Unlimited Grace

Bryan Chapell: But if we confess our sin, God is faithful and just to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The deceit is not to confess our need. The blessing comes as we acknowledge the fact that we in fact need the Lord. That means, in essence, what God is saying to us is that His mercy is for those who are really sinful.

Guest (Male): So glad you joined us for today's Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. In today's episode, Pastor Bryan shares a message from Psalm 32. Dr. Chapell reminds us that despite our unworthiness, the mercy of Christ is available to us without pause. We only need to acknowledge and confess our need for it.

You can find this lesson and many others when you visit unlimitedgrace.com. And while you're there, look for Pastor Bryan's book, The Multi-Generational Church Crisis. This compelling book asks the question of the church, what could be accomplished in the name of Christ if we could better understand each other? Let's hear now from Dr. Bryan Chapell as he shares the lesson, The Hiding Place.

Bryan Chapell: One of the churches that it was my privilege to pastor early in ministry was in Downstate Illinois. It was actually the first Presbyterian church in the Indiana territory. So before Illinois was a state, this church was established by a Scottish missionary named Samuel Wiley. It is hard to think that one time we were a mission field. That Scottish missionary came and established this church in Downstate Illinois.

In its first 150 years, it had only three pastors, each with a roughly 50-year stay. Now, that's impressive. The first was Samuel Wiley, the second John Wiley, the third Robert Stewart. Wiley, Smiley, Stewart. Sounds like a Scottish law firm, I know. They were men who were faithful, they were sacrificial, they established the scriptures well and also maintained a few Scottish traditions.

One of the traditions of the Scottish Presbyterian church was that when you came to a Communion Sunday, it was not viewed as very good that you would just show up on Sunday and notice the communion table and say, "Oh, it's communion." You would actually have had some time to prepare your heart for confession, for contemplation. Am I right before the Lord?

So the custom was that there was a midweek service known as a preparation service that people were expected to attend to prepare heart and soul for participating in the Lord's Supper on Sunday. Now, as sometimes happens in the church, what begins as a good idea becomes problematic when it becomes a command. It was such a good idea to prepare ahead of time, but what happened was that preparation service became necessary to qualify to come to communion service.

If you came to the preparation service, you got your token. This one actually says 1843 on it. So this was a token from 1843 and you had to get your token in order to be able to participate with the unqualified, unconditional grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. In essence, it seemed like you had to, of course, pay by your extra effort to be able to participate in the Lord's Supper. You in some way had to earn it, to deserve, to qualify to participate in the Lord's Supper.

If there's anything that this Psalmist is telling us, it is this: the only people who are qualified for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ are those who are sure they are unqualified. If we are not able to confess our need of the mercy of God, we are not ready at all for His actual provision. What are the simple things this Psalm 32 is saying to us? First, simply this, that confession blesses believers.

If we are honest about what we need to be coming to God for, there is blessing in that. And so there is blessing to those who are really honest. You might see a hint of that in verse two, "Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit." Now, there's a sense in which if you say, "Oh, so those who can come are those who don't tell lies or those who are honest in business, there's no deceit in them."

But if that's your interpretation, you're not actually seeing things in context. The deceit is deceiving yourself about your need of God's mercy. You see that more clearly in verse three, "For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away." Verse five, "I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity." The honesty that's being called for is the honesty to say, "I'm not worthy to come."

As a matter of fact, I recognize I don't experience the mercy of God until I have been honest about my need of His great grace. The Apostle John picks it up using very similar words in 1 John 1:8, "If we say there is no sin in us, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sin, God is faithful and just to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

The deceit is not to confess our need. The blessing comes as we acknowledge the fact that we in fact need the Lord. That means, in essence, what God is saying to us is that His mercy is for those who are really sinful. That is, they've actually acknowledged the reality of sin in their lives, that there is something that would disqualify them apart from the mercy of God.

Now, you and I both know this can just be kind of churchy talk. Everybody's supposed to say, "I'm not perfect, I know I'm a sinner." But the Apostle and the Psalmist are serious about that, and it can distress us in the church that we actually know we're supposed to be coming acknowledging that we are sinners. I have a friend, a pastor, who said that he mentioned in a sermon one time, "You know, I'm a sinner too, and need of grace, of the grace of God."

And at the end of the sermon, an older woman met him at the door and she said, "Oh, Pastor, you said you're a sinner. You're not really a sinner." He said, "Oh, yes I am." She said, "Oh, no you're not." He said, "Oh, yes I am." She said, "Oh, no you're not." He said, "Oh, yes I am!" Well, that convinced her. It ought to convince us all so that we would not evade, as it were, what is the reality of sin in our lives.

The Psalmist here basically covers the waterfront of types of sin to make sure that we recognize that in some measure our need of grace applies to every person because of the varieties of sin that may characterize us. The very first verse, "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven." Transgression is the notion of knowing the law, knowing the boundaries, and crossing them.

It's hardly ever news to people in the church what the law of God is. If I say to you, "You should not lie." You say, "Oh, that's not in the Bible." No, you know it is. And yet we struggle with the truth at times. "You should be faithful to your spouse." Oh, the Bible doesn't really say that. No, nobody questions that. And yet we know that lust can fill our hearts and infidelity can characterize our lives.

