From His Heart

Speaker 1

Do you willingly confess your sin to God but hold on to the guilt? What can you do to stop the brokenness? Here's Pastor Jeff Shreve.

Speaker 2

Problem for so many guilt-ridden Christians. Oh, they've committed a terrible sin and they confess that sin to God and they're broken over that sin. And when they get off their knees asking God to forgive them, they pick up the guilt of that sin and they put it back on their back and they wear guilt like a heavy coat even though they have confessed their sin.

They live in that world of unconfessed sin where there's depression and where there's dirtiness and where there's a haunting and a fear and shame.

What's the problem with that person? That person is not believing God. That's the problem.

Speaker 1

What do you do when you're busted? What do you do when your life is crashing down upon you and you've realized that your sin has broken you? Well, David wanted to be and was a man after God's own heart. But he committed the great sins of adultery and murder. Now that is just about as bad as it gets.

Ah, but David was also a great repenter. This is from his heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, who today will answer this question: What do you do when you're busted and broken? Here's a clue. You take three steps to restore fellowship with the Lord. But what are they?

We'll learn them today in a message called "Busted and Broken" from Pastor Jeff's series "Roller Coaster: Facing the Ups and Downs of Life." Open your Bible now to Psalm 51 and let's discover exactly what to do when we're busted and broken.

Speaker 2

What do you do when your life and the weight of your sin come crashing down upon you and you're broken? David, a man after God's own heart, not only was a great sinner, as I told you in his story from 2nd Samuel, chapters 11 and 12, but David was also a great repenter. He wrote Psalm 51 after Nathan the prophet came to him, pointed the finger of accusation in his face, and said, "You are the man." David's heart broke, and he said, "I have sinned before the Lord." David was busted. David was broken.

So, what do you do when you're busted and broken? You take three key steps. Step number one: we are to come humbly to God. Look at verse one: "Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loving kindness, according to the greatness of your compassion. Blot out my transgressions." Mark it down: no matter what you've done, God is full of grace and mercy. God is gracious, and David is crying out for God's mercy and grace. "Oh, be gracious to me, God. I need your grace and your compassion." God, I know that I've sinned terribly, but you are a compassionate God. You can always trust in God's love, no matter what you've done. He is able to forgive you. David said in Psalm 86:5, "For you, Lord, are good and ready to forgive and abundant in loving kindness to all who call upon you." God is not reluctant to forgive; He is ready to forgive. God wants to forgive you and me more than we want to come before Him.

If you've really sinned and sinned terribly, with great consequences, what do you do? You come humbly to God.

The second step: not only are we to come humbly to God, but we are to confess honestly and completely to God. God sees it all; He knows it all. So we need to confess it all to Him. I love what it says when it tells the story of David's sin in 2nd Samuel, chapter 11. It doesn't mention the Lord at all until the very last verse, which states, "But the thing that David did was evil in the sight of the Lord." God saw it all. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good. God saw what David did; He knows everything.

So what do we do when we're busted before a God who sees it all and knows it all? We confess honestly and completely to Him. Don't dress up your sin because you're guilty as charged. David wronged Bathsheba and Uriah, but ultimately, he sinned against God. Don't dress up your sin; you're guilty as charged. Don't cover it up. God desires the brutal truth. David said in verse six, "Behold, you desire truth in the innermost being." David tried so hard to cover his sin, to sweep it under the rug, thinking nobody saw and nobody needed to know. He went on as king, no doubt singing songs, going to worship, and praying prayers, all the while there was rottenness in the innermost part.

What happened to David when he was playing cover-up for those nine-plus months while the baby was being formed in Bathsheba's womb? He tells us in Psalm 51 what happens to a believer who gets sin in their life. First of all, unconfessed sin will make you feel dirty. He says in verse 2, "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin." He says in verse 7, "Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean." He says in verse 10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God." David felt so dirty on the inside, and there was nothing he could do. There was no ceremonial washing that could take that away. He felt stained, dirty, and soiled on the inside, and it was awful. It's horrible when you're filthy, and David was filthy before the Lord.

Unconfessed sin will not only make you feel dirty but also haunted. Look what he says in verse three: "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me." David was haunted by the ghost of guilt because of his sin. He was carrying his accuser within his breast everywhere he went, day and night. "God, your hand is heavy upon me." It will haunt you.

