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You can turn in your Bibles to 
Proverbs chapter 28. Proverbs chapter 28. Since we 
finished Matthew 22 last week and Chris Santiago will be preaching 
next week, I thought we'd take a couple weeks from our studies 
in Matthew and this morning look at Proverbs 28 verse 13. Proverbs 28, 13, He who covers 
his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes 
them will have mercy. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank 
you for this pact statement and we pray that you would help us 
now to consider it in all of its beauty and glory, help us 
to understand these things, God, and to that end we pray for the 
ministry of your Spirit We thank You for the Holy Spirit. We thank 
You, Lord Jesus, that You've not left us as orphans in this 
world, but You've given another Comforter. We pray that He would 
comfort and encourage and strengthen us even now as He teaches us 
truth. We ask that You would forgive 
us for all of our sins and everything that darkens our understanding. 
Cleanse us afresh in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and 
help us to receive these things. And we pray through Christ Jesus 
our Lord. Amen. Well, I want to jump right 
into this particular text, and I think it breaks down for us 
into two particulars. In the first place, there is 
a problem addressed, and secondly, there is a solution offered or 
given. Note the problem addressed. He 
who covers his sins will not prosper. And then the solution 
given is found at the end of verse 13, but whoever confesses 
and forsakes them will have mercy. So let's look first at the problem 
addressed under four considerations. The first is the assumptions 
in the text. The assumptions in the text. 
Solomon, the author, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 
assumes at least two things here. He assumes in the first place 
that people sin. the Bible assumes and demonstrates 
everywhere that people sin. Notice, he who covers his sins, 
the assumption being that persons sin. And I think that as we consider 
Scripture, we see that presented from Genesis to Revelation, and 
it would certainly fill an hour's sermon to just look at passages 
that deal with what men have called total depravity and or 
total inability, the idea that man sins. You might hear that 
phrase applied to sin in reformed churches. We call it total depravity. And persons hear that and they 
say, wait a minute, I'm not as bad as I could possibly be. That's 
not what total depravity teaches. It does not teach that man is 
as bad as man could possibly be, but rather it teaches that 
every part, power, and faculty of man's nature is corrupt. In 
fact, all of man is affected by the fall in Adam. Sin is something 
that is a part of our nature. Sin is something that not only 
we do, but sin is something that we are. And as I said, the Scripture 
demonstrates this in several places. We'll just look at a 
few specimen passages. just to establish this reality 
that all men sin. In Genesis chapter 6, if you 
don't get the time to turn to all of these, you can email me 
later and I'll send you the notes so you can look at these particular 
texts in their context in more detail at your own leisure. But 
in Genesis 6, we know the particular instance. It is prior to the 
flood. It's after the fall of man into 
sin. We see not only Genesis 3, when 
Adam plunges the race into sin, but right on the heels of that, 
in Genesis 4, Cain murders Abel. Well, it doesn't take long for 
that depravity to spread throughout the earth. And in Genesis 6.5 
we read, Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great 
in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his 
heart was only evil continually. It's a pretty terrible description, 
and it does help us to understand why the flood. God made man upright, 
according to Ecclesiastes 7.29. But they have sought out many 
devices. And as we read, prior to the 
flood, the earth was exceedingly corrupt and filled with violence. Why? Because man sins, and man 
is a sinner. It's his very nature. And then 
in Genesis chapter 8, verse 21, again, just a few specimen passages 
as we look at this first assumption that man sins. Genesis 8, 21. The Lord smelled the soothing 
aroma. Then the Lord said in his heart, I will never again 
curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's 
heart is evil from his youth. I mean, that's a terrible description 
of man. That's what we are by nature. Turn over to the book 
of Psalms. Psalm 51. David is tracing back 
his native depravity, and he traces it all the way back to 
the womb. And in Psalm 51, very specifically 
in verse 5, he says, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, 
and in sin my mother conceived me. Now don't get David wrong. 
David's not saying the act of conception was sin. David is 
saying that at the moment of conception, as soon as David 
was, David was a sinner. That's something we inherit from 
Adam. We have that nature. And because 
we have that nature, we engage in the actual practice of sin. 
It is like sport to us, as the Proverbs say. It is like drinking 
water. Notice Jesus' assumption in the 
very passage that we read in Matthew 7. He says in verse 11, 
if you then, being evil, love to give good gifts to your children. 
Well, why would Jesus say that? Because he understood the doctrine 
of total depravity. He understood the reality that 
we sin. All men, all women, all boys, 
all girls, everywhere. Those in Adam sin. Even those in Christ have remaining 
sin. It's something that we continue 
to do. And in case you are a little perplexed at what David says 
here, tracing his depravity back to the womb, look at what he 
says in Psalm 58 verse 3. The wicked are estranged from 
the womb, they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. You see, the Bible doesn't have 
this idea that all persons are delicate little snowflakes and 
individually perfect and beautiful and wondrous. No, they go estranged 
from the womb, speaking lies as soon as they are born. I was 
just listening to Dr. Davis last night, a sermon that 
he preached, and he cited that statement from Luther that I 
myself have cited in this pulpit, where Luther heard that persons 
were being called Lutherans, and Luther said something to 
the effect, why would anybody want to identify with me, a miserable, 
stinking bag of maggots? I mean, that's a very vivid description, 
isn't it, by Dr. Martin Luther? Well, in many 
respects, it doesn't go far enough. Maggots don't sin. Maggots are 
disgusting, and maggots are something you want to keep far from your 
home, and maggots are certainly things that you don't want in 
your kitchen, but they're not sinful. Maggots do what maggots 
were created to do. In other words, a stinking bag 
of maggots has something more commendatory about it than sinners. Because we have violated the 
law of God, we have raised our fist to Him, we have resisted 
His ways, we have resisted His will, we have resisted His mind. The doctrine of total depravity. Ephesians 2 verses 1 to 3, the 
Apostle Paul sets up a contrast. What we were prior to Christ 
and what by God's grace we have become. And in Ephesians 2.1 
He says, And you who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which 
you once walked according to the course of this world, according 
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works 
in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted 
ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires 
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of 
wrath, just as the others. In other words, we were lifeless, 
helpless and hopeless because of sin. So going back to our 
statement, or going back to our proverb in chapter 28, 13, Solomon 
assumes that men sin. And that's a right assumption, 
as we've seen from Genesis all the way to the book of Revelation. 
