Scripture Reading
You can turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 28. Proverbs 28, not a baptism text per se, but certainly a text connected with baptism. In our confession of faith, when it speaks concerning baptism, it says in chapter 29, paragraph one, baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament ordained by Jesus Christ to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with him in his death and resurrection, of his being engrafted into him of remission of sins and of giving up into God through Jesus Christ to live and walk in newness of life. Well, Proverbs 28, 13 speaks concerning the remission or forgiveness of sins.
So I'll read the text and then we'll pray. He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our gracious God and Holy Father, we thank you for the Lord's day. We thank you for the high privilege that is ours to gather together and to come to the Father through the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit. We thank you for the blessed opportunity to worship you in spirit and in truth. And to that end, we pray that you would guide us now by your Holy Spirit, help us as we approach this text to receive the teaching of it, and may it be a great encouragement to those of us who know the saving grace of God, and may it be a great enticement to those dead in their trespasses and sins.
May this be the day of salvation, and may you grant the graces of faith and repentance so that sinners may lay hold of that blessed surety of the new covenant, even Jesus Christ our Lord. We give praise to you for the gospel of our salvation. We give praise to you for your effectual calling and grace. We give praise to you that salvation is of the Lord.
And we pray that many more would come to a knowledge of that. And we ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well,
Introduction
as we come to this particular passage, it breaks down quite nicely into two sections. First, it identifies the problem, and then secondly, it prescribes the remedy for the problem. Now, you've probably come here this morning having no shortage of problems. We all have those days where we get out of bed and it seems like things are against us.
For instance, I forgot to fill up the baptistry tank yesterday. I usually do that on Saturday morning. And at 6.15 this morning, I remembered, this is going to be a dry baptism unless I head over to the church building. And that just caused things to go from there.
So you've got problems. We've got issues. We've got challenges. We hear of wars and rumors of wars.
We have an oppressive government. false religion. We have a lot of things, but this text addresses the big thing. It addresses the issue of sin. Sin is the universal problem, sin is comprehensive, sin is total, and sin is the reason for our enmity with God, and God's enmity toward us.
So let's look at what Solomon says under inspiration of the Spirit, teaching the Word of Christ to us in this present generation. As I said,
The Identification of the Problem
first, we'll look at the identification of the problem, and secondly, the remedy for the problem. Under the identification, I have four thoughts or four observations.
The Assumptions in the Text
First, notice the assumptions in the text. It says, he who covers his sins will not prosper. There are two assumptions there that we need to wrestle with. The first is that people sin.
He who covers his sins will not prosper. So that first assumption is what we call in theology the doctrine of total depravity. The teaching that man is sinful. Man has rebelled against God.
Man, like sheep, has gone astray, and man therefore stands liable to God's justice, his wrath, his curse, and his punishment, both in this life and that which is to come. Now, when I say the doctrine of total depravity, I don't mean that means as that every one of us is as bad as we could be. But I do want to caution us to reflect that without the grace of God, we would certainly be as bad as we could possibly be. We'd all be Pol Pot.
We'd all be Joseph Stalin. We'd all be Charles Manson. We'd be a whole host of wickedness because of our rebellion against that living and true God. Now, this doctrine of total depravity is taught throughout Scripture.
We see it beginning in Genesis chapter 6, and we see it all the way up to the book of Revelation. There is this problem concerning sin. One specimen passage is in Ephesians chapter 2, and you can turn there. Ephesians chapter 2 deals with what we call, in theology, the doctrine of total depravity.
In Ephesians 2, verses 1 to 3, the apostle gives a before picture of what the saints in Ephesus looked like. In other words, what they had come to be in terms of saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus had not always been the case. They had been sinful. They had been rebellious.
They had been at odds with God. And this is the description of them prior to their coming to Jesus. So in Ephesians 2.1, And you he made alive, 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 Psalm, the Apostle says, we were lifeless, we were helpless, and we were hopeless.
And the Apostle Paul includes himself in that lot. Sin is a universal problem. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not one.
There is none who seeks after God. There is no fear of God before the eyes of men. Why? Because of our rebellion, our fallenness in Adam.
But coupled with this doctrine of total depravity is another thing we call total inability. And if you turn to the book of Romans in chapter 8, you'll see that underscored. Romans chapter 8. And what I mean by this is that man, unaided by God's grace, man left to himself, cannot repair the ruins.
Man cannot fix his problem. If man could fix his problem, then the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to live, to die, and to be raised again the third day doesn't make any sense. If we had it in us, then why the death of the Son of God? We don't have it in us.
Unless God undertakes on our behalf, we will suffer forever in hell. Notice in Romans 8, 7, the apostle says, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So when we go back to our text in Proverbs 28, 13, and we consider that first assumption, the reality that people sin, we need to consider the second assumption is the reality that those people try to cover their sin. Notice again in 28, 13, he who covers his sins will not prosper.
