New Covenant Grace

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Category Archives: Confession

Walking After the Flesh (Unrenewed Mind)

Previously we concluded a 2 part series on why Christians still sometimes do the things that the law calls “sin”. (At our website under the “Browse by Topic” page you can find pt1 & pt2 of the series called “Why do Christians Sin?”).

Under the New Covenant all the sins (past present and future) of a believer have been forgiven: [1 John 2:12 Little children, I write to you because you have been forgiven your sins through His name]. And also [Heb 10:17 Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more].

We concluded in this 2 part series that Christians sometimes still make mistakes because of 2 reasons, namely because of an unrenewed mind and also because of external temptations. Our body will simply yield itself as an instrument to whichever part we give control to: 1) To our 100% righteous born again spirit man or 2) to our unrenewed mind. If the mind is unrenewed, it will be at enmity (war) with our spirit. The body will follow like a slave to whichever one of these two we yield control to. If our mind is renewed by the washing of the Word of God, we will use our bodies as instruments of righteousness . But if a person walks after the lusts of their unrenewed mind, their body will be a slave to sin, and reap the carnal (earthly) consequences of that sin. Yes earthly consequences, because all the eternal punishment was dealt with at the cross.

If the following statement offends you, please read the paragraph until the end first …

Because New Covenant believers are not under the law anymore, they can’t actually “break” the law, and can technically speaking therefore not “sin” anymore. [Rom 4:15 for where no law is, there is no transgression]. Actually they are not committing sin, but rather “works of the flesh”. [Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries…]. This is not just “word play”, because sin pertains to unbelievers & “works of the flesh” pertain to believers. Today’s message is about “works of the flesh”, pertaining only to believers.

We can clearly see from this list that if a person were to practice such things on a regular basis, they will very quickly not only estrange themselves from the people who love them, but also ought to find themselves in jail when the law catches up to them for things like theft, murder, etc. (It’s interesting that the Bible lists hatred and jealousy up there with MURDER…)

These things are all earthly consequences, which include the anger, condemnation & resentment of the people we have harmed because they have NOT forgiven us all our mistakes past, present & future. People aren’t as gracious as God, and therefore when we harm people and trespass against them, we need to confess to them and ask for their forgiveness. [James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed].

It’s well worth noting at this point that even though a believer that practices such things might at some point face the music with people or with their local authorities, God will never resent them or stop loving them, even when they commit the most horrendous thing. The grace of God has made provision enough to cover even the biggest sin. [Rom 5:20b But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more]. You may ask “But why would God still want to love such a person even if they have committed these horrible things?” The answer is simply that once a person has been born again, they are now IN Christ. [1 Cor 1:30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption[. Also [Eph 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace]. And because they are IN Christ, the Father loves them the same as He loves Christ and nothing can ever separate them from God’s love.

Something that New Covenant believers should guard against, is trying in their own effort to “live more holy”. Sanctification does not mean you try to stop doing this or that sin, sanctification means living from your position in Christ. When we try to “become” more holy, we go back under the law and open up the door for condemnation to come in when we make mistakes, making us aware of our own shortcomings and robbing us of our confidence before God. We will then not want to get to know God because we’d feel too guilty to talk to Him.

This means that we will just have an ordinary life, and live like practical atheists whose lives are void of any of the power of our mighty God. We will continue to feed our unbelief and not have our minds renewed, and therefore we will not get to know God for who He really is: A kind and gracious Father who is always poised towards blessing and prospering us beyond our wildest dreams. As a close brother of mine (Cornel Marais) put it: “Just remember that when you go back and live under law as a saved believer, it doesn’t mean you’ve lost your salvation, it just means you might only get to know God when you die, so don’t blame Him for your powerless religious existence on earth while you refuse to get to know Him.”

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe

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The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15)

Two alternative names for this parable could have been “The parable of the angry elder brother” (the attitude of much of the church today) or “The parable of the Loving Father”.

