Confess Your Sins To God And Each Other – Forgiveness Series Part 2 of 4

Hello, and welcome to Social Media Ministries. My name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you for being with us. Today we’re continuing on. We’re in a four-part sermon series about forgiveness. Today we are on part number two, so thank you for being with us.

Hopefully, you watched last week’s message. If not, check out the playlist to see them all. That would be awesome. You can do that, it’s a playlist about forgiveness on our YouTube channel. You can also find it on our blog, wherever, and start watching.

Today we’re talking about confessing your sins. Now if you were with us last week, you learned a little bit about how it is important to confess our sins. Now when we say confess, there are many things in that. Confessing not to a priest or someone for forgiveness, from in a confessional, but confessing to God.

Seeking forgiveness from Him for your sin, confessing to the person you have wronged to forgive you. They don’t forgive your sin, they forgive you. Then confessing to your brothers and sisters in Christ for prayer and support in whatever it is you are struggling with.

I hope that you watch that sermon, if not, please check it out. In addition, feel free to share it on your social media accounts so that other people can learn more about forgiveness and why it’s so important in their life. God wants you to confess your sins.

Leviticus, we’ve got a lot of verses today, so I hope you have your Bible handy and you’re ready with your fingers to turn those pages. Leviticus 5.5, “When anyone is guilty in any of these ways, he must confess in what way he has sinned.” Confess. God wants you to confess your sins.

Let’s go to Acts. Acts Chapter 3 Verse 19. Are you ready? It says, “Repent then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” So when you confess, you’re repenting. You’re asking God to forgive you of your sins. He is wiping them out. You are refreshed. You have a relief. You sin — bam.

Okay let’s say that was a sin; I got this pain. I confess to God. He takes it away. He soothes it. Then if I wrong someone, I confess to them. They forgive me or they don’t forgive me. It’s up to them, but it is them. I confess it to them and I get it out. I was harboring it in here. I wronged this person and I was scared to admit it. But I got forgiveness from God and now I have to go to the person.

That could be hard. It is hard. So it’s like this impending doom. You’re afraid. That’s you. You’re harboring that inside of you. That’s a sickness. It’s a spiritual sickness. It could manifest itself in your body. You can have aches and pains — you don’t know where they’re coming from or why. Sick in the head. Yes, your spirit is sick.

So go get it out, tell that person, “I’m sorry. I wronged you in this way.” It’s gone now. They can forgive you and you will be refreshed even more, or they don’t have to. That’s up to them, but they’re only hurting themselves if they choose not to forgive you because guess what? You already got it out.

Then go to your brothers and sisters in Christ, get it out with them, and be refreshed even more. Get that sickness out. Be free. Then if someone has wronged you, of course, you need to forgive them. We’re going to talk about the importance of you forgiving others in the future sermons to come in the next couple weeks. So stay tuned for those.

But just like you’re harboring that thing inside of you that you need to confess, you’re also harboring it if you refuse to forgive others. You are holding on. You’re holding a grudge.

You’re mad about something that happened 10 years ago, 30 years ago, 2 months ago, whatever. You’re mad about it. Let it go. God will give you that refreshing — He will give you peace and calming. Get it out. Forgive them and let God deal with them.

Someone wrongs you, all right, that’s fine, whatever. Learn from it so you don’t do it again. But you learn from it. You’re not going to let them wrong you again, but you have learned from it. You say, “All right, I forgive you. You’re forgiven.”

Whether you physically tell them that or you just do it in your heart and with God. You say, “All right God, I’m letting that go. This person has wronged me time and time again and I’m letting it go. It’s up to you God. I’m letting it go. I’ve forgiven them. I forgive them,” and you let it go.

God will deal with them and guess what? You don’t want to be on the receiving end of God’s wrath, so let God deal with them. You’ve forgiven them. You’ve gotten that sickness out. You’ve let it go. It’s gone. He will refresh your spirit.

Not only do you need to confess your sins though, to those you have wronged, to God, and to your brothers and sisters in Christ, you have to seek forgiveness from God. So you can tell God, say, “God, I’m really sorry I lied the other day. That is my sin, I confess to you. I’m really sorry about that,” or “I’m sorry I stole,” or “I’m sorry I cheated in a game of cards,” or whatever.

You can confess that to God, but then you have to ask for forgiveness. Ask and you will receive. God’s not just going to give you something without asking. You’ve got to do the work. You’ve got to ask. So ask for forgiveness and then you will be forgiven.

1 John 1.9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” You have to confess it to God and then ask for Him to forgive you. Ask for forgiveness. Do not just say, “Oh Lord Jesus, please forgive me for my sins.” What sins? Confess to Him.

Now, of course, we’re not going to remember or sit and sift through everything we did wrong. Yes, praying for forgiveness of your sins is a great start, but if there’s something you specifically did, that day before you go to bed, confess. “God, I messed up today.”

