Looking In the Wrong Direction

I would like for you to open
your Bibles again to Hosea 5, because I plan to refer back
to this text several times while I'm speaking on this subject
tonight, looking in the wrong direction. Now when you first
look at Ephraim here in verse 11, You're confronted with a
vivid picture of ourselves. He says in Hosea 5.11, Ephraim
is oppressed. Ephraim is broken in judgment. Because Ephraim willingly walked
after the commandment. And the Amplified says he walked
after idols. And he walked after man's evil
ways and evil commandments. He rejected God's counsel. And
we're in the mess we're in because we have rejected God's counsel. Turn to Proverbs chapter 1, if
you will, verse 24. We're in the mess we're in because
we wouldn't listen to God. We've listened to the voices
of men. We haven't listened to the living God. In Proverbs 1,
verse 24, God says, I have called, and you refused. I stretched
out my hand, and no man regarded. You set it nought, all my counsel. We've listened to the words of
Satan. We've listened to the words of men. We haven't listened
to God. This is what's wrong with religion today. We're not
listening to God, we're listening to men. We're not listening to
the words of God. It's His counsel that we've rejected.
And this brought oppression and judgment upon Ephraim because
he wouldn't listen to God. Now, I know there are a lot of
false voices today claiming to speak for God. And their words
and their conduct have a tendency to turn me in stomach, to turn
you away from anything having to do with religion. Preacher,
do you ever listen to the voices that are speaking today, claiming
to speak for God? I listen to them, and it's discouraging.
It's discouraging, and it's enough not to draw people toward God,
but to turn people away from God. But these men aren't speaking
for God. God's speaking for God. God's
speaking for God. Turn to 1 Peter, if you will,
chapter 1. Now, this is very important.
In 1 Peter chapter 1, Verse 24 and 25. Now here's the reason
we're in the mess. We've listened. We've listened
not to the voice of God. We've heeded not the counsel
of God. God said, I've spoken. And you
haven't listened. I've stretched out my hand and
you haven't regarded. You've said it not my counsel.
And this is what we're going to do. We're not going to be
judged. by what Rabbi so-and-so says, or Father so-and-so, or
Reverend so-and-so. Our judgment's going to be based
upon what God says. We're responsible to hear Him,
not to hear men, to hear God. Now listen to 1 Peter 1, 24. He says, "...all flesh is as
grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass
withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of
the Lord endureth forever." This is the Word which is by the Gospel
preached unto you. It's God's counsel that we have
rejected. I don't blame you for rejecting
most of what you hear today. I don't blame you for listening
to me with a critical ear. You ought to. We need to hear God speak. We
need to let God speak for Himself. And this is the reason we're
in trouble, the reason Adam got in trouble. He would listen to
God, he'd listen to Satan, he'd listen to his wife, instead of
listening to God. If I would encourage and urge
you to do anything tonight, it would be to cease to listen to
the voices of men and start listening to God's Word. I'd lay aside
some of the literature that you're reading, some of the books that
you read. I'm not discouraging you from reading good books,
but good books are hard to find. What I'm doing is encouraging
you to cease to listen to mama and daddy, brother and sister,
and uncle and aunt, and preachers, and start listening to God Almighty's
faith. Christ said, my words will judge
you. And most of the tradition and
custom and false practices that we have in religion today is
nothing in the world but what we've learned from the mouth
of somebody else. It has no foundation at all,
no support in this book. The Presbyterians got their sprinkling
the same place the Catholics got their purgatory. They got
out of the same book, the gospel according to man's tradition.
That's so. And we need to cease to listen
to these voices and these words and these sermons that are coming
from nowhere but the mouths of men. Ephraim wouldn't listen
to God. He walked after the commandments
and traditions of men. He walked after what they said,
they said, they said. And he got in trouble. And that's
the reason we're in trouble right now. We're not in trouble because
we've listened to God and don't understand. We're in trouble
because we've listened to men and refused to listen to God.