Now the covering in view is to hide it, It's to ignore it. It's to try to pretend it's not there. It's to try to act like things are a lot better with you than they really are. It's not covering somebody else's sins.
Solomon says that's a good thing. Love covering a multitude of others' sins towards you is a blessed virtue. but your attempt to cover your sin so that you don't look so bad, so that you don't have to ponder the consequences of a life without God, so that you don't have to think about those things that at times haunt the hearts of men in silence. We need to consider the reality that this is an assumption that Solomon presents. Not only do people sin, but then they try to cover that sin.
And that brings us,
Biblical Examples of Covering Sin
secondly, to biblical examples of this particular text. If the Bible sets forth this doctrine, then it certainly shows us, in terms of example, persons who did this. If you go back with me to the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 3, the first occasion of somebody trying to cover sin, and not in the way that God authorizes. You need to remember, God and man seek to cover sin.
God does it effectively and efficaciously through His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Man does it in rebellion. Man does it in a way that pacifies his conscience, but doesn't fix his situation. So Genesis chapter 3 is that first instance where we see covering of sin in a way that is not good.
Notice, the serpent tempts Eve, and then we see in verse 6, so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. They sinned.
They were conscious of that rebellion. And what do they do in response? They try to cover it. They try to hide themselves.
They then run to the trees that God the Lord had made, thinking somehow that He wouldn't be able to attack them. So this covering of sin is obviously futile. This covering of sin doesn't work. This covering of sin is something that the Bible condemns.
In fact, that's what Solomon is doing in Proverbs 28, 13. And nevertheless, sinners continue to cover their sin. And I want to speak to you this morning. If you happen to be one of those sinners who is trying to cover his or her own sin, stop.
It's vain, it's futile, it's a losing prospect. I would suggest that you wave the white flag, that you surrender, that you realize that Christ alone is the one who can cover sin. His precious blood cleanses us and His glorious righteousness clothes us. That is the means by which there is an authorized covering for sin.
So don't tarry, or don't resist, or don't reject, or don't say, well, you know, I'm going to keep trying to do it on my own. Let's just continue to see how that goes. Look at Joshua chapter 7. Joshua chapter 7.
Remember, God told the children of Israel to go in and to utterly dispossess the land of Canaan from all the Canaanites. In other words, go in and destroy them, break their sacred pillars, destroy their property, kill them, take no prisoners, sanitize the land, because these altogether wicked sinners are being displaced now by God's people. Now, don't forget, when God's people act like the Canaanites, they then get displaced as well. For our God is not capricious, and He is not arbitrary.
The same sort of judgment He imposes upon the Canaanites, He gives to the Israelites when they ate the Canaanites. But in this context, in Joshua chapter 7, they're given a relatively simple task. All they've got to do is conquer Ai. And this wasn't, you know, Russia or China.
This wasn't, you know, a nuclear power. This should have been, you know, chump change. This should have been a foray with several troops in an afternoon, and you'd be drinking coffee and eating dinner later on. But that's not what happened.
God judges that. God defeats them through these people at Ai. Why is that? Because there was sin in the camp.
There was rebellion in the camp. There was a man by the name of Aked who coveted certain things that was under the ban, they weren't supposed to take, but he coveted those things, took them back to his tent, and hid them underneath the ground. Why? To try to avoid detection.
Can you avoid detection with the sovereign God? Can you hide among the trees that God made and Him not find you out? Doesn't the author in the Chronicles say that your sin will always find you out? Well, that is specifically what happens.
And it's not until the sin is dealt with in the camp of Israel that they then go and engage in a victorious warfare over the people of Ai. Turn over to 1 Samuel chapter 15. 1 Samuel chapter 15. The man by the name of Saul, the first king in Israel. Saul had big problems, brethren.
Really big problems. And one of them was that he tried to cover his sin. God gave very clear instructions to Saul. I want you to go in and utterly destroy the Amalekites and kill Agag, their president, or their king.
That's it. It's a simple project. It's not, you know, too difficult to sort of figure out. So what happens?
They engage in the foray, but instead of killing all the Amalekites, instead of killing Agag, what does Saul do? Saul wants stuff. Saul wants things. Saul wants the spoils that these particular persons have.
And so when Saul is called to account by Samuel, guess what Saul does? Does he say, I've been found out? I'm a transgressor of God's law. I have been found in my sin.
I need to confess it and forsake it and find mercy in the Lord Jesus. No, he covers it. He blames the people. It was the people.
They didn't want me to kill the Amalekites. They didn't want me to kill Agag. They didn't want me to do that because we wanted all this livestock and we wanted all these blessings. You don't cover sin, Saul, and prosper.
