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Concede – by Pastor Chandler

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“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

A sump pump is a float-triggered, water removal system. When a home’s foundation is set lower than the water table, the home will have a sump basin. This menacing, dark hole dwells in the gloomiest corner of the basement. There, water is collected off the foundation of the house and, when the float lifts with the undesired water, the pump clicks on and expels the fluid from the house.

The device is amazing when it is working. It keeps the basement dry, makes very little, if any, noise, and just sits quietly in that dark hole, all alone, tirelessly and effectively doing the one thing it has been created to do, and the little guy does it well. But, if the sump pump gets tired of living out its designed purpose and retires, disaster is but a few moments away.

Several nights ago, my wife and I laid our tired heads on our comfy pillows and began to drift into sleep. But sleep eluded us as we heard a very faint, very strange sound coming from downstairs. At first I shrugged it off. Nothing to worry about. My wife, however, insisted that I investigate. So, down the stairs I went. I thought it was just our radiators rattling around; I wasn’t too concerned; however, when I determined the noise was coming from the basement my mind filled with images of a flooded basement and I thought I heard a menacing laugh echoing from that little ejector in that dark abyss. Sure enough, the sump basin was filled with water and nearly spilling out into the basement.

I knew nothing about sump pumps. I wanted to keep it that way for my entire life. If I don’t know anything about sump pumps that means the pump is working well. I don’t need to open the cave and reach into the dark water to fish for the rusted instrument. In fact, that night, as I stared into the gently swaying basement water, everything in me screamed, “Don’t deal with it now! Just hope for the best while you sleep and call a plumber or Pastor Tony in the morning.” In a whispered, almost panicked yell myself said to me, “Don’t put your hand down there! What if there’s a monster in that basin sea? What if that rusty metal slices your finger open? You don’t want to see that stuff. Go to sleep!” I almost listened, too. My wife, though, she’s amazing and she pressed me on toward the upward call of keeping the basement dry.

Sin is like the broken sump pump. It must be dealt with. If left unchecked it will ravage my life. Sin will flood my heart. It will destroy the foundation of my life. Sin will break up relationships. Sin will distort my understanding of God. It will hide His grace and mercy. It will turn me away from Jesus. Sin must be dealt with, but, like the sump pump, it can be messy, difficult, and even scary to reach into that dark hole and root around for the moral failing that entangles my soul.

Thanks be to God that we’re never alone in the midst of the struggle.

The verse quoted above in John begins, “If we confess…” This word ‘confess’ means to agree with or concede. In other words, John says, “If we agree that we are sinful and concede that it is the truth…” It’s hard to admit that we are sinful. It’s hard to concede that we don’t have it all together. As Christians, it might be even harder to admit our sin. It’s painful to say, “God, even though you saved me and live in me, I still struggle with sin. There’s brokenness hidden in a dark hole that I don’t want to deal with.”

As Christians, it might be even harder to admit our sin.

That unfortunate night, I reached in that hole, pulled that pump out and… called the phone number for the company that made it. Amazingly, someone who worked for the company walked me through how to take it apart, clear the fan, ensure it was properly restored, and return it to the scary place it calls home. As soon as the repaired pump hit the water, it sighed and returned to drinking water and spitting it out into my lawn.

According to John, Jesus is more than just a voice guiding you as you confess your sins. Amazingly, Jesus Himself is the one that will reach into your heart. Into the deepest, darkest cavities of your life He will reach and restore and mend and refresh and make new. If we but concede, “God I’m struggling with this sin,” John said, “Jesus will do the rest.” In John’s own words Jesus is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

I recently spoke with a man who has struggled with alcohol, but who has been delivered by the power of Jesus Christ. He told me, “The hardest thing was admitting. The hardest thing was conceding that my lifestyle was sinful.” However, John says, “That’s where it begins.”

The next time sin wakes you from your slumber, making a strange, not-Christ-like sound, get out of bed, get on your knees, reach, not into that dark hole, but reach up to the grace and mercy of our God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Concede, admit, acknowledge the issue and trust in the Lord Jesus to rescue you from that dreary pit.

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