In this sermon, the speaker addresses women and emphasizes the responsibility they have to share the truth they have learned with others. He highlights the consequences of not doing so, using the example of King David. David suffered feelings of guilt, loneliness, and a loss of joy and desire to witness due to his sin. The speaker warns women to be aware of the deceitfulness of sin and its potential to harden the heart. He concludes by encouraging them to learn from David's mistakes and not let sin cover their lives.

You have your sheets there to your seat, just take them out if you would and we're going to take the first session and do this more as a lesson and something you can use maybe in time to come to go through some scripture something is if you're a Sunday school teacher working with adults or youth maybe you could use this sometime in the future. Brother Vaughn mentioned that he and I go way way back. I really am hoping the Lord would give liberty perhaps in our next session tomorrow. I'd like to tell you the story of how Joan and I, my wife, we had a privilege of meeting Brother Harold. If we can get that story out I'm going to try tomorrow to share that with you. I think you'll find it very interesting but we did go way way back. I know we do conceal our youth very well but you know we get a little bit you know during these these prayer advances you get a little unraveled. This is very unnerving and you know you can find yourself meeting yourself coming and going and I know Debbie was a little concerned about Harold. He came picking up the airport and before he got there he was just so many things he had to do and she picked up you know the walkie-talkie and said to Harold look out on 81 there's somebody on the interstate that he's driving the wrong way and just be careful and he said what do you mean Debbie? He said there's hundreds of them. Anyway yeah but he got me he picked me up and I got here safely and had a wonderful wonderful evening together last night. Let's just jump right into our lesson this afternoon and you know I went through well really since 9-11 and time to go to the airport. We flew in yesterday and boy I tell you they really take you through they really take you through the ringer. I guess they taking off your shoes and take the belt and everything I mean just do you watch and they just they want to make sure they run you through all these metal detector apparatuses and the x-ray machines these specialized machines and since 9-11 everything has changed and they've heightened the security at every airport because they want to know what it is you're hiding. They want to know what you're trying to sneak in what perhaps you are covering up and today we're going to take a journey through God's x-ray machine. Search me O God and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. See if there'll be any wicked way in me. Now he's he's as far more sophisticated anything the U.S. government will ever come up with. He searches as the word of God pierces even the dividing of soul and spirit bone and marrow discerner of the thought and incense of the heart. God gets down to the finer points of our soul. He knows us through and through. I thank God for the use of prayer advances. It was at a meeting similar to this in 1983 where God found my wife and I, Joan. First time we met uh well it was the second time we met Harold and first time we'd met Debbie in that meeting and then a few years ago at Eagle Eyrie the Lord met my wife in a very powerful way and I will be I'll be eternally thankful and I'm praying today for our sister who's who'll be speaking to you and throughout the sessions tomorrow that perhaps there's another Joan Moore in this audience and that God will change your life your marriage and your ministry. That is our prayer and I pray that you'll be listening for God's voice in your heart today whatever you whatever you would say that you would say yes Lord and what else. Speak Lord your servant listen. Isaiah 59 in verse 2 but your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have covered his face from you. Now we won't have time to turn to all of these passages just fill in the blanks as we go and you can look these up later on and maybe just write down a few notes as we go along. Our sin covers the face of God that he will not hear. You see it when when we cover our sin it is like taking it is like taking a covering a a bed covering and putting it up all over the face of God. It's covering up God's face to where his eyes cannot guide you. Psalm 32 he guides us with his eyes. It's where his ears no longer can hear your cry in the sense he no longer is going to respond to your prayers. His lips can no longer be this the voice can no longer be heard in your heart. You've covered his face that's what our sin does covers the face of God. You think of Isaiah 59 too our iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have covered his face. Think about when Christ came to this earth that was the very purpose for which he came and when he died on the cross it was there that he bore our sins and the father had to separate himself from the son and God had to hide his face from him. Now we choose to partner with the very villain sin that crucified the lamb of glory the treasure of heaven the darling of eternity and so that's why God takes us very serious and then notice what it says in Luke chapter 2 verse 2 there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed. You see things that we hide and we hope never ever come out someday are going to come out that internet entanglement that you've been involved with those affections that you've allowed to drift toward some other person one of these days they're going to come out. You see everything that we conceal God has made this promise one day it will be revealed everything you put in the dark one day God's going to bring out in the light everything you cover God's going to uncover but here's the beauty of it all everything we uncover God through his through the blood of his son Jesus Christ covers everything that we reveal the light of his glory and grace conceals and cast in the depths of the sea I'm choosing today walk in the light and to have fellowship with the father and his son and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all our sins you see the old adage silence is golden but it's not golden when it comes to covering the truth of our condition so everyone is going to be confronted everyone is going to have to come clean with God it just is a matter of the choice of what day we choose you see we have a God we serve up we serve a God who loves us so much that he just cannot bear to allow us to go on without fellowship with us and see ourselves destroy ourselves he's going to bring this to a head so nothing is covered that shall not be revealed neither hid that shall not be known someone said the hiding muscle is the strongest muscle in the adamic nature we're all like the lone ranger we feel naked without our mask mark twain I don't use mark twain much in my sermons only the sermons I copy from herald but anyway mark twain once said man is like the moon he has a dark side that