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THE CONFESSION PRINCIPLE:
We confess our sins to Him, because he can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. (And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins.) [1 John 1:9]

4. THE CONFESSION PRINCIPLE

We confess our sins to Him, because he can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. (And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins.) [1 John 1:9]

Mercy Needed

Every man needs the mercy of God. We are all imperfect and flawed. We deserve God's judgment, because God must deal with anything that is less than perfection. If God is God, He must deal with anything that is less than His holy, righteous standard. Mercy is not giving the punishment that deserves to be given. Mercy takes care of the penalty.

Mercy Offered

We bring all areas to God that we may receive mercy. In this messed up world, we don't always do things God's way. But no matter what we may have done, we can come to Him. We find the good news in Micah 7:18, Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. The wonderful hope that we have is that a just God wants to be merciful to us.

If we are going to be godly, then we also need to delight in mercy as well.

Who are some of the people to which we need to show mercy and how do we do it?

Mercy Received

What does it take to receive God's mercy? We enter into the experience of it by taking the same steps that the Jews did in the days of Nehemiah. We read in Nehemiah 9:2 that the people "stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers." "When they returned and cried unto you, you heard from heaven; and many times did you deliver them according to your mercies" (Nehemiah 9:28).

In what sense can we bring the iniquities of our fathers before the Lord, just as the people in Jerusalem did in Nehemiah's day?

Only when they turned around and cried out to the Lord did they receive His mercy. We call this "repentance" and "confession". We need to "say it" to God.

Mercy Experienced

When they dedicated the temple in the days of Solomon, "the people praised the LORD, saying, 'For he is good; for his mercy endures for ever'" (2 Chronicles 5:13). At that time the temple was filled with a cloud, and everyone knew that the Lord was there.

The result of entering into the mercy of the Lord is to know his presence. As we know his presence in our lives, we enjoy his peace and joy. We have a sense of being close to Him, and not estranged as we did when we had not yet entered into his mercy.

Remember:

God delights in mercy.