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Proverbs chapter 28, we find 
ourselves in a series of messages from the book of Proverbs, various 
themes. The bulk of the Proverbs were 
written by Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. This morning, 
we're going to look at what the Proverbs says with reference 
to dealing with sin, dealing with sin. Proverbs 28, verse 
13. He who covers his sins will not 
prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. Amen. I'm sure there are times 
when non-Christians would think that Christians talk a lot about 
sin. We talk a lot about sin. In fact, 
why would you read a passage like Joshua 7 on the Lord's Day? Everybody should just be happy 
and celebrate. Well, Christians know that Jesus 
came into this world to save sinners, that Christ did not 
come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Sin is 
a fact and a reality of life. And the Bible tells us that there 
is one who is able to deal with that particular issue. So this 
morning we're going to look at dealing with sin. There is in 
our text a way not to deal and a way to deal. Charles Bridges 
rightly says concerning this passage, he says, God and man 
each cover sin. God in free, unbounded grace 
man in shame and hypocrisy. I believe that the good pastor 
is absolutely right. Both man and God deal or cover 
sin. God in free, unbounded grace, 
man in shame and hypocrisy. And so this morning, we're going 
to look at three things with reference to this particular 
text. The first is the presupposition. In other words, when we come 
to this particular passage, something is already presupposed. Secondly, 
we'll look at the folly or the foolishness of concealing sin. And then thirdly, the necessity 
of faith and repentance, the necessity of faith in our Lord 
Jesus Christ and repentance from sin unto God. But first, what 
is the presupposition? What is assumed by the author 
here? Well, the author assumes that 
we sin. The author assumes that there 
is a problem. That it's not a lack of education 
in our lives. It's not a lack of money. It's 
not a lack of status. It's not a lack of a good upbringing. But our problem, boiled down, 
is sin. And that is what is assumed here. He who covers his sins will not 
prosper. The Bible speaks a lot to this 
issue. Again, Jesus came into the world, 
sinners to save. And so in the church, and when 
we witness and testify, we need to talk about sin. And as Christians, 
the wickedness of sin frames the glory of the Savior who redeemed 
us from that mess, who redeemed us from that bondage, from that 
guilt, and from that slavery. But the Bible tells us that man 
is totally depraved. Now, I know when I say that, 
you're immediately thinking, I'm not as bad as I could be. 
And thankfully, that is the case. None of us are as bad as we could 
be. God does exercise restraint in 
this world. We are made in His image. We 
bear the image of God. We know His law. And God uses 
those things and then law in society to keep us at bay. We are not as wicked as we can 
possibly be. But the doctrine of total depravity 
means that every part, power, and faculty of our nature is 
corrupt. Every bit of us, we are totally 
depraved. It's not just that we do bad 
things, it's that constitutionally, by virtue of the fact that we're 
in Adam, we are bad before the living and the true God. Our 
mind, our intellect, our emotions, our will, our conscience, All 
is affected by the fall of Adam into sin. Total depravity. The Bible uses various images 
to display this, or to illustrate this. In the book of Proverbs, 
it says that to do wickedness is like sport to a fool. In Psalm 58, the psalmist says, 
the wicked go estranged from the womb, speaking lies as soon 
as they are born. In Psalm 51, when David is repenting 
before the Lord God, he traces his depravity back, not to an 
early incident in his childhood where he followed a bad example, 
but he traces it all the way back into his mother's womb. 
He said, in sin, my mother conceived me. That doesn't mean the act 
of sexual intercourse was sinful. It means that as soon as David 
came into being, he was a sinner before God. Total depravity is 
what the Bible teaches us. Total depravity explains why 
Jesus says in John 6, 44, no one can come to me unless the 
Father who sent me draws him. We are totally depraved and we 
are totally unable. Romans 8, 7 says the carnal mind, 
that means the mind outside of Christ is enmity with God. That's a strong and powerful 
statement. It means that we are raising 
our fist to the Holy God. We hold him as our enemy, as 
the one we should worship and praise and love and adore. Rather, we go against him every 
step of the way. We are totally depraved. We are 
totally unable to merit any favor by God in and of our own selves. That's the presupposition of 
our tax. He who covers his sins presupposes 
we have sins that need to be covered. This isn't just a non-Christian 
problem. This is a Christian problem. 
