveness. He has seen that. He has confirmed that in covenant. But he has not become a thing that he is not by making covenant with his people. He is a God who forgives.

How does the Psalmist know this? How does he know this about God? God has already revealed that to him in Exodus. God has revealed that constantly in the covenant he has made with his people as their journey as Israelites. But even so he sees this in the very things, the very covenant arrangements that God has done with him.

He sees it in the sacrificial system for instance.

God is Holy

When God tells them to bring a bull and bring a goat to the priest to be sacrificed for forgiveness of sin, god is revealing something about himself. He is saying I am holy, and I will not dwell with sin. But I will still dwell with you because I will make a way to wash and nullify your sin.

He knows that god is holy and god is also merciful, because he knows that this God requires sacrifice. This says something about this God. And so he has a confidence that I can find mercy in the God of sacrifice. This is the defiance of faith. The defiance of faith is not presumption.

God Forgives Sin

You are not saying “I don’t know if God is merciful- I don’t know if he is kind, but I am taking my chances with God.” No. You are coming to God, you are restful, you are sure, you are assured and you are just firmly positioned, because God has revealed himself as a God who does not mark iniquity and forgives sin for those who are in covenant with him. Those who come to him.

Now this aspect of sacrifice and the vindication of the mercy of God – because how could God forgive sin except through sacrifice – this is so important to us in our evangelism. Especially to our Muslim friends.

So they would believe in an all merciful God and we will say yes. Yahweh, the triune God is a merciful God. But we know that our God can be merciful and not be unjust because when he offers his son as a propitiation he says that he has offered his son in Romans 3 so that he would be just in justifying the ungodly.

God Is Just

So that in forgiving me, who is a sinner and a wretch, he has not subverted justice. He has actually done justice because there is someone else who has carried the penalty of my sin. And so where there is no sacrifice – where sin is not dealt with – then mercy is unjust.

But here we have a God who has instituted a system for the Israelite right here – who can see the mercy of God vindicated and confirmed every day.

And we as Christians can see the mercy of God vindicated on the cross and confirmed on the cross for us. The one who could mark iniquity is the one who can forgive.

It is Finished

This is maybe what the Jews had in mind when they said that Jesus was blaspheming. And they asked how do you have authority to forgive sin? Is sin committed against you? And Jesus actually goes ahead and tell the man to walk – his sins have been forgiven. Making a statement that yes, sin is against me and I can forgive sin.

If this Christ has set you free, you are free indeed.

And friends, if this Christ has forgiven you, if this Christ has set you free, you are free indeed. He is the one with whom the buck stops concerning your sin. And if you have taken your sins to him then your dealing with that sin has been finished.

You can afford to live in freedom. You can afford to be happy, and you can afford to have rest and have joy. This defiant faith is the cause of delight for a wretched saint. You know that not only is his character merciful and gracious and forgiving, but he has confirmed that in covenant, as we said earlier.

Assurance in the New Covenant

The new covenant is my assurance, it is my hope. The fact that the lamb that takes away the sins of the world has been slaughtered and his blood shed – and that he has been raised and is seated on the throne of God right now – that is our assurance.

It is the mouth of hell closed. It is the acts of judgement laid down. It is the cup of wrath drained.

It is our charter of salvation. It is works fulfilled. It is the law silenced. It is the mouth of hell closed. It is the acts of judgement laid down. It is the cup of wrath drained. It is the sound of forgiveness amplified. It is the mercy of God confirmed. It is the gates of heaven guaranteed. Jehovah the covenant God. The God of the new covenant offered to you in the gospel – right now.

He has sworn by himself and by his oath, that those who take hold of his promises will receive them. That is the only way that a person in the depths can begin delighting in God in the very next lines.

The Consequences of Confession

In verse 5 he says “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits.”

Already his posture towards God has just changed. It is like he has gone a couple of notches up. So the moment he confesses the forgiveness of God – he says O Lord “with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” So, the consequences of his confidence are beginning to manifest.

A longing for God has been laid upon him.