And then you've got the case of David. We don't even need to turn there. I've preached on that so many times. The sin of David.
What happened? It's the time of the year when kings go out to battle, and instead of David going out to battle, he sends Joab in his place. And so what does David do? He gets up on his roof, he sees a beautiful woman, and he takes her.
She becomes pregnant, or he impregnates her. She doesn't become pregnant. It's not some magical sort of process there. Biologically, he was very much involved in that foray.
But then what does he do to cover it? Does he confess it? Does he forsake it? Does he lay his hand upon the great surety of the new covenant?
No, he doesn't do that. First, he tries to get Uriah to take the fall. He tries to get Uriah drunk so that Uriah will go to his house and that Uriah will have relations so that when it's discovered that Bathsheba is pregnant, well, everybody will conclude that it was Uriah. Seemed like a great plan, didn't it?
Except for the integrity of Uriah. David didn't account for that. David didn't account for the fact that Uriah would say, I'm not going to go to my wife's bed when the armies of Israel and the Ark of the Covenant are out in the battlefield. So what does David then do?
Does he retool? Does he say, I need to confess? I need to forsake? I need to lay my hand on the shirt?
No, he commits murder. Conspiracy to murder is murder. He plans Uriah's death at the hottest part of the battle. So you see, David as well understands this concept of covering sin.
What about the New Testament? Does it show us any examples in terms of covering sin? You've got Judas Iscariot. What does Judas Iscariot do?
He feels bad. Brethren, feeling bad isn't repentance. Feeling bad, any miserable heathen can do when they've had enough of their corruption. Feeling bad is not the way of salvation.
It's grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And that faith is always mingled with repentance. And this is what our text enjoins. But whoever confesses and forsakes it will find mercy.
So you've got Judas, he has remorse, he gets rid of the money, and he hangs himself. That's not repentance. That's covering. He felt bad.
I mean, I'll give him that, but you don't just go out and do those sorts of things when you feel bad. What about Pontius Pilate? Pontius Pilate knew that Jesus was an innocent man. He says it three times.
He says, I find no guilt in this man. I find no guilt in this man. I find no guilt in this man. Always rehearses or recalls to me the threefold pronouncement of the holiness of God in the prophet Isaiah when those angels were before the throne of God most high and holy, holy, holy.
Well, that's essentially what Pontius Pilate does. He says, Jesus is holy, holy, holy. He understood the envy of the Jews. He understood that this was a kangaroo court.
And yet, he stands before them and in an attempt to cover his own sin and pacify his own wretched conscience, he cleanses his hands and he says, I am guiltless concerning the blood of this just man. Oh no, you're not, pal. Not one bit are you guiltless from that. You endorse these bloodthirsty, unbelieving Jews in their call for the crucifixion of the only holy, harmless, and undefiled man that ever lived?
Brethren, just imagine if you and I got framed for a particular crime and sentenced to the death penalty. Maybe we didn't commit that crime, but we're not guiltless. We're not altogether harmless. Jesus was.
He was innocent. And then what about the case of Ananias and Sapphira? Remember what they did, Acts chapter 5? We don't like to talk about that because that sounds kind of wrathful.
That sounds kind of Old Testament-ish. God kills people in churches when they lie to the Holy Spirit? Yeah, he kills people in churches when they lie to the Holy Spirit. Not every instance, not every time, but that's certainly within his realm.
And that's what happens with Ananias and Sapphira. It wasn't wrong that they had property. It wasn't wrong that they sold property. It was wrong that they said that we're giving all the proceeds to the apostles.
They lied. God's not anti-private property. God's not pro-commie. God is pro-truth.
And so when these people lie to the Holy Spirit, God kills them. Why didn't you just come clean? Why didn't you just confess it and forsake it and find mercy in the Christ who saves? You see, brethren, as we consider the implication here with reference to the fact that people sin, the fact that people cover sin, as we consider these particular examples,
How Sinners Cover Their Sin
I think it brings us thirdly to consider the applications of this text. He who covers his sins will not prosper. How do people do that? I don't want to get psychological here, but all you have to do is kind of look at human history or human nature, starting with yourself and perhaps others that you know and the people that you live and move and have your being with.
There seems to be some common themes among the sons of men as to why or how they attempt to cover their sin. Again, this isn't rocket science. I'm not a brain surgeon. I'm not here developing or telling you, you know, I figured out how to split the atom.
This is pretty simple, brethren. The way that people mitigate the effects of sin, the way that people just try to explain away sin, the way that people just want to assume that they're really not as bad as the Bible suggests. First, there is just the denial of sin. This is a tough one.
I remember being with a brother and we went to evangelize or meet with a guy that was on his deathbed and we tried to tell him he's a sinner. Oh no, no, no, not me. Never sinned. Really?
