"Shall Not prosper"

Introduction: God's Law of Conferring Mercy

0:03 We return tonight to our study of one of the great texts in the book of Proverbs, the text which I have entitled, God's Law of Conferring Mercy, Proverbs 28 and verse 13. Proverbs 28, 13, in which Solomon writes, He that covereth his transgressions shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall obtain mercy.

0:42 I remind you that in introducing our study last week, I made the statement that there are certain principles of God's dealings with men that are so constantly applicable and so universally binding that we can call them laws of God's dealings with men. As the universe...

1:04 Universally prevalent and constantly applicable laws of gravity or forces of gravity can be called the laws of gravity. As there are certain laws of economics, so there are laws of God's dealings with men, fixed principles which can never be violated. Therefore, this text can rightly be called God's Law of Conferring Mercy because it makes a statement, concerning the manner in which and the people upon which God confers mercy in such a way that it is never violated.

1:45 We stated last week that though God is sovereign in the conferral of His mercy, He will show mercy upon whom He will show mercy, He is not capricious. He always creates a disposition fitting for the blessing of mercy. And as long as we are strangers to the disposition, we will be cut off from the blessing which is only given where that disposition is present. Last week we observed three general things about this law.

2:18 We saw that it was universally extensive, absolutely binding, and definitively applied. It has to do with the subject of transgression. That is sin which partakes of the nature of open rebellion against a known priesthood. That is the concept of the living God.

The Negative Statement: 'He that covereth his transgressions shall not prosper'

2:37 And I began an exposition of the negative statement of the text, for it divides itself into negative and positive. He that covereth his transgressions shall not prosper. We dealt with what does it mean to cover transgression. And it means basically, upon the knowledge of sin, upon the discovery of sin, to refuse a full, honest confession of that sin, a refusal to seek forgiveness God-ward and, where necessary, man-ward.

3:08 Anything short of the full biblical meaning of confessing and forsaking is an attempt to cover one's sins. And then we dealt with the second question, with what do men attempt to cover their sins? And we saw biblical examples of a number of ways in which men attempt to cover their transgressions. We saw the cloak of silence in Psalm 32, the cloak of transferal of guilt in Genesis 3, the cloak of rationalization in 1 Samuel 15, the covering of religious activity in Isaiah 58,

3:49 the covering of misconceptions of God in Psalm 50, and the covering of the framing of lies, seeing the examples of Cain and Joseph's brethren and many others. And at that point we ran out of time, and I simply quoted the third issue in the negative statement, what is the result of sin being covered? And I suggested just several lines of thought, and in meditating upon the text I felt that the statement warranted a full and more extensive exposition. Therefore tonight I shall attempt to open up the words, He that covereth his transgressions shall not prosper.

Meaning of 'Shall Not Prosper': Spiritual, Not Material

4:34 Having examined the issue, what does it mean to cover transgression? Secondly, with what do we cover transgression, we now come to the third question, what is the result of the covering of transgression? And the result is stated in these simple words, shall not prosper. And to think our way through the meaning and the implication of these words, we shall do three things.

5:01 We shall consider first of all the meaning of the words, shall not prosper. Secondly, how these words are fulfilled in the unconverted. Thirdly, how they are fulfilled in the child of God. First of all then, what do these words mean, shall not prosper?

5:21 When Solomon said, He that covers his transgressions shall not prosper, what did he mean? Or more accurately the question should be asked, what did the Holy Ghost mean when he conveyed these words through Solomon to us? Well, the word prosper itself is the general word in the Hebrew to show flourishing success. It's the word used to describe a man who fares well.

5:52 Look at several examples of the word in its common usage. We find in Genesis chapter 39, this use of the word. Genesis 39, speaking of Joseph, And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. That is, everything that Joseph put his hand to had the stamp of success upon it.

6:19 He had the king Midas touch. Everything he touched turned to gold. The same word is used as a synonym. Along with the word success in Joshua 1 and in verse 8.

6:34 God is giving to Joshua promises of his presence as Joshua walks in a course of obedience. God says in Joshua 1.8, This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then shalt thou make thy way prosperous, then shalt thou have good success.

7:00 Here prosperity is parallel to good success. It's used in Isaiah 53.10 concerning Messiah. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

7:12 That is, he shall have success in the accomplishment of his messianic mission. It's used in Isaiah 55.11. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall prosper.

