Any person who truly loves the Lord has a strong desire to worship Him. Yet, we frequently fail to realize the various opportunities of worship. The Bible closely connects worship to the word worth, much like the word praise is closely connected to the word appraisal. When we worship the Lord, we declare what we think about His worth to us. Perhaps, you never considered that true confession of sins to a holy God declares God’s worth to you. We see this in our passage when confession and worship are mentioned together (Nehemiah 9:3). When we confess our sins to the Lord, we are telling God that we desire His fellowship more than we desire the pleasures of sin (Hebrews 11:25).
A careful study of our text helps to eliminate the controversy concerning confession. We have already seen that the Bible teaches that confession of sins is to be made only to God. Yet, our passage tells us to confess one to another. Yet, the Bible stipulates that the confession involves one's faults. The difference between sins and faults is quite simple. A fault is not a sin, but rather an area of weakness that could lead to sin. We do not profit from confessing our sins to each other or even to “religious leaders.” However, the Bible reveals the benefits derived from confessing that we covet the prayers of others to help overcome our areas of weakness. Perhaps, these brothers and sisters in Christ will fervently pray and even lend support and advice. This is why it is important to confess our sincere desire for their prayers. Unfortunately, misapplication of this passage to bodily healing has caused confusion. The context involves healing in areas of spiritual weaknesses, not simply a need for the body to be healed.
Because of certain false teachings, there remains a great deal of confusion concerning the matter of confessing sins. However, when we accept the Bible as our sole authority, the confusion dissipates and disappears. Our earlier study showed that actions must follow confession, but to whom should we confess? Some religions falsely teach that we confess our sins to man, but this is simply untrue. The Bible requires that man confess his sins to the Lord. This truth is confirmed repeatedly throughout the word of God. Our First John passage teaches this, but the Bible provides several additional witnesses (Psalm 32:5; Joshua 7:19; 2 Chronicles 30:22; Ezra 10:1; and Daniel 9:4, 20, for instance). Our next study delves into the subject of Christians confessing something to men, but confession of sin or sins must be made solely to God.
Many people claim to confess their sins; yet, confession not followed by action remains fruitless. Several verses in the word of God indicate the truth of the matter. Consider the next four examples: (1) Confession of sin is connected to forsaking sin (Proverbs 28:13); (2) Confession of sin is followed by recompense of the trespass (Numbers 5:7); (3) Solomon connected confessing sin with turning from it (1 Kings 8:35); (4) Confession is followed by doing the Lord’s pleasure (Ezra 10:11). True confession involves much more than simply receiving the Lord’s forgiveness; it involves making wrongs right. True confession is never accomplished by merely opening one's mouth and spouting forth some meaningless words. True confession always produces change in the confessor.
The Bible always serves as the best source for adequately defining a Bible word. According to Joshua 7:19, confession is connected to the act of telling what a person has done—refusing to keep it hidden. Joshua told Achan to give “glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me.” Psalm 32:5 identifies confession as acknowledging a matter—refusing to hide it. Additionally, Proverbs 28:13 defines confession as the opposite of covering one's sin. In John 1:20, the word confessed appears twice with a defining phrase in between— “and denied not.” In the same manner, Acts 19:18 demonstrates that those who “confessed” “came . . . and shewed their deeds.” The scriptural evidence points to confession as the willingness to make known that which could otherwise be private, personal, or hidden. Keep in mind that regardless of one's willingness to confess, nothing can be hidden from the Lord.
The world’s perfect example of dependability is the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament records many instances of His faithfulness, but none more expressive than the faithful manner in which He performs His duties as the believer’s high priest. According to today’s passage, Christ faithfully sanctifies believers. Through His death, He destroys the Devil and the power he exerts over death. The Christian’s high priest also remains faithful to deliver and reconcile all who come to Him in faith. Most importantly, Christ is a “merciful and faithful high priest” making reconciliation for sin. A high priest goes to God on behalf of the people. As the believer’s high priest, the Lord Jesus faithfully hears the believer’s prayers and presents them to the Father in His own Name. Never has there been someone so faithful as our high priest!
Paul and Barnabas functioned similar to pioneer church planters who travel into unreached areas with the gospel. As they traveled, they faithfully preached the gospel and started churches with the goal of returning later to strengthen the believers. As Paul and Barnabas were planning their return to these areas, a conflict arose between them concerning who would accompany them on their journey. Barnabas desired to take a young man named John Mark, but Paul adamantly refused. Mark had accompanied them on the first trip, but departed from them and “went not with them to the work.” Paul felt as though he could no longer depend upon John Mark because of his earlier failure. The contention was so strong that Paul and Barnabas parted company and went their own separate ways. This is a sad narrative should it end here; however, there is much more to the story. Praise God that Paul later remarked of John Mark that “he is profitable to me for the ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11).
This Pauline epistle is addressed to believers in Thessalonica. It opens with an expression of joy and thanksgiving for their work and labour. Paul then reminded them how they came to be followers of him and of the Lord after they received the word through much affliction. Paul praised them for their faithful example to those in Macedonia and Achaia. In fact, they were so faithful that Paul said when He arrived in Macedonia and Achaia, he did not need to speak a word because of the example of the Thessalonian believers. Their testimony spread to these locations, as well as in “every place.” Paul knew he could trust these saints to be dependable witnesses of the gospel. What an incredible relief and wonderful blessing this must have been for the apostle Paul.
As the Lord’s crucifixion drew nigh, He took His disciples to Gethsemane to pray. He asked them to tarry and watch with Him as He separated from them to pray to the Father. Upon returning, He found the disciples asleep so He said to them, “Could ye not watch with me one hour?” The Lord went away two more times only to find His disciples asleep both times He returned. He had given His disciples a simple task to tarry, watch, and pray. He quickly saw that He could not depend upon them for support. It comes as no surprise that they would be scattered from Him shortly at His betrayal (Matthew 26:31, 56). These men were not strangers; they were the ones who sat at Christ’s feet for three years. Now, they could not be trusted for one hour to watch and pray.
Scripturally speaking, a vow involves a solemn promise made to another individual or to God Himself. In our passage, vow is used both as a verb and a noun. Vowing a vow is analogous to someone promising a promise. Men are to keep their word by keeping their promises; or, in other words, men are to be faithfully dependable. When a man makes a promise to God or to another person, he should do everything within his power to keep that promise. The Bible warns against a man allowing his mouth to cause his flesh to sin by making promises with no intention of keeping them. Those who vow a vow to the Lord and fail to perform it are called “fools” and the Lord “hath no pleasure in fools.” Before making any promise, one should first count the cost to determine whether or not making the vow will simply cause him to sin.
