In all of these texts that I've
chosen, the reason I've chosen, because they all have these three
words in every text, in each text, I have sinned. And the scripture tells us that
the Lord looks down upon the children of men. Job chapter
32 and verse 27. If any say, I have sinned and
perverted that which was right, and it profited me nothing, he
will deliver his soul from going down to the pit, and his life
shall see the light. If any say to the Lord, I have
sinned, I perverted that which was right. Proverbs 28, verse
13 says this about confession, He that covereth his sins shall
not prosper, but whosoever confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall
have mercy. But the promise of mercy is to
those who confess their sin. I have sinned. I said I will
confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgive us
the iniquity of my sin. True confession always brings
about mercy. True confession always brings
about forgiveness of sins. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. So confession is essential to
salvation. There is no salvation apart from
confessing, I have sinned. If any confess, I have sinned,
God is merciful. But as in so many things in the
scripture, Just as there is a true confession, there is also that
confession which is not true. I want to look at several places
this morning, and I hope this will be instructive for us. The first place here is found
in Exodus chapter 9 and in verse 27. And Pharaoh sent, and called
for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned." There
it is. Pharaoh said, I have sinned this
time. The Lord is righteous, and I
and my people are wicked. Now there is a confession of
sin. He knew what his sin was. He knew it was disobedience to
the Lord. He said, I won't obey the Lord's
voice. Who is the Lord anyway? Now he realizes that he's been
disobedient. He says, I have sinned. I've
not let Israel go. And that's sin against God. I
have sinned. And notice what else he confesses
here. The Lord is righteous. He's afflicted me in this nation. And he's right in doing so. He's
a righteous, he's a just Lord. And notice what else here that
he confessed is, I and my people are wicked. We are a wicked bunch
of people. Now that has some elements of
true confession in it, doesn't it? But here is the problem,
and you know the context of this man. This confession was from
a hard-hearted, It was not real. Look here at what he says in
verse 28. Look in verse 28. And treat the
Lord for me, 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. And look in verse 30. Moses said
to him, But as for thee and thy servants,
I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord." And we're told that
in the latter part of this verse, in verse 34. When Pharaoh saw
that the rain and the hail and the thunder were ceased, he sinned
yet more and hardened his heart, he and his servants. Now, here was a hard-hearted
man, but yet he made this confession. that had some elements in it
of a true confession, what was it that brought this man to say,
I have sinned? You read his life, and this wasn't
a man who humbled himself before anybody. Not before other men,
and not especially before the Lord that he never knew. But
here he is now, he's humbled himself before Moses, he's humbled
himself before Aaron, his own servants, and he says, Boy, there's something happened
to this man that brought on this profession. Because before he
said, Who is the Lord that I shall obey His voice and let Israel
go? I do not know the Lord, neither
will I let Israel go. But here he says, I have sinned. What was it that brought this
profession out of this hard-hearted man? Well, it was the circumstances
that he found himself in. Look here in verse 18. Look in
this same chapter, verse 9, and look here in verse 18. The Lord
told Moses to Marla about this time. I will cause it to rain
a very greedious hell. Such hath not been in Egypt since
the foundation thereof. even until now. And look at the
record he gave of it over in verse 23. And Moses stretched
forth his rod toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and
hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground, and the Lord
rained hail upon the land of Egypt, so that So there was hail
and fire mingled with the hail, very egregious, such as there
was none like it in all the land of Egypt, since it became a nation.
And the hail smoked throughout all the land of Egypt, all that
was in the field, both man and beast, and hail smoked every
herb of the field and broke down every tree of the field. What was it that brought about
this confession, I have sinned? It was the alarm, alarm, alarm. He looked out his window and
he saw this light coming. It was a whiteout. It was huge
hail, so huge and coming so fast that it broke down the huge trees. It was taking them down limb
from limb and landing on the ground. And in that hail there
was lightning coming down and running along across the top
of the ground. The ground was steaming. It was
so hot from this lightning. And in the midst of all of that,
there was this thunder that was shaking his house. They were
holding their ears and their chest was vibrating. There was
alarm. Men were dying. Beasts were dying. All of the trees were being destroyed.
