TEXT: I Corinthians 14:15

SUBJECT: Henry on Prayer #2: Confession

Tonight, with God’s blessing, we’ll continue the Puritan study we began last week. It’s called A Method of Prayer by Matthew Henry. Henry wrote the book not long before he died. In the introduction, he tells us why he wrote it: to help people who want to pray better.

Are you praying the way you ought to? Could your prayer life be more consistent and fervent than it is? If so, Matthew Henry’s little book can help you.

On the first pages of the book, Henry tells us that prayer is made up of five parts: (1) adoration, (2) confession, (3) petition, (4) thanksgiving, and (5) intercession.

Good prayer begins with adoration or worship. We start, not by telling the Lord what we want, but by telling Him what He is and what He has done! This we studied last week. Now we move on to the second part of prayer, and that is confession.

What does it mean to confess your sins? If you’ve gone to church very long, you’ve no doubt heard a pastor spouting off his Greek, by saying, "To confess means to say the same thing". That’s what the dictionary says, of course, but there’s a lot more to it than saying the same thing or admitting that you’ve done some bad things. Henry says it is to

To Henry’s way of thinking, confession is not so much in the words you say, but in the attitude in which you say them. It begins with a broken and contrite heart and it finishes with a renewed faith in Christ.

This is what confession is, now what should we be confessing to the Lord? Henry says a lot of things. Here are some of them.

The first thing to confess is your original sin. The term itself is not in the Bible, but the doctrine is. In short, it means we’re born sinners. The Lord did not create us sinful, but because of what Adam did in the Garden of Eden, sin has infected the whole human race, making us all guilty and liable to God’s wrath

I know you’ve confessed other sins—cheating, coveting, taking the Lord’s name in vain, and so on—but have you ever confessed original sin—the sin that lies behind them all? Henry says you ought to,

He has a very good example to support his case, David. In the greatest confession in the Bible, Psalm 51, the king confesses not only what he did—though it was appalling—but, also what he was,

Should you apologize for eating the Forbidden Fruit? No, because you didn’t do that. But you should confess your part in its guilt and misery. To help you do that, let me give you a little rhyme. The Puritans of New England taught it to their children; it was often the first thing they memorized,

If original sin is the source of all other sins, why don’t you confess it to the Lord? And find mercy.

After confessing our original sin, Henry says,

The Puritan says we’re disposed to evil and indisposed to good. Is he right? Sure he is. Let me prove it. When did you last have to work hard at sinning? Make a real effort to do the wrong thing? Pray hard to neglect good? Never! It’s easy to sin.

But it’s hard to serve God, deny yourself, or love your neighbor. Why? There are external factors, of course—the world and the devil. But not every hindrance is external. Two, at least, are inside of you.

What are they? They’re your disposition to evil and your indisposition to good. This is true, even when we’re resisting temptation and trying to obey the Lord. Wicked inclinations are wicked—even when they’re not acted upon. We ought to confess them to God. Henry goes on to name some of our evil tendencies,

Think of each one: "blindness of understanding". How often do you not understand the Bible because, deep down, you’d rather not? "Stubbornness of will". Even when you know the Lord’s will—and know how good it is—you still have a hard time doing it. "Vanity of thoughts". You have some spare time, but instead of using it to think heavenly thoughts, you fill up the space with silly things. "Carnality of affections". Your feelings are drawn to sin. "Irregularity of appetites". God-given desires abused in one way or another.

Man is disposed to evil. Even when we resist the pull to sin, the pull itself suggests how corrupt we are. We ought to confess that to the Lord.

After confessing what we are, it’s proper to confess what we’ve done,

In one paragraph, Henry has preached a hundred sermons. How often have we let pride get the better of us? And then, when we humbled ourselves for our pride, we could feel it creeping back in again! Boiling over at your husband or wife, becoming impatient with your kids, thinking the worst of people, stirring up trouble for no good reason, worrying about the future, feeling secure because of your money or health or holiness. What a list it is. Yet it’s nowhere near complete!

Confess your actual sins to the Lord.

But don’t stop there—with the bad things you’ve done. Go on to confess the good things you haven’t done,

What makes a bad fruit tree bad? One of two things: Either the fruit is bad or there’s no fruit at all! In either case, the tree is depleting the soil, using the water, taking up space, and not fulfilling its purpose in life! But what is our purpose in life? It’s to glorify God. But are we glorifying Him? To some degree, we are. But are we glorifying Him as much as we ought to be?

Reading the lives of great men, like Moses or Paul or John Bunyan or Spurgeon, I wonder if I’ve ever done anything for the Lord? These men were serious and focused and energetic and careful to serve God and their fellow men. But then I think about my own laziness, half-heartedness, and so on. We’ve omitted many known duties, not to mention the duties we would have known if we’d studied and thought and prayed harder about them. Confess your omissions to the Lord.

After reviewing what evil you’ve done and what good you’ve left undone, go on to confess the wickedness of sin,

What makes sin so bad? Many things do: Henry says its foolishness, its unprofitableness, its deceitfulness, the offense it gives to the Holy Spirit, and the damage it does to our souls [and to other people]."

In sinning, we reject wisdom for folly; we reject something good for something worthless, we reject truth for a lie, we insult the Spirit of God, and we hurt ourselves and other people.

When you confess your sins, think of how appalling they are. Some sins are worse than others, of course, but every sin is bad, much worse than we think it is. Because every sin nailed our Lord Jesus Christ to the cross! Because every sin grieves the Holy Spirit. Because every sin rejects the Lordship of God and denies the goodness of His Law. When confessing your sins, therefore, don’t think your confessing "little mistakes here and there". No, they’re crimes against heaven that you’re confessing.

These are the things to confess. But at the end of your confessions, resolve to better,

Confessing your sins is not an end in itself. You may feel better after you’ve gotten it off your chest, but that’s only a feeling. You confess your sins in order to be rid of their guilt and to change for the better.

At the foot of Mount Sinai, Israel mourned for their sins, but it did them no good, until they stripped off the idols they were wearing around their necks! When you pray against a bad temper or a covetous heart or a wandering eye, pray also for the grace to overcome it.

After confessing your sins and resolving to do better, put your hope in God—both to forgive your past and to bless your future. Is there any reason not to do these things? He promises both,

And we have every reason to take His Word for it. "God cannot lie". You know this, of course, from reading the Bible—but not only from reading the Bible. Your own experience confirms it! Hasn’t He always forgiven your sins when you’ve asked Him to from the heart? Hasn’t He always shown Himself merciful, patient, and eager to make up with you? Sure He has! Every believer is a Prodigal, who’s come home tattered and dirty, hungry and afraid—a thousand times!

In confessing your sins, you’re affirming your hope in the mercy of God! And that’s got to be good—for you and pleasing—to Him!

He’s right. That is what confession does.

What part does "confession" play in your prayers? I know if you’ve done something really bad, you confess it to the Lord—especially if you’re scared of being caught!

But confession deserves a part in all your prayers. Near the end of his great life, George Whitefield repented of his repentings. He felt that even they were shot through with selfishness and pride. Was he right? Or, was he just being neurotic?

He was right. He needed to confess to his sins—including the sins he committed while trying to serve the Lord. And so do we. Read the Bible to find out what sin is. Examine your life honestly to see where you’ve sinned. And confess your sins with sorrow and hope.

You’ll be forgiven. And your fellowship with God will be restored and improved. But only if you do it. God help you, for Christ’s sake. Amen.