And then secondly, then we run into Ephraim again here in verse
13, and we're encouraged a little bit. I got a little encouraged
here. It says in verse Verse 13, when Ephraim saw his trouble,
that's encouraging. He said Ephraim is oppressed
in verse 11. Ephraim is sick. Ephraim is under divine judgment. But verse 13 said Ephraim saw
it. He saw his sickness and Judas
saw his wound. Now that's encouraging how good
it is. How good it is when men begin
to see their sins. When men begin to realize they're
in trouble. That's the start of something
good. Now conviction of sin may come from a troubled conscience. Conviction of sin may come out
of the law of God speaking. Conviction of sin may come because
of exposure. Conviction of sin may come because
we've got a glimpse of God's goodness. Conviction of sin may
spring from fear. However conviction comes, It's
good news, and it must precede mercy. Turn to Romans 7, verse
9. Romans 7, verse 9. Now, there's
no certain process of conviction. This is what I'm saying. No man
has ever found peace until he has seen his sins. No man has
ever experienced grace until he's felt his guilt. No man has
ever come to the throne of grace and he's first of all visited
the throne of judgment. In Romans chapter 7 verse 9,
Paul said, or verse 9, yes, when I was alive without the law once,
but when the commandment came, when the law of God came in the
power and hands of the Holy Spirit, sin revived, sin was revealed,
and I died. When sin was revealed to me,
Paul said, it slew me. It broke me. I realized my trouble. Now someone asked me the other
night, in what fashion is a person convicted
of sin? What comes first? Conviction
of nature or the conviction of actual sin? I believe that Holy
Spirit conviction will generally follow this pattern. This is
what I believe. Number one, I believe that, first
of all, the Holy Spirit of God, using the Word of God, using
the Law of God, will convict us, first of all, of our acts
of sin. I don't believe a person sees
his nature of sin and the root of sin and the cause of sin before
he actually is brought to weep over and grieve over his actions.
I've done wrong. I've said things that I shouldn't
have said. I've done things I shouldn't have done. I've engaged in acts
in which I should never have engaged at all. I have done wrong.
I have sinned against God. I have sinned. Secondly, then
the Holy Spirit, that's the way conviction begins. Secondly,
then He reveals the reason why we've done these things, because
of the nature of sin. David said, my sins are ever
before me. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned." And then he said, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity. I was conceived in sin. In other
words, the Holy Spirit, first of all, brings a man or a woman
or a young person to see that his acts are wrong, his words
are wrong. that he has sinned in deed, that
he has sinned in word, that he has sinned in thought, that he
has sinned in action against the Holy God. But then the Spirit
of God continues to make that conviction a deeper experience
and that repentance a more permanent repentance by showing us not
only what we've done, but what we are. I am a sinner. Not only I have sinned, but I
am a sinner. I've sinned because My heart
is evil, nature is evil, my mind is corrupt. I was born that way.
I came forth from the womb a rebel. The reason I've rebelled against
God is because by nature I'm a rebel. The reason I have spoken
evil things is because the fountain is polluted, the heart, the soul,
the mind, the affections. It's not just an outward thing,
it's an inward thing. It's just like the leopard has
spots on his body. But he has spots on his body
because that's the nature of a leopard. They're not painted
on. They're not glued on. They're not stuck on. The cells that produce those
spots come from within. The black man, he has black skin,
but it's not painted on. It's not glued on. He's a black
man by nature. And that skin is black from within.
and the leper cannot change his spots, and the Ethiopian cannot
change his skin," says Jeremiah, neither can you do good that
are evil by nature. And so the Holy Spirit is the
third one now. This is genuine conviction of
sin. This is not just a law conviction
or a law work, what the old-timers used to talk about, but this
is a genuine Holy Spirit conviction of sin. When we see, Ephraim
saw his sickness. Ephraim saw his wound. And what
we see first, we see that we shouldn't have done what we did.
But then the Holy Spirit makes it deeper, and we see we did
that because of an evil root, an evil nature, an evil heart. And that's the reason we throw
up our hands in inability and we say, Lord, you save us or
we perish. I may stop my drinking, but it can't do anything about
my desire. I may stop my blasphemy with my mouth by losing my voice. All I got to do is get laryngitis
and I won't blaspheme anymore because I can't speak. But my
blasphemy is in here. My covetousness, I may get very
wealthy and have everything I want. and not actually speak in a way
of covetousness nor greed, but the greed's in here, and the
lust is in here, and the evil's in here, and I can't change this. This is what the Pharisee did.