Transgression is knowing what to do and rebelling. And certainly there are those who are sometimes in rebellion. David, as we'll soon see, was one of those persons. His own life was characterized by adultery and murder and rebellion against God. He well knew transgression. But what if that's not what you're thinking about? What if there are other things that are not so serious in your life? You think, "Well, you know, I haven't murdered anybody, that's not really my problem."

Well, then the end of verse one, "Blessed are those whose sin is covered." The New Testament picks up that word of sin and uses a word to translate it meaning "to miss the mark." Maybe this is for people newer in the church of God. People who are saying, "I thought I was honoring God, I thought I was a good person, and I find out, having studied God's word, being among God's people, I missed the mark."

What I thought characterized me as kind of a basically good person, I found out I wasn't living for the honor and glory of God. In fact, my life was a mess and I've been led into a mess as I look back over things by just not living as God had instructed. I missed the mark. Perhaps hardest for all of us is the beginning of verse two, "Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity."

Iniquity is the stuff inside that no one else sees. Right things done for wrong motives. The things that are legally just fine, but we're trying to take advantage of people or manipulate their affection or manipulate their favor. Maybe the things that are inside of us that are thoughts that are not honoring to God: covetousness or lust or anger or bitterness. The thing that no one else knows, but the spirit of God who knows us has the record.

For each of these varieties of sin, outright rebellion, we are told there is a solution. In verse one, "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven." The language in the New Testament is simply those for whom grace is available. There is rebellion and yet, from God's perspective, there is still provision for grace. As though God is saying against those who have sinned against me, knowingly went against me, "I desire them no harm, but rather there is grace for them."

And what about those who are sinful, who miss the mark? There we are told their sin is covered. Some years ago, Kathy and I went to some friends' house for dinner and at the end of dinner, we were served brownies that were burnt. And the husband, to kind of make light of it a little bit, looked at his wife and said, "Gee, sweetie, you know, don't we have better brownies than these?" And she kind of grimaced and smiled a little bit, but carved off the charred pieces and served us the rest.

Later in the evening, we found out that the wife had not baked the brownies. The teenage daughter at the table had baked the brownies, but the mom had covered it. Taken the blame on herself to spare the daughter the shame. Our sin is covered in Christ. He took our sin upon Himself on the cross, its penalty and its shame, so that we who have missed the mark would be covered.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor and author Bryan Chapell. It may seem hard for younger Christians to believe, but people over 50 were raised during an era when 90% of Americans identified as Christian. These older believers were once part of a majority group that understood the mission of the church was to take control of our culture, to halt its evils. At the same time, Christians under 50 have lived their entire lives perceiving themselves as a minority that needs to make credible their faith to a secular pluralistic culture.

These distinct experiences and perceptions have a profound impact on the priorities different generations have for church ministry. It's no wonder that younger and older believers don't always see eye to eye. In his new book, The Multi-Generational Church Crisis, Dr. Bryan Chapell asks the question of the church, what could be accomplished in the name of Christ if we could better understand each other?

This practical and hopeful book is backed by thorough research, revealing how to open the lines of communication, appreciate the experiences that shaped each generation in your church, and unite in one mission to impact your community and the world. You can request your copy of The Multi-Generational Church Crisis when you donate online at unlimitedgrace.com or by calling 844-41-GRACE. That's 844-414-7223. And now, more from Bryan Chapell on today's Unlimited Grace.

Bryan Chapell: What about those who have iniquity, the things on the inside that are not right? There we are simply told the Lord counts no iniquity. It's an accounting term here, as though God alone, who can keep the marks in the book of the things that are inside of us, the wrong motives and the wrong thoughts, nonetheless, because of His great grace counts not the iniquity of those who confess it to Him.

Whether it's transgression or sin or iniquity, the great urge of the Psalmist is to say, "Confess it to God." Recognize there is blessing to those who confess. They will have their transgression put away. God Himself will be kind even to those who have rebelled against Him. Those who have missed the mark, God will cover that. Those who have things on the inside that only God knows about, He will not count it against them.

So bring it to Him. Confess it to Him. And if that's not enough simply to know that the goodness of God would be yours, the Psalmist is bold enough to talk about the consequences of lack of confession. After all, you know this Psalm is not merely saying that confession blesses believers, but that lack of confession sickens believers.

There are more graphic verses in the Bible about the consequence of sin, but there are not more graphic verses than verses three and four of the lack of confession. Do you remember what it says? "For when I kept silent," writes the Psalmist, "my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer."

As best we know, this Psalm was probably written by David after his sin of adultery with Bathsheba. And not only did he commit adultery with Bathsheba because he was king having power over a woman, the wife of another man, but when she became pregnant so that he would not be found out, he got complicity of his general to put Bathsheba's husband in the front of a battle so that he would be killed and then would be able to take Bathsheba as his wife with impunity and without blame.

