The NXR Podcast - SUNDAY SERMON - The Dangers Of Minimizing Sin ｜ Psalm 32

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, real quick before we get started, I have a small request.

00:00:03.420 If you've been blessed by our content and you like this show,

00:00:06.420 would you take just a brief moment and leave us a five-star review?

00:00:09.760 This is quite possibly the most effective thing that you can do

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00:00:17.540 Thanks.

00:00:18.060 And today I'm going to be preaching Psalm 32.

00:00:21.380 It's very likely, so don't get nervous,

00:00:23.680 it's very likely that I'm going to break this up into two parts

00:00:26.520 because the first five verses deal entirely exclusively with confession and so I want to

00:00:33.600 make sure that we're thorough in understanding confession from the word of God and the blessings

00:00:38.880 that ensue from confessing our sin to the Lord with truthfulness so I'll read our text in its

00:00:45.460 entirety and then I'll go ahead and begin preaching the sermon would you join me in standing now for

00:00:50.840 the reading of God's word when I finish reading the text I'll say this is the word of the Lord

00:00:55.100 at which point I would like very much if you would respond by saying, thanks be to God.

00:01:00.340 Once more, our text for today is Psalm chapter 32.

00:01:04.720 The Bible says this,

00:01:06.400 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

00:01:11.340 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,

00:01:15.140 and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

00:01:19.040 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

00:01:24.160 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me.

00:01:28.120 My strength was dried up as by the summer, the heat of summer.

00:01:32.780 Selah.

00:01:33.640 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity.

00:01:38.020 I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,

00:01:41.840 and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

00:01:44.620 Selah.

00:01:45.880 Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you

00:01:49.380 at a time when you may be found.

00:01:51.980 Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.

00:01:56.300 You are a hiding place for me.

00:01:58.560 You preserve me from trouble.

00:02:00.720 You surround me with shouts of deliverance.

00:02:03.380 Selah.

00:02:04.360 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.

00:02:09.080 I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

00:02:11.800 Be not like a horse or a mule without understanding,

00:02:16.580 which must be curbed with bit and bridle,

00:02:19.440 or it will not stay near you.

00:02:21.320 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.

00:02:28.020 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

00:02:35.200 This is the word of the Lord.

00:02:36.700 Thanks be to God.

00:02:37.880 All right, please be seated and join me as I pray.

00:02:40.680 Father, we thank you for your word.

00:02:42.280 We thank you for the gift that it is to us.

00:02:44.140 And Father, we recognize in agreement with the testimony of your word, namely the book of Romans.

00:02:50.480 that says that all have sinned and fallen short of your glory.

00:02:54.700 And Father, we agree with the testimony of your word

00:02:57.420 that we indeed have sinned and fallen short of your glory.

00:03:02.040 Not only have we sinned before you were so merciful to save us,

00:03:05.700 but we have all sinned this week.

00:03:07.920 We have sinned likely even this morning.

00:03:10.540 We have fallen short of your glory.

00:03:12.820 We are not entitled or deserving of any gift of grace from you.

00:03:18.200 And that's precisely what your word is.

00:03:20.480 We're not entitled to a revelation of your truth.

00:03:24.340 Your word reveals to us who you are, what you've done, and what it is you require.

00:03:28.940 And all of this is a gift.

00:03:31.560 By our own willful rebellion, by our own sin, by our own falling short of your glory,

00:03:36.740 we have forfeited whatever right we may have previously possessed

00:03:40.240 in order to be entitled to a revelation of your truth.

00:03:44.040 We don't deserve to know you.

00:03:45.980 We don't.

00:03:46.660 We don't deserve to know who you are or what you've done or what you even require.

00:03:51.120 We don't deserve to know your commandments.

00:03:53.020 Even your law comes to us as grace.

00:03:57.000 And so, Father, we recognize your word today for what it truly is.

00:04:01.660 It's a gift.

00:04:03.040 It's unmerited favor.

00:04:05.140 It's an undeserved act of love.

00:04:08.380 The revelation of your truth to fallen humanity is a gift that none of us deserve.

00:04:14.520 And so that's our prayer.

00:04:15.460 we pray that by the power of your Holy Spirit

00:04:18.180 that you would cause us this morning

00:04:20.100 to be good stewards of this gift

00:04:21.860 good stewards of this grace

00:04:24.080 Father we pray that you would equip us

00:04:26.520 now with spiritual eyes to see

00:04:28.580 and spiritual ears to hear

00:04:30.180 with softened hearts that are malleable

00:04:32.760 and receptive to your truth

00:04:34.420 Father I pray that indeed

00:04:36.100 through the preaching of your word

00:04:37.440 that we would arrive at a more faithful

00:04:39.820 and accurate and biblical knowledge

00:04:41.420 of who you are

00:04:42.280 what you've done

00:04:43.380 and what it is that you require

00:04:45.220 from us as a proper and right response. And Father, we pray that all this would take place,

00:04:51.680 not merely that knowledge would be an end in itself, but so that this knowledge would serve

00:04:58.180 as the necessary means propelling us into not only right knowledge of you, but right love for you.

00:05:05.040 The heart cannot love what the mind does not know. So would you fill our minds with your truth today

00:05:11.700 and propel our hearts by your power and grace

00:05:15.860 to love you like never before.

00:05:18.160 And Father, we also recognize that your son Jesus himself,

00:05:21.620 he said that those who love you obey you.

00:05:25.520 And so Father, we pray that this knowledge would provoke love

00:05:28.320 and that that love would be demonstrated

00:05:30.900 in visible, tangible, practical ways

00:05:34.200 through obedience to all your commands.

00:05:37.120 We pray this ultimately that you might be glorified in all the earth,

00:05:40.360 but we also pray this for the good of those people

00:05:42.880 that you're saving across the globe, in our city

00:05:46.420 and perhaps if you would be so kind

00:05:48.820 even in this very room, especially among our children.

00:05:52.560 We pray these things in the name of your son Jesus, amen.