We see that man sins. But Solomon makes another assumption. Solomon assumes that people will 
try to cover their sin. They will try to cover their 
sin. The covering in view is to conceal 
it. In fact, many of your translations 
has that. He who conceals his sins or he 
who conceals his transgressions will not prosper. Cover is another 
legitimate translation. Some translations out there have 
hide. He who hides his transgression. Now it's legitimate according 
to Proverbs 10, 12 for us to hide the sin of our brethren. 
It is legitimate, according to Proverbs 10, 12, to overlook 
their sin, or to conceal their sin, or to hide their sin, or 
to let love cover a multitude of sins done against us. But 
it is wrong for us to try and cover our sin. Notice, when it 
comes to this whole idea of covering sin, people do this during the 
act of sin, don't they? Have you ever noticed that when 
you sin, you don't typically call people and tell them to 
watch you? Have you noticed that? Hey, come on over, I'm going 
to yell at my wife. Be there at 8.30 because I'm 
going to scream at my children. Be in my workshop, oh, say 11.20, 
because if I whack my thumb, I'm going to let fly all manner 
of horrible words. We typically hide the act of 
sin. We don't say, come and see me 
sin. In fact, there's an illustration 
of this in Proverbs chapter 7. Proverbs chapter 7, there is 
a woman, an adulteress, that is trying to entice a young man. 
And it's intriguing when this takes place. Proverbs 7, 6, For 
at the window of my house I looked through my lattice, and I saw 
among the simple, I perceived among the youths, a young man 
devoid of understanding, passing along the street near her corner, 
and he took the path to her house. I mean, that is absolutely insane. Young men, if you ever read Proverbs 
7, take a hint. Do not pass along the street 
near her corner, and certainly do not take the path to her house. 
But note when the young man is doing this, according to verse 
9, in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark of night. Why? Because he doesn't want 
to be seen. He is trying to cover, conceal, 
or hide his transgression in the act of it. This is typical. This is the way that we operate. 
This is the way that we function. A man or a woman who's addicted 
to Internet porn doesn't do it right in front of their family 
members. They wait till people go to bed, or they wait till 
they're gone. They wait till they're alone. They wait till 
they have a situation described in the twilight, in the evening, 
in the black and the dark night. They don't call parties over 
of persons to celebrate their iniquity or their sin. He who 
covers, hides, conceals his sin will not prosper. Certainly it 
is done in the act, but it's also done in the aftermath. And 
I believe that's what Solomon is addressing in this particular 
text. The aftermath of sin. In other 
words, sin is accomplished. Sin is done. What do we do with 
it? We try to hide it. We try to 
conceal it. We try to Get rid of it. Now, consider secondly 
a few biblical examples of this very practice. You look at the 
garden, in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. What did they 
do after they ate that forbidden fruit? Their eyes were open. They knew good and evil. They 
perceived now that they were naked. So what do they do? They 
try to hide. They try to conceal. They try 
to cover their sin. They sew these fig leaf coverings 
together to hide themselves. And then, one step further, they 
go and hide themselves among the trees. Look at the folly 
involved in that. The God who made the trees, the 
God who made them, the God who knows absolutely, sovereignly 
and comprehensively all things, they're trying to hide from Him. 
Why? Because they were sinful. They 
cover it, they conceal it, they try to deal with it in a way 
that is ungodly. Consider the occasion of Achan. 
Remember, there was sin in the camp of Israel. God the Lord 
commanded the Israelites to go and destroy AI. What happens? They go and they lose. I mean, 
this should have been a no-brainer. This should have been the occasion 
of a 240-pound, rip-chiseled man fighting a 90-pound weakling. It should have been absolute 
devastation and decimation. And yet Israel goes, and they 
lose in battle. And Joshua is agonizing before 
the Lord, and God says, get up. In the morning, we're going to 
deal with this. And he says specifically, there 
is sin in the camp. And then Joshua is able to isolate 
it down to Achan. And what does Achan say? I saw 
it, and I coveted it, and I took it, and I hid it in my tent. 