This just isn't a black problem. It's a white problem. It affects 
every man, every woman, every boy, and every girl throughout 
the ages. All have sin, Paul says. and 
fall short of the glory of God. Paul says there is none righteous, 
no not one. There is none who seeks after 
God. He summarizes the whole statement in Romans 3.18 by saying, 
there is no fear of God in their hearts. This affects every single 
one of us. And so the presupposition, hopefully, 
is clear. We are totally depraved. We are 
totally unable, in and of ourselves, to make ourselves right with 
the living and the true God. If we will be right with God, 
it will not come through our own efforts to cover sin, but 
it only comes through that unbounded grace of a glorious God who sent 
His Son into this world to die for us and to rise again. And 
so that brings us, secondly, to consider the folly of concealing 
sin. He who covers his sins will not 
prosper. Probably in your mind already, 
besides Achan, you're thinking of other examples of men who 
covered their sin or who tried to hide their sin. It goes all 
the way back into the Garden of Eden. Remember when Eve saw 
that the tree was good? She saw that it was pleasant 
to the eyes. She saw that the fruit was desirable to make one 
wise. She took it, she ate it, and 
she gave it to Adam. In that act of transgression, 
Adam plunged the race into sin and rebellion. We see the effects 
of sin immediately. What do they do when they are 
brought into that state of guilt before a holy God? They try to 
cover their sins. They try to run from God. They 
try to hide from God. They get fig leaves, they sew 
them together, and they cover their nakedness. And then they 
go and hide in the midst of the trees, as if the God who made 
the trees couldn't see them. As if the God who made the fig 
leaves couldn't see them. That is an attempt of the foolishness 
of trying to hide your own sin. We read of Achan. What does he 
do? He sees those things, he covets 
those things, he takes those things, and then he goes and 
hides them in his tent, bringing down the wrath and judgment of 
God, not only upon himself, but upon Israel. Did you see in the 
reading of Joshua 7, when the spies go to Ai, what do they 
do? They come back to Israel and say, don't send all the troops. 
We got this in the bag. This is easy. There's not many 
people in Ai. You separate maybe 3,000 troops, 
go in, we'll mop up the day, we'll have AI in the bag before 
dark. We'll be home for dinner with 
our families. That's what happens. They go to AI and 36 of them 
die. They flee before this enemy that 
was not a real foe. So in his sin, in his attempt 
to cover it, the folly of trying to hide his sin, he brings judgment 
upon not only himself, but his family and upon Israel. And then 
several weeks ago, we considered another man. We saw the fallen 
king in the grace of God. David was a man after God's own 
heart. What does he try to do? He tries 
to cover his sin. David doesn't go out to battle 
when it's the time to do so. David sends a delegation out. 
David goes up on his roof and he sees a woman and then he lies 
with her. And then she is found to be with 
child. So what does David do? He tries 
to cover his sin. How does he try to cover his 
sin? By tricking her husband, by tricking Uriah. calling him 
in from the field of battle so that he would lie with his wife 
so that when she was pregnant, everybody would believe that 
Uriah was the father. Seemed like a good plan. Seemed 
like a simple plan. Seemed like a seamless plan, 
except for this one thing. Uriah was a man of integrity. 
And so when he would not do this, what does David do? He sends 
word to Joab to have Uriah put into the hottest portion of the 
battle so that he would be killed. covering his sin. He's hiding 
his sin. What happens in this instance? 