And he saw this. And he was alarmed in his conscience,
and he said, My soul, what are we going to do? Then the hail
and the storm would cease just for a few minutes. Then after
a while, here another wave would come. Alarm would come again. And then it would cease. Then
another wave would come. And he got a little bit of reprieve,
and he said, My soul, call Moses and Aaron. We're in trouble. This is going to destroy us all.
It's going to beat through the roof. It's going to kill us.
So he calls them, and in the midst of this alarm, this is
where this confession came from. There was no grace in this man,
Todd. There was no brokenness that he had sinned against God.
It was just alarm. Alarm. That's why he says here in verse
28, entreat the Lord that there be no more mighty thunders and
hail. That's all he wanted to stop.
And when Moses went out and cried unto the Lord, the hail ceased
coming down. The thunder stopped shaking their
houses and their chests. The lightning stopped running
along on the top of the ground. And what happened then? The alarm
was gone. And then what happens? He hardens
himself more and more and sins more and more. Someone said a
repentance that is just born in a storm will die in a calm. And that's what happens, isn't
it? Just alarm. How many people have been awakened
just to fear hell? They just fear hell, but when
the fear of hell is gone, what happens? Their repentance is
gone. Their confession is gone. You
and I see that a lot, don't we? We see that a lot. Sure, he said,
I've sinned. Sure, he said, I'm a wicked man. Sure, he said, the Lord is righteous.
But it was all from this alarm. He feared, he feared just the
punishment of sin. I tell you, you preach to people,
you talk to people about hell and the torments of hell, you
can get people scared. And they may even make a profession
under that. But you know something? When
the alarm is gone, so is the repentance. This was the repentance,
the confession of a hard-hearted sinner. Look at the second one,
and I have to hurry. You'll have to read these for
yourself. Look at Numbers chapter 22. This is the confession of
a double-minded man. The confession of a double-minded
man. This was a man by the name of
Balaam. He was a prophet. I want you
to look what he said over Numbers chapter 22 and verse 34. Look
here how he says it. Balaam said unto the angel of
the Lord, I have sinned, I have sinned, for I knew not that thou stood in the way against
me, therefore now, if it displease thee, I will get me back again."
Balaam was a double-minded man. I think if there was ever a man
in the Bible that come as close as this man did to serving God
and mammon, it was this man. Of course he didn't do it, but
I tell you what, he tried it. And if you watch this man, as
sometimes he spoke on behalf of God, you would think, man,
what a sincere, honest fellow he is. But he turned right around,
and on the other hand, he was a covetous man. He longed for
money. He lusted after money. You know
the context of this man's repentance. The children of Israel had destroyed
two great nations. Sihon the king of the Amorites
and Og the king of Bashan. There was another great king
among these two kings. His name was Balak, the king
of Moab. And he was afraid the children
of Israel were going to come and destroy them, which they
would have. So what he did, he sent for Balaam,
this false prophet. And he says, Balaam, if you'll
come and curse the children of Israel so I can overcome them,
what I'll do? I'll give you gold, I'll give
you silver, I'll give you whatever you desire of me." So what happens? Belak sends his servants over
to Balaam the prophet's house. They go into Balaam's house and
they say, Belak sent us because he wants you to come and curse
the children of Israel. And he says, let me seek the
Lord and see what his will is. Boy, that's humble, ain't it? I'm not going with you unless
I make sure it's God's will. So he goes and seeks the Lord,
and here's what the Lord says about him. You shall neither
go with these men, neither shall you curse them, for they are
blessed. Don't you go with these men.
I have blessed the children of Israel, and you can't curse them.