Now, his family would have been party to that, and that's why 
they join him in the punishment that is inflicted. He's trying 
to hide the fact that he was a sinful man. Consider King David 
of Israel. When kings go out to battle and 
David should have been with them, he goes up on his roof and he 
sees Bathsheba, and he calls for her to come to him. And he 
lay with her, and he impregnates her. And instead of confessing, 
and instead of forsaking, what does he do? He tries to hide 
it. He tries to conceal it. He tries to cover it. The way 
that he does that is by compounding the sin. You see, what this passage 
teaches us is what Bridget says. Both God and man cover sin. God in free, unbounded grace 
and mercy, but man in shame and in hypocrisy. And that is precisely 
what David does in 2 Samuel 11. Instead of being out with it, 
instead of confessing and forsaking it at the time, he calls for 
Uriah to come back from battle with the intent and the hope 
and the desire that Uriah will lay with his wife. such that 
when she's found out to be pregnant, they can look at the gestation 
chart and say, well, it happened when Uriah was back on military 
leave. You see, David didn't bargain 
for the fact that Uriah was a man of integrity. Uriah reckoned 
the way the king should have reckoned. And Uriah said, how 
can I go into my wife, how can I drink alcohol when my fellow 
soldiers are out in the battlefield? Well, this just won't do. So 
David has to continue to up the ante, to try to hide his sin, 
to cover it, to conceal it. So he writes a letter for Joab, 
puts it in the hand of Uriah, and tells him to take it to Joab. 
Do you ever wonder if Uriah looked at that letter? I believe I would 
have. I don't know. If somebody gave 
me, well, I shouldn't say that. If you give me something in confidence, 
I like to think I wouldn't. Imagine that the press, though, 
or the rub, or the pressure to read this note, and it's his 
own death warrant. He gives the letter over to Joab, 
and Joab reads it, and it says, put your eye on the front part 
of battle so he dies. What's David doing? He's covered. What about Saul prior to David, 
1 Samuel 15? God gave Saul a very specific 
command concerning the Amalekites. He says, I want you to utterly 
destroy the Amalekites. I want you to kill everything 
that lives and breathes and has its being in Amalek. I want you 
to kill Agag, the king of the Amalekites. I want you to destroy 
their lives. I want you to kill everything. 
So what happens? Saul returns from battle. Samuel 
asks him, how'd it go? And he says, it went perfectly, 
splendidly, beautifully. And Samuel says, well, why am 
I hearing these lowing of the oxen? Why am I hearing the bleeding 
of the sheep? Those sheep and those oxen were 
testifying that Saul was a rebellious wretch who didn't go and utterly 
destroy everything. So what does Saul do? He blames 
the people of Israel. He covers, he hides, he conceals 
his sin. Consider one New Testament example 
in the case of Ananias and Sapphira. God's not a communist. God doesn't 
tell you to give everything you own to the church. But if you 
say you're giving everything you own to the church and then 
you keep back some, you have engaged in hypocrisy. You have 
engaged in deception. You have lied. And so the Lord 
God strikes dead Ananias and Sapphira. Their crime? They've 
lied to the Holy Spirit. They tried to cover. They tried 
to hide. They tried to conceal their sins. So we see the assumptions in 
the text. We see some biblical examples fleshing out the covering 
of the aftermath of sin. What are some means by which 
sinners do this? How do men cover sin? Again, 
I hope all of us at the end of this sermon are going to say, 
I want my sins covered in the blood of Jesus, because that's 
the only means whereby sin is covered. I want my sins hidden 
under that fount which is open for sin and uncleanness. I want 
to be washed and purified. I want to be justified and sanctified. I want to be heaven-bound because 
of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is a legitimate 
means of cover, of concealment, of hiding, of getting rid of 
sin. How do sinners attempt to do this without recourse to our 
Lord Jesus Christ? There are several ways, and this 
is just suggestive of a few things that we ought to tease out. In 
the first place, they deny it. They just flat-out deny sin, 
don't they? If you don't know this, you're 
not talking to the right people, or you're not reflecting upon 
your own heart outside of Jesus. Consider Proverbs 30 and verse 
20. This is the way of an adulterous woman. She eats and wipes her 
mouth and says, I have done no wickedness. Are you kidding me? You're an adulterous woman. Are 
you kidding me? You have compromised the covenant 
that God has placed you in. How in the world could you wipe 
your mouth and act like this is just an ordinary course of 
events? Charles Bridges says he would 
cover it, if possible, from himself, putting it out of mind, denial, 
getting rid of it, banishing all serious thoughts, stifling 
conviction, and then trying to persuade himself that he is happy. That's why I encourage you, if 
you're not a believer here this morning, continue to come to 
church. Continue to be exposed to scripture. Continue to feel 
the guilt and the sting of conscience because of your sin and rebellion 
against God. You heard that before? I don't 
want to be around those Christians. All they ever do is, you know, 
peddle guilt. You know, a bit of healthy guilt in the soul 
of a man makes a man a seeker after the grace of God. Please 
don't absent yourself from scriptures which tell you things you need 
to hear. which rightly describes the condition of your heart, 
the denial of sins committed. A second means by which men cover 
sin is to minimize the gravity of it. to minimize the gravity 
of it. Again, maybe this doesn't describe 
you, but I think somewhere in this you can be found. You either 
deny it or you minimize the gravity of sin. The one who covers in 
this manner engages in redefinition. Adultery is playing around. Telling 
lies are only little white lies. Right? It's redefinition. It's holiness through redefinition. 
I'm not so bad, as you may suggest, because after all, I'm married 
to a wretch of a woman or a wretch of a husband. You know, persons 
in my shoes would have committed adultery a long time ago. Or 
they engage in rationalization. Well, the government steals from 
me constantly, so they deserve it when I cheat on my taxes. 