7:25 It shall prosper in that where unto I send it. It shall accomplish my purpose. It shall know its divinely intended success. So then the general meaning of the word is, as we have it in the English, a synonym for such concepts of flourish, faring well, obtaining success.

7:49 Now then, Solomon says, The man, the woman, the boy, the girl, he shall not have his transgressions, whether he covers it with the cloak of silence, transferal of guilt, lies, rationalization, no matter what covering he uses, he shall not have success. He shall not fare well. He shall not flourish. He shall not prosper.

8:16 Now in what sense is that true? Well, it does not have anything to do directly with material prosperity. In the context, as we shall see, it speaks of spiritual prosperity and material only as the material is directly related to the spiritual. Now that is quite a bold assertion to make.

8:42 On what grounds do I make it? I make it on two grounds. First of all, because of the immediate context. Secondly, because of the larger context of the whole teaching of the word of God.

8:54 How do we know that the word of God when Solomon wrote, he that covers his transgressions shall not prosper, he was not referring to material prosperity? Well, look at the context. Here we have in the structure of Proverbs 28, 13 this Hebrew parallelism which often will either amplify one thought in the second part of the verse or it will contrast the preceding thought. And here you have this contrasting parallelism.

9:25 What is the opposite of not prospering? Well, Solomon says it is the obtaining of mercy. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but he that confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy. You find this similar contrast in verse 18 of the same chapter.

9:42 Whoso walketh uprightly shall be delivered, but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once. The opposite of being delivered is being exposed to a tragic fall. Verse 20. A faithful man shall abound with blessings, but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be unpunished.

10:02 Punishment and blessings are set in opposition to one another. So then, the immediate context reveals that whatever it is not to prosper, it is the opposite of obtaining mercy. Now, is the obtaining of mercy a material or a spiritual thing? Well, of course, we all understand that the obtaining of mercy is a spiritual blessing.

10:28 In the context, it is the spiritual blessing of forgiveness and the blotting out of sin and all of the wonderful blessings that follow in the heels of such mercy. Therefore, as we ask the question, what do the words mean? We shall not prosper. We must exclude from our minds all materialistic interpretations of these words.

10:54 Because the immediate context demands such, and secondly, because the larger context of the whole teaching of the Word of God demands the same. It is a fact revealed in Scripture that the wicked often prosper materially while the righteous languish materially. Several instances will suffice to demonstrate this. Psalm 37 and verse 7.

11:20 It is such a common occurrence to see the wicked prospering and flourishing materially while the righteous languish that the psalmist writes, Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Here the righteous are so distressed at the evident display of the prosperity of the wicked, they accomplish their designs and they prosper in their wicked course of life that he says, Don't become fretful. Indicating that this was a common experience observed by the people of God.

12:04 The whole 73rd Psalm is couched in the context of this reality. The psalmist indicates that his problem began, verse 2, But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped. When? For I was envious at the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

12:28 His whole problem arose out of the apparent inequity of God's dealings with men. He looks at the wicked and they prosper. He looks at himself as a righteous man and he's constantly afflicted and viewing things as they appear now, he got his whole spiritual perspective out of whack until he went into the sanctuary of God. In the New Testament, the same emphasis is found.

12:55 Our Lord says in Luke 16 that it was the poverty-stricken beggar who was brought safely home to Abraham's bosom. Not because he was a beggar, but because he was a justified and sanctified man. But as a justified man, he was still in poverty. Whereas it was the rich man who lifted up his eyes in hell and he wasn't in hell because he was rich.

13:21 He was in hell because he did not repent of the idolatry of his riches and find refuge in the mercy of God. James 2.5 makes a categorical statement showing that the general experience of the people of God is that God calls His elect from amongst the poor of this world. James 2 and verse 5 Harken, my beloved brethren, did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to them that love Him?

13:58 So you see, whatever Solomon means when he says he that covers his transgressions shall not prosper, we must exclude from our minds all identification of this non-prosperity with material substance, with things that can be seen and touched and bought and sold and stored up and treasured and envied by men of this world. They have to do or the words have to do with those distinctively spiritual blessings without which a man cannot truly live now and without which he cannot face the world to come. So much then for the meaning of the words

Application to the Unconverted: Present Consequences

14:43 and I hope I have established this interpretation by the scriptures themselves. Now we come in the second place to their application to the unconverted. If Solomon had in mind those men and women who cover their sins as unconverted men, what do the words mean in that case? Well, first of all, we must establish who are the unconverted.