He commits adultery and murder. This brings us to consider some 
of the means that men employ in hiding or covering sin. Just think about those three 
particular men for a moment. Think about your own life for 
a moment. Think about other people for 
a moment and see if these things aren't the truth. The first is 
denying The presence of sin. Now, generally, most people don't 
do this. I mean, everybody to some degree 
or other would agree, you know, I'm not perfect. In fact, most 
of the times when you witness people say, I'm not perfect, 
but I've never really done anything bad. Now, there are those odd 
people that you will meet that do not believe they've sinned. 
There was a man that we visited on his deathbed. This was a man 
that sat under biblical teaching week in and week out. And on 
his deathbed, he claimed he didn't need Jesus to save him from his 
sins because he had never sinned, denying the presence of sin. Bridges says he would cover it 
if possible from himself, putting it out of mind, banishing all 
serious thoughts, stifling conviction and then trying to persuade himself 
that he is happy. Denying it. Are you at that place, 
do you deny sin? I've never sinned. I've never 
offended this holy God that you are preaching. I've never done 
anything this incredible as offending the God who made me, who gave 
life to me, who gives breath to me, and who gives me water 
and food. I would never sin against him. I doubt that's the position 
of anybody in this room. A second way of trying to cover 
sin is minimizing it. Minimizing the gravity of it. There's that, oh yeah, I'm not 
perfect, but I've never really done anything bad. I've never 
done anything that would really curl anybody's toes. I've never 
murdered anybody. I've never committed adultery. 
I've never done those things that the heathen do. I don't 
bow to idols. We minimize the gravity of sin. We have failed to reckon with 
what the Westminster Shorter Catechism says. Every sin deserves 
God's wrath and curse, both in this life and that which is to 
come. Minimizing it. You see examples of this today. 
Adultery is called playing around. Right? Drug use is called experimentation. We don't put it in its ugly form. Lying has become, oh, it's just 
a little white lie. Do you know that little white 
lie is enough to damn you to hell forever and ever and ever? Minimizing the gravity of sin. Oh, it's not that bad. It's not 
that wrong. Show me in the Bible where it's 
not that bad and it's not that wrong. Now, I grant there are 
degrees, to be sure, of sin. There is gravity in terms of 
God abominates hands that shed innocent blood. The Proverbs 
makes it clear that if a man steals, people don't despise 
a thief if he wants to feed his family. But a man who goes into 
his brother or his neighbor's wife wounds and dishonor he will 
get. So the Bible recognizes such 
things. The idea here is to minimize 
it. Michael Horton says the good 
news isn't that good anymore because the bad news isn't that 
bad. Let me say that again. The good news of the Gospel in 
terms of the blood shedding of our Lord Jesus isn't so good 
anymore because we've lost sight of the bad news. Where does Paul 
begin his exposition of the Gospel? What's the bad news? He says 
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness 
and unrighteousness of men who suppress that truth and unrighteousness. They hold it down. They try to 
escape it. They try to run from the knowledge 
of God. And that is going on today. And 
I suspect it goes on in our hearts. We minimize it. Bridges says 
we need to plead the greatness, not the smallness of our sins, 
Did you catch Psalm 25, 11? Pardon my iniquity, O Lord. Why? For it is great. What a reason to call upon God 
to forgive us, not because we're righteous, not because we're 
good, but just the opposite. Pardon my iniquity, O Lord, for 
it is great. You don't do yourselves any favor 
trying to minimize the sin issue. You don't do yourselves any favor 
by trying to cover it through minimizing. A third means that 
men employ is shifting blame for their sin. Again, go back 
to the Garden of Eden. What happens when God calls them 
to account for their sin? He begins with Adam. And what 
does Adam do? He first blames God. I mean, 
you wouldn't think so. I mean, come on. You were just 
created in the very image of God. You've fallen into sin. 
Don't go there, man. Please. Don't blame God. Do you 
ever kind of root for biblical characters? You know what's going 
to happen. But you're like, no, please. Don't do it. Don't go there. He says, the 
woman whom thou gavest me. What's the implication, brother? 
