 Alright, first John chapter one. So first John chapter one is a little easier chapter to read than Matthew 27. This is laughing. I was going to take three weeks to get through Matthew 27, but I just couldn't get myself to ask Brother Ryan to read it one more time. It's so long. But first John chapter one is going to be our focus this evening. Please keep your place there. We'll be coming back to that. But we're talking about good things in the Bible, right? So we talked about, last week we talked about repentance. Look, repentance is a good thing in the Bible. The meaning of repentance has been ruined by false prophets, heretics, people that talk about repenting of your sins being necessary for salvation. But repentance itself, turning, changing your mind is necessary for salvation. You must change your mind from what you believed before to believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. So we saw that repentance is a good thing that has been tainted by bad people. So this evening, I'm sorry, what I want to talk about is confessing your sins. I want to talk about confessing your sins. This is another thing that is a good thing in the Bible. The Bible talks about here in first John, look down at verse number nine. The Bible says that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So look, first of all, we're going to read the whole thing in context. But the problem here is that people use this verse and other verses in the Bible to actually tie confession of your sins to salvation. So this evening, I want to talk to you about confessing your sins, being a good thing, what this verse means, and then just talk about what that means for our Christian life. So first of all, as with any verse in the Bible that somebody takes and they take that one verse and they just run a thousand miles with it, many times if you just look at the few verses before and the few verses after, you can figure out what's going on. So let's just take the whole thing in context. Look back at verse number six of first John chapter one. So we're talking about confessing our sins. It's a good thing, but we know that it's not tied with salvation. So let's see if we can figure out what first John chapter one and verse number nine means. Look at verse number six. We'll do a little bit of the Bible study before we get into the application of the sermon. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So look, if you look at verse number eight first of all, if you look at verse number eight, we kind of have a proverbs moment here. We kind of have verse number eight and verse number nine are kind of opposites here. It's basically saying, hey, in verse number eight, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So basically it says if you say you have no sin, you're a liar. You're not telling the truth. But then you see the opposite side of that coin in verse number nine. It says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. See, look, it's about confessing your sins. It's about admitting sins. It's about admitting your sin and it's the opposite of saying you have no sin. In verse number eight. And then it says in verse number ten, if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. So look, if you say that you have not sinned, you say you have no sin that the Bible is saying there you've made yourself a liar and you've made God a liar. I mean, because the Bible says that all have sinned. So look, this is about verse number six, really gives us the context of what the few verses below are talking about. It says if we say that we have fellowship in him. So this is about being in fellowship with the Lord is what this is talking about. It's about being in good standing, in good standing with your heavenly Father. Let's go to Psalm chapter 32. Psalm chapter 32. If you open up the center of your Bible right in the middle, you'll be in the book of Psalms and go to Psalm chapter 32. Psalm chapter 32. The Bible talks a lot about this. The Bible talks a lot about, you know, confessing your sins or admitting your sins. Look at Psalm chapter 32 and look at verse number five. The Bible says, it says, I acknowledge my sin unto thee. He's talking to God and mine iniquity have I not hid. I mean, so there's the opposite again, right? He's like, I acknowledge my sin, I've not hid it. So I've acknowledged it, I've not hid it. So the opposite of confessing your sin is hiding your sin. Okay. I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgave us the iniquity of my sin. Seal out. So to confess we see is to acknowledge. Go to Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter 19. We see another verse here. Actually you go to Proverbs 28 and I'll just read for you Acts chapter 19 and verse number 18. Go to Proverbs 28. The book right after Psalms is Proverbs. Acts chapter 19, look at verse number 18. The Bible reads, and many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds. And look at Proverbs chapter 28 and verse number 13. Now this is really, I mean, the conclusion of the matter right here is summed up very nice in Proverbs 28 and verse number 13. Proverbs says, he that covereth his sins shall not prosper. But, now here's Proverbs, right? Proverbs is constantly do it this way, not this way. Do it like this or this will happen. I mean, it's talking about constantly talking about the opposites. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but who so confesseth and forsakeeth them shall have mercy. Okay. Now look, it's basically talking about covering versus confessing. Alright, so look. Does it say that he that covereth his sins shall burn in hell? Is that what that says? Does it say he that covereth his sins shall die the second death and have his name removed from the book of life? I mean, is that what it says here? No, it just says that you shall not prosper. It's talking about having fellowship with your heavenly father. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Because look, we got saved, right? And now we got adopted into God's family. I mean, the Bible teaches us about having a good relationship with our heavenly father. I mean, thank God that he has given us that information. I mean, I don't want to get saved and then just train wreck my life. I mean, who would want to do that? So God gives us direction throughout the entire Bible on how to keep a good relationship with him. I mean, just being saved, look. I mean, being saved has nothing to do with what you do. It has nothing to do with what you did. It has nothing to do with what you do in your life. So you could either do well after you get saved or not do well. And the difference is your relationship with your heavenly father at that point. Look at Hebrews 12 and look at verse number six. The Bible says, For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourges every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof ye are all partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. It's saying, look, if you're enduring chastisement of God, that means it's because you're saved. It's because you've been adopted into that family. Where ye really have to worry is the person that doesn't endure any chastisement. They're just messing up and sinning and there's no chastisement there. It's like, they're not sons. That's why. Because those people, God's not going to chastisement those people. That's why wicked people can get away. You're like, why do all these wicked people just get away with all this stuff? Because they're just not going to deal with the chastisement of God. That's why. They're going to pay in hell. If they die unsaved, they're going to pay for eternity in hell. But you are going to endure the chastisement of God in your life on this earth. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh with corrected us and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection under the father of spirits and live? You're saying, look, your father that corrected you, your dad in your real life that corrected you, look, they did that because they loved you. I mean, you spank your kids because you love them. You chastise your children because you love them. I mean, the Bible says you literally hate them if you don't. So the Bible here is saying, how much more would this apply with your heavenly father? So look, there's a relationship here. There's a relationship here that can either be in good standing or not in good standing. I mean, don't forget that as you walk through this Christian life. It's the same thing. For verily, for a few days chastens us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now, no chastening for the present seem it to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. So why would God, I mean, why would God have to chasten us? God has to chasten us because we still have sin. Because we still have the flesh. We're still doing things wrong. Just because you got saved doesn't mean now you're perfect. No, you will have this flesh as long as you live on this earth. Until you've been given a glorified body which is not going to happen while you're living on this earth. Look, there has to be some mechanism, some methodology that a sinner has in the Bible to live in harmony with the Lord. And that is what the Bible is teaching us here. Now look, does every child get spanked constantly by their father, by their dad? I mean, does every child just get spanked like ten times a day? No, I mean, some kids do. I mean, some of my kids I thought were just enjoying that for a while in their life. I was like, maybe they like it. I don't know. I'm still going to do it. But here's the thing, not every child, because some children figure out and they will eventually, trust me, parents of young children, they will eventually figure out how to be in good standing with you. And then you won't have to spank them ten times a day. You know, you won't have to chase in them. So look, it is about obtaining mercy from your heavenly father. It's about, look at verse number 11 again. In verse number 11 of Hebrews 12, it says, yielded the peaceable fruit. It's about living in peace with your heavenly father. It is not about salvation. Look, there is nothing that even indicates that in the Bible. People, and look, people must be so confused that believe that. You say, okay, I'm saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, but I'm going to become unsaved if I don't forgive my brother or if I don't confess my sins or all these different things. And look, it's very, very confusing people that add confession to salvation. You know, i.e. Catholics, i.e. Lutherans. I mean, this is what they do with confession. They add it to salvation. They add that work, by the way, that's a work. That's a work that you do, is confession. Now look, one of my favorite things to do is go and find out Catholic doctrine from Catholics. So I go to, whenever I go to Catholic, you know, I want to find out Catholic doctrine, I go to catholic.com or I go to catholicanswers.com. But here is an example of people and some doctrine from the Catholic Church that has taken this verse out of context and applied it to salvation. And I'm going to show you how confusing it can be for people. Look, I was raised Lutheran. I know how confusing it is. It's very confusing. Every Catholic, every Lutheran, if they're thinking this through, they're confused. I guarantee you. From catholic.com this is talking about your sins and how they're forgiven. If you believe, I mean, look, if you're saved, someone