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Confession
25
is almost blind to them unless the power of the Holy Spirit opens
his eyes. A person who is not led by the Holy Spirit is not sincere
and in earnest when he confesses. He excuses his sins. He says he
would not have done wrong if certain conditions had been different.
After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they were ashamed
and afraid. At first their only thought was how to excuse their sin and
escape death. When the Lord asked about their sin, Adam blamed
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God and Eve. He said, “The woman you put here with me gave me
the fruit, and I ate it.” The woman blamed the snake. She said, “The
snake tricked me into eating it.”
Genesis 3:12, 13
. She was saying
to God, “Why did You make the snake? Why did You let him come
into Eden?” She was excusing herself and blaming God for her sin.
The desire to make excuses for one’s sins comes from Satan and
is shared by all people. But confessing by blaming someone else is
not God’s way, and He will not accept it.
True repentance will lead a person to admit his guilt without
trying to act innocent or making excuses. Like the tax collector
of whom Jesus spoke, he will pray without even lifting his eyes to
heaven, “God, have pity on me, a sinner.” God will forgive those
who admit they are guilty, for Jesus gave His life to save sinners
who repent. He is the great High Priest in heaven.
We read in the Bible of people who truly repented. They were
humble and confessed their sins. They did not try to make excuses
or defend what they had done. The apostle Paul told of his sin of
trying to kill the Christians. He did not try to make it appear small.
He made it sound as bad as he could. He said: “I received authority
from the chief priests and put many of God’s people in prison; and
when they were sentenced to death, I also voted against them. Many
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times I had them punished in the synagogues and tried to make them
deny their faith. I was so furious with them that I even went to
foreign cities to persecute them.”
Acts 26:10, 11
. Paul was eager
to say, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I am the
worst of them.”
1 Timothy 1:15
.
A brokenhearted person, humbled by true repentance, will see
how much God loves him. He will understand the cost of Calvary.
The sinner who is really sorry will confess. He will come to God as
freely as a son comes to a loving father. John wrote, “If we confess
our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he