All right, if you take your Bibles,
if you'll turn with me to Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. This is going to be my main text,
but to let you know, I have several texts of scripture this morning,
several texts of scripture, but I want us to read this first
of all, from this passage in Luke chapter 15 and verse 18. We have before us this parable,
the prodigal son. And you remember how the prodigal
son demanded of his father to give of his inheritance. And
he took that inheritance and he squandered it. And he had
been left with nothing. And he was in that swine pit,
eating the husks of the swine. And he remembered, it came to
his mind of his father and his father's house and his father's
wealth. And as he determined to go back,
this was his confession. He says in verse 18, I will arise
and go to my father's house and will say to my father, I have
sinned against heaven and before thee, and in no war worthy to
be called thy son, make me one of thine hired servants. And if I have a title for my
message this morning, it is those three words. I have sinned. have sinned. Now we know this,
that no man is saved apart from his confession of sin. No man is saved apart from his
confession of sin. If a man does not know his sin,
if he does not know his need, he will never repent of his sin
and turn by faith to Jesus Christ. Confession of sin is vital to
salvation, vital to salvation. Proverbs chapter 28 and verse
13 clearly states, he that covereth His sin shall not prosper. If a man covers his sin, if a
man hides his sin, if a man will not confess his sin before God,
acknowledge his transgression before God, he covers his sin
and God said that man will not prosper. But whoso confesseth,
listen, and forsaketh, You see, there's confession and repentance. You must have confession first
before there would ever be repentance. Confession of sin, and then the
forsaking of sin, and this is the promise. He shall have mercy. Mercy. Who needs mercy? Whosoever
confesses and forsaketh his sin is the one in need of mercy,
and he will have it. Now the Holy Scriptures are vitally
clear concerning man's condition of sin, his natural condition
and need of confession, his real need of confession, not before
men. You don't need to confess your
sin to me, I can't help you. I can't confess my sin to you,
you can't help me. My sin is against God and I must
confess it before God. And this is what God says about
man's sin. He said, all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. In Romans chapter three, in verse
10, it says, there is none righteous. What do you mean, pastor, by
none? It means exactly that, none, zero. There is none righteous. There is none that understandeth. There's none that understands
his sin. There's none that understands God. There's none that understands
his need of confession and repentance and faith in Christ. None understand
this by nature. Therefore, none seeketh after
God. They're all together going out of the way. They're all together
become unprofitable. You imagine that, that all of
the good deeds of man put together are unprofitable. They will not
help him in the day of judgment. They will only condemn him being
full of sin. being full of sin, there is none
that doeth good. Isaiah makes it plain that all
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Isaiah is talking about
your religious works, all of your goodnesses, all of your
so-called good works. They are as menstrual clothes
in the eyes of God. Now, if your good deeds are filthy
rags before God, what are your sinful deeds? What are your wicked
deeds then? So then we must conclude as the
scripture has, that from the sole of our foot to the crown
of our hand, There is nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores. There is no soundness in us. What is the conclusion of this?
