Do You Have Any Confessions to Make?

Well, as we know, we should know by now, God's Fall Festival season is soon upon us, and Leviticus 23, 1-2, it tells us we learn there that the feasts are God's holy convocations. In fact, in Leviticus 23, verse 2, God says, these are my feasts. They don't belong to us. That's what God says. So with that in mind, it is important that we observe God's feast and holy days with a humble and reverent attitude, because we are coming before God to worship Him at His command.

And of course, we do that on the weekly Sabbath as well. The weekly Sabbath is also one of God's holy convocations. That's why we tend to put on better clothes that day, and when we come to services and worship together, as we heard about earlier today. Now, a vital way to prepare ourselves to keep the feasts, to meet before God and with one another as convocations, is that we need to be preparing our hearts and minds.

We need to be aware of our approach and attitude as we practice something that perhaps we're not as cognizant of doing, but we need to be doing and keep doing. We can prepare our hearts and minds for coming before God through the practice called confession. Confession. The need for making confession appears throughout the Bible, in fact. Now, of course, confession may bring different things to mind for a number of us. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, confess. To confess means to disclose or admit.

And then the dictionary says to disclose or admit something damaging or inconvenient to oneself. So typically we talk about having a secret, something not so nice to confess. That can be a more negative connotation, perhaps. But confess also can mean to acknowledge belief or faith in, to acknowledge or recognize belief or faith in, a rather positive meaning. But perhaps the most common meaning of confess is to make known one's sins to God, and then the dictionary says to a priest.

We don't advocate telling our secrets to a priest. That is something some denominations of the world do, but our confession is to be to God when it comes to sin. God's the one that forgives our sins. And so in truth, the Bible reveals that confession is vital to our relationship with God and to receiving God's promise of salvation, that place we look forward to in the kingdom of God, in the family of God forever.

And so we need to understand what biblical confession means, what does the Bible mean by confession, and why we need to be practicing it. And again, this is to help make sure that our attitudes, our approach to God is appropriate, right, for every Sabbath we meet with God, and also on His holy days. And so the title of this sermon is, do you have any confessions to make?

Do you have any confessions to make? Now, according to God's Word, what is it we should confess to God? What are we supposed to confess to God? Well, more than likely, our first thought is that we need to confess our sins. That's probably the most common thought we have when it comes to confessing. We need to confess our sins to God. And that is very true, but as you're going to—we will find out as I learn more about myself and preparing this message, there's much more to confess to God than just our confession of sin, as important as that is for us.

But we'll start with that. Number one, what do we confess to God? We confess our sins. We confess our sins. The requirement that the sinner confesses sins to God is essential for repentance from sin and for receiving God's forgiveness. If you turn with me to begin with, here in Leviticus chapter 5, verse 5 through 6, Leviticus 5, verse 5 through 6, we find God's instruction through Moses regarding the confession of sin.

This is something God instituted—not man. God instituted this. Along with realizing one's sin and being remorseful for our sin, the sinner was also required—the sinner was required to confess the sin. In other words, to verbalize it. To verbalize it. And so in Leviticus chapter 5, verse 5 through 6, the reference to guilty in any of these matters has to do with specific applications of God's law, not breaking God's law. It talks about verses 1 through 4 of chapter 5. But picking up there in verse 5, we read, And it shall be, when he is guilty in any of these matters, that he shall confess.

