Would you turn to Exodus chapter
nine while you're turning there? Marisha Waters' sister's husband,
Tuck Church, was killed in Iraq this past weekend. He was actually
on Memorial Day and they had two small children. So please
remember their families at this time. It was a helicopter accident
to my... That's what I thought. Verse 27 of Exodus chapter 9, And Pharaoh sent and called for
Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and I
and my people are wicked. Entreat the Lord, for it is enough
that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail, and I will
let you go, and you shall stay no longer." Now, these words were spoken
by Pharaoh under duress and stress and fear. And he meant it when
he said it. How many times have you and I
prayed And said, I confess my sins and didn't even think about
what they were just going through the motion. I confess my sins. It's part of prayer. I confess
my sins. Scary to think of the way we
can do that. But Pharaoh meant it at this
time. He was scared to death. You see, the hail was falling
with mighty thunderings and lightnings and fire running along the ground.
And he cried out in fear, I've sinned. That was his confession,
I've sinned. He said, I'm wicked, my people
are wicked and the Lord is righteous. Look in chapter 10. Verse 14. And the locusts went up over
all the land of Egypt and rested in all the coasts of Egypt. Very
grievous were they. Before them there were no such
locusts as they, neither after them shall be such, for they
covered the face of the whole earth." Can you imagine what
that must have been like? So that the land was darkened,
you couldn't even see the sky with these locusts. And they
did eat every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees
which the hail had left. And there remained not any green
thing in the trees or in the herbs of the field through all
the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh called for Moses
and Aaron in haste, and he said, I have sinned against the Lord
your God and against you. Now, therefore, forgive, I pray
thee, my sin, only this once, and entreat the Lord your God
that he may take away from me this death only. Now, Pharaoh,
confesses his sin. I feel sure that every son of
Adam to ever live at one time has made this confession. I don't
care if they're Hindus or Christians or Buddhists or whatever. There's
nobody who at one time hasn't said, I have sinned. You see, there is such a thing
as sin. There is such a thing as sin. You see, if there were no God,
I can see why one would argue that there's really no sin and
no right and wrong. Everything is relative to the
culture you live in. But since God is and every human
being deep down knows that, everybody does. Since God is, and everybody's
born with that light, there is a God that sin is against. There is a God who rewards the
righteous and punishes the wicked, and everybody born into this
world has that knowledge and that light. It comes natural.
And so everybody at one time or another has said, I've sinned. They see the trouble their sin
brings on them, and it does bring trouble, and they cry out either
audibly or in their hearts, I've sinned. I've sinned. And this is a good confession.
I've sinned. Pharaoh meant it. I have sinned. It's only the one who confesses
his sin that will find mercy. First John 1 9 says, if we confess
our sin. He is faithful and just to forgive
us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But there is no promise of forgiveness. There's no promise of cleansing
to that one who does not before God confess his sin. You see how important this thing
is? of confessing your sin. Oh, may God give me grace tonight
to truly confess my sin before Him. But Pharaoh did confess
his sin. I just read it. I sinned. I sinned
against the Lord. The Lord is righteous, and I
and my people are wicked. He confessed his sin, and he
had neither forgiveness nor cleansing. He hardened his heart every time
after these confessions. He said the right thing. I've
sinned, but evidently it was not a true confession of sin,
whatever a true confession of sin is. Now, what I would like
to do is look at Pharaoh's confession and then look at another confession
made by David, where he said the same thing Pharaoh said,
but evidently he meant something totally different. Pharaoh confessed
and he meant it. He was sincere that it wasn't
a real confession. Then we're going to look at David's
true confession. Now, look back in chapter nine
again with me in verse 27. Pharaoh, as I said, was under
extreme duress and stress at this time. The hail was coming
down. The mighty thunderings he was
hearing. He was scared to death. Who knows what that must have
been like to be experiencing that. He didn't know what to
do. So he calls for Moses. And Pharaoh sits and calls for
Moses and Aaron and says, I've sinned this time. The Lord is
righteous. And I and my people are wicked. You've heard that saying, there
are no atheists in foxholes. You've heard that. That's what's
going on here. Pharaoh is scared to death, and
indeed he did sin. He was a remarkably wicked and
hardened man, and he stayed that way until his death. But still
here, he says, I've sinned, but go on reading what he says. Verse
27, Pharaoh sent and called for Moses, Aaron, and said unto them,
I've sinned, This time. This time. Not at all times. But this time I did. I'm guilty
here. Now, this is never a sincere
confession. If I've just sinned this time. This is not a true confession
before God. Hold your finger there and turn
to first John chapter one. Verse 8, If we say we have no
sin, and here he's not talking about an action, because the