15:08 Before we talk about what these words mean to the unconverted, we must ask who are the unconverted? And describing them very simply and...

15:19 in a very frank way I would describe the unconverted as the scripture does. They are the people who are strangers to their own sin, who've never been humbled at the sight of their own wickedness, who've never been driven out of themselves to seek righteousness in another. They may be careless, they may be indifferent, they may be like Pharisees who pride themselves in the attainments of their own morality, but they have this in common, the unconverted are those who are strangers to that discovery of sin that with terror and longing for forgiveness drives them out of themselves to seek forgiveness

16:04 in another. Secondly, the unconverted are those who are strangers to the exercises of repentance and faith. They know nothing of what it is to turn from their darling sins and the idols of their heart. They know nothing of casting themselves upon Christ alone as their ground of acceptance.

16:25 The unconverted are strangers to repentance and faith. Thirdly, the unconverted are those who fall short of being what Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 5.17, if any man be in Christ he is a new creation. Old things are passed away, behold they are become new, an unconverted man is any man who doesn't fit that description.

16:54 And my friend, I would turn from definition and description to pointed application and ask you tonight, is 2 Corinthians 5.17 an accurate and valid description of you? Have you been made a new creation by the mighty power of the Triune God so that your affections, your longings, your desires, your perspectives, your actions, your ambitions, your whole lifestyle from the inside out has no explanation but that almighty God has put forth creative power and joined you to His beloved Son. If that's not true of you, then you're unconverted.

17:37 You're a stranger to that discovery of sin that drives you out of yourself. You're a stranger to that repentance and faith without which there is no saving union with Christ. You are something less than a new creature. Now if that's a description of you, in what sense is this text fulfilled in you?

18:00 In what sense is God's law laid upon your conscience saying that as long as you cover your sins you shall not prosper? It applies to you in two areas of time. It has a present application and it has a future application. Let's look at some of the tragic present results.

18:26 What it means for an unconverted man not to prosper because he covers his sins. What it means for an unconverted boy or girl to cover his sins and thereby not to prosper. The first present implication is this. You have no pacified conscience.

18:48 You have no conscience through the blood of Christ. Conscience, that blessed vice-regent of God, that echo of the voice of God within our own bosoms that functions as Paul describes it in Romans chapter 2, accusing or excusing us in our moral deeds and moral judgments. For as many as have sinned without the law shall perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law.

19:22 For they hear not the hearers of the law or just before God, but the doers of the law. For when the Gentiles that have not the law do by nature the things of the law, these not having the law are the law unto themselves in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or excusing them. My friend, every one of us by nature wishes he had the power to obliterate conscience from his human constitution. None of us ever welcomed conscience, none of us ever created conscience, and none of us by nature loves conscience.

20:06 Conscience is that faculty that makes us miserable when we sin. Conscience is that faculty that takes away the joy of full abandonment to sin. And there is only one way for the conscience to be purged of its accusations, only one way for the conscience to be pacified and to be brought home to rest. And the scripture tells us in Hebrews 10.22 and Hebrews 9.14

20:41 that we have our consciences purged by the blood of Christ. You see, conscience which is the voice of God condemning us for our transgressions will never be silent when we seek to muffle Him with these clothes by which we cover sin. For when we weave a covering for our sins, say, of lies, we take that material and try to cover the lie and we tear off a piece and we try to stuff it into conscience's mouth. But conscience still speaks though we've tried to stuff the rag of a lie in his mouth.

21:21 And he thunders at us that we have sinned and there is no pacification of conscience's voice and his accusations. We may have woven a covering for our sins out of the shifting of responsibility to another as did Adam. And when we've neatly covered our sin with that cloak of shifting responsibility we tear a piece from that covering and we try to stuff it in the mouth of conscience and tell him he's wrong when he accuses us. But he will not be silent and his accusations come home still.

21:55 He that covers his sin shall not prosper. The unconverted man who seeks to cover his sin by any of these many coverings or more that he can devise, he shall not prosper. He shall never know a pacified conscience through the blood of Christ because the blood of Christ never purges conscience and brings it home to rest until there is a full and open acknowledgement of sin and it is brought out into the open and confessed before the living God. In the second place, the unconverted man who covers his sin shall not prosper.