He changed his outward acts. But Christ said, on the outside
you appear beautiful to men, but on the inside you're full
of extortion and excess. You're like a grave. The grass
is beautiful, green, cut short, the flowers are blooming, it
looks beautiful. But dig around in there and there's some putrid,
rotten, dead men's bones in there. And that's the problem. And the
Holy Spirit in convicting us of sin and showing us our sickness,
that it goes deeper than the spots. It goes down to the nature. That's what we weep over. That's
what causes the sinner to cry for help, is because he may change
what's outward, but he knows tomorrow it'll still be there,
and the next day it'll still be there. Now, the third thing,
the Holy Spirit then reveals the evil even of our righteousness. And not many folks have experienced
this. They may not even know what I'm
talking about. But the Holy Spirit of God, in
convicting of sin, Not only causes us to see our sins and our sin,
the sin of our nature, but he causes us to see what Isaiah
said, even my righteousnesses are filthy rags. Even my prayers
are full of sin. Even my good deeds are full of
sin. They're filthy rags and God said,
Paul said, in the flesh, no man can please God. In the flesh
dwelleth no good thing. And this is what the Holy Spirit
convinces the true child of God. He convinces him of that, of
even what I'm doing right now. I'm not doing it as well as I
should with the earnestness and the glory of Christ at heart
and the total abandon to his purpose. It's impossible. We
may stand to pray and we start off good and then nature creeps
in. We may start doing a good deed
and nature creeps in. The defilement of human nature
that pollutes even our righteousness and requires that Christ, our
mediator and our advocate, not only pray for our sins to be
removed, but prays for our righteousness to be accepted and our holiness
and our good work. Alright, Ephraim saw a sickness.
You see, this is a total sickness. This is a total corruption. Like
Isaiah said, from the sole of your feet to the top of your
head. There's no soundness in you, no soundness in me, not
by nature. My sins, my sin, and even my
righteousness, all is polluted. Now I know that's not this world's
religion. Do good and God will bless you.
I know all that. But it's not so. There's no goodness in you. It's impossible for you by nature
to do good. That young man came to Christ
one day and said, good master, and our Lord looked at him and
he said, why did you call me good? There's none good but God. There's none good but God. We
can't get that out of our vocabulary. I hear you folks using it all
the time. He's a good man. He is no such thing. Now, he
is no such thing. Now, if you're comparing him
with some of the louts on this earth, he may be a good man,
but before God's eyes, he is not a good man. There is none
good, no, not one. Isn't that what Scripture says?
They've all gone aside. They've all together become unprofitable. There's none that do it good,
no, not one. You say, yeah, but here's a man
who's saved, born again, regenerated. He's a good man. I beg your pardon? His Lord's a good man. And the
Christ who dwells in him is a good man. And the Spirit of the living
God that lives in him is a good man. But he, by nature, is a
sinner. Not so. But here's the sad part. Let's move on. He's under the
judgment of God. Verse 13, he saw his sickness,
but here's the sad part, instead of turning to God, Ephraim looked
in the wrong direction. It says, Ephraim, then went Ephraim,
he saw his sickness and his wounds, and then he went to the Assyrian.
And he sent to King Jerob. But the Assyrian couldn't heal
him. and King Jerob couldn't cure him. Is not this the pattern
today? If you go home tonight and turn
on your television about 11 or 11.30, there are two clubs that
are going to come on. Now, I wouldn't offend you, but
now I'm going to use this as an illustration because it's
so. It's so. And these fellows will
laugh a while and talk a while and carry on a little while and
talk about sin and hell and heaven and Jesus, and then they'll say
to you, Is anybody out there in trouble? And then a number
will come on the screen. They'll tell you to call 1-800-473-8914.