he keeps covered but he wants no one to see it is a strong muscle you see it's just a natural reflex of the sin nature to want to cover sin is so and sin is such a liar sin will always tell you it's in your best interest to cover this thing up it's always beneficial to cover this thing up it will keep you in it'll keep your reputation it'll keep you comfortable oh what a lie what a lie I mean look what goes it goes back to genesis 3 I mean the first thing the first reaction the first reflex from adam and eve was to cover they took fig leaves and they tried to cover their skin but they did more than just try to cover their skin they also tried to cover their sin when god confronted them adam said well it's the woman thou hast given me he blamed god and he blamed eve and there was eve standing well she said it was the serpent and there stood the serpent without a leg to stand on who's he gonna play and so the blame game begins trying to find the culprit well there's a jacob in all of us you remember jacob the conniver the schemer the trickster that's what his name meant you remember the day that he approached his father disguised masquerading as esau isaac said who art thou my son he said i am esau but he was jacob and he stole the birthright and the blessing years had passed jacob had been running from god with this sin that he had covered this lie this deception and all through life scheming his way through tricking his way through deceiving covering concealing till one day the angel of the lord met him and wrestled with him brought him to the ground and jacob took hold of that angel and said oh you can't leave except thou bless me and the angel said to jacob what is your name he said jacob what did the angel say and we know that was a christophanes that was a that was an old testament appearance of jesus christ wrestling with jacob there is the lord wrestling with jacob why did he say jacob what is your name because he took him all the way back to the day he covered that sin when he lied about his name and that was jacob's beginning of his recovery you see healing begins with revealing spiritual healing begins and the blood of jesus christ heals all that that is revealed that was precious what harold shared with us just a moment ago i don't know if you caught that the blood of christ heals you see the road of recovery begins when you uncover that's where the road of recovery begins and i and you are no more spiritually sick than our darkest secrets and jacob that day was put on the road of spiritual recovery when he said these words i am jacob and he uncovered his sin proverbs 28 13 he that covereth his sin shall not prosper shall not prosper but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy oh how futile it is to cover our sin oh i wish you know i've been pastoring 32 years you'd think by now i'd learn my lesson and you know i just want i want you to know this ladies what i'm sharing with you with you today i am not an expert on this i'm still on the journey i'm still learning i'm still growing in this truth but how futile it is i i can't help but think of uh whenever i think of this text i always think of the lady in jacksonville florida i don't know if you heard this story it happened a few years ago but uh is in a retirement area and and uh this family had a a new neighbor just moved in it's a widow lady and she loved her rabbits she had rabbits and uh she uh had one of her rabbits you know and uh yeah and uh well she had many rabbits but she she especially feared the neighbor's dogs and this family they had these two big dames great dames and she was you know i'm afraid those dogs don't get in my rabbit she said oh no no no these dogs they'll never get into your rabbit you got her all fenced off here and they'll never get into your rabbits well lo and behold one day the backyard the wife was in the backyard i noticed one of her big dames came over and had a dead rabbit in its mouth she said oh what am i going to do what am i going to do and so she thought i know what i'll do she took that rabbit went in the house got in the bathtub and scrubbed that rabbit down it was just filthy scrubbed it down got it nice and clean took her blow dryer and got that old fur fluffed up and she snuck back over neighbor's yard opened up the cage and propped that dead rabbit up in that cage well that evening the dear sister came in her backyard checking on her rabbits and this horrible scream she ran on the back of the house what's wrong what's wrong what's wrong she said this rabbit she said my rabbit it died three days ago and it's back in my cage how did it get there you can be sure your sin will find you out and she had to tell her she said you're not going to believe this he said i thought my dog had killed your rabbit anyway sounds like some of you've been there but he that covereth his sin shall not prosper no matter how many good books you read on prayer no matter how many good sermons you hear on prayer in your lifetime no matter how many times you pray how often you pray if you fast and pray if you're sincere and you weep when you pray you will not prosper until you unveil the sin and come clean with god he that covereth his sin will go nowhere in their prayer life you'll be stuck until you come clean with god and just telling the truth and go on and when you do you find mercy this is as this is as this is as absolute of a law as the law of gravity or any other law of economics if we cover our sin will not prosper that's why this is the first session we want and i want you to prosper in your prayer life and this is the starting point psalm 68 66 18 if i regard the word regard means if i conceal i condone or even cling and cherish iniquity in my heart the lord will not hear me for god to cover our sin for god to cover sin it is display of his marvelous grace don't you love to sing the songs of grace marvelous grace of our loving lord grace that exceeds our sin and our shame yonder on calvary's mount outpoured there where the blood of the lamb was slain marvelous grace infinite grace for where sin abounds grace does what much more abound for god to cover sin it's a display of his grace but for us to cover our sin it's an act of pride pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall the spurgeon in his practice preaching or the preaching classes that he would conduct there in his school in london when a haughty young man preaching feverishly on the armor of god ephesians 6 putting on the helmet putting on the breastplate loins girt about with truth and his feet shed with the preparation of the gospel of peace and he drew out the sword of the spirit and threw up his shield of faith and he said now where is the devil and charles spurgeon from the back of the room said young man is in the armor you don't preach with a heart of pride you preach with humility pride goes before a fall now ladies you you know you know this is kind of a tough subject for fellows don't you because men don't like to unveil their weaknesses men have a real problem with this it's uh i i'm sure you knew of the three guys at the raging river they were out hiking and they came across this river that was