2 Samuel chapter 12. I just want
to read one verse. Verse 13 of 2 Samuel chapter
12. And David said unto Nathan, I
have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The
Lord also hath put away thy sin. Thou shalt not die. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name, that name that's above every name and how we thank
you. How we thank you for the salvation
that's in him. Lord, how we thank you for the
freeness of your grace. How we thank you for the righteousness
of your dear son, our righteousness before you. How we thank you
for his precious blood. Lord, we ask that you would be
pleased to speak to our hearts in power this morning. For the
Lord's sake. Lord, we confess our sins, we
pray for forgiveness and cleansing, and Lord, we ask that you'd be
with all your people wherever they meet together. Grant us
a worship service. We ask that the songs that are
sung might be sung for your glory, that you'd bless us in the public
reading of your word, in the public prayer. Lord, unite our
hearts together to fear your name. Bless us for Christ's sake,
in his name we pray, amen. Now verse 13, David gives the
confession of his sin, and we also have the Lord's response. When he confessed his sin, I've
sinned against the Lord. We have this response of Nathan
to David, the Lord, this is not something you could do, but the
Lord also hath Put away thy sin. Now, most people believe that
the 32nd Psalm came at the heels of the 51st Psalm. As soon as
he made this confession in Psalm 51, he then writes Psalm 32. So let's turn there for just
a moment. Keep your finger there in 2 Samuel and turn to Psalm
32. Now we saw last week that Psalm
51 was David's Psalm of repentance over what took place, but look
at Psalm 32. He wrote this directly afterwards. Verse one. Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the
man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit
there is no guile. Now look particularly at verse
three. When I kept silence. Now this is referring to that
time of silence when he did not confess his sin. When I kept
silence. And this was at least a year.
When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring
all the day long. Now, it could have been when
somebody came up and said, how you doing, David? It said, doing
great, fine. But here is how he really felt. His bones waxed old through his
roaring all the day long. For day and night, thy hand was
heavy upon me. Moisture is turned into the drought
of summer, Selah. And then he says, I acknowledge
my sin. But he went through this long
period without acknowledging his sin. But now he does. Now, what an answer. As soon as he
says, I've sinned against the Lord. And you've never really
confessed your sin until you've seen it's against the Lord. That's
the problem with it. But as soon as he says, I've
sinned against the Lord, we read the Lord hath put away thy sin. That's something only the Lord
can do. You couldn't do it, but the Lord. Don't you wanna hear
this concerning your sin? The Lord hath put away thy sin
thou shalt not die now go ahead and read verse 14 of 2nd Samuel
chapter 12 how be it because by this deed thou hast given
great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the
child also that is born unto thee shall surely die now it's
brought out that although this sin was put away It doesn't take
away from the fact that there will be lifelong consequences
to this sin. David's life never really was
the same. And the point we need to see
from this is there's always, always, let me underline that,
there's always consequences to our sins in this life. Always. They have some kind of hardening
effect. They affect us. They affect other people. There's
always some consequences to our sin in this life. But thank God,
even that goes under the blessed scripture. And we know that all
things work together for good. to them that love God, to them
who are called according to His purpose. Everything, even the
falls, even the sin. Now, are you saying God caused
that sin? No, I'm not saying that, but I'm saying God's in
control of everything. And I know that all things. Aren't you thankful
for that? All things. work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. So while the Lord put away this
sin, it's pointed out that he suffered human consequences the
rest of his life, but every time David fell in some grievous way,
we get the blessing of some song he wrote out of it. Isn't that
amazing? Every fall he had, there was
some kind of special psalm written, including Psalm 32, which we're
gonna look at the end of this. But this blessing of hearing
that the Lord hath not put away, or hath put away thy sin, is
not experienced apart from the confession of sin. Now his sin was not put away
because he confessed his sin. His sin was put away because
Christ died for that sin. and put it away, and it was covered. That's why he got this blessing,
not because of his confession, but the confession demonstrates
the fact that the Lord had put it away. If he never confessed
his sin, all that would say is the Lord never put away his sin.
Now, the importance of the confession of sin. He said, when I didn't
confess my sin, I turned into a wasteland. The Lord's hand
was heavy upon me. I was miserable. Outside, I might've
appeared good. How you doing? Great, great.
But inside, oh, my hand of the Lord was heavy upon me. And then
I confessed my sin. As a matter of fact, go back
to Psalm 32. Keep your finger there. In 2 Samuel, Psalm 32. He said in verse five, I acknowledge
my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I'll
confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgave us
the iniquity of my sin. For this shall everyone that's
godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found. I
think that's beautiful. But he confessed his sin after
that long period of whatever was wrong with him. When he didn't
confess his sin, He finally confessed his sin. Now turn to 1 John,
chapter 1. What does it mean to confess
your sin? I want to do that, don't you?
