How the Saved Shall Not Prosper.

Introduction to the Series and Text

0:10 Welcome to God's Word to Our Nation with Pastor Albert N. Martin. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God and that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. We are presently airing a series of messages from Proverbs 28 and verse 13.

0:31 He that covers his sin shall not prosper, but whoso confesses and forsakes them shall obtain mercy. At the conclusion, we will give you some information about the church that sponsors this broadcast in your area. Join us now as we listen to Pastor Martin on God's Word to Our Nation. The book of Proverbs chapter 28 and verse 13.

1:04 He that covereth his transgressions shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall obtain mercy. Shall obtain mercy.

Review: The Unconverted and Covering Sin

1:17 Having sought to open up from this text and then relating other portions of the Word of God to the text, we have sought to understand what it means to cover sin in a sinful way, the various ways in which the human heart devises coverings for its sin, and we are now occupied with seeking to understand the results and to understand the consequences. We have sought to understand the root causes of the sin, and to understand the root causes of the sin, and to understand the root causes of the sin, as described in this text in the few words, shall not prosper. And our application then of the text in its truth was primarily to those who are not in a state of grace. As we sought this morning to understand what it means when God says to the unconverted who cover their sins that they shall not prosper, we saw from the scriptures that this meant at least a number of things. of very frightening things. It means that they shall not prosper now, nor shall they prosper in the future. They shall not prosper. They will know nothing of a pacified conscience through the

2:29 blood of Christ, nothing of the peculiar joys of the people of God. And then in the future, they shall die without the comforts of Christ, go to judgment without the protection of Christ, and pass into the everlasting state without the presence of Christ to become what I called in the exposition this morning, an eternal exposition of the meaning of the text, he that covereth his transgressions shall not prosper. Well, having demonstrated how it is that the unconverted who cover their sins do not and cannot prosper, it is only right that we should see something of the application of this text to the eternal life of Christ. To the people of God, for it is a tragic reality that the people of God are also involved in this dastardly work of making coverings for their sins. But as we introduce the subject, it's important that you understand what I mean when I say the application of the text to the people of God.

Defining 'The People of God'

3:35 And so the first thing I want to do is very briefly to describe what I mean by the people of God. When I say that our concern is to understand what this text says by way of application to a specific group of individuals called the people of God, what do I mean? Well, I mean nothing less than those who are born of God, those who in the language of the Apostle Paul have been made new creatures through union with Christ Jesus. I am not speaking of those who have merely made a profession of faith in Christ. I am speaking of those who have made a profession of faith in Christ. I am not speaking of those who have merely made a profession of faith in Christ, who have merely conformed to a religious heritage that has brought them into proximity to the ways and laws and people of Christ. Nor am I referring to those who simply engage in a certain number of religious duties that are connected with the church of Christ. When I use the term the people of God, I mean nothing more or less than those men and women, boys and girls, who by the work of the Spirit through the Word have been brought to a conscious awareness of what they are by nature,

4:50 lost, rebel, guilty, undone sinners, who by the same Spirit and the same Word, who have been brought to that glorious discovery of God's way of pardoning sinners through the work of Jesus Christ, and by the same Word and Spirit, not only have they made that discovery of their need, that discovery of their need, but also have they made that discovery of their need of the of God's remedy for the need in Christ, but they have been brought in the language of Acts 20.21 to deep inward repentance towards God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. They have, in the words quoted earlier, been constituted new creatures in Christ Jesus. Now that's what I mean by the people of God, because that's what the scripture means when it speaks of the people of God. Now it is to such people, those who have had the implantation of a principle that commits them to righteousness and holiness, those who have the beginnings of God's mighty work in conforming them to the moral likeness of Jesus Christ, it is such people who are the recipients of such mercies, who have such a glorious destiny that shame of shames are yet guilty.

The Forfeiture of Access to God in Prayer

6:12 Of covering their sins. And whenever they do, the people of God will find this text coming down upon them with inescapable authority. He that covereth his sins, even though he be a child of God, shall not prosper. I want you to conceive of some of the ways in which the child of God does not prosper when he covers sin under the concept of forfeiture.