We are full of sin. And when something's full, you
can't add anything to it. It's full. We are full of sin
by nature, full of sin. And so when the gospel is preached,
when Christ's righteousness and blood is preached for the pardon
and forgiveness of sin, why then will men not believe? They will
not believe because they do not believe their condition. They
do not confess their need of Christ. Now men think they have
a partial need of Jesus and Jesus does His part and they can do
their part. What are they confessing? They're
confessing that there's some goodness in them. There's some
value in them. They're not confessing the truth. The truth is we are full of sin. That's the truth. Man never confesses
that, he'll never be saved. If a man don't know who he is,
he'll never repent. He'll never turn to Christ. In
the eyes of men, natural man, this condition, they see themselves
as some good. You know, there's something when
Adam fell, they believed that there was something left, some
good nature, some spark of life, some ability to believe left
in them, that God left something. No, he died. And when there's
death, there is no what? Life. He wasn't partially dead,
he died. And we all died in him. Men see
they might not be perfect. They think, well, if I just do
my best, if I just do my best, God will overlook my faults. Friend, you don't know God. If
that's your confession, you know nothing about God. You know nothing
of God's holiness. Men surely believe that they
have some power in them someday to confess and believe Christ
when they want to. But just as clearly as scripture
describes our depraved nature and condition, it also declares
not only our unwillingness to confess, but our inability. Confession
of sin is necessary, but man is not only unwilling to confess
he is full of sin, he is unable to confess it. He cannot confess
it so as to repent from it and turn to Christ. Jesus said, no
man can come unto me. Now, why would you come unto
Christ? Except you're full of sin. That's the only people who
come to Christ who are full of sin and confess that they are
full of sin. They alone come to Christ and
no man can come to Christ except what? The Father which has sent
me draw him. Except God show you who you are,
you'll never confess who you are. Confession, friends, and repentance
and faith are a gift of God, a gift of God. But I'll tell you this in Scripture,
and I'm going to give you I have I have six texts. six texts of
scripture, and these three words are contained in all of these
six texts. These three words, I have sinned. I have sinned. But we're going to see that five
out of these six confessions were false. So then a man may
confess he is a sinner. He may have confessed his sin
and yet not be forgiven. Why? Because true confession
always brings with it repentance. And you'll find that five of
these six people who confessed their sin were devoid of repentance
and faith in Jesus Christ. And so let's look at these. Our
Lord said that, didn't He? He said, not every man that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. You know
that? You say Jesus is Lord. So what? The devils say that. You say
Jesus is Savior. So what? The devils know that.
Listen, is he your Lord? Is he your Savior? Jesus said,
not everyone that could sayeth, Lord, Lord, anybody can say that,
but whosoever doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven.
That's the one that is saved by Jesus Christ, who does the
will. What is the will of God? It is
this, that you confess your sin, repent, and believe on Christ. That is the will of the Father.
That is the will of the Father. You know, this is why the Apostle
Peter tells us to make our calling and election sure, isn't it?
Is there anything more important? Can you think of anything more
vital than to make sure that your faith is real? That your
confession is true? Confession for sin cannot be
worked up. Not true confession, not true
repentance. It can't be worked up. It's a
gift of God. Do you have true confession?
Well, let's see these. We're gonna go through several
of these this morning. First of all, let's turn in our
Bibles to Exodus chapter nine. Exodus chapter nine and look
at verse 27. This is Pharaoh. And I've entitled
my first point is the hard-hearted confessor. The hard-hearted confessor. Exodus chapter nine, and look
at verse 27. The scripture says, and Pharaoh
sent and called Moses and Aaron and said unto them, here it is,
I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and I
and my people are wicked. That sound good? That sound like
a good confession of sin? It does on the surface sound
great. But what's the motive behind this confession? You remember,
the Lord had caused, the cause of this confession is this, terror,
fear. The Egyptians remember how the
Lord made the rivers in Egypt turn to blood. The Lord sent frogs to cover
the land. The Lord sent lice and flies.
He killed all their cattle. And each time, what does the
scripture say about Pharaoh? He hardened his heart and he
would not let them go. But what changed? What happened
at this time? At this point, God had just sent
rain of fire from heaven. You imagine that? Instead of
rain being water, it rained fire from heaven. There were thunders
and lightnings. There was an earthquake that
rumbled underneath their feet. The scripture says that it was
very grievous. Look at me. Pharaoh was watching
his country burn. Egypt was on fire. and there
was no sign of it stopping. Therefore in fear, Pharaoh called
for Moses and Aaron, the lightning and thunder flashing behind him,
his feet being moved by the earthquake. He says, I have sinned. I have sinned. Let me ask you this. You that
have confessed your sin, is fear the cause of your sin? Confession
is fear, the cause of your confession. How many have made such a false
confession of sin under duress? In fearful times of trouble.