Fear of The Lord

And they are manifesting not just in his fear for God, which is not terror but reverence and appreciation and just humility – he has been floored by God. The fear of God has been laid upon him by the forgiveness of God. But not only that, but a longing for God has been laid upon him.

You see what is happening when God forgives us, it is not so much that God is taking our sin and giving us righteousness, or forgiveness, but he is here and we are there. But remember what he said earlier, he said with you there is forgiveness.

Love For God

Forgiveness is not so much from God – as a thing apart from him. Forgiveness is with God. So when we claim the gospel – when we claim these promises, we are being reconciled personally to God. There is a relationship where it is not a transaction of guilt and grace. It is a union of people – of the sinner and the forgiving God.

This forgiving god is mine. Not so much this thing called forgiveness is mine.

Think of it more as a marriage, as a coming together. And so the love of God is born. This forgiving god is mine. Not so much this thing called forgiveness is mine. This forgiving God is mine, is my own. I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.

Longing for God

That is possible because there is a this reconciliation that has happened. And so this longing that is in verse 5 is not strange. I want to see this God.

Remember this is a Psalm of assent. So these believers are singing this Psalm as the ascend to the place of worship. This is standard Christian experience. They are now longing for God. They cannot wait to come to the temple to worship God. To see his glory at the temple. There is a desiring, there. isa waiting. My soul waits, the depths of my heart waits. In his promise, in his word I hope.

“my soul waits for the Lord
    more than watchmen for the morning,
    more than watchmen for the morning.”

Now, when a watchman waits for the morning, you can imagine he is waiting for the darkness to end. Because it is unsafe when you are in your little car shed at night. He is maybe waiting for it to get warmer, because it is cold. Maybe he is waiting for people to begin walking around and there is some company, because he is lonely.

But as a man in the darkness longs for light, as a man in the cold longs for warmth, as a man in a lonely place longs for company – so the forgiven soul longs to see and be with its forgiver.

Hope Is Born

Hope germinates out of assurance. Out of a confidence that God is ours and we are God’s. Our of knowing that a relationship has been established. And I want to see the one I love. With unveiled face I want to see him.

Hope germinates out of assurance. Out of a confidence that God is ours and we are God’s.

That is a hope that comes out of a confidence that I am reconciled to him. He is mine and I. am his. But the man of love – the crucified, my friend, my brother – he not only longs to be with me, I long to be with him.

We Want To See Christ

We who have been loved want to see him who has loved us. This is standard New Testament language. This is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13. He says now we see as in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. Then we will see Jesus face to face.

Then we will see the man who died, who laid down his life, for adulterers, and murderers, and liars, and lazy people and bad workers and bad mums. And people who have hard hearts. The man who loved them and laid down his life for them to make them his friends, he wants to see them and they long to see him. In their assurance that he has been theirs in forgiveness. He has forgiven them. He has offered himself to them.

When we are in this tent, or in this body, we groan. Being burdened that we will be further unclothed – that’s Paul in 2 Corinthians 5. And we know that the groaning he speaks about is like the groaning of a watchman waiting for the morning. Because he says that right now we walk by faith, and not by sight. Right now we see with the eyes of faith, but oh for us to see our saviour with our very sight. With new eyes that we shall be given.

Longing For Jesus To Return

He constantly says “O Lord come!” “Lord Jesus return!”

Peter says we are waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of the Lord. Brothers, have you been tempted not to long for the coming of Christ? And has that been because you have not owned him in his covenant and character and word?

Have you denied your soul the pleasure of longing and wanting and panting as a watchman waits for the morning? And is that because there has been some subtle anxiety that makes you wonder if he is going to return as your saviour or as your judge?

And so you can’t quite be at peace. You can’t quite long. You are like a child who has such a harsh mum that when they hear the mum is coming, they are not sure if there is something they have done wrong which means they are going to get a beating, or they are not sure if they should be waiting for a hug and presents. Because they simply do not know.

No character to be assured of. No covenant to be assured of.

Delight in The Lord

But not so with God. God wants the sinner in the depths to cry out to God in that defiant faith and go from the depths to the defiance to the delight, that we are now seeing in his longing for God.