If you hadn't have given me this woman, I wouldn't have been in 
this mess. If you wouldn't have given me 
this woman, I wouldn't be standing here before you. Don't we shift 
the blame? Don't we say things like, look 
at what you do, as if that alleviates our sinfulness. He blames God. He blames the woman. She gave 
me to eat. He was supposed to protect her. 
Now he's throwing her under the bus. So God comes to deal with 
Eve. What does she do? It was the 
serpent, Lord. It just keeps running downhill, 
doesn't it? It was the serpent. It was my 
upbringing. It was my lack of this. It was 
the presence of that. We shift the blame. That's a 
method, a means that men use to try and cover their sin. Don't 
do that. Don't engage in that. Don't go 
that particular route. Own it. Confess it. Forsake it. And the blessed promises, you 
will find mercy. God's not surprised by your conduct. You don't catch God unawares. He's not sitting up in heaven 
wringing his hands going, oh my, look at what he's done. But 
yet we treat God in that manner as if he's some tame deity on 
our shelf that we manipulate and control. I believe David 
was a man after God's own heart because he sided with God. He 
said he committed murder and adultery. But when it comes time 
to repent, he doesn't blame ship. He doesn't say it was my mother. 
It was my father. It was this. It was that it was the pagans 
that I associated with. He says against thee and thee 
only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight. Blame ship. This is the victim mentality 
that is rampant today. I can't be held accountable for 
my actions because of all these other things. You will not be 
able to do that with God. You will not be able to stand 
before God on the day of judgment and blame God, blame Adam, blame 
the devil, blame your parents, blame your wife, blame your kids, 
blame your parents. It's not an option. How else 
do men hide their sins? Fourthly, by rationalizing our 
circumstances or condition. Rationalizing. You just don't 
know what it's like to be me. You don't know how hard it is. 
I'm under persecution. I live in a debauched age. Everybody 
at school is doing it. All my friends are doing it. 
Everybody I know is doing it. We try to rationalize based on 
our circumstances. Wednesday night, this past Wednesday, 
we just started Hebrews chapter 11, the hall of faith. The first 
three examples that the apostle points to are Abel, Enoch and 
Noah. Something we observed about those 
three particular men. They lived in difficult circumstances. Abel was persecuted by his brother. Now, I know some of us don't 
always have the best relationships with our brothers or our sisters. 
Sometimes young children yell at each other. But I don't think 
we've got what Abel had. His brother was a wretch, a godless 
man who loved the world and walked by sight. Abel was a godly man 
who wanted to honor the Lord most high. You read the narrative 
in Genesis 4, we observed this the other night, several times 
the word brother is used. The author is highlighting the 
gravity of the sin involved, that Cain would kill his brother. What about Enoch? Enoch lived 
in an abashed age. Enoch lived in a wicked age. 
And yet Enoch walked with God. For 365 years, he had sons and 
he had daughters. In the midst of a godless age, 
he walked with God. He pleased God, such that God 
translated him into his very presence. And then the divine 
testimony or commentary on the age in which Noah lived. How 
does the author describe the earth at that particular time? 
The earth was corrupt. It was filled with violence. 