Has God prescribed such thought processes to us? Has God given 
us such license to rationalize sin? Has God said, well, I know 
you've had a pretty tumultuous time over this last period of 
time, so you go ahead and indulge your lusts for a period or for... 
No. Not to minimize the gravity of sin. Every sin is an offense 
against a holy God. The Westminster Shorter Catechism 
asks the question, what does every sin deserve? The answer 
is very precise. Every sin deserves God's wrath 
and curse, both in this life and that which is to come. I 
mean, imagine hearing that published abroad. How many things do we 
just assume? Jerry Bridges, prior to his death, 
wrote a book called Respectable Sins. This happens in the church, 
as long as we're not smoking crack, as long as we're not out 
engaged in prostitution, as long as we're not out robbing banks. 
You know, we don't care one whit about slander, or about gossip, 
or about hypocrisy, or about a self-righteousness, or those 
sorts of respectable sins that we have taken into our bosom 
and made our own. We are not to minimize the gravity 
of sin. In the third place, there is 
this attempt to shift the blame. Now, all of you who are parents 
have probably undergone this in your own homes. It wasn't 
me. It's never anybody, right? It wasn't me. It wasn't me. You 
see this pattern of shift blaming in the very beginning. What does 
Adam do when God comes to him? In fact, when God says, where 
are you, Adam? Do you think God's looking for 
information? God's not looking for information. The question 
is for Adam. It's like when we know what our 
kids have done and we say to them, what have you done? Is 
that really because we're trying to ascertain the situation and 
we want them to feel miserable? No, we're good parents. We don't 
ever do that. Yeah, maybe a little bit. What have you done? This 
is what God does with reference to Adam. And who does Adam blame? Now, the basic response is his 
wife. He does, but he first blames 
God. Imagine that! The first man has the audacity 
to blame God. But you know, we're just like 
the first man. If we can blame God to get out 
of culpability, to cover, to conceal or to hide, then we will 
do it, right? Adam has the gall to say to God, 
the woman whom you gave me, what's the implication? God, everything 
was fine. While I was naming dogs and sheep 
and cows, everything was great. It's not until she came on the 
scene. And you're bidding, God, that these terrible things have 
happened. And then he blames her. The man 
was made to protect his wife and now he's pulled her up and 
he's trying to make her a shield to deflect the vengeance of God. 
Truly reprehensible to shift the blame in that manner. It's 
a means to cover, to hide, to conceal sin. Saul does this, 
as I've already said, in 1 Samuel 50. The people did this! Doesn't 
Aaron do this in Exodus 32? Moses comes down from the mountain. 
What are the people doing? They're celebrating, they're 
dancing, they're engaged in revelry before this golden calf. And 
what does Aaron do when he's pressed? Aaron said, well, you 
know the people. They're just kind of like this. It's just got a hankering in 
their hearts to go after calves. He blames the people, and then 
he blames chance. I don't know how else to describe 
it. He says, they gave me all their gold, all their earrings, 
I threw it into the furnace, and out came this golden calf. It's bizarre, isn't it? But we 
do that. Children do that. I don't mean 
to pick on children. I don't know what happened. I 
was just playing with what you told me not to play with and 
it broke. I don't know. It's because you played with 
something you were told not to play with and you dropped it. 
That's why it broke. It wasn't chance. It wasn't fortuitous. It wasn't some haphazard event. If you hadn't have touched it, 
it wouldn't have broke. But we want to blame everybody 
and everything. It's never our problem. Our culture 
has created this and has fostered it. Or not created, it was created 
by Adam. But it's been fostered and nurtured 
and taken to new levels in our society. Nobody is responsible 
for their wickedness. Nobody is accountable to God. Well, it's the way the Lord made 
me to want to be a sodomite. It's the way God made me to make 
me a man trapped in a woman's body. It's the way God or society 
has made me, or the way my dad or my mother. Now, there's certainly 
influences upon persons that I do not dismiss. Brethren, it 
is an attempt to cover, to conceal, to hide sin. Just own it, confess 
it forsaken, find mercy. Another means by which persons 
will hide sin is to attempt to cover them by good deeds. You say, well that seems paradoxical. 
Yes, but I think it is true. Go back to 714 in the book of 
Proverbs. It's intriguing to me. This woman 
is enticing this young man. This woman is married. She is 
an adulteress. Notice in 7.10. And there a woman 
met him with the attire of a harlot and a crafty heart. She was loud 
and rebellious. Her feet would not stay at home. 
At times she was outside, at times in the open square, lurking 
at every corner. So she caught him and kissed 
him with an impudent face. She said to him, notice verse 
14, I have peace offerings with me. Today I have paid my vows. 
Now, some commentators take this this way. When the worshipper 
offered the peace offering, a bulk of it or the fat of it was given 
to the priest so that they could eat. All of it was returned to 
the worshipper so that they could eat it at home. She could be 
trying to entice him. I have these peace offerings. 