You've never sinned? What's that like, holy one? It's an impossibility, brethren. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Now this denial of sin is something that Solomon treats elsewhere. Listen to Proverbs chapter 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.
Not me. Whatever I do cannot be classified as wickedness, but Solomon just said you're an adulteress. The definition of wicked is right there in that word, adulteress, isn't it? Not me.
Denial of sin. Bridges says, he who 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. So I often think when we have a Lord's Day service, and when we preach the Word, and there's some touching on sin, or hopefully the Spirit of God is working conviction in sin, let's not try to blow that up after a service. Maybe somebody's got their conscience haunting them a bit.
Maybe there's the work of the Spirit sort of post-preaching that needs to obtain, that needs to go on. So we don't want to give an occasion for somebody to further deny their sin. Well, he said a lot of stuff there. It's true for most of the people there, but not me, because I'm awesome and all that.
Secondly, there is the minimizing of sin. The minimizing of sin. You see this as well. Again, this isn't rocket science.
You see it in redefinition. Adultery, let's just pick on that particular sin again. It's playing around. We're just flirting.
You know, theft. Well, you know, the government really shouldn't tell me what I can and can't do anyway. There's this redefinition. When God calls something theft, or God calls something covetousness, or God calls something, you know, idolatry, that's another one that's a hot topic, not just for the non-people of God, but John ends his first epistle on that note.
My little children, keep yourselves from idols. Why would you write that, John? Because the propensity of the human heart, even redeemed by God's good grace, is prone to wander and prone to leave the God that we love. So my little children, keep yourselves from idols.
We are not to redefine. As well, we're not to engage in rationalization. Again, sinners do that. Well, I'm not as bad as my brother.
I'm not as bad as my neighbor. I'm not as bad as that guy, you know, sitting down the aisle from me in church. Don't everybody look to your left or right. I'm just not that bad.
So there's this redefinition, and then there's this rationalization. And then, of course, there's the attempt to shift blame for sin. We're all pretty good at that one, too. It began in the Garden.
If we'd have continued reading in that narrative in Genesis 3, guess what Adam does? Lord, I've sinned, I've rebelled, I've transgressed. Where's the surety of a better covenant? Let me lay my hand of faith on Him.
No. He first blames God, the woman whom thou hast given me. Think of that arrogance. God, if you hadn't put her here, I'd be fine.
I wouldn't have eaten that fruit. I would have been happy and content and everything would have been great. So the woman whom thou has given me, but also that woman, he's supposed to lead his wife. He's supposed to love his wife.
He's supposed to care for his wife. He's supposed to protect his wife. We're gonna see that when we return to our studies in Ephesians chapter five. Husbands, love your wives.
You're to function as Christ to your wives. He's the savior of the body. He's the head of the body. He's supposed to wash her and cherish her and tend to her.
Well, Adam doesn't do that. He throws Eve right under the bus. It was her fault. Blame shifting.
I mentioned the case of Saul. Same sort of a situation. He blamed the people. Samuel said, if you've done your task, why am I hearing these oxen and why am I hearing these cattle?
It's because the people wanted to preserve them. That's blame-shifting. What about Exodus chapter 32? That sort of foray into idolatry.
God gives detailed plans on how to build the tabernacle. Before they get to building the tabernacle, let's just go ahead and sin in an anti-tabernacle sort of an event. Let's just do exactly what God has commanded us not to. Well, how do they do that?
They invoke Aaron. They say, well, Moses has been on that mountain for, you know, for a long time. We don't know when he's going to come back. Aaron, satisfy our religious longings.
Okay, give me whatever gold you have, and I'll throw it into this forge, and we'll see what pops out. That's actually how Aaron argues. He blames the people, and then he blames chance. I just took the gold, I threw it in the forge, and out came this calf!
Imagine that! You see what covering sin looks like? Kids, I don't wanna pick on you, and I won't look at anyone in particular, but your parents are usually smarter than you are. You know, at this level, I didn't do anything.
Oh, really? You didn't do anything. You got it written all over you. Criminals, right on your forehead.
And your parents usually see it with absolute clarity. This covering of sin is an exercise in futility. As well, there are people who try to cover sin by their own religious methodology. Their own religious methodology.
Proverbs 7, 14. You can turn there, we're not far. Proverbs chapter seven. We have the wayward woman seducing the young man.
And notice how Solomon writes in 7.6, Could Solomon say it any more candidly? This guy's not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. He says it right there. 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 in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night.
Don't miss that. Sinners like to cover sin in the hours of darkness. There are things that sinners don't typically do in noonday that they might do at midnight because darkness provides a foil. It provides a cover of sort so that people don't find out what you're doing.
And then notice in verse 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, I have peace offerings with me. Today I have paid my vows. So I came out to meet you diligently to seek your face, and I have found you.
