K106. Would Jesus still tell the believers to confess their sins today? (3)

I said in K105 that "If we confess sins without knowing the purpose of confession, we confess in vain". Hence, believers can confess sins in vain. They may confess for the sake of confessing. They may argue for the sake of arguing too.

Is it possible for a believer to confess vain confession?
Yes, there are believers who will confess for the sake of confessing only. They may repent for the sake of repenting, or believe for the sake of believing too. Some of them may even ask for grace for the sake of having grace only. They want grace given for repentance, but they do not want to repent. They want forgiveness; but they do not want to forgive. Did the Lord tell us that there are such believers or sinners today?
Mat 18:23-34 KJV  Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants .. .. (32) Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:  (33)  Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?  (34)  And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. Many will still argue that the parable was obsolete as it was too harsh for them who are under grace. Hence, they argue that it was a law teaching for the disciples and Jews who were under the law. But I don't think so. It is for the believers in the future or end time; otherwise, why did Jesus mention it as the parable of 'the kingdom of heaven' in (v23) ? It shows Jesus' wisdom.

Is it possible for a believer to believe vain beliefs?
Yes, there are believers who will believe for the sake of believing. They may believe and even pray the sinner's prayer; but they do not know the meaning of 'a sinner's prayer'. It could be just a formula of 'salvation' or repetition for the occasion. They may pray; but they do not repent. They may pray the Lord's prayer every Sunday; but it could be just a vain confession of the mouth; not of the heart or spirit of humility and repentance:
Luk 11:4 KJV  And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Is it possible for a believer to worship God in vain?
Hence, some churches may pray the Lord's prayer every week initially. But, after a while, when they realize that they could not pray with the conviction or the spirit of humility or repentance in their hearts, they would just give up and come up with the prevalent vain excuse that it is not for them to pray (to be forgiven to forgive) or to repent during the church service. They claim that they can only do the 'happy' things in the church services, for example, worshipping God, loving God, thinking of His righteousness, .. ..; but certainly not repenting or reminding themselves of their sins. Actually, they do not want to be reminded of their rebellion for putting repentance behind their back. Unknowingly, their wonderful arguments or preaching for a fantastic worship service is just a camouflage to hide their rebellion, pride, self-righteousness, and hypocrisy before God in the temple of God or in their hearts. I will ask them, What's the problem if you come before God to repent or confess your sins? Do you consider it as worship only when there is a lot of thanksgiving, singing, praising, and good opinions about God and yourselves? I know that most hypocrites or Pharisees would like it, but Jesus did not change the way we worship God in the new covenant under grace. On contrary, He said that we must still worship God in spirit and in truth (Joh 4:23) with the laws of God in our hearts (Heb 8:10, 10:16); not in hypocrisy:
Luk 18:10-14 KJV  Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.  (11)  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.  (12)  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.  (13)  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.  (14)  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Can a believer be saved by vain belief, vain faith, vain worship, or vain repentance?
I will ask the hyper grace people, You said, "1 John 1:9 is for the agnostic believers, and hence, many believers have confessed sins unnecessarily or vainly".
If the believers can confess sins in vain, don't you agree that they can argue in vain, believe in vain, worship in vain, or repent in vain too? Of course, there are vain believers who do vain things and fall because of vain belief and vain faith. What does it mean when the Bible says that the devils believe and yet they are not saved?
Jas 2:19-20 KJV  Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.  (20)  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
It means that there are believers who believe wrongly or vainly and they are not saved. There are those who have vain faith or vain worship and they are not saved too. Hence, we are not saved by vain belief, vain faith, or vain worship. How about vain repentance?
Please think, If a believer cannot be saved if he believes like the devils or believe in vain, can he be saved if he will just repent in vain too? I don't think so. I don't think we should help him to find all kinds of vain excuses, deceitfulness, or false consolation to repent in vain. Why should we preach or encourage vain people to repent in vain when all they want is grace:
1. only to prosper and feel good (feel less condemned);
2. but not to repent and turn from sins ?

How practical is the doctrine or teaching of Jesus Christ?
Many argue that true repentance is just a change of mind. They say that it does not involve the confession of sins or acknowledgement that they are sinners, and therefore, the teaching of Jesus on how the publican repented in Luk 18:10-14 is no longer valid for them under the New Covenant. They argue that today they do not cut themselves or beat their chests; but they will need only to believe or change their mind from unbelief to right belief or from bad opinion about God to good opinion about God. They say that they have repented too..
I will tell them, Of course, we do not cut ourselves or beat our chests, but can't you see the real meaning of the Lord's parable? Jesus did not just teach ONLY THE JEWS on how they should come and pray to God; He taught EVERYONE on how we should come and pray to God. The JEWS, the Pharisees, and the religious would always come with the good opinion about themselves and God; but everyone who repent would come with the real understanding of themselves as sinners before God.
Now please think, Are there still people who come and pray to God like the JEWS, the Pharisees, and the religious? Of course, yes. Of course, we may not find any Jews or Pharisees in our churches, but we can still find many religious people who have good opinion about themselves and God in our churches. I won't judge if they are saved or not. But if they cannot accept the doctrine of Jesus Christ and they rebel like the Pharisees, there is a big question mark on their salvation. Please think again, If there are still such people in our churches, how can we say that the parable or doctrine of Jesus Christ is no longer valid in our churches?
I will tell them, Although the parable was about two Jewish believers who came and pray to God, it can be applied to Christian believers who come to God too. In the parable,
1. Jesus showed us that the Pharisee or hypocrite under the law could come to God with the 'good' feeling that all his sins had been forgiven, and hence, he thought he could come with greater confidence than the poor publican next to him.
2. Can religious hypocrites under the new covenant still come into our churches with the 'good' feeling that all their sins are forgiven, and hence, they think that they can come with greater confidence than other believers? Of course, yes. Oops, is this a true or familiar picture that we can see today? If this is so, how can we deny the parable or doctrine of Jesus Christ as obsolete?
So, how practical is the parable or doctrine of Christ? I am afraid it is more practical or relevant than what we could think or imagine !

Rituals, offerings, boasting, doing, or even beating of self can become obsolete; but the principle or attitude can never be obsolete
The doctrine of Jesus Christ is not always the new things under the New Covenant. It could be something which is still practised in both the Old and New Covenant, for example, our love, our obedience, our humility, our attitude, and our worship to God. Hence, we should never focus and interpret it wrongly whenever we look at the parables of Jesus. Of course, Jesus would not want all His disciples to boast like the Pharisees or pray like the publican by beating themselves. But, He taught the principle of humility before God, and He did mention that this is what we should focus on, and this is the principle which can never be obsolete:
Luk 18:13-14 KJV  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.  (14)  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Of course, Jesus is not very bothered if we beat our chest or just whisper a prayer when we confess our sins. But He is very bothered if we confess it sincerely or hypocritically. He would judge whether we are justified or not justified based on how we confess it in our hearts. I know that there are preachers who thought that they must confess or chirp like the birds 24 hours a day. Of course, everyone knows that it is ridiculous to confess vainly in this manner. But it does not mean, after realizing that it is a stupid thing to do, we can just go to the other extreme and repent like the sheep quietly by confessing nothing or doing nothing. I have explained in (K101) that the sheep cannot confess sins. Hence, it is still a silly doctrine to teach people to confess or repent like the animals.

Hence, confession of sins, whether it is done with the beating of the chest or with a simple prayer, can still be practised by all the believers or anyone who will come and pray to God, as long as it is done with the heart and right attitude.  Who say that we cannot practise it because the churches have no more sinners or no more believers who still need to repent? It is ridiculous to preach this unless we are in heaven !

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