I've got meat. What better way to entice a young 
man? Their own sexuality and meat. I mean, this man is just going 
to go off to his destruction like a bird in a trap, is what 
Solomon tells us. But just think about this a little 
bit further. She was at worship the morning. She went to the temple. She took 
her animals. She received back her portion 
from the peace offerings. She had the guise of religion. If you saw her on that morning, 
you wouldn't conclude she's an adulteress. If you saw her on 
that morning, you wouldn't conclude that, wow, she's going to go 
have illicit relations with a young man that she's corrupting. Sometimes 
sinners busy themselves doing good things to try and hide, 
to try and cover, and to try and conceal sin. I think Israel's 
guilty of this in Micah 6. You can turn there. Micah chapter 
6, again just teasing out some of the ways that men, women, 
boys and girls will try and attempt to hide sin. Micah 6, 6. after 
they are reproved by the prophet and condemned for their sin against 
God. Notice in verse 6, with what shall I come before Yahweh 
and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him 
with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be 
pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall 
I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the 
sin of my soul? In other words, what they're saying is, if God's 
so angry with us, should we just multiply our sacrifices? If God's 
so upset with us, can we just add to what we offer? If God's 
so upset, can we give a child out of our own family to try 
and appease Him? I mean, in this they sound like 
Moloch worshipping wretches. Do you see the idea? If I do 
enough good things, I can hide, I can conceal, I can cover my 
sin. Consider those two men who went 
to pray in Luke's Gospel, in Luke 18. The one man stands and 
prays thus with himself, I thank you, Lord, that I'm not like 
other men. I thank you that I'm such an awesome human being. 
I thank you that I'm such a respectable person. I thank you that I tithe. 
I thank you that I fast. I thank you that I'm not like 
other men. It's to hide, it's to conceal, 
it's to cover. I wonder how many persons that 
profess saving faith are in their sins and yet busy themselves 
with these sorts of deeds so to hide, to conceal and to cover 
their own sin. And then the final way that sinners 
do this is to completely abandon all thought whatsoever of sin. Forget it. I'm not even going 
to try anymore. Hebrews 6, Hebrews 10 describes 
apostasy. Again, a reason why you ought 
to be under the means. Do not let it get to the point 
where you throw off these things. So back in Proverbs 28, we've 
seen the assumptions in our text, the biblical examples in or that 
illustrate the text, the means employed by sinners to cover, 
and the final thing we ought to observe with reference to 
the problem is the cursed result. He who covers his sins will not 
prosper. You may be here this morning 
covering, hiding, or concealing sin. Listen to Solomon. You're not going to prosper. It's just not going to happen. You know, there are those out 
in this world that are idolaters. They worship their money, or 
they worship their success, or they worship themselves, or they 
worship women, or they worship men, or they worship who knows 
what, and they have this outward appearance of happiness. The Bible tells us otherwise. 
In Proverbs, specifically in Proverbs 13, verse 15, it tells 
us the way of the unfaithful is hard. Young people, listen 
to Proverbs 13. The way of the unfaithful is 
hard. Do you know why your parents 
preach the gospel to you? Do you know why they schlep you 
to church every Lord's Day? Hopefully morning and evening 
so you're under the means. It's because they understand 
the ramifications of Proverbs 13, 15. The way of the unfaithful 
is hard. It's not good, it's not happy, 
it's not soft. You see, whoever covers his transgressions 
will not prosper. His way will be hard. It will 
be embedded with thorns and thistles and difficulties. What does Jesus 
teach us in John's Gospel in chapter 8? He tells us whoever 
commits sin is what? He's a slave of sin. And if I 
saw some slave getting beaten by the whip and he had a big 
smile on his face, I wouldn't necessarily conclude that he's 
a happy man. Yet, that's the way that we operate. And then the vivid illustration 
of this principle in this age. We're talking about this age 
right now. We're not talking about the age to come in just a moment. Do 
you know I prosper in this age? Have you ever seen somebody use 
drugs? You don't have to nod, you don't have to say yes, or, 
you know, maybe you didn't, maybe you haven't seen that, maybe 
you haven't been exposed to persons who begin to bow at an idol. 
And at first they have control over the idol, and at first everything 
is good for them, at least as far as they think. They bow to 
whatever it is, whatever drug, or it could be alcohol, could 
be sex, could be money, could be whatever. They start out small. They don't give themselves totally 
and fully in their allegiance to this thing right off the bat. 
But if you see them a while later, what do they look like? You see 
the effects of the idol all over them. In the case of drugs, it 
does leave a physical effect. Teeth have holes in them, they've 
got bags, they've got all sorts of health problems and issues. 
This is not good. They're not prospering. They're 
not thriving. They're not flourishing. They're 
not in a good place. But the text also indicates, 
he who covers his transgressions will not prosper in the age to 
come. See, there is a world beyond 
this world. There is a heaven to be won by 
the grace of God or a hell to be punished in for our rebellion 
against Him. Matthew 10, verse 28, our Lord 
Jesus says, And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot 
kill the soul, but rather fear Him who has the ability, the 
power and the authority to kill both body and soul in hell. What about Revelation 21, verse 
8? It describes those who are in 
the lake of fire. These are persons who sought 
to cover their sins, whether it be idolatry, whether it be 
sexual immorality, whether it be lying, whether it be whatever 
manner of sin and depravity they've engaged in. You see, the point 
is, with reference to the problem addressed in this text, if you 
are not a believer, if you are not in Jesus Christ, your problem 
is a lot more severe than you've ever bargained for. Your problem 
is massive. Your problem is huge. Children 
and young people, if you're not believers, that's why your parents 
pray for you. That's why your parents hold 
your hands and push you. Not push you physically, but 
want to press you to the Lord Jesus. That's why you get the 
nudges in church, so you'll pay attention, because your problem 
is massive. It's huge. It's got major ramifications. Notice, Solomon doesn't leave 
us just with the problem. But He provides the solution. 
