Here is a
unique, suggested prayer (if it is said, it must be said from the heart in
sincerity like any prayer only to the one true God),
Dear God, whom I hate with all my being precisely because you hate
and threaten me with hell, I hate this punishment perhaps even more than I hate
you. Or, maybe I should say that I love my comfort even more than I hate you.
For that reason I am asking a favor of you. I want you to make me love you,
whom I hate even when I ask this and even more because I have to ask this. I am
being frank with you because I know it is no use to be otherwise. You know even
better than I how much I hate you and that I love only myself. It is no use for
me to pretend to be sincere. I most certainly do not love you and do not want
to love you. I hate the thought of loving you but that is what I'm asking
because I love myself. If you can answer this 'prayer' I guess the gift of
gratitude will come with it and then I will be able to do what I would not
think of doing now—thank you for making me love you whom I hate. Amen.[1]
We
come now to the subject of confession of sin in repentance. This chapter is meant to help you with
confession of sin. People may struggle
with confession of sin, but God has blessed me to understand what sins I need
to repent thereof. I hope to help you as
you confess your sin to God. It is
completely consistent with the teaching of the Bible to practice
repentance. The gift of repentance
should be viewed as a divine treasure of God for helpless, poor, fallen
sinners. Every human being has the
responsibility to repent of their sins.
No human being can make it to heaven without repenting of their
sins. Anyone who rejects the divine
teaching of repentance excludes their soul from the eternal paradise of God in
heaven. This matter of repentance is
neither a trifling matter nor a personal preference. Rather, it is an imperative by God that all
sinners must do.
First,
I think it would be helpful to understand what we ought to say to God. I do not mean that this prayer example is the
only of its kind. All prayers must be
said in the spirit of sincerity, truth, righteousness. If you want a biblical example of a prayer of
repentance to God, read Psalm 51. I do
not mean by showing this prayer example below that these are somehow magical
words. No, but we must remain true to
the divine truth of divine Scripture.
Nevertheless, here is a simple, basic, elementary prayer to God. Within sanctification we need to repent over
and over again of different sins, but if we wanted, we could use the same
prayer to repent of different sins. Moreover,
we must confess our sins to God. We
could confess our sins to all Three Persons in the Trinity. But we ought not to confess our sins to dead
saints or angels. Or we could confess
our sins to a distinct Member of the Trinity.
Nonetheless, here is a basic example.
Imagine you have committed a sin, and now you need to confess it: I
acknowledge it, and forgive me Heavenly Father through Christ crucified. Amen. [2]
After this bear fruits of repentance in godly living. We could also pray,
HOLY LORD,
I have sinned times without
number, and been guilty of pride and unbelief, or failure to find thy mind in
thy Word, of neglect to seek thee in my daily life. My transgression and short-comings present me
with a list of accusations, but I bless thee that they will not stand against
me, for all have been laid on Christ; Go on to subdue my corruptions, and grant
me grace to live above them. Let not the
passions of the flesh nor lustings of the mind bring my spirit into subjection,
but do thou rule over me in liberty and power.
I thank thee that many of my prayers have been refused—I have asked
amiss and do not have, I have prayed from lusts and been rejected, I have
longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness.
Go on with thy patient work, answering ‘no’ to my wrongful prayers, and
fitting me to accept it. Purge me from
every false desire, every base aspiration, everything contrary to thy
rule. I thank thee for thy wisdom and
thy love, for all the acts of discipline to which I am subject, for sometimes
putting me into the furnace to refine my gold and remove my dross. No trail is so hard to bear as a sense of
sin. If thou shouldst give me choice to
live in pleasure and keep my sins, or to have them burnt away with trail, give
me sanctified affliction. Deliver me
from every evil habit, every accretion of former sins, everything that dims the
brightness of thy grace in me, everything that prevents me taking delight in
thee. Then I shall bless thee, God of
Jeshurun, for helping me to be upright.[3]
Second,
what are the assumptions of biblical repentance in the short prayer example
that provided? I have assumed that you
know you have done wrong; that you have recognized your sin. Sometimes this might be the hardest thing to
see. I have also assumed that you know
you have offended God. Contrite
repentance is a realization of offending God not because of fear of
punishment. Moreover, you must repent through Christ crucified. Why?