The word confess is from the Hebrew yada. It's spelled y-a-d-a-h, yada. And yada means to confess, yes. It also means to acknowledge. And it could also mean to recognize. You might say nowadays to admit it. We have the short and firm of it today, right? To fess up. To fess up. And that he shall confess that he has sinned in that thing. And he shall bring his trespass offering to the Lord for his sin, which he has committed. And then it's described with sort of sacrifice, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats, as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin. And so the point I want to draw out here in these verses is that when making an offering for his sin, the sinner had to verbalize his sin in order to be forgiven by God. That was part of the process here as we read. He had to admit to God, in other words, he's having to admit to God what he ought to have done, but failed to do. And when you think about your confession, when we confess to God, that's what we should be doing. We should be recognizing, admitting to God, we know what we should have done. We didn't do it. And then we ask God for his forgiveness through Jesus Christ, through sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That God needed to instruct his people and instruct us still to confess their sins, that shouldn't be too surprising when you think about it. For what is the natural tendency of human beings? The natural tendency of human beings, since the time of Adam and Eve, is to do what with their sin? Hide it. We want to hide it. We want to conceal it. We don't want to talk about it. In fact, some of our problems with our neighbors sometimes, we've sinned against our neighbor and we don't want to talk about it. We want to hide it instead of dealing with it more openly. And we can do the same thing to God. We can try to hide our sin. But can we hide anything from God? No. Just like you couldn't hide the time you got mom's cookie jar with chocolate all over your face. We cannot hide any of our sins from God. The best thing to do is to admit it, to recognize before God what we did was wrong, in that we want to make it right, at least forgive us. And so God, instead of hiding our sin, He wants us to be checking our attitudes. He wants us to be humbling ourselves, to be repentant and recognizing that whenever we break His law, we are sinning against Him. And so verbalizing, of course, you can say the words out loud. You can say the words. You put the thought in your mind. King David, as we're going to see here in a little bit, wrote his verbalizings out, his confessions to God for sin. And the idea seems to be that we need to really focus on what it is we have done to give it thought, to give it structure through words, through those thoughts that we have offended God by our actions.

Of course, confessing our sin to God is of critical benefit to ourselves and to our relationship with God. It's vital to our relationship with God. It keeps us right with God. David makes that point rather clear over in Psalm 32. If you turn there with me, please. Psalm chapter 32, and we'll be reading verses 3 through 5. Here, David is describing how not confessing his sin to God caused him grief. When he did not confess his sin to God, as we're going to read, that brought more misery to him. It brought even illness. But when he acknowledged his sin, when he confessed his sin, it brought about healing. It brought about forgiveness. So Psalm 32, verse 3 then, David writes, When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day.

He just felt achy. He felt terrible. Sometimes we feel that way because of guilt. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. That idea of God's hand heavy upon him, I've learned that's an idiom, an ancient manner speaking for God's divine punishment. He felt God was putting weight on him, making, building that sense of guilt that he had for his sin. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Anybody want to guess what the drought of summer feels like? Yeah, we're at a chilly 95 degrees day, and I'll take it over 105. But it's that idea of feeling all shriveled up without any vitality, without any energy. That's how David felt spiritually, psychologically, emotionally, because he had not confessed his sin. Verse 5, look at the change that happens. I acknowledged, there's the word yada, I acknowledge or confess my sin to you. My iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I had not hidden, I said, I said I will confess yada, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. So he put into practice, in other words, what we read there in Leviticus, chapter 5. And as David attests, it's not good for us, it's not wise for us to try to conceal our sins from God, but to admit them and repent, and then God will have mercy on us. That principle of God's grace is also clearly summarized or declared, we could say, in Proverbs, chapter 28, verse 13. Very succinct principle of God's forgiveness, or need to confess, Proverbs 28, verse 13. Here, the word of God is given, it reads, he who covers or hides, he who covers or hides his sins will not prosper. But whoever confesses, yada, whoever confesses and forsakes them, will have mercy. A very simple lesson, but oh, if we would practice it always, if we would only practice it always. And of course, if we think about it, we need to realize there must be more to our confession and more to our repentance than just mere mechanical, rote, action, unthinking behavior in our part. The whole purpose of confession being a verbalizing, we have to think about it. We have to give it thought. And our actions that follow the thought, in fact, must be motivated by sincere attitudes of humility and sincere remorse. We should feel bad when we sin. That's what we should feel when we break God's law.

In other words, we have to put our hearts into it when we ask for God's forgiveness.

If you turn with me to Luke chapter 18, the parable here, the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector, a familiar parable, but one well suited to what we're talking about here today, about confession, confessing our sins. The parable of the Pharisee and tax collector, Luke 18, verse 9 through 14, it makes clear that our confession of our sins should arise out from a heartfelt attitude of sincere repentance and remorse. And so, let's read what Jesus taught in this parable. Luke 18, verse 9. And he, Jesus, and Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. It's interesting, this parable we were giving a specific audience Jesus had in mind in giving this, to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.