Notice, first, the exercise of faith. He who covers his sins 
will not prosper, but... Isn't that beautiful? There's 
a but there. Buts in the Bible are good. If I'd have kept reading Ephesians 
2, for, but, God. Ephesians 2, 1-3 describes us 
as lifeless, helpless, hopeless, but God, who is rich in mercy. You see, we could just end here 
and be of all persons the most depressed and the most discouraged. Butler told us about our problem, 
and it sounds miserable. My way in this life is going 
to be hard. My way in the life to come is going to be judgment, 
hellfire, burning, everlasting destruction. It's a terrible 
view, isn't it? There's a blot in the text. Blot, 
he says. Whoever confesses. I think this 
has reference to faith in Jesus Christ. This is not confession 
to a Roman Catholic priest. This is not just some therapeutic 
exercise. Go sit somewhere and chant off 
your sin. No. It is to lay hold of the 
mercy offered in Christ. It is to lay the hand on the 
scapegoat. It is to confess the sin. It 
is to realize that there is a God in heaven who will most certainly 
punish transgression, but who has sent one to save sinners 
from their sins. Whoever confesses. You see, this 
is the means. This is the hope. This is the 
solution. Don't hang on to it. Don't continue 
to cover, conceal, and hide. But confess it to God. Lay hold 
of Christ. Believe on Him. Vomit it out. You know, sometimes after getting 
sick, the best thing to do is to vomit, isn't it? Just to get 
it out. You feel better after. That may 
sound sick and disgusting, and you don't want to hear about 
vomit before lunch, but you know what? Deal with it for just a 
moment. You come to the throne of grace, and what is one of 
the best things about that throne? We get to vomit out our sins 
and see them covered in the blood. It's beautiful. This is siding 
with God. This is casting oneself upon 
the mercy of God. Listen to Bridges commenting 
on whoever confesses. He says, God needs not confession 
for His own information, but 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 divine justice. And this confession of sin acknowledges 
Christ. Gil, likewise, and though it 
is known unto him this sin unto God, yet he requires an acknowledgment 
of it, which should be done from the heart with an abhorrence 
of the sin, and in the faith of Christ as a sacrifice for 
it. It's beautiful, isn't it? He who covers his sins will not 
prosper, but... That's a but you can hang your 
soul on. But you can bank your soul on, your life on, whoever 
confesses. Lay your hand on Jesus. Believe in Him. Look to the One 
in whom alone there is forgiveness to be had. Isn't this precisely 
what happened with David? You see, I sketched previously 
David's sin, not only the adultery with Bathsheba, but the murder 
of Uriah, to cover it. In chapter 12, Nathan the prophet 
is dispatched by God Most High. And Nathan tells David this story 
about a man who had a little ewe lamb. And another rich man 
comes and takes that ewe lamb away from him. And David is incensed. David is upset. David is angry. And Nathan says, Thou art the 
man. Talk about a crushing sermon. 
Talk about being laid low. David's upset about this story, 
and it turns out the story illustrates his practice. God says, I gave 
you everything, David. I gave you houses, I gave you 
this, I gave you that. And God says, if it wasn't enough, 
I would have given you more. What does David do? At this point, he doesn't cover, 
he doesn't conceal, he doesn't hide. He confesses, and his confession 
is brief, but beautiful. He says, I have sinned against 
the Lord. Now, be honest. Do you think 
David got off light? Sometimes we can be tempted that 
way, can't we? All you have to do is say, I've sinned against 
the Lord, and he receives forgiveness. Yes, because he laid his hand 
upon the sacrifice. Yes, because he trusted in the 
one alone who is able to forgive. That's what he writes about in 
Psalm 32, verses 1 and 2. Remember we read that all about 
40 minutes ago, way back when? How blessed is the man, how blessed 
is the man to whom the Lord does not impute transgression, the 
one to whom the Lord forgives. He says in verses 4 and 5, when 
I kept silent, my bones hurt. You see, again, if you were looking 
at David in that interim period between the time that he actually 
committed adultery, the time that he actually committed murder, 
and the time that he was reproved by the prophet, there was probably 
a series of months there. If you looked at David, you would 
have thought, wow, successful king, military leader. Savvy that is admired by all 
the pagan kings around him. But he's miserable inside. The 
way of the unfaithful is hard. His bones hurt. He was in turmoil. He was in agony. But back to 
his confession. It's simple. It's sublime. All 
he says is, I have sinned against the Lord. There's a German Bible 
called the Berlberg. I'm probably butchering. Anytime 
I say German words, I feel the the press that I'm getting it 
wrong, but this was written in 1726 to 1729. It wasn't written, obviously. 
The Bible was there, but they put this Bible together, a German 
study Bible, essentially. And it deals with the simplicity 
of David's confession. Watch it before you say, well, 
you know, that's it. David did horrendous things. Doesn't he 
have to go out and feel bad for a while before God forgives him? 
Doesn't he have to go out and be nice to cats for a while before 
God forgives him? Do you have to go out and do 
some community service first before God forgives him? I mean, he 
did horrible things. And all he says is, I have sinned 
against the Lord. And Nathan assures him that the 
Lord will cover his sin. Listen to the Berlberg. It says, 
the words are very few, just as in the case of the publican 
in the Gospel of Luke. Remember? God, be merciful to 
me, the sinner. He says, or they say, but that 
is a good sign of a thoroughly broken spirit. There is no excuse, 
no cloaking, no palliation of the sin. There is no searching 
for a loophole, no pretext put forward, no human weakness pleaded. He acknowledges his guilt openly, 
candidly, and without prevarication. In other words, he's not trying 
to be evasive. In that one brief statement, 
I have sinned against Yahweh, he is acknowledging God's just 
judgment of him, and he is acknowledging God's just provision of the mediator, 
Jesus Christ. This is confession. It's not 
just going through the therapy of getting rid of the vomit. 