nearly out of its banks and one man he said boy he said i like to get across that river and he said you know i i wish i was just strong enough i could swim right across the river and suddenly without steroids his arms began just to pop out and his legs he became huge now harold told me last night he got that way without even lifting weights i mean he his just came just naturally i guess through just osmosis i guess but anyway we were talking about steroids that's what we were talking about but anyway and so he he with labor and with much tenacity he made it to the other side the second man said you know i i would just wish i could have a boat that would be secure enough i could row it across and suddenly a boat appeared and he jumped in the boat and almost capsized and and nearly drowned but he got to the other side he made it the third man he decided he would pray and he lifted his eyes toward heaven and said god surely surely there's a way surely there's an easier way to get to the other side make me smart enough to know what to do and god made him a woman and so he went and secured a map and he asked for directions she or he whichever walked upstream crossed over a bridge and was there in five minutes and all the ladies can say now let's move on let's move on is that not your husband or what i'm just glad it's not me just had that experience this week going to a funeral in indianapolis i didn't know where the funeral home was my wife said did you check matt matt matt quest i said no she said you know the side of indianapolis i said a little bit and so for the next hour and a half we tried to find a funeral home that was about 25 minutes away from our house but anyway so uh i'm having to eat some of these words pride oh my pride goeth before destruction a haughty spirit before a fall we're going to look in the life of a man the book of first and second samuel in psalm 32 psalm 51 if you want to turn to second samuel 11 you may with with us and we're going to move through these fairly rapidly so we have another other side we want to cover on coverings we're looking at the life of david david oh i'm just sometimes shocked when i study this story of how far sin when we yield to sin how wicked how deceiving second samuel chapter 11 you have to remember something about david david uh all his life long all of his life from his childhood to this very point in his life he is probably somewhere maybe 50 51 52 at this point in his life and he commits a horrible horrible sin and by the way ladies just because god has chosen you to be the writer under the inspiration of the holy spirit of beautiful songs we call we call psalms and just because you had been mightily anointed of god to with your bare hands kill lions and bears and slay giants and flee the souls of your life and conquer great enemies of the lord does not give us a guarantee that we too cannot fall into sin there's no guarantee just because you've been just because you've been on the road the christian you've been living the christian life all these years you think well you know i i've escaped all of that that will never happen to me don't ever say never he that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he falls simon peter said lord i will never forsake you i will never deny you and what peter did that day for the cockroach three times he forsook the lord he denied the lord so david see all of his life david was always the underdog he was always the guy underneath when he faced the bear he faced the lion when he faced goliath when he faced saul he was always outnumbered when he went to battle david you see david's greatest need is your greatest need and my greatest need and our greatest need is to be needy is to be dependent to trust the lord and david is no longer sensing that weakness oh because when we are weak then we are what strong in the lord strong in the lord blessing comes through brokenness strength comes through weakness it is when we are humble it is when we are humbled then we are exalted david is no longer walking in that humility that soil that springs all spiritual fruit life david now has conquered many many enemy and what you're going to read in these in these passages what you're going to write down i should say in these in these blanks is a man who could say amen to the four verses that followed isaiah 59 luke 12 proverbs 28 and psalm 66 and this is what happened as you know david starts the slippery slope down into sin and let me just let me just make this comment david david did not and i made the statement among what david fell into sin david did not fall into sin there is no falling into sin like like spontaneously just fell into sin just walk on i just fell into sin no sin is a series of wrong steps a series of wrong choices you don't just fall into sin it may appear that you on the outward appearance someone just fell into sin sin is never a blowout it is always a slow leak one day you wake up and you realize the tire is flat but it has been over a series of decisions series of erosions in your soul in your relationship with god and one day you realize i am in a mess and you realize what has happened over a period of time that relationship began to wane that trust that faith that weakness that humility began to wane and strength within ourself and pride became more more of the defining points of our life and so i want to begin with number one what did david do how did david cover his sin we know that david sinned i'm not going to go through the whole story i'm assuming that most of you know this story of what happened in david's life when he took basheba and committed adultery with her the first thing david did you know at the very beginning he was to go he was to be with other kings out into battle in verse one it was a time in which kings went forth to battle david tarried still in jerusalem these last words of verse 1 of chapter 11 david tarried behind that doesn't tell us why maybe he was just tired maybe there could have been a number of reasons but for some reason david felt that he no longer had to be a part of leading his men into war at least at this juncture in his life and he passed that responsibility on to others and he lingered back number one rationalization the first covering that david used was rationalization david began to rationalize with these little here it is the little foxes spoil the vines it's always the little levin it's always the little see little foxes and little flies that gets in the the apothecary it's always the little things it's that little slow leak and the first one started with just the first covering that david put on his sin the first covering it was i mean it's so insignificant it's it's a thin sheet you know that the sheet on your bed you have that little thin sheet before you get the good heavy stuff the thin the the first sheet and the first sheet was that thin sheet called rationalization he just began to rationalize you know hey i i picture it this way david just sensed you know look at the enemies we've conquered and i've secured the borders for israel um perhaps i could just stay in the palace and begin to rationalize his his duties and