Gil says she's not a common strumpet. It's an old English word for that kind of a woman. She's married. Her husband's away on business.
She has a degree of respectability. She's gone to temple that day or tabernacle that day. She has paid her offerings. She's got a religion in check, and yet she's seducing this dumb young man.
This is the case when sinners try to cover their sin. Look at the prophet Micah. Look at the prophet Micah, chapter 6 specifically, a passage that probably we all know out of Micah. I mean, if given the sword exam, it's going to take me a minute to find Micah, but we all know Micah 6, 8.
He has shown you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Brethren, that text is in a context. You don't just lift that out and put it on your fridge and say, okay, God, that's how I'm gonna be today. I mean, you can do that, but that's not really the function of the passage in the context.
The function of the passage in the context is God, through Micah, upbraiding the children of Israel. See, the prophets functioned like prosecuting attorneys. They would go to the courtroom and they would say, God has an ax to grind with you for these reasons. You need to repent.
You need to renew faith. You need to get it together. And that's the context in Micah 6. So notice in verse 1, Oh, my people, what have I done to you?
And how have I wearied you? Testify against me. For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Oh, my people, remember now what Balak, king of Moab, counseled, and what Balaam, the son of Baor, answered him.
From Acacia Grove to Gilgal, that you may know the righteousness of the Lord." It's the opening argument. God, through Micah, says, what have I done? Register your complaint. Bring your evidence.
Bring your receipts, as they say today. Show me my offense. Now look at their response. With what shall I come before the Lord 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? Of course not.
God's never commanded you to function the way Moloch worshipers function and throw their babies into the fire in order to pacify the angry God. Jehovah's not that way. And that's when he comes and says, he has shown you, oh man, what is good. He doesn't require, you know, blood from your babies.
He doesn't require all of these things that you put together. See, their religiosity sufficed for them to think that everything was just fine. Everything was just dandy with them. And then, of course, that Pharisee.
Don't want to leave him untouched. Notice in Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18. How does this man hide his sin?
Well, he does it under the guise of being super spiritual. Super religious, just an excellent specimen of a human being. Notice in Luke 18 at verse 9, also Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Don't miss that.
Self-righteousness always produces hatred for others. just the way it goes. When you are righteous with yourself and content with your abilities, typically you have problems with everybody else. And that's what happens. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector." So he's righteous in his own eyes, but he despises the tax collector. This poor wretch that can't even look up into heaven, but he beats his breast and says, God be merciful to me, the sinner. What does this Pharisee think he's gonna hear? Have it open up and say, wow, you're just awesome.
You have done over and above the call of duty, your fasting, your tithing, your religiosity. It is just spotless and sterling. This man was a fake. Jesus tells us he was a fake.
He goes home condemned. The Pharisee, or rather, the publican is the one who goes home justified. So when it comes to this covering of sin, beware of the religious attempt to cover sin. And then finally, with reference to our text, Proverbs 28, 13, just looking at the first section, he who covers his sins will not prosper.
We've seen the assumptions. We've seen the examples. We see the applications.
The Cursed Result
Notice, fourthly, the cursed result. The cursed result, in verse 13, he who covers his sins will not prosper. Don't forget that brief clause, will not prosper. See, that's kind of built into us, isn't it?
We want to prosper. I don't mean riches and houses and all that sort of thing, but I mean hard work and industry, be left alone by people that should leave us alone and seek to be diligent and just do what God calls us to do. I think that's in us. It's there.
We image God. He built us that way. So there's this longing, this desire, this inkling to prosper. But what happens if you cover your transgression, you will not prosper.
You cover your sin and you will not go forward. You cover your sin and you will not be blessed. And if we had to speak to this, we could break it down into two points. First, you'll not prosper in this life.
And second, you'll not prosper in the life to come. Something else that Solomon says in the book of Proverbs, specifically at chapter 13 and verse 15, he says, the way of the unfaithful is hard. Now, I realize that sometimes evidence suggests otherwise. We go through those Asaph moments in Psalm 73, where we see the righteous suffer, we see the unrighteous abound, it perplexes us, it vexes us.
But for the most part, when it comes to passages like these, we need to understand that what may appear to be prosperity, we don't know what it's like for that person. It's because somebody has a lot of stuff doesn't mean they're happy. Just because they have a lot of things doesn't mean they're prosperous. The way of the transgressor is hard.
Doesn't mean that if you're righteous, everything's gonna be easy. You don't forget to fill baptistry tanks. You don't forget to do this. No, no.
There's always going to be challenges in this present evil age, but the way of the transgressor is hard betwixt him and God. He has no peace in his conscience. He can't say with Romans 5.1, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. Whatever the condition of God's people, whatever their outward affliction, whatever the turmoil or trial that they face, they nevertheless have peace with God that cannot be taken away from them.