How many soldiers under the bombs and the bullets have made a confession
of sin? Who were before they were atheists,
before they were scoffers, But all of a sudden they get real
religious when death is near. And so even with tears and weeping,
they make this same confession, I have sinned, I have sinned. But such a confession and weeping
is only short-lived. Look what happened to Pharaoh
when God stopped the fire falling from heaven. Look at verse 34. And when Pharaoh
saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder were ceased,
he sinned yet more and hardened his heart, he and his servants. And the heart of Pharaoh was
hardened, neither would let the children of Israel go as the
Lord had spoken by Moses." This type of confession is only
short-lived because when the trouble stops, They go right
back to their sin. They go right back to their old
way of life. I read this one time, a man in
a hospital, he kept a log. He kept a log of those patients
who thought they were dying and made some confession. Made some
confession of their sin and profession and faith in Christ. But you
know what he found? He found so many of those people had just,
when they were healed, returned right back to where they were
before. What does this tell us? It tells
us this, that a confession of sin made in terror is no confession. is no real confession. Such a confession is vanity. You remember that man who had
the unclean spirits and the Lord said that man who had the unclean
spirit, the unclean spirit went out of him. And for a time he
swept and garnished his life. He cleaned up his life. But you
remember what happened when that evil spirit returned with seven
more evil spirits, that man's last estate was worse than the
first. And so it is when someone makes
a confession based on fear. I like this saying, it's true.
That which is born in the storm will die in the calm. If fear of hell is your only
motive For confession, it won't last. It won't last. Is that not true? Have you not
seen that? I have seen that. I've seen people who have hated
the gospel of Jesus Christ, despised the mention of his name. They
get into a car wreck. They get into an accident. They
get some kind of illness. And the first thing that happens
is, oh, I've sinned. Oh, I've sinned. They fear hell.
They fear it. They fear God. And they make
some profession of faith. And you know what happens? By
and by, when the disease is gone, when the injuries are over, where
do they go? What good is that confession?
It's not any good at all, is it? It's as good as Pharaoh's. It is a hard-hearted confession,
a confession out of fear. Second of all, we have a double-minded
confessor. Look over in Numbers. This is
the story of Balaam, that prophet, that false prophet. False prophet
Balaam, Numbers chapter 22 and verse 34. And Balaam said unto the angel
of the Lord, I have sinned. For I knew not thou stoodest
in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeased
thee, I will get me back again." You remember Balaam, he wanted
to go, Balak, that king, evil king of Moab, wanted him to curse
Israel. And he knew he sent those messengers and Balaam said, I
cannot curse Israel. And Balaam said, well, I'll give
you money. I'll give you honor if you curse Israel. And you
remember what old Balaam said? He said, let me go ask God. Why
would you need to ask God? He knew already God's answer
that he couldn't curse Israel, but he wanted that money. He
wanted that honor. He wanted that fame. And eventually
God said, just go, just go. And you remember as he went on
that ass, the Lord stood in the way with his sword drawn and
that ass tried to save Balaam. He tried to save him three times
and he beat that ass and that ass opened up his mouth and said,
why are you beating me? I'm trying to help you. And then
the Lord opened his eyes and he saw that angel of the Lord
with his sword drawn and he feared, he feared this character of Balaam. We may see the most extreme case
of this type of sinner. This was a prophet for hire. And look at this man standing
above the nation of Israel. Now he gets over there and he
stands above the nation of Israel. Three times the Lord, he's trying
to curse Israel. Three times this man in his heart
wants to curse Israel and God doesn't allow it. He blesses
Israel instead. And so he's looking down on the
side of all the people and he makes such a good profession
of faith. Look at Numbers 23 in verse eight. Look what he
says. Look at the good things that
he says. He says, how shall I curse whom
God hath not cursed? How shall I defy the Lord whom
the Lord hath not defied? He said, how can I do this thing?
But out of the same mouth of this man, and I'll tell you this,
he even spoke of Christ. This false prophet even testified
of Jesus Christ. If you look at verse 17 of chapter
24, he even testified of Jesus Christ. He said, I shall see
him, but not now. I shall behold him, but not nigh.