word is a noun. He's talking about a sinful nature.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth
is not in us. We've lost all credibility. You
see, at all times I have this sinful nature that I'm aware
of right now while I'm speaking to you. It's right there. And
for me to say I have no sin. I'm deceiving myself, I've lied
to myself and I've taken the bait. Now, if we confess our
sins, verse nine, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But if we say we've not sinned
and here the word is not a noun, but a verb. If we say we've not
sinned, I don't care what we're doing. While I'm preaching to
you right now, my thoughts, my motives, everything about me,
if I'm in it, if I say I've not sinned, what does scripture say? If we say we've not sinned, we
make him a liar because he says we have and his word is not in
us. So I see from that passage of
scripture, Pharaoh's confession was not sincere because he said,
I've sinned this time. Look what else he says in his
confession back in our text in Exodus chapter nine. Pharaoh sent and called for Moses
and Aaron and said unto them, I've sinned this time. The Lord
is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. This is not an individual
confession. I and my people are wicked. I'm
one wicked man among many wicked men. I'm bad as everybody else. I'm
one of many wicked people. Everybody else is. That's a mark
of insincere confession. When that publican was beating
upon his breast in the temple, he said, God be merciful to me. I know it says A, but actually
the definite article V is used. God be merciful to me, the sinner,
the worst man to ever live. Not, well, I'm just like everybody
else. I'm only human. I'm just in the
rest of the crowd. But God be merciful to me, the
worst man to ever live. Now, that's confession of sin.
And anything short of that is not sincere confession. Now, in this confession, you'll
also notice that he didn't ask to be made clean. Look what he
says in verse 28. Entreat the Lord for it's enough
that my sin might be taken away. No, that there be no more mighty
thunderings and hail. That's all he was concerned about.
He didn't want these horrible results of his sin to get hold
of him. That's what he was praying for
deliverance from, not the fact that he was sinned before God.
Not the fact that he had a wicked heart. Just take away these mighty
thunderings and hail. Look in chapter 10, verse 14.
Or rather, verse 16. Then Pharaoh called for Moses
and Aaron in haste, and he said, I've sinned against the Lord.
You're God. He had no personal love for this
God. He didn't have any idea of what
it was to sin against God. Like David said, against thee
and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that
thou mightest be justified when you speak and clear when you
judge. He was a stranger to that. He said, I sinned against your
God. And look what he says in verse
17. Now, therefore, forgive, I pray thee, my sin, only this
once. There is with this confession
a promise to never do it again. Forgive me this one time and
things will be different. Forgive me this one time and
things will change. which betrays a complete ignorance
of personal sinfulness in the first place. Forgive me this
once. I mean, if you forgive me this time, I won't do it anymore.
Can you make that plea? I'll never do it again. I promise
I'll never do it again. All we prove when we make a statement
like that is a complete ignorance of ourselves. Forgive me this
one time. And look what he asked for in
verse 17. Now, therefore, forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this
once, and entreat the Lord God that he may take away from me
this death only, these locusts that are just ruining the land.
Have him get rid of these locusts. Take away the problems that sin
has produced, that after both of these confessions, Pharaoh
hardened his heart even yet more against the Lord. So he said
the right thing. I sinned. But it was not a confession
that God heard. It was not true confession. So let's go over to 2 Samuel
chapter 12 for a moment. 2 Samuel chapter 12 verse 13. These are the words of King David. And David said unto Nathan, I
have sinned against the Lord. Same words as Pharaoh. I have sinned against the Lord. He used the same words. But he
meant something different, and there was a different outcome.
And indeed, he did sin against the Lord. Look back in chapter
11, verse 1, And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at
the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab
and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they destroyed
the children of Ammon, and besieged Rahab. But David tarried still
at Jerusalem. He should have been out fighting,
but he tarried still at Jerusalem. And it came to pass in an eventide
that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof
of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman washing
herself. And the woman was very beautiful
to look upon. And David sent and inquired after
the woman, and one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter
of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers
and took her. And she came in unto him, and
he lay with her. For she was purified from uncleanness,
and she returned unto her house. And a woman conceived, and sent,
and told David, and said, I am with child. And the rest of this chapter
is the story of David trying to cover his sin. And he did so by having Uriah
come in from the war. Look in verse 8. David has Uriah
come in from the battle, and David said to Uriah, go down
to thy house and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the
king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.