22:38 There will be no restful anticipation of the life to come, no pacified conscience in the present and no restful anticipation of the life to come. Listen to the writer to the Hebrews as he expresses it in these words. Hebrews 2 and verse 14. Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood.

23:04 He Christ also himself in the like manner partook of the same that through death he might bring to naught him that had the power of death that is the devil and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Here is a peculiar bondage brought about by the fear and the dread of death. The realization that death is not the end of it all. Conscience assuring me that I shall stand before God and death is dreaded not so much for the terror of the actual experience of death but for the realization of that

23:48 which lies beyond that. If man can convince himself that death is all there is then he is not in bondage through fear of death. When a man has had his conscience so seared that there is no conviction of the world to come then he can face death with a stoic indifference. God have mercy on any such person who may be here tonight.

24:15 After having some very forceful illustrations of the possibility of this I actually wonder if this is not one way that God shows that he has sealed a man's doom while he yet lives when he allows him to be so given over to a seared conscience that he can face death in an unconverted state without one tremble of conscience. My friend if some of you are moving to that place where you think it is a sign that you are growing up and becoming adult. When you were a child you had awful forebodings about death and the world to come and now that you have given yourself to a course of sin and indifference to God

24:59 you find that you can go days with no dread of death and you pride yourself. Oh my friend listen to me you may be fast moving to the place where you are as good as in hell while you yet walk upon the face of God's earth. The normal state of a man even though unconverted is that through fear of death he is subject to bondage. If you are in that state tonight my friend you may try to ignore the reality of death try to forget it try to push it into the background try to obscure its reality but you know as I know that the only sure thing about us

25:43 when we breathe our first and the delivery room is pierced with our first cry the only thing that anyone can say for certainty about us from that moment on is that the life now given shall cease. It is appointed unto men once to die. There can be no restful anticipation of the life to come as long as the issue of sin is not dealt with biblically if we attempt to cover the sin by silence by rationalization shifting the responsibility covering it with lies we may think that we've brought ourselves to a posture of peace but there is no restful anticipation of the world to come

26:28 none whatsoever and it's only the man who has been driven out of himself to seek forgiveness in another only the man who's been brought to repentance and faith only the man who's been made a new creation that can say with the Apostle Paul for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. If you are here tonight covering your sin you shall not prosper there will be no pacified conscience through the blood of Christ secondly there will be no restful anticipation of the life to come thirdly there will be no living communion

27:13 with the living God. I think one of the saddest commentaries in all of the scripture describing the state of every unconverted man or woman boy or girl is that description given by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2 and verse 12 where he uses this phrase having no hope and without God in the world. My friend you can afford to be without a bank account you can afford to be without wealth and affluence you can afford to be without an education you can afford to be without the ability to read you can afford to be without anything

27:56 but if you're without God poverty is the most wretched form of poverty imaginable for the very essence of eternal life is the knowledge of and communion with the living God for Jesus said in John 17 3 this is life eternal that they may know thee the only true and living God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent he that covers his sin shall not prosper there will be no pacified conscience no restful anticipation of the life to come no communion with the living God for no one ever came into communion with him except he came through Christ and no one comes through Christ

28:41 until he's prepared to uncover his sin and to deal with it honestly you cannot have genuine dealings with Christ without having honest dealings with your sin for thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin the moment you enter the arena the orbit the circumference of genuine dealings with Christ you automatically enter the arena of honest dealing with sin and you cannot have one without the other the rich young ruler is the classic example I want to have dealings with God and Messiah and eternal life and Jesus said alright I'll take you at your word you're going to have to have some honest dealings with your sin

29:25 and your sin Mr. Rich Young Ruler is your idolatry your love of riches your attachment to riches deal with your sins smash your idol he said no I don't want eternal life if it's got to be in that arena on those terms and I read a most searching and tragic editorial in a Christian periodical today in which someone using his imagination in a very sanctified way pictures how someone would have dealt with the rich young ruler twenty minutes after Jesus finished with him and he went away sorrowful and they accosted him just as he was entering the gates to his wealthy house

30:09 with the typical modern approach to evangelism and oh it's a penetrating analysis of this in which the soul winner says to the rich young ruler you look sad man I've got the answer for you and he says look I don't want any answers I've just been to the teacher and he says oh forget what the teacher told you I've got great news for you just give me a few minutes and you can have your sadness turned to joy and this writer went on to show how that this personal worker told this man he was all wrong he kept referring to this teacher who told him he couldn't have eternal life till he dealt with his riches and this personal worker says look you've got it all mixed up you can't buy eternal life you can't earn salvation there's nothing you must do but simply believe that Jesus died for you

