Titus 2:14 tells us that Jesus shed His blood that we might be cleansed from all our inequity, so these words are all through the Bible. Now, so how are we going to do it? So number one, here's the first thing; we have to apply the blood, and we're going to apply it specifically to those things. That's the first thing. We need to know what to apply it to, and apply it to those three things. The second thing is this; you must speak out. Notice the High Priest. He confessed the sins. You have to speak. You can't do this stuff just in your head. You have to speak, and you have to be vocal, and you have to be specific. I've found that people pray a very general prayer - oh, well I'm so sorry for what I've done. That's wonderful. It won't do you much good though.
What you've got to do is, actually be specific. It's good that you spoke up, but you need to go further than that, and actually be specific. Have you ever noticed that people who make an apology like this, it doesn't cut it with you? Oh, well if I've hurt you I'm sorry, or if I've done something wrong I'm sorry. What? And you kind of think oh blow, you know, this is a pain, because they're saying they're sorry - yes, they're a bit sorry, but why is it I feel so bad about this? Because something's missing. They didn't - 'if' I've done something wrong - they're not even admitting they've done anything wrong, and 'something' - well whats 'something'? See? There's no awareness of actually an action creating a pain in a relationship and needing to be addressed, so the apology never cuts it. You walk away feeling that didn't really cut it too well. Apologies need to be specific, and need to be vocal; I was wrong when I did this. I'm sorry. What I did was wrong. What I did was sin. What I did was, I sinned against you - but you see, we just call it a problem or a mistake, or we kind of just remove what it really is, and so we can't fix it.
So if you can't fix it with God's method, then it still stays there, and it has a burden on your life. It just exerts a pressure, continued pressure. So it says in Leviticus 16:21, Aaron shall confess the inequities. Now that's a long day that day. He's got a whole nation to confess their inequities. Well Father, I just confess before you the inequities of these families in the church, idolatry and sexual sin and - and now my list goes, there's a whole sin list going there, a whole list of crookedness and twistedness and inequities, sin and transgression, all of it being confessed. It's a long, long, long list but he did the whole lot, and laid it on the hands of the goat. But the Bible says in John 1:9, if we confess. Oh, you mean I just - it's more than being sorry for it? If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So there's our bit, God's bit. God's bit is to shed the blood, so we could be forgiven and cleansed. Our bit is to meet the condition: if we confess. We have to come before Him confessing.
Now, when you think of that word confessing, you think if you come up like me, as from a Roman Catholic background, you're thinking a little box and telling your sins to some priest, you know? But actually there's someone we're to talk to. He's called Jesus Christ. That's the one that we go to. He's the only one that can make the difference, and the word confess is the word in Greek, homologia - homo meaning of the same kind, or to be in agreement, or to be of the same; logia meaning a word. So what it says simply is this: I need to speak to God the same things His word says about my sin. This is sin. I am guilty. There is a judgement that comes because of this. Demonic spirits, sowing and reaping, all kinds of consequences and I'm guilty. That's only half of the confession. The other half of the confession is what the blood has done - but Jesus, I believe that you died on the cross for my sins. You shed your blood for my sins, and I confess today that my sins are forgiven because of the blood you shed by your mercy and by your grace! I apply that blood to my sin, and it's as good as gone!