And yet you don't hear these men saying, oh, it's my age. It's my circumstances. It's the 
day in which I live. Everybody's doing it. No, not 
everybody. Abel, Enoch, and Noah were faithful 
in their generations, rationalizing sin. A fifth way to cover sin 
is, interestingly enough, multiplying it. You'd think this is just 
crazy, isn't it? What happens when you try to 
cover sin? Does it just go away? Is it just gone? There's only one 
way sin goes and it's just gone. Micah describes it as God's deep 
sea fishing. He casts it into the depths of 
the sea. We can't deep sea fish with our 
sin, brethren. We try to throw it in and it 
comes back up. We try to bury it and it resurfaces. We try to rid ourselves of it 
and there it is. It's like sometimes when I'm 
sitting in my chair, Lily will come up behind me and kind of 
peekaboo on one side and I look at her and then she goes to the 
other side. So I look at her and we're kind of going back 
and forth like this. Not that Lily pictures sin, but that's 
kind of how it is. You can't get away from it. So what happens? You multiply 
it. What does David do? David orders 
the hit on Uriah so that he can try and cover his sin. What does 
Achan do? He covets, he takes, he hides 
it. He's just multiplying instances 
of his wickedness and of his sin. You know in your own past 
experience, I'm not trying to impute evil on anybody, but if 
you've ever told a lie, generally speaking, you need to tell a 
bunch of lies to try and cover it. Isn't that the case? So just go away? Just disappear? No. And then the sixth is probably 
the most scary. Abandoning all thought of dealing 
with sin. How does this go? Well, I'm already 
a wretch. I'm already wicked. I'm already 
horrible. I'm already a monster before 
God. I'm going to throw off all thoughts of God and I'm going 
to pursue my lusts. We see a picture of this in Hebrews 
6 and in Hebrews 10. Those who at least for a time 
made a profession of faith, then they throw off the Lord Jesus. 
They trample underfoot the Son of God. They insult the very 
spirit of grace himself. They abandon themselves to wickedness. The idea being, I tried covering 
it. I can't get rid of it. So let's live and let live. I'll 
do whatever I want in utter rebellion and wickedness before the triune 
God. What a hopeless, horrible, wretched 
situation that is. Bridget says, concerning each 
of these things, yet all these fig leaf coverings for his nakedness 
only show his determination to hold his sin. See, that's what 
it is. We don't want to just confess 
it and forsake and be done with it. There's something in our 
hearts that wants to hold on. We need to recognize that. We 
need to understand there's something in our psyche, it's called sin, 
that wants to play with it. that wants to entertain it. See, 
we think like this. There's pleasure from this sin. 
We don't think there's passing pleasure and the end is death 
and destruction and judgment and hell. We want it right now. Bridges says and his pride of 
heart, which would rather hide it from God himself than submit 
to receive free mercy as a self condemned sinner. He who covers 
his sins, notice the result, will not prosper. You've heard 
that before. Cheaters never prosper. You might be puzzled sometimes 
because you know a cheater and it looks like he's prospering, 
right? You know a liar and it looks like he's prospering. You 
know a wicked man or woman and it looks like they're prospering. 
Well, according to God, you cover your sin and you will not prosper. Both in this life and that which 
is to come. What goes along with the man 
who at least outwardly looks like he is prospering? He's got 
guilt. He's got shame. He's got a bad 
conscience before a holy God. And he's got that slavery thing. See, he may appear to be free 
to everybody. The spiritual man knows better. 