And so he gives the story as follows, verse 10. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. And of course, we know how people feel about tax collectors in the IRS. All right, no, not enough said. But the Pharisee stood, the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. Isn't that interesting? He prayed thus, as we're about to read, with himself. Now, where was it? Our confessions are supposed to go. Oh, well, let's see. What does it say here? And so he said, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. That's like it's a bad word in the same rank as these others. I fast twice a week, and I give tithes of all that I possess. Now, in what is called a prayer, in his prayer, the Pharisee confesses, although it's not the sort of confession that we just read from Leviticus or even Psalms or Proverbs, he confesses a sort of confession that God is really not interested in hearing. He confesses that he fast often, apparently more than most, twice, he says, a week. He also confessed that he's extremely meticulous when it came to tithing. Well, that's not a bad thing either. And he is just an upright.

And so much so, it's obvious, it seems to be in his mind, that he is upright, and quite unlike the tax collector. But as I say, we might notice that unlike David, unlike King David, he doesn't confess as to having any sin at all. He's not confessing any sin. And yet Jesus depicts the Pharisee in such a way that the Pharisee's sinful attitudes of pride and self-righteousness should be obvious to anybody. Certainly they should be obvious to those whom God is working with. Now it's possible some people might read this and say, hey, Pharisee sounds like a nice fellow.

You know, I like the way he talks. That is quite possible. But that is not what God wants as a confession from his true followers, the truly faithful ones. This is not the kind of confession God wants, and though the Pharisee's actions seem noble on the surface, his attitude, his pride hides... well, his attitude of pride is hiding his own sin. He doesn't even see his sin. He can't perceive it. He can't see it. But now the tax collector's confession is quite the opposite, isn't it? It's much more of what we saw with King David. The tax collector's confession is sincere, remorseful, and it's repentant. Verse 13, the tax collector standing afar off would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breath, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. And perhaps, you know, he doesn't list his sins or anything like that, but perhaps he's in a situation like we get into sometimes. We start evaluating all the things we do wrong, all the ways we fail in sin before God, and sometimes we might feel overwhelmed by our sin and just... we can't even enunciate everything we're doing wrong and just say to God something similar, I'm such a sinner.

I admit it. Forgive me. And that's what this tax collector is confessing. And it's from the heart.

It's from the heart. And Jesus tells us this man, this tax collector, in his confession, his prayer was received. I tell you, this man, Jesus said, this man went down to his house, justified, right with God rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. So the right approach, of course, is to humble ourselves, evaluate ourselves for sin, and when we obviously, sooner or later, are going to see that sin, we go to God, verbalize it, confess it, and ask for his forgiveness, repent of it, and ask for his forgiveness. And so Christ's depiction of the tax collector in his heartbroken, repentant prayer should leave no doubt as to the attitude God prefers in us. We need to ask ourselves then, what is our attitude and our motivation and our confessions to God? What's really motivating us? Why are we confessing what we confess to God? And the point is, of course, when it comes to our sins, we need to confess them to God. Let's be turning to 1 John chapter 1. 1 John chapter 1 verse 8 through 9.

In 1 John 1, 8 through 9, we receive the assurance from the Apostle John that when we do confess our sins, somebody's echoing the promise of Proverbs 28, 13, John tells us that God is faithful to forgive us. And so we read 1 John 1 1 John 1, 8 through 9. If we say we have no sin, sort of like that Pharisee in the parable, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess, and here the Greek word is homologio, which means to acknowledge, to admit, to recognize the same meaning as the Hebrew word yada, if we confess our sins, he is faithful. God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's certainly what we desire.

And so our heartfelt remorse for sin, confessing that verbalizing our sins that we've committed against God, if we sin against our neighbor, we are sinning also against God, and our sincere repentance through faith in Christ, that allows us the joy of God's merciful forgiveness to be received, to be bestowed upon us by God. And that's important, isn't it? Because we must maintain that right relationship with God. We must retain that right relationship with God. And ultimately, so we might receive that everlasting blessing, everlasting life at Christ's return.

And much as we heard in that song today, Special Music, truly God is most gracious to us.