00:05:56.720 There was a time in our nation

00:05:57.880 where the sermon of the day,

00:05:59.960 the voice of God for that hour was

00:06:02.240 stop being self-righteous, stop being a Pharisee,

00:06:06.920 stop being judgmental.

00:06:08.380 that was the need of the hour it's not today it's not and if you think it is you're fooling yourself

00:06:15.620 it's not there are a few people in that corner and they just make all the news headlines to make

00:06:22.180 it seem like it's the majority it's not we know it's not that's the minority once upon a time

00:06:28.400 perhaps the majority and that message needed to be preached but today that's not the majority 0.67

00:06:33.800 The majority problem within conservatives and Christians in our nation

00:06:37.400 is not self-righteous, pharisaical, judgmental behavior. 0.97

00:06:42.400 No, it's complacency, cowardice, affirming, bowing the knee.

00:06:47.680 That's the majority problem.

00:06:49.220 We know that's the majority problem.

00:06:51.100 And I believe it's the majority problem because of bad doctrine and guilty consciences.

00:06:58.160 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven.

00:07:01.340 not the one whose transgression continues to hang above their head that's not blessing

00:07:09.060 that's cursing think of deuteronomy what the lord says if you don't be careful to obey all my

00:07:17.140 commands cursed will you be when you go out cursed when you come in you'll be the tail and not the 0.56

00:07:23.000 head you'll be cursing your doing and cursed in this and cursing just following you around like

00:07:28.020 a shadow, like a dark cloud. The one who does not confess his transgression and is not forgiven 0.52

00:07:35.980 is cursed everywhere they go. In everything they do, they're cursed, cursed, cursed. 0.95

00:07:45.040 But by direct contrast, our text says, blessed, not cursed, blessed. And one translation of the

00:07:53.820 word blessed. Blessed, it contains much more than this, but this is one portion, one sector of what

00:08:00.260 it means to be blessed. Happy. Happy. Light. Have you ever just been so weighed down by your

00:08:09.160 conscience by guilt, you just, you can't enjoy anything any longer? I think of Pilgrim's Progress

00:08:14.740 when the law, the book of the law comes to Christian, the main protagonist in the story.

00:08:19.340 he's working the field, he finds the book of God's law, God's word is revealed to him,

00:08:23.900 he reads it, and he's miserable. Immediately, a burden appears upon his back. Guilt. Right?

00:08:31.420 Because there's a revelation of sin that comes from the reading of the law. We do this every

00:08:35.480 Lord's Day in our liturgy. He realizes, I'm a sinner, but he has not yet received the salve

00:08:42.000 of the gospel right he's had the scalpel of the law you need both but but then but then the gospel

00:08:50.880 salve that heals the wound has not yet been applied and so he's burdened and he's weary and

00:08:56.640 he's heavy look at our text chapter 32 verses 3 and 4 look at look at how David describes how he

00:09:05.060 felt when he was hiding his sin. Have you ever felt this? For when I kept silent, when I was

00:09:12.600 hiding, concealing my sin, when I did not confess, to confess is to open your mouth, it's to speak,

00:09:18.840 but when I was silent, what was it like? What did it feel like? It felt like my very bones.

00:09:25.480 He's saying, my core, the core of my being was corroding, deconstructing, wasting away.

00:09:37.340 I felt my strength failing me.

00:09:41.440 It was dried up like a plant that withers in the heat of summer.

00:09:47.300 I was groaning and moaning in pain and agony and misery all day.

00:09:58.660 And all day and even at night, your hand laid heavily upon me.

00:10:06.220 Not the hand of a father that rests gently on the shoulder of his son,

00:10:11.000 affirming him, encouraging him, displaying,

00:10:14.540 conveying a pleasure and pride but no the hand that presses down the pressure a weight

00:10:23.340 i felt crushed i felt like i was dying i felt dried up parched lifeless crushed by the lord

00:10:35.940 that was christian's experiment john bunyan's book pilgrim's progress it said that everything

00:10:41.200 that he used to love, that he used to derive a sense of pleasure and enjoyment from, lost all of

00:10:46.880 its joy. It said that it's not just that he was miserable, but then he was able to distract himself

00:10:51.500 with other things. No, no. The book says, Pilgrim's Progress says that he no longer could get any joy

00:10:57.060 from his own children. That he couldn't get joy when he would eat meals or drink. He lost his

00:11:02.600 appetite. Have you ever been there because of sin, concealed sin you can't even eat? I've been there.

00:11:08.380 I've been there, I've lost my appetite.

00:11:11.260 I'm not hungry.

00:11:12.900 I don't want to be around people.

00:11:16.200 I'm miserable under the hand of God,

00:11:20.900 day and night, heavy upon me.

00:11:23.560 I'm dry, I'm exhausted, my bones are weary,

00:11:28.780 it's hard to get out of bed, I feel sick.

00:11:32.680 It's guilt, it's guilt.

00:11:38.820 It's a guilty conscience.

00:11:41.800 And there's a cure.

00:11:43.920 An immediate cure.

00:11:45.740 Not a treatment.

00:11:47.340 Not a treatment.

00:11:48.860 Not something that has to be applied over the course of years

00:11:51.980 and it may lengthen your days for a bit,

00:11:57.240 maybe add a few more years to your life

00:11:59.200 like King Hezekiah cried out to the Lord

00:12:01.160 and he granted him 15 more years,

00:12:02.800 but eventually Hezekiah still died.

00:12:05.140 No, it's not a treatment.

00:12:06.660 It's a cure.

00:12:07.680 It's not applied over months or years to extend your life.

00:12:11.740 No, it is a cure that happens immediately the moment that we obey,

00:12:16.340 that extends not only your life, but grants to you eternal life, a joyous life.

00:12:23.320 It removes the weight off of your chest.

00:12:27.620 And the hand of the Lord that was pressing now begins to wrap around you and hold you close.

00:12:33.140 No longer pressing with conviction and weight and pressure, but rather holding you softly, lovingly, affirming and encouraging you.

00:12:47.520 The very Spirit of God testifying within you, reminding you, bearing witness, Abba Father.