He knows that he is a slave. Because Jesus said, whoever commits 
sin is a slave of sin. You will not prosper in this 
life if you cover your sin. The Bible tells us, be sure your 
sin will always find you out. I am sure, brethren, that Achan 
thought he had a good hiding place. Have you ever done that? Have you ever hidden something 
and it stood the test of time? I hid something once, I think 
it was a hundred bucks in a file folder, and our house got burglarized 
when we first moved to Chilliwack. And I rejoiced that they hadn't 
found my money, that that was cool. I bet Akin thought he had committed 
the perfect crime. What's God say? Separate the tribe? Separate 
the clan? Separate the family? I'll separate 
the man. Some of you think you're going 
to get away with your sin for the rest of your life, and you're 
not. How can you not prosper in this 
life? Prison's a reality. Premature death is a reality. Ill health is a reality. Confusion is a reality. Frustration 
is a reality. You mark the word of Solomon 
in this passage. If you cover your sin, you will 
not prosper in this life and that which is to come. The book 
of Hebrews tells us it is appointed on the man to die. You've heard 
that before death and taxes, those are the only inevitable 
things you can not pay your taxes and end up in prison. Not advocating 
that, but that can be the case. You cannot pay Revenue Canada 
and end up in prison or out on the lam. So that's not inevitable. If you have no money to pay, 
they can't wring it out of you. Actually, I think they can, but 
that's another story. Death is a certainty. It has 
been appointed. God's not up in heaven saying, 
you know, I wonder who I'm going to take out today. God has decreed 
all things. And when you die, you will stand 
before him in judgment. And according to the scripture, 
if you have tried to cover your own sin, whether it be through 
your good works, whether it be through your rationalizing, whether 
it be through your minimizing, whether it be through any of 
these efforts, God will throw you into hell. Again, people say, oh, this is 
negative. It'll make people feel bad. You 
know what? We need to feel bad before we 
look to Christ. We need to know something of 
conviction. We need to know something of the wrath of God. Paul spends 
three chapters on it before he gets to the righteousness of 
God revealed by faith in Jesus. We live in a day and age where 
everything is happy, peppy, upright, joyful. Well, there's a lot of 
happy and peppy and upright and joyful in Christ. But if you 
are sitting here this morning outside of Christ, trying to 
bury your sin, trying to rationalize your sin, trying to sink it out 
into the cornfield, you will not prosper. It would be so butchery 
for me not to warn you of that. You cannot cover your sin. It 
will find you out. But notice the text does not 
stop there. But, he says, this is what should surprise us. Not 
that the covering of our sin will cause non-prosperity. That 
makes sense in a moral universe, doesn't it? That makes sense 
in light of a holy God. It's this next statement that 
should just blow our minds and cause us to worship. It's this 
next statement that should cause us to bow before our great God 
and praise him. But, he says, whoever confesses 
and forsakes it will find mercy. What's confession? It doesn't 
mean going into a little booth with a priest and going through 
your laundry list. It doesn't mean just telling 
your buddy a bad thing that you've done. It doesn't just mean moral 
therapy. Just confess your sins. Write 
it down. Do whatever. And you'll feel better about 
yourself. That's not what Solomon is saying. Confession, biblically 
speaking, is laying hold of the mercy of God through faith in 
Jesus. That's what confession is. Bridges 
says this, God needs not confession for his own information. We make 
that mistake when God calls Adam to account. It's not for God's 
sake, it's for Adam's. Who told you you were naked? 
Why have you hidden yourself? You think God really is seeking 
information there? No, he's underscoring the rebellion 
of his creature, showing him his need for atonement. showing 
him his need for rightness with God. He doesn't need our confession 
for his own information. Bridges says he demands it for 
our good. It brings no claim on his mercy, 
but it is a means for the reception of it. Christ has fully satisfied 
the claims of justice. Remember that picture in Leviticus 
16, the Day of Atonement. The high priest has gone in probably 
three or four times into the Holy of Holies. He has taken 
blood each time. He has sprinkled it there for 
his own sin and for the sins of Israel. There were two goats 
that were prepared. One was for sacrifice. The other 
was called the scapegoat. The high priest would lay his 
hands upon that scapegoat and he would confess the sins of 
Israel. That wasn't magic. It wasn't just a ritual. It was 
an act of faith in the living God. We confess it and we find 
mercy. That's what it's about. You can't 
cover your sin. You think you're going to surprise 
God? Are you going to come to God and say, Lord, I've sinned 
in this and this and this and this? And He's going to go, wow, 
I can't imagine that. He knows it. He sees it. He sees our carnal attempts at 
hiding it. He sees us sowing the fig leaves. He sees us running into the midst 
of the trees. He sees all these things. His 
remedy is confess it. Lay hold of Christ. Believe on 
the Lord Jesus. Believe on blood atonement. Believe 
that He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 
Believe on Him alone who can take away your iniquity, your 
wickedness, your wretchedness. Confess it to Him. Own forgiveness. Remember that man in Luke 18, 
verse 13. Two men went to the temple to 
pray. One was a Pharisee and he stood and prayed thus with 
himself, I thank you, Lord, that I'm not like other men. I thank 
you, Lord, that I give of all that I possess. I fast twice 
a week. I'm not like a wicked man. I'm 
not like an adulterer. I'm not like this tax collector. 