responsibility and then that that led to a second rationalization as he saw a woman perhaps i deserve some enjoyment some indulgence just a bit of fleshly indulgence just for and you know uh i am the king and she is one of my subjects and uh i've made life so much better for her and for everyone else in the palace and in the empire of israel in the kingdom why should i not be rewarded something but oh david david saw a woman but david did not see the death of four of his children david did not see a divided kingdom david did not see his son absalom hang from a tree david did not see that night that he would go to that room and weep his heart out bitterly and say oh would to god it was me and not absalom david didn't see the night that this little baby would die that would come from bashiva and there's he mourned and he he didn't see any of that what he saw that moment was a woman and that's what sin does sin in order to succeed must conceal the consequences of our sins it must conceal so the first number one rationalization he rationalized number two number two he compounded his sin by another sin do you remember the story how that he tried to cover his sin with bashiva what he had done by committing another sin and another sin and another sin he just kept trying to cover his tracks and what david is going to learn is what all of us learn is that all lies take fertility pills all lies all lies bear multiple children they don't add they're like rabbits they don't add they multiply and that's what sin does to cover one sin you compound the problem by having to and another and another and another let's move on number three the third covering that david used was this this transfer of the guilt and burden the burden of responsibility to another he made it appear you may want to use the word appearance or the word transfer he made it appear as though uriah had relationship with bashiva and that this son that was to be born because she was pregnant would be uriah's son he tried to make it appear as though it'd be your uriah's son and then later as you know that uriah would not he wouldn't he wouldn't go to his wife's house he wouldn't go to his own house to be with his wife he stayed with david and in fact let me read a verse of scripture with you chapter 11 look at verse number 11 this just boggles my mind or verse number nine but uriah slept at the door of the king's house uriah said no i'm not going to i'm a soldier and i'm devoted to my test i'm devoted to my king why should i go and lie with my wife when i have a duty to perform uriah slept at the door the king's house with all the servants of the lord and went not down to his house and when they had told david saying uriah went not down to the house david said in uriah came as thou not from thy journey from whence didst thou not go down to thine house i can't believe this don't you want to be with your wife notice verse 11 and uriah said unto david the ark and israel what does that mean uriah knew that the ark was a representation of the presence of god uriah is saying to david it is god in his glory that's most important david and secondly israel what was uriah doing he was putting god first and others second and himself last uriah a drunk man and then david you know david uh david got him drunk and even after he got him drunk in verse 13 he still wouldn't go down he still wouldn't do what david wanted to do which which which simply tells us that uriah as a drunk man had more spirituality than david as a sober man that's what the insanity of sin will do to all of us the great deceitfulness of sin david as a sober man wasn't thinking rational oh the consequences of sin here is a man one of his soldiers he said the ark and israel god and others that's where my heart is and so uriah would not comply going back to number one rationalization by the way when you start the slippery slope of rationalization it just continues on david not only rationalized but by by not going to battle and rationalized about taking basheva into his arms in that affair but he also even rationalized to his comrade joab look in verse number 25 how sad and i mentioned this because i'm talking about the insanity of the cold hardiness of sin where it can lead you if you don't nip in the butt if you don't come clean with god this is the end of sin look what happens in verse 25 how david even rationalized then david said into the messengers after uriah had been killed you see david made it appear as though uriah had gone to battle and had been killed in battle but remember what happened he put him out on the front lines joab put him on the front lines and then had the troops all withdraw they all withdrew and left uriah out there alone to be slain and so david wanted to appear as though uriah died in battle but notice david's rationalization look at this look you talk about a sick mind look at this in verse 25 thus shalt thou say unto joab let not this thing displease thee for the sword devoured one as well as another and maketh thy battle more strong against the city and overthrow it and encourage it thou him and what what does he say he's simply saying this look joab you win some you lose some some live some die uriah died we lost him too bad so sad the tragedy is david got over it no remorse you see the heart can get so hardened we can cover sin so long that it so hardens our soul that we can do things that months and years ago you would say i can't imagine ever feeling not having feelings not having some sense or ever ending up in in a state of mind like that i'm saying ladies i'm saying all this to say this have a great respect for the deep deceitfulness of sin and where it can lead oh number four number four let's go back to our sheet psalm 32 verse 3 what is it saying psalm 32 verse 3 said david said when i kept silent my bones waxed cold within me you know what david used as his fourth covering he covered and and here you see the start up with rationalization rationalization was just a thin sheet but notice the sheets are getting what thicker heavier he's getting the big quilts now he's going to use silence and i said a moment ago silence is not what golden when it comes to concealing the truth now that's a nice thing silence silence is golden yes in some cases but not in this case and david thought well if i just ignore it it'll go away if i just deny it you see there are the laws of the statues of limitation where after a period of time that crime gets wiped off the books but you have to remember before god god is the great i am simply meaning god lives in the eternal now and our sin is as fresh before the eyes of god as the moment it was committed even though it's been many many years unconfessed and uncovered or covered and unconfessed god still sees it just as this it happened before his eyes god is not locked into time as we are and though it can be wiped off and though your mind you can put it in that category the statutes of limitations it's it's just wiped off the books and just ignore it deny it use the covering of silence number five in psalm 51 you get the sense that david was continuing on with the offering of sacrifices and bullock and ram because