has read you the Bible where it says, hey, it's not of works. You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and it's a done deal, just like that. If you're sealed by the Holy Ghost, no one can break that. From catholic.com This is a question. Are all of our sins past, present and future forgiven once and for all when we become Christians? They never say saved, by the way. And I'll explain that why. They won't use that terminology and I'll explain that in a minute. It continues. Not according to the Bible or the early church fathers. First of all, which one? Which one are we listening to? The church fathers. Because the church fathers said a lot of different things. So pick one, first problem. But that's not even the point. Scripture, they continue. Scripture nowhere states that our future sins are forgiven. Oh really? Because every single one of my sins was a future sin when Jesus died on the cross. You already make no sense. They continue. Scripture nowhere states that our future sins are forgiven. Instead, it teaches us to pray and forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors. This is their quote. That means the means, I'm sorry, by which God forgives sins after baptism is confession. I'm going to read that again. The means by which God forgives sins after baptism is confession. So right there, they say the means that God uses, the method that God uses to forgive sins after baptism is confession. So basically, you have to think of it this way. I'm going to just try to explain this because you're already confused. I can see it in your faces. You have a bucket that's all your sins in your life. Let's say we have a five gallon bucket from Home Depot and it's got all the sins that you will ever commit in your life in that bucket. The Catholic here, Catholic.com is saying, he is saying that the sins after you are baptized are not covered by Christ. They are covered by you confessing them. Which is interesting because 99.9% of Catholics are baptized as a baby. So what you're telling me is that I was baptized as a baby. Baptized as a baby. So what I'm saying is that what they're saying is that none of my sins in my entire life are covered by Christ. That is heresy. That is wicked heresy. And that is not what the Bible teaches. They are not only adding works to salvation, but they are disrespecting and blaspheming the blood of Christ. It's crazy. I mean, did Jesus die only for certain sins? Let's look at what the Bible says. I mean, here's the thing. I mean, go to 1 John 2. I'm sorry. I've tried not to go off on this for three hours, but I could. Basically, if you were baptized in the Catholic Church as a baby, and I say baptized in quotes here, none of your sins are covered by Christ. But look at 1 John 2. 1 John 2. 1 John 2, are you there? Look at verse number 2. And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of what? The whole world. I mean, look, the sins of the whole world were paid for by Christ. And all people have to do is accept that gift by trusting on Christ. That's it. If they want their sins covered by Christ. So look, propitiation means appeasement. It means that the wrath was appeased. It means to bring a state of peace. So you say, why did a state of peace need to be brought? Look, John 3.36. We all know it well. If you don't believe, he that believeth, not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Before you got saved, the literal wrath of God abideth on you. It rested on you. And when you got saved, that was appeased. That was appeased. That was covered. That became a state of peace. That wrath. Before you believed you had that wrath on you, after you don't. So look, if there's a distinction between sins before and after you became Catholic, it's not found anywhere in the Bible. So you have to just say, I believe extra Biblical stuff. I believe catholicwebsite.com over the Bible. Go to Revelation chapter 1. Revelation chapter 1. Revelation, the last book of your Bible, Revelation chapter 1 in verse number 5. Just think of this. Just think of this. They're saying that there's a distinction. It's nowhere found in the Bible. It's all sins. The sins of the world. Revelation 1.5. The Bible says, And from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. He's like, no, but he only washed like the lower part of the rear tire of the car. The rest of the car is dirty. You're going to have to wash the rest of the car for the rest of your life. I mean, look, that is blaspheming the blood of Christ. That is blaspheming. I mean, that's why, like, that's why, like it's not in the Bible anywhere. That's why in Proverbs 24.9, it says, I mean, think about this. If you had to cover your own sins with confession, think about how confusing this would be. I mean, what if you missed one? I mean, what if you missed a sin? I mean, the Bible says that in Proverbs 24, the thought of foolishness is sin. Can you even, I mean, I guarantee you, if I had you write down all your sins, you would miss a lot of them. That you probably didn't even know were sins. You know, thoughts that you've had, things that you left, you know, that you didn't do that you should have done. But look, the Lutherans, the Lutherans try to get around this. Okay, I'm going to read you something from the Lutheran divine service that the Lutherans would chant every week. Okay, the Lutherans will, they have some pretty interesting wording here that tries to cover all the things that they've forgotten with this thing that you repeat, right? It's a vain repetition. They repeat this. They say, most merciful God, every Sunday morning they will say this, most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against you and thought word and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. See, they