Whatever that means, to confess your sin, I want to do that.
Now, to confess your sin, I know something it doesn't mean. It
doesn't mean you confess every one of them individually. It
doesn't mean that. It doesn't mean that for two
reasons. Number one, you don't know what
they all are. And number two, there's not enough time in the
day. Isn't that so? If it means, well, you've got
to confess each one. You've got to confess and admit.
Well, what does it mean? Look in 1 John 1, verse 9. If we confess our sins. Now that word confession is the
same word that is used for a confession of faith. The word means literally
to speak the same thing. When we have a confession, Christ
alone, scriptures alone, grace alone, faith alone, when we make
that confession, we're saying we believe the same thing. We
confess the same thing. It's agreement. Now, if I confess
my sin, here's what I do. I say the same thing God says
about my sin. I agree with God's assessment
of my sin. I say the same thing He does. I take sides with God against
myself. Now that's true confession. I
take sides with God against myself. And I take all the blame. I don't say, well, God and His
sovereignty allowed it to happen. There's nothing I can do about
it. No, I take complete, full responsibility and blame for
my sin. And that's what it is to confess
your sin. You take God's side against yourself. and you agree with what God says
about your sin, and you take full responsibility for it. As
long as you don't take full responsibility for it, well, God in His sovereignty
allowed it to happen. I mean, it's wrong, I know, but
blaming God, which is what Adam did. The woman that you gave
me, Here was his confession. He didn't say, I've sinned. He
said, the woman that you gave me, she gave me of the fruit
and I did eat. In other words, it's all your
fault, God. If you wouldn't have given me
this woman, this would have never taken place. And you and your
sovereignty allowed this to happen. And that's not confessing sin.
The only time I confess my sin before God is if I take full
responsibility. It's all my fault. I agree with
God. Now, what happens? Look back.
If we confess our sins, it says he is faithful and he is just. Thank you. I kept looking at
that thing and I thought, is that one of those black floaters
in front of my eyes? I couldn't figure it out because I have those all
the time. I always think I see fleas. Thank you, Isaac. I guess it was bugging. No, don't
say sorry. No, thank you. That thing was a spider coming
down. At any rate, If we confess our sins, the scripture
says He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, if I was writing that, if
we confess our sins, He is merciful and gracious to forgive us of
our sins and cleanse us from all righteousness. That's what
makes most sense to me. That's what I'd say. But that's not
what the Bible says. It says He's faithful He's faithful. You see, he already determined
before time began that those sins would be forgiven. And he's
always faithful to do whatever he purposed to do. He's faithful
to forgive those sins. He's faithful to himself. Not
only is he faithful to forgive those sins, listen to the next
word, he's just. He's just. In other words, I'm
justified. That's what, when my sin is put
away, that means I'm justified before God and God is giving
me my due. He's just to forgive me of my
sins because they've been put away. I stand just before God. I'm justified in Christ. Isn't
that wonderful? If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Now what I'd like to do with
the remainder of our time is look at how the Word of God describes
the putting away of sin because I, oh my, this is my favorite
subject, how my sin can be put away to where it's no more. Now I've I guess if I said what
I should say, I'd say it's my second favorite subject. I hope
I say my first favorite subject is the Lord himself. But my second
favorite subject is how the Lord can put away my sin and how it
can actually be gone. So what I want to do is I want
to look at the biblical descriptions of what the Lord has done about
the believers' sin. I found 27 words in the Bible
that describe the believers' And there may be more, but these
are the only ones I can find. As a matter of fact, I'd say
there are more, but these are the ones I found. And it was such a blessing to
think of my sins in this light. Well, first of all, there's the
forgiveness of sins. And God's forgiveness is so much
different than my forgiveness or your forgiveness. I sin against you. You'll forgive
if you're a believer, but you're not gonna forget it. You're not
going to forget it. Well, we ought to forget it.
Yeah, we ought to, but you won't. You won't. Only God can truly
forget. And when he forgives, he forgets. His forgiveness is so different.