when he finally confessed he he said to to god you took no pleasure in these things i doubt if david ever missed one church service he would probably was in worship every single sabbath he sang psalms in fact he sang songs probably that he wrote he was there with other other fellow israelites other believers worshiping jehovah because david was well he was using this appearance thing he was covering making it appear as though nothing was wrong he continued on in his religious activity spiritual activity on and on doing the spiritual thing i i just wondered brother vaughn i wonder how much of this spiritual zeal and religious activity going on in our churches is nothing more in some cases some cases it's real i'm sure but i wonder in our own church the church that i pastor and i have people that are just burning the candles at both ends i just wonder sometimes is it not a cover-up for the loss of joy because they're covering their sin is their uncovered sin in their life that they're just driven by guilt they're just driven to have to stay on the treadmill i have to stay active somehow if i can just be zealous somehow if i can just keep working for the lord it will like salve soon and calm and quiet my conscience no sisters only the blood of jesus can do that only the blood of christ what can wash away my sin nothing absolutely nothing but the blood of jesus no amount of activity no amount of singing no amount of praising no amount of anything but jesus and jesus alone oh my david is just doing the spiritual thing offering the sacrifices singing and praising god in the assembly in the temple or in the in the assembly of believers just doing the appearance thing having a form of godliness but no spiritual reality no power in his life but how am i doing on time okay next underneath religious activity his kingdom duties his responsibilities just going through the motions continue to work the long hours running to and fro still going about his battles doing his work that his kingdom work he went right back into battle and he began to defeat enemies as though nothing had happened and again don't ever be deceived in seeing the blessings of god as approval on covering your sin that can happen so well look god's blessing my life look i've even led somebody to christ look i've had this blessing and that blessing sometimes whatever god's and whatever the purposes of god are but we know this to be a truth that the goodness of god is to bring us to what repentance in the midst of covered sin you still find you know something might you know that dark secret you know that's that in your it gnaws at you you've never revealed that you've never come clean with god and those who has affected in your life you've never told your husband you never told your parents you never told your children you never told anybody this dark secret and yet i've been at least casually blessed i've been somewhat blessed so evidently it's not maybe a big issue with god and david just continued on conquering enemies doing kingdom work continued on and by the way in his kingdom was a man named joab i mean it was his right hand man and here is always a a danger joab did not confront david when david had sinned he didn't confront him he let it slide in fact he obeyed and he just went right in with the whole program when david wanted to kill usiah or uriah he just followed right into the program it is tempting to find people who will confer who will sympathize with your sin to go along with you you know what it was in joab's life you know why joab was silent i'll tell you why i think he was silent i can't prove this but this is what i think you see back a couple years ago joab slew abner who was one of saul's right-hand men he slew him he shouldn't have done that there was another way to take care of the situation but joab slew abner and david never confronted him now it's david's turn and joab is silent don't look for people who are going to let you off the hook the bible says the wounds of a friend the wounds faithful are the wounds of a friend seek the counsel and help of people who will confront you with your sin not let you get off the hook and go on destroying your relationship with the lord and so he went right on with his kingdom duties joab alongside and finally number six and this is the most probably painful of all the coverings that he used is when he finally came to the end of himself when he threw this last cover on his sin notice what happens in chapter 12 when nathan confronted him about the man who took this poor man this rich man took this poor man's little ulam who had many many lambs to dress and to eat but he took this poor man's ulam slew it and ate it for his family and david said where is that man that man shall die for robbing that poor man of his only you and of course nathan said david david you have more outrage you have more anger and outrage over a lamb that has no soul than you had of uriah who is created in the image of god you have more outrage and righteous indignation you have david more compassion for a lamb than you had for the living soul of uriah ladies and gentlemen i'm no no gentlemen here ladies that's the insanity of sin that's where sin will take you that's where sin will take me and then nathan said these words oh praise the lord for the wounds of a friend notice verse number seven because verse six he had no pity david said he's going to restore him fourfold and number verse number seven nathan said to david thou art who thou art the man and notice david's response thus saith the lord god of israel i anointed the king over israel and delivered thee out of the hand of saul and i give you masters oh david realized he had been found and david realized that he had sinned he said i've sinned so righteous indignation righteous indignation look one of the real keys when you find yourself hating the pride in somebody else's life mark it down in some cases it's because there's pride in your own life sometimes we hate the very thing we find in somebody else's life and the and the and the principle is this if you are pointing your finger at the splinter in your sister's eye or your husband's eye or your you're pointing the finger in the splinter that's in their eye and yet in your eye is what a bulging two before that's simply a covering you're putting over your own sin when you're critical listen there is a place for righteous indignation there's a place for outrage there's a place for holy anger against sin but you just make sure that you're not covering that same sin in your own life let's move on i'm going to move very quickly now as we conclude this lesson on now the consequences of sin you say well brother if i come clean with god over something in my past that i know that i've done i'll be ruined no you'll be revived you won't be ruined you see it's going to be so costly so costly as we go through these 12 consequences you make the call you make the decision how costly it's going to be i've come to the conclusion it's far more costly to conceal than just get it out in the open deal with it because remember what proverbs what what's all what king solomon said in proverbs 28 he that covereth