6:43 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 against the law of God, he does not prosper. He does not prosper when he does not immediately flee for cleansing to the blood of Christ, and renewing and quickening by the Spirit of Christ. One of the first ways in which he no longer prospers is precisely here.

The Privilege of Prayer and Its Condition

7:58 There is the forfeiture of access to God in prayer. No privilege of the child of God is of greater worth to him than the liberty of access to his God in prayer in the Spirit of God. The Apostle says in Galatians chapter 4, we have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, that is, Father. And one of the surest marks that you're a true Christian is that when I say there is no privilege of greater worth to a Christian than the privilege of access to God in prayer, your heart leaps out and says a spontaneous, Amen, it is so. What is wealth, what is health, if there is a brassy heaven. But if there is an open heaven, so that when we pray we are conscious of having access to God, entering into that most intimate form of communion possible to the sons of men here upon this earth, we are conscious of the unspeakable privilege of that access. But, and here we must be careful to understand the teaching of the Word of God, we must be careful to understand the teaching of the Word of God,

9:18 though the ground of this access is outside of us in Jesus Christ, the condition of that access is a good conscience within us. The ground of our access is outside of us in Christ, but the condition of that access is within us in terms of a good conscience. Turn, please, to 1 John chapter 3. The first epistle of John, and chapter 3, verse 21.

10:01 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God, and whatsoever we ask we receive of him because, here is a cause-effect relationship, whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we are keeping him. We are obeying his commandments, and we are doing the things that are pleasing in his sight. You see what John is saying? John is not saying that we have built up a certain amount of merit by our obedience that now makes our obedience the ground of our access to God in prayer. No.

10:47 Remember, it is John who recorded the words of Jesus, I am the way, the truth, the light, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. It is John who said we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is propitiation for our sins. No, John has not forgotten his theology of the objective provisions for sinners being found in Christ and in the work of Christ, but John is saying there is an inward personal condition if that access is to be enjoyed. And here it is.

Covering Sin Hinders Prayer

11:24 If our heart condemn us not, If our heart condemn us not, We have boldness towards God, and whatsoever we ask, we receive, because we are keeping His commandments. What is the opposite of keeping His commandments? Well, surely it is covering our sin. For whenever sin or transgression is detected in a believer, the commandment of God comes home to his conscience that he is to confess that sin.

11:51 He is to turn from it. He is to acknowledge it before his God and seek cleansing in the blood of Christ. Therefore, when our text says, he that covers his sin shall not prosper, in its application to the child of God, it is saying this. Child of God, when you transgress, and rather than go through whatever kind of spiritual agony is necessary to come to true confession before God, and where necessary before man, anything short of that, you are not going to be able to confess that sin.

12:23 You are not going to be able to confess that sin. If you are covering your sin, and covering your sin, you will not prosper. There will be the forfeiture of access to God in prayer. The psalmist stated it in those well-known words in Psalm 66 and verse 18.

12:39 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.

13:00 I throw the covering of a lie. I throw the covering of refusing to drag it out into the blazing light of the law and of the gospel. If I regard iniquity, if I count an iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. I did not say that God will paralyze a Christian's tongue so that he cannot say prayers.

13:24 Many of us have gone to our closets many times to say our prayers, but there's been no access. There's been no experimental communion with God. Why? Because God is going to be true to his word.

13:39 He that covereth his sin shall not prosper. And because we have covered sin in regard to iniquity, God has refused us the blessing of access.

Living Monuments of Covered Sin

13:53 There is no Christian who's walked with God for any length of time at all. There is no Christian who does not know to his bitterness how real this is. He attempts to draw near to God and do something more than say his prayers. He wants to engage God in prayer.

14:09 He wants access.

14:13 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.

14:27 There's been some very... Very fancy footwork as you've rewoven your lies, as you've spun out that very clever shifting of responsibility, but you're covering your sin, and you're a living monument to this text.

14:43 Shall not prosper. Why? For some of you it's been weeks and months since you've had the access to God in prayer that you once knew in the past.

14:57 And now you say your prayers, but you have no access. Why? Why? Because God...

15:03 God's word is true. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper. Child of God, this text is for our warning. Is anything worth the forfeiture of access to God in prayer?

15:20 Is anything worth that?

15:24 Not if you've tasted it.

