Blessings Of Confessing Sin
Lessons From The Psalms • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 2 viewsNotes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
In 2 Samuel 11 we have one of the most infamous biblical accounts of all time.
In the spring time, when kings typically went out to battle, David sent Joab and his army to destroy the Ammonites.
In the process of doing so they besieged Rabbah, “but David remained at Jerusalem.”
When the able men were out fighting David goes and has an affair with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba.
She becomes pregnant and David seeks to make Uriah think the baby is his, but when Uriah would not sleep with his wife out of a sense of honor for his fellow soldiers, David had him put on the front lines and murdered.
David would go on to marry Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba.
In 2 Samuel 12 we have one of the infamous biblical accounts concerning repentance of all time.
The great prophet Nathan goes to his king and tells him a story.
There was a poor man with a single ewe whom he loved very much.
There was a rich man with several flocks and herds.
The rich man stole the poor man’s ewe so he could cook for a guest instead of taking of his own herd.
David is very upset and says the rich man should die and pay back fourfold to the poor man.
Then we have, maybe the most famous O.T. statement from Nathan, “You are the man.”
As we know David repents and God forgives him.
However, there are several Psalms that David writes, that reflect David’s feelings physically and emotionally.
Our psalm tonight does just that.
It looks at David’s experience as a sinner, repentant sinner, and then one that wants others not to make the same mistake he made.
In this case, it has to do with taking so long to “confess his sin.”
With that in mind let’s examine our lesson for this evening.
The Joy Of Forgiveness
The Joy Of Forgiveness
The Blessed Man.
The Blessed Man.
Psalm 32:1–2 (ESV)
1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity…
The blessed man, God & David says, is the man whose…
Transgression is forgiven.
The word transgression means “the violation of a law.”
4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
Romans 4:7 (ESV)
7 Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered
Sin is covered.
The word sin here literally means, “an act…that transgresses something forbidden or ignores something required by God’s law or character.”
18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.
Iniquity is not counted.
The word iniquity means…“the guilt of having committed sin.”
Exodus 20:5 (ESV)
5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity (guilt of sin) of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me
5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.
So, the blessed man is the one that has his transgression forgiven, sin covered, and iniquity counted not against him.
This would make this man…
The Guileless Man.
The Guileless Man.
Psalm 32:2 (ESV)
2 Blessed is the man…in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Blessed is the man who is guileless, or has no deceit in him.
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”
1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
The man without deceit has nothing to hide.
Oh, how wonderful a life is that has no “secret sins,” “nothing to hide.”
Summary
Summary
As Christians, we know we will not live sinless lives (1 John 1:8, 10).
We will transgress, sin, and commit iniquity.
But how we respond to sin makes all the difference in the world.
When David sinned his first reaction was not to confess his sins but rather stay silent.
David then, in Psalm 32:3-4, tells us of…
The Curse Of Silence
The Curse Of Silence
The Effects Of Sin.
The Effects Of Sin.
3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
The curse of keeping our sin silent and not confessing that sin to our God is a withering away.
We wither away spiritually, by staying silent in our sin.
5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
We wither away physically as well…”For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away”
10 For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
The effects of sin are devastating on the soul that desires righteousness.
We not only spiritual start to wither away we physically will as well.
The reason for this is because we are being…
Disciplined By The Lord.
Disciplined By The Lord.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
The psalmist admits that God’s discipline of him was constant “day & night.”
This discipline from God is meant to make us “feel” the consequences of our actions.
9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. 10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
This discipline from God is meant to make us “understand” his love.
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
When God sees his child in a sinful state he will, out of love, discipline them.
It isn’t because God wants to see us hurt.
It isn’t because God wants us to not like him.
It’s because God loves us and wants us to spend eternity with him.
Summary
Summary
David, looking back at his experience, realized that all that physical and emotional pain he was in because of sin, was God trying to get him to repent.
And when that didn’t work and David continued to keep silent, God sent him a faithful servant, Nathan, to tell David his sin.
David, upon hearing Nathan point out his stubbornness and unwillingness to come back to God and confess his sins before him, thankfully heard God’s call for repentance and “confessed his sin.”
David said, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
In our psalm here, David then explains the…
Benefit Of Confession
Benefit Of Confession
David Confessed His Sin.
David Confessed His Sin.
Psalm 32:5 (ESV)
5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD…
The first step to any type of recovery, especially sin, is the acknowledgement that we have a problem.
Christians, like any other person, have become proficient at making excuses for doing the wrong thing.
Whether it’s making excuses for our problem with drugs, alcohol, pornography, or any other addictions…
Or hiding our issues with attendance, bible study, prayer, or the like.
The first step to stopping these behaviors is “admitting” we have a problem.
David, upon understanding his fall from grace, admitted his iniquity.
When confessing our sin, the first thing we ought to admit this to is to our God, who loves us more than our parents, spouse, children, or grandchildren.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The second thing, if needed, we need to do is seek help from our brethren.
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
The confession of our sins to God and if needed to our brethren is of the utmost importance as David points out, because it’s benefit is that…
The Lord Forgave His Sin.
The Lord Forgave His Sin.
Psalm 32:5–7 (ESV)
5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah 6 Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. 7 You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah
The great benefit of repenting (turning back to God) and confessing our sins to God is multiple.
First, when we confess our sins we receive God’s mercy and thus forgiveness from our sins and the guilt it produces.
13 Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
Second, when we confess our sins and are forgiven we are saved from the dangers of being outside of God’s hedge of protection and roaring waters of sins destruction.
16 He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters.
Third, when we confess our sins and are forgiven, we find that God not only rescued us but will also protect us by…
Hiding us in him.
3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Preserving us from trouble.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Surrounding us with shouts of deliverance.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Summary
Summary
The benefit of confessing our sins to God is that our God is faithful and just to forgive our sins.
It will be as if he “never knew it happened.”
Jeremiah 31:34 (ESV)
34 …For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
When we fully understand the “Blessings of Confessing Sin” to our God and if need our brethren we will find…
The Worth Of Trust
The Worth Of Trust
David Instructs The Reader.
David Instructs The Reader.
The one that understands the blessing of confessing one’s sin and the joy of forgiveness of those sins should not hold that knowledge and wisdom in and keep it for themselves, because it’s value, it’s worth is simply too great.
As ones that receive God’s mercy and thus forgiveness of sins on a daily cycle, we ought to tell any and everyone that will listen what joy there is in God’s merciful hands and the extreme value in trusting in him.
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 9 Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.
10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.
As the weeping prophet said, knowing the value of God and his word is something that one simply cannot hide (Jeremiah 20:9).
Simply put we must help others see…
The Value In Trusting The Lord.
The Value In Trusting The Lord.
Now to be clear, the value of trusting in the Lord is diverse, but the main thing we get is God’s “steadfast love.”
10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.
In Psalm 136 we have 26 verses and at the end of each verse it states, “for his steadfast love endures forever.”
Notice Psalm 136:23-26…
23 It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever; 24 and rescued us from our foes, for his steadfast love endures forever; 25 he who gives food to all flesh, for his steadfast love endures forever. 26 Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.
The great value in trusting in the Lord is his steadfast love, but what makes that love so valuable is the comfort, calmness, and joy it brings to our lives.
11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
10 Let the righteous one rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him! Let all the upright in heart exult!
Summary
Summary
There is great worth or value in putting our whole hearted trust in our LORD.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Anyone that has “escaped the defilements of the world” knows how hard it is to reconcile our love for God and our propensity for sin.
But when we understand the “Blessings Of Confessing Sin” it certainly makes it easier to deal with and move on towards maturity in Christ.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.