But Uriah, he was some kind of man. He slept at the door of
the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and he
went on down to his house. He wouldn't go into his wife, which is what
David wanted him to do, so it would look like he's the one
who made her a child. He wanted to try to cover up
everything. And when they told David, saying, Uriah went not
down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from
thy journey? Why didst thou not go into thy
house? And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah
abide in tents. And my lord Joab, and the servants
of my lord, are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go
into mine house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife, as thou
livest, and as I so livest? I'll not do this thing. We see
the honor of this man. I mean, he was a loyal subject. He was going to be faithful to
these men. He wasn't going to do this. And
what does David do? Verse 14. It came to pass in
the morning. David tried it again and it didn't
work. Verse 14. It came to pass in the morning
that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand
of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter saying, Set ye Uriah in
the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him,
withdraw, that he may be smitten and die. And it came to pass
when Joab observed the city that he assigned Uriah unto a place
where he knew that the valiant men were. And the men of the
city went out and fought with Joab. And there fell some of
the people of the servants of David. And Uriah the Hittite
died also. He had the army withdraw and
hold back and let Uriah be murdered. Can a true believer do this sort
of thing? You know, we betray a great amount
of foolishness when we ask that question, don't we? If you have
any knowledge of yourself. You know that there's no sin
that you will not commit apart from the grace of God, and you
believe that. David did, and you and I could
to look in verse 26 of Chapter 11. And when the wife of Uriah
heard that Uriah, her husband, was dead, she mourned for her
husband. She was upset. And when the morning was past,
David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his
wife and bear him a son. But the thing that David had
done displeased the Lord. Well, about a year passes by.
We know it was around that long because the baby was already
born. So God sends his prophet to David
with this story. Look in chapter 12, verse 1.
And the Lord sent Nathan unto David, and he came unto him and
he said unto him, there were two men in one city, the one
rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many
flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing save one little
ewe lamb. which he had bought and nourished
up and had grew up together with him and with his children. He
did eat of his own meat and drink of his own cup and lay in his
bosom and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveler unto
the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of
his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that was coming
to him. But he took the poor man's lamb, and he dressed it
for that man that was to come to him. And David's anger was
greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan, As the
Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely
die. David was going to kill him. And he would have done it
too. And he shall restore the lamb
fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no
pity, And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the
hand of Saul, and I gave thee thy master's house. and thy master's
wives, and into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel
and of Judah? And if it had been too little, I would moreover
have given unto you such and such things. Wherefore hast thou
been despised, the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his
sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword. You
have taken his wife to be thy wife. You have slain him with
the sword, and of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword
shall never depart from thine house, because thou hast despised
me, and you have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy
wife. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against
thee out of your own house, and I will take thy wives before
thine eyes, and I will give them to thy neighbor, and he shall
lie with thy wives in thy sight of the sun. For thou didst it
secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before
the sun." And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. Same words as Pharaoh. But he
meant something altogether different. And we know this from the two
songs that David wrote on this occasion. This occasion inspired
two songs, Psalm 32 and Psalm 51. But before we look at those
songs, I want us to see what Nathan said to David. Look in
verse 13. 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 surely die. Well, turn to Psalm 32. The inspiration of the next two
psalms we're going to look at came from this event. Nathan says, The Lord hath put
away thy sin, and David writes in Psalm 32, verse 1, 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. And when I kept silent, my bones
waxed old through my roaring all the day long. Now, what's
he talking? He's talking about that time
that he did not confess his sin. He went a year before he said,
I sinned against the Lord. What all happened during that
year? I don't know. But he tells us what was going
on on the inside. He said, when I kept silent,
my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long, for
day and night, thy hand was heavy upon me and my moisture was turned
into the draught of summer. I was drying up and dying. And then he said in verse 5,
I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not
hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions
unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. I think it's real interesting
in that passage of Scripture. He uses three different words
to describe his sin. He talks about transgression.