There shall come a star out of Jacob. and a scepter shall rise
out of Israel and he shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy
all the children of Sheol." Who is that? That's Christ. He's
speaking of Christ. But out of this same mouth that
would not curse Israel, that spoke of Christ, this is the
same man who gave advice to this king on how to destroy Israel. Look at verse 25, chapter 25. It says that Israel abode in
Shittim and the people began to commit whoredoms with the
daughters of Moab. You know who did that? The same
guy who would not curse Israel, the same guy that talked about
Christ, the same guy that confessed his sin, gave him advice how
to destroy Israel was to tempt them. And in Numbers chapter
31, we read Moses. Moses tells us that it was Balaam
who did this. Balaam who did this. Friend,
this is a confession of a double-minded man. This is a man who speaks
one thing, but lives another. He says, I have sinned, but yet
he continues in his sin. Even though he knows the truth,
he will not obey the truth. He will not love the truth. It
is a double-minded man. You know the Scripture said no
man can serve, what? Two masters. How do you hear
that? A lot of people hear it like
this, no man can serve two masters. Well, that's, you serve a bunch
of people, can't you? You serve 20 people. But listen
to this, there can only be one master. You serve a whole bunch
of people, there's only be one master. The way it should be
read is no man can serve two masters. Masters, you cannot
serve God and mammon. You cannot serve the Lord. You
cannot serve and love this world. You cannot love your sin. And
then at the same time, command say that God is your master.
Either you will love the one and despise the other. You hate
the one and love the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
You cannot serve the world, your flesh and God. Is this your confession? Do you
confess your sin and then run back to it immediately? Are you struggling to hold both
Christ and the world? Do you speak one way at church
and live another at home? Do you claim to serve Christ
as Lord, but only serve your lust when no one's looking? A double-minded man is unstable
in all his ways. Balaam was an unstable man. He had a good confession with
his lips, but his words were meaningless. He did not serve
Christ. His confession, he could not
serve Baal and Christ. He was a double-minded confessor.
The third instance is this. Go to 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel chapter
15. This is Saul. Saul. Saul is the insincere confessor. insincere confession. Look at
verse 24 of chapter 15. And Saul said unto Samuel, here
it is, the same thing that Pharaoh said, the same thing that Balaam
said, now Saul says it, I have sinned for I have transgressed
the commandment of the Lord and thy words because I feared the
people and obeyed their voice. Saul was told here to destroy
Amalek. Now, how simple is this? Listen
to me very carefully. Saul was told to kill everyone
and everything. Anybody misunderstand that? Can you comprehend that? It was supposed to be animals,
people, children, everyone. That was God's command. And yet
Saul did not kill everyone. He saved Agag, the king, alive. And he saved the best of the
sheep, the best of the animals. He saved them. You see that in
verse nine. But Saul and the people spared
Agag, and the best of the sheep and oxen, and the fatlings and
the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy
them, but everything that was vile and refuse, they destroyed." Now here's where it becomes insincere. Because when Samuel comes, look
what he says. In verse 13, and Samuel came to Saul and Saul
said, and blessed be the Lord. I have performed the commandment
of the Lord. And Samuel said, well, what is
the bleeding of the sheep in mine ears? If you did what God
said, why aren't there any sheep at all? And what was his response? His
response was, well, the people made me do it. The people made,
look at his confession. He gets backed into a corner
here. He knows now that he did not obey God, that he did sin,
but he would not admit it till he was cornered. You ever seen
people like that? You ever seen people who will
lie and lie until they cannot lie anymore. And then they say,
oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I've sinned. That
is the most insincere confession there is. It is an insincere
confession. If you're confessing only when
you're made to, it's not sincere. He says, not my fault, it's the
people's fault. You know, that's what our father
Adam did. When he was found out of God,
he said, the woman you gave me, it's your fault. How many people
sin and blame others? And when they can't blame others,
they blame God. That is an insincere confession. Many will attend the preaching
of the gospel and say, I've sinned. But you know, as soon as they're
gone, their mind changes. That's what happened to Samuel.