And so this first type of confession, this first kind of confession, is our need to confess our sins. It's the one we most often think of. But there are at least three additional kinds of confessions we must be making to God. Let's talk about those now. The second kind of confession.

The second confession, number two, type two, confess God's total authority. Confess God's total, if you want, complete authority, not just over you and me, but over all creation. God is the ultimate authority. Certainly not any human being, anything else. So along with confessing our sins to God, God's faithful ones will also confess, among that authority of God, they will be confessing that Jesus Christ is the Savior of humanity. He was sent by the Father. We see this concept, this confession being addressed, 1 John 4. Let's turn over a few pages, 1 John 4, 14 through 16.

Here again, John writing states, and we have seen and testified that the Father has sent the Son, a Savior of the world, Savior of humanity. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.

John adds, God is love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him. And of course, John's saying we have seen and testified. John's referring to other apostles, others that were still alive at that time who witnessed Jesus Christ, who saw his works, who witnessed him, saw him after the resurrection. They testify. They are eyewitnesses of this fact.

Now, moreover, in confessing that Jesus Christ is the Savior of humanity, God's faithful will also confess the authority, the ultimate almighty, a powerful authority of the Father in Jesus Christ over us and of course, overall creation, everything that was made. Let's notice that in Philippians 2, verse 9 through 11. Philippians 2, 9 through 11. And again, we're rehearsing these things to help us help put ourselves in the right mind, the right attitude of worship when we come before God on the Sabbath day, on his holy feast. Philippians 2, verse 9 through 11. Here we read Paul writing, Therefore God has also highly exalted him, and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven, of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess, that is the word exomologio, another variation of the word, to confess, to acknowledge. They'll confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And now to Romans chapter 10, verse 9 through 10, Romans 10, 9-10. Because God is God, the ultimate power—and you can put that in all caps—the ultimate power and authority overall, we will also confess that salvation, everlasting life, is only available through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only means, the only way, to salvation, to everlasting life. Romans 10, verse 9 through 10, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession homologio is made unto salvation. And so we have to verbalize, we have to verbalize, confess our hearts and our minds and our prayers to God, to those that want to know God's precious truth that Jesus Christ is the Savior. He is the only way to salvation. Now, this scripture does bring up a question that is often asked. Does confessing that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior mean that we only need to verbalize? We only need to say it with emphasis? Do we only need to say, I believe that Jesus is my Savior? And that's it? Is that all we need to do? Do we need to just speak words? Well, there's more to the Bible than these two scriptures.

No, we must do more than just verbalize those words to be saved. We must also willingly choose to repent of sin, to do behavior the way we think, speak, act in accordance with God's law, His way of life. We cannot simply profess or confess to believe God, or say we believe God, and then not strive to repent and live in submission to God's authority, the ultimate authority of the universe. Look at Titus chapter 1 verse 16 with me, please. Titus 1 verse 16. This is a concept we may think, oh, we know this. Well, let's pray we do, and let's pray better that we live it, because there are many people through the centuries that do not understand this.

Excuse me, in Titus 1 verse 16, Paul makes this point. They, referring to those that claim to know God, they profess, there's that word homologio, confess, profess, they profess to know God, but in works, the things they do, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.

In Paul, as we'd expect, sometimes, well, a lot Paul gets criticized that he twisted the words of Christ, and we don't need to listen to Paul, and the reason many people don't want to listen to Paul, the same reason they don't want to listen to Christ, because they don't like what they say. But Paul is not making up a new rule or a new law or anything of that nature. Let's look at Matthew 7, Matthew 7, 21 through 23. As we'd expect, Paul is teaching what Jesus Christ Himself taught. Jesus made the same point. Matthew 7, verse 21 through 23. They're all speaking under the authority of God the Father, the written word, inspired of God, God breathed. Matthew 7, 21, 23.

Jesus said these words, these recorded words of Christ, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.

Many will say to me in that day, day of judgment, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name.

And then I, Jesus says, then I will declare, and guess what that word declare is? I'm a loggia. I will confess. Christ will confess. He will profess, to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me you who practice lawlessness.

Well, the logic here, if we look, why does he tell him, I don't know you?