Are you disturbed? Are you in trouble? Do you need
help? Call us. We've got a whole panel of personal
workers standing by to help you and to talk to you. That's the
very thing Ephraim did. He called on a man. I say, are
you in trouble? Are you a sinner? Are you in
need? Don't call me. Call on the Lord. Look to his
Word. I can't help you. I can't help
myself. Call on the Lord Jesus Christ. Take God's Word and open
it. And lift your voice in a plea
for mercy to the living God. Don't call on me. Are you lost? Here a fellow gets up and says,
are you lost? I have a book here entitled,
How to be Saved and Know It. Write in. I'll send you this
book, How to be Saved and Know It. That's what Ephraim did.
He turned to the arm of the flesh. He turned to the Assyrians. He
turned to King Jericho. Do you fear to die? This is the
latest thing now. You don't need to be worried
about dying. If you'll go to a movie, it's
entitled Beyond and Back. Ernest Hemingway died, had an
unexpected death on the battlefield, and he went beyond and back,
and he's not afraid to die anymore. Call him, he'll tell you about
it. And a young man had an automobile wreck and was killed, and he
went beyond, and he's come back, and they've got the authentic
stories of people who've been beyond and back, who do not fear
eternity or death or the future anymore, so go see that movie
and read that book. Don't turn to this now. Turn
to the arm of the flesh. That's what we do. Oh, I know
the Bible for a preacher, but I'll tell you. Now, wait a minute.
Turn to Isaiah chapter 8. Turn over here. This is the very
thing that Ephraim did. Ephraim saw his sickness. Ephraim
saw his wounds. Ephraim realized his trouble.
Did he turn to God? No, sir. Did he inquire of God? No, sir. Did he seek the Lord? No, sir. He sought the arm of
the flesh. He looked in the wrong direction.
and he found no help. Isaiah chapter 8, and when they
shall say to you, verse 19, Isaiah 8, 19, when they shall say to
you, seek unto them that have familiar spirits, they've been
beyond and back, they've talked to the dead, they're
spiritualists, they're great religious leaders, talk to them.
And unto wizards that peep, And that murder should not a people
seek unto their God? Isn't that where we ought to
go? For the living to the dead? Is that where we go? Do we go
to these dead men to find out about the living God? To the
law and to the testimony. Now listen to this. To the law
and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word. I don't care what Hemingway says
about death. If he speaks not according to
this word, he's a liar. And the truth's not in him. I
don't care what experience that young man had, what hallucinations,
I don't care what you see in that movie, if it is not found
in this book, it is not true. That's so. Read on. If they speak not according to
this word, it's because there is no light in them, no truth
in them. It's a trick of Satan. It's a
trick of Satan. this arm of flesh, we turn to
the church, we turn to the preacher, somebody gets in trouble, call
the preacher, we turn to the patterns of law, we turn to doctrine,
we bring in distant preachers and have revivals two or three
times a year to get our people stirred up, get them refreshed
and get them revived, they look into the arm of the flesh. Men
in trouble ought to consistently look to God, turn to God. And I'll tell you this, all these
preachers nowadays, you know what the popular thing is nowadays?
For preachers to go into counseling. Counseling. I'll tell you what
men need to be counseled to do, to bury themselves in this book.
Bury themselves in the Word of God. The answers aren't found
here. I don't have my answers. The
answer is found in him. It's a mistake looking in the
wrong direction. Ephraim was oppressed, broken
in judgment. And he realized it. He realized
he was in trouble. He realized that his sickness,
he realized his wounds. But did he turn to God? No sir. He turned to the arm of the flesh
and he says the arm of the flesh couldn't heal him. Now listen
to me, the arm of the flesh may give you some temporary comfort.
It may give you some temporary peace. It may give you relief
from the present distress, but it can't heal. It can't cure. And this is what I want. I don't
want somebody to put a balm over the top of the wound and leave
it festering. I don't want somebody to put
some oil on top of the wound and leave it festering underneath.
