confession of sin

Salvation is of Faith

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, confession of sin, promises, repentance, salvation

Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all… – Romans 4:16

What does the “it” refer to? It is of faith. If you will read the context, I think you will consider that it refers to the promise, although some have said that the antecedent word or thought is, “the inheritance.” This matters very little, if at all—it may mean the inheritance, the Covenant, or the promise, for these are one. To give a wide word which will take in all—the blessedness which comes to a man in Christ, the blessedness promised by the Covenant of Grace is of faith—in one word, salvation is of faith!

And what is faith? It is believing the promise of God, taking God at His word and acting upon that belief by trusting in Him. Some of the Puritans used to divide faith improperly, but still instructively, into three parts. The first was self-renunciation, which is, perhaps, rather a preparation for faith than faith itself. In it a man confesses that he cannot trust in himself and so goes out of self and all confidence in his own good works. The second part of faith, they said, was reliance in which a man, believing the promise of God, trusts Him, depends upon Him and leaves his soul in the Savior’s hands. And then they said the third part of faith was appropriation by which a man takes to himself that which God presents in the promise to the Believer—he appropriates it as his own, feeds upon it and enjoys it. Certainly, there is no true faith without self-renunciation, reliance and at least a measure of appropriation—where these three are found, there is faith in the soul. 

How Is Salvation Received? by C. H. Spurgeon

This Must Be Done

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit

The LORD’S voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see Thy name: hear ye the rod, and Who hath appointed it. – Micah 6:9

Israel was out of gear with God. The people had forgotten the Most High and had gone aside to the worship of Baal. They had neglected the things of God; therefore, they were given up to their enemies. When Jehovah had brought them out of Egypt, He instructed them how they were to live in the land to which He would bring them, and warned them that if they forsook Him, they would be chastened. His words were very plain: “If ye will not for all this hearken unto Me but walk contrary unto Me, then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury, and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.” In fulfillment of this threatening, the Philistines had been divinely permitted to make great havoc of the idolatrous Israelites, and to hold them in cruel slavery.

The only way for them to get out of their trouble was to return to God, who, by His judgments, seemed to say, “Hear ye the rod, and Who hath appointed it.” The only cure for their hurt was to go back with repentance and renew their faith and their covenant with God. Then all would have been right. But this is the last thing that men will do. Our minds, by nature, love not spiritual things. We will attend to any outward duty, or to any external rite; but to bring our hearts into subjection to the divine will, to bow our minds to the Most High, and to serve the Lord our God with all our heart, and all our soul, the natural man abhors. Yet nothing less than this will suffice to turn our captivity.

Instead of attempting to get right with God, these Israelites set about devising superstitious means of securing the victory over their foes. In this respect most of us have imitated them. We think of a thousand inventions; but we neglect the one thing needful…Get right with God; confess thy sin; believe in Jesus Christ, the appointed Saviour; be reconciled to God by the death of His Son; then all will be right between thee and the Father in heaven. We cannot bring men to this, apart from the Spirit of God.

Is God in the Camp? by C. H. Spurgeon

Yet the Stump of Dagon was Left

Sherry Christian Life, confession of sin, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

…only the stump of Dagon was left to him. – 1 Samuel 5:4

Though the fish-god was thus maimed and broken, yet the stump of Dagon was left. The original Hebrew is, “Only Dagon was left to him,” or, “only the fish”—only the fish part remained. The head and the upper portions were broken away—there remained only the fishtail of Dagon and that was all—but that was not broken. Now, this is the business which brings us so much sorrow—that the stump of Dagon is left. I wish it were not.

I have heard some say that they have no sin remaining in them. Well, dear Brothers and Sisters, may the Lord convert you! I shall say no more than that, for if there were in you enough light for you to perceive your darkness, it were better than to talk as you do. Every child of God who knows anything about himself and the experience of a real Believer, knows that there is indwelling sin in him and that to a most fearful extent, so as to make his very soul cry out in agony, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

Can you draw near to God, my Brothers and Sisters, and not see that He can justly charge you with folly? Can you stand in His Presence, as Job did, and behold His Glory, and not say, “I abhor myself in dust and ashes”? Can you have dealings with Perfection and not perceive your faults? Can you come near unto the innermost court of the Temple and stand in that excessive light of fellowship which is the portion of the Lord’s chosen and not see within yourself spots and wrinkles, yes, thousands of them, so as to make you cover your face for shame and adore the amazing Grace which loves you still?

Dagon’s Ups and Downs by C. H. Spurgeon

Consider and Confess Your Bankruptcy

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. – Luke 7:41,42

It is said, “When they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both.” There is a time when pardon comes and that time is when self‐sufficiency goes! If any person in this place has, in his own conscience, come to this point—that he feels he has nothing to pay—he has come to the point at which God is ready to forgive him! He that will acknowledge his debt and confess his own incapacity to meet it, shall find that God frankly blots it out! The Lord will never forgive us until we are brought to the starvation of pride and the death of boasting. A sense of spiritual bankruptcy shows that a man has become thoughtful—and this is essential to salvation. When we come to feel our bankruptcy, we then make an honest confession. And to that confession a promise is given— “He that confesses his sin shall find mercy.” 