30:52 and he exposes the fallacy of this very principle thinking that you can have genuine dealings with Christ without having honest dealings with sin it's impossible my friend and that's why he who covers his sin shall not prosper he will never know communion with the living God because that communion can only be entered into through the mediation of Christ and no one can have dealings with Christ without having dealings with his sin and shall not prosper in the fourth place in that he shall have none of the present privileges of the sons of God oh dear ones how rich we are if we are the sons of God the sons and daughters of the King

31:36 the assurance that everything that befalls me is for my good Romans 8.28 the assurance that no matter where I am he is with me Hebrews 13 and verse 5 the confidence that no matter what circumstances surround me my Father loves me my Savior pleads for me the Holy Ghost indwells me and the Triune God is committed to my preservation until I land safely in his presence but he that covers his sin shall not prosper he can know none of those privileges he can go through all the motions of going to church and learning Bible verses and saying prayers and family worship and all the rest

32:20 but he knows nothing of those distinctive peculiar privileges of the sons of God oh what a wealth of meaning is in the words he shall not prosper he that covers his sin shall not prosper no pacified conscience through the blood of Christ no restful anticipation of the life to come no communion with the living God none of the present privileges of the sons of God and worst of all he lives under a canopy of present divine indignation John 3.36 says he that believeth not the Son the wrath of God abideth present tense upon him

33:04 Romans 2.36 John 5 says knowing not that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath God says to you fellow girl, man, woman, child that if you're covering your sin there is right now a present accumulation of divine wrath each day you live covering your sin refusing to repent refusing to bring that sin in all of its vileness to the blood of purging that you have an increasing stock of divine wrath and anger accumulating in the court of God

Application to the Unconverted: Future Consequences

33:48 and in the day of judgment it shall break with unmingled fury upon your head shall not prosper those are but a few of the ways in which those words apply to the unconverted in the present but they have a frightening application to the future you shall not prosper if you choose to go on covering your sin the future is foreboding for you face nothing but an eternity of endless woe and indescribable agony may I state it as simply and pointedly as I know how your eternal misery will be an eternal commentary on the meaning of these words

34:32 shall not prosper what does it mean for an unconverted man a man who refuses to be honest about his sin to deal with his sin no matter what the cost it means that he shall be an eternal commentary on what these words mean shall not shall not oh may God persuade you to flee from the wrath of God now I must move to the third division of our study tonight having established what these words mean shall not prosper

Application to the Converted: Present Consequences (Loss of Enjoyment of God)

35:15 that they refer not to material but to spiritual prosperity and only to material as it flows out of the distinctively spiritual having shown from the scriptures the many ways in which they are applicable to the unconverted now then what is their application to the child of God what does it mean if I am a Christian and in some area like an Achan I am covering my transgressions what does it mean that I shall not prosper may I suggest the same twofold division you shall not prosper presently and you shall not prosper with reference to the future

35:56 what are some of the ways that a child of God does not prosper if he covers his transgressions Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 are an extended commentary on Proverbs 28 13 for Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 are the record of David's experience during the time when he was covering his sin covering his transgressions not dealing again with the daily accumulation of sin for which we must all seek mercy and pray as our Lord taught us forgive us this day not only give us this day our daily bread

36:39 but forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us but here was definite transgression specific disobedience to the known precepts of God then that sin was not dealt with there was no confession no repentance there was the attempt to cover it with another sin and then the attempt to cover both sins with duplicity and deception what does it mean for a child of God who does as David did not to prosper I can only suggest several lines of thought for it would not be right to attempt an exposition of the whole section of Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 that is applicable

37:22 but let me suggest three or four of the most critical ways in which the child of God shall not prosper the first and perhaps most important is this there will be the law of the enjoyment of God look at Psalm 51 and verse 8 make me to hear joy and glory and joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice there was a total loss of the enjoyment of God this is the same Psalmist who could say

38:05 in thy presence is fullness of joy and if that be true then the opposite is true in thy absence is fullness of misery and for the Christian there is nothing more tragic there is nothing more painful than the loss of the enjoyment of God if he loses every last vestige of material possessions but can enjoy his God in the midst of it his loss is meager but surrounded with affluence of material and physical prosperity with no enjoyment of God is misery augmented to its highest degree