He was a mutable man. Saul was a mutable man. He's insincere. Is this your
type of confession? Are you a sinner because of somebody
else? Or do you own your sin? You remember
what David said. He said, I have sinned and done this evil in thy sight. I, me alone, true confession
is one that understands it's my fault and no one else's. They say, I've confessed, I've
sinned, but it's someone else's fault. Someone else, the devil
made me do it. The devil made me do it. It's
his fault. That's an insincere confession.
And it's not good. It's not gonna be any good to
your soul. Is this you? Are you the insincere
confessor? You know what happened to Saul?
He died in his sins. He said, I have sinned, but yet
there's no forgiveness with his sin. It was insincere. Next,
look at this one. Go to Joshua, Joshua chapter
seven. Look at this man, Achan. You
remember the Lord gave Jericho, Joshua chapter seven and verse
20. God gave Jericho. You remember who fought that
battle at Jericho? It was God. that walls came tumbling
down. You know what God said to the
people? He said, don't take any of the spoils. Why? They didn't
do anything. It wasn't their victory. It was
God's victory. He said, don't take any of the
spoils. And this man, Achan, you know what he did? He took
from the spoils and hid it in his tent. And as a result of
his sin, the people of Israel were defeated by that little
town of Ai, that little town of Ai. And when he was confronted by
Joshua, he confessed his sin immediately. Look at verse 20.
And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed, I have sinned against
the Lord God of Israel. and thus and thus have I done. When I saw the goodly Babylonian
garment and the 200 shekels of silver and the wedge of gold
of 50 shekels weight, I coveted them and took them and behold,
they are hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent and the
silver under it." And you know what happened to this man? When they found that out, Joshua
said, why, verse 25, why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall
trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with
stones and burned them with fire after they had stoned them with
stones. What Achan here represents, as
I see, is a doubtful confession. You know what? I don't know if
this was a real confession or not. Do you? Many commentators,
as I've read the commentators, have difference of opinion as
to whether this man was saved or not. That's why I call his
a doubtful confession, a doubtful confession. Joshua says in verse
19, these gentle words, kind words, he said, my son, give
I pray thee glory to the Lord of Israel, make confession unto
him and tell me what thou hast done, hide it not from me. And
you know what happened, he was killed. He was not like Ananias
and Sapphira. You remember they lied in their
confession. He didn't lie in his confession.
Was his confession sincere? I don't know. Was it out of fear? It doesn't sound like it. But
one thing is, I don't know. It's a doubtful confession. I
hope one day to see Achan in heaven, don't you? I do. I hope
to. But you know what? What really
is discomforting about this kind of confession is that you don't
have any evidence of it. For those of us who are left,
we don't have any hope. You know, the thief on the cross,
his deathbed confession, at least we have some hope, right? The
Lord said, today thou shalt see him. I know I'm going to see
that man, but Achan, I don't know. When men are on their deathbed,
they make all kinds of confessions and professions of faith, don't
they? But those who are left after
have no proof. Those who stand by their grave
have no comfort in such a confession. Spurgeon mentioned this when
he was preaching what he called doubtful confessions. He said,
it is no comfort to me or to the people mourning. They don't
know if this man had any hope. I tell you this, I believe that
there are few true deathbed conversions. I believe there are a few. I'm
not saying there are not any. I believe there are some, sure. But I believe there are a few
because of their lack of evidence that they would die, that they
would wait to the end. Most deadbed conversions are like Pharaoh. Don't you suppose
that, that most deadbed conversions are just terrors? Listen, this
is why it is. Today is the day of salvation.