Balaam goes back out the next morning to Balak's servants,
and he says this, Go home. For the Lord refuses to give
me permission to curse the children of Israel. Balak sends some more
servants to Balaam, and here's what he says. He says, Come and
curse Israel, and I will promote you unto great honor, and I will
do for you whatsoever you ask. And they came to Balak. to Balaam,
and they told him his word. He's going to promote you to
honor. You just name your price, and he's going to pay it. And
here's what Balaam says. Boy listen, he's bold for God
now. He's resolved, and listen to
what he says. Balaam said, If Balak would give me his house
full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord
my God to do more or to do less. But then he does something very
strange. He says, but you stick around tonight and I'll go back
and seek the Lord and see what His will is. Now, what's the
matter with that? The Lord already told him what
His will is. The Lord already said it. Don't
you go! Don't you go! So Balaam goes
back in and he seeks the Lord again. Can I go curse the children
of Israel? And the Lord said, No. No. But
he says this. I'll give you permission to do
this. If they come back again and say, Come and curse them,
then you go with them, but you only speak what I tell you to
speak. Well, Balaam got up the next morning and went to them
and said, All right, I'll go with you. I'll go with you. They didn't
come back again. He went to them. He went to them. On one hand, Balaam could speak
for God, and on the other hand, he could defy God. And here was
Balaam's problem. He was torn between these two
extremes, the glory of God, the will of God, and covetousness,
his money. On one hand, he could see great
visions and bless Israel, and on the other hand, he craved
his money. Peter says about this, man, listen
to what Peter says about it. The New Testament has quite a
bit to say about it. 2 Peter 2.15 says, he loved the
wages of unrighteousness. He loved it. On the one hand,
he could say, if Balak gave me his house full of silver and
gold, I couldn't go no further than speak what God tells me
to speak. But on the other hand, he would connive and sneak and
work to overthrow the children of Israel any way he could to
get this reward. But I just want to read some
verses to you concerning this man. He's one of the most mysterious
men in all the Bible. Look in Numbers chapter 23. Look
here in verse 9 and verse 11. Here's a vision that he sees.
Every time he goes to curse the children of Israel, God gives
him this vision. And he sees these wonderful things.
And the king, Balak, gets mad at him because he goes to curse,
but he winds up having to bless. Here in verse 9, look what Balaam
says. From the top of the rocks I see
And from the hills I behold him, the law of the people shall dwell
a long, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count
the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his. And Balak the king said unto
Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine
enemies, and behold, thou hast blessed them all together." And
you keep reading through this chapter and through chapter 24,
he even saw visions of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
boy, every time God gave him these visions, he would stand
up so bold and he would say, I'm speaking for God. I'm speaking
for the glory of God. But you know what Revelation
2, verse 14 tells us about this man? He couldn't get God to curse
the children of Israel. So what he did, He went to Balak,
this king, and he said, now don't you mention my name, but I'll
tell you how to get to these people. I'll tell you how to
bring the judgment of God upon them. You teach them to eat things
offered in sacrifice to idols. And you send some pretty gentile
women among them and let them commit fornication. That will
bring God's judgment upon them. That's what he did. That's what
he did. On one hand, he could speak for
the glory of God, and on the other hand, he is full of deceit
and the love of the wages of unrighteousness. And here this
man could say, I have sinned. I have sinned. But that wasn't
a sincere profession. He still longed for his money,
for the reward of unrighteousness. I knew a man like this one time.
He reminds me of Balaam. He worked. I used to work with
this fellow and he was a preacher. He was a preacher. I heard him
preach. I seen him walk back and forth
in the pulpit preaching, talking about how great God was and how
sweet Jesus is. And it wasn't a month until the
man came in and worked. He was drunker than a dog. drunk
as he could be, using all kinds of foul language, bringing shame
on the Lord's name and His profession. It wasn't long after that he
confessed just like this man I've seen, and he was back in
church again, preaching behind the pulpit, and he wasn't long
drunk again. We called him Preacher Hardicus.
That was his name. He was so hot for the glory of
God, testifying for the Lord Jesus Christ, and turn around
and run on the other side. He was a double-minded man, just
like this man. I have sinned. I have sinned. James said a double-minded man
is unstable in all his ways. He seems to be so hot for God,
but he's hot for his riches. I think the Lord Jesus was right
when he says, you cannot serve God and melon. Here was a man that tried it,
and he failed. He failed. Look in 1 Samuel chapter 15.
1 Samuel chapter 15. Here's another one. Thirdly,
here's another one. And you remember this. 1 Samuel
chapter 15 and verse 24. Here was the confession of an
insincere man. Look at it in verse 24. This
was King Saul. 1 Samuel chapter 15 and look
in verse 24. And Saul, King Saul, said unto
Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment
of the Lord, and thy word, because I feared the people, and obeyed
their voice. Here is an insincere confession. You remember this fellow. You
remember the context of what brought this confession, I have
sinned out. The children of Amalek hated
the children of Israel. And it came time for God to destroy
the whole nation of the Amalekites. He raised up Saul, made him king. And Samuel said, Saul, I want
you to go down to the Amalekites and to agag their king. And here's
what the Lord says for you to do. I want you to destroy everything. I want you to kill their king.
