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Tag: confession

  • Nehemiah 9 – The People Confess Their Sins

    Nehemiah 9 – The People Confess Their Sins

    Today’s Short Take on Scripture focuses on confession.

    Yesterday this personal conviction came to mind from imprinted corporate confession of the church. (You’re church may not use such a confession, but should they lead us in this way?)

    Confession of Sin Before Communion

    Have mercy upon us.. Corporate Prayer including confession of sin, praise and petition to God
    Corporate Confession of Sin by the Church
    From the Anglican BCP [Book of Common Prayer] (public domain, source not secure)

    Minister and People

    Almighty God,
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
maker of all things, judge of all men:

We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness,
which we from time to time most grievously have committed,
by thought, word, and deed, against thy divine Majesty,
provoking most Justly thy wrath and indignation against us.
We do earnestly repent,
and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings;
the remembrance of them is grievous unto us,
the burden of them is intolerable.
Have mercy upon us,
have mercy upon us, most merciful Father;
for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake,
forgive us all that is past;
and grant that we may ever hereafter
serve and please thee in newness of life,
to the honor and glory or thy Name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

    Excerpts Nehemiah 9:

    New King James Version; Неемія 9
 Ukrainian Bible; Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition; נחמיה The Westminster Leningrad Codex; Неемия 9 New Russian Translation
    Nehemiah and the jews rebuild the temple as they guard Jerusalem then offer a confession of prayer about their sins at its dedication

    A corporate Confession of Sin after the jews rebuild the second temple

    9 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads. Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers..

    And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God..

    “You came down also on Mount Sinai,
    And spoke with them from heaven,
    And gave them just ordinances and true laws,
    Good statutes and commandments.

    “But they and our fathers acted proudly,
    Hardened their necks,
    And did not heed Your commandments.

    They refused to obey,
    And they were not mindful of Your wonders
    That You did among them.
    But they hardened their necks,
    And in their rebellion [They].. [sinned: a long list of confession]

    Nehemiah 16-17a – Corporate Confession of Sin by the people prior to rededication to worship of the Lord God

    30 Yet for many years You had patience with them..

    But we have done wickedly.
    34 Neither our kings nor our princes,
    Our priests nor our fathers,
    Have kept Your law,
    Nor heeded Your commandments and Your testimonies,
    With which You testified against them..

    “Here we are, servants today!

    Nehemiah 9:36a NKJV

    For You are God, gracious and merciful.

    32 “Now therefore, our God,
    The great, the mighty, and awesome God,
    Who keeps covenant and mercy:
    Do not let all the trouble seem small before You
    That has come upon us,
    Our kings and our princes,
    Our priests and our prophets,
    Our fathers and on all Your people,
    From the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.

    “And because of all this, We make a sure covenant and write it;

    Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests seal it.”

    9:38 [NKJV] (WLC 10:1)וּבְכָל־זֹאת אֲנַחְנוּ כֹּרְתִים אֲמָנָה וְכֹתְבִים וְעַל הֶֽחָתוּם שָׂרֵינוּ לְוִיֵּנוּ כֹּהֲנֵֽינוּ׃

    My question for your COMMENT is:

    How should the people confess OUR SINS?

    Roger@TalkofJESUS.COM

  • WE do not presume

    God’s Righteous Judgment

    Romans 2:

    .. do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

    So I ask you: are you repentant? Are you sorry for your sins? Shouldn’t we confess our sins against God? Yet repentance demands both confession and turning back to the way of righteousness.

    The LORD is God and we are not! Bow down, o man of dust, to the One Who IS and was and will be forever, the LORD!

    WE seem to have forgotten

    Listen to the lyrics of our music. Much ado about ‘us,’ or ‘me,’ some about ‘you’ and even a little about God. Not so surprising in our worldly wireless abyss of media, but subtly self-centered in an emotional entertainment of worship music. Paul cautions the church at Rome in the preceding verse:,

    3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 

    Who are we to claim Christ with words rarely mentioning Jesus by Name?

    While we rail against the outside world, ‘christians’ claim WE are a people favored by God. Was fallen Israel so different after Solomon? A fallen nation abandons God’s favor for freedoms of over-expression. We accuse each other of forgetting our roots, never once claiming that we have forgotten the Lord.

    Prayer of Humble Access

    We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies.  …

    What presumption that the Lord God should accept our everyday sin without just punishment or consequence. Most certainly this age-old problem of sin confronts every created being of every generation.