It's to lay hold of Christ. It is to believe the Gospel. 
It is to understand what 2 Corinthians 5.21 means. It is to understand 
1 John 1.9, that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and 
just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
Brethren, have we forgotten how wonderful forgiveness is? Have 
we forgotten how wonderful texts like these are? I think Davis 
is right. Our public worship, we go through 
the motions, we acknowledge these things, we sing them to be sure, 
but do our souls, have they lost their goosebumps? Brethren, this 
experience of God's mercy and God's grace ought to promote 
in us a joy when we sing something like, 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. Praise the Lord, 
O my soul! That's what David felt. That's 
why David rehearsed this in the Psalms. That's why we have Psalm 
32, when he talks about us shouting for joy and rejoicing. Why? Because God has imputed the righteousness 
of Christ. God has forgiven your sins. It's beautiful, blessed, and 
wonderful. Notice, what follows the exercise 
of faith? But whoever confesses and forsakes, 
you know from your Theology, you know from your confession 
to faith, you know from the Bible that faith and repentance are 
two sides to the same coin. Faith and repentance always go 
together. It is a penitential faith. It is a believing repentance. 
And when the man, the woman, the boy or the girl confesses 
that sin, laying hold of the mercy offered in Jesus Christ, 
there is a forsaking of it. They don't continue in it. Jesus 
will save his people from their sins, Matthew 1.21. We are to 
pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 
chapter 12. Those are just things we must 
know. You believe the gospel, you repent of your sin. You marry 
the bride, Christ, you leave off the harlot, sin. It is that 
simple. It is that evident. It is that 
obvious. Listen to Bridges. He says, Penitent 
faith confesses in the act of laying the hand upon the great 
sacrifice, and hence draws strength of purpose to forsake all that 
has been here confessed. For while the hypocrite confesses 
without forsaking, the hearty forsaking is here the best proof 
of the sincere confessing. In other words, the repentance, 
the forsaking of the sin manifests the reality that it's been confessed, 
that we've laid hold on the mercy offered in Christ, and that by 
God's grace, we have been brought out of darkness into marvelous 
light. So you see, he says, whoever covers his transgressions will 
not prosper. We saw the various things involved 
in the problem and the very cursed result. He will not prosper in 
this age or in the age to come. We see the same sort of thing 
here, but whoever confesses and forsakes, there's a blessed result, 
isn't there? Cursed result in the first half, 
he will not prosper. Blessed result in the latter 
half. But he will find mercy. He will have mercy, both in this 
age and in the age to come. You confess, you lay hold of 
Christ, you believe by God's grace, you repent by God's grace. Make no mistake about it, you 
are absolutely dependent upon the grace of God. Faith and repentance 
are gifts given by God. They are gifts given by God. That ought to humble you, it 
ought to lay you low, it ought to put you at the mercy of God, 
which is the very best place to be. It is the most excellent 
place to be, at the mercy of one who is most merciful. But notice, as I've already mentioned, 
when we have that mercy, we'll have the ability to identify 
with blessed passages of Scripture. If our hearts aren't jumping 
out from texts like these, we need to reassess our lives. our 
position in the world. If you can read Psalm 130, verses 
3 and 4, and not be delighted or have those goose bumps on 
your soul, what does the psalmist say there? If you, Lord, should 
mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? It's a terrifying 
thought, isn't it? If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, 
O Lord, who could stand? That is a terrifying thought. 
Imagine that right now, if you're not a believer. Consider the 
fact that God, if He marked your iniquities, it doesn't say that 
He doesn't know them, He knows every sin. But if He called you 
to account right now, if you, Lord, should mark iniquities, 
If you, Lord, should rip the breath out of a living human 
being and summon them to stand right before you and give an 
account for deeds done in the body, whether good or evil, that 
would be terrifying, wouldn't it? Yes? Possibly? Maybe? I'm a believer 
and it would be terrifying. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, 
oh Lord, who could stand? What's David saying? There's 
nobody righteous. No, not one. There's nobody perfect, 
nobody excellent, nobody that's engaged in that law keeping. 
If you should do this, Lord, who could stand? He goes on. 
He says, but there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. Brethren, do you read that and 
rejoice? Do you read the end of the prophet 
Micah when you see that God goes deep sea fishing with our sins? 
Do you rejoice? Do you realize that by the grace 
of God I have confessed, I have forsaken, and I have found mercy? When we sang this morning, no 
condemnation, now I dread. Jesus, with all in Him, is mine. Alive in Him, my living head, 
enclothed in righteousness divine. Bold I approach the eternal throne 
and claim the crown through Christ my own. You see, I submit that 
mercy received in this age will produce worshippers of God in 
this age. that when we reckon with the 
reality of amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a 
wretch like me, when we wander into the public worship of God, 
and we find our hymn books or we find our Psalters, and we're 
called to stand and praise God, we will do so as those who have 
been covered, those who have been forgiven, those who have 
been washed and purified. We have found mercy from a merciful 
God in this age. What happens in the age to come? 
