Owning Your Own Sin

Driving home: Every true Christian is going to attain perfection. Our gripe with the perfectionist is the timing of the issue. And every true Christian has perfection as his goal. If you have anything less than perfection as your goal…

The enemy of souls has thrown 'great clouds of confusion' over the church regarding sin, leading to errors like perfectionism, positionalism, antinomianism, and legalism, which prevent scriptural dealing with sin.

For the way fellowship is maintained with God is by walking in the light as he is in the light, and one of the aspects of walking in the light is dealing with the intrusion of darkness and dealing with it God's way. And it's at this point that the enemy of our souls has thrown great clouds of confusion over the professing Christian church, first of all by leading some people into the error of what we termed perfectionism, where they feel you can get beyond neediness, needing to pray Psalm 51. And they would think it a terrible thing for a preacher to spend many weeks teaching people how to pra...

0:35 - 1:51 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin discusses the non-linear, heart-broken nature of the psalm's structure, noting a general division between David's confession and plea for restoration (verses 1-12) and his…

A man smarting under conviction of sin doesn't create a logical outline for his confession; rather, his broken heart pours out before God, focusing on God and the sin, not structure.

If you're trying to outline it, you'd run into some trouble, because generally a man who's smarting and wincing under conviction of sin doesn't sit down and say, well, as I make my confession, I shall have point one, point two, point three, A under one, B under... No, usually when a man's heart is broken, you won't find the same kind of logical progression of thought that you'll find when a man is teaching, at least that you ought to find when he's teaching, let's say it that way.

5:13 - 5:41 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin discusses the non-linear, heart-broken nature of the psalm's structure, noting a general division between David's confession and plea for restoration (verses 1-12) and his…

Psalm 51 is described as God allowing us to 'put our ear up to the heart of a man who's broken before God,' emphasizing its raw, emotional authenticity.

And so there isn't a real hard, fast outline of this psalm, as you find in some of the other psalms, for the simple reason that this is, as we said last week, this is God allowing us to put our ear up to the heart of a man who's broken before God. And when a man is broken, he's not thinking about outlines and alliterations. He's thinking about the God before whom he's broken and the sin. Over which he is broken.

5:41 - 6:08 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second principle is David's acknowledgment that the sin was his own, the product of his 'own wicked heart,' without blaming circumstances, Bathsheba, or heredity. This section…

James's vivid imagery of lust receiving the 'seed of temptation,' conceiving, gestating, and bringing forth 'sin' as a 'full-grown baby' that then 'kills' (becomes a murderer) illustrates the progression of sin from within.

But every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and entice. And when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it's finished, bringeth forth death. This is a very vivid picture.

14:37 - 14:56 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin illustrates the human tendency to transfer responsibility by detailing Adam's response to God in Genesis 3, where he blamed Eve and, implicitly, God. He applies this to…

The story of Adam's sin in Genesis 3 is used as an extended example of the human tendency to transfer blame, with Adam blaming Eve and, implicitly, God for giving him Eve, rather than simply confessing his own disobedience.

That's why we're so smart. Notice with you for a moment in Genesis chapter 3. We read in chapter 2 the clear command of God. The clear command of God in Genesis chapter 2, verse 17, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

18:17 - 18:43 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But David was not content with the word of forgiveness alone. He longed to experience the communication of that forgiveness by the living God. It wasn't enough to have the word of forgiveness from Nathan. David went into…

An analogy of a husband being 'nasty' to his wife and seeking not only her 'word of forgiveness' but also the 'experience of a restored relationship' illustrates the difference between legal forgiveness and experiential restoration with God.

You see, our dealing with God is not merely a legal matter in which he juggles the books of heaven. A true Christian is dealing with God on a personal basis. And though it's infinitely above any human relationship, it is not basically different from human relationships. Let me illustrate.

38:42 - 39:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Be willing to wait patiently on God for the experience of restoration, understanding that He may have things to teach you in that period.

The modern desire for instant gratification, like pushing a button for a computer, is contrasted with the need to 'wait on God' for forgiveness and restoration, highlighting a cultural impatience with spiritual processes.

I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of an horrible pit and out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and I fear and trust in the Lord. Generally speaking if we are going to compare Scripture with Scripture, this waiting patiently upon the Lord is the activity of a child of God, who is in a particular circumstance in which he senses his desperate need of the intervention of God. And he's laid his case before God and he's spread it out discouraged, if when the best of your knowledge you've honestly confessed sin before the Lord a...

43:45 - 45:04 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are not desperate enough to clear out 'junk' from your life (e.g., newspaper, 11 o'clock news) and get alone with God in the closet, there will be no spiritual reality in your public life.

Holy and useful men like David Brainerd, Henry Martyn, and Robert Murray M'Cheyne are cited as examples of those who learned the 'secret of waiting for His restoring influence,' contrasting them with 'claiming activists' who rush through prayer.

Well, you're not dealing with a button. You're dealing with God. You're dealing with a person, the living God. God may have some things to teach you in that period of waiting. God may have some things to say. God may try your faith in His promises. I don't understand the workings of this. But I see it in Psalm 51 that the whole climate of that psalm, as David thinks of forgiveness and restoration, is not a climate of claiming and running out of the presence of God. It's a climate of pleading and waiting patiently in the presence of God for forgiveness and for restoration. I don't understand it...

45:14 - 46:00 Read in full sermon