cover the two main commandments right there. They cover the, you know, love the Lord and love your neighbor all commandments go underneath those, right? We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve your present and eternal punishment. For the sake of your son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us, forgive us, renew us and lead us so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your holy name, amen. All right, so look, is that really confessing your sins to the Lord right there? I mean, think about that. I mean, talk about magical prayer time. You know, if I just say this magical thing and we would all just sit there every single Sunday and we'd be like, Lord, we have done and we have left undone and what? Where are we at? And you know, that's, that's, and you're just like, when's church over? I mean, that, it's just the whole church service is a vain repetition. And the reason that the Bible says, you know, not to do vain repetitions is because it means nothing to both God and the person saying it. It means nothing. I mean, think about, think about if Saul, we talked about King Saul this morning. Think about if King Saul would have, you know, he would have been in rebellion to the Lord. He would have been just not admitting that he had committed fault against the Lord and he would still be in that rebellious heart, but he just would have chanted that magical prayer or that magical saying. Do you think that that would have done any good? Of course not. Turn to Matthew chapter 6. Turn to Matthew chapter 6 and look at verse number 7. Matthew chapter 6 and verse number 7. King Saul was in rebellion and some magical words that just are designed to cover everything wouldn't change the fact that his heart was in rebellion to the Lord. Turn to Matthew chapter 6 and look at verse number 7. It says that when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do. So the Bible says that who does vain repetitions? The heathen. And it says, well, why not do vain repetitions? Maybe that's something that the heathen do that's a good idea. Well, it explains why. It says, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. It says, look, they're not going to be heard. Vain repetitions are not going to be heard. Period. Okay? So the Bible says vain repetitions are not going to be heard. So, I mean, you shouldn't do them because they don't mean anything. All right? Look, confession has nothing to do with salvation, folks. All right? It has nothing to do with salvation. But look, it is a good thing. It is a good thing. So I'm going to explain to you why it's a good thing. Confession is an act of reconciliation. It's an act of reconciliation. Think of a friend. I mean, just think of an example here. Think of a friend who did you wrong. You know, think of a friend who did you wrong. The Bible says that you are to just forgive your friend. Right? Forgiveness, like forgiveness for you, Christian, is supposed to be a one-way street. It doesn't necessarily mean your friend has to come to you and make everything right. You're supposed to just forgive them. You know, let not the sun go down on your wrath. The Bible says you're just supposed to forgive your brothers and sisters. Period. But look, think of a friend who did you wrong. They say they stole a hundred dollars from you. They say they stole a hundred bucks from you. And the Bible says, let it go. Suffer yourself to be defrauded, the whole thing. But look, that person that did you wrong in order to reconcile that relationship, I mean, they should confess that. They should confess that to you. Like, I'm sorry, I stole a hundred dollars from you. I mean, that will, you know, completely reconcile that relationship. I mean, I'm sorry, I stole the money. You know, here's the money back. You know, it's about the relationship, folks. It's about the relationship. Thank God the Bible doesn't just tell us how to get saved. It tells us how to have a relationship with our Heavenly Father. You know, so we don't have to stumble through this Christian life just getting beating after beating after beating after beating and going like, what's going on? You know, why is this happening this way? That's what the Bible is talking about when it talks about confessing our sins. It's about having that relationship. It's about being at peace with our Heavenly Father. I mean, the Bible says that, you know, if you love me, keep my commandments. So just because you're saved doesn't mean that you're living a loving relationship towards the Lord, folks. Okay, look. Let's look at some application here. Let's look at how this can affect our lives, how we can put this into practice. And let's talk about, you know, admitting fault in your life. I mean, it's a big deal. You know, it's something that not very many people are good at, actually. You know, both in the secular world and amongst, you know, godly saved Christians, unfortunately. So look, and most people aren't good at failure. Most people aren't good at admitting fault because they're just not good. They don't know how to handle failure. Okay, now look. I remember, you know, going to college and being in college, I remember especially the first year or two, I was really surprised at how many like straight A students just dropped out of college. They just couldn't handle failure. They couldn't handle getting a D. They couldn't handle getting a C. You know, I was really good at getting Ds. I was awesome at it. My wife saw my college transcript a few years ago, and she's like, how did they give you a degree? I'm like, okay, that's not what this sermon's about. But how did you graduate? C's get degrees, honey. That's what I said. Anyway, no, that's not the sermon and that's not what I'm doing good in school. Kids, don't listen to me right now. All right. How to handle failure. The Bible tells us here, there's a couple points that I want to give you on how to handle two ways here. Two ways to fail properly. How does that sound? The first thing is this. Turn to 2 Samuel 12. Think about David. Do you think good or do you think bad in the Bible? Most people think good. King David, wow, good king, best king. Most people think it's the best thing ever. Talking about David. So here's the thing. 