I want you to kill their soldiers. I want you to kill the men. I
want you to kill the women. I want you to kill the little
children. I want you to kill all the beasts. I want them wiped
from my memory. Kill them all." Well, Saul goes
down there. He kills the soldiers. He kills
the men. He kills the women. But he saves
the king alive, and he saves the ox and the sheep alive. He
comes back up with his soldiers and all of his sheep and oxen.
And he meets Samuel, and he says to Samuel, Blessed be thou of
the Lord, I have performed that which the Lord commanded me to
do. And Samuel said, Is that right? Well, who is that fellow over
there with the crown on his head? Oh, that's Agathe. That's Agathe.
What's that bleeding of those sheep? Where'd you get these
sheep? We brought them from down there. Those roaring of the oxen,
what's that? You say you've obeyed the voice
of the Lord? Samuel said, Why haven't you
obeyed the voice of the Lord? Why haven't you destroyed Amalek,
till you have utterly consumed him from the earth? And look
here in verse 20. That's what Samuel asked him.
Why didn't you destroy them like the Lord told you to do? And
in verse 20, Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice
of the Lord, and I have done, I have gone the way which the
Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king. Look at this. The Lord said, kill him. The
Lord said, kill him. And he said, I've done all the
Lord commanded me to do, and I brought Agag the king of the
Amorites, and have utterly destroyed And look in verse 21. But the
people took of the spoils, the sheep and the oxen, and the sheep
of them which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice
unto the Lord our God. See what an insincere man he
was. The great prophet Samuel couldn't
even hem him up. He couldn't even hem him up.
He said, why haven't you obeyed the voice of the Lord? How? What did you bring the king back
for? Well, we know we should have destroyed him, but we brought
him back. Why? Well, what about the oxen? Well, I know that God
said destroy the oxen, but we brought them back for a sacrifice.
But I obeyed the voice of the Lord. I tell you what, did you
ever deal with an insincere person? You can't deal with them. You
just can't deal with them. Because they're not sincere.
They're just not sincere. You run into people like this
too. It probably wasn't right of me,
but I used to have a guy that I toyed with just a little bit
at work, where I used to work. Because you could go up to that
man, and you could start talking to him about the Lord, and judgment,
and salvation. And he would stand there with
his head bowed, and finally, he would start crying. He would
just start crying. Oh, I know I'm not right. This
is what he said, I know I'm not right, I know I've sinned against
God. You know, I want to be right. I really want to be right with
God. He told me that on how many times
before. Well, what are you doing about
it? You know, this is Monday. Did you go hear the gospel yesterday?
No, I didn't go hear the gospel yesterday. Why did you not go
hear the gospel? You know, I want to be right. I really want to
be right with God. Why didn't you go hear the gospel
yesterday? Well, I was out until three o'clock. What are you doing
out until three o'clock in the morning? You know, I want to
be right with God. And you could not deal with that
man. He just kept going around in circles. Oh, I've sinned.
I've sinned. I think there's more hope for
anybody than an insincere person. At least Balaam reached the extremes
He is hot for God when he was for God. He went after his money
when he was after that. But here was a man that had no
convictions. And you know what his problem
was? He didn't believe God. That's
his problem. He had no convictions about God's
Word or God's commandment. God says, you do this. And he
could go on and not do it. And then say, well, I've sinned.
I've sinned. And that's enough. That's enough.
Just confess I've sinned and that's enough. Insincerity. Insincerity. And God finally killed it. God
said, you grieved me to death that I even made you a king.