Brothers, faith is the foundation of hope. Faith is also the foundation of godliness. 1 John 3 connects our godliness to our hope. “Those who thus hope in him purify themselves as he is pure.”

You Need Certain, Deep, Firm Confidence In God

But let me challenge you. Unless you have a certain, deep, firm confidence that God will be faithful to you as a forgiving God, and a God who reconciles too, then your works of obedience are somehow going to be something you are using to confirm and to embolden your position in God. They will not be works of gratefulness and faith and joy. They will be anxious toil.

They will be something you are trying to do to seal it up. To help you sleep well at night. To go like “oh. Christ is coming but I really hope I’m faithful. Christ is coming but I really hope I’ve done enough.”

Brothers you long as a watchman waits for the morning because you know that if this God should mark iniquity I will not stand. But this God will not mark iniquity towards men because of Christ. Because of his covenant.

Dead Works Don’t Work

And so hope becomes possible. And true godliness becomes possible. You begin to do works of faith and not dead works that God cannot reward. Because they are not done of faith, they are done as a way to attain – as a way to add, to plaster. To staple what the Lord Jesus has already done and sealed.

The question of a place in Christ has to be settled before we can serve him joyfully.

And you cannot have joy in Christ. The question of a place in Christ has to be settled before we can serve him joyfully.

Listen to how the Church responds in Revelation 22:20. At the very end which Christ has given his whole revelation to John it says “He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” And how does the church respond? “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” Come!

The Bride of Christ Longs for Him

We want you to come! That is a cry that comes from people who know that their saviour is coming. Their Lord is coming. The husband of this bride is coming – that’s how a bride longs for the coming of her husband. But that’s a bride who has been sealed in covenant relationship with her husband. Her righteous deeds are not deeds of confirming her place with her husband. They are deeds of gratefulness to her faithful, covenant, husband.

There’s a man called Andrew Bonar who’s biography I read. So he is the guy who wrote The Biography of Robert Murray M’Cheyne, but then he had his journals that I read for a shamefully long time! But, it was a thick book. And Andrew Bonnar would like write down his spiritual walk, and usually once every week, for like six hours, and I think a whole day every month, and a week every year. Andrew Bonnar would take time to do what he called ‘humiliation.’

From Humiliation to Joy in One Page

And what Andrew Bonnar would do is just reflect on sin. And he would reflect on ways in which he has failed as a pastor. Opportunities that he had which he didn’t take for Christ. Opportunities which he took, which he didn’t do enough with. Ways in which he has failed as a husband, as a dad, as a member of the team of elders he was part of. And he just described the things he had done.

And then he would end it by saying “but I trust myself deeper in the wounds of Christ.” And he would do that every time.

Now it used to surprise me how he would go from the depths to this defiant faith, to this delight in one page. But that is what is happening here.

But Andrew Bonnar’s hope was also so vivid. It is said that Andrew Bonnar would wake up and get off his bed and pull back the curtains in the morning and stare outside. And then he’d say to his wife that it might be today. And what he meant was it might be today that the Lord returns. And he just longed for that. He just wanted his husband to come back. His deliver, his redeemer, to com back.

It is possible to have this rested, anxious, loving, joyful, longing for Christ. But only if we are fully rested in his nature and covenant as our saviour

And so you see it is possible to have this rested, anxious, loving, joyful, longing for Christ. But only possible if we are fully rested in his nature and covenant as our saviour.

Let me finish by looking at how the Psalmist ends then.

Devotion

He’s gone from the depths. He’s had his defiance and then he’s gone to his delight, and finally he finishes with devotion.

He calls upon Israel – he says to Israel: “O Israel, hope in the Lord!” Hope in Yahweh. “For with the Lord there is steadfast love,” There is covenant love. With Yahweh there is Yahweh-like commitment. With the redeemer there is redeemer-like commitment.

Hope in the redeemer. With his is plentiful redemption. “and with him is plentiful redemption.” And therefore he says “he will.” “He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.” Let them hope in the Lord.

