Joel M Bradshaw

36“If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near, 37yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ 

38if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name,39then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you. –2 Chronicles 6

If we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

Bear fruits in keeping with repentance… (Luke 3:8a).

1. Solomon pictured a day when a convicted sinner confesses his sins to God and repents of his ways.
2. Solomon’s prayer was for forgiveness and hope for that person.
3. Confession is agreeing with God about the nature of your sin problem.
4. Repentance is a changing of the mind and will that turns toward God instead of toward self.
5. True confession should lead to true repentance. True repentance produces fruit.
6. Confession without repentance is the garden where hypocrisy grows.
7. That used to be my life. I once lived like a functional hypocrite. I needed to own my sin, get help, and pursue biblical accountability. How are you with confession and repentance?–JMB