his sin shall what not prosper but he that will confess and forsake it shall find what mercy mercy drops will fall no not just the mercy drops he'll send the showers showers upon us of his blessing number one you can take your bible and take these passages i'll just give them to you one after another like run right down to number one one of the consequences david experienced was he was drained of all physical strength drained of physical strength he was worn to a frazzle sometimes we find ourselves just constantly fatigued constantly at a point where we just i'm just wore out emotionally and physically sometimes it's due to the fact that we're not enjoying the lord and having the joy the lord is our strength and having that spiritual vigor and vitality because of covered sin number two he was plagued by guilty conscience just plagued by guilt number three david experienced no rest he was restless the pressure of the weight and guilt and you remember how long it lasted her pregnancy went nine months we know nine months and then perhaps maybe even months after that we know somewhere between nine months to a year david lingered long without coming clean with god and during those months nine months ten months eleven months a year however long it was david was under that pressure that weight of guilt and number four he emotionally battled depression daily daily depression i'm convinced of this brother vaughn and i know not in every case but so much of this is chronic depression we have so much of these chronic emotional mental problems that that people are suffering from today i wonder how much of it is just simply people have covered their sin have just not come clean with god these prayer advances are meetings like this nature have a real uh have a real tender point and spot in my heart i think of my own mother my mom suffered six nervous breakdowns in my older sister in our childhood six times between one and twelve before i was 12 years of age my mom had been six times in a mentalist nearly every other year madison state hospital just north of the ohio river i remember making those trips down there she'd be there sometimes three and four months run her through all of the all the shock this was back in the shock treatment back in the late 50s early 60s and didn't have the advanced knowledge that they have they're not really know how much advanced they are than what they were then but pouring through all the drugs and doing all the different treatments putting her in these padded rooms hoping they could break her will she'd bang her head against the wall and scream and and and just see my mother my and mom she's she's gone now but but to think of all of those all those years all those years and mom mom had a relationship outside of her marriage mom mom struggled with uh tremendous jealousy and she had uh she had uh just some real issues in her heart when she was in her right mind in those early years and mom tried she tried to get the baptism of the spirit she raised us in a pentecostal church she tried to speak in tongues she tried healing she tried it all and she kept coming to a dead end i just think i think harold what if what if things could change what if i had the power to change time and circumstances and there had been a woman somewhere in shelbyville indiana there had been a prayer advance and somebody would invite it edith and say edith i want you to go with me and and you're going to hear teaching and preaching that's going to deal with heart issues not just how to get more of this aesthetics these spiritual gifts and how to how to have some kind of some kind of out-of-body experience with god and speak of some gibberish but deal honestly with god i just wonder if mom could have come clean with that adulterous relationship if mom could have really come to the cross and got freed of that jealousy and and gotten freed of that that paranoia that that sense that everybody was against her and that that pride and she could have dealt just honestly with her sin i wonder how much different life would have been i wonder how fewer i wonder if if there would never even been a madison state hospital in her life i don't know i don't know but i know when mom died she died uh diagnosed to her old nearly her whole life schizophrenic she would hear voices see visions i don't know how many times mom would tell me there's jesus out there walking on the road she said he spoke to me on the television last night one time in church mom would come to church and one time while i was preaching mom stood up right in the middle of my sermon and she said edwin you preach long enough and then she sat right back down another time mom she uh she got to get toward the end of the service and she said lord have mercy she said that sounds just like oil robbers and i've i learned just to keep right on preaching just don't even look up bless their soul but i just wonder what would have been different what would have been different and i say that you know i'm gotten off the beaten trail here but ladies to whom much is given much is required you have been given much and what you're going to hear this weekend some of you have been here before and you've heard truth apply it do something with it think of the millions of women who need to hear what you have heard in your lifetime that will never have the privilege of hearing it and some of them are going to die and go to hell he suffered number five the feelings of loneliness number six he lost the joy of his salvation number seven he lost all desire to witness he had no word for it his witnesses his word to the center he said lord if you change my heart i'll i'll convert sinners to your way because he'd lost any desire for that number eight he lost his assurance of sins being forgiven and the guilt being removed he had no sense that he was even saved because you see in a sense a grieved spirit covering sin grieves the spirit and a withdrawal you remember he said in psalm 1 psalm 51 12 and 13 he said look cast me not away of your sight don't cast me out of your sight we said well david is saved god's not going to cast him out of his sight but you see when you're covering sin and you're away from the lord you get a sense that god has forsaken you you don't sense his presence that realized intimate personal presence of god is absent from your life and you feel like a lost person that's what when you cover your sin one of the first things that happens you lose the assurance of salvation there was i mean david and he said lord take not thy holy spirit from me the spirit had withdrawn the spirit had not left but the spirit had withdrawn his his voice was silent because david's voice was silent about his sin the spirit's voice was silent in his heart and if you've ever had a relationship with holy spirit and you've heard his voice you will never be happy with another voice you will you you will you will you will do many things you will be desperate to do whatever it takes to get his voice back into your heart you walk through periods of darkness where you don't have a sense of his presence you could get to the point to where you just only want to live god if this is all