The Forfeiture of Joy and Peace in the Holy Ghost

15:27 In the second place, it will not only be the forfeiture of access to God in prayer, there will be, as fulfillment of this text, the forfeiture of joy... of joy and peace in the Holy Ghost.

15:42 Next to love, these are the great fruit of the Spirit. Or the great fruits, Galatians 5.22. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy...

15:58 See how they're put at the top of the list? You find a similar centrality of emphasis in a passage such as Romans 14 and verse 17, as the Apostle is treating the whole subject of things in different ways. And what a Christian ought to do with things that are not clearly condemned by the law of God. And in this setting, the things were external matters, and the Apostle wants to inject a principle that ought to govern all such discussion.

16:25 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? There is the forfeiture of that joy and peace of the Holy Spirit. A classic example is given to us in the history of King David. The David whose psalms are full of the joy and peace, which are the hallmark of those in the kingdom of righteousness, what happens to those commodities that are found again and again and again in psalm after psalm?

David's Example: Misery from Covered Sin

17:49 When David sins, we find in the language of Psalm 32 that there is the forfeiture of this joy and peace in the Holy Ghost. Notice the language of Psalm 32, one of David's great penitential psalms. In the first two verses he speaks of the blessedness of those whose sin has been covered by God. But then he reflects upon the misery of those who cover their own sins and who will not confess and forsake them.

18:21 And notice how vigorous is the language, verse 3. When I kept silence, there was not confession. There was not that agreeing with God about the heinous nature of my sin. There was casting over it a cloak of silence and rationalization.

18:40 When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture was changed as with the drought of summer. You see what he says?

19:00 In place of joy and peace in the Holy Ghost, there was misery and disturbance and inward disruption of the soul. That he describes his condition in the language, groaning all the day long. All you need to do is to hear a person groan once in a day and that's enough to help you never to forget it. The groan of pain or of disappointment or the news of tragedy.

19:27 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.

19:51 What happened? He sinned. And instead of confessing and forsaking his sin, he covered it. And in covering it, God fulfilled his word.

20:03 He that covereth his sin shall not prosper. And so he forfeited joy and peace in the Holy Ghost. 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.

False Peace vs. True Restoration

20:27 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.

20:52 And as one of their writers said, it will be like having gin in your orange juice. And they talk about the tingles down the spine and when someone laid hands upon them, the feeling of liquid love flowing over them. My friend, where is the dealing with sin? No, no.

21:14 If you forfeited joy and peace because of sin, there is no way to its restoration. But to go to the place where the spirit of joy and peace was grieved and withdrew the communications of those blessed commodities and having dealt with those points of controversy, plead that the Spirit will impart those graces again. Isn't that Psalm 51? Look at the language of it.

21:43 Having owned his sin and not until then, mark it, not until then, the first seven verses are preoccupied with the reality and the ugliness and the guilt of sin. My sin, he says, my guilt, my wickedness, my uncleanness. Now he dares to say, verse 8, make me to hear joy and gladness. O Lord, it was my sin that brought the forfeiture of joy in the Holy Ghost.

22:20 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.

22:58 Now false peace can be conjured up by the flesh as well as promoted by false prophets. You just read the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah's great complaint was every time he tried to tell the people you've got peace, but it's not peace that is kissing righteousness. The false prophets came along and in the language of Jeremiah said, peace, peace, when there is no true peace.

23:20 You better fear peace and joy that are divorced from righteousness as much as you fear hell itself. He that covers his sin shall not prosper. Child of God, what sin is worth the broken bones of forfeited peace? If the joy of the Lord is our strength in the language of Nehemiah, then the absence of that joy is our weakness.

Call to Confession and Mercy

23:53 What sin is worth being so weak, so crippled? Oh, I plead with you, young people, adults, say the Lord, hear the word of God from the lips or from the pen of Solomon. He that covereth his sin shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh and shall, shall, shall obtain mercy, mercy with its tap roots in God's eternal love, mercy that flows through the wounds of Christ, mercy that is now available in the promise of Christ, in the living exalted Christ. Seek him.

24:36 Seek the mercy that is to be found in him. That brings us to the conclusion of this week's broadcast. Our speaker has been Pastor Albert N. Martin, and you've been listening to God's Word to Our Nation.

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