Jeremiah 10:23-24 - Homiletics

Confession and correction.

I. GENUINE CONFESSION INVOLVES A CLEAR RECOGNITION OF DUTY AND A WILLINGNESS TO RECEIVE NECESSARY CORRECTION .

1. There must be a recognition of duty . We cannot confess the wrong till we know the right. Conscience awakes only when a standard of right outside ourselves is perceived.

2. There must be a willingness to receive necessary correction . If we make honest confession of sin, we imply that we desire to be free from it. But a right understanding of our own condition in the light of God's requirements makes the necessity of correction apparent.

II. A CLEAR RECOGNITION OF DUTY WILL SHOW THAT THIS CONSISTS IN SELF - ABNEGATION TO A HIGHER WILL . The essence of sin is self-will. The first sin was an act of disobedience. All wickedness is a rebellion against a supreme authority. Man is not free to live to himself, swayed only by his own lawless caprice. He has a vocation to fulfill:

1. He has no right to go his own way. He is a servant. He is lawfully subject to a righteous Lord, before whom duty requires him to say, "Not my will, but thine, be done."

2. He has not light enough to direct his own steps. Future accidents cannot be anticipated. The ultimate effects of the simplest action are not to be traced beforehand. Hence the need of a higher direction.

3. He has not power to succeed in his own way. If he starts by himself, making the awful experiment of a self-sustained pilgrimage through the toils and storms of life, he will assuredly make shipwreck. Our duty is not to live for self, nor even for God in our own way or by our own unaided strength, but to do his will, in his way, by his aid. Thus the Christian, looking for authority, guidance, and strength in Christ, is taught to say, "To me to live is Christ."

III. A WILLINGNESS TO RECEIVE CORRECTION ARISES FROM A PERCEPTION OF ITS JUSTICE AND UTILITY WHEN VIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF DUTY .

1. It must be recognized as just , not only merited, but coming in a fair degree. We could not willingly accept a correcting chastisement which was disproportionate to guilt.

2. It must be recognized as given on principles of righteousness , not out of vindictive wrath.

3. It must be recognized as sent for a merciful purpose . It is correction, not simply retribution. This is wholesome, and given, not in anger, which would be fatal ( Psalms 2:12 ), but in love ( Proverbs 3:12 ). Such correction we should not murmur under, but welcome, accept as a blessing, and even pray for. But we shall only do this when we are impressed with a right sense of duty, which makes us acknowledge that we are not to live for ourselves, and must be subdued and trained by all necessary means to submission and obedience and a true feeling of our own helplessness, requiring the help of Divine discipline, Because man's way is not in himself he may naturally ask for wholesome correction.