I want them to heal me, and only God can do that. Now listen to
the next thing. God is not going to allow The
two things here I've got to say, and one I'm going to upset some
folks and the other won't, but number one, God will allow some
people to go on in that deception. That's right, he will allow some
to go on in that deception. He says over, actually in the
book of Thessalonians, that they receive not the love of the truth,
and he would send them strong delusions that they'd believe
a lie. God's going to let some people go on. He says in the
book of Isaiah, you've made a covenant with death, with hell, you're
in agreement, when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it
won't come to us, we have a refuge, we have made lies our refuge
under falsehood, we've hid ourselves, we won't be touched, but he said,
I will, I'll lay judgment to the lion one of these days, and
I'll rout you out of your refuge of lies, I'll rout you out of
your hiding place, and condemnation shall fall upon you. He's going
to leave some folks in that false refuge. He's going to leave some
religionist leaning on that arm of flesh till that arm of flesh
gives way and they fall. That's so. Undeniably so. God's going to leave them alone.
God's going to pass them by. He did the Pharisees. The disciples
said the Pharisees were offended. Christ said, leave them alone.
He said, leave them alone. They're blind leaders of the
blind. Leave them alone. But now he's not, here's the
second thing, he's not going to leave his own. in a false
refuge. He's not going to leave his own
leaning on the arm of flesh. He's not going to leave us to
ourselves. Thank God. Listen to this. He
says, I'm going to work on Ephraim. Ephraim belongs to me. Now listen. Ephraim was under divine judgment,
oppressed. Ephraim realized it. Something
was wrong. Sickness, woe. He turned to the wrong source
for help. He looked in the wrong direction.
He leaned on the King Jareb of Assyria, and he couldn't help
it. And God said, Ephraim's mine, Judah's mine. So I'll tell you
what I'm going to do. Look in verse 12. I'm going to
be unto Ephraim as a moth, as a moth. Now what's a moth like? Well, a moth silently eats away. You hang your clothes in the
closet. And that moth, you don't hear anything going on, but he's
eating. He's destroying. Secretly, secretly. God says,
I'm going to secretly and silently work on Ephraim. He's not going
to find any rest. I'm going to trouble him. Trouble
him. And he says, I'm going to be
to Ephraim as rottenness. And the word there is a worm,
as dry rot, as a worm eats away at the heart of the timber. That
timber, that worm on the inside gets to the heart of the tree
and devours the wood and just eats away, eats away, eats away. That's what God says I'm going
to do. I'm not going to give him any peace. I'm not going to give Ephraim
any peace. I'm going to be to him like a moth, silently, silently
tearing down, tearing down, destroying. I'm going to be like a worm,
just keep eating away. And then he said down here in
verse 14, I'm going to be to Ephraim like a lion, like a young
lion. I'm going to tear it. And then
I'll run away." The young lion tears his prey and then leaves
it. He runs out of the forest and grabs the prey and tears
it and tears it and leaves it lying there and runs off. God
said, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to come to Ephraim
in a public manner, in a severe manner, and I'm going to tear
him. I'm going to leave him in his trouble. I'm going to leave
him in his distress. He's mine, you see. I'm going
to work on him. like a moth secretly and silently,
and like a worm eaten at the wood, just not giving him any
peace and rest. And then suddenly, publicly and
openly, I'm going to come out and tear him and leave him broken
and then run off. And I'm going to do that until
three things take place. He says in verse 15, I'm going
to go and return to my place until, number one, He acknowledges
his offense. He acknowledges his offense.
Now, a work of salvation. This Spurgeon said this, and
I think it's one of the greatest things that's ever been said,
one of the most instructive things. A work of salvation has begun
in a man's heart, not when he receives Christ, not when he
believes on Christ, not when he confesses Christ. The work
of salvation has begun in a man's heart when he, for the first
time, acknowledges from his heart, sincerely, that he's lost and
needs mercy. That's when God has begun a work.
When a man realizes and acknowledges, he acknowledges it. Turn to Psalm
32. I love this right here. This
is a verse that I want... David uses this term. I acknowledge
my sins. He used it twice. He used it
in Psalm 51 and he used it in Psalm 32. I acknowledge my sins. I own them. They're mine. They're
mine. Verse 5 of Psalm 32. Look, I
acknowledge my sins. I owned them. I own the corruption
of my nature, my secret sins, my sins which are many. I acknowledge
them. Do you? Have you ever come to
that place honestly, openly, publicly, before God? I own my
sins, my sins. And look, he said, I acknowledge
my sin to thee. Not to the priest, not to people,
not to men. We're not to confess our sins
to people. They've got more than we've got, or as many. God, David,
said, against thee have I sinned. I acknowledge my sin to thee.