But just think of when the Lord said to that man, son, be of
good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. There is forgiveness with thee
that thou mayest be feared. So here's the first way I'm to
look at my sins. They're forgiven sins. And I'm
not as bad as my sins are or as bad as I feel. I'm never,
as a believer, to look at my sins in any other light than
that of forgiven sins. And then sins not imputed. Sins not imputed. Now, the reality
of my sins are there. They're there, but here's my
hope. They're not imputed to me. They're
not imputed to me. They were imputed to the Lord
Jesus Christ, and they're not imputed to me. They're not charged
to my account. Anything I think about my sins
is true, and I can't see them as bad as they are, but here's
my hope that they're not imputed to me. That's what David said.
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity.
Now here's my hope. Here's the hope of every believer.
In the very teeth of my sins, they have not been charged to
my account. The Lord has passed over them. Now, third word, covered. Blessed is he whose transgression
is covered. covered. Atone for. Now this is something only God
can do. You know, we try to cover up our sins, they'll find us
out. No doubt about it. But God can cover our sins. And His covering is not like
our covering. We cover up something, okay,
my hand's covered up, but guess what's behind this paper? My
hand. When God covers something, it's gone. It's gone. It is no more. Turn with me to
the book of Daniel chapter 9. I want to read this verse because
this speaks of our sins in four different lights. Daniel chapter
9. Right after the book of Ezekiel. Verse 24. 70 weeks are determined upon thy
people and upon thy holy city. Daniel chapter nine, verse 24.
Now that 70 weeks, a week is a seven year period. He's talking
about 490 years. And this was written 490 years
before the death of Christ. And this is a prophecy regarding
the death of Christ. And many think that when those
wise men came, from the East, it was from here, and this is
the time, 490 years later, this is the time the cross is to be
born. But anyway, at any rate, 70 years are determined upon
thy people and upon thy holy city, and listen to this, to
finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, and to make
reconciliation for iniquity. This is what the Lord would do
in 490 years and to bring in everlasting righteousness. Those four things is what the
Lord came to do with regard to our sin. First John chapter 3
verse 5, it says he was manifested to take away our sins. They're taken away. Taken away. I love to think of
my sins as being taken away. And then in both the Old and
the New Testament, we read the word blotted out. And you know
what it means to blot something out. He hath blotted out as a
thick cloud thy sins and as a cloud thy iniquities. Blotted out.
It's also spoken of in Acts chapter 13, verse 19. Blotted out. Here's one of my favorites, Hebrews
chapter one, verse three. He by himself, by himself purged
our sins. And the reason I love this one,
so I love them all, but the reason I love this one where it says
by himself, that means that lets me know that I didn't have anything
to do with it. It's all off me. He did it by himself with no
help from me. He by himself purged. our sins. Doesn't that make your
heart leap for joy to know it's His work and not yours? He did
it by Himself because if you had to have any responsibility
in this purging of sin, you'd have no hope. But He did it by
Himself. Hebrews 2.17 says He made reconciliation
for the sins of the people. He made reconciliation. Now that
word reconciliation actually is propitiation. It's not the
word generally translated reconciled, it's propitiated. And when God
propitiated, and that's what Christ did on the cross, here
in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and
sent his son to be a propitiation for our sins. A propitiation
means he removed God's reason for anger by removing the sins
themselves. And now God does not have a reason,
God really does not have a reason to be displeased with me. because
Christ made propitiation. He was made propitiation for
our sins. First John 1.7 says he cleansed
us. If we, first six says, if we
say we have fellowship with him, a lot of people make that claim. If we say we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. And when he's talking about walking
in darkness, somebody says, does that mean, you know, when I sin
in secret and sin in the dark? Well, that's bad. That's bad.
But that's not what he's talking about. He's talking about walking
in the darkness of salvation by works, superstition and so
on. If we say we have fellowship
with him and walk in the darkness of salvation by works, we lie. And we do not the truth. But
if we walk in the light, The light of how God saves sinners.
The light of how salvation is by grace. How the blood of Christ
cleanses us from all sin. If we walk in the light, there's
ease in the light. Scripture says we have fellowship one with
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth
us. Now, our fellowship, it doesn't say we don't sin anymore. It
says the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all
sin. And it's only in walking in the light that we have true
fellowship with each other. Can't you identify with someone
in a very real way that looks to Christ only as everything
in their salvation? You have fellowship with that
person, don't you? Jeremiah chapter 50, verse 20.
I'm going to read this to you. I've got so many, I'm not having
you turn to them because it takes too long, so just listen. Jeremiah
50, 20 says, the iniquity of Judah shall be sought for, and
there shall be none. And the sin to Judah, and they
shall not be found. Now here's what I'm to say with
regard to my sin. There shall be none. None. When God looks for them, they'll
not be found. Why? Because they're not any.