And He finally killed it. Brought the Philistines against
Him and killed it. I tell you, it's not enough to
be sincere. I realize that. I know that old phrase. That
person is sincere, but they're sincerely wrong. But you know
something? There is no salvation. There
is no forgiveness of sins apart from sincerity. We can be sincerely wrong, but
if we ever have forgiveness and mercy showed to us of God, we're
going to be sincerely right. Sincerely right. And the Lord
knows the hearts, don't He? Look at another place. I know
I'm giving you some negative aspects of this, but this is
what the Bible says. Look in Joshua, back over to
your right. Look at this one. We call this
the doubtful confession. Look here in Joshua chapter 7
and verse 20. The doubtful confession. Look
in verse 20. And Achan answered Joshua and
said, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus
and thus have I done. When I saw among the spoils a
goodly Babylonian scarlet and two hundred shackles of silver
and a wedge of gold, a fifty shackles' weight, then I coveted
them, I took them, and behold, they are hid in the earth in
the midst of my tent, and the silver is under it." Now, you
remember the context of this man, and I'll show you in just
a minute why he's a doubtful, why this is a doubtful confession.
You remember that the children of Israel had crossed over Jordan,
and God told them to destroy Jericho, and they were to take
all the money, the silver and the gold and the brass, and they
were to put it into the treasure of the Lord. But he said, don't
you keep one thing. This is a cursed city. And you
take it and put it in the treasure of the Lord. Will you remember
this man by the name of Achan? He took this beautiful Babylonian
garment, this silver and this gold, and he took it and he hid
it in his tent. Then the children of Israel went
to fight against Ai, this little town of Ai. And they said, Joshua,
just a few soldiers can go up there with this bunch. So they
went up there to fight against them, and the soldiers of Ai
whipped them and killed some of them. Joshua humbled himself
before the Lord. He said, O Lord, what's happened?
And the Lord came to him and said, Joshua, they've taken of
that accursed thing that I told them not to partake of. So they
took the tribes and they cast lots, they took the family, and
finally they narrowed it down to Achan and his house. And they
said, Achan, what have you done? Confess to the Lord, and he does
here. He says so honestly, so thoroughly,
he leaves out nothing. He said thus and thus have I
done. And he confessed everything.
He didn't hide anything. He didn't hide anything. He that
confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy. But look
what happens here in verse 25. And Joshua said, Why have you
troubled us? And the Lord shall trouble thee
this day. And all Israel stoned him with
stones, and burned him with fire, after they had stoned them with
stone." Now, here was a man that confessed, and seemed to confess
thoroughly. But you know what about this
man? You read your commentaries on this man, and one commentary
will say this. That was a genuine confession.
This was a saved man. The Lord forgave him his sin.
And though he suffered in his body, he was saved in his soul. Here is what Gil says about it.
Gil says concerning verse 25, the emphasis is laid on this
phrase, this day. It is observed, this day shall
thou be troubled. But thou shalt not be troubled
in the world to come, suggest that though temporal punishment
was inflicted on him, yet his iniquity was forgiven him, and
he would be saved with an everlasting salvation. That's what the Jews
held to. He was saved. This was a feral
confession. Read Matthew and Henry. Dear
Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry says, No, this man was not saved.
And he goes to the scripture in an attempt to prove that this
man lost both his soul and his body. What does this tell us? That
nobody knows for sure if this man was saved or lost. Was this
a genuine confession that brought forgiveness with it? Or was it
just a clearing of his conscience because he didn't want to die
with it upon his heart, and God destroyed his soul and body at
the same time? It's doubtful, ain't it? It's
doubtful. We buried a lady the other day.
I preached her funeral, a dear lady. I heard somebody in this congregation
make this statement. They didn't make it to me, but
they made it to someone else. I fear that that poor lady perished
in her sin. I know that lady to be a very
private woman. She kept her feelings to herself.
I don't know. I don't know. Did the Lord make
himself real to her? I know every time we went to
the worship service down there for all the years that she was
there, she never missed a service. But here's what I'm saying. She
died something like Aitken. Was she saved or was she not? Was his profession real or was
it not? I don't know. I don't know. That
was what Dr. Spurgeon told about. He was a
Christian. And for years he kept his patients'
names down that they thought were dying. He thought they had
a disease, that they were dying. And he kept the names of 1,000
patients that made a profession upon what they thought were their
deathbeds, and yet they didn't die. They recovered. And he said
he kept track with them, and he said there was not three out
of the whole 1,000 that went back to their sins and stayed
in their sin. We have trouble with deathbed
confessions, don't we? There are some that are real.