And he tells him, depart because they practice lawlessness. That tells us that those who do confess Christ are not just saying it, they're living it, they're doing it. Their actions, their faithfulness in keeping the law of God, they become a living confession, as it were. Their lives are a confession, not just their words, their very behavior, and actions become a confession of their obedience and submission to God, or their faith in the authority of God, Christ, and the Father. And so Christ reveals a vital aspect of our confession of God's absolute authority over us and our willing submission to Him. Our belief in God requires, then, much more than just words, that constant effort in practicing God's way, keeping His commandments. Following Christ's example, sometimes we may not understand the words, but if we pay attention to what Christ did, He provides us the picture of how we should be living our lives. So living in humble and faithful submission to God's authority proves our confession. We become a liberal, not liberal, a verbalization of our confession, physical verbalizing of our confession, the ultimate authority under God. And then there's something more we need to think about when it comes to confessing God as our authority and that Jesus Christ is Son of God and Savior humanity. Jesus Christ will in turn confess us. He will acknowledge us, you and me, Matthew 10, verse 32. When we confess Christ, when we not just say the words but live the words of God, submit to His authority over us. Jesus Christ is, He in turn will confess or acknowledge us before the Father. And that is something absolutely wonderful. Matthew 10, 32. Jesus said, therefore, whoever confesses me before men, Him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. And let's also turn to Revelation 3, verse 5. Jesus Christ, you see, will confess us personally before our Heavenly Father. Can you imagine that? We need to imagine that because that is what God says. We need to believe it and live our lives accordingly. Revelation 3, 5. And part of what we learn here in reading this scripture is that to be confessed before the Father, yes, we need to be overcoming sin. We need to be overcoming the ways of the world. We need to be overcoming our natural, selfish nature. And we do that through faith and obedience in Christ. We cannot do it alone. We're not able to do it by ourselves at all. We absolutely have to rely on Christ and God to help us. Revelation 3, 5. He whoever comes shall be clothed in white garments, symbolizing righteousness.

And I will not blot out His name from the book of life, but I will confess exomogio, acknowledge His name before my Father and before His angels, Jesus says. It's a wonderful confession. We all need to be a part of that confession Christ makes about us to the Father. So then again, I ask us what should be our attitude and approach to God? Well, we need to be humble and close to God and sincere in our repentance in every way we know how. We must stand firm and hold fast to God. We must not allow anyone or anything, and certainly not ourselves, to reject or neglect God's authority over us.

You see, our confessions, the words we were saying wonderful words, our hymns today, our opening prayer was in many ways confessions to God. We must do more than just make these confessions to God in hymns and prayers and things we talk about. Because without our actions following what we say, we're just expelling so much air, vibrating so much air through our larynxes, and it doesn't mean anything. We need to be placing ourselves willingly under God's loving authority. Tied in very close to the second confession of confessing God's authority over us is number three. We must confess our faith and trust in God. Confess our faith and trust in God.

Scripture reveals that God's people readily confess their faith and trust in God. But more than just talk about it, and again, you can't really separate talking from doing, more than just talk about it, God's faithful ones will be living their faith through good works of belief and obedience to God. And much of that faith and trust in God we've already read about and considered so far in the sermon. Let's also turn now to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews 11 verse 13 through 16. In Hebrews 11, 13 through 16, we are reminded of those who have gone before us, and many of their lives were recorded for us in God's Scripture. Hebrews 11, 13, 16, reference to those who went before us, those other faithful ones of God, who preceded us and have died and who now await the resurrection as firstfruits of Christ's return. And of them we read, Hebrews 11 verse 13, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them. They embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And what homeland did they seek? What homeland were they seeking? The kingdom, the kingdom of God, the same one we're seeking. In verse 15, and truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, the world, wherever they were in the world, wherever they came from, they would have had opportunity to return. The point is they didn't. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. And of course we understand it's a heavenly country, but it will be on earth, the kingdom of God. Christ is coming to establish the kingdom of God on earth. But, like faithful, God's faithful ones of old, we too should consider ourselves strangers and pilgrims on this earth. When we commit ourselves totally to God in His ways of righteousness, when we begin doing that, when we make that commitment and we start putting it firmly to heart and practice as best we can with God's help, what do we find? We find ourselves rather quickly at odds with other people who do not think and believe the same way God has revealed to us. We find ourselves increasingly at odds with the world. Frankly, we no longer fit in. We don't fit in anymore. We want to fit in somewhere that's not here. Of course, it's here. Don't get me wrong, we fit in here in the congregation right now. But we don't fit in with the world very well. We too, then, will readily confess, and I know we do, that we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth because we've committed ourselves to living a new life in Christ as members of His body, as members of the Church.