Today is the day of salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
now. Confess your sin and repent of
your sin. Forsake your sin and turn to
Christ. When? Today. Don't wait till
the end. It's a doubtful state that anyone
in the end will believe. And fifthly, a confession of
despair. This is a horrible confession. Go to Matthew chapter 22. Matthew
chapter 22. I'm sorry, 27. Matthew chapter
27. And this confession of despair
is seen in Judas Iscariot. Do you realize Judas confessed
his sin? Judas confessed his sin. Look
at this in verse Four, let's go to verse three. Then Judas,
which had betrayed Christ, when he saw that he was condemned,
repented himself and brought again the 30 pieces of silver
to the chief priests and elders saying, I have sinned in that
I have betrayed innocent blood. I have sinned. This was the cry
of Judas, who betrayed the son of God, And when he had been
so overwhelmed with his guilt, he repented, threw down the silver,
and in hopeless despair, he went out and hung himself. Knowing,
listen, the scripture says, knowing this, he was condemned, and yet
he still confessed his sin. I pray that none of you will
ever suffer this type of despair of apostasy. Friends, there is no closer despair
to the flames of hell on earth than apostasy. What is an apostate? An apostate
is one who heard the gospel. Apostate is one who said they
believed the gospel, they believed on Christ, confessed Christ,
had all the outward signs and evidences of real life, but then
turn away and reject Christ. That's an apostate. Over in Hebrews chapter 6, I'll
read this to you, Hebrews chapter 6, the apostle describes an apostate
in verse 4. It says, for it is impossible.
Notice that word impossible. It is impossible for those who
were once enlightened, have tasted the heavenly gift, were made
partakers of the Holy Ghost and tasted of the good word of God
and the powers of the world to come. It is impossible if they
should fall away to renew them again to repentance. Seeing they crucified to themselves,
the son of God afresh and put him to an open shame. In history,
there was an example of this, one named Francis Sparra. Francis
Sparra lived in the 1500s and he was converted, supposedly
converted under the gospel of Martin Luther. He was a very
influential man. He was a man of great wealth.
He was a man who had a large family. He was a man that was
so well-versed in the scriptures that the local priests could
not refute his gospel. And so the local priests being
put out, they could no longer take this man, they sent for
Rome. And Rome set aside this liget,
this one, what they would, I guess, inquisitor. And they summoned
Spara to Rome. Now on the way, he begins to
prepare his defense. He is so, he is so, zealous for
the defense of the gospel when he begins this journey, that
he says, what is it if they take my life? What is it but a short
time if they punish me and kill my family? What is it compared
to eternal life? And so he begins with a good
confession, but halfway through the journey, he begins to think
within himself and begins to reason, well, maybe, maybe I
should hear their side. Maybe I should make judgments.
You know, is it really worth losing my family? Is it really
worth the torments and losing my wealth? And before he steps
out of the carriage, he confesses that he was wrong to the Roman
church. He confesses that his religion
was false. He denied Christ when he stepped
out of the carriage. And not only that, he was made
to sign a confession and proclaim his denial of the gospel in front
of his home village. And in front of 2,000 people,
he denied the Lord Jesus Christ. Signed his name to that confession. And coming out, the condemnation
overwhelmed him. And this man, this man knew his
condemnation was sealed. And he suffered so greatly. He fell into a state of despair,
confessing his sins, knowing he forsook Christ, and yet he
was unable to believe. What a sad condition an apostate
is. It is impossible to renew them
again to repentance. He was forever shut out of the
kingdom of God while he lived. I pray this is none of your confession, but I want you to see this. If
those are false confessions, confession of fear, that's Pharaoh's
confession. Confession of a double-minded
man. That's one who loves, seeks to
love God and the world. That's Balaam. A confession that
is insincere. That's a confession of Saul,
blaming on others, not recognizing his own depravity. And this one
is a confession of the apostate. Oh, but friends, I have something
greater here. What is the confession of a true
believer? That's what I want to know. Is my confession true? Is it real? Let's see this in
our text in Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15, you have before
us the prodigal son. The prodigal son. And he says
in verse 18, I will arise and go to my father and I will say
unto him, Father, I have sinned. This is a picture of all true
believers in Jesus Christ. All of those who are actually
forgiven their sins. You remember this prodigal? He
was a rebel. He was a rebel. In verse 12,
it said, the younger of these sons said to his father, father,
give me the portion of goods that has fallen to me. Before
his father died, he wanted his inheritance. What does that mean?