00:12:56.340 See, even for the Christian, although it's impossible to lose your salvation,

00:12:59.640 for God to revert back from father to judge.

00:13:04.600 That can never happen for the Christian. 0.70

00:13:06.320 But there is, as the Puritans used to preach,

00:13:08.680 something called fatherly displeasure.

00:13:13.180 A Christian can, in fact, 0.99

00:13:15.580 by impenitent and unconfessed sin, 1.00

00:13:18.480 fall underneath the fatherly displeasure of God.

00:13:22.800 That's what David's describing.

00:13:23.780 I don't believe this is a description of David pre-conversion.

00:13:27.180 No, this is a description of David as he's concealing his sin.

00:13:32.340 As a Christian, as a lover of God, but concealing his sin underneath fatherly displeasure.

00:13:44.740 Bones beginning to crack.

00:13:48.960 Exhausted by heat.

00:13:51.860 No water, no life.

00:13:54.780 No refreshment from the Lord.

00:13:57.180 You look to the Lord to see in his countenance blessing and encouragement and approval, and there's none to be found.

00:14:06.980 And not because you're not saved, not because you lost your salvation, not because he's no longer your father, but he's displeased.

00:14:15.180 But see, as a father, everything he does is ultimately for his glory and the good of his children.

00:14:21.600 Even his displeasure is to drive you to the cure.

00:14:27.180 It's to drive you to confession.

00:14:30.100 It's to press upon your conscience so heavy

00:14:32.760 that eventually, in the Father's displeasure,

00:14:37.060 his hand squeezes out a confession.

00:14:41.920 I love, we'll get to this next week,

00:14:44.120 but I love later on, David,

00:14:46.540 it's as though the first commandment that he gives,

00:14:48.820 it's found in verse six of our text.

00:14:51.180 There's really only two commandments.

00:14:52.660 The whole text is descriptive,

00:14:53.880 but there is a couple prescriptive, prescriptions,

00:14:57.840 commandments given in the text.

00:14:59.260 It's verse six and then again in verse nine.

00:15:01.860 Verse six gives the commandment in the positive sense.

00:15:04.800 It says, therefore, let everyone who is godly

00:15:08.320 offer prayer to you at a time that you may be found.

00:15:12.500 What David is saying is this, every Christian,

00:15:15.360 those who actually are Christians,

00:15:17.480 don't just sit there underneath the weight

00:15:19.860 of the fatherly displeasure of God as his hand presses you.

00:15:23.180 Don't stay out in the heat being parched and thirsty.

00:15:27.040 Don't let your bones rot any further.

00:15:29.880 Don't do it.

00:15:31.220 Cry out to the Lord. 1.00

00:15:32.460 If you're a Christian, if you've been adopted,

00:15:34.260 if you're godly, adopted as a child of the Lord,

00:15:36.760 let all the sons of God go to him quickly.

00:15:41.180 Don't delay.

00:15:42.760 Don't procrastinate.

00:15:44.840 Go to him quickly, immediately, and cry out to the Lord.

00:15:48.380 Pray.

00:15:49.200 And what's conveyed in prayer in this sense,

00:15:51.940 because of the context, the overarching context of Psalm 32

00:15:54.680 is let them go, let the godly go to the Lord

00:15:57.380 and pray while he can be found,

00:15:58.960 is go and pray a prayer of confession.

00:16:02.700 Go to the Lord and confess your sin to him.

00:16:05.100 Go now, go quickly.

00:16:07.600 Don't delay and don't reserve.

00:16:12.160 Right?

00:16:13.080 It's immediate obedience, but it's also full obedience.

00:16:17.780 All right, what do we say to our kids, right?

00:16:19.140 Obey all the way and ride away with a cheerful heart or cheerful attitude.

00:16:26.160 All the way and ride away.

00:16:28.060 So go to the Lord quickly.

00:16:29.420 Don't delay.

00:16:30.580 But also lay it out all on the field.

00:16:34.340 Lay it bare.

00:16:36.580 Leave no stone unturned.

00:16:40.220 Confess all your sin to the Lord.

00:16:44.520 And again, confessing to the Lord is not informing him.

00:16:48.260 See, the better way that we could describe it is this.

00:16:50.460 To confess your sin to the Lord is to agree with him.

00:16:54.720 It's not to inform him.

00:16:56.020 He already knows.

00:16:57.840 And if confession in our minds,

00:17:00.600 doctrinally becomes synonymous with informing,

00:17:04.600 then we see no need to confess to the Lord.

00:17:07.500 So erase that from your minds.

00:17:09.180 Don't think of confession in terms of informing.

00:17:11.660 Think that when I confess, I'm not informing God.

00:17:13.840 When I confess, I'm agreeing with God.

00:17:17.360 I'm agreeing with God in regards to the sin that he already sees, he already knows,

00:17:22.320 but what I'm doing is I'm agreeing with what he says about the severity of my sin.

00:17:28.040 I'm not minimizing it.

00:17:30.940 See, our confessions are often late and little.

00:17:37.080 We confess long after the fact, and we only confess a portion.

00:17:42.800 We downplay, we minimize.

00:17:45.560 which means that in a very real sense

00:17:49.180 we're not agreeing with God

00:17:51.260 because what does God say about our sin?

00:17:55.620 He doesn't say it's small.

00:17:58.840 He doesn't.

00:18:00.660 Anytime we minimize our sin

00:18:02.280 we know that we are actually disagreeing with God.

00:18:06.060 We're actually contradicting God

00:18:08.920 and by doing so

00:18:11.380 we're actually offending God

00:18:13.920 Because every time we disagree with God, we contradict God,

00:18:16.760 do you know one of the things that we're doing?

00:18:18.980 We're calling him a liar. 0.89

00:18:21.560 We make him out to be a liar.

00:18:23.720 See, that's what 1 John, verse 1, 9, and 10,

00:18:26.820 we see the beauty of verse 9,

00:18:28.260 but then we feel the weight and the conviction of verse 10.