2 Samuel 12. David made a lot of really bad mistakes. So why in the world are people so positive about David? David made so many mistakes in the Bible and such big mistakes that most of you, I hope, I pray will never make. I mean murder, adultery, terrible mistakes. But the difference with David is this. Look at 2 Samuel 12 in verse number 13. This is right after David has committed adultery. He has murdered Uriah. It means murdered several people because not only Uriah died. There was a battle. He sent Uriah into battle. A bunch of people got killed. That was the goal. So David just murdered people to cover up some sins that he had. Nathan comes to him. He tells the story about the poor man and the sheep. And David still doesn't really get it. And then Nathan the prophet says, thou art the man. He just says right to his face, it's you, it's you, buddy. It's you that did it. And right away, as soon as Nathan is done talking, this is what David says. Remember what Saul said this morning? Remember what Saul said? This is what David said. Immediately after Nathan the prophet closes his mouth, David says and David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, the Lord also hath put away thy sin and thou shalt not die. See how fast that reconciliation happened? Just like that. David said, I've sinned against the Lord. He just confessed his sin. Right away. I have sinned against the Lord. Go to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13, look at verse number 22. There's other places in the Bible, look at Acts chapter 13 verse 22. Acts chapter 13 verse 22, the Bible says this about David. See the difference between David and Saul and David and you and David and whoever else and the reason that David was way up here with the Lord was Acts 13 22. The Bible says and when he had removed him he raised up unto them David to be their king to whom also he gave their testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse who a man after my own heart which shall fulfill all my will. David was constantly seeking after the Lord. Look, he messed up a lot along the way. So you sit there and you're like, yeah, you know what? I've messed up a lot in my life. It's a big deal. I mean it is a big deal. Don't get me wrong. Don't go mess up tomorrow because your brother Jared said you could. But I mean the point is that David messed up a lot in his life but he was constantly seeking the Lord. His heart was towards the Lord. He still had the flesh just like we do but his heart was towards the Lord. He was after God's heart. I mean he was far from perfect. He made huge mistakes in the Bible but what made him great was his heart towards the Lord and his ability and his willingness in his heart to get things right with God and to have that good relationship. So look, if you can't admit fault if you can't admit sin here's the thing you know you have a heart problem there's something wrong with your heart and you will suffer for it. If you can't admit sin in your life you will suffer and more specifically from the Bible from Proverbs 24 you will not prosper. I mean being in sin I mean I mean let me just give you some perspective from you know being up here preaching for a year. I mean you'll see you'll preach a sermon and you know people that you weren't even really thinking about when you know you preach the sermon or whatever will just come up and they'll be like man that really got me thinking and I just I've got to change that and all this I've just thank you for the message I wasn't even thinking that that would have you know about you when I wrote that sermon and then you'll you know the people that you know maybe you were thinking about when you wrote that sermon just right over their head these people exist they're among us they're here right so look this will mean you don't prosper if you can't admit the sin in your life you know what I'm saying it's a big deal it's a big deal you know he that cover his sins shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsakeeth them shall have mercy the bible says so you know the opposite the opposite of somebody that confesses their sin is somebody that covers their sin these are your people that make excuses all the time for stuff right there you know by the way everybody in the world nobody believes excuses let me give you an example let's talk about something that happens all the time being late for work let's say you're late for work look here's the thing it's going to happen you're going to be late for work one time it's happened to everybody but you don't go in and make excuses nobody wants to hear it you go in and say it's my fault I'm sorry where do I go that's what you do you know and look because that right there that one thing that will distinguish you because everybody else goes in and they make all kinds of excuses about why they were late or why they did something wrong or whatever look I mean people have this misguided idea that everyone expects them to be perfect that's not the case nobody expects you to be perfect they do expect you to not be a liar though that's one thing that they do expect they do expect you to not make excuses not be lazy and not be a liar look I mean here's the bottom line