1. “Whoever confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy” (Prov. 28:13).
Most of our sins offend others, so we should not only confess our sins to God but also to man. We confess our sins to God because every sin that we commit offends Him. However, the sins that we commit not only offend God but also man. If we offend God, He immediately forgives us when we confess our sins. But God’s forgiveness cannot take care of the people whom we have offended. Therefore, we still must confess our sins to man. If we sin against and offend our neighbor, we need not only the forgiveness of God but also that of our neighbor. We need to confess to our neighbor and beg for forgiveness. Otherwise, even with God’s forgiveness, we will still be condemned before our neighbor and our heart will be bound. If we want to be released and forgiven by our neighbor so that we can act freely before him, we must confess our sin to him. Proverbs 28 surely refers to confessing our sins to man.
2. “Confess your sins to one another” (James 5:16).
God wants us to confess our sins to one another. When we confess our sins to one another, we confess our sins to men. As we deal with each other as brothers and sisters, there are always matters in which others offend us or we offend others, so we must confess our sins to each other. If we commit a sin or make a mistake that offends a brother or sister, we should not only confess that sin to God but also to the brother or sister whom we offended. This will cause us to receive forgiveness from God and from the brother or sister.
3. “They shall confess their sin which they have committed” (Num. 5:7).
According to the context of this verse, confessing sin refers to confessing to God and to the offended person. When we are negligent in our obligations to man and offend God, we must confess our sins to God and to the affected person so that the matter can be cleared up. God does not want us to be sinful and unrighteous before Him nor to be sinful and unrighteous before men. Therefore, He wants us to confess our sins to Him, and He also wants us to confess our sins to man.
As children of God, we should completely confess our sins before God and completely deal with our sins before man. Although this is not related to our salvation, it is very much related to our spiritual growth. No Christian can have spiritual growth without confessing sins and dealing with them before man in this way. There once was a revival meeting in England. A believer came and asked the leader of the meeting, “How can Christians grow?” The leader of the meeting asked, “How long has it been since you confessed your sins to others?” When the believer first heard this word, he was surprised. He wondered how confessing sins to others could help a Christian grow in life. Later he realized that confessing sins to others not only enables a Christian to grow but is also a basic requirement for Christian growth.
Oh, brothers and sisters, a Christian who has never confessed sins to others is almost certainly a Christian who has never grown in life! If we want to know whether or not we have grown, we need only to look at whether or not we have confessed our sins to others. The amount that we grow is determined by the amount that we confess our sins. Confession of sins to others and growth are in direct proportion to one another. They have a mutual cause-and-effect relationship. Confessing sins to others not only causes us to grow, but our growth requires and causes us to confess our sins to others. If we are continuously growing, we certainly are continuously confessing our sins to others.
Confessing our sins to others also causes our spirit to be released, revived, strengthened, and enlivened. The spirits of many brothers and sisters are not released and are in a dry, weak, and deadened condition because they have offended others and are unwilling to confess their sins to those whom they have offended. Sin deadens our spirit. This is especially true of the sins that offend others. Such sins cause the witness of our conscience in our spirit to be one of offense before man. Such sins hinder our spirit from rising up before others and keep it deadened and low. If we want our spirit to be released and strong before others, we must confess our sins to man to remove the offense in our conscience.
When we confess our sins to others, we should not be afraid to be conscientious and thorough. The more conscientious we are and the more thorough we are, the more benefit we will gain. Furthermore, we should not hesitate or wait. We should take advantage of the first opportunity and do our best to confess things quickly. In 1933, when I was thoroughly enlightened and cleansed by God, I sent forty letters in one day to confess my sins to people, apologize, and beg their forgiveness. Looking back, I realize that that day had a great impact on the amount of grace that I have since received in the Lord’s way. Praise the Lord that He gave me the grace to conscientiously deal with the matters in which I had offended people.
In confessing our sins to others, we must pay attention to the extent of our confession. In principle, the extent to which we have offended others should be the extent of our confession to others. It should not be greater or less. We should confess our sin to whomever we have offended. We should confess our sins to as many people as we have offended. We should not confess to more people or confess to fewer people. If we confess to fewer people, we still owe some an apology. If we confess to more people than necessary, it creates a problem. We should not confess an offense to someone whom we have not offended, because it makes them aware of our sin unnecessarily. The purpose of confessing our sins is to erase the impression of our sin among those whom we have offended. If our confessing instead causes someone with no knowledge of our sin to gain an impression of it, such a confession is improper.
Our confession of sins not only gives us blessings but also glorifies God and benefits others. If our confession of sin to others does not glorify God or benefit others, even if it may cause us to receive blessing, we should not do it. Thus, we should have wisdom in the matter of confessing sins to men. We should do it in a way that glorifies God and benefits others. We must not shame God’s name or cause others to suffer loss because of our confession of sins.