We must repent through Christ crucified because it is on the Cross of
Calvary where our Lord atoned for sin to His Heavenly Father. God appointed that His divine Son would
freely die to expiate and propitiate the sin of His beloved people. The
Cross completely takes away our sin through Jesus Christ the Redeemer. Without the Cross it would be impossible
to receive forgiveness and cleansing. We
desperately need the all-sufficient Cross because we are fallen sinners.
Third,
how we lived our life will be judged by the God-man on Judgment Day. Christ will know whether we repented or not
when we were alive. He will see if you
obeyed Him in His Word. It is my
intention to give you some homework to do to prepare for the Last Day. Remember Christ Jesus is the Master of
searching the minds and hearts of men and women. This homework is mandatory for those who are
serious about the state of their lives, and for those who seek to please God
according to the Holy Ghost. It has been
shown that unconverted people live a life of sin. It is my goal to locate the general sins we
have committed and repent of them.
It is my experience in repentance
that an actual calendar of the days, weeks, months helps greatly in aiding me
in detailed repentance. It is my
experience and recommendation that you obtain a calendar of your life. Additionally, do not feel burdened, but be
eager to repent of your sins, and your burden of sin will decrease. But here is an example: I was born on October 31, 1978, and the year
I am in is 2007. Since we were all
conceived in sin, you might want to find out when you were conceived (e.g., repent
of total depravity). You might say “You
are too extreme!” I would rather repent
then leave sin to chance.[4]
God loves those who seek to do that which is right, and then practice that
which is right. You also might want to
pray to the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what were your times of sin, and hours
of darkness. For me then I would get a
calendar from 1978 to 2007, and therefore, you will be able to locate days,
weeks, months.[5] You might want to keep a record of what you
have repented of. Keep it in a safe
place where no eyes can see because it is your personal repentance. Next, you will have to consider what sins you
have generally committed. In my own
experience I have located sins I believe all people are guilty of by nature,
and it is wise to repent of the consequences and guilt of your sin. Here is a listing of them to help you get
started:
·
Total Depravity
·
Being full of sin
·
Not wanting to be saved by nature
·
Spiritual Insanity
·
Hatred of God
·
Being a child of misery
·
Partaker of original sin (simply
being a sinner)
·
Careless words, thoughts, deeds
·
Not wanting accountability before
God
·
Thoughts, Words, Deeds Against
God
·
Wasted Time
·
Graceless
·
Being a rebel by nature
·
Ignorant of the things of God
·
All manner of selfishness
·
Self-destructiveness
·
Ingratitude
·
Stubborn in sin
·
Having a cold-heart
·
Unloving/Imperfect Love
·
Subconscious sins,
transgressions, iniquities
·
If you broke one commandment you
have broken them all
·
Prayerlessness/Sinful prayer
·
Having no repentance and faith
·
Having no fear of God
·
Spiritually Mute/Without
Spiritual Understanding
·
Sexual sin in thought, word, deed
You might think “Well, I did not commit sexual sins
everyday of my life.” That might be
true, but my suggestion is to always end up on the side of the gospel.[6] It is better to repent of sexual sin all the
days of your life then to miss days and offer no repentance to God about
it. If you miss repentance of sin, it is
dishonoring to God. But if you repent of
your sins, at least you know it is covered.[7] And let me say that I believe God will surely
work with you as you seek out sin in your life if you are indeed in Christ Jesus. You must belong to Christ in order to truly
repent. Do not be so presumptuous that
you believe you do not need to particularly
repent of the above sins. I have
gone over these sins in my life, and I have repented of each day regarding
them. It may take hours a day, but such
is necessary: “…repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). I couldn’t bare another second to go by
without repenting of all known sin. I
believe the life of a sinner is full of sin.
Blessed is the man who sees he is full of sin and repents of his sin. The Bible teaches that your sins are as the
stars of heaven or the sand on the seashore.
It is vital to repent of every sin.
Do you not want to please the Lord God Almighty? And you must realize that repentance to a
false God is worthless. Therefore you
must repent to the one true God of divine Scripture (the God of the
Reformation). If you do want to please
your Lord, I suggest you put away the trifling things in your life and begin
serious repentance. Moreover, I have
prayed for you that God would guide you through it. You will be amazed at the burden that is
lifted when you faithfully repent. Remember
that sin wants you to ignore its seriousness and consequences. It will bring you to hell in self-deception.[8]
But there is no doubt that it takes
a lot of persistence. Be assured that
you are forgiven if you have genuinely repented of your sins. Moreover, do not repent of the same sin,
unless there is a different element of sin that you have no repented of. When people repent of the same sin, you are
actually committing the sin of arrogance.
