Back in the law of Moses where there was a severity to sin. After Jesus healed people He told them to go to the priest and make the proper sacrifices.  If you committed a sin or became unclean in the Old Testament you were not to go into God’s presence. Being unclean does not mean you sin but sin will make you unclean. If you were in contact with a dead body, blood, or bodily fluids you were unclean and not able to go to the temple (God’s presence) for a time period. 

Sin, on the other hand, would exclude you from God’s presence and if unchecked it would remove you for the community of God. Through God’s covenant, some of those sins had a sacrifice that would allow you back into His presence and restore community. You would have to take an offering, that would costs you, announcing your sin to the priest. In God’s covenant, the only thing that could atone for sin is blood, even the blood of an animal. While other sins, the ten commandments did not have a proper sacrifice (offering) that could atone form the sin, they would have to be atoned by your own blood, by your own life.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Matthew 5:17 ESV

When Jesus came to earth he became a sacrifice for our sins. He became the ultimate sacrifice, not just for any sin but especially for the sins of the ten commandments that did not have an alternative sacrifice. He gave his life that we may not have to give ours. Jesus gave us the fulfillment of God’s covenant, by giving us His blood.

Now if we commit the sin of murder, we can apply the blood of Jesus. God will accept us and allow you in His presence. You will still have to pay the social consequence for this civil offence, but God accepts you. This is how a soldier in the military can be forgiven for killing a person and still be accepted and loved by God, all because of the blood of Jesus.

The New Covenant did not do away with the sacrifice system we just have a perpetual sacrifice, Jesus. So when we do sin we have to still confess and bring a sacrifice, Jesus’ blood to cover our sins. Within the Old Covenant, the offering had a cost to the one that sin. What does your sin cost you?

What Christ did on the cross was not a one-time cleansing we need to continually come back and be cleaned again of any new sins. Christianity has so lessened the weight of sin by saying that we can just apply the blood of Jesus, and go about our day. There is an aspect of not focusing on pass sins but on God’s redemption, this is true but every sin offering needs to have a cost to the sinner. I believe that we are missing the aspect of confession. Unfortunately, we have the sin and fortunately, we have the blood but no confessing.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

James 5:16-17 ESV

I do not believe that we need the confessional by a priest, but we do need to have the practice of confessing one to another, find a trusted friend or spiritual leader. Make sure this is a person that will pray for you and cover you with love.

I had an issue with pornography weel into my thirties, I had been married for many years by this time, and kept it from my wife. I had tried to quit this sin many times, just to fall back in to again and again. I was at an out of state church conference, where they had a breakout session for men. They talk very clearly about pornography, the effects on the family, and the spiritual implications. I took this to heart and decided again that I wanted and needed to have this sin removed out of my life. One of the challenges was to share your sin with a person you could be accountable to. They also gave us tools that could help with accountability on the internet.

I decided that I wanted to share it with my wife first and also ask my pastor to an accountability partner. When I shared it with my wife she was by far more gracious in receiving of the news then I feared. I set up a web blocked and a program that would chart all my visited sites and email to both my wife and accountability partner. I shared with my pastor, he agreed to help me be accountable and checked on me for the next couple of months. I have not gone back to that sin for over twenty plus years.

But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light…

Ephesians 5:13-14 ESV

The advisory loves it when we keep our sins in the dark, this is where he has the ability to lies to you, cause you to fear the outcome if anyone finds out. This is how I felt about telling my wife about my pornography. I feared that she would hate me or worse leave me. These were the lie I kept hearing in my head that caused me to hind it over and over. Once I brought it to the light God was able to deal with it and it was removed from my life.

John the Baptist came proclaiming “prepare the way of the Lord” and “the repentance of sin”. This is how we can really prepare the way is by cleaning out any debris that might be in the way of a true relationship with Him.  

Psalms 100:4 states “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” What would we be giving thanks for? You thank someone for doing something for you. We enter his gates thanking because He has given us Jesus and the ability to be forgiven of our sins, through the blood of Jesus.

Sin is never able to be brought before Father God. Psalms 24 3-4 “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. We can clean our hands and heart though acknowledging our sins, confession them to one another, and applying God’s perfect sacrifice, the blood of Jesus.

APPLICATION 

• Find an accountability partner that will truly check on you
  • That will ask the hard questions
  • That will not place condemnation on you
  • That will continuely pray for you
  • That you feel safe with
• Confess your sins to one another (accountability partner)
• Apply the Blood of Jesus that you can be clean and go before the Father