In essence, we have made that good confession. We have made a good confession, and we have embarked on living a life of faith and trust in God, of seeking first and foremost, what? The Kingdom of God and His righteousness, Matthew 6, 33. Now, in 1 Timothy, let's turn back a few pages. 1 Timothy 6, verse 12-13. It's in this letter to Timothy that Paul speaks of the good confession.

1 Timothy 6-13. It's a confession we have made. Here we read about it, 1 Timothy 6, 12-13, and it occurs as Paul is exhorting Timothy, and of course we read this, we recognize Paul is also exhorting us or any of God's faithful. He exhorted Timothy to hold fast to his calling to salvation through faith and trust in God. He said, Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you are also called and confess the good confession and the presence of many witnesses.

I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things and before Christ Jesus, who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate. So here Paul is telling Timothy, Timothy, you made the good confession of faith. Hold to it, stick to it. That's what he's telling us. And then he connects it to the good confession Jesus Christ made.

What good confession did Jesus Christ make? Well, let's look it up. What good confession did Christ make before Pilate? Let's turn to John 18, verse 36 through 37. John 18, verse 36 through 37. And I think we remember the situation Christ was brought before Pilate before he was crucified.

And Pilate asked him a number of probing questions. And one of the questions was, he asked Jesus in verse 33, John 18, 33. Let me get there. Pilate asked him, are you the king of the Jews? Verse 36, Jesus gives the answer. Jesus answered, verse 36, Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here. Pilate therefore said to him, yes, another question. Well, the question again, are you a king then? And Jesus answered, you say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. And everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.

It's amazing and encouraging and strengthening of faith to us to notice how Jesus responded to this answer. He didn't shrink from the truth. He did not cower from the truth. But he told his good confession. His good confession was that he was a king, is a king, and that he had a kingdom, and has a kingdom, I should say. It's coming. It's coming. It's the kingdom of God. It's not yet here, but most assuredly it is coming. That good confession about eternal life through faith in Christ and with the coming of the kingdom of God was also Timothy's good confession. It's what he lived his life for, and it's what we are to be living our lives for. It is that way for all of God's faithful ones, those who have preceded us and those that will follow us in time.

With faith and trust in God, they, and now we, are to boldly make the same confession. What was it Christ told us to be doing? Seeking first the kingdom of God. Not to shrink from it, not to be afraid to talk about it, but to seek first the kingdom of God. Hold to that confession.

Now this is all part of confessing our faith and trust in God, but there's another aspect of confessing faith and trust in God. What about those times when we find ourselves in very terrible trials? When we feel like we're being hit by a tsunami of problems that are just more than we think we can possibly bear? What about those terrible times when our faith in God is severely tested? When we're shaken to our very core? What about those times, you see, when our belief and faith are weak? When we're shaky when it comes to faith? We see that's also the time, isn't it? That's also the time when we must be confessing our need for faith. We confess to God, Father, Lord Jesus, we need to help. We need strength of faith. We need your help. We need your strength. Strengthen our belief. We can also, we must also confess to God our lack and need for deeper belief and strength of faith because He will hear us and He is most eager to help us.

And that is a valuable lesson we can learn from Mark chapter 9. Again, I believe we're familiar with this incident. It's the account of the Father whose son was afflicted by an evil spirit. Mark chapter 9 verse 17 through 27. And it's a very poignant account that reminds us of the reality of faith and belief in us human beings. Again, a little backdrop here, Mark 9 verse 17, 27. This is the incident where the Father had a son who was afflicted by a mute spirit, a demon, an evil spirit, it says. And verse 17, the man says, teacher, I brought you my son who is a mute spirit, and whatever it seizes him, it throws him down. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. And so I spoke to your disciples that they should cast it out, but they could not.

