As we come to worship the Lord, and as we prepare our hearts to confess our sins, we have to take care that we do this as Christians. The carnal attitude toward sin thinks no more than about “breaking or keeping a rule.” This is the religious mentality. This is paganism; it is legalism. The only sin that you can effectively deal with, the only kind of sin that you can mortify, is a forgiven one. If Christ has not dealt with the sin, your efforts aren’t going to do anything. If Christ has dealt with the sin, then it is possible for you to do what the Scriptures call you to do. But the Scriptures do not call you to deal with sin, with Jesus watching. Jesus dealt with all on the cross, and you are invited to apply that in your life, by faith.
This is why our time of confession ought not to be about a list of items, kept or broken. We are in the process of becoming a certain kind of person. Everything we confess is that which interfered with that process. If it did not interfere with it, then there is nothing to confess. But the rules are not floating above our heads, independently autonomous. No, God’s rules are simply a description of what He is like, and what we would like to become like.
The new covenant is all about two things—forgiveness of sin, and the internalization of the law. When you are forgiven, you can deal with sin in your life, and the gospel does what the gospel of grace always does—changes you. When you are forgiven, the law of God is internalized, meaning that you are becoming a walking incarnation of God’s words. And that is not legalism—it is the very opposite.