on this one silly little example if you work somewhere for a year or more you're going to be late one time you're going to be late but by the way some of you should try working somewhere a year or more some of you change jobs like I change socks work somewhere for a year and you're going to be late okay my wife said to me the other day I was talking to the kids or something for a second I was talking to the kids and I was just like here's the problem here's what we're going to do to fix it and all this my wife said something to me like she's like well you're just sort of harsh sometimes and you know she was just telling me but let me tell you something about me okay let's take a poll in the church right now alright and the women can you can't say anything you have to be silent in the church but you can participate in the poll everybody likes polls now right let's take a poll alright how many people want to be a loser how many people want to raise failures for kids how many people want to you know just fail at everything that they do how many people want to get fired from every job they ever have I don't see any hands that's why so look this when I'm coming at you with stuff it's coming from a good place because I don't want you to fail at everything I want you to understand the world that we're living in what the Bible says about how to get through that alright so look I mean you're going to be late one time you're going to make mistakes you're going to go to work you're going to start a new job you're going to mess stuff up you're going to break things you're going to wreck things because you didn't know what you were doing it's just going to happen you're going to make excuses just say you know what I realize that look it you ever play hot potato it's like this mistakes and failures are like hot potato and here's what most people do hot potato you're throwing a you're throwing a ball around and you have to get rid of the ball as fast as possible these people I mean imagine just a steaming hot potato and you're playing this game and you're passing it around and the people that won't admit mistakes like these people they just grab the potato and just hold it there and some tiny little thing like being late for work or wrecking some small thing or whatever just turns into this massive burn wound on their hand it just melts through their hand because they turn them they just lose all credibility they just as soon as you admit fault just drop that thing immediately just confess it immediately you're really good at this you let go of these things immediately you're like I messed up drop it just like that what are people going to do I messed up there's no excuse for it what are you going to do to me I don't say the last part but there's nothing they can do you're going to distinguish yourself because most people won't do that it's weird I think people used to do that or try to blame others that's even worse you just wreck your reputation with everybody the potato just burns them they end up in the hospital from the potato it's crazy you could take something like a stupid mistake and have it just ruin your entire reputation just confess it you're making yourself a liar if you don't think about it that way you make him a liar look if you don't confess your sins you're going to make yourself a liar even in the world we live in today and the second point is this so first of all just admit it admit your fault you fix the problem moving forward turn to Luke chapter 12 turn to Luke chapter 12 Luke chapter 12 and look down at verse number 47 Luke chapter 12 and verse number 47 the bible says in that servant which knew his lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes but he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes for unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required and to whom men have committed much of him will they ask the more so it's saying look if you know if you know what to do and you don't do it you're going to be beaten with a lot of stripes I mean that's you that's you as you sit and you don't do it that's you two things will get you fired at work lying and covering your mistakes will get you fired at work and then here's the second one and the one I want to point out making the same mistakes over and over again will get you fired at work I mean look who would want somebody like that working for them think about it who would want somebody like that working for them that just keeps making the same mistake again and again and again because you know what that means it means you have the inability to learn I mean if you sit here and you listen to preaching again and again and again and again and you just don't get it it's like you're just going to be beaten with a lot of stripes in your life you're just going to be beaten again now look I don't want to watch that who wants to watch that who wants to watch a brother or sister in Christ just get beaten in their life and chastise again in their life look there's three ways to learn the first way to learn is by listening to wise counsel that's the best way to learn the second way to learn is to learn from the mistakes of other people look number one and number two are pretty good ways to learn number three is make your own mistakes look you want to do number one or number two you want to either listen to wise counsel and learn that way or watch other people fall on their face and be like okay I don't want to step in that same spot I mean that works too alright but look you must if you insist that you're like no I want to make my own mistakes you're like no I insist on just stepping in that hole and following on my face myself then look here's the thing you got to learn from that mistake then you