That's not confession. That's pride and arrogance and 
parading himself. What's he think? God's going 
to reach a big hand out of heaven and pat him on the back and say, 
good for you. What's the man do next to him? 
He can't even look up into heaven. He knows something of his sin. 
He knows something of a holy God. He's not even going to lick 
his eyes out there. He puts his head down and he 
beats on his breast. And all he can say is, God, be 
merciful to me, the sinner. What's Jesus say? I tell you, 
this man went to his house justified. You parade yourself before God 
and you will be laid low. You cover your sin through your 
proud attempts at self-congratulations, and you will not prosper. But 
you confess it, you will find mercy. You will find justification. You believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and He will cleanse you from all your sins. See, He says, 
confess and forsake. Forsaking means repentance. That's 
why I said, faith and repentance. You don't cover your sin. Rather, 
you believe the Gospel and repent from your sin. Repentance means 
to have a change of mind. It means to think differently 
about things. That's the root word of repentance. We often associate repentance 
with the fruits of repentance. He stopped doing this. He stopped 
going there. He stopped engaged in this. He 
started to do that. Those are fruits of repentance. Repentance begins right here. 
Repentance begins as a change of mind. I no longer want those 
things. I no longer want to engage in 
those things. If there is a shred in me that 
wants to, we confess it to God and say, Lord, take this from 
me. Rip it out of me. Grant me the grace, most high 
God, to genuinely and earnestly forsake this sin, to put it off, 
to live the way Paul says in Romans 13, 14. But put on the 
Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill 
its lusts. You see, faith in Christ, repentance 
toward God, those are the things necessary. It's all about the 
gospel. You see, when we cover our own 
sins, it's all about us. When we cast ourselves upon the 
mercy of God in Jesus, it's all about Him. That's where hope 
is. That's where life is. That's 
where prosperity is. When He says, whoever confesses 
and forsakes them will have mercy. in this life and that which is 
to come. You have mercy right now, the 
forgiveness of sins. Let me just ask you, those of 
you who believe the Gospel, is there anything better than the 
mercy of God? Is there anything better than the forgiveness of 
sins? Is there anything better than singing what we just sang? 
My sin o'er the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not 
in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no 
more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, 
O my soul. You have mercy the moment you 
believe on the Lord Jesus, your sins are covered. Not through 
your own vain attempts in burying them or rationalizing them, but 
covered in the precious blood of Jesus. The prophet Zechariah 
foretold a day in which there would be a fountain open for 
sin and uncleanness. That is a gracious statement 
concerning the work of Jesus Christ at Calvary. You will find 
mercy. Notice he doesn't say you will 
find prosperity. There's soul and spiritual prosperity, 
but very often as Christians, we're not the most prosperous 
lot. It's not just easy. Everything's 
happy, peppy, upright, joyful. No, there's trial. There's tribulation. There's difficulty. You know 
what, God mercifully forgives our iniquity, but sometimes the 
consequences of that iniquity remains. Remember what God told 
David? I've atoned for your sin, but 
the sword will never depart from your house. You'll have mercy. You'll have 
forgiveness. You'll have cleansing in that 
fount that is open for sin and uncleanness. But there may be 
consequences. There may be difficulties. There 
may be challenges. There may be obstacles. But our 
God, who is faithful, will be there in the midst of the trials, 
in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death, in the midst 
of difficulty and challenge. But then ultimately, that mercy 
affects or that mercy is good for the life to come. Then we'll 
sing that last verse of Newton's hymn. When we've been there 10,000 
years bright, shining as the sun, we have no less days to 
sing God's praise than when we first begun. So you see, the 
text holds out to us the folly of concealing sin and the necessity 
of faith and repentance. In conclusion, sin is real. It's never a question of sin 
versus no sin. It's always a question of what 
will you do with your sin. Get that down, please. It's not 
a question of sin versus no sin. It's what will you do with your 
sin. You're going to rationalize. 