Note that the son was a “SON” first before he became the “prodigal son”. This implies that Jesus was not talking about an unbeliever that comes into Christ for the first time, but about a born again believer that went out from his father’s house to live according to the desires of his unrenewed mind. As we can clearly see from this parable, when the son beat himself up and groveled in self-pity and guilt about how unworthy he was because of the sins he had committed (does this sound familiar?), his Father did not love him any less. In fact when he returned home his Father didn’t even want to listen to his confession, but simply overwhelmed him with kisses and affection flowing from His heart of Love. We sometimes forget that God has already forgiven all our sins (past present & future) [2 Cor 5:19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them…] and that He is always on the edge of ambushing us with another wave of His goodness.

This parable also illustrates that we as born again believers can live subject to the laws of this world if we live in unbelief of God’s promises. Yes God has given us precious promises in His word, but we have to believe in them to receive them. [Gal 6:8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life]. This corruption refers to suffering loss in the natural realm. If we sow to the flesh we will NOT have our minds renewed, NOT walk in the promises of God (because we will persist in unbelief) and NOT live life to its fullest in our Father’s house. However, even if we do stumble into what the world sees as some HUGE sin (the prodigal son spent half his Father’s money, slept with prostitutes, and consumed all he had on his lusts) there is still grace upon grace for us from God. [Rom 5:20b But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more].

Like the older brother, fellow church goers may judge a backslidden Christian for the things he/she has done, but God will never judge His children, nor be angry with them ever again. [Isa 54:9 For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. 10 For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has mercy on you].

Just like many Christians today, the older brother, when he saw his Father showering love on a person that didn’t deserve it, he became angry and resentful. This is what being under the law does to a person. The legalists work and work their backsides off for God and think that He owes them blessings, love and approval in return. Look at the elder brother’s words in [Luke 15:29 Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time]. And then when God blesses someone that didn’t deserve it (“Grace” is giving someone what they don’t deserve) the legalists become angry and jealous and hate that person.  Instead they should realize that none of us deserve any of it anyway, and just get over it and get happy!! Wooohooooo!!

[Luke 15:25 Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing]. Right now, this is what’s happening in heaven. There is music and dancing in our Father’s house! It kind of makes you wonder how so many churches can be so dull, introspective, reserved, conservative and religious on Sunday mornings…

Let us therefore praise God for His grace & bask in His presence daily so that our minds will be renewed and we can be transformed into the image of His likeness. And most important of all: Don’t forget there’s a party going on in heaven! God is happy, He is in a good mood!!!

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe

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Do Christians Need to CONFESS Their Sin Pt 2 ( 1 John 1:9)?

Last week we spoke about whether it’s Biblical for Christians to confess their sins, and in particular about James 5:16. This week we’ll look at 1 John 1:9

Firstly note we are NOT propagating a sinful lifestyle. We are NOT encouraging people to just go out and commit hideous deeds of licentiousness. We believe in obeying God and living a holy lifestyle, but these are only the fruit. The root is being established in grace & righteousness, knowing who you are in Christ. So let’s get into this week’s message.

[1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness].

This verse has to be read in the context of the rest of the book of John – written to a group of believers whose ranks had been infiltrated by teachers of Gnosticism. John seems to be gentle whenever he addresses the Christians, calling them “my little children”. But in other parts of his letter, when he is countering the teachings of the Gnostics, he becomes quite protective of his brothers and sisters in Christ, and his words quite harsh. At the time John wrote this letter, the Gnostics had already left the ranks of the Christians [1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us], but remnants of the Gnostisism teaching were still confusing the Christians that remained.

Gnostics are people who believe that creation is flawed and was created by a flawed creator, a movement out of which the “Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints” or “Mormons” has arisen. They also believe that there is no such thing as sin in the world, and as an UNBELIEVER that you do not have to confess your sins to God to be born again.

Even though the book of 1 – 3 John was written to the church, 1 John 1:9 was NOT a command for people to grovel in sack cloth & ash, instead it is simply a statement to contradict the false teachings of the Gnostics. There were people in John’s church (who had not been born again yet) who were self righteously claiming that they did not need to confess their sins to receive eternal life. They were still confused by the teaching of the Gnostics, even though the Gnostics had already left. John countered this lie and said the following: [1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us].