It cannot be stripped. But for the unrighteous, for the unfaithful, their way is hard. Jesus speaks to this in John's Gospel, John chapter 8, verse 34. He says, Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
Slavery isn't a happy life. Slavery isn't a good existence. So the way of the transgressor is hard. So in this life, for those who cover their sin, they will not prosper.
But certainly the Bible speaks to the life to come. It speaks to the age to come. It speaks to the eternal state. See, what we experience in the here and now isn't all there is.
There is a life after this. There is heaven or there is hell. And the Bible is crystal clear concerning this. In fact, you can turn to the book of Revelation.
Revelation chapter 21, specifically at verse 8. Revelation chapter 21 verse 8. So the way of the transgressor in life now is hard, but the way of the transgressor in the life to come is harder. It is punctuated by pain and suffering and turmoil and exclusion from all the goodness of God most high.
Notice in Revelation 21 at verse eight, but the cowardly, we need to qualify that because some of us have some native fears about things and we might think we're going to the lake of fire because we don't like spiders or we don't like snakes or we get a little uncomfortable in the dark. That's not what the cowardly is. When you read the seven letters to the churches of Asia Minor, they all end with this emphasis. They all end with this benediction or blessing.
To he who overcomes. To he who overcomes. To he who overcomes. There's seven of them, so if we could keep going, you get the point. to he who overcomes.
So when we get to 21.8, we see cowardly, it doesn't mean spiders. It doesn't mean snakes. It means the civil state. It means false religion.
It means the pressures that we receive when we side with Jesus in this present evil age. It's those who are identified as cowardly. It's those who are excluded from the good presence of God. It is those who find themselves in the lake of fire with all these other derelicts and reprobates.
So notice in 21.8. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." So back to our text. He who covers his sins will not prosper in this age or in the age to come. The way of the transgressor is hard now.
The way of the transgressor is going to be eternally harder in the age to come. So there's
The Prescription of the Remedy
great impetus in this text to continue with reference to the prescription of the remedy. How do we find relief? What do we do? If what you're saying is true, and I've just seen a few verses that have convinced me so, then what's the hope of escape?
What's the sanctioned or authorized way to cover the sin that is teeming in my heart? Well, back to our text in 28.13, he who covers his sins will not prosper, but Whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. Now, I want to break this down. First, the exercise of faith.
Secondly, the place of repentance. And then third, the blessed result. But
The Exercise of Faith
notice the exercise of faith. He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses. Some of you have perhaps been brought up in the Roman Catholic Church, or you know somebody that's in that particular church, and you'll know that they have confession. They have a confessional.
You go in there as young papist, you get on the kneeler, and you say, bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been, you know, 25 years since my last confession. Or you say, 25 days, and if it was 25 years, your first confessed sin is I lied. So there is this, this, this sort of saetia dodal, which refers to a priestly office that mediates blessing from God to the worshiper.
That's not what this text is advancing. That's not what this text is advocating. Find a priest and give him your confession. No, that's not it.
The beauty of the Bible, we confess right to God. We come right through the mediator, the high priest, even our Lord Jesus Christ. He is an advocate with the Father, and he ever lives to make intercession for us. Those earthly corrupt priests, we don't have any need for them.
There's the priesthood of all believers. We can actually come to God through Christ in the Spirit. It's a blessed and wonderful provision. But this idea of confessing has to do with expressing faith in God, faith in our Lord Jesus.
One commentator, Bruce Waltke, mentions this word confession. In six passages, it means confess sins. More specifically, in these passages, it means give God public praise and glory by acknowledging one's need of His forgiveness and deliverance from sin. This entails praising God for His greatness, i.e., one cannot hide sin from Him, His justice, i.e., He has the right to punish the transgressor, and His grace, He forgives and delivers from sin.
So when we come to this passage and it says, but whoever confesses, I would argue this is an expression of faith. The object is our Lord Jesus, more on that in just a moment, but when we do this, the sinner agrees with God, right? Because if the alternative is covering, then the right response is to say, yeah, God, you're right, I am a wretch. Have you ever wondered how David, the man described as the man after God's own heart in 1 Samuel could have been described that way?
I mean, face it, most of us in this room, anyway, I don't want to say universally, haven't done the sorts of things David did. There was a time when the kings went out to battle, or David sends Joab, David commits sin, David compounds sin. How could he be the man after God's own heart? Because he sides with God against himself.
He's not trying to be something else. Oh no, I'm actually this really holy, righteous, wonderful guy. It's not the way you're supposed to read the Psalter. That is not how David is rehearsing his life before a thrice holy God.
So when we confess our transgression, we agree with God. As well, the sinner believes in the mercy of God. Why else would we do this? Why would we confess to God if we didn't think there was mercy to be had from God?