Look at the next line. My iniquity I have not hid. How
do you hide iniquity? You know how you do it? You do
it, number one, by denying it. Number two, by justifying it,
finding a reason for it. And number three, by blaming
it on somebody else. That's how you hide sin. David said, I hid
my sin. I own my sin. I acknowledge my sins. I acknowledge
my sins to God. And I haven't hid my sins, I
haven't denied them, I haven't justified them, I haven't thought
of a reason for them or excuse, I haven't blamed them on somebody
else like Adam, but my iniquity have I not hid. I said I will
confess my transgressions unto the Lord. Why is confession to
the Lord necessary to salvation? Now our Lord Jesus said if we
confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us. He said,
He that hideth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth
his sins and forsaketh them shall find mercy. Why is confession
of sin necessary to salvation? Do you want to know? I'll give
you six reasons, and this is very important. Confession of
sin is necessary to salvation. I'll never be forgiven until
I confess my sins to God. until I quit hiding them, until
I quit denying them and alibying and justifying and excusing them
and blaming them on somebody else. That's not confessing my
sin. That's not acknowledging my sin.
That's not owning my sin. That's not confessing my sin.
I've got to own them, acknowledge them. They're mine. They're mine. You know, did you ever get caught
smoking when you was a kid? My brother and I, were visiting
my aunt one time down in Alabama. I was about eight or nine years
old, and one of the thrills of life then was to slip behind
the hen house and smoke. And we're sitting back there,
and I don't know where we got the cigarettes somewhere, but
I had them in my pocket. They were mine. And my aunt,
she could slip as well as we could slip. And she slipped back
there, and we're puffing away, you know, and looked up, and
there she stood, caught with a gun. And she said, where are
your cigarettes? Well, I don't have any. She saw
my pocket. She reached in my pocket and
told me, I said, who's are these? Well, what are you going to say then? They
are mine. That's about all you can say.
They are mine. They're mine. And we're never
going to do any good until David says, they're mine. They're not
Cecil's, they're mine. They're not Bob's, they're mine.
It's all mine. Now here's the reason that's
necessary. Number one, confession of sin honors God's law. You know what a man says when
he takes this position right here? He's saying, God, your
law is good. Your law is holy. Your law is
true. I've broken it. I'm the one that's
wrong. Your law is all right. That's
what you said. I acknowledge my sin unto thee,
my iniquity I have not hid. I said I'll confess my transgression,
and when I do that I'm saying, God, your law is good! Your law
is holy! Nothing wrong with your law. I'm the one that's wrong. Secondly,
I'm saying this. I'm saying God's justice ought
to damn me. Turn to Psalm 51. Let me show
you this. You know what David said in Psalm 51? In verse 4,
first of all, he acknowledged, verse 3, he said, I acknowledge
my transgressions, my sin is before me, against thee and thee
only have I sinned, undeceived in thy sight. God, you are justified
when you speak and you are clear when you judge. I justify God
in his condemnation when I confess my sins. I say, God, when you
charge me and condemn me, you're right. You're right. That's what
confession is. It's saying, God, you're right.
Now, you're not going to do business with the Lord of glory and you're
not going to receive any mercy as long as you don't justify
God in his condemnation. And then thirdly, confession
of sin recognizes God's omniscience. The man who says, Lord, I've
sinned, he's saying this. God knows all things. He knows
it already. He knows it already. You know
the man or woman who says, like Adam, Lord, the woman you gave
me, she caused me to do that. The woman says the serpent caused
me. You know what those folks are doing? They're denying God's
omniscience. God knows the heart. God knows the thoughts. God knows
the motive. God knows your secret innermost
being. You don't need to lie to God.