That's what the putting away of sin means. When he confessed
his sin, I've sinned against the Lord, the Lord hath put away
thy sin, that means you don't have any. It'll be looked for
and it won't be found. Psalm 103, 12, as far as the
east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions
from us. I like that word, don't you?
He removed them. I mean, I'm removing this. It's
no longer there. He removed our transgressions
from us. Now, many times with regard to
our sins in the scripture, Old Testament, New Testament, we
read of the remission of sins. The remission. Have you ever
got a letter of remittance? What's a letter of remittance? Well,
it's when the debt's paid. And you get this letter, you
used to get it anyway, I guess, I don't know whether they still
do it in the digital age, but you used to actually get a letter
of remittance. The debt's paid, it's gone. My
sins have been remitted through the blood of Christ. And then
in John chapter 9, 41, when the Pharisee said, are we blind also? And that was in response to the
Lord saying, for judgment am I coming to this world, that
they which see not might see and that they would see might
be made blind. And they said, are we blind also?
And he said, if you were blind, if you couldn't see why God would
do something for you, And that's what blindness is. You can see
no reason in yourself why God would do something for you. If
you were blind, here's what he said next, you'd have no sin. Now that's the truth regarding
the believer. He's blind in the sense that
he can't see any reason in himself why God would have mercy on him
or why he'd have favor toward him. And that person has no sin. Romans 520 says, where sin abounded. And that means it overflows over
everything. If sin abounds in me, that means
what I'm saying right now, sin abounds in it. Because I'm saying
it. Any thought I have, any prayer
I pray, any gift I give, any sermon I preach, any good thing
I do, any bad thing I do, any sinful thing I do, sin abounds. Sin abounds. Where sin abounded. Now notice that statement, where
sin abounded. There's a place where it abounds.
Would that place be you? Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Wherever sin abounds, grace does
much more abound. Romans 6, 7, he that is dead
is freed from sin. Justified is the actual word.
He that is dead, if I died with Christ, I'm dead. He that is
dead is justified from all sin. Paul put it this way in Romans
6, 11. Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin. Sin has absolutely nothing to
say to the believer. What can the law say to a dead
man? Nothing. Nothing. Reckon yourselves to
be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. And in Romans 6, 14, sin shall
not have dominion over you. How come? Because you're not
under the law, but under grace. Now, if you're under the law,
sin has complete dominion over you. But if you're not under
the law, if you're under grace, sin, that's God's promise, sin
shall have no dominion over you. First Corinthians 15.3, this
is such a blessed thought. Christ died for our sins. Christ died for our sins. Who
his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree. Now that makes you feel horrible
to think that the filth of your sin, he was made to bear in his
own body, but it's the only hope you have. who his own self bear
our sins. If he bore my sins, you know
who's not bearing them? Me. Me. They're all gone. Matthew
1, 21, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. I know what I need to be saved
from, my sins. My sins. And here we have this promise,
he shall save his people from their sins. Hebrews 8, 12, their
sins and iniquities I will remember no more. How come? There's nothing there to remember.
Now let's, I want you to look at this passage, Hebrews chapter
nine. Hebrews chapter nine. Verse 24, For Christ is not entered into
the holy place made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. That's going on right now. He's
appearing in the presence of God for us. Speaking of every
believer. Verse 25, nor yet that he should
offer himself often as the high priest entered into the holy
place every year with the blood of others. For then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in
the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin. That's why I appeared. Just like,
remember what Nathan said to David? The Lord hath put away
your sin. Now hath he appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. And that's what he did by that
sacrifice he offered up on Calvary's tree when he died. He put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, now here's an appointment that you and I are gonna keep.
We are gonna keep this. Our death has already been appointed. As it is appointed unto men once
to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for him, Are you looking for him right
now to stand as your representative before God? That's what that
means. I'm looking for him. I remember
when I, growing up in my house, My little sister Cindy, I would
get on her all the time. I shouldn't have done it, but
I did it. And I remember she just looked at my mother. Happy
Mother's Day. Mom's not here this morning,
but anyway, she just looked at my mother and kind of looked for her to
defend, you know, take up for me, you know, shut this guy up.
Well, that's the way we're looking to the Lord. We're looking to
him to defend us, aren't we? We're looking to him to answer
for us. What's it say? So Christ was at once offered
to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him.
Shall he appear the second time without sin? Without sin. My sin was put away and he's
going to appear to me without sin unto salvation. So we're too late, so read Psalm
32 on your own. That was written in response
to after he confessed his sin, then he wrote of the joy of the
forgiveness of sin and the non-imputation of sin and the covering of sin.
Okay.