# I'm in unconfessed sin....



## strictestsect (May 10, 2005)

and it's the Lord's supper, can I partake? If I do partake, will I eat in an 'unworthy manner' as the Corinthians did?


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## turmeric (May 10, 2005)

Unconfessed to whom? It seems like the Lord's Supper is a good time to confess your sin to God and express faith in His forgiveness by partaking. If you need to straighten it out with someone else, I think you should do that before you partake. in my opinion.


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## strictestsect (May 10, 2005)

Unconfessed to God.


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## Contra_Mundum (May 10, 2005)

The simple answer to the question of sin and the supper, is that if a man harbors sin in his heart, that is _known sin,_ if he will not repent as best he knows how--resolved to hate and forsake that sin because it is displeasing to God--he is definitely partaking unworthily. "Let a man examine himself" _so that_ what? So he will recognize his sin and repent of it. If he won't, he's choosing sin over fellowship with God, and communion of the supper's benefits. And by partaking, the same action that ought to nourish him instead acts like a toxin--and it judges him. "And some of you have fallen asleep." That's judgment!

Sin changes the covenantal effect of God's promised activity in connection with the supper from blessing to cursing.


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## Scott Bushey (May 10, 2005)

> _Originally posted by strictestsect_
> Unconfessed to God.



Why is it _unconfessed_?


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## pastorway (May 10, 2005)

forget the Supper and *confess your sin!*

If you partake of the Supper with unconfessed sin then you are only compounding your sin and mocking Christ, who DIED because of your sin.

Phillip


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## C. Matthew McMahon (May 10, 2005)

God knows everything. But I'm sure you knew that already.

He knows your unconfessed sin. 

Actually, He knew it was going to happen before you fell into it. 

And if you want to get real technical about it, He ordained it woudl happen that way, without sinning Himself, and with full justification to punish you or chastise you as the dilemma sees fit in His sovereign plan.

So you are not going to surprise Him by laying the sin out before Him. 

That's not what confession is about. 

What you need, as we all need in various areas of our lives, is to repent. Repentance is:

sight of sin
sorrow for sin
confession of sin
shame for sin
hatred of sin
turning from sin

Don't just jump to confession and think you've paid the dues to the Big man upstairs with the judgmental baseball bat. Instead, through confessing it in humility, ask Him to give you the power to overcome whatever you have fallen into.

Isaiah 66:2, "But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word."

If that's a problem, then there is a bigger issue than just this smoke screen of "unconfessed sin". 

Hopefully you don't love your sin more than you love Christ.


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## turmeric (May 10, 2005)

Not sure, but that could just be the problem. knowing something is sin is not the same as hating it and being willing to turn from it. I have that problem sometimes. I just go ahead & confess that as well.


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## strictestsect (May 11, 2005)

I used to ask for forgiveness just before I reached for the bread and cup thinking I would be "˜right´ before God before I actually partook. Then I heard that your sin should not keep you from the table. Where is the biblical explanation to approach the table even though I have not dealt with known sin? Does the Corinthian (ch.11) text apply here?


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## Robin (May 11, 2005)

Here is what the URCNA liturgy says about it:

Preparation for Communion: 

For all who live in rebellion against God and unbelief, this holy food and drink will bring you only further condemnation. If you do not yet confess Jesus Christ and seek to live under his gracious reign, we ask you to abstain. Nevertheless, for those of you who have confessed your sins and affirmed your faith in Christ, the promise is sure: "Whoever eats my body and drinks my blood has eternal life and will not come into condemnation." For on the night in which our Lord was betrayed, he took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "Take eat; this is my body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me." After the same manner also he took the cup, saying, "this cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

You are invited to this sacred meal not because you are worthy in yourself, but because you are clothed in Christ's perfect righteousness. Do not allow the weakness of your faith or your failures in the Christian life to keep you from this table. For it is given to us because of our weakness and because of our failures, in order to increase our faith by feeding us with the body and blood of Jesus Christ. As the Word has promised us God's favor, so also our Heavenly Father has added this confirmation of his unchangeable promise. So come, believing sinners, for the table is ready. "Taste and see that the Lord is good." 