He talks about iniquity. And he talks about sin. Are they
the same things? Well, they all come from the
same thing. Transgression is the bad things we do. That's
the breaking of God's law. Iniquity is the good things we
do. We read of Him making atonement
for the iniquity of the holy things. That's the good things
we do, and it all comes from sin. That's our sinful nature. My sin produces all my transgressions
and all my iniquities. But he said, I'll confess my
transgression before the Lord. And thou forgave us the iniquity,
the perverseness, the religious grotesqueness of my sin. I turn to Psalm 51. This is David's
great psalm of repentance. And if you want to know what
the confession of sin really is, if you want to know what
repentance really is, stay right here in Psalm 51. Look at the occasion of writing
this psalm right under the heading of this psalm to the chief musician,
the psalm of David, when Nathan, the prophet, came unto him after
he had gone to Bathsheba. So we know the setting of this
psalm was this event. What scripture? Do I personally
turn to more than any other scripture? Anybody guess? I dare say it's the same one
you turn to. Psalm 51. I'm almost ashamed to admit that
this is the scripture that I turn to the most, but it is the scripture
that I turn to more than any other scripture. Psalm 51. Let's look what David says. And if you want to know what
it is to confess your sins before God, read this psalm, because
in this psalm, We have true confession. We have true repentance. Look what he says in verse 1.
He says, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to not how sorry
I am, not because I promise I'll never do it again, not because
I'll do something to make up for this. No, he doesn't say
anything like that. He says, Have mercy upon me according
to thy lovingkindness. You see, he's confessing that
his sin is such that there is no reason in him for forgiveness. The only reason you can forgive
me is because of your lovingkindness. If a reason has to be found in
me, it's not going to happen. So have mercy on me according
to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies blot out my transgressions. My only hope is for God to blot
out my transgressions. You see, there's no way I can
make them leave. And the only hope I have is for Him to blot
them out so that they're not there anymore. The books are opened. And you'll
find nothing if He blots them out. Look at verse 2. Wash me
throughly for my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Wash
me all the way through because I am filthy all the way through. The word cleanse means make me
blameless. Make me guiltless, make me innocent
because I'm the opposite of those words. He says in verse three,
for I acknowledge my transgressions. And my sin is ever before me. There's not a time when it's
not there. Sometimes I feel it more acutely
than others. Sometimes I'm moaning. Sometimes I'm I'm just aware
that it's there, but it's always there. He's talking about sinful
nature that's always there. He says in verse four against
thee. The only now, wait a minute,
didn't he sin against your eye? Didn't he sin against Bathsheba?
We think he did. But how does he confess his sin?
Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight that thou mightest be justified when you speak and
be clear when you judge. You see, sin is against God,
and that's why it's evil. And David is saying my damnation
would be a matter of justice. You believe that about yourself?
My damnation. would be a matter of justice. You would be perfectly clear
in judging me. You see, when we confess our
sin, we really believe we deserve to be cut off. We really believe
that we personally deserve to be sent to hell. And if I don't
believe that, I have not confessed my sin. When you confess your
sin, when I confess my sin, I really believe that God would be just
in just blowing me away. He says in verse 5, I was shaped
in iniquity. And in sin did my mother concede
me. I was born this way. Now, this is not an excuse. You
know, some people use this as an excuse. Well, if you're born
that way, that means you can't help it. You shouldn't be held responsible.
No, not at all. I was born this way. Doesn't take away from my
responsibility in it, but I was born bad. I was born evil. I came out of my mother's womb
speaking lies. That's the way I am by nature.
The reason for my sins is my sin. It's the way I was born.
Verse 6, Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward part, and
in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. You're not looking for outward
reform. David knows that. You're not just looking for me
to clean up my act. The hidden part is the new man.
the hidden man of the heart. And it's only that new man that
actually knows wisdom, isn't it? He said, Behold, thou desirest
truth in the inward part and the hidden part. Thou shalt make
me to know wisdom. Now, he says in verse 7, Purge
me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be
whiter than snow. Now, hyssop is the branch. that was used to dip in the blood
of the paschal lamb, and it was used to put the blood over the
doorposts and the lintel. Now, when there's a confession
of sin, there's always, when there's
a true confession of sin, there's always also a true belief of
and an understanding of the gospel. You can't confess your sin if
you don't understand the gospel. You don't even know what sin
is if you don't understand the gospel. I mean, you're clueless about
it. But David understood that the only way my sin can be washed
away, the only way it can be purged, is by that blood being
applied. by that blood washing it away.
And I know if you wash me, I know if this blood washes me, it'll
make me whiter than snow. You really believe. When you
confess your sin, it's not the confession of despair. You really
believe that the blood of Jesus Christ makes you without sin
before God. You see, you can't confess your
sin without some understanding of and belief of the Gospel.