You're going to minimize. You're going to shift the blame. 
You're going to point the finger at your wife. You're going to 
point the finger at the devil. You're going to point your finger at 
everybody else in all your circumstances and say, I live in a botched 
age. I go to a wicked school, whatever. You're going to take 
responsibility. You're going to be like that 
publican who said, God be merciful to me, the sinner. What's God's 
response to show mercy? God be merciful, the publican 
says. And that's how God responds to 
him. Jesus said, I tell you, this man went to his house justified. You need to cover sin. And the 
only way is through the belief on the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn 
from it in repentance. Flee to Christ. Find him to be 
a merciful and a gracious Savior. And I just want to say and encourage 
the young people and the children with this. I know sometimes you're 
brought up in a Christian home. Not sometimes. I hope you're 
being brought up in a Christian home. You go to a Christian church, 
we often assume that you're Christians. I can't make that assumption. 
You're not covered by the faith of your father. You're not covered 
by Sunday school. You're not covered by church 
attendance. You're not covered by catechism. 
You're not covered by Bible reading. You're covered only in the blood 
of Jesus. I say that to children. I say that to adults as well. 
What are you banking on? What are you resting in? What 
is your hope? You should die today. What would you say before 
the living and true God? The old question is very pertinent. 
What would you say if God called you to account this day? You 
say, oh, that'll never happen. Oh, really? There's an account 
in Luke chapter 12 of a man whose field yielded plentifully. A 
lot of riches. He had a lot of stuff. You know 
what his problem was? Storing it. I have yet to meet 
someone like that. What's your problem in life? 
I have so much, I don't know where to put it. I'm sure they're 
out there. So what does he do? He says, 
I know, I'll tear down the old barns and I'll put up new barns 
and I'll store all my stuff in those barns. And then I'll sit 
back, I'll put my feet up, I'll grab my ice tea and I'll say, 
soul, take thy rest. You have many goods laid up for 
many years. Sounds great, doesn't it? Perfect 
retirement plan. Got everything in place. Has 
all the food, all the fruits, all the vegetables, all the income 
and capital that he could ever want. What did Jesus say? God said to him, you fool, you 
fool, tonight I require your soul. Then what will become of 
all your stuff? It could happen. As Edwards says, 
there are innumerable ways of wicked men going out of this 
world. These guys that are in the fitness 
and they eat properly and they're disciplined in their sleep, they 
go out and get hit by a car. You cannot be of a certain truth 
that tomorrow is coming. Oh, preacher, you're just trying 
to scare us. Yes. You need to think about your 
sin and what's going to happen to it. There's one means, one 
place to take that sin, and it's to Calvary. And if you don't 
do that, you will not prosper. If you do that, by God's good 
grace, you will find mercy. That is our hope and prayer is 
that everybody under the sound of this message would know the 
mercy of God in Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sins. The ability to sing 580 and mean 
it. How many of you lied when you sang, My sin, O the bliss 
of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the 
whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Did you 
lie when you sang that? Or have you looked to Jesus? 
Have you believed the Gospel? And have you found mercy from 
God Most High? Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank You for Your Word. We thank You for this statement 
of Solomon. One passage in Chapter 28 that 
is so powerful and so full of biblical truth. I just pray that 
all of us, God, would come to grips with the teaching of this 
text. That we would not seek to cover our own sin. That we 
would not seek to just simply explain it away. But God, we 
would, by your grace, look to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith. 
That we would know the joy of everlasting life. That we would 
know that mercy that is promised in this passage. And that, Father, 
you would wash us in the blood of the Lord Jesus. And it's in 
his name that we pray. Amen.