38:49 for the child of God my friend if you don't know that by experience it's simply because you're not a Christian it's simply because you're not a Christian the loss of the enjoyment of God how tedious and tasteless the hours when Jesus no longer I see sweet prospects, sweet birds and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness for me the midsummer sun shines in vain the field strides in vain to look gay but when I am happy in him December is as pleasant as May

39:32 now the hymn writer knew this that the loss of the enjoyment of God was his bitterest misery my friend listen that loss of the enjoyment of God lies at the root of most prayerlessness and most neglect of the scriptures because when you've lost the enjoyment of God there is an aversion to prayer there is an aversion to the word there is an aversion to intimate communion with the saints of God who are living in the enjoyment of the presence of God because their living in that enjoyment simply reminds us that we've lost the enjoyment

40:15 I wonder tonight if you aren't a testimony of the reality of what I'm saying are you living in the enjoyment of the living God I'm not asking you to have some kind of giddy, irresponsible, happy, happy, happy kind of experience no, no but I'm asking you as you rise in the morning do you know what it is to have your heart lifted up to your God and to know his presence with you there upon the bed before your feet ever hit the floor do you know what it is making your way to the 803 bus or the 827 train to know something of his presence Lord Jesus go with me today

40:59 taking your satchel and heading off to the school bus entering into the classroom going out to make breakfast for the children do you know something of the enjoyment of his presence my friend if not could it not be because you're covering some sin oh it was but a little thing but you covered it you knew it was sin but you covered it you knew it was sin but you rationalized you knew it was sin but you refused to acknowledge it before God and in some cases it was necessary that you should have acknowledged it before some human being husband, wife, son, daughter you covered it and you think that time has caused it to erode away

41:43 and be forgotten oh no my friend time has no power to cleanse sin it's one reason why hell is eternal among others only the blood of Christ cleanses from sin and only the blood of Christ when the sin is confessed

42:00 perhaps David had begun to think that if he just suffered enough from the loss of the enjoyment of God his suffering would be penance to bring back the presence of God but no God sent a prophet to dig the sin up and it had to be dug up from a mountain of covering rationalizing, silence, duplicity, deceit the prophet of God was the instrument to bring it to the surface and set it before the eyes of the man of God until he said time has no power to cleanse sin away and some of you have become accustomed to living without the enjoyment of the presence of God he that covers his sin

Application to the Converted: Present Consequences (Loss of Usefulness and Assurance)

42:44 shall not prosper child of God you'll lose the enjoyment of God if you cover a sin secondly there will be the loss of usefulness in the service of God Psalm 51 verses 12 and 13 restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit then then will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee the Lord Jesus said to Peter Satan hath desired thee to sit thee as wheat but I have prayed for thee and when thou art turned again when thou art converted that is when thou art brought to deal honestly with your sin of denial

43:28 strengthen thy brethren restore me then shall I teach when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren when we begin to understand the biblical doctrine that every member of the body of Christ has a distinct and special function of ministry both to the saints and to the world what a tragic thing it is when sin is being covered for whenever there is the covering of sin there is no prosperity you shall not prosper child of God there will be the loss of usefulness in the service of God there will be an inability

44:10 to see need that you under God are able to meet or if there is the ability to see it there will be no heart to meet it and if there is ability to see and a heart to meet there will be no enablement from the Holy Ghost to perform without all three there is no true ministry he that covereth his sin shall not prosper the loss of the enjoyment of God the loss of usefulness in the service of God certainly there may be the loss of assurance that one is a child of God why David had to pray restore unto me the joy of thy salvation take not thy spirit from me

44:52 the whole matter of uncertainty as to his very standing is evident in David's prayer and rightly so I did not say falling from grace I don't believe the scripture teaches a child of God ever falls from grace for God begins he completes but my assurance that I am in a state of grace can fluctuate and it is no little matter in that fluctuation as to whether or not I am covering sin because if I know my Bible I know the Bible teaches no Christian lives under the dominion of any sin he is fighting sin he may fall into any sin but he does not live in the dominion of any sin

