Turn - Max Lucado [10]
“I confess the sins we Israelites have done against you. My father’s family and I have sinned against you. We have been wicked toward you and have not obeyed the commands, rules, and laws you gave your servant Moses.”
(NEHEMIAH I:6–7. NCV)
The second most powerful man in the kingdom is turning himself in. Accepting responsibility for the downfall of his people. The scene of his personal confession, however, is nothing compared to the day the entire nation repented:
They stood and confessed their sins and their ancestors’ sins. For a fourth of the day they stood where they were and read from the Book of Teachings of the Lord their God. For another fourth of the day they confessed their sins and worshiped the Lord their God.
(NEHEMIAH 9:2–3, NCV)
What a poignant picture. Hundreds of people spending hours in prayer, not making requests or excuses, but making confessions. “I’m guilty, God.” “I’ve failed You, Father,” Can you imagine members of congress and the court system spending a day in front of the Capitol offering prayers of repentance?
Consider another example. The high priest of ancient Israel places both hands on the head of the living goat. He obeys God, who instructed, “And he will confess over it all the sins and crimes of Israel. In this way Aaron will put the people’s sins on the goat’s head…. The goat will carry on itself all the people’s sins to a lonely place in the desert. The man who leads the goat will let it loose there” (Leviticus 16:21-22, NCV).
The event event gave witnesses three convictions:
GOD DESPISES SIN. GOD DEALS WITH SIN. AND OUR TASK IS TO BE HONEST ABOUT OUR SIN.
Confession does for the soul what working the acreage does for the soil. Before the farmer sows the seed he works the land, removing the rocks and pulling the stumps. Why? Seed grows better in prepared soil. God’s seed grows better in a pure soul. Confession invites God to walk the acreage of our hearts. “There’s a rock of greed over here, Father. I can’t budge it. And that tree of racism near the fence? Its roots are long and deep. And may I show you some dry soil, too crusty for seed?”
Confession seeks pardon from God, not amnesty. Pardon accepts guilt; amnesty, derived from the same Greek word as amnesia, “forgets” the alleged offense without imputing guilt. Confession admits wrong and seeks forgiveness; amnesty denies wrong and claims innocence.
Peter models honest confession. Remember Peter? “Flash-the-sword-and-deny-the-Lord” Peter? The apostle who boasted one minute and bolted the next? He snoozed when he should have prayed. Denied when he should have defended. Cursed when he should have comforted. Ran when he should have stayed.
We remember Peter as the one who ran, but do we remember Peter as the one who turned himself in? We should. Think about these questions:
How did the New Testament writers know of his sin? Who told them of his betrayal? And, more important, how did they know the details? Who told them of the girl at the gate, and the soldiers starting the fire? How did Matthew know Peter’s accent made him a suspect? How did Luke learn of the glance of Jesus? Who told all four Gospel writers about the crowing rooster and flowing tears?
The Holy Spirit? I suppose. Could be that each writer learned of the moment by divine inspiration. Or, more likely, each learned of the confession by an honest confession. Peter turned himself in. Like Robertson, Peter bungled it. Unlike Robertson, Peter stopped.
PETER TURNED.
PETER RETURNED.
There he is, every burly bit of him filling the door frame of the upper room. “Fellows…I’ve got something to get off my chest.” He describes that terrible morning, the fire, the girl, and the look from Jesus. They hear of the cursing mouth and the crowing rooster. He turned himself in.
How can I be so sure of this?
Peter just couldn’t stay away from Christ! Who was the first to run to the empty tomb? Who was the first to jump from the boat and swim to Jesus who stood on the shore?
THOSE WHO KEEP SECRETS FROM GOD KEEP THEIR DISTANCE FROM GOD.