How can we believe a thoughtless person to be a saved man? If we so think about our state as to mourn our sin and feel its wickedness—and if we have made a close search into our hearts and lives and find that we have no merit and no might—then we are prepared in all thoughtfulness to say, “In the Lord I have righteousness and strength.” Must there not be serious thought before we can hope for mercy? Would you have God save us while we are asleep, while we are giddy, frivolous, trifling and without concern about our sin? Surely that would be giving a premium to folly! God acts not so. He will have us know the seriousness of our danger, otherwise we would treat the whole matter with lightness and miss the moral effect of pardon—and He would be robbed of His Glory.

Bankrupt Debtors Discharged by C. H. Spurgeon

Do Not Delay!

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, prayer, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

…behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. – 2 Corinthians 6:2

Satan has destroyed multitudes of men, tempting them to ask for more time, instead of coming up to the mark at once and asking for immediate pardon. What are the fabled virtues of tomorrow? Why do men dote upon the unknown future? To an immediate decision I would press you at this moment and may God, by His Divine Spirit, deliver you as a bird from the hand of the fowler, that you may no longer procrastinate and waste your life in disobedient delay! This being the temptation, let me hint to those of you who are bankrupt, what your wisdom is. It is your wisdom to face the business of your soul. Your soul‐matters are the most important things you will ever have on hand, for when your wealth must be left and your estate shall see you no more—and when your body is dead—your soul will still be living in eternal happiness or endless woe! Therefore, do not neglect your state in reference to God. It is the most important matter! Give it the first place.

Settle this business before you attend to anything else. Take care that you face it like an honest man and not as one who makes the best of a bad story! It may be bad, yet the best thing you can do is to go right through with it in truth and soberness before the Lord. Hope lies that way. Do not let your danger be concealed like a thief who hides in the good man‘s pantry till the hour to rob his house. Suffer not the sparks to smolder where they may consume your all! Quench the fire before you sleep! When you face the matter, be very true and sincere with yourself and with God because you are not dealing with creditors who may be cheated, but you are dealing with GOD who knows the secret thoughts and intents of your heart…Do not make the slightest attempt at paying, for you cannot do it! But take quite another course—plead absolute poverty and appeal to mercy! Say, “Lord, I have nothing, I am nothing, I can do nothing. I must throw myself upon Your Grace.”

Bankrupt Debtors Discharged by C. H. Spurgeon

Face the Truth

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, salvation, Sovereignty of God 3 Comments

And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. – Luke 7:42

Some of you have never given serious thought to your souls and to your condition before God. It is an unpleasant subject. You suspect that it would be still more unpleasant if you looked into it. You want amusement, something to while away the time because you do not care to examine the state of your heart before God. Solomon exhorts the diligent man to know the state of his flocks and look well to his herds. But he that is careless and idle would rather leave such enquiries and let things go as they please…He labors to beguile the hours that he may conceal from himself his true condition. But what a fool he is! Would it not be infinitely wiser if he would look things in the face and have it out and know his actual state? I have often prayed this prayer— “Lord, let me know the very worst of my case,” for I do not wish to entertain a hope that will, at last, deceive me. Disappointment will be bitter in proportion as false hope was sweet. This is the temptation of the bankrupt soul—to shut its eyes to the unwelcome Truths of God.

When we come to feel our bankruptcy, we then make an honest confession. And to that confession a promise is given— “He that confesses his sin shall find mercy.” The two debtors had acknowledged their debts, and they had also openly confessed, though it must have gone against the grain a bit, that they could not pay. They humbled themselves before their creditor and then he said, “I frankly forgive you.” If one of these debtors had bounced and bragged, “Oh, we can pay,” in all probability he would have been sent to prison. As for you, poor Trembler, I do not know where you are but here is comfort for you—when you go to God in your chamber and cry, “Lord, have mercy upon me, for I am guilty, and I cannot justify myself before You, nor offer any excuse to You”—then it is that He will say, “Be of good cheer! I have put away your sin; you shall not die.”

Bankrupt Debtors Discharged by C. H. Spurgeon

Sinner, You Can Become His Friend

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21,20

Oh, that these lips had language, or that this heart could speak without them! Then would I plead with every unconverted, unbelieving soul and plead as for my life. Friend, you are at enmity with God, and God is angry with you; but on His part there is every readiness for reconciliation. He has made a way by which you can become His friend—a very costly way to Himself, but free to you. He could not give up His justice and so destroy the honour of His own character; but He did give up His Son, His Only Begotten, and His Well-Beloved; and that Son of His had been made sin for us, though He knew no sin. See how God meets you! See how willing, how anxious He is that there should be reconciliation between you and God today. It is not from lack of kindness on His part; it is from lack of willingness on yours. The burden of your ruin must lie at your own door: your blood must be on your own skirts.

Now observe what we have to say to you today is this: we are anxious that you should be at peace with God, and therefore we act as ambassadors for Christ…I once knew Him not, neither did I care for Him. I lived well enough without Him, and sported with trifles of a day, so as to forget Him. He brought me to seek His face, and seeking His face I found Him. He has blotted out my sins and removed my enmity. I know that I am His servant, and that He is my friend, my Father, my All. And now I cannot help trying in my poor way to be an ambassador for Him with you. I do not like that any of you should live at enmity with my Father who made you; and that you should be wantonly provoking Him by preferring evil to good. Why should you not be at peace with the One who so much wants to be at peace with you? Why should you not love the God of love, and delight in Him who is so kind to you? What He has done for me He is quite willing to do for you: He is a God ready to pardon. I never knew a single case of a man who trusted Jesus, and asked to be forgiven, confessing his sin and forsaking it, who was cast out. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

The Heart of the Gospel