“I lied on the phone when I said” — whatever it could have been, something simple — “Hey, did you contact so and so today?” “Yep, I did,” and then you get off the phone and contact them quickly. Now you said today, you contacted them so you did do it today, so it might technically not be a sin. Just confess it to God. It’s weighing on you and then ask for forgiveness.

Then maybe confess to the person you wronged, call them back up. “Hey, I told you I did that today. Well, I didn’t do it before, but I did it after. Sorry about that. I should’ve said I was doing it,” and they’re gonna be like, “Whatever man, no big deal,” because it’s not. But let it out. Do not let it weigh you down because it will. It will weigh you down. Release it. Seek forgiveness, confess, get it off your chest.

Matthew 18.15, “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.” Now the same thing as a sister. What is it meaning “brother and sister”? As in your family? No, brother and sister in Christ.

If someone sins against you and they’ve done wrong to you — they’ve stolen from you, they’ve wronged you, whatever it is, show them it’s their fault. For example, I purchased a vehicle and it was from a dealership. They miscommunicated and said that they had cleaned it. I took it there, dropped it off. They were supposed to have cleaned it. They didn’t. They kind of just wiped it down.

So then I went and got the manager and I said, “Hey what’s the story?” “Oh, well, they said they cleaned.” I said, “They did? Well, there must have been a miscommunication between all of us.” I said, “A miscommunication on your end.” He said, “Yes, the fault is ours.” I said, “Great, can you get it clean for me and make it right?” They did of course.

But the point is, if someone wrongs you, point it out to them. Not rudely, like “Hey you messed up, you should’ve cleaned this.” No, there must have been a mistake on your end. You make it very apparent it was you and they say, “Yep it was us.”

Okay now let’s make it right. If they listen to you, you have gained them. I’ve gained them; we built a trust and a rapport and a relationship and if I need another car, I’m probably going to go back.

Continuing on in this verse. If they will not listen then you need to take a couple more people with you for some support and then maybe even go to a judge and pursue legal claims.

Obviously, in that example, I would not, but that’s what the Bible is saying. If someone wrongs you, go to them first. Take it between the two of you; see if they’re willing to confess, and make it right because that’s what we should be doing.

If we know we’ve wronged someone, we gotta make it right. Don’t let it get any further. Don’t let two or three others get involved. Don’t let the courts get involved. Don’t let it go so crazy. Just confess, seek forgiveness, move on

Luke 17.3 says, “So watch yourselves, if your brother or sister sins, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.” How cool is that? If they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you and says, “I repent,” forgive them.

Now we’re going to talk about the importance of forgiving others in the weeks to come, but you gotta be that person who confesses. If you sin against someone seven times, go back seven times and confess and those seven times also seek forgiveness from God for the sin and also speak to your brothers and sisters in Christ and seek their support.

Have them pray for you because guess what? if you sin against someone seven times, you’re probably struggling with a certain sin. Maybe it’s drug addiction, pornography, and you’re trying, you’re fighting, you’re trying to stay sober or clean or whatever, but yet every once in a while you slip up and then you gotta go apologize to whoever you promised that you were gonna be sober.

To maybe your spouse, your kids. They say, “Dad you were drinking again,” or “Mom you were drinking again.” “I’m sorry.” So you apologize to them, then you seek from God, then you go to your brothers and sisters in Christ and say, “Hey I need help. Pray for me.”

Comment below if you’re struggling and you need prayer. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Maybe I’m not struggling with that sin, I can pray for you because it’s not a struggle in my life. My prayer is going to be more powerful and effective because I’m more righteous in that area than you are.

God wants you to confess your sins to your brothers and sisters in Christ so that they can help you through whatever it is you’re struggling with. That’s why we’re here. If you have brothers and sisters in Christ and they’re struggling, be there for them. Let them come to you.

I want people to come to me not because I want to know the dirt or the town gossip, I want them to know that they can come to me and I will pray for them and my prayer is effective and they will be released in Jesus’ name from their sin and that they can trust me with it.

I’m not going to hold it against them. I’m not going to bring it up. “Oh, I know you, you’re mm-hmm, you got this problem.” No, it’s not going to be like that. They’re going to tell me and it has gone out of my mind. I pray for them and nothing else. no judgment because it’s not our place to judge.

James, great book. James 5.16, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Last week we said there are three parts to that. You gotta confess to each other. Now this is talking with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

So you have already confessed to God, you have got forgiveness for the sin. You have confessed to the person, they have forgiven you as a person. Now you are confessing to your brothers and sisters in Christ, getting their support.

So you confess. You let it out. You aren’t harboring that sickness in. You’re letting it out. You’re confessing to them so that you may be healed, so the sickness is out. You’re healed and then they are praying for you because they’re righteous in that area hopefully. They’re praying for you. That prayer is powerful and effective.