45:37 where is the line between merely falling and being under bondage to a sin you see when there is a sin committed and it has been covered for any period of time you have reason to begin to question well is that merely the fall of a man in grace or is that the revelation that there is no grace and a man's assurance will be shaken and when a child of God who has known true assurance has that assurance shaken he is like Bunyan's pilgrim when he lost his rose and when a child of God who has known true assurance he was filled with grief and sought it with tears until he found it again

46:21 and placed it in his heart if you have known a well grounded Biblical assurance based upon the promises of God's mercy to such as believe in Christ an assurance based not only upon the objective promises but the evidences of a transformed life and the witness of the Spirit you can suck very little comfort from the objective promises when your life is questionable and when a grieved spirit withdraws his present witness now the way you got to start back is hang on to the promises when you are prepared to deal with your sin

47:04 but you try to suck sweetness from the promises while you are still covering your sin and my friend you are turning the grace of God into lasciviousness and the conscience of a Christian when he is wrestling with some covered sin will try to get adjusted so as to find comfort in the promises and in the doctrine of the preservation of the saints that's a butchering of the intent for which God gave those promises they were meant to encourage you in the pursuit of holiness not in the clinging to your sin am I talking to someone tonight

Application to the Converted: Present Consequences (Provoking God's Rod)

47:46 who has known a bright cloudless assurance of his standing in grace but who this night the whole issue is up for questions why? because sin has been covered sin has been covered sin is being covered and then in the fourth place the child of God shall not prosper in that he will not only lose the enjoyment of God lose usefulness in the servants of God lose his assurance that he is a child of God but he will provoke the rod of God turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11 he shall not prosper if he is a Christian

48:29 God determined that he shall not cover his sin that his sin shall be brought into the open that he shall be brought back into the way of pursuing a life of holiness and so the apostle dealing with the specific sins of the Corinthians says in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 30 for this cause many among you are weak and sickly and not a few sleep but if we discerned ourselves we should not be judged but when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world see what the apostle is saying he's saying you Corinthians by the sins you've committed and the sins you've covered

49:11 you've provoked the rod of God's chastisement some of you are afflicted physically you're weak and you are sickly the words in themselves most often refer to physical weakness though they can refer to spiritual weakness I believe the context is in favor of the former some of you are weak and sickly you find yourself afflicted with physical maladies and some are asleep spiritually yes but some of you have even come to premature death because God was determined he wouldn't let you clutter up his kingdom and bring reproach to him any longer by the sin you've covered

49:56 child of God do you have a healthy dread of God's rod? I do I fear my father's rod because I know his spankings are not like some of the spankings I've seen some of you give your children my father spanks me with sufficient severity to make it worthwhile for me not to go back to the same father some of you say spanking my kids don't work no it doesn't because you don't do it with sufficient severity to convince them it's not worth their while to do the same thing again

50:39 God's spankings come with sufficient severity but the child of God has a wholesome fear of the rod of his loving heavenly father are some of you beneath the rod tonight? now you can't judge one another Paul says if we judged ourselves some sickness is an evidence that a man is walking in blemishless holiness before God Job is the classic example he was afflicted not because of his sin but because of his godliness and so we must not say if we see someone constantly afflicted physically I bet they're covering sin no no

Application to the Converted: Future Consequences (Loss of Joyful Anticipation and Rewards)

51:21 you ask yourself when affliction comes Lord is it because I have failed to judge myself is this an evidence of the truth of Proverbs 28 13 he that covers his sin shall not prosper Lord am I weak and sickly because I've covered sin let us judge ourselves there are other evidences manifestations of the fulfilment of this text shall not prosper but I want to close by just touching the note child of God you shall not prosper with reference to future prospects you cannot be covering sin and maintain a joyful anticipation of the return of Christ

52:05 the two are utterly impossible 1 John 2 28 is the classic text look at it my little children let us abide let us abide in him that when he shall be manifested we may have boldness and not be ashamed before him at his coming you know Christian as well as you know your own name that there'll be no equivocation there'll be no rationalization there'll be no shifting of responsibility if you're a Christian you know when your eyes meet the eyes of the Son of God whose eyes are as a flame of fire

52:47 all coverings will be confused you'll have to face your sin honestly and if you are not living before that eye so that this night you can say Lord Jesus to the best of my knowledge anything that your word and spirit have revealed to me as sin my posture toward it is full and open confession by your grace my disposition is one of turning away from it my friend if you can't say that you have no joyful anticipation of the return of your Lord any more than a kid who knows that when mummy comes home