00:18:30.600 It says this, if we confess our sins,

00:18:32.740 he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins

00:18:35.080 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

00:18:37.260 But, but, if we say we have not sinned,

00:18:41.440 we make him a liar.

00:18:43.500 If we say we have not sinned, we're not just disagreeing with God, but by disagreeing with

00:18:48.080 God, we make him a liar. We're calling him a liar. And this is a sure tell sign that his word is not

00:18:56.480 in us. It's not. The word of God is not dwelling within us. Why? Because the word of God is true.

00:19:04.720 And when we disagree with God, we're harboring lies. What fellowship does light have with

00:19:11.340 darkness. Truth with lies and deception. The Word of God can't be richly dwelling within you

00:19:17.820 if you are actively fostering and harboring the indwelling of lies.

00:19:27.420 Relieve yourself. Unburden yourself. You can do it today. The Lord is not far.

00:19:36.500 do it go let all the godly go to the lord and pray confess their sins in a time when he may

00:19:44.740 be found brothers and sisters there is no better time i promise you he can be found right now

00:19:50.680 he can be found the implication of when can he be found the implication is this you know what

00:19:56.860 david means by that when he can be found he means now because that's the only sure time

00:20:01.880 that he can be found.

00:20:03.120 Did you know that?

00:20:05.020 Because you may not see tomorrow.

00:20:08.240 James chapter five says,

00:20:09.660 do not say that tomorrow

00:20:10.560 we will go to such and such a place 0.51

00:20:11.940 and trade for a prophet 0.89

00:20:12.840 for you do not know

00:20:14.100 what tomorrow may bring.

00:20:16.000 You can't even control

00:20:17.100 the number of hairs on your head 0.97

00:20:18.360 or keep one black from turning gray. 0.78

00:20:20.400 Rather, you should say

00:20:21.200 if the Lord wills.

00:20:22.060 See, we don't know.

00:20:23.280 We don't know if the Lord

00:20:24.440 can be found tomorrow.

00:20:26.580 We don't.

00:20:27.520 We don't know if we'll be found tomorrow.

00:20:29.600 We don't know if the Lord

00:20:30.300 can be found tomorrow

00:20:30.960 because we don't know if we'll be here tomorrow.

00:20:33.260 But we know that he can be found today.

00:20:36.780 So go, confess, go quickly, don't delay,

00:20:40.440 and confess everything.

00:20:42.700 Don't minimize, because at every level

00:20:44.740 that we minimize our sin when we confess to the Lord,

00:20:47.260 what we're doing is not just minimizing our sin,

00:20:49.240 we have to see it for what it is.

00:20:50.600 It's calling God a liar.

00:20:53.180 When we minimize our sin, does God make light of sin?

00:20:55.800 No, we know he doesn't.

00:20:56.820 He's holy, holy, holy.

00:20:57.740 So to make light of sin is to disagree with God and what he says about sin.

00:21:02.820 God says sin is serious.

00:21:04.200 When we say it's not, we disagree.

00:21:06.140 When you disagree with God, what do you do?

00:21:08.560 You contradict him.

00:21:10.640 And by contradicting, you're saying my testimony is true and yours, which contradicts my testimony, is false.

00:21:17.780 We make him out to be a liar.

00:21:19.580 And when we make him out to be a liar by harboring lies, how can we expect to harbor lies?

00:21:25.240 and at the very same time

00:21:27.860 to have the truth of his word dwelling within us.

00:21:31.380 We can't.

00:21:33.280 We may still know the word in that moment,

00:21:35.360 just as Satan knew the word

00:21:36.360 and twisted it to use it against the Savior.

00:21:38.820 We may still know the word,

00:21:40.180 but it's not richly dwelling in us.

00:21:42.460 It's not living and thriving in us.

00:21:44.900 It's not bearing fruit within us.

00:21:46.780 It's not growing in us.

00:21:48.980 It's not.

00:21:50.220 It may still be there present

00:21:51.520 in the technical sense in our minds.

00:21:53.360 It may still be something that we can quote upon our lips, but it's not living in us.

00:22:00.760 We're killing the word within us by feeding lies.

00:22:05.820 It would be like going in your backyard with your grass.

00:22:08.400 I've been talking to Stacey about grass.

00:22:09.820 We're excited about grass.

00:22:11.160 That's how you know you moved to Texas and you're not in California.

00:22:14.560 There is no grass in California.

00:22:15.780 It's all different.

00:22:16.720 Zero landscaping.

00:22:17.800 There's going to be rocks or there's going to be dirt or there's going to be clay.

00:22:21.220 Grass is not an option.

00:22:22.200 there's going to be succulents a million succulents because nothing grows you know but

00:22:25.440 but here we get excited about grass because it's a place where there's plants and there's life and

00:22:29.640 there's growth and and i mean that in a literal plant sense i also mean in a political and

00:22:33.040 cultural and religious sense and all this there's life there's life now in terms of grass

00:22:37.500 it would be ridiculous to go in your backyard with some kind of spray that kills the grass

00:22:45.400 and then fertilize the weeds that would be entirely backwards right that's not what you do

00:22:51.100 You want to somehow sustain the grass and kill the weeds.

00:22:54.420 But what we do when we don't confess our sins to the Lord is precisely the opposite.

00:22:58.720 We're feeding the lies, our disagreement with God, making him out to be a liar,

00:23:03.820 our minimization of sin, our hiding of sin, concealing of sin,

00:23:07.160 while feeding that, nourishing that, fertilizing lies, falsehoods,

00:23:12.460 and then we spray the weed killer that's meant for the lies on the word, on the truth.

00:23:21.100 And I think that's what David's describing when he says, I was wasting away.

00:23:25.660 Because the very thing that inwardly sustains him and gives him so much joy and life is the word of God.

00:23:33.720 Think about this.

00:23:34.880 Think about how many times so far as we've been preaching through the Psalms that we've dealt with David's delight in the law of God.

00:23:42.060 It's not just something he sees as right.

00:23:43.800 It's something that brings him joy.

00:23:45.760 And the law of God, it works as a guide that keeps him on the path of life.

00:23:49.880 and by ultimately spraying weed killer on the law of God,

00:23:54.860 disdain for the law of God,

00:23:56.440 disagreeing with the law of God

00:23:57.740 and condemning and making God himself out to be a liar,

00:24:01.320 what is David doing?

00:24:02.280 He is killing the very thing that sustains him.

00:24:05.640 And so of course, naturally the result would be

00:24:08.540 that his bones begin to become brittle,

00:24:11.480 that his mouth begins to be parched,

00:24:14.860 that he's weighted down,

00:24:17.040 that he's heavy, that he's exhausted,

00:24:19.880 He's dying.

00:24:21.480 That's the picture.

00:24:22.560 What David is describing is this.

00:24:23.940 He's dying.

00:24:26.260 It's death.

00:24:27.520 He is dying. 0.99

00:24:29.320 So long as we harbor and sustain lies,

00:24:35.140 we are, by virtue of doing the one,

00:24:37.600 we are necessarily doing the other,

00:24:39.280 which is suppressing the truth.

00:24:43.440 And this is not just the experience or the picture, 0.77

00:24:47.340 the image of the non-Christian. 0.98

00:24:48.880 We see that in Romans 1. 0.90

00:24:49.880 suppressing the truth and deeds of unrighteousness. 1.00

00:24:52.280 The non-Christian can do nothing but that. 0.98

00:24:54.940 But the Christian can do it too.

00:24:57.520 But the beauty of the Christian

00:24:58.700 is that he will not do it forever.

00:25:00.260 Not because he's good at following Jesus,

00:25:02.020 but because Jesus is good at leading his people.

00:25:04.740 Not because he clings so fiercely to Christ,

00:25:06.940 but because Christ clings to us.

00:25:09.480 That even when we forsake him,

00:25:10.860 he has promised never to leave or forsake us.

00:25:13.580 Even if we deny him, he will not deny us,

00:25:16.160 for he cannot deny himself, is what the word says.

00:25:19.880 It's his faithfulness that brings the Christian out of the valley of the shadow of death,

00:25:25.140 that brings the Christian out of the heat. And that's precisely what we see in verse 9.

00:25:31.060 So I may just preach it all. But that's what we see in verse 9. See, verse 6 is the positive

00:25:35.460 command. There's only two times we see a command, right? Prescription. Everything else is descriptive.

00:25:40.320 But there's two prescriptions, commands. Verse 6 stated in the positive. Go to the Lord now. Go

00:25:47.000 and confess. Giving us something positive to do. You go and confess to the Lord. Do it quick and do

00:25:53.460 it all. Fully and quickly. Verse nine is actually not another command. There's not two commands in

00:25:59.080 this text. It's all about confession. So keep that theme in mind. Verse nine is the same command now

00:26:04.300 stated in the negative. It's now stated in the other direction. So verse six, this is the positive

00:26:10.280 thing that you should do. Go to the Lord quickly and confess your sins. Verse nine, this is the

00:26:15.340 thing that is very stupid that you should not do. Don't be like a mule. I had a great joke with this, 1.00

00:26:23.160 but then I realized that a mule and a donkey are actually two different types of animals.

00:26:27.320 So I can't say the zinger that I had. Don't be a, but it's just scientifically incorrect. I got to

00:26:34.060 follow the science. So, so don't be a mule, which is not a donkey, but there are some similarities.

00:26:41.280 Don't be a horse.

00:26:43.020 But notice what verse 9 says.

00:26:45.120 Here's the beauty of it. 1.00

00:26:46.040 See, this is the Christian again. 0.67

00:26:47.400 It's the Christian.

00:26:49.000 Don't be like a mule or a horse without understanding.

00:26:51.760 But look at this.

00:26:52.960 Which must be curbed.

00:26:55.260 It doesn't say that stays out in the heat,

00:26:58.120 away from the master,

00:26:59.220 away from the stable and the shelter

00:27:00.760 and the food and the nourishment

00:27:01.940 and the love and the care.

00:27:03.340 Don't be like a mule that stays out there and dies.

00:27:05.940 No, what does it say?

00:27:07.580 That eventually does come in.

00:27:10.160 How?

00:27:10.560 Because it's forced. It's curved by bit and bridle. Apart from that, apart from the bit and bridle, apart from the master taking ownership over the horse, over the mule, exerting his will upon the will of the mule and winning that battle of wills, apart from the master overriding the will of the mule and forcing him by bit and bridle to come inside,

00:27:36.460 it would have. What it intended to do, what it meant to do is stay away. See, it says,

00:27:42.420 or it will not come near to you. Don't, this is a description of the Christian underneath 1.00

00:27:47.820 the fatherly displeasure of God in moments of concealing sin, in moments of not confessing.

00:27:54.720 That's what a Christian's like. He's wasting away. He's dying. God's hand is heavy upon him. 1.00

00:28:00.480 and he's like a mule.

00:28:04.340 He is choosing to show disdain

00:28:07.260 for every ounce of wisdom and understanding.

00:28:10.400 And he is stubborn.

00:28:12.980 He's stubborn.

00:28:14.600 He's dense. 1.00

00:28:15.940 He's foolish. 1.00

00:28:17.580 He's stubborn and he's arrogant. 1.00

00:28:20.580 And he's staying outside 0.96

00:28:22.400 in accordance with his will

00:28:25.040 as he wastes away from thirst,

00:28:28.100 from hunger,

00:28:28.760 as he's tired from standing all day,

00:28:32.060 as he's beaten down by the heat of the sun

00:28:35.680 and longing for water.

00:28:39.240 But the master, see for the Christian,

00:28:42.380 the master, what he'll do is he doesn't just leave you.

00:28:45.640 See, part of God's judgment is a handing over.

00:28:47.800 See, this completely contradicts.

00:28:49.880 It's a complete perfect contrast to Romans 1. 0.69

00:28:52.700 Romans 1 is that God hands the unbeliever

00:28:55.680 over further and further to their sin. 0.97

00:28:58.520 And that's not God not judging a person.

00:29:00.380 That is his judgment.

00:29:01.560 His judgment is progressively handing people over further to their sin. 1.00

00:29:05.100 But the mule, that is the unconfessing Christian, truly has been born again, 0.99

00:29:10.000 but right now is actively choosing not to confess their sin. 0.97

00:29:12.780 For the Christian, notice God doesn't hand them over further to their sin. 0.93

00:29:17.200 Because he owns them. 0.58

00:29:19.140 The Christian belongs to God. 1.00

00:29:22.860 You're his inheritance.

00:29:24.480 You're his asset.

00:29:25.960 He's not going to let you perish, even if that's what you want.

00:29:28.360 Tough luck. Too bad.

00:29:30.500 You're not your own. You were bought with a price.

00:29:32.740 You belong to the master. You're not your mule. You're his.

00:29:36.120 And so he puts a bit and bridle in your mouth, 0.83

00:29:38.400 and he yanks you into the stable, whether you like it or not.

00:29:42.300 And he causes you to drink water, and he causes you to be fed,

00:29:45.360 and he causes you to lie down like sheep. 0.86

00:29:47.880 Sheep have to be forced. Lie down.

00:29:50.960 Here's still water.

00:29:52.320 and that's what god does with his own that's what the father does with his own he doesn't leave us

00:30:00.260 he doesn't forsake us he doesn't give up on us but brothers and sisters the message of psalm 32 is

00:30:05.140 this don't force his hand will he do that for you if you are his child yes but he should never have

00:30:13.840 to come to him quickly when he can be found don't be the mule staying out in the heat

00:30:21.700 forcing him to come and get you

00:30:24.220 with a bit and bridle

00:30:26.800 and pulling you in.

00:30:28.500 No, come to him.

00:30:30.700 Come quickly. 1.00

00:30:32.200 Come wholly, W-H-O-L. 1.00

00:30:34.660 Don't come wholly without the W 1.00

00:30:36.380 because you're not wholly.

00:30:38.420 Come fully, wholly.

00:30:40.480 Come fully to him

00:30:41.820 to make you wholly.

00:30:43.920 To forgive you of all your sins.

00:30:46.080 The last thing I want to say is this.

00:30:47.220 In a technical theological sense,

00:30:48.740 for the Christian,

00:30:49.900 for the Christian,

00:30:50.520 in our text it's very clear verse 6 and verse 5 especially david said so i confess my sin to the

00:30:57.360 lord and he forgave my transgression if we're not careful first john chapter 1 verse 9 seems to

00:31:03.720 to convey the same the same message and if we're not careful what we'll read from that at a quick

00:31:09.600 glance without being thorough is this i need to confess then god will forgive and that is not

00:31:16.620 biblical. Not for the Christian. For the Christian, all forgiveness of sin, complete and perfect 0.97

00:31:25.380 parting for all past, present, and future sins is accomplished by Christ on the cross and fully

00:31:34.820 applied to the Christian at the moment of conversion, at the moment of salvation. So we don't need to

00:31:41.520 confess our sin as Christians to the Lord

00:31:43.640 in order to receive forgiveness

00:31:46.000 in an objective sense.

00:31:50.320 What we need to do is confess our sin to the Lord

00:31:52.600 to receive his forgiveness in the subjective sense.

00:31:55.520 Meaning, we are forgiven

00:31:57.360 even before we confess.

00:32:00.600 But the problem is when we don't confess,

00:32:02.720 we don't feel forgiven.

00:32:04.440 You don't.

00:32:06.320 You fall underneath fatherly displeasure.

00:32:08.760 He's still your dad.

00:32:10.100 You're still atoned for.

00:32:11.520 You're still forgiven.

00:32:13.800 What's the problem?

00:32:15.080 Objectively, theologically, everything's good.

00:32:18.320 But subjectively, everything is out of line.

00:32:22.360 Everything has fallen apart.

00:32:24.500 Instead of fatherly pleasure, it's fatherly displeasure.

00:32:28.320 Instead of a sense of peace and joy and forgiveness

00:32:30.680 and a lightness of conscience and heart,

00:32:33.500 there's a heaviness and a weight and a feeling

00:32:36.080 as though the Father doesn't love you.

00:32:38.840 and you make yourself a target,

00:32:41.680 you become so vulnerable in times

00:32:43.540 where we conceal our sin,

00:32:45.040 you make yourself vulnerable

00:32:47.160 to the enemy's condemnation.

00:32:50.540 And not only the enemy's.

00:32:52.100 According to 1 John elsewhere,

00:32:53.780 you make yourself vulnerable

00:32:54.820 to your own heart's condemnation.

00:32:57.980 1 John talks about when your own heart condemns us.

00:33:02.080 In my experience, the chief times

00:33:03.860 where my heart condemns me

00:33:05.120 are the times when I have not yet confessed my sin.

00:33:08.840 so all that being said confess your sin fully and quickly to the lord when he can be found

00:33:16.260 when can he be found now whatever moment it is do it then don't delay don't wait don't put it off

00:33:23.220 he may not be found later because you may not be found later but he can be found now go quickly

00:33:29.320 and go fully don't reserve don't minimize because by minimizing you are disagreeing with what god

00:33:36.500 says about sin. He says it's serious. If you minimize, you're saying it's not serious, meaning

00:33:40.640 you're saying, God, you're wrong, aka you're a liar. And the word of God is not in you, according 0.89

00:33:46.920 to 1 John, meaning it's not thriving within you. It's not living within you because you're suppressing

00:33:52.060 the truth of God's word and fostering lies. And what happens when you do that? The very word of

00:34:00.680 God within you is the source of what gives you life and peace and joy. And so your experience is

00:34:05.520 precisely the image that David gives us in verse three and four, you begin to waste away, to wither

00:34:12.180 heavy, miserable, underneath the conviction of the Lord. Still your father, objectively,

00:34:21.780 still forgiven, objectively, still atoned for, objectively.

00:34:27.700 But in every sense that you can feel and experience, it's precisely the opposite.

00:34:33.680 he doesn't feel like your father because you've displeased him and you won't go to him

00:34:38.800 you don't feel forgiven because you haven't asked for forgiveness and confessed your sin

00:34:45.280 you don't feel peace because you're not at peace his hand is heavy upon you so let me conclude by

00:34:52.480 just reading a little bit of this first paragraph of my notes because it was the best part that i

00:34:56.200 wrote and i haven't used any of it so i'll just use this part the focus of psalm 32 verses one

00:35:01.780 through five is confession forgiveness and communion it's the restoration of relationship

00:35:06.180 get that brothers and sisters you confess your sins what to be forgiven in an objective sense

00:35:10.820 nope you're forgiven from the moment of salvation but to sense and experience the forgiveness of

00:35:15.520 god in the subjective sense and here's the other thing forgiveness is not the end it's a means to

00:35:20.280 it see this is one area where reformers we we constantly get it wrong right justification

00:35:26.340 justification right we're always talking about the gospel justification salvation grace alone

00:35:30.860 you know, through faith alone and Christ alone.

00:35:32.880 Yes, yes, yes.

00:35:33.520 But all that's a means to an end.

00:35:36.240 One of the people who reminded me of this

00:35:38.740 recently was actually Stacey. 0.98

00:35:40.940 Stacey actually does a really good job

00:35:42.640 of reminding me that it's not just justification,

00:35:45.920 the doctrine of justification.

00:35:47.520 It's being justified so that we might

00:35:50.460 commune with Christ.

00:35:52.920 It's not just forgiveness.

00:35:55.020 So our text doesn't end with forgiveness.

00:35:56.780 It's not step one, confess.

00:35:58.400 step two, feel a sense of forgiveness. No, step one, confess. Step two, feel forgiveness so that

00:36:05.140 sweetness of communion, sweetness of intimacy, sweetness of relationship is restored through

00:36:12.820 father and son. That's what we're going for. That's the goal. In Psalm 32 verses one through

00:36:21.920 two, we see that the forgiven man is a blessed man. He's a happy man. Blessed is the one whose

00:36:27.540 transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, blesses the man against whom the Lord counts no

00:36:32.620 iniquity, meaning he's not holding your sin against you, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. You're

00:36:38.260 not hiding and minimizing. In Psalm 32, verse 5, we're provided with the method, the remedy, the cure

00:36:43.900 for attaining forgiveness, the sense, subjective sense of forgiveness, and restored relationship,

00:36:49.520 communion. It's this, I acknowledge my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity. To confess our sin

00:36:55.040 is not merely to inform God of our sin.

00:36:57.040 He's omniscient.

00:36:58.200 He knows all things.

00:36:59.060 He doesn't need any information.

00:37:00.680 Therefore, to confess our sin is to acknowledge,

00:37:03.920 that is, agree with what God says

00:37:05.520 about the severity of our sin.

00:37:07.140 It's to accept responsibility for our sin

00:37:09.380 and earnestly desire the necessary grace required

00:37:12.440 to turn from it.

00:37:13.960 Tragically, there are many, even in the church,

00:37:16.940 who have attempted to redefine,

00:37:18.920 this is the opposite of what we should do,

00:37:21.560 redefine their own failures in such a way

00:37:23.660 that they are absolved of any real sense of moral responsibility. See, these individuals will go to

00:37:28.540 great lengths in order to reconstruct narratives in the minds of all those around them so that

00:37:34.120 someone else is always at fault. Instead of acknowledging their sin, they claim that their

00:37:39.200 only true fault was allowing toxic people into their lives. Usually, insert as an example of

00:37:45.920 toxic person, an abusive leader. An abusive leader. Oh, this leader was abusive. I think he might have

00:37:50.780 been abusive, an abusive leader. Why is that so popular right now? Because the church is, for the

00:37:58.120 first time, really began to take seriously the biblical qualifications for elders to not be

00:38:03.160 domineering. Nope. Nope, that's not why. It's not the church leading the way through scripture,

00:38:08.960 it's the church following the culture that's being led by Me Too, that's being led by critical race

00:38:12.900 theory. Critical race theory, just take away the R, right? It ultimately comes from critical theory. 0.55

00:38:17.640 Somebody needs to write a book one day, maybe I'll do critical church theory.

00:38:20.780 Because critical race theory is just, as it pertains to ethnicity, subdividing people into

00:38:26.060 intersections, into groups of oppressors and oppressed. And who's the oppressor? Always

00:38:32.020 whoever is seen in society at that time to have power. So now take it away from race and apply it

00:38:37.820 to the church. Not critical race theory, critical church theory. Not CRT, CCT. What would be the

00:38:45.840 group that has power. In a church that's becoming more and more like the culture, that's accepting

00:38:51.800 these false narratives, who, if they begin to apply those kinds of categories to their community,

00:38:58.620 their church setting, who's the group with power? It's the church leaders. It's the elders. It's

00:39:05.100 especially the lead pastor. That's got to be the oppressor. And no, that wasn't conviction and

00:39:11.600 and courage that was abusive and domineering.

00:39:15.920 And now all the things that I did that were actually wrong,

00:39:18.760 that I was corrected for, I'm off the hook.

00:39:23.380 I didn't actually do those things.

00:39:25.120 I was forced to do it.

00:39:26.200 Really, my only failure, my only failure is we should have confronted him.

00:39:31.240 That was our failure is that over years we let him get away with his sin,

00:39:34.380 and that's our sin.

00:39:35.600 See, that's not a confession.

00:39:37.540 See, nobody, see, 1 John 1, verse 10,

00:39:40.340 But if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

00:39:44.120 Listen, it's not that simple.

00:39:46.380 That's the principle.

00:39:48.080 But you have to be discerning.

00:39:50.000 No one says, no one says we have not sinned in such plain terms.

00:39:55.600 No one.

00:39:57.320 Because it's an impossible narrative to sustain.

00:40:02.140 So what do you do instead?

00:40:04.500 What that actually means, 1 John 1.10, what it actually means is this.

00:40:08.100 it's not that someone literally says we have not sinned with us who could say that with a straight

00:40:12.140 face without bursting out laughing it's a joke it's a joke so so what what is actually said

00:40:18.220 what what line is actually used i've never really said okay pitiful preacher chief of sinners chief

00:40:27.540 of sinners chief of sinners must be a lot of sin could you give me an example well chief just chief

00:40:32.320 of sinners. And man, we really, we feel convicted. We feel bad. We feel guilty. We really, for years,

00:40:39.120 we sinned in this community by what? By not confronting and correcting the real sinner, 0.96

00:40:47.520 the real oppressor, the one who had the power, the one who had the power, the one who was in 0.96

00:40:54.080 charge, the leader. That's critical church theory. Alive and well. Alive and well. I mean, one of the

00:41:00.720 big reasons why Mike Stone didn't win the presidency for the SBC is because of a Twitter

00:41:05.760 a Twitter ploy engaged against him because he talked to a woman who approached him and he was

00:41:12.380 busy in between different things he needed to get to other things in between the sessions she came

00:41:16.580 up to him she was an abuse survivor and I believe that's probably true but I have to say alleged

00:41:22.080 because I don't know all the facts but it's probably true she wasn't abused by him but she

00:41:26.980 went and talked to him he he was there his wife was right next to him talking to some other people

00:41:31.340 she overheard the whole thing he was kind he was gentle by every eyewitness testimony by his own

00:41:37.160 wife and people were nearby but but then he moved on to go talk to someone and quickly afterwards

00:41:41.640 she started crying and if there's anything that I've learned especially as a man in our egalitarian

00:41:46.280 feministic world I learned very early on my dad taught me this actually I remember one time

00:41:51.620 confronting a girl and I probably didn't do it exactly right but she cried and multiple people 0.66

00:41:56.000 in the church were upset with me. And I remember my dad said, when it comes to women, when they cry,

00:42:00.900 they win. And you just have to learn that lesson. He was right. When they cry, they win. So this 1.00

00:42:05.480 woman cried. And Mike Stone got plastered as, he's not like Christ. He doesn't care for the woman

00:42:13.020 caught in adultery. Do we really want, see, he's not, what is it? He's not empathetic. He may be

00:42:19.360 really conservative and courageous, but what the SBC needs is an empathetic leader, right? That's

00:42:24.740 that's the church largest protestant denomination leading the culture no that's the church literally

00:42:29.820 one year after following the culture that's literally what literally exactly what happened

00:42:35.180 down to even the percentages of who won the vote exactly what happened with pagans in our nation

00:42:41.760 in 2020 was mirrored precisely to the t by the sbc a year later in 2021 no difference what's the

00:42:51.540 difference, right? It's like, how many people does it take to screw on a light bulb? Here's a joke

00:42:55.820 for you. What's the difference between the Southern Baptist Convention and America as a whole? Nothing.

00:43:02.660 Nothing. Not a thing. We need an empathetic leader. An empathetic leader.

00:43:12.800 And that's what happens. And I want you to see this in real terms. Critical race theory,

00:43:16.940 critical church theory. Either way, this is how it plays out. This is how the enemy

00:43:21.360 deceives. And people believe it. People believe it because here's the deal. The person who gets

00:43:28.100 scapegoated, the person who gets blamed, they're usually sent away. Somehow, someway. Maybe they

00:43:36.940 choose to go. You never know the full story, but they're sent away. And so their narrative isn't

00:43:41.580 heard. It's only the people who won. History is written by the victors. That's their whole ploy

00:43:49.780 with. America is like, well, American history makes America look really good, but that's just

00:43:53.120 because America is an oppressive, colonizing, you know, dominant imperialistic force that, you know,

00:43:59.600 wins all of its battles, you know, and so they get to write the history books. But there is a sense

00:44:04.080 of truth in that. The people who win, the people who stay, they're the ones who get to select the

00:44:09.040 narrative. And if you repeat it enough times, and there's no one, right, one is thought wise,

00:44:14.420 Proverbs 18, one is thought wise until another cross-examines him. But if there is no one else

00:44:18.800 to cross-examine. If every eyewitness who actually could, they actually have the information to

00:44:23.560 cross-examine, are gone, then your narrative reigns supreme. And ultimately, the result is this.

00:44:31.000 I'm a pitiful preacher. I'm the chief of sinners. And I have sinned. And the one example of sin

00:44:36.980 that I'll ever give is my failure to correct this other guy's sin who's a lot more sinful than me.

00:44:42.520 that is to conceal sin that is to make god out to be a liar his bones will be broken

00:44:50.660 a man like that his bones will begin to break within he is heavy underneath god's hand 0.96

00:45:00.660 parched don't be that man that's a mule that man is a mule he's a donkey he's a horse

00:45:08.320 But if he belongs to Jesus, because God is so merciful, God will by force take that man with bit and bridle and bring him in to fellowship.

00:45:19.820 But it will hurt.

00:45:22.320 Don't confess to the Lord because he squeezes it out of you.

00:45:26.420 It's painful.

00:45:27.760 It's long.

00:45:30.020 It's miserable.

00:45:32.240 Go to the Lord in prayer.

00:45:35.100 Specifically a prayer of confession of sin.

00:45:37.360 when he can be found. Today, today is the day of salvation, that sense of forgiveness and all that

00:45:47.480 to the chief end, which is communion. To be seated back at the father's table, eating of his banquet,

00:45:55.240 laughing with him, enjoying him in restored relationship with your God.

00:46:01.620 Thanks so much for listening. But real quick, before you go, do us a small favor, take a moment

00:46:06.620 and leave us a five-star review if you enjoyed the show.

00:46:10.040 This is undoubtedly the best way

00:46:12.380 that you can help us get this biblically faithful content

00:46:15.280 to as many people as possible.

00:46:17.440 Thanks so much.

The NXR Podcast - August 28, 2022

SUNDAY SERMON - The Dangers Of Minimizing Sin ｜ Psalm 32

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