Why do we need to confess? Well if those three reasons were not enough, the big reason is so that you can pray for each other. Prayer is what’s important. You gotta be praying for others. You gotta pray with others, not just for them. Pray with them.

Ephesians 4.2, “Be completely humble and gentle.” So if someone is confessing to you, be humble with them. Not like, “Oh yeah, I got some good ammunition now I can use the next time they say something to me.”

“Hey, remember what you told me? I’m gonna use that.” No, be humble and gentle. Be patient, bearing with one another in love. Patient, gentle, bear with them in love, support them, be there for them. It’s very very important.

Colossians 3.13. This is an excellent verse for you to memorize. Colossians 3.13 says, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive, as the Lord forgave you.”

God forgave you. He did. Jesus even said on the cross, “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” Now He was talking about people specifically, but He was also talking about the world in general. Sometimes, if we’re children of the Devil before we’re saved before we follow Jesus, we may not know right from wrong.

We don’t know what we’re doing is bad because you’re under someone else’s control. Jesus says, “Forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Later you learned that it was wrong. Or maybe a child, maybe you haven’t taught them that it’s not okay to do something yet. They do it and then you teach them.

Now should you be mad at them that first time? No, they didn’t know any better. You should be mad at yourself for not teaching them. But the next time they do it, now comes consequence — punishment — because guess what? They were already taught. They should have known better.

That’s the same way with us. We’re children of God. We didn’t know what we were doing before. We’re forgiven. It’s okay. Now we start doing wrong, punishment, consequence. Yes, we can still be forgiven but life is not going to be as easy if we keep choosing to do what we know isn’t right. Confess your sins. Seek support. Get people to pray for you.

After all the more people who are praying for you, the better off you are going to be. Would you want one person praying for you or a hundred? Personally, I want a hundred. So pray for me. You don’t know what to pray for?

Just pray. Pray for my health, pray for insight and wisdom to be able to speak and bring more people to Christ. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Seek your brothers and sisters in Christ.

You may be praying for a release from the bondage of sins. Whether it’s some addiction or maybe you like to steal things or maybe you’re a pathological liar. I mean we’re taking these to the extreme.

It could be very very simple. Could be something even more minor than that. Maybe it’s thoughts of jealousy when you see someone’s nice car and you’re jealous.

You wish you could have that nice car or you see their really nice watch and you’re jealous because why would they have a $10,000 Rolex when you have a $20 Casio from Walmart or a Timex or something? When you can barely afford to do this, they got a Gucci belt buckle and $5,000 earrings. Maybe it’s just something simple like that. Seek forgiveness, confess, and get others to pray for you.

Maybe you’re praying for the release of that bondage, but your prayers may not be as effective as someone else who isn’t struggling with that sin. You need the support and prayer of someone who is righteous in that area. Seek it now.

You don’t have to go around and be like, “Hey excuse me, do you struggle with this sin?” Then “Okay good, you can pray for me.” No, just tell all of them and then they will all be praying for you and if three of them are struggling with the same sin you are.

Sure maybe they’re not righteous in that area, but their prayer is still helping. But the other people who are, their prayer is powerful and effective and maybe together all of you can defeat that sin.

So seek prayer, confess your sins, remember what we need to do. Confess to God for the forgiveness of the sin, confess to the person you have wronged to forgive you as a person, confess to your brothers and sisters in Christ so that they can help you through whatever you’re struggling with.

If someone has wronged you, go to them directly, see if they’re going to make it right. If they don’t make it right, bring more people. They don’t make it right, then it has got to go legal.

It’s all about confessing and forgiving each other within ourselves, without bringing other people into it. No gossip, no slandering on social media. Share good things on social media, not negative things. Forgive, confess. Why? To let it out so that we may be healed, so that the Lord will bring us peace. So we will have calming, so we will be fulfilled, so that we will have rest.

Let that out and have your body restore itself. Yes, our spirit is in here, but if your spirit is sick it can manifest in the body. Do not let that happen. Confess and be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

With that let’s pray. Lord Jesus, I ask that if anyone out there right now is struggling with any type of sin, that you would free them from that. That they would be inspired to confess to you to get forgiveness for the sins. That they would confess to the people they have wronged to be forgiven as a person. That they would share with their brothers and sisters in Christ and seek prayer from that bondage, from that struggle, and they would be released in Jesus’ name.

Lord, I ask that they would forgive others as you forgave them. That they would simply let things go, but they would also learn from the experience so that they would not fall into that again. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

We got two more weeks left, so please stay tuned. In addition, share these messages on social media. Try to get other people into this. Maybe there is someone in your life that is harboring a grudge or holding a grudge, share it with them. See if this can help them release.

Maybe they need forgiveness, maybe they are struggling with something, share it with them. It’s a great sermon series; we’re halfway through. They can get caught up. Don’t worry about that. Just try to get them in and help them change their life. Give them that healing that maybe they so greatly need. God bless.