53:31 she's gonna discover that he was playing around with a cookie jar and broke it is anxious for mummy to come home I can remember those days when as a kid and my dad had given me certain responsibilities and they were all done I couldn't wait for dad to come home and I used to go out in the front yard and I'd look around that bend and Soundview Avenue in Stanford, Connecticut when I'd see my dad coming and he had a peculiar walk which they say as a kid I used to try to imitate he used to throw his leg, his right leg kind of funny way I'd run out to meet my dad oh how anxious I was to meet my dad but when some of the tasks were not done and dad had always issued the ultimatum I want this done today or else

54:14 and dad's ultimatum stuck and usually they ended up sticking on my posterity I tell you when I knew dad was coming there was no joyful anticipation there was no running down the street saying hi dad good to see you I wanted to get lost you see the application don't you when you know you have a controversy with the Lord Jesus there's no joyful anticipation of his return and my friend when you search out the New Testament and see the place that joyful anticipation of the Lord's return has in the motivational life of a Christian one of the most powerful motivating elements for faithfulness

54:58 for faithfulness for diligence in service is cut by the covering of sin in the life of a believer how often do the apostolic writers make reference to the hope of his coming how often is the driving motive in the life of a Christian the fact that his Lord is coming my friend you have no joyful anticipation of his return if you're covering sin none whatsoever and that's just a preview of the shame that will be your portion when you meet him and I don't understand the whole biblical doctrine of rewards but it's taught it's taught there is a biblical doctrine of rewards for faithfulness

55:42 and there will be loss of rewards for unfaithfulness I don't understand it but this I know that if I'm covering sin I shall not prosper for I cannot receive the full reward of a well accomplished stewardship if my usefulness in the service of God is crippled because I cover sin if I carry out my sin if I serve in the service with no enjoyment of God because I cover sin if I'm trying to serve God while my own assurance is shaken if I'm lying as it were beneath the rod of God's chastisement how can I serve with the abandonment of a freshly purged conscience no wonder the apostle Paul said

Conclusion: Call to Uncover Sin and Seek Mercy

56:24 herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense to God and toward man oh the blessedness of having a conscience void of offense to God and to my fellow man how do I have a conscience void of offense to God only through the blood of sprinkling only by bringing my sins my transgressions out from these coverings and honestly and with true transparency crying out oh God I have sinned against you bringing the sin before me

57:06 no matter how much the world or other Christians would say it's not sin when I know it to be sin by the light of the word and the application of the word to my own heart then I must not cover whatever I know to be sin now do I have a conscience void of offense to my fellow man wherever my confession must be horizontal I'm willing to humble myself and make that horizontal confession to wife to child to work companion to friend to school companion it matters not who it is that I may meet any fellow man against whom I know I have sinned with an unblemished conscience because from the time I have sinned and the next time I meet him

57:48 I have paved the way to his respect by my confession he that covereth his sin shall not prosper brethren do you not see why the answer to all of the present dilemmas in the professing evangelical church all the answers that look in the direction of new methods new programs new gimmicks new schemes no no the present state of a languishing church is a monument of the truth of our text he that covereth his sin shall not prosper

58:31 and God will not be coerced by new methods God will not be cajoled by new schemes and if he comes at all sovereignly and graciously to visit his church he will come in a way of tearing off the covering and coming upon a people who are confessing and forsaking them God willing in our next study I hope to open up the positive assertion of the text that whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy but my friend you don't need to wait for the exposition to know the experience of that part of the text this night

59:12 standing in the full blazing light of God's word and God's presence standing with the publicans saying oh God that is me I have sought to cover my sin I shall no longer but I shall seek refuge in the merits and the righteousness of another if you're unconverted and child of God no matter how insignificant a thing it may be what is the thing you've been covering what's the thing or things that conscience has been troubling you about even tonight I'd be willing if I were a betting man I'd be willing to bet a hundred to one if conscience has been very active with some of you tonight and there is flashed upon the screen of your own mind

59:56 that thing that you're attempting to cover my friend cover it no longer come to the fountain open for sin and unbelief tell the Lord that he's found you tonight tell him you're weary of living as a Christian with no conscious enjoyment of the presence of God tell him you're weary of living with a shaken assurance you're weary of living with no consciousness that you're being used of God tell him you're weary of dreading the return of your Lord and say oh God grant me the promise of mercy I come I come