Know this: that when you repent of sin E, you are forgiven of sin E, and
move on to the next sin. Continue in
faithfulness, obedience, submission to the Lord. And if you can’t figure out what your sins are
after these things: surrender yourself under God, and ask Him to reveal it to
you (but remember after you complete the above assignment; repentance does not
end there, it continues until death). One
day I wanted to know what sins I specifically committed, and I surrendered
myself under the Holy Spirit and He revealed to me a lot of personal sin I was
not aware of. Moreover, read His blessed
Word, for it searches the hearts of men and women, and hear the Word of God
faithfully preached because this is where conviction takes place. You must also faithfully repent throughout
the day of specific sins that you commit.
Remain diligent, persistent, obedient.
Psalm 51 reveals the biblical
confession of sin from St. David. Here
we find a prayer model for when we confess sin to God through Christ:
1Have mercy upon me, O God,
according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies blot out my transgressions. 2Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my
sin. 3For I
acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4Against thee, thee
only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be
justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. 5Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6Behold, thou desirest
truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know
wisdom. 7Purge
me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8Make me to hear joy
and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 9Hide thy face from my
sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 10Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit
within me. 11Cast
me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12Restore unto me the
joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. 13Then will I teach
transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. 14Deliver me from
bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing
aloud of thy righteousness. 15O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy
praise. 16For
thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt
offering. 17The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God,
thou wilt not despise. 18Do
good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. 19Then shalt thou be
pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole
burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. (KJV).
We come now to the issue of
confessing faults to brothers and sisters in Christ. The Bible teaches that we ought to do this,
but it denies absolution in the Romanist sense.
It is completely biblical to confess one’s faults to a reliable brother or sister in
Christ. When we do this we do not
receive absolution, but healing. The
purpose of confessing one’s faults is to receive prayer-guidance and healing. I remember when I was confessing sin to the
Lord, I communicated to a friend what they were, and I was healed shortly after,
but sometimes it takes time. Confessing
faults to a friend in Christ aids in the pursuit of healing. For true believers in Christ we know that our
faults do not break the divine truth of there being no condemnation in
Christ. But it is unbiblical to sin with
license because we have no condemnation in Christ.[9] It is also unbiblical to excuse repentance to
God for sin when we think of there being no condemnation in Christ. But being assured of our salvation helps with
the repentance of sin because we are assured of our state in Christ Jesus. If we are
assured of it, we ought to wash our spiritual robes in the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
We now come to the don’ts of
repentance. We have already seen that
you should not repent according to attrition.
You must understand that antinomianism is heresy and is forbidden by the
Bible. When we break God’s law, we must
repent. We ought not sin with premeditation
but live in the presence of God in Christ.
We also must not think that we earn our salvation by repenting of our
sins. Do you know who saved you? It was Christ who saved you, and therefore,
repentance does not save you because Christ has accomplished the work of
redemption in your place, if indeed you have placed your trust in Christ
Jesus. But do not put aside repentance:
we are commanded to repent because it is right in the eyes of God, and
according to a life of godliness and righteousness. When you live your Christian life in Christ,
do not try to get mischievously around God’s righteous law. For example, some people believe if they do
not engage in sexual intercourse, it is not sex, but this is foreign to God’s
holy law. Do not be your own god, or
make God in your own image. Do not
disregard what the Bible says. In truth,
you ought to flee from all kinds of sexual immorality. If you look at pornography you are engaging
in fornication. If you lust after a
woman you are committing adultery. If
you know something is sin, like for example, to do wrongdoing to get ahead, and
you do it nonetheless, and think God will forgive you, you have crucified the
Son of God afresh and you have seriously dishonored God. Such behavior and thinking is an eternal
offense against God. Why do you offend
the One who died for His people? Why do
you grieve the Holy Spirit by your intentional sin? You must realize that sin is extremely
serious, and God could seriously chasten you, or cast you away like Saul.[10] You must live a life worthy of the gospel,
and not bring shame on the name of Christ.
You ought to seek the opposite of shame: to glorify, honor, praise God
who brought you out of spiritual bondage and set your feet on the Incarnate
Rock.