And spoiler alert, that's precisely the teaching in Proverbs 28, 13. When it comes to this, Bridges 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.
Now make sure we keep that clear. I'm not forgiven because I've confessed my sins. I am forgiven because of the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, the Lord. Same for you.
But this act of confession, this laying hold, as it were, upon the offered mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, is an act of faith. In the last hour we had a prayer meeting, and in that prayer meeting we read from Voice of the Martyrs. And Voice of the Martyrs reports on what you might think, martyrs and persons suffering for the cause of God and truth in various countries. There was a woman that was accused of the dastardly crime of selling Bibles in China, and one of the things she did at her, I think it was that woman, what she does when she gets her day in court, what would we do?
Oh, I was framed. I bought them from the state church, just kind of wanted to cut a deal to, you know, my front. That's not what she does. She recites the Apostles' Creed.
Praise God Almighty for that. That might've been the reason that she was on the earth and she went to this jail, that she stood before this group so that she could rehearse the Apostles' Creed. You know, one of the things that we rehearse in the Apostles' Creed, it's very near and dear to this text, I believe in the forgiveness of sins. But whoever confesses, side with God, you're not okay.
You're not just a little off. You're as messed up and probably a whole lot more than the Bible says. You do not find, you know, any comfort, or you should not find any comfort in trying to evade that, or, you know, it really isn't my fault. It really wasn't that.
No, no, side with God. Believe in the offer of mercy that comes through Jesus Christ. Talk to some of the people here. Talk to Steve and Mike.
Why are you going into that water? Oh, because we're great young men, and we've always done. No, because Jesus is a great savior, because his blood and righteousness is for me. And it's received by faith alone.
Confession means to lay my hand upon that blessed surety. And then as well,
David's Confession as Model
the sinner follows David. 2 Samuel 11 and 12. Again, I've alluded to it. But when David is confronted by Nathan, what does David say? Very simple.
I have sinned against the Lord. That's it? You didn't have to get on your knees and plead and beg? You didn't have to grovel in the dirt?
He said everything that needed to be said. He didn't try to redefine it. Well, it wasn't really adultery. I'm the king after all.
He didn't try to rationalize it. You know, I live a busy and stressful life. And you know, that woman that was out there, she shouldn't have been doing that. He doesn't do that.
When he's confronted by the prophet, he says, I have sinned against the Lord. What else can I say? What other thing needs to be said? He lays his hand upon that mercy offered in our Lord Jesus Christ.
There's an old German study Bible called the Berlberg, I'm probably mispronouncing that, from 1726 to 29, and it comments on the simplicity of David's confession. It says the words are very few, just as in the case of the publican in the gospel. But that is a good sign of a thoroughly broken spirit. There is no excuse.
There is 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. That is accurate.
That is spot on. And that is what it means to confess. It means to lay hold of Jesus Christ. He is the object of faith.
When we consider that, we obviously think to the New Testament. The Old Testament teaches that as well. Genesis 3.15 promised a man born of a woman, the seed of a woman, that would crush the serpent. As we move through the Old Testament, we get various facets of the life of the Redeemer King.
He's going to be a prophet. He's going to be a priest. He's going to be a king. What do you think the old covenant saints believed in, or who do you think they believed in?
They believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament is full of Christ. The Old Testament is all about Christ. The Old Testament has as the scope of scripture, Jesus Christ.
And of course, the new covenant certainly reinforces that. In the birth narrative in Matthew's gospel, you shall call his name Jesus. Why? For he will save his people from their sins.
Jesus says the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. He's the object of faith. That's why Sunday in and Sunday out, that's why every day, every day out, that parents and pastors and friends and evangelists are pointing you to the Lord Jesus. Because that's what you need.
That's who you need. It's through Christ alone that forgiveness comes. It's through Christ alone that a righteousness comes. He is the object of faith.
And then
The Blessed Result: Mercy
notice the high note upon which the text ends. The blessed result is simple. You confess, you find mercy. Isn't that beautiful?
Well, grovel, suffer pain for 15 years, do all the right things according to... No, no, no. You confess. In other words, you believe on the Lord Jesus, and with that belief comes repentance.
I'm not going to continue to go down that path. I'm not going to continue to pursue those things that are vile and filthy and wretched and would ultimately land me in the lake of fire. Faith and repentance are always hand in hand. A penitent faith and repentance is believing repentance.
So they're always two sides of the same coin. But the blessed result isn't you may find mercy. There's a world of probability and possibility that you could perhaps find mercy. No.
Brethren, isn't that one of the beautiful things about the Christian religion? It's not hypothetical. It's not maybe. It's not kind of.
It's not, you're okay, I'm okay. You confess your sins and He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You lay your hand upon the surety. That's Bridges' language, by the way, and I think it is very excellent.