His father was already dead to him. You're dead to me already. Give me what you owe me. Isn't
this what we say by nature? This is what a man says. You
owe me. Give it to me. All by nature, rebellion, we
have left our father's house. And what do we do? Not many days
after the younger son gathered all his things together and took
his journey to a far country and there wasted his substance
on riotous living. Isn't this how we wasted our
life? If you're a true believer in Christ, this is your confession,
isn't it? You identify with this man. You know what God was to
you. He was dead to you. And you took
all that God gave you and you wasted it on your life. You wasted
it on your sin. Oh, but here's grace. Here's
the beginning of grace before grace. It's what we call pervenient
grace. Grace that goes before grace.
Look what happened. And when he had spent it all,
there arose a mighty famine in the land. And he began to want. And he went and joined himself
to a citizen of that country. And he sent him into the fields
to feed swine. And he would fain have filled
his belly with the husk that the swines did eat, and no man
gave unto him." Isn't this providential that this man now finds himself
in the hog pit? You know, it doesn't say he's
eating the husk of the swine. It said he wanted to. The husk
of the swine food was not permitted for him to eat. This man became hungry. And notice this. And when he
came to himself, he said, how many hired servants in my father's
house have bread enough to spare? And I perish with hunger. By the grace of God, God opened
our eyes to see that we were empty. Empty of righteousness. Have you seen that about yourself?
Are you empty of righteousness? Are you empty? Do you hunger and thirst after
righteousness? And what do we say? In my father's
house, there's plenty of righteousness. There's plenty of food. There's
plenty of mercy. And here we are feeding on the
husks that the swine would eat, excuse me. We're eating the husks that the
swine, we would fain eat the husks. Have you felt your utter
lack of any goodness? Have you found yourself unclean? Have you come to yourself in
the rags of your sins? Have you found you have nothing
to offer God? I mean nothing. Or do you still
have something? If you're ever going to confess
your sin, you've got to confess not just what you do. That's
not what we're saying. It's not confessing, I did this
bad thing and I did that bad thing. No, it is confession that
I am sin. Sin is not what I do. Sin is
who I am. That's what we must confess.
We must confess that sin is our nature. We must confess that we acknowledge
our sinful self and turn from it. It is only here that true sinners
are made to confess their sin and repent, and that's exactly
what he did. Look what he said in verse 18,
I will arise and go to my father. And I will say unto him, father,
I have sinned against heaven, and before thee am no more worthy
to be called thy son. Make me one of thine hired servants. And he arose and came to his
father. But when he was yet a great while
off, his father saw him and had compassion on him and ran. and fell on his neck and kissed
him. You see this man's dilemma, his
struggle within. He only seeks to serve his father. Just make me a servant. I have
sinned. I am not worthy to be called
thy son. But notice what the father was doing. The father
was looking for him. The father was anticipating his
return. And you imagine the man, his
head is down. He's, he's wondering if the father's
going to have mercy. He doesn't know. And all the
while his father is running toward him. You know, that's the only,
this is the only picture of God ever being in a hurry in scripture. When God's people will confess
their sin, before they confess their sin, God is already on
His way. You got that? He's already on
His way. And before they confess it, look,
before He confessed what did His Father do? He put His arms
around Him and He kissed Him. This is a picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ to every sinner who comes to him broken and needy. He comes wrapping his arms around
you and he kisses you with mercy. And notice what these kisses
provide. They provide confession. He says
it again. And the son said to the father,
I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and no more
worthy to be called thy son. And you know what? The father
doesn't even hear the rest. He said, that's enough. I don't
need to hear anything else. Get the best robe and put it
on him. Get the ring of sonship and put
it on his finger. Kill the fatted calf. My son
who was dead is now alive. What is this ring and this robe?