The consequence was he was not only guilty of adultery, but of murder and conspiracy to do it with his own general. Now, what would your nights be like? Guilt. Lord, how could I have done that? Not only adultery but murder. Me, the Lord's anointed, the one the Lord has blessed, the one the Lord has been so good to, how could I have done that?

And not just guilt, but fear. What happens if my people find out? What happens if others know? And not only fear, but regret. Oh Lord, the families that I hurt, the people whose lives I destroyed, how could I have done such things? And remorse. Lord, I've done it against you, against you and you only have I sinned. My sin is ever before me. As though God has so greatly blessed me, how could I possibly expect His help in the future? How could I possibly expect God to watch over me when I have been so wrong in what I knew was wrong to do?

And so David begins to describe a life of sleeplessness. Some of you know it. I have known it. What it means to exist where you are just plagued by the reality of your own sin, where you lose weight, where you can't sleep, where it seems the nutrients go out of your body as though the bones themselves are going to break because there's no strength left in you.

I know you may look at the life of David and you may say, "Well, you know, I haven't committed adultery and I haven't committed murder." Listen, we can't be in a group of people this large without recognizing there have been moments of infidelity among us. And if it is not murder, there have been people hurt by what choices we have made in our lives.

And we know what it is to be up at night kind of going, "How could I?" But even if it's not David's flavors of sin, the reason the Psalm begins as it does with talking about the varieties of sin is so that we will all recognize in us there is something that applies that God must forgive. I confess to you that part of the difficulty in my own life, the thing over which I wrestle the most, is unforgiveness.

I recognize that when I have served people, when I have given my best, when I have given my heart, and suddenly there is the report that comes of blame, of accusation, of willingness to hurt and harm by the very people I have tried to help, what happens in me is anger, is bitterness, is rage. And I confess I've had the nights I could not sleep.

I could not eat. I've had months sometimes I have lost weight in worry about how to respond to particular things. I'm not proud of it. I simply say what the scriptures are saying is true, that there can be the reality of sin in us that if we do not take care of it, it begins to sicken us. And it is not what God desires for us.

And so He says plainly to us, "Confess your sin that this lack of peace, this lack of sleep, this lack of nutrient in your life would be gone." The very purpose that God has grace for us is to suppress guilt that would otherwise destroy us. I don't know what all that means to you, but I recognize many of you, some of us always at times in our lives there will be those moments of the plague of lack of confession.

I think how we are to deal with it is made clear here in this Psalm, not only with the problem of lack of confession denying us the experience of grace, but verse five, the verse that tells us so much, the avenue by which lack of confession will now help us. After all, what the Apostle is saying in verse five is that lack of confession, if that's really what's happening, lack of confession will cause a pause in our lives of the experience of grace that we need.

A few technical things before we go into the sweetness of the Psalm. Right at the beginning of the Psalm, in most of your Bibles, it says a Maskil of David. Now, we don't exactly know what that means. It's some form of song. So this is being identified as a type of music. And because it's a type of music, there are musical notations within the Psalm.

You saw them right at the end of verse four, after it says my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer, there's that little word, Selah. It occurs three times in the Psalm as seemingly a pause is being indicated in the music. It's not just a pause segregating out the portions of the Psalm, it's separating out the themes of the Psalm.

The opening of the Psalm talking about the human response, the middle of the Psalm talking about God's reaction, the latter part of the Psalm talking about God's instructions, first in a human voice, then in the divine voice. The Selahs breaking up the themes with a pause. But the great blessing of seeing that is to recognizing there is no Selah in verse five.

Verse five, do you see what it says? "I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,' and you forgave the iniquity of my sin." There is no pause. With the confession, there is immediate forgiveness of God. As though the whole point that the Psalmist is making, the song that is being sung, is when we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins immediately. No pause.

Joseph Hart, a man who had been in church, knew what church was all about, but his heart turned against God. He showed up at a revival given by John Wesley at one point just to take notes of things he could criticize and actually wrote a well-distributed booklet called The Unreality of Religion.

But then the spirit of God began to work in his heart and as he faced the sin that was there, the transgression that was so obvious from a life where he had known the Lord and not only turned against God but become a rebel against the purposes of God, he began to be not able to sleep, believing that if he slept he would wake up in hell.

Until he went to a little church where a Moravian preacher said, "Not your works, but the grace of God makes you right with God. And the grace of God is greater than all your sin." When Joseph Hart later wrote a hymn to reflect it, he wrote these words, "Come ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore; Jesus ready stands to help you, full of pity, love, and power."

I love it, "He stands ready." There's no pause as you come seeking Him in confession, there is no he stands ready. There's nothing more to be done. Confess the sin and He's ready to forgive. He is able, He is able, doubt no more.

Guest (Male): That's Pastor Bryan Chapell and you've been listening to Unlimited Grace. If you've been blessed by this message and would like to hear more from Dr. Chapell, I would encourage you to visit unlimitedgrace.com. Please be sure to join us next time as once again we endeavor to put Christ at the center of our efforts so that lives might be transformed by His unlimited grace. This ministry is brought to you by Unlimited Grace Media and continues to be made possible with your generous financial support.