I needn't lie to God. God knows me. There's no reason
for me trying to justify myself or make an excuse or alibi. Here
it is, Lord, you know it already. I'm just owning what's so. I'm
just owning what you already know. I'm just telling you what
you already know. Then fourthly, confession of sin exalts God's
mercy. Only His mercy can save me. That's
what I'm saying when I confess my sin. I'm saying, Lord Christ
is the only Savior. I'm coming to you because I've
got nowhere else to go. That's why I'm coming. I'm coming
to you because I'm at my wits' end. That's a good Bible term.
Psalms, they were at their wits' end. I'm coming to you because
I'm without strength, that's a good Bible term, without Christ,
without help, without hope, at my wit's end. I've got nowhere
else to go. And that's what confession of
sin honors, God's mercy. It exalts God's mercy. God delights
to show mercy. Boy, I'll tell you, there's a
little bit of the image of God left in most of us because most
people can't turn down a real, sincere, hungry beggar, can you? You just can't do it. I guarantee
if you're a smart aleck, you can turn away, but tomorrow if
you're at the door and somebody comes to the door and he says,
Lady, I haven't eaten in three days, and I ain't got a dime,
and I'm in a mess, it's my own fault. It's my own fault. I've
messed up my life. It's my own fault. You don't
owe me nothing. You don't have to give me nothing, but I'm awful
hungry, and I'm in trouble, and I'm in need, and I don't deserve
it, and I know I ought not be here, but I'd sure be much flattered
if you'd give me a sandwich. You reckon you'd turn him away?
No way. If you know how to give good
gifts, how much more does your Heavenly Father give good things
to them that ask him? You exalt God's mercy when you
confess your sin, and then next of all, confession of sin will
do a work for you. It'll work godly sorrow in you.
You'll find yourself in confession, you'll find your heart broken,
and you'll find your eyes weeping, and you'll find your soul in
contrition before God, confessing, confessing. It'll work godly
sorrow in your heart. And then last of all, it'll bring
you into union with Christ. Because, listen to this, the
Savior was numbered with the transgressors. And I cannot be
numbered with the Savior unless I'm a what? A transgressor. Now
that may seem elementary to you, but elementary or not, that's
the foundation of it. The Savior was numbered with
transgressors. He said, I came to save sinners.
And if I take my place as a sinner, then I'm identified with the
Savior. If I take my place as a transgressor, then I'm identified
with the Savior of transgressors. If Christ came to seek and to
save the lost, and I identify myself as being lost, then I'm
identified with Him, aren't I? But if I don't identify myself
as a lost person, I'm not identified in God's purpose with Him who
came to save the lost. Christ died, listen, for the
ungodly. Anybody here ungodly? No, there's
nobody here ungodly. Then there's nobody here from
whom Christ died. It's as simple as that. Now hold on, let's go
back, preachers. No, let's go back where we were.
Is there anybody here ungodly? No, there's nobody here ungodly.
We're fine Christian people. Then Christ didn't die for anybody
here because Paul said Christ died for the ungodly. It's as simple as that. Now,
in order to be identified with Christ, anybody here without
strength? When we were without strength,
Christ died. For whom? Sinners. Any sinners
here? No, no sinners here. Sinners are fine. Then there's
nobody here for whom Christ died. That's where confession of sin
brings you into union with Christ. It brings you into association
with Christ. He died for sinners. He arose for sinners. He intercedes
for sinners. He's coming for sinners. He said,
I came to seek and to save the Lord. I've come not to call the
righteous, but sinners. And if I want to be identified
with Him in His purpose, then I'm going to have to be shut
up to the fact that I am a sinner. That's what he said. He said,
I'm going to leave them until they acknowledge their sin. Secondly,
until they seek my face. till they see my face. Did not
the Lord say to Moses, no man can see my face and live? That's
so. God's face is his countenance
of glory, glory, glory. God's face is his smile of approval. God's face is his countenance
of acceptance. God's face is his expression
of love. And in the shape I am in, He
can't look upon me that way. So where shall I go? Turn to
2 Corinthians. I've got to give you this. Don't
rush me too much right here. This is important. Seek my face. Seek my face. 2 Corinthians 4,
6. It's possible. It's possible
for me to come to face-to-face with God. It's possible for me,
in my condition, to look into God's face and for God to look
upon me with approval and acceptance, with a countenance of grace.