Is that not the righteousness of Christ? Is the fatted calf not Christ
himself who died for the sins of this man? You see, confession and repentance
always turns from self. But where does it turn to? It
turns to Jesus Christ. It turns to Christ. All the mercy. Our Lord Jesus said this, Whosoever
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Friend, the Father is rich in
mercy. Rich? How rich? How much do you owe? He's richer than that. His mercy is sufficient to cover
not only your sin, but all the sin of his people. What a God of mercy. And in closing,
I want you to know this. I know some of you are doubtful. As we examine our confession
and our repentance and our faith, Many times we become doubtful
because you know what? We still have sin in this old
nature. This old man of sin still hangs
about the neck of every believer who's obtained mercy. You that
believe, you have the mercy of God, yet you still feel the guilt. You still doubt, is my confession
real? Am I doing this out of fear?
Am I the double-minded man? You remember what happened when
Jesus said, one of you shall betray me. What happened? What
did all the apostles say? Lord, is it I? Is my confession false? Is my
faith not real? Oh Lord, decide the doubtful
case. You are that people's choice. I'm gonna ask you a few questions. Are you a true sinner? Are you a sinner from the top
of your head to the bottom of your feet? When you listen to
this, Jesus Christ came to the world to save sinners. Not partial sinners, real sinners. Do you blame anyone else for
your sin? No, it's mine. It's all mine. We confess like David, my sin
is ever before me. Isn't that right? Believers,
your sin not ever before you. It's always in front of you.
Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? No, I don't blame anyone else. It's mine. Do you know your need of mercy? Are you looking for pardon based
on merit or obedience? Are you looking for free mercy?
See, God only gives free mercy. Any other kind of mercy is not
mercy, but merit. Oh no, I'm looking for free grace.
Free pardon. All I deserve by merit is hail.
Isn't that true? Is that true of you? So then, to whom will you come
for forgiveness? To whom will you go? Isn't that
what he asked the disciples that day when hundreds left? He said,
will you go away also? And they said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. Flee to Christ. You that are sinners, flee to
Christ. Confess your sin. Confess you
are sin. And then repent and flee to Christ. Whosoever confesseth and what? Forsaketh sin. You know what
that means? You got to forsake your righteousness
as well as your sin. Because all your righteousnesses
are sin. And who do you flee to? I come to Christ because
His blood alone can cleanse me. His righteousness alone can robe
me. His intercession alone can keep
me and cleanse me. You flee to Christ? Well, what
grounds do you flee to Christ? By what merit, what right do
you have to come to Christ for mercy? Well, I have none of myself. But here's the grounds on which
I come. God said, come, come unto me. All you are weary
and heavy laden and I'll give you rest. Come unto me and be
saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none
else. My grounds to come is the word of God. The word of God,
which Jesus said, he came not to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance. Surely I qualify. Do you? God's word tells me of his victory.
He said, it's finished. I believe what he said. His Word
tells me He's risen again and seated on the throne of God.
I believe what God's Word says. Do you believe on Him? Do you
trust Him? Listen, if you do, you cannot
be apostate. If your faith is real, you'll
never forsake it. You'll never forsake Him. Because the Father has now given
us the righteousness of Christ and cleansed us from all our
sins by His blood. And now His spirit resides in
us and will keep us forever. Therefore, if we confess our
sins, is that what the scripture says? Is this confession a one-time
confession? Or is it a constant confession?
There's a difference between a false and a true believer right
there. A false one will just confess once, but a true believer
acknowledges his sin continually and continually by faith comes
to Christ. Listen, you that have not come
to Christ, if you tarry till you're better, you'll never come
at all. Matter of fact, you have to be
a sinner to come. And every sinner that comes,
He never, ever casts out. He saves every one of them. Over
in Romans chapter 10, it says, who so confesseth, what? Not just his sin, confesseth
the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not just confessing my sin,
I'm confessing Him as a Savior. Do you confess him? If you do,
you will confess your sin. I pray that God would help us,
encourage you in this, strengthen you that he has forgiven us,
listen to this, all our sin. And he cleanses us, constant,
perpetual cleansing of all our unrighteousness. That's good news to a true confessor.
I pray God comforts you with that. Let's be dismissed in prayer.