there is i don't want to go on i must have a sense we're not talking about just feelings but ladies and ladies there is a sense when you walk with the lord there is a sense a feeling of his presence and it's joyful it's wonderful there is an experience with god and david had lost that experience number nine he lost his song of praise it was no longer in his lips it was silent number 10 he lost his hunger and his heart for god number 11 he was plagued by negative attitude created me a clean heart oh god and renew a right what spirit he had a terrible attitude his attitude he needed an attitude adjustment constantly his attitude was was always negative he said i need a right spirit lord renew that to me and number 12 the one i just mentioned to you he lost the realized personalized intimate presence of god the voice of god was silent but healing begins where revealing begins and where revealing begins revival begins and he's on the road of recovery because he says i have sinned i have sinned i have sinned now ladies there is a place for sorry david did not say i'm sorry there is a place for that but in this case the only thing that would do he had to say i've sinned because jesus didn't die for sorry jesus died for sin and when we say i have sinned god says now i can do something with that i paid for that but as long as we skirt around with the sorry stuff that didn't come out right the sorry stuff as long as we skirt around with just sorry and then now look there's there's a place for that there are times you know that that's sufficient i was wrong i'm sorry but david said i have sinned he came clean with god he wouldn't like a little boy who got caught up in a revival meeting and he got so enthralled in this meeting he wanted to get everything right with the lord and so he went to his neighbor and he knocked on the door of his neighbor and he said here farmer joe and he had handed him a rope the farmer took the rope and he said well thank you son he said what's this he said i stole it from you coming back to return it the farmer took the rope and he said my never had a little boy do that he patted him on the head he said god bless you son and he went on his way the little boy walked off the porch and got back toward his house and he said man i sure am glad he didn't see the cow you see god doesn't want the rope he wants the whole thing the rope and the cow like the fellow you know he's paying his taxes getting close to tax time here you know everybody check out the irs 854 dollars and 72 cents wrote out and he said haven't been able to sleep one night i know i'm stealing from you send it off p.s the bottom he said if i can't sleep tomorrow night i'll send the rest no gotta send it on get it all out i have sinned i've sinned and honest here it is the cure number three number three here's the cure an honest confession of our true condition just let the cat out of it just let it out get it out get it before god and those who've been affected by your sin it may be that god is the only one who's been affected but in many cases other people have been affected get it out now in dealing with an issue like this there needs to be wisdom and it needs to be counsel and we will help you brother harold debbie different ones people your pastor they will help you to walk through this process but today this is not about the process we're coming to the point of the crisis the brokenness we're coming to the realization i have a problem i have sinned and i need to deal with this matter openly and honestly i need help help me to walk through the process it begins by an open confession of our condition and in psalm 32 in whose in whose spirit there is no god there's no more deceit there's no more hiding i'm tired of hiding honesty is not the best policy with god honesty is the one and what only policy with god the honest no more guile no more hiding no more deceit i acknowledge my sin unto thee and my iniquities have i not hid i confess my transgression number two when sin takes us down to the point of brokenness and openness and confession before god don't stay there jesus didn't just die on the cross he wasn't just buried he what he arose from the dead to bring new life into our dead souls to wash away our sins to cleanse us to revive us number two an embracing of god's love god loves us he accepts us and he has forgiven us wash me cleanse me purge me create in me restore unto me the joy of salvation today you're only spiritually sick as the secrets that you concealed um i carried uh i carried a dark dark secret in my life for six years started the ministry in 1972 and uh in 1976 i was in a meeting a pastor's meeting in birmingham alabama god spoke to my heart and i was in this meeting and and uh ministry had had some wear and tear on my soul and and i began to uh feel some very strong conviction something i not felt for a long long time i shrugged it off and i looked around and it was a sort of lord meeting in birmingham alabama and i there were several pastors fellow pastors i pastored that time in alabama and they were scattered all through the meeting and and the and this is as the preacher preaching he had a head and dr john rice came to the platform and extended an invitation i said to myself there's no way i'm going down as a pastor so i'm not going down there i'm not going to get on my knees in front of all these preachers i can't do it and so i walked out of the meeting that night very uh very lonely very empty very lost 1977 in oxford tennessee the life action ministry was holding a meeting i was invited to the meeting by a fellow friend vernon brewer preached a preached a message that night on on the sheep that had gone astray he said and and some there may be some of this meeting you've gone so far away from god he said you may not even know if you're even saved you can't even hear his you've not heard his voice in years and i said boy vernon that's me i can't remember the last time i heard god's voice in my heart i can't remember the last time i really sensed real communion with the father an invitation was extended i sat on the second row there was a pastor in a church in nashville right in front of me a pastor from union city tennessee right here another friend and the pastor of the church in oxford i stood there i gripped that pew just like a sinner when i was a young man gripping a pew now i'm a pastor in the ministry now for about nine years i'm not going forward i was i was dying inside i was dead i was hurting i said no 1978 lynchburg virginia i thought what i need is a super conference i went to a super conference i need to get energized i need to get my life i just i need something i don't know what it is i went to the meeting the last night of the meeting b.r lakin preached on the holy spirit god filled that place i was up in the balcony the holy spirit got a hold of my heart i came under such conviction ed just let it tell somebody the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth tell somebody i said i can't i can't i had a group of men that came with me from our church all down here what are they going to think if i walk down and get on my knees at that altar what are