He speaks in that way specifically, this laying of the hand of faith upon the head of the surety Jesus Christ. There is the blessed result that you will find mercy. Now, just let that sink in here for a moment. You're a wretch.
God is a holy God. He's gonna punish you in this life and that which is to come, but he's given a way out. He's given an escape means. He's given a way of salvation.
So my encouragement to you today is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to look unto Him in faith, to lay your hand of faith upon the head of the surety and find that hope, find that mercy, find that forgiveness that the Apostle Paul celebrates in his writings. In Ephesians 1, 3, he says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Every spiritual one. I need justification.
You got it. I need sanctification. You got it. I need glorification.
You got it. Christ has done the work. Christ is the surety. Christ is the one in whom there is salvation.
And that was the apostolic emphasis in the early church. Look unto the Lord Jesus Christ and be ye saved.
Application
Well, in conclusion, just a few thoughts. We, us, all of us, should at times explore this problem a bit more. Heidelberg Catechism says, how do you know your sin and misery? Well, the law of God tells me, right?
Sometimes we get pretty puffed up and arrogant and we think we're doing quite well. Get your face in the commandments of God, get your face in the Old Testament, get your face in the New Testament, and realize you're not righteous in yourself. It really is about Jesus. It really is the fact that he is to us wisdom from God, that is righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Jesus is for us. So with that, believers should reflect upon this and ponder it, but unbelievers should as well. Don't run from your problems, because that's an attempt to cover it. Trust me, you know this.
Anybody over two knows that running from problems never solves them. Does it? The warning engine light comes on. I'm just going to pretend it's not and see how that works.
No, you can't live that way, right? Oh, I've got this issue at work. I'm just going to pretend like, no, no, you got to deal with it. And you know you do, don't you?
Because somebody will say that. Well, you just got to deal with it. I know, but I don't want to deal with it. Well, don't be that sinner.
I know I got a problem. I know there's a promise of mercy to be had. In other words, a solution to the problem. But instead of dealing with that, I'm going to run from it and continue to cover my sin.
Again, may we just say, no, stop. Take the law of God, shine it upon your heart, you'll probably find out things about yourself even more disturbing than you ever had thought. But again, there is mercy to be had with the God of heaven and earth. Secondly, in terms of the explanation of the remedy, I think this serves both God and man.
In other words, if I sin against God and I confess it and forsake it, I find mercy from God. But horizontally it works too. If you've got a problem in your marriage, you've got a problem with your kids, you've got a problem with your parents, you've got a problem in your church, What should you do? Run from your problems?
Hide from your problems? Treat that person like they're dead to you? No, you deal with it. You seek mercy.
You seek forgiveness. For unbelievers, you need to understand that man and God both cover sin. God just does it effectually. Bridges says, God and man each cover sin.
God in free unbounded grace, man in shame and hypocrisy. The answer, the solution is to flee to the Savior. And the final admonition is for our young brothers today. You're here because of God's mercy.
In fact, I want to just read this so I don't get misty-eyed here. The mercy of God brings the forgiveness of sins. Why does God send his son? Love, he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
When God forgives a sinner, what is that an expression of? It's his mercy. Isn't this what the psalmist just rehearses over and over again in Psalm 136? For his mercy endures forever.
His mercy endures forever. His mercy endures forever. He just keeps saying that. Why?
Because it just keeps being true. The prophet Micah, chapter 7, he says, who is a God like you, forgiving iniquity, pardoning sin? Why? Because he loves mercy.
These young men go into the water today not because they're bright, I'm not saying they're not, but they're going into that water because of God's mercy. The mercy of God is foundational to Christian baptism. This signifies outwardly what has happened to them inwardly by the power of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Their sins are forgiven.
They understand remission. They know the bliss of being found in Jesus Christ, not having their own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is from God and received through faith alone. And that is what we should all look to on this day, as we see these young men baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, understanding they're not the last sinners. They're not the last ones.
There's hope and mercy and grace available in our blessed God through His Son, the Lord Jesus. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the simplicity of this text, the clarity of it. And I pray that you would bring it home and seal it to our hearts. As the people of God, may we rejoice in that mercy received.
As well, may we rejoice in that object of faith, even our Lord Jesus Christ, in his life, death, and resurrection. And for unbelievers, we pray that you'd open their eyes, open their hearts to receive the truth. And may they see Jesus Christ as altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. And may they, by that grace, lay hold of him for salvation.
And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, Brother Mark is gonna come up and lead the congregation in a hymn while we go and change our clothes here. Any of the parents that have children in the nursery could go and collect your children, bring them up.
That would free up the nursery workers to join us for the baptismal. And we're going to get things prepared here while they're changing. We're going to sing Amazing Grace. It's number 433 in the