Hearing the Word of the Lord

Pray:       Psalm 32

Read: 2 Samuel 12:1-23

Sing: To You, Omniscient Lord of All (Lutheran Worship #234)

Holy Absolution

Father of mercies and God of all consolation, come to the aid of your people, turning us from our sin to live for you alone. Give us the power of your Holy Spirit that we may attend to your Word, confess our sins, receive your forgiveness, and grow into the fullness of your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Redeemer. (Collect from the Service of Corporate Confession and Absolution, Lutheran Worship, 308)

Three Spheres of Confession

1.      Before the Lord

I acknowledged my sin to thee, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; then thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. Ps. 32:5

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy hill of my God.... Dan. 9:20

2.      Before one another

Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects. James 5:16

3.      Before the pastor

Any one whom you forgive, I also forgive. What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, to keep Satan from gaining the advantage over us; for we are not ignorant of his designs. 2 Cor. 2:10-11

What is Confession?

Confession has two parts. First, that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution, that is, forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:8-10

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight, so that thou art justified in thy sentence and blameless in thy judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Ps. 51:3-5

When I declared not my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to thee, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; then thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. Ps. 32:3-5

For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness.  For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Rom. 6:9-14

For our sake he made him [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor. 5:21

As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. Ps. 103:12

David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 2 Sam. 12:13

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11

What sins should we confess?

Before God we should plead guilty of all sins, even those we are not aware of, as we do in the Lord's Prayer; but before the pastor we should confess only those sins which we know and feel in our hearts.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8

But who can discern his errors? Clear thou me from hidden faults. Ps. 19:12

Which (sins) are these?

Consider your place in life according to the Ten Commandments: Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker? Have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy? Have you been hot-tempered, rude, or quarrelsome? Have you hurt someone by your words or deeds? Have you stolen been negligent, wasted anything, or done any harm?

Review the Ten Commandments as confessional questions.

Ask yourself: Who are you? What have you done?

What is the Office of the Keys?

The Office of the Keys is that special authority which Christ has given to His Church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent.

Where is this written?

This is what St. John the Evangelist writes in chapter twenty: The Lord Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven" (John 20:22-23).

What do you believe according to these words?

I believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command, in particular when they exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord deal with us Himself.

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Matt. 16:18-19

"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. Matthew 18:15-19

For we keep confession, especially because of absolution, which is the Word of God that the power of the keys proclaims to individuals by divine authority. It would therefore be wicked to remove private absolution from the church. And those who despise private absolution understand neither the forgiveness of sins nor the power of the keys. (Apology 12,99-100)

When I therefore urge you to go to confession, I am doing nothing else than urging you to be a Christian. If I have brought you to the point of being a Christian, I have thereby also brought you to confession. For those who really desire to be true Christians, to be rid of their sins, and to have a cheerful conscience already possess the true hunger and thirst. They reach for the bread, just as Psalm 42;1 says of a hunted hart, burning in the heat with thirst, "As a hart longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for Thee, O God." In other words, as a hart with anxious and trembling eagerness strains toward a fresh, flowing stream, so I yearn anxiously and tremblingly for God's Word, absolution, the Sacrament, etc.
(Large Catechism, 126-7)

A Simple Form of Confession

YOU BEGIN:        My dear Pastor, I ask you to please hear my confession and declare that my sins are forgiven in order to fulfill God's will.

PASTOR:              Please continue.

YOU SAY:            O Almighty God, merciful Father, I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess to you all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended you and justly deserved your punishment now and forever. But I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them.

In particular, I confess . . .

I am sorry for all of this and ask for grace.

I want to do better.

PASTOR:              Do you believe that my forgiveness is God's forgiveness?

YOU SAY:            Yes, I do.

PASTOR:              Let it be done for you as you have believed.

Receive the forgiveness Jesus Christ won for you by His perfect life lived in your place, and His suffering, death, and resurrection. In the stead and by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all of your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

YOU SAY:            Amen.

PASTOR:              Go in peace. You are free.

A Confessor will know additional passages of the Scriptures with which to comfort and to strengthen the faith of those who consciences are heavily burdened or who are distressed and sorely tried. This is intended simply as an ordinary form of confession.

For another form of individual absolution, see Lutheran Worship, p. 310