There was a man that confessed on the cross a few hours before
he died. Lord, remember me. when you come
into your kingdom. But I bet you for one that confesses,
there is multitude that their confession is not real, and they
die in their sins. I tell you what we like to see.
We like to see people make a confession of Christ when they are healthy. Not when their body is sick and
worn and their own death is bad. When they make a confession of
Christ, And they live up to that confession. When they go to Him
and say, Lord, I have sinned. And then He becomes so precious
to their souls. Day after day and year after
year, you watch those people. And when they come to die, you
say this about them. I watched that man. I remember
when that woman made that confession. And year after year, they lived
upon Christ. And I believe they died in Christ.
I have a good hope for them. I often worry about my mom. Looking
back, looking back, then I knew nothing about the Lord, what
it meant to be saved. I didn't know anything about
her profession. But looking back now, I have some doubts about
my mother. I just don't know. I just don't know. Boy, I wish,
I wish she'd have been like Bill Crothers that died there at Donnyville.
He was there for years. taught the young people, was
faithful, loved the Lord. You could see it in his daily
life. What he believed about the Lord. What he believed about
himself. He had a good hope through grace. And I was there when we
buried that man. The church got together and we
worshipped. Brother Donnie preached the Gospel
and we rejoiced in spite of the sorrow, naturally. Oh, we rejoiced
that here was a man We believe had a good confession. There
was no doubt about it. A doubtful confession. Let me
hurry along quickly. Look in Matthew chapter 27. Look
in Matthew chapter 27. Here is the most dreadful confession
I think of all. Matthew chapter 27 and look in
verse 3. Look at this. Then Judas, the Lord Jesus had
been taken out and crucified. Then Judas, which had betrayed
him when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself. He felt remorse,
convicted. And he brought again the thirty
pieces of silver to the chief priest and elder, saying, I have
sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they
said, what's that to us? See thou to it. And he cast down
the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed and went out, and
hanged himself." This is a despairing confession. A despairing confession. Here was a chosen apostle. And
you know this man had some gifts. The Lord sent him out to cast
out devils. Ain't this amazing? He sends
a man to cast out devils who had one himself. He sends out
a man to preach the gospel of the kingdom, and he never would enter that kingdom
himself. Whatever grace he preached, he was without it in his own
heart. But yet, he was a man greatly blessed. He carried the
bag. Not because he wanted to watch
over the money so it would be saved. He was a thief in the
church among the apostles. And what did he do? He slipped
out late one night. And he went to the chief priest
and the scribes. And he said, if you'll pay me
enough, I'll tell you exactly where this man Jesus will be
and how to get him. And they said, if you'll do that
for us, we'll give you 30 pieces of silver. And he said, it's
done. You give it to me. And when it come time, he went
and got them and brought them there to the garden where the
master had been sweating drops of blood in the agony of his
soul. And here Judas comes with his
soldiers, with their staves and their spears, and he kisses the
master on the cheek. Betrayed him to these men. And now he goes back here to
this place where he got his money. And what does he do? He says, I'm a guilty man. I'm
a guilty man. And he says, here's the problem
that I'm facing. There's no mercy for me. I confess
I have sinned, but there is no forgiveness for my sin. I face
nothing but darkness and torment. There's no grace to encourage
him. There's no promises to encourage him. He was ready to hang himself,
and the Bible says he went to hell, to his own place. But he confessed, I have sinned. I never will forget, probably
a year or two after the Lord saved me. You who have read Pilgrim's
Progress know what I'm talking about. I got in an awful dark
place, and somebody said, why don't you read Pilgrim's Progress?
I was reading Pilgrim's Progress, and I came on this man that had
sinned against the Holy Ghost. And Christian was talking with
him. And Christian says, What are
you doing in that orange cage? He was stuck in this orange cage.
And he says, I can't get out of here. I'm stuck in here. And
his countenance was fallen. He was in a horrid condition.