Now, let's pause here and think, how would that father, that child, have felt at this time?

In good faith and trust and belief, he had come to Christ's disciples. Christ wasn't there at the moment. He came to his disciples, and they could not cast out this demon. They could not help his son, who's writhing and frothing from the mouth on the ground. How would that father have felt? What would have been the power, the amount of his faith and belief at that time? Of course, you can imagine he probably perked up when he saw Jesus coming. Verse 19, and Jesus answered him, said, oh, faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me. Of course, many times Jesus said, oh, ye of little faith. Jesus recognized they all needed a little more faith in this situation. Verse 20, then they brought him, the boy, to him, Christ, and when he, the boy who had the demon in him, when he, the boy, saw him, Christ, immediately the Spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. And so Christ asked the Father, Jesus asked the Father, how long has this been happening to him? And he said, from childhood, and often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.

Now imagine, again, the Father, the child's Father, must have been terribly discouraged. Here he's in a worse fit than ever there before Christ's feet. But then his very next statement reveals very clearly his shaken faith. Continue in verse 22. In some ways we look at this and we can smile to ourselves, but at the other hand we can look at this and feel the heart rending fear and worry in the Father's mind and heart. He told Jesus, but if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said to him, if you can believe, then all things are possible to him who believes.

And immediately the Father child cried out and said with tears, he says, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. How often have we been in that situation?

When Jesus saw that the people that the people came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit saying to a deaf and dumb spirit, I command you come out of him and enter him no more.

And then the spirit cried out, convulsed the boy greatly and came out of him. And he, the boy, became as one dead. And so that man he said, he's dead. But Jesus, Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose. You see, God heard the Father's heart-rending confession of his lack of faith. I believe, but I also have unbelief. I don't have enough. My faith is shaky.

God heard the Father's heart-rending confession in plea, and Jesus cast out the demon. And what do you think happened to the Father's belief in faith at that moment?

Immensely supercharged and strengthened. There was his boy, arising from the ground, holding in Christ's hand Jesus's hand. The demon had been cast out. He'd been cured. His faith was surely strengthened. It's a powerful lesson, I think, for us.

It's there for us to recognize there will always be times when we do not have enough belief or faith, and that's the time we need to turn to God, confess our need for faith and trust. As much as we confess we believe and have faith in God, we also are going to have times we need to confess we need more. Please help. And this reminds us that God is quick to help us. And so always and without hesitation we need to make that confession about our faith and trust to God.

We must be willing to humble ourselves, to seek God's help for the faith we need, to maintain our good confession, that commitment we have made through God's calling, through our commitment to Him, His help, the help of His Holy Spirit, to keep seeking first the kingdom of God unto salvation. And it's really good news, isn't it, that we can trust our most loving God to be faithful, to answer us in our need. It gives us great reason to rejoice, does it not? And that is the fourth type of confession we must make. The fourth kind of confession we must make to God.

We must confess our thanks and praise. Confess our thanks and praise to God.

After considering these three other kinds of confession we're to make, how needful and appropriate it is for us, brethren, that we also are expected to confess our thanks and praise to God.

We have great reason to when you think about it, don't we? Let's turn back to Isaiah chapter 25 verse 1. Isaiah 25 verse 1. Here again we find the Hebrew word yada, confess, but here it's used with a different shade of meaning. In this context, confess also has a shade of meaning of expressing an individual's expression, confession of praise and gratitude to God.

Isaiah 25 verse 1, we read, O Lord, you are my God. I will exalt you. I will praise your name. That word praise is yada. For you have done wonderful things. Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. And they still are. They always shall be. Also, Isaiah 38, we find yada used like a similar way in Isaiah 38 verse 18 through 19. Isaiah 38 verse 18 through 19.

Here, speaking of Sheol the grave, we read, For Sheol the grave cannot thank you. Death cannot praise you. Those who go down to the pit, meaning the grave, cannot hope for your truth.

But the living, the living man, he shall praise you, yada you. As I do this day, the Father shall make known your truth to the children. And yes, that word known is also yada.

You, the Father, the parents, the children, the families, are also to be making sure their children recognize the same things we're to be confessing to God, including praising and thanking God. All this truth about God is to be made known to our children as well. And we do.