If I'm just confessing my sin because I got caught, that's
no true confession. In true confession, there's an belief of the gospel. What she got from verse 7. He
says in verse 8, make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones
which thou hast broken may rejoice. Now David is saying I don't have
any joy and gladness and the only way I will is if you make
me to hear. Don't you know that's the way
it is in Hearing the gospel? The only way I can hear the gospel
in power is if He makes me to hear. And I'll tell you what,
when He makes me to hear, I hear. I hear exactly what's being said.
He said, Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones of
the mouth broken may rejoice. Verse 9, He says, Hide thy face
from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Now, what David
is saying is if you look at me, As I am in myself, you can't
love me. You can't have anything to do
with me. So hide your face from my sins so you don't see them. Blot out, erase, make to be gone
away all of my iniquities. Because if you see me in my sin,
there's no way you can love me. The only way he can love me is
as I really am in Christ. And that's what he's asking for.
He says in verse 10, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and
renew a right spirit within me. You see, I've got a filthy heart
and I've got a wrong spirit and there's nothing I can do about
it. I can't change my heart. I can't make it better. The only
hope I have is for you to create. That's a creative act of God.
Only God can create. He can make something to be there
that was not there before. Create for me a clean heart,
O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Verse 11, Cast me not away from
thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me." I believe
with all my heart in the eternal security of God's people. Everybody
that Jesus Christ died for must be saved. Somebody says, you
believe one saved all the way? It depends on who did the saving.
If God saved, yes I do. I believe one saved all the way
saved if God does the saving. Now if you save yourself, no,
you'll fall away. No doubt that if God saved you, you'll continue. I believe that. But does that
take away from this? Lord, don't cast me away. Cast me not away from your presence.
I have to have the presence of the Lord. If I have the presence...
If I have the presence of the Lord, everything's okay. I don't
care what my circumstances are. If I have the presence of the
Lord, it's fine. Oh, but if I don't feel sensibly
your presence, I can't bear anything. Cast me not away from your presence.
Don't take your Holy Spirit for me. I know the only hope I have
is God the Holy Spirit giving me faith and repentance and love
you. Don't take your Spirit away from
me. I've grieved Him. I've quenched Him. But don't
take Him away. Don't leave me to myself. He says in verse 12, Restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation. Isn't it joyous when you understand
that it's His salvation and that it's all a work of His grace
and that you have all in Christ? And isn't it miserable when that
just becomes a doctrine to you? He says, Restore unto me the
joy The kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink, but righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. And uphold me. I'll fall if you don't. Uphold
me with thy free spirit. I'm glad he's free. Then, when
you restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, uphold me with
thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors
thy ways, and sinners shall be converted to thee. I know what
my message will be. His ways. Oh, if you save me,
if you have mercy on me, if you blot out my sin, I'm going to
tell sinners round about exactly how my sin was put away. It wasn't
anything I did. It's what you did. His message
is right, isn't it? He says in verse 14, deliver
me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation. That's
sins that deserve death. Sins that deserve my execution. He says, deliver me from blood
guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall
sing aloud of thy righteousness. Oh, I'm going to make an issue
of this. His righteousness is my righteousness. Oh, I love
being saved by His righteousness is my righteousness. That's what
I'm going to have to say. You deliver me from my sin. And
this is all I've got to say. He said, My tongue shall sing
aloud of thy righteousness. Verse 15, O Lord, open thou my
lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest
not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt
offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit. A broken and a contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despised, broken from all hopes of self-salvation. Boy, it's a good thing to have
nothing. It's a good thing to be broken. If something's broken,
it doesn't work. It's no good. What do you do
with stuff that's broken? You throw it away, don't you? It's
worthless. But what is so amazing is that the heart is the one
thing that's at its best state when it's broken. Do good in thy good pleasure
and desire. You know, when there's true confession
of sin, when there's true repentance, there is a desire for God's mercy
and grace to all His people. You know, we're not islands.
We're never alone. I can't be separated from God's
people. And he says, Do good in thy good
pleasure to Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Then shalt thou be pleased with sacrifices of righteousness,
with burnt offering and whole burnt offering. Then shall they
offer bullocks upon thine altar. And David said, I sinned. But we see from these Psalms,
he meant a whole lot more than Pharaoh did, didn't he? May God give you and I the grace
tonight, right now, when we go home and lay our head upon our
pillow, to truly confess our sin before Him. And we have this
promise. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and He is just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse
us. from all unrighteousness. That's his promise. Let's pray.