And he said, why can't you get out of there? He says, I have
sinned away the day of grace. I have sinned against the Holy
Spirit. And He's left me. And Christians said, well, listen,
Jesus Christ is a pitiful Savior. He pities people. And He's good. And He's forgiving. Why don't
you go to Him? And He said, oh, there's nothing
to encourage me to repent. When I read the Word of God,
all I see in it is left for me is judgment. I'm an adversary
of God, and now He Himself is tormenting my conscience. I have
sinned away the day of grace. The Holy Ghost has left me. I
cannot be saved. And that scared me to death. It scared me to death. Oh, I didn't want to come here
and despair of being saved. I want to read you just a little
paragraph. You remember Benjamin Keech. Some of you remember him
because on Wednesday evening we've been studying our Confession
of Faith. And he was one of the authors of that confession. And
he has a good little Keech's Catechism over in the back of
our Confession of Faith. You've probably read that. This
man experienced what he called one of the most horrible things
that anybody could ever experience with another individual. He tells
about this man who had made a profession of the Lord Jesus Christ and
went back into his sins, awful sins, and lived there for years,
and had come to die. And this is what Keech said about
him when him and some of his friends went to visit him. We
could not stay with him more than five minutes at a time,
for he said, get you gone. It is of no use, your coming
to me, I have sent away the Holy Ghost. I am like Esau, I have
sold my birthright, and though I seek it carefully with tears,
I can never find it again. And he would repeat dreadful
words like this, my mouth is filled with gravel stone, and
I drink wormwood day and night. Tell me no more of Christ, I
know he is a Savior, but I hate him, and I know he hates me. I know I must die, I know I must
perish." And Keats said, then he would follow with doleful
cries and hideous noises such as were so dreadful that none
of us could bear and would have to leave the room. And later
in his last hours, we return to him again to his bedside only
to stir him up once more and make him cry out in despair,
I am lost, I am lost, it is of no use to tell me anything. And then he died." What was it
the Lord said about Judas? It had been better for him. Never
to have been born than to have been born and did what He did. I have sinned, but there was
no mercy. I have sinned, but there was
no forgiveness. A despairing, despairing forgiveness. Let me skip over one or two and
let me go to a good one. I can't take any more of this.
Look over in Micah. Look over in Micah. Let me write quickly, just give
you a couple of good ones. Look here in Micah. If you need
to go to the front of your Bibles and find it. If you find Zechariah,
just keep going to your left and you'll find it. Here is a
hopeful, a hopeful confession. Look in Micah chapter 7 and verse
9. Look at this, Micah 7, verse
9. Here is a hopeful confession. I will bear the indignation of
the Lord, the chastisement of the Lord, because I have sinned,
I have sinned against him. Now, I want you to notice something
about this confession. It has the same words in it.
But the whole attitude of this man's heart is different. And
that's what it is. It's not just in word. Just to
say, I have sinned, that's not it. But it has to do with the heart.
And I want you to know, first of all, look here in verse 7. Look here at the difference.
Therefore, I will look unto the Lord." There's the first thing
that's different. I will look to Him whom I've
sinned against. I'll look to Him. You know the
trouble with all these others that confessed, I have sinned.
They were looking to other people. Who was it Pharaoh confessed
to? Moses. Moses. Who would all these others
confess to? Other men. But here, this fellow
said, I have sinned, and he says here, I'm going to look unto
Him whom I have sinned against. Look unto me and be you saved. Look unto Him that taketh away
the sins of the world. That's a true confession. Look
to Him whom you've sinned against. And number two, in verse 7b,
look at this. I will wait for the God of my
salvation. My God will hear me. I will wait. I'm not going to pray the sinner's
prayer and go off in a presumptuous attitude to think because I prayed
the sinner's prayer, everything is all right. I'm not going to
trust in my easy beliefism. I'm not going to listen while
others try to tell me the assurance that I should have. What am I
going to do? Well, he says, I've sinned against the Lord. And
what am I going to do? I'm going to wait on Him to reveal
mercy to me. I'm going to wait on Him to make
known to me that He has indeed forgiven my sin. You know, mercy
and forgiveness of sins is such a vital issue. You don't want
to rest in what somebody else tells you. It's not enough for somebody
to come to me and say, Bruce, the Lord has forgiven you. Who
are you to tell me that? If He's forgiven me, then let
Him tell me. That woman that came to the Lord
and washed His feet, and the Lord Jesus said, her sins, which
are many, are forgiven her. Why didn't He tell Peter to tell
her that? You know what she would have said? You let Him tell me.