But how often, then, do we intentionally focus upon our blessings? How often do we truly verbalize, whether by mouth or thought and writing, however it is we do it, how well and all often do we intentionally focus and verbalize upon our blessings? How often do we specifically thank God for all he does for us? Remember that old song? Count your blessings, name them one by one. It's kind of a simple tune, but a very powerful message. When was the last time we made such grateful confessions to God? Not merely thank you, but to go into some depth about it. Sometimes life seems too thick with troubles, but those can be especially beneficial times to thank God.

When times seem most difficult for us, and I know many of you know this, when times seem most difficult for us, those are often the best times for the attitude of gratitude.

You see, the attitude of gratitude dispels ingratitude. The attitude of gratitude dispels worry. It dispels distress and doubt and so many other things.

This confession of thanks and praise to God is absolutely not limited to us individually, but we're to be confessing our thanks and praise as part of our communal and public worship of God.

Psalm 111 verse 1. Psalm 111 verse 1.

God's church, His people, are together to confess thanks and praise as well. Psalm 111 verse 1. Praise the Lord! I will praise Yada, the Lord, with my whole heart. That confession, that acknowledgement, that recognition with praise in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. And of course, we've already been doing that today, haven't we? In every Sabbath.

We fulfill the Scripture and we gather to worship God. The most important thing we can do in the Sabbath would be to worship God, come together in His holy convocation, and to join then in hymns and prayer, praise, and thanks to God. In our sincere confessions of praise to God, it must go on beyond just the Sabbath. It must be ongoing, always, as I've said, in bad times, but of course in good times. Hebrews 13 verse 15. Does God's love towards us ever stop? The answer is no. Should our thoughts of praise and gratitude come to an end in our lives? Or maybe times where it's hard to say it, but we should try. We should try to express that hope and gratitude towards God, knowing that no matter what happens, God is there. Look at Hebrews 13 through 15. God's love towards us is ongoing. Therefore, by Him, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name, Anoma. That's O-N-O-M-A. Anoma, it says name in English, but it's actually referring, praising God's authority, praising God's character. God is much more than just letters. It's His authority. It's His power. It's His essence. It's all that He is. That four-letter word name is just a signal and a label.

The praise-giving thanks is translated from the Greek word homologia, which again means acknowledge, confess. And then ultimately, as Paul writes, Romans 14 through 11, we know ultimately what's going to happen because we have studied God's Word. We understand through the holy days that we reveal God's plan of salvation. Paul writes in Romans 14, 11 about that future time, the future time of God's kingdom, God's kingdom which shall never end when every person will confess to God. And what will they confess? Romans 14, 11, for it is written, and here Paul is quoting from Isaiah 45, 23, for it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. What will all confess?

All will humbly acknowledge God's inippet and authority and righteousness and power.

And here, the Greek word exomogia means confess. That's true. But it also carries additional meaning, which is to openly and joyfully praise to one's honor, to celebrate, to give praise to.

That suggests that among all the things we've been talking about today in Confessions, that people will especially at that time be recognizing and confessing praise to God, praise for all He is, for His authority, that He is love, that He is merciful.

In what a jubilant time of confession in God's kingdom that will be, as the Revised Standard Version reads here, when every tongue shall give praise to God.

Imagine all human beings confessing praise and honor to God. And so it is truly, among our confessions to God, must be confessions of thanks and praise. And so, as we see, there's much more to making confession to God than making confessions about our sins. Those are critically important. We must do that as part of our repentance and staying right with God. But we must also now understand, we must also be confessing, acknowledging, confessing God's loving authority over our lives. We must make that confession.

And we who are weak, so weak due to our human nature, how can we not confess our faith in Him? And how can we not confess our need for greater faith and belief and trust in Him? And as God helps us more and more to comprehend His boundless love and grace, how can we not confess our thanks and praise to Him? So again, I ask us, brethren, do you have any confessions to make?

Do you have any confessions to make? And we most certainly do. And so, as we approach God's fall, holy days, His season, let us be making our sincere and humble confessions to our Heavenly Father and to Christ His Son. And let us be praying always that God will help us all to become more like Him now and always and unto salvation in the kingdom of God.