What happens in the age to come is the exact opposite of those 
who do not prosper. They will suffer at the hands 
of a thrice holy God. We will be blessed infinitely. We will be blessed immeasurably. We will be in Emmanuel's land 
and we will see the one who died for us. We will see the one who 
rose for us. We will see the one who ever 
lives for us. It's truly, truly an amazing 
text in terms of what it holds out. Well, in conclusion, just 
a quick exploration of the problem. The law of God is a great means 
to help you assess your situation. You know, there's this idea today 
where persons think, you know, I'm not that bad. No, you're 
a lot worse than you can ever imagine. Again, we just sketched 
a few specimen passages in the scriptures. We referred to Luther as a miserable, 
stinking bag of maggots and said, you know, that would be an improvement 
on our nature. The Scriptures are clear. Remember 
a couple of weeks ago we considered that statement or that question 
posed by the Pharisaic lawyer to Jesus, which is the great 
commandment in the law. You shall love the Lord your 
God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and the second is like 
it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The Heidelberg Catechism 
rightly asks, how do you know your sin and misery? The law 
of God. And what does the law of God say? And it cites Matthew 
22. Do you keep the law of God? No, 
by nature I hate God and I hate my neighbor. That's what that 
law will demonstrate to you. That's what that rule of life, 
that standard of absolute truth will tell you. You've got problems. You've got issues. You may think 
everything's great. You may be physically attractive. 
You may be prospering at work. You may have people who like 
you and people who say nice things to you, and it's easy to get 
into this mindset that everything's great, but you're going to stand 
before this God one day. And right now, consider the demands 
of the law of God that you love Him with your heart, soul and 
mind, that you love your neighbor as yourself. How many times do 
you violate that? How many times do you break that 
in a given day? And then consider the reality 
that instead of dealing with it like a big boy or like a big 
girl, confessing it and forsaking it the way God says, you cover 
it, you conceal it, you hide it, you deny the fact, you'd 
be caught in the act. You just see the picture of the 
kid. You've told them, don't eat that chocolate bar. They 
come wandering out and they got a ring of chocolate right around 
their mouth. You say, did you eat that chocolate bar? No! What do you do as a parent? Oh, 
okay. I don't want to violate your 
delicate psyche. No, you say, I don't think so. 
You got a chocolate ring right around your mouth. You press 
them. They confess. Finally. Wouldn't it be nice 
if they said, yeah, I eat the chocolate. Please have mercy 
on me. I confess it. I'll forsake it. 
I won't do it again." Wouldn't that be great? They're obstinate. I'm not picking on kids. I was 
there. I do the same thing as an adult. No, I didn't do that. 
I'm going to rain chocolate around my mouth. Did you take the biggest 
one, Jim? No, I didn't. You know, we see it with a child, 
and we sort of expect it, because they're a child, they're children, 
but with adults, Quit hiding sin. Quit playing games. Quit trying to be something you're 
not. Don't conceal, don't hide, don't cover, but confess it, 
forsake it, and you will find mercy. That's the blessed promise 
of our text. If you confess by the grace of 
God, if you forsake by the grace of God, what will you find by 
the grace of God? A storehouse of mercy for this 
age and the age to come. But before we leave this particular 
text, this text speaks to believers as well. This text deals with 
our relationships one to another. We've seen a lot of that in the 
Sermon on the Mount. How do we relate to one another? Well, 
Proverbs 28.13 feeds that as well. Man, if your wife comes 
and says, you sin, don't hide, don't conceal, don't, you know, 
I didn't do it, it wasn't me. Did you check the kids? I'm sure 
they did it. Don't do that. Gil makes this 
wise observation when believers are approved by fellow Christians. 
He should not cover it, that is, he should own it. For not 
to own and acknowledge it is to cover it. He should not deny 
it, which is to cover it with a lie, and is adding sin to sin. Nor should he justify it as if 
he had done a right thing, not extenuate or excuse it, or impute 
it to others that drew him into it. If your brother, if your 
sister, if your husband, if your wife, if your parent, if your 
child comes to you and reproves you for a real sin, Don't cover 
it, don't conceal it, don't hide it. Confess it, forsake it, and 
guess what? You'll find mercy. This is the 
way we're supposed to deal with one another in the church. I 
know it's zany, but that's the way we're supposed to deal with 
one another, faithfully, righteously, and biblically. And I mentioned 
bridges earlier, and I want us to close with this thought. He 
says, with reference to Proverbs 28, 13, God and man each cover 
sin, God in free unbounded grace, man in shame and hypocrisy. confess it, forsake it, and you 
will find mercy. May those words be with you throughout 
this day and in days to come, and may God's Holy Spirit screw 
them into your conscience and give you the grace to believe 
and to forsake, so that you might have that mercy. Well, let us 
pray. Father, we do thank you for the 
Word of God, and we thank you for your mercy to us, and we 
pray that you'd help us to to deal faithfully one with another, 
help us to deal righteously one with another. And God, I pray 
for any and all who are not believers this morning, those who are not 
Christians. We don't want to pick on them, God. We want You 
to save them. We want You to open their eyes 
and hearts to receive the truth of Proverbs 28, 13. They would 
stop and cease from hiding and covering and concealing sin. They would take it to God Most 
High. They would confess. They would forsake. And they 
would find that mercy. And may they do so by your grace 
and for your glory. And we ask these things through 
Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.