Confession Study #5

Leviticus 16:20-22
"When Aaron has finished making the Most Holy Place, the Meeting Tent, and the altar ready for service to the Lord, he will offer the living goat. He will put both his hands on the head of the living goat, and he will confess over it all the sins and crimes of Israel. In this way Aaron will put the people's sins on the goat's head. Then he will send the goat away into the desert, and a man who has been appointed will lead the goat away. So the goat will carry on itself all the people's sins to a lonely place in the desert. The man who leads the goat will let it loose there.

• A way to get rid of sin: the scapegoat. The only way this works is if people confess the sins. If the hide the sin, then it doesn't work.

Leviticus 26:40-42
" 'But maybe the people will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors; maybe they will admit they turned against me and sinned against me, which made me turn against them and send them into the land of their enemies. If these disobedient people are sorry for what they did and accept punishment for their sin, I will remember my agreement with Jacob, my agreement with Isaac, and my agreement with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

• God just wants me to be sorry for my sin and accept the punishment. I've noticed how my son is closer to me than before his punishment. I think really God doesn't want me to sin in the first place, but if I do sin, to have a heart of confession first instead of trying to hide it or ignore it.

2 Samuel 12:7-14
Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'I appointed you king of Israel and saved you from Saul. I gave you his kingdom and his wives. And I made you king of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you even more. So why did you ignore the Lord's command? Why did you do what he says is wrong? You killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and took his wife to be your wife! Now there will always be people in your family who will die by a sword, because you did not respect me; you took the wife of Uriah the Hittite for yourself!'

"This is what the Lord says: 'I am bringing trouble to you from your own family. While you watch, I will take your wives from you and give them to someone who is very close to you. He will have sexual relations with your wives, and everyone will know it. You had sexual relations with Bathsheba in secret, but I will do this so all the people of Israel can see it.' "

Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord."

Nathan answered, "The Lord has taken away your sin. You will not die. But what you did caused the Lord's enemies to lose all respect for him. For this reason the son who was born to you will die."

• A sign of humility. David acknowledges that he has sinned and immediately confesses to Nathan. And by doing so, he receives some grace. He still receives some consequences, but he also gets some grace.

Luke 15:11-20
Then Jesus said, "A man had two sons. The younger son said to his father, 'Give me my share of the property.' So the father divided the property between his two sons. Then the younger son gathered up all that was his and traveled far away to another country. There he wasted his money in foolish living. After he had spent everything, a time came when there was no food anywhere in the country, and the son was poor and hungry. So he got a job with one of the citizens there who sent the son into the fields to feed pigs. The son was so hungry that he wanted to eat the pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he realized what he was doing, he thought, 'All of my father's servants have plenty of food. But I am here, almost dying with hunger. I will leave and return to my father and say to him, "Father, I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son, but let me be like one of your servants." ' So the son left and went to his father.

• The younger son already had some consequences but is still restored to his family. He received some grace from his father. He was humble and wasn't expecting the loving reception from his father. The first thing he did was he confessed.