Robin


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## Larry Hughes (May 11, 2005)

> Preparation for Communion:
> 
> For all who live in rebellion against God and unbelief, this holy food and drink will bring you only further condemnation. If you do not yet confess Jesus Christ and seek to live under his gracious reign, we ask you to abstain. Nevertheless, for those of you who have confessed your sins and affirmed your faith in Christ, the promise is sure: "Whoever eats my body and drinks my blood has eternal life and will not come into condemnation." For on the night in which our Lord was betrayed, he took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "Take eat; this is my body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me." After the same manner also he took the cup, saying, "this cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."
> 
> You are invited to this sacred meal not because you are worthy in yourself, but because you are clothed in Christ's perfect righteousness. Do not allow the weakness of your faith or your failures in the Christian life to keep you from this table. For it is given to us because of our weakness and because of our failures, in order to increase our faith by feeding us with the body and blood of Jesus Christ. As the Word has promised us God's favor, so also our Heavenly Father has added this confirmation of his unchangeable promise. So come, believing sinners, for the table is ready. "Taste and see that the Lord is good."



Robin,

That is very helpful. I ran into this in the PCA church we are joining back when I first visited them - very refreshing to the soul. Unfortunately, some have made the Lord´s Table not a table for a simultaneously sinner and justified saint, but a "œperfected" Pharisee. Effectually, neutralizing the Lord"˜s Table altogether as a Gospel for the struggling Christian. I´d never had the Lord´s Table present forth the Gospel so powerfully before than I did that day. I gently cried and felt so forgiven and refreshed words fail. It is telling that Peter himself took the Lord´s Table, then betrayed Christ (failed) not long afterward. Not that that is a good thing at all, but it shows forth the grace and mercy coming back to Christ when we fail (WHEN we fail, not IF).

In Christ Alone,

Larry H.


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## Robin (May 11, 2005)

Amen, Larry.

R.


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## LarryCook (May 12, 2005)

> _Originally posted by strictestsect_
> I used to ask for forgiveness just before I reached for the bread and cup thinking I would be "˜right´ before God before I actually partook. Then I heard that your sin should not keep you from the table. Where is the biblical explanation to approach the table even though I have not dealt with known sin? Does the Corinthian (ch.11) text apply here?



Excerpted from C. H. S.' sermon entitled "To Those Who Feel Unfit For Communion":

"œFor there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified: therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the Passover lambs for everyone that was not clean to sanctify them unto the Lord. For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying "œThe good Lord pardon everyone that prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. And the Lord listened to Hezekiah, and healed the people."
2 Chronicles 30:17-20.



> .......Yet, nevertheless, since I fear that there may be a certain number here tonight of the Lord´s own people who are in the condition of the multitude in Hezekiah´s day out of Manasseh and Zebulun"”who have not sufficiently cleansed themselves after the manner of the purification of the sanctuary"”I am anxious to show them how they may, even now, come to the Divine ordinance and realize profit from it through the abundance of Divine Grace. God helping them, from this moment they may commence the necessary preparedness of heart and may speedily attain to it. So long as they do sincerely wish to meet with God and to enjoy fellowship with Him in His ordinance, there is no reason why they should retire from the assembly of the saints.
> 
> They may begin, even now, I say, to make ready for this festival and by Divine Grace they may so partake of this Supper as to find in it all that their hearts desire. Our Lord is able, by His Spirit, to wash away their present defilement and quicken them in mind and soul so that they may both draw near to God with true heart and discern the Lord´s body with clear understanding. Such is the power of Divine Grace, that in a few moments the Lord can take away all iniquity and receive us graciously! Our Great High Priest, in the sacred authority of His Divine office, can confer perfect cleansing and give us full right to sit with the family and partake of the Lamb and to rest beneath the roof, whose door has been marked for safety by the sprinkled blood.
> 
> ...


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## nonconformist (May 13, 2005)

> _Originally posted by webmaster_
> God knows everything. But I'm sure you knew that already.
> 
> He knows your unconfessed sin.
> ...


 That is an AWSOME answer


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