Last week, we saw how to deal with the areas in our past that can be placed in the category of our "unconfessed guilty past." This week, we'll look at how to deal with those areas from our past that can be categorized as our "confessed guilty past." As I said in the first post of this series, the original ideas for these posts did not originate with me. I gleaned these truths from the faithful teaching of Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette, IN where I was once a member.
How to Deal with the Confessed Sins of our Past Biblically
Within the church today, there is much confusion regarding confession of sin. Some people almost have a Catholic view, feeling that they must be granted "forgiveness" from their pastor. Others are plagued with nagging doubts over whether or not they can be forgiven for a sin that is "that big." Many feel they must torture themselves for a while, forcing themselves into excessive sorrow before they can truly repent and therefore experience forgiveness. A few even act as though grace gives them a license to sin and they go about committing and confessing the same sin over and over with little remorse and no repentance. Sadly, all of these responses, though very common are not the least bit Biblical or helpful.
True sorrow leads to true confession which leads to true repentance which leads to true joy! There is no room for prideful "buts" or "I had to's" in true confession.
Don't wallow! If we truly take God at his word (1 John 1:9), then we have no reason to wallow in our confessed sins. Whether they are sins engaged in prior to coming to Christ or after experiencing the new birth makes no difference. If Christ's sacrifice was truly enough to cleanse us of our sins (Hebrews 9:26), then we must view ourselves as God views us: forgiven. God is not impressed when we beat ourselves up over our past trespasses. We do no favor to our holiness and certainly no favor to God's Kingdom by thinking this way. To wallow in our sins is to doubt the very character of God and to call God a liar. To wallow in our sins is to rob ourselves of joy and to neuter ourselves of the power of victorious living God has called us to. Just as Christ restored Peter (John 21:15-19) after he denied Him (Matthew 26:69-75), just as Christ prayed, "Father, forgive" the very men who slaughtered him (Luke 23:34), so can Christ forgive and restore you and me. In short, to wallow in our sin is to commit the sin of STINKIN' THINKIN' which is as awful as it sounds.
Psalm 103:12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
The great reformer of the church, Martin Luther could not get past the horribleness of his sins prior to his conversion, but once he understood the Gospel and was changed by it, he was the one who said, "Sin boldly!" This total forgiveness through the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice was what he was referring to.
Rejoice in God's forgiveness! If we were to catch just a glimpse of hell, we Christians would be a much more joyous people. The fact that our sins are forgiven and our names are permanently written in the Lamb's Book of Life gives us great cause for rejoicing! Christ came to give us abundant life (John 10:10) not just in eternity, but in the here and now! Jesus told his disciples to be more joyful about the fact that their sins were forgiven than about the fact that they had power over demons (Luke 10:20)! Just as the guilt of sin sucks the life out of us, the forgiveness of sin gives us a blessed existence. As the Psalmist sings, "Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart (Psalm 32:1, 2, 11).
Proverbs 28:13 Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. What a great promise!
Learn all the lessons you can! Many of us wish that "forgiven" meant we experienced amnesia regarding all of our sin. But in God's economy, nothing is wasted. Everything (even our sinful actions) serves a purpose (Romans 8:28). Don’t carry around a load of guilt regarding past sins. Instead, let God redeem those sins and show the good that He wants to bring out of them. Whether it’s ministering to someone struggling with similar temptations, learning humility (1 Corinthians 10:12), or just being more and more amazed at the Lord’s overwhelming grace, grab all that you can! Surely one lesson we can learn is that of being forgiving people (Colossians 3:13). We who have been forgiven much cannot help but also forgive. It is almost unfathomable to think that our God is even sovereign over our sin (so much so that he even uses sin to fulfill His plans for us!), but we cannot deny the fact that God uses sin to accomplish His good purposes. Look at the greatest sin ever committed: killing the Son of God. If you’re on God’s agenda, you won’t want to let any suffering go to waste.
Move on! When you are tempted to stay in despair, self-pity, or guilt –move on! To stay in that place keeps you from moving forward in your Christian life. Do what you must, but you must move forward. A few years ago, I began noticing that several sins that I had committed prior to coming to Christ were repeatedly coming back to haunt me. I knew this was not God-honoring so I sought the Lord to see if there was any wrongs that I had not yet (to the best of my ability) righted. Discovering none, I prayerfully wrote down every one of those plaguing sins on a piece of paper. I acknowledged my freedom from guilt over these sins and ripped the paper up into tiny pieces. I threw the pieces in the trash can and now I have a very difficult time remembering any of the sins on that list. I should be clear that this is in no way some sort of magic formula for “getting sin guilt off your back.” At other times, I have been convinced that I should confess sins to this person or that and ask them to forgive me or remind me that I am forgiven. Some of these sins were committed against that particular person and some of them were not. Sin breeds sin best when left in the dark. If you expose it to the light, it withers and dies. The old adage, “Confession is good for the soul” is true because the secret darkness in which sin thrives is dispersed by the blinding light of the gospel of peace through that confession.
James 4:17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. Don’t add sin upon sin by not acknowledging the forgiveness that God has given you. Christ gave you freedom –walk in that freedom!