And then in the next verse he reveals how to be saved: [1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness]. God will cleanse them from ALL unrighteousness if they will only confess that they need to be forgiven of their sins. If 1 John 1:9 were addressed to the believing Christians (the ones who were already saved), it would then contradict the following verse: [1 John 2:12 Little children, I write to you because you have been forgiven your sins through His name]. Why would John command people to confess their sins if He says a few verses later that they HAVE been forgiven? If confessing our sins was such an important practice in the life of a believer, why did the writer of the biggest part of the New Testament, Paul the apostle, not command us to do it once??

Under the New Covenant, ALL our sins (past, present & future) have been forgiven. When Jesus taught his disciples (who were still under the Old Covenant) the Lord’s prayer, He told them: [Mat 6:12 and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors]. But under the New Covenant our motivation to forgive others is different. We don’t forgive anymore in order for God to forgive us, but now we forgive others because WE HAVE BEEN forgiven. Col 3:13 … even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

Countless doctrines have been formulated by the modern day church about confessing our sins to God, all based on this one verse (1 John 1:9). It’s quite amazing if we realize there are no other verses in the entire New Covenant that tells us we should confess our sins to God! It’s even more amazing if we realise that this verse was not even intended for Christians who trust in the forgiveness of God, but for self righteous people! There are millions of people who have turned their back on Jesus & left the church, not because they are evil or sinful people, but because they are sincere people that for years & years have been taught a mixture of Old Covenant law and New Covenant Grace. These people have came to a place where they felt that other Christians and themselves were such hypocrites, that their failures and mistakes were so great, that their discouragement drove them away from Jesus into the wilderness. They gave up on Jesus and His word, although they still love Him in their hearts.

But you may ask, “Why would God not want us to confess our sins to Him? After all, we do make mistakes!” The answer is simple: Because walking around the whole day remembering all the bad things we have done will not bring us closer to God! Jesus already paid the full price so that we could have unbroken fellowship with the Father. This means that when we make a mistake, it does not break our fellowship or right standing with God. Jesus was forsaken by his Father on the cross so that we would never have to experience that! Does this mean that we just go out and live a life of full blown wickedness & depravity? No!! But it definitely means that God wants us to have confidence before Him, and to be more aware of our righteousness and His grace than of our shortcomings & mistakes. [Heb 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 And having an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water].

How can we have boldness before God if we have to grovel on our knees and plead for the forgiveness of our sins every time we pray? If we can’t have confidence before God, how then can we even dream to stand in front of a blind person and say confidently: “Blind eyes open in the name of Jesus!”  We’d always feel that God does not want to use us because we have too much sin in our lives. No amount of crying, confessing, remembering your sins, emotional torment or anything we can do can add to the finished work of the cross, where our sins were forgiven, once and for all.

So when you find yourself conscious of your sins, simply say: “Thank You Jesus for the perfect work of the cross that has removed my sins completely. Thank you Holy Spirit for convicting me of righteousness, not my own, but the righteousness given to me as a gift (2 Cor 5:21) and I praise You that nothing that I do can ever change that or ever separate me from your love!!!” Grace does not mean the denial of occasional mistakes in our lives – that is a dangerous thing to do – rather grace removes the punishment and guilt of that sin (Tony Ide – Freedom Life Fellowship, Perth, Australia). Grace is what makes us worthy!

Rob Rufus (City Church International, Hong Kong) presented the following brilliant argument: Let’s pretend for a moment that Christians DO have to confess their sins to God. Then for the sake of integrity, these people should please be consistent. They should not only confess those sins which they think are the big sins, but also ALL the little sins. Rom 14 says that ANYTHING a Christian does not do out of faith, is sin. [Rom 14:23b …for whatever is not from faith is sin]. This means that we have to monitor every single little thing we do the entire day, and if we find ourselves doing anything without faith (eat, go to work, go to church, drive home, talk to our children, take off our shoes, worrying about anything, etc.) that is sin, and we should stop whatever we are doing at that moment, and confess that we have sinned, because God has now cut Himself off from us, our right standing with Him has been broken and we stand in danger of being thrown into hellfire for sinning.