I'm not sinning against you. I'm waiting for Him to tell me
that. Lord, dear soul, don't leave
this world without a God-given assurance. It's Him that we've
sinned against. It's Him that needs to let us
know that all is well. Wait on Him. How long could He
wait on us? Then wait on Him. Go to His throne,
go to His feet, and say, I will wait. I will wait. And look here, thirdly, is this.
His confidence. His confidence. My God will hear
me. That's a big difference between
Him and Judas, wasn't it? I sinned. I'm going to just despair
and hang myself. I sinned. What are you going
to do? I'm going to the Lord because I know He is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek Him. I go truthfully to Him.
I go honestly to Him, earnestly to Him, sincerely to Him, and
He says here, He will hear my prayer. Oh, take a promise with
you. Take a promise with you. All that comes to me, I will
in no wise test deny." Take that promise and go to it. Fourthly,
look at this. I will bear, there in verse 9,
I will bear the indignation of the Lord. Now look at this. I'm
not going to make excuses. I'm not going to blame others.
I'm going to accept that I'm responsible for my own sin. I'm
responsible for the consequences of it. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. God said I'm guilty, so I'm guilty.
I'm guilty. I will bear my punishment. And I tell you, I'm ready to
bear the consequences of all of it if God don't have mercy
upon me and save me and forgive me. What was it that thief upon
the cross says? He looked at that other thief
and said, you better quit mocking him. You just better quit mocking
him. Because he's done nothing amiss. You and I are the guilty
party. We're getting just what we deserve.
That's where we come to. That's a good confession, isn't
it? That's a good confession. But boy, look in verse 5. Look
at this. Fifthly, look at his faith in Christ. Look in verse
9. calls until he pleaded. Who's he talking about? You know
who he's looking to? You know who he's thinking about?
The Lord Jesus Christ. He recognized that there was
a mediator between God and man that was able to bring him off
from his sins and plead his cause before the Father. Wasn't that
what the Lord Jesus told Peter? He said, Peter, Satan has desired
to sift you, but I prayed for you. I prayed for you. And here
was Micah saying, there's a mediator between me and God. And I'm going
to God by him. And he's able to save to the
uttermost them that come to God by him. So there's a good confession,
isn't there? That's a good confession. You
find the same thing in David. When he told Nathan the prophet,
I sinned against God, I sinned against God. And you find him
in Psalms 51 saying, Lord, according to your loving kindness, blot
out. Against you and you only have
I sinned and done this evil. He goes to the Lord. He doesn't
go to a priest. He doesn't go to somebody else.
He goes to the Lord. And he confesses to the Lord
and he pleased that fountain that is open for sin and uncleanness.
You find the same thing with the prodigal. Remember when he
was down in the far country? And he was starving to death.
And he came to himself. And he said, I'm going home.
I'm going back to my father's house and here's what I'm going
to say. Father, I've sinned against heaven. I've sinned. And in your
sight, I've sinned. And that's what it is. Mile after
mile. He was in a far country. And
don't you think the devil tempted him as he went back. Your father
didn't have anything to do with you. He doesn't give you your
inheritance, you wasted everything, and now you come back. He said,
I'm going back home. I'm going home. And he never
forgot what his resolve was. As soon as his father came running
out to meet him, the first words out of his mouth were, I've sinned.
I have sinned. I'm no more worthy to be called
your son." And he started to say, just make me as one of the
hard servants. But his father stopped him. And
his father said, you're my son. You're my son. And he put a ring
on his finger, shoes on his feet, killed a fatted cat, and they
rejoiced. I tell you, brothers and sisters,
there's never been anybody saved. That man who says, I have sinned. But I'm telling you, Walt, there's
a lot of people that said, I have sinned, and they went to hell
for their trouble. I want us to know that when we've
said, I have sinned, it comes from a heart of grace. It comes
from a broken heart. A recognition of who we've sinned
against. How awful that sin is. And we
come to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, and confess thoroughly
to Him, and forsake our sins, and put all our trust and hope
in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. May God bless this message
to your hearts. Let us pray.