Calling Others To Hope In Your Hope

He has become an evangelist. He is calling upon people to hope in this Lord and find the redemption and forgiveness that he himself has found. We have a gospel fluency when we ourselves have received and believed and rested in the gospel.

We can kind of guilt trip people into evangelism and ministry. But often what they need is to just be soaked in that very ministry; in that very evangelism; that very gospel.

You see, he is telling Israel to hope in the Lord and to find in the Lord the very things he was praying to find when he began. And so at times we can kind of guilt trip people into evangelism and ministry. But at times what they need is to themselves just be soaked in that very ministry; in that very evangelism; that very gospel. And then they will become very good speakers and evangelists. Because they themselves have received that very thing.

He is using the very words he got for himself when he held onto God. He is telling people, “guys, you will find this in God.”

Let me end by some words of application.

Salvation Is Not A Transaction, It’s A Relationship

Number one. Don’t see your salvation primarily as a transaction. Salvation is like Joseph’s beautiful coat. There is so much. There is justification, there is sanctification, there is adoption, there is imputation. There’s so much! There is just a coat of many colours.

Don’t see salvation as a transaction. You don’t give sin and get grace like a trade. It is the price for personal reconciliation.

But that coat, it comes to us with Christ wearing it. And so you are coming to Christ and you are finding all these graces. Not those graces apart from Christ. Don’t see it as a transaction. See it as a relationship.

You don’t give sin and get grace like a trade. It is the price for personal reconciliation. Romans 5:1 having been justified we now have peace with God. We are now reconciled with God as our father. It is more like a marriage. Romans 8 calls it ‘friendship with God.’

Splitting the Person and Work of Christ is Unhealthy

I think some of us especially need to hear that. Because we can kind of have a gospel and we know that we will not be lost because of the gospel. But for some reason we are not sure that we are reconciled and at peace, and are not at home with the God of glory – from whom we have gotten that salvation we need.

So there might be a splitting of the work of Christ and the person of Christ that can be unhealthy for our souls.

Don’t Leave Out God’s Mercy

Number two. In your discipleship of others, are you tempted to gain obedience by not preaching the mercy of God? Does it surprise you that with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared?

And so the fear of God actually arises not so much from you stressing the severity of God, but actually the kindness and forgiveness of God. With you there is forgiveness that you need you may be feared. Explore the depths and then help someone come to the delight – and see God working the fear of God in that person.

How We Think of Holiness Matters

Some of the reasons why we might be tempted to shy away from the generosity and mercy of God, is because of how we think about holiness. So, holiness can be seen more like the things that we actually do, as opposed to the person we actually are.

When the fruit of the spirit is revealed to us it is love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, steadfastness. And so we want to think “I want the person that I am helping to grow in Christ, not just to be a very strict person, I want them to be a joyful, godly, peaceful, kind, patient person. So that metric then changes. And that can only come when that person has owned Christ as their redeemer and their saviour.

Confess Sin Often

Lastly, as a congregation, let us make war against perfectionism. How? By confessing sin often.

Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:16 he says “in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience.” He says “I will boast all the more in my weakness so that the strength of Christ may be seen.”

When there’s a perfectionist community, then the gospel will not shine clear.

When there’s a perfectionist community, then the gospel will not shine clear. We can say all we want that we are great sinners and Christ is a great saviour – and theologically it’s true – but practically it needs to show.

Guys need not think that “oh. If Kajuma makes it to heaven it won’t be too much of a surprise. But if Micheal makes it to heaven then whoa! Christ is great!”

That means I’ve deceived people. Seriously. It means I’ve deceived people and people do not think that I am so sinful that I need the death of the son of God for my redemption. And so that does not create a gospel culture.

How do you come and confess your sin to a guy who’s nearly made it?

And so when there’s a culture of perfectionism, that is not a vulnerable culture where there’s confession and walking with one another in repentance, then the glory of the gospel will not be manifested as much.

⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord!
    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
    and with him is plentiful redemption.
⁸ And he will redeem Israel
    from all his iniquities.”

Amen. Let us pray.