In 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6, God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. That's where it is. I've got
to come to Christ. That's God's approval. That's
God's countenance of mercy. That's God looking upon us with
favor as Christ looks upon us. And as we seek His face, seek
His face. So then Ephraim says, I acknowledge
my sins, I seek his face, his smile, his approval, his acceptance. That's in Christ. That's in Christ. God's not going to frown at me
because I've misbehaved, and then when I start acting right,
turn and smile at me and say it's all right. It's never all
right, because I never can please God. But the face of Christ,
because of his righteousness, because of his death, because
of his sacrifice, can make me clean and pure so that God can
look upon me with approval, accepted in the Beloved. He can look upon
Christ. All right, last of all, he says,
come let us return unto the Lord, having been convinced of our
sins, seeking his face, acknowledging, you know someone said this one
time, listen to it, He says, come, let us return unto the
Lord. He hath torn, and he'll heal. Some men attribute their
troubles to luck, to chance, to natural causes, but listen
to the child of God. He says, God hath torn me, and
God will heal me. God will heal me. Let us return
unto the Lord. Let us return unto the Lord.
He will heal, and he'll bind us up. I never have read the book Uncle
Tom's Cabin, but I ran across an illustration from that book
that I thought was quite good. There are two things that are
in operation here. There's fear and love. There's
fear and love. In this tearing and this conviction
and work of the Holy Spirit in bringing the sinner down, there's
this fear of God's wrath and justifying God in his justice.
But then there's love. There's that invitation, that
seeing Christ is not only righteous, but he's mercy. He's not only
truth, but he's love. Come to me. I'll give you rest.
Come to me. You'll find mercy with the Lord,
mercy for sinners. And Miss Ophelia, It is said
in that book, Miss Ophelia was trying to train the naughty girl
Topsy to behave and be good. She was tough on her. Miss Ophelia
tried to get her to memorize the catechism and all these other
things, and tried to get Topsy to be good, and Topsy was naughty,
and Topsy wouldn't be good, just wouldn't be good for anything.
And finally Little Eva, you remember Little Eva in the book, even
if you hadn't read it, remember the story about Little Eva. She
came to Topsy and put her arms around Topsy and she said, Topsy,
why is you so naughty? Why do you act so wickedly? And
Topsy said, Miss Eva, ain't no use for me to be good. Ain't
no use in the world for me to be good because nobody loves
old Topsy. And Miss Eva reached up and kissed
her on the cheek and said, Topsy, I love you. She said, Miss Eva,
you love me? And Miss Eva said, Topsy, I love
you. And she smiled and she said, Miss Eva, if you loves me, I'll
try to be good. I'll try to be good. Well, by
the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil, but Paul said something
else. The love of Christ constrains me. If he loves me, and he does,
I'll return to the Lord. I'll return. Wherever you are
and whoever you are, come the route of confession, acknowledging
sin, and returning to the Lord. He'll heal you. He's the one
that He's the one that's brought these things in your life. He
did it. He did it on purpose. He did it for your good and His
glory, but He's done it. He's stricken you. It wasn't
luck or chance or natural causes. It's God. And He's doing it because
He's not going to let you go until you come home. Now, you come home because God
loves you. You come home. God loves you. Our Father in
Heaven, show us our guilt and sin. Show us our transgressions,
rout us out of our refuges of lies, the falsehoods under which
we've hid ourselves, and the alibis and excuses. Lord, give
us a broken heart. Teach us to pray like David.
I acknowledge my sins unto Thee. My transgressions and iniquities
I have not hid. I'll confess my sin unto the
Lord. I'll seek His face. I'll seek His mercy, and I'll
seek His grace. Grant, O Lord, that not to me,
not to the Church, but to Thee, we might confess our sins. We
might call upon Thee out of a broken heart, and receive from Thy gracious,
merciful hand, Thy sins be forgiven Thee, because Christ's blood
cleanseth us from all sin. In His name we pray, Amen.

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