Admitting Our Guilt

   The Czar of Russia visited a prison in Moscow one day. While he was surveying a jail cell of criminals, the inmates crowded against the bars and began to beg him for freedom. In one form or another, they all pled that they were innocent and had been falsely accused.

   The czar noticed one man sitting quietly alone on a bench in the back of the cell. The czar summoned the man and asked him, “Why are you here?” 

   The criminal responded, “I am a thief, your Highness. I am guilty of stealing a wagon.”

   The czar ordered the guards to release this man, commenting, “I do not want an admitted thief to contaminate all these innocent men.”

   Honest heartfelt repentance is a prerequisite to our being cleansed. Before we can be transformed, we must “come clean” through confession of our sins.

   The Bible talks about two kinds of repentance. Judas repented and then hung himself. Peter repented and wept bitterly, and he was converted. He changed! God wants us to be sorry for our sins-sorry enough to change, sorry enough to stop doing them. “Whoever confesses and forsakes them [sins], will have mercy”  (proverbs 28:13, emphasis added).

   Why does God want us to confess our sins?

   When I was a new Christian, I would say, “God, we need to have a talk. You better sit down and brace yourself; there are some things I have to tell you”-as though in confessing, I was telling Him something He didn’t know. However, God knows everything, so, we might ask, if God knows everything, why pray?” Jesus tells us that He knows the things we need before we pray (Matthew 6:8), but He still tells us to ask. In the same way, He knows our sins before we confess but still asks us to confess them.

   God asks us to confess for at least a couple reasons. First, it is simply polite. When we hurt a person, we should say we are sorry. Every time we sin, we hurt ourselves, we hurt others, and we hurt God. So when we confess, we say to God, “I’m sorry.” It is only proper to apologize.

   Second, it is God’s method for removing the feeling of guilt from our lives. It helps us to believe we are truly forgiven. I think some people have never felt the freedom and peace that God wants us to enjoy as Christians because their confession is so shallow and brief. In many cases, we spend twenty, thirty, and even forty years sinning daily, hourly, offending our heavenly Father-only to find a passing moment in which to say flippantly, “Lord, forgive my sins.” No one will find solace and relief in that kind of shallow, shabby confession.

   Now, I am not saying that we should specifically confess every sin that we have ever committed. Nobody can remember all the wrong things he or she has done. However, we should try to be as specific as possible.

   How specific can we be when some of cannot remember even what we have done in one day?

   Here is something I thing works very well. I do not remember every lie that I have ever told, but I know I was a liar. I do not remember everything I have stolen, but I was a thief. So when it came time for me to repent of those sins, I took a piece of paper and wrote down, “I’m a thief. I’m a liar.” If you do not remember something specific, it might be the Holy Spirit placing it on your heart. If you are afraid of forgetting something, don’t be. If you ask God to help you, the Holy Spirit will bring to your remembrance the sins you need to confess. You might have a long list by now! *

   When you compiled your list, kneel down and say, “Father, I am confessing my sins. I am guilty of these things.” Then read your list to God. I know it might be painful, but trust me; it is extremely healthy for your soul! Finish by saying, “Please forgive me, for Christ’s sake.” **

   We have the promise, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,” and He will also “cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). That means freedom not only from the penalty of sin, which is death, but also from the power of sin. When you confess like this, God will give you power to do right and to make changes in your life.

   “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). ***

“Then the demons…entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.” -Luke 8:33

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   *One of the other advantages of this kind of detailed confession is that you are admitting that your sins are sins. In other words, it easy enough to say, “Lord, I’m a sinner,” but when you finally say, “Lord I am a gossip,” it could be the first time you have specifically acknowledged gossip as a sin. This allows the Holy Spirit even more opportunity to change that failing of yours.   

 **We must also not neglect confessing to other people whom we have offended. For instance, if we have stolen something, you should tell the other person you have wronged and then, as far as possible, try to repay that person (see Ezekiel 33:15) If you have hurt someone, you need to tell them that your sorry and try to reconcile the relationship.

***After you have confessed your sins, take the list and set it on fire, or tie to a rock and throw it in the ocean (see Micah 7:19).

Possessed Pigs and Sinking Swine

   Someone once observed about the swine in the demoniacs’ story, “had the Lord achieved such a miracle today, He would have been in deep trouble. Next, the EPA would have been investigating the pollution of the lake because of the disposal of pig carcasses. Then PETA would have been up in arms over such outrageous cruelty to animals. Then, port brokers would have been great distressed over the sudden increase in port prices because of the shortage of hogs.”

   This deadly miracle seems out of character for Jesus, who we typically see healing people and saving lives. The only other time a command of His resulted in death was when He cursed the fig tree. Why did Christ allow the demons to destroy the swine?

   In part, Jesus let the demons enter the swine because he considered it appropriate to pair unclean things with other unclean things. The Bible classifies swine as among the most unclean creatures. “Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you” (Leviticus 11:8). Pigs and devils go together like skunks and stink. *

   Pigs are a symbol of the lost who reject salvation. “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces” (Matthew 7:6). Ultimately, all demons and the people who follow them will be thrown into a lake of fire and brimstone (Revelation 20:10, 15)-a consequence of their own making. According to the proverb, “A dog returns to his own vomit [and] a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire” (2 Peter 2:22).

   However, Jesus also had a positive reason to allow this cholesterol catastrophe. What the devil thought would be the undoing of Jesus’ work in the area actually served to magnify the miracle of salvation. All Three synoptic Gospels mention this story of the drowning pigs, evidencing how far the story of the madman spread. The devil’s attempts to stop God’s work often backfire and become the greatest evidence for His miracles. 

   We see this truth in other biblical stories: the bodies of the Egyptian soldiers that floated onto the shores of the Red Sea confirmed the miracle of the final Exodus victory. The scorched bodies of the soldiers who threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the furnace confirmed the miracle of their survival. The pile of bones at the bottom of the lion’s den reinforced the miracle of Daniel’s deliverance from the great cats. And the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb of Jesus became the first and the most compelling witness of His resurrection.

   Thus, when two thousand bloated carcasses of pigs began to wash up n shores all around the sea of Galilee, the story of this miraculous deliverance of the demoniac was multiplied many times over-proving the miracle to everyone living in the region. “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God” (Romans 8:28).

  *In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus describes the wayward boy as feeding pigs meaning he had reached the very bottom of a sinful life and was forced to work at the very bottom of society. This picture greatly disturbed the listening Jews.