got to learn from that mistake it's not going to work for you in your spiritual life it's not going to work for you in your Christian life it's not going to work for you in your secular job or at home with your kids or anything I mean just think about this people raising kids and they just won't do it the Bible way I mean they just won't do it the Bible way and I just feel like when you see situations like that I feel like you're watching someone beat their head against a brick wall and then they come to you and say I'm not going to do that I'm not going to do that I'm going to do this to brick wall and then they come to you and say my head hurts and I'm like well you're beating your head against the wall and they're like yeah but my head hurts and they go beat their head against the wall again I mean this is people that just can't learn so look it's about learning from your mistakes so you admit your fault and you fix the problem right that and that look that will fix your relationships with everybody in this church and that will fix your relationships which is what 1st John 1 9 is about is about just having a good relationship with your heavenly father period confession is a good thing confession is a good thing turn to James chapter 5 it's about admitting fault fixing it going forward there's nothing in the Bible tying it to salvation I mean it's just a great path to good relationships it makes sense right with your brothers and sisters as well look at James chapter 5 look at James chapter 5 in verse number 16 James chapter 5 16 the Bible says this talking about your brothers and sisters in Christ James the book of James is about what it's about how to do your religion right I mean look you're saved how do I do this thing it wasn't my doing that got me here but how do I do it I'm 43 I've got how many years left to live I hope a lot maybe not who knows but how do I do the rest of my years confess your book for you look at James 5 16 the Bible says confess your faults to one another and pray for one another the email healed be healed the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avail of much look this is talking about look this isn't talking about like sitting down and having you having you tell me like every sin you've ever committed in your life I mean that's some weird stuff right there I mean who would ever want to do that you have to be a psychopath to want that you have to be some kind of sicko to be like oh no every one of you you gotta come tell me every single bad thing you've ever done every single week I mean you gotta be some kind of sicko straight up that's weird I mean is that not strange I mean I mean when you look at this stuff from the outside you're like what in the world you know you walk by these Catholic churches there must be 100 million dollars to build some of these things I mean there's like they're listening to all this stuff this weird, weird doctor look this is talking about the 100 bucks this is what this is talking about it's like I stole 100 bucks from Frank I should confess that to him it's like hey man I'm sorry I stole 100 bucks from you here's 100 bucks I'm sorry it's like I you know no excuse no excuse I stole your money I'm sorry it's that's it that's it I mean how many of you here think I stole 100 bucks from Frank and then you paid him back and you just confessed your fault to him that brother Frank would be like get out of here brother I hate you I mean look it works you know what I mean I mean this is advice that works I mean this stuff will fix your relationships and most importantly it will fix your relationship with God so you know if you're holding something back that you know that you know you're stuck on this thing you're hard hearted about it look that's gonna you're not gonna prosper you're not right you're not right look you're not not saved okay you're not not saved but you're not right raise your hand if you want to prosper I mean come on you know that is the key is just just just forget it have that same humility that you had when you got saved you know what I've been I've been I've been holding back in this area and I've been not listening to God in this area and listen if you're sitting in this church you know you know where you're holding back and you know where your heart is hard and you know what the problems are in your life confess those to the Lord get over that and move forward that's what this is about that's the whole point of this church look if you're not gonna admit your sin right please let me know so I can just stop spending so much time doing this because I mean really it's a waste of my time to preach to somebody who's not gonna get right I mean confess your faults to one another fix your relationships with each other you got problems with each other fix it both sides somebody wrongs you suffer yourself to be defrauded that's how you fix that side the other person confess your faults I mean is it I mean this isn't rocket surgery we're not building a space shuttle here you know this is I mean the space shuttle was a terrible idea by the way I mean like one in ten exploded I mean hello who thinks that's a good program okay not the point of the sermon right but look here's the thing putting confession into salvation is confusing it's terrible it's keeping people from getting saved and it's just about us saved people having a good relationship with our heavenly Father it's very simple I mean what in the world was he talking about with the simplicity of the gospel if it would be this complicated thing when people start talking to you about these complicated things you just gotta reject it right away confession a good thing tainted by bad doctrine let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer