How the Saved Shall Not Prosper.

The point: When you sin, particularly transgressions, immediately flee for cleansing to the blood of Christ and renewing by the Spirit of Christ.

The concept of 'forfeiture' is defined as giving up something due to a fault, illustrating how covering sin leads to relinquishing access to God in prayer.

I fished for some time for a word that would most powerfully and clearly set forth the teaching of the word of God, and the word that I was fixed upon is the word forfeiture. Now when you forfeit something, you give up or relinquish something because of a crime, a fault, or neglect. And so when the child of God covers his sin, his non-prospering is seen primarily as a sin. He does not prosper when he covers his sins because he comes to the forfeiture of access to God in prayer. When the child of God sins, particularly in the area of transgression, and conscious of his area of transgression aga...

6:43 - 7:58 Read in full sermon

The point: When you transgress, go through the spiritual agony necessary to come to true confession before God, and where necessary, before man.

Describes covering sin as throwing a 'blanket of rationalization' or 'covering of shifted responsibility' over it, refusing to expose it to God's light.

If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. If I regard, that is, if I count an iniquity, I am conscious of its presence, but I think of it as a sin. I throw the blanket of rationalization over it. I throw the covering of shifted responsibility.

12:39 - 13:00 Read in full sermon

The point: Consider if anything is worth the forfeiture of access to God in prayer.

Martin asks if listeners are 'living monuments' to the text, implying their current spiritual state (lack of prayer access) visibly demonstrates the truth of the sermon.

And every time he gets down to serious business, that sin that he's been covering moves before him. Are some of you living monuments of the text? You're covering sin. Oh yes, there's been some clever rationalization.

14:13 - 14:27 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second consequence for believers covering sin is the forfeiture of joy and peace in the Holy Ghost, which are central fruits of the Spirit and characteristics of God's kingdom.

David's experience in Psalm 32 is used as a historical example of how covering sin led to the forfeiture of joy and peace, described through his groaning and spiritual drought.

So he says in Romans 14 and verse 17, For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. It does not consist in these external things, but righteousness and peace, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. You see, the predominant characteristic of those who have been introduced to the kingdom of God is that they stand on the ground of an imputed righteousness in the favor of God, and they have the inward delight of joy and peace imparted by the Holy Ghost. Now, when the child of the kingdom transgresses, and does not flee to Christ for cleansing, and have his conscience sprinkled anew, what happens? ...

16:25 - 17:49 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Mark it well. No true joy and peace will ever be found but in the way of righteousness and the true penitence that leads to righteousness.

David's condition is described as his 'moisture was changed as with the drought of summer,' leading to 'dry sobs of a broken spirit,' illustrating the profound misery of unconfessed sin.

He said he groaned the entire day. And so opposite was the state of his soul to joy that he said his moisture was changed as with the drought of summer. And the man cries himself until there are no more tears. He has nothing but the dry sobs of a broken spirit.

19:27 - 19:51 Read in full sermon

The point: If you have forfeited joy and peace because of sin, there is no way to its restoration but to deal with the points of controversy and plead for the Spirit to impart those graces again.

Martin critiques modern movements that claim spiritual experiences (like 'gin in your orange juice' or 'liquid love') without dealing with sin, contrasting this with true, repentance-based joy.

Now there is a false peace and a false joy that bypasses an honest dealing with sin. This is one of my major complaints against modern movements that claim to have a corner on the work of the Holy Spirit and get people all happy and joyous. They do not deal with sin. Seek and experience.

20:27 - 20:52 Read in full sermon

The point: If you have forfeited joy and peace because of sin, there is no way to its restoration but to deal with the points of controversy and plead for the Spirit to impart those graces again.

Trying to find joy by 'chucking yourself under the chin with a hundred verses from a promise box' while covering sin is likened to making a mockery of God, emphasizing that true joy requires dealing with sin.

Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Then and only then does he pray for the restoration of joy. David knew that to seek the restoration of joy without dealing with the occasions of its forfeiture was to try to make mockery of God. And my friend, you can try to chuck yourself under the chin with a hundred verses from a promise box that is supposed to make you happy, but if you're covering sin, you shall not prosper in having true joy and peace in the Holy Ghost.

22:20 - 22:58 Read in full sermon