So in closing, the Bible teaches all unbelievers to confess their sins to God to be born again and come into Christ, but the Bible does not teach New Covenant believing Christians to confess their sins to God. Also see part 1 on this topic at our website dealing with James 5:16.

If this truth about confessing our sins to God is still unclear to you, we encourage you to download the sermon called “Do Christians have to confess their sins to God?” by Rob Rufus from City Church International in Hong Kong. Simply follow the following link (the date of the sermon is 6 June 2008): http://www.citychurchinternational.net/2008.html

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe

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Do Christians Need to CONFESS Their Sin? (Pt 1 – James 5:16)

Just the pure mention of somebody questioning a topic like this, could offend and anger lots of people.

2 Weeks ago week we talked about “Repenting” – this week’s message is different and we’re discussing “Confessing”. If you wish to read the message about Repenting, simply click here: http://www.newcovenantgrace.com/christians-repent/

The real question that we should ask when talking about confessing our sins is this: “When a Christian sins (makes a mistake), is their right standing with God lost, and can that right standing only be restored if the person confesses the sin?” If we can forget for a few minutes all the things we have heard people say, including the traditions of men that have been passed down to us, as well as the way we “think” we should react when we make a mistake, then let’s see what the Word says.

There are only 2 verses in the new covenant (1 John 1:9 and James 5:16) that deals with confessing sin, and both are mostly misunderstood. This week we will look at James 5:16 and next week at 1 John 1:9.

James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

There are no verses in the new covenant other than James 5:16 that tell believing Holy Spirit filled Christians we should confess our sins or trespasses. Furthermore this verse does not instruct us to confess to God. James 5:16 says we have to confess our faults to each other – NOT TO GOD.

Now some scholars have interpreted James 5:14-16 in the sense that God makes people sick because they have sin in their life. And these are also some of the verses in the Bible that have been misinterpreted to mean that people have to confess their sins to priests or to the elders of a church, and that they will subsequently be forgiven their sins and healed if they confess to a person. Let’s read the 2 verses preceding our key verse:

Jam 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Under the new covenant, God has forgiven ALL our sins (past, present & future). Heb 10:17  “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” And also Col 3:13 … even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

The only sins (mistakes) that we as new covenant believers need still forgiveness for, is from the people we have sinned against (God has already forgiven us for these sins as well). Since none of us are perfect in all we do, we sometimes offend, hurt or harm people. And since people are not as gracious and merciful as God, we need to make amends with them. And that’s where James 5:16 comes in: Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed… Our right standing with God does not change, but our relationship with others can be damaged and needs to be restored – when we humbly confess to those we have wronged (and if they will receive us in humility) it opens the door for that restoration to happen.

Even David, when he had called for a ballot (census) of Israel, God gave him the option of choosing one of 3 punishments for doing such a thing (under the law God had to punish man, but under grace Jesus bore the punishment for our sins). But because David knew God’s true nature, he chose to be punished by God, and not by man:

[1 Chron 21:11 So Gad (the prophet) came to David and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Choose for yourself, 12 either three years of famine, or three months to be defeated by your foes with the sword of your enemies overtaking you, or else for three days the sword of the LORD—the plague in the land, with the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now consider what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.” 13 And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man”].

To clench this, let’s read a few more verses from James 5, just a few verses up from our key verse of today: [James 5:4 Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts].
[James 5:9: Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned…].

In this context, where people have wronged and hurt each other, James is telling them to make amends, to be reconciled with each other, to confess their faults to each other, especially at beds of affliction where death and eternity “seem” to be near approaching.

Another interpretation is that James 5:16 does NOT mean that we should reveal every sin and trespass to everyone in the congregation. James implies that we should confide our problems to a close, trusted friend so that he or she can help us by praying to God for help in overcoming it.

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe

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