Unconfessed sin will also make you feel depressed. He says in verse 8, "Make me to hear joy and gladness; let the bones which you have broken rejoice." David was just so down and depressed. He says in verse 12, "Restore to me the joy of your salvation." God, I've lost my song; I've lost my joy. I try to lift myself up, but I keep getting pulled back down because there's unconfessed sin in my heart, and I can't rise above it. It will depress you.

Unconfessed sin will make you feel ashamed. In verse 9, he says, "Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities." Oh God, I'm so ashamed. Don't look at what I've done, God. Hide your face from what I've done because I'm so very ashamed. If we put your sins on the big screen, would you be ashamed? I would be ashamed.

You know what's troubling in our nation today? We've lost shame. There's no fear of God anymore before people's eyes, and so people aren't ashamed. The wicked strut about on every side, as it says in Psalms, while vileness is exalted among the sons of men. Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 6:15, "Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all, and they didn't even know how to blush." You know how to blush; it's a good sign if you still know how to blush. It's a good sign if you feel shame over your sin. You should.

Unconfessed sin not only makes you feel dirty, haunted, oppressed, and ashamed, but it also makes you feel afraid. David was so afraid. In verse 11, he says, "Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me." He had seen that happen to Saul, where God's hand was upon King Saul, and then King Saul sinned, and God took His hand off Saul. David wasn't talking about the New Testament assurance that believers have today; he was living in fear because he had this unconfessed sin in his heart.

We've talked about integrity in this series on Psalms. Integrity means wholeness and soundness. When you have integrity, you have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. But when you don't have integrity, when everything is outward and there's no truth in the innermost being, you're always a little nervous that someone is going to find out about your unconfessed sin. Don't cover it up; don't dress it up. If you've blown it, own it. If you've messed up, then fess up and be completely honest before the Lord.

So what are we to do when we've really blown it? David really blew it. He was guilty of two huge sins: adultery and manslaughter. To cover up his adultery, he came before the Lord, saying, "Be gracious to me, O God." He confessed to the Lord; he opened up after hiding it for nine-plus months. He shared his whole heart with the Lord, begging God to cleanse him, deliver him, and forgive him.

Step number three: what are we to do after we do that? We are to claim confidently our forgiveness from God. This is huge if you want to be delivered from the ghost of guilt. The Bible says in the New Testament, 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." If we confess, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness—whatever it is.

Now here's the question: Is that verse true? Can God really do that? Does He really do that? He does, if you will confess. A key ingredient to getting right with God is godly sorrow and brokenness. I've entitled this sermon "Busted and Broken." You can get busted, but are you broken over your sin? David said in verse 16, "You do not delight in sacrifice; otherwise, I would give it. You're not pleased with burnt offerings." It's not the external that counts; God wants truth in the innermost part.

So he says in verse 17, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart. O God, you will not despise." That's what God wants. He wants your heart to be broken. Many people come before the Lord; they're sorry they got busted, but they're not sorry for what they did. To do what the Bible says in 1 John 1:9, the word "confess" means to say the same thing as God. It's to think the same thing as God about your sin.

When you agree with God, you say, "Lord, not only did I sin, not only did I lust, not only did I look at terrible things, not only did I fill my mind with filth, but I broke your heart." A broken and contrite heart God will not despise. That's what God is looking for—people who will be broken over their sin before the thrice holy God of the universe. There must be godly sorrow and brokenness.

The scripture says in 2 Corinthians 7:10, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death." There are two kinds of sorrow: godly sorrow that leads to salvation and life, and worldly sorrow that brings regret and death. There must be godly sorrow and brokenness.

When there's godly sorrow, when there's brokenness, when there's a complete and full confession of sin, there must be faith to believe God. Is 1 John 1:9 true or is it not true? He is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The problem for many guilt-ridden Christians is that they confess their sin to God and are broken over it, but when they get off their knees, they pick up the guilt of that sin and put it back on their back, wearing guilt like a heavy coat.

Even though they have confessed their sin, they live in that world of unconfessed sin, where there's depression, dirtiness, haunting, fear, and shame. What's the problem with that person? That person is not believing God. That's the problem. Because He says He'll forgive. When David confessed his sin to God, did God forgive him? Yes. Did God cleanse him? Yes. Did God create in him a new heart, a clean heart? Yes. Because God responds to the prayer of the repentant.