    13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

    Regardless of your church traditions of worship and the law, the Lord must judge rightly. Listen to law or ordinance with indifference or never consider it, yet the Lord must judge sinners.

    Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this Law.

    God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. – Romans 2:16b ESV

    Presumption

    Look to today’s news  (or news of any era); presumptuous leaders rise to prominence, replacing our presumptions of yesterday. I speak not only of a president, leader or another country or political party, but of all ambitious men and women. 

    Can any stand before the Throne of the Almighty with a claim of innocence? The time of their judgment will soon enough be at hand, as it has been in every generation.

    Ecclesiastes 1(ESV)

    All Is Vanity
    1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

    We hear accusations and counter-claims from the rich and powerful. Yet even Solomon recognized the inevitable fall of a mighty kingdom given to his leadership. Solomon advised:

    Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake…

    [to the messenger of the media, if you prefer]

    For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear. – Ecclesiastes 5:6a,7

    WE presume much in the contention of carefully-crafted words and excesses of mistaken condemnations. Agendas of man will fail without the purpose of the Lord.

    The antonyms of presumption are knowledge, truth and humility.

    God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

    psalm 5:

    Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness
    because of my enemies;
    make your way straight before me.

    For there is no truth in their mouth;
    their inmost self is destruction;
    their throat is an open grave;
    they flatter with their tongue.

    Make them bear their guilt, O God;
    let them fall by their own counsels;
    because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
    for they have rebelled against you.

    Truth

    Who can we believe?

    Only God; only the humble. (May the Lord make us humble before Him.)

    John 1:

    14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

    17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

    Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. – John 14:6

    And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. Matthew 23:12 KJV

    Confession of the humble before God

    Prior to communion with our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus; prior to our confession: “We do not presume…” Our hearts ought to have come to a more complete acknowledgement of our sin.

    Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, maker of all things, judge of all men; We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness..

    Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, most merciful Father; for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake…

    The simplicity of Christ’s Sacrifice for us: humility on a cross does not presume forgiveness, but the love of God for repentant sinners.

    Father, forgive us, for we do not know the Sacrifice of Your love.

     

  • What’s a Hypocrite to do? – 2

    What’s a Hypocrite to do? – 2

    What does Jesus Christ say of the world who will not accept Him as Lord of anything?

    The evil ones of this world “have called the master of the house Beelzebul!” 

    Did you know that this particular name for Satan means: “lord of the house” and “prince of evil spirits?”

    Jesus said the evil ones (Pharisees and others) have accused the Righteous One of being the evil lord of this world, when in fact they are ruled by the dark powers of the enemy of God Almighty.

    Christ’s further warning to His disciples: chosen servants of the Holy Heavenly House of God, will be hated even more.

    How much more will Christ haters call Christ followers ‘devils.’

    Matthew 10

    26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

    27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

    28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell…

    32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

    What is YOUR witness?

    • HYPOCRISY that points to the sin of the world (& your own righteousness)?
    • OR Do you acknowledge your many sins and Christ Jesus before the world who hates Him?

    I am a great sinner, forgiven by a Lord greater than all our unrighteousness.

    Not Peace, but a Sword

    34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

    38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

    39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

    As for the church:

    • Premarital sex? Some of us are guilty
    • Living together in sexual sin? Some of us are guilty?
    • Homosexual sin? Some of us are guilty.
    • Out of wedlock births? Some of us are guilty.
    • Fathers abandoning our children? Some of us are guilty.
    • Murdering a child by abortion? Some of us are guilty.
    • Divorce? Some of us are guilty.
    • Putting away our Christian wife? Some of us are guilty.
    • Putting out our Christian husband? Some of us are guilty.
    • Running from Christ and brothers & sisters in the Lord?  Some of us are guilty.
    • Embracing worldly ways and wicked friends? Some of us are guilty.
    • Calling our selves “christian” and accusing others of sin? Some of us are guilty.

    By the breaking of our VOWS and the witness of our rotting fruit, we have sinned against God and the Bridegroom returning for His Bride the Church.

    We, Christ’s church betrothed, are ADULTERERS

    “in a relationship” with the enemy of all Righteousness!

    And to what TRUTH does Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior call us?

    The Woman Caught in Adultery

    7:53 [[They went each to his own house,] 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.

    Imagine, dear sister or brother in the Lord, that this is you (a christian).

    11 … And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you;

    go, and from now on sin no more.”

    Beloved sister, beloved brother in the Lord; this is Jesus’ charge to the church:

    You have been sinners.

    Neither do I condemn you.

    Go and sin no more.

    12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”