[1] John H. Gerstner. The Rational
Biblical Theology of Jonathan Edwards, Volume III, (Virginia: Berea Publications, 1993), p. 81. I said something like this prayer around the
time I gained assurance of salvation. It
is shocking to those who do not know the true depraved nature of man. It is most assuredly a biblically-based
prayer in support in having a right heart before God. By nature we hate God with all of our
being. We are not lovers of God by
nature, but God-haters. Speak truth to
God this day.
[2] Do you wish to pray prayers to
God that deeply please Him? I would
suggest to you that you obtain the prayer book, The Valley of Vision. I think it is a most valuable
prayer book that you could ever have.
[3] Arthur Bennett, Ed. The Valley of Vision. (PA: The Banner of
Truth Trust, 2003), pp. 138-139.
[4] What do I mean? Turn to Revelation chapter 2, and you will
see Christ calling churches to repentance (Rev. 2:1-7, for example). Do you see what happened when they did not
repent? We us, we need to be immersed in
the Word of God, because it searches the hearts and minds of men. It will convict us of our sin by the power of
the Holy Ghost. Once we are convicted we
ought to repent and live godly.
[5] You might want to
print out the years of your life by using www.timeanddate.com or some other way of keeping
track of your repentance. It is a
helpful web site for calendars, and it has a print friendly option to use when
you print out the calendars. You could
keep these calendars in a three-ring binder or folder. This is an extremely helpful way of keeping
track of your past sins, and present repentance.
[6] Do you have a clear conscience
before God and before men? You will not
have a clear conscience before God if you believe that you get grace by
sinning. Rather, God gives grace to the
humble not the proud. I ask you: Does unrepentant sin trouble your mind? Do you have a desire to reverse your
sins? Have you turned away from sin and
turned to the Lord in repentance? You
ought to seek a clear conscience before God and before men. This is well-pleasing in the sight of
God.
[7] After you are finished with what
has been presented in terms of repenting of these specific sins, you might want
to seriously consider locating the commands of the New Testament. This is
not meant to overwhelm you, but perhaps it will teach you how great a sinner
you are in comparison to a perfect and holy and just God. This should not drive you into despair but
lead you to the loving and open arms of Christ at the Cross because it is at
the Cross and nowhere else that Christ sufficiently atoned for sin in behalf of
His people alone. If you locate the
commands of the New Testament, you will be able to find out where you have
failed and where you do fail. This will
give you a chance to repent of all known sin in your life. Under the title “New Testament Commands” at
the link www.puritan-books.com/books/pdf/new_testament_commands.pdf, you will see a list of commands.
Moreover, you also might want to review the Westminster Larger Catechism
on the Ten Commandments. This aided me
to seeking out sin in my life.
Therefore, take some time today to go through them and see where you
have failed. God will be deeply pleased
with you when you locate sin and repent of it by His Almighty grace to the one
true God of the Bible found in Reformed theology. Remember, righteousness exalts a nation. Repentance is a righteous act by God’s lovingkindness.
[8] If you think you have not
sinned, you are deceived. There is much
sin in your life, and you need to repent of it.
Be miserable and mourn over your sin, and then you can have true joy of
the peace of forgiveness.
[9] I remember hearing this from one
of my Professors at the undergraduate level.
We ought not to use our freedom from sin with intentional purpose to
sin. This is a vital note and should
mark this so we will please the Lord, being in
Christ. But I remember one of my
Professors at a private school thought that Calvinism meant we can do whatever
we want. But I assured him that such an
understanding was foreign to the biblical understanding of Reformed theology. Calvinists have never taught we should sin,
but rather, we have taught a life of holiness, because let us never forget that
election is unto holiness not unto sin.
I think people might want to believe with intentional malice that
Calvinism teaches a lawless gospel so they can excuse their sin. But again the biblical teaching of Calvinism
is the freedom we have in Christ because of God alone, and because God in
sanctification is working through His people.
God will finish the work He started without any doubt. Calvinism teaches to live a life of true
holiness by turning from sin, and trusting Christ.
[10] No true believer who has been
drawn by God the Father will be cast off by God, but this does not mean we have
a license to sin, but freedom from sin.
In the case of Saul, I believe he was clearly a nonbeliever. You might say he was the unregenerate brother
of Esau and Judas. That is, he was
ordained to destruction, and he never had saving faith. All those who truly repent demonstrate that
God has provided the evidence of their regeneration. God the Son will never cast away anyone who
truly comes to Him.