The scripture says in Hebrews 4:2, "For we have heard the good news just as they did. They heard the message, but it did them no good because when they heard it, they did not accept it with faith." You might hear the message today about how you can leave this place free from guilt, shame, and separation from God, and you can say, "Hmm, that sounds good, but I don't think that's for me."

You heard the good news, but you didn't apply it to your own life and you didn't believe God. We hear this so often with people who say, "Well, you know, I've confessed my sin to God, but here's my problem, Pastor Jeff: I just can't forgive myself for what I've done." It sounds so good, doesn't it? You can't forgive yourself, yet God can forgive you, but you can't forgive you?

When you say you can't forgive yourself, what you're saying is, "I am more righteous than God. I am more holy than God. The standard, the bar of my judgment is higher than God's." Oh, really? God's the thrice holy God of the universe. You think you're more holy than God? You think you're more righteous than God? Your standards are higher than God's? Of course not.

A person who says, "I can't forgive myself" is putting their standards above God. They're refusing to believe God. It's so much better to say, "God, if you say you'll forgive me, then that's good enough for me, and I believe you." David said in his sister Psalm, Psalm 32, "I acknowledge my sin to you, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,' and you forgave the guilt of my sin."

I don't have to live in shame any longer. I can take off the scarlet A that they put upon my chest because the blood of Jesus washes whiter than snow. I don't have to live as an adulterer anymore; I can be brand new with a new heart. "Create in me, O God, a new heart and renew a right spirit within me."

When you have true brokenness over sin, you turn from that sin. You don't keep embracing that sin. You're going to say to the Lord, "Lord, I am convicted because I'm living in sin, because I'm living with this person, and that person is not my spouse. We've never been married, and we're committing fornication. God, forgive me of this, and I'm going to separate myself from that situation. I'm not going to keep living like that because that is displeasing to you. I'm going to get right."

John the Baptist said, "Bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance." Is there faith in your heart to believe God that He will really forgive you? It happens when you humble yourself before the Lord. It happens when you come clean before the Lord. It happens when you allow your heart to be broken by His word that you've sinned against a holy God. But He's willing, like the Father of the prodigal Son, to look for you. Will you come back from the far country? Will you leave the pigsty? It can happen today.

Speaker 1

You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. And as he's indicated, it could be that today your sin has caused you to feel broken and busted, distant from God. Perhaps today you're feeling that weight and you want to let go. You want to drop it, give it to God and trust him completely. Perhaps he's calling you right now to surrender it all to him and allow him to wipe your heart and mind and conscience clean about your sin so that you can live in thankfulness and humility and share that good news with others.

On our website, there's a special section under the Read tab called Free Stuff, and there you should download a free PDF copy of Pastor Jeff's booklet Not Guilty and other materials too. We believe that it'll show you how you can find the freedom and the peace that comes from turning it all over to God and believing him at his word. Again, go to fromsheart.org, click the Read tab, and then the Free Stuff link.

For those of you who have been encouraged by today's message and you want to help us to share it further and wider around your community and the world, we hope that you'll go online to make a gift From His Heart this month. With your gift today, we'll send you Pastor Jeff Shreve's three-message series Nothing but the Truth and the booklet Sticks and Stones: What to Do When the Going Gets Tough. Your gifts make it possible for From His Heart to be here each and every day on radio, also seen on television every week around the world, and always online.

Pastor Jeff is strictly a volunteer for From His Heart and receives no income from anything donated to this ministry. We pray that you'll join us in the worldwide effort to share the good news of Jesus to a lost and hurting world. Your partnership is far more than just appreciated; we hope you know that.

To make your gift and get the series Nothing but the Truth and the booklet Sticks and Stones, call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE) or go online to fromhisheart.org.

Well, that's all the time we have for today. Thank you for being with us on From His Heart. I'm Larry Nobles, trusting you'll be here tomorrow for the final and poignant lesson in Pastor Jeff's roller coaster series. That's on Wednesday for the uplifting message No Greater Love, right here on From His Heart.

Speaker 2

There is treasure, there is bless, There is hope that you always dream love he can heal every scars.

Speaker 1

From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and hurting world.

Remember, no matter what, God loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life.

You can find out all about that at fromhisheart.org.