they going to think and so that night in lynchburg i left the hotel room i went on the streets and i walked the streets of lynchburg till two o'clock in the morning saying where is the lord god of elijah god where are you where are you where are you years went by i would preach i did my religious duty my spiritual duty stayed active as i could be in fellowship meetings and doing the pastoral thing at church and being a husband and being a father of children i would go and study my bible and try to get sermons god's voice was just silent silent i could remember i remember a man who was managing an eckerd drug store came forward he's been visiting our church he moved in from chattanooga came forward his name was woody came to the altar one sunday night got up off the altar wiped his eyes he said brother one he said god changed my heart he said god met me tonight he said thank you i said in my heart woody i wish god would meet me i wish somebody could bring me to christ i wish somebody could help me i was somehow i could feel that again 1983 six years had passed i kept this secret and what is my secret the secret is as a pastor uh i don't really know that i'm saved and i don't know who i can tell i can't just tell somebody that i'm lost that's what pride said pride said it's in your best interest never to tell a soul never to tell it's in your best interest it'll benefit you your reputation it's always beneficial to keep it covered trust me ed trust me i know you're feeling this misery like david felt the guilt the joylessness the assurance the intimate relationship with jesus but i'm telling you over time it'll go over time it'll change six years have passed and nothing had changed in 1983 at the white house conference where brother brother harold had been in our church in in shelby and uh not shelbyville but in huntsville alabama i'll tell you a little story tomorrow but he preached a message it was halloween halloween season and harold was at our church and he preached a sermon on false faces spoke to my heart but i didn't respond he invited me to a meeting that spring it's going to be in nashville tennessee said would you come you and your wife i think you'll really be helping blast we went and during these months god was just churning like getting deeper and deeper in my heart so empty so lost so lonely ministry so futile no sense of god so far away so distant i didn't know what to do got in the meeting one night dell phaisenfeld preached a message on the glory of god what a message i don't remember everything he said but i do remember the voice of god piercing right into my heart the dividing of soul and spirit joined in morrow discerning the thoughts and intents of my heart the word of god got to the finer points of my soul i came under such a conviction i thought i was going to pass out it was in the middle of his sermon i didn't think i was going to make it i did my wife looked at me she said honey you've already passed out i guess my face was like was white as a sheet i left the meeting i went into a prayer room got on my knees a dear brother walked in the prayer room with me put his arms around me i was crying he said what's the problem brother i said i don't know i don't know and i did know but i said i don't know i don't know i said but god is speaking in my heart he said now look at he said don't get real upset about this he said i'll tell you what he said i was going through the same thing he said i'll tell you the thing that really helped me i started drinking aloe vera juice he said in fact i sent a whole case to jerry falwell i told him the same thing jerry's one of my friends i told him the same thing you need to get on he said i back i got some cases in the trunk of my car it's like i'm dying and this guy wants me to drink aloe vera juice that would really kill me for sure that would put me have you ever drank aloe vera juice it's like drinking old wash water i mean wash your dishes grease and suds and just drink oh lord have mercy i got up off my knees i said lord this isn't it this isn't it i thought maybe the prayer room would do it maybe your brother could counsel me you see when god wants you to come clean there's not a prayer room there's not an altar there's not a sermon there's not a council there's not a brother there's nobody can help you but jesus nobody and god will shut you up into a corner he'll get you in a corner what do you think maybe i thought i just thought maybe if i'd go to the prayer room i'd get relieved if i could just get i could get relieved somehow just get relieved my wife came in and talked to me and she was crying honey honey honey what's wrong what's wrong wrong is it our marriage no it's not our marriage you know always it's got to be isn't the kid it's not the kids honey it's just me well what's wrong with you honey i thought she's gonna pass out of the world what's wrong with you what's wrong with you now i got a crying woman on my hands i mean first it was aloe vera juice now it's a crying woman even so come quickly lord jesus she said honey can we go back in the meeting i said yeah let's go back in the meeting went back in the meeting sat down service is coming to a conclusion as soon as i sat down the spirit of god oh thank god for blessed conviction how privileged we are as a people to come under the spirit's conviction if you if you are touched by the spirit of god this week don't turn him away you are privileged above all to be a part of the great scheme of whatever god is going to do in your life in this day and time the blessing of conviction hallelujah i didn't think of that i didn't think it so blessed at that moment i was miserable and i sat there and they asked us all to stand and brother al hinson the pastor took the microphone and he said is there anyone tonight who needs to respond he said perhaps there's a preacher in this room and you're not even sure that you're saved i said holy spirit you told me the truth is out praise god the truth got out that night and i walked out of the front god gave me the courage by his divine grace and power i took brother al's hand i said al i don't know whether i'm saved or lost i don't know if i'm headed for heaven or hell i know tonight i need can you help me and it's amazing that when i said those words the bells of heaven begin to ring the honey buckets of heaven begin to pour over my soul i felt the presence of the lord and i've never gotten over it since i don't ever want to get over it i don't ever want to go so that i can seal my sin and lose that fellowship and his precious voice in my heart you say well help me out here were you saved as a young man before you went to bible college and trained and got into the ministry and there you've been yeah i've been preaching 11 years i had gone to bible college and i made a decision for christ i don't know all the theology i'm not gonna i'm not gonna try to explain it was i saved at 16 or was i saved at 32 i know today i'm saved i'm saved and i know jesus christ and he's real i'm telling you ladies he's real and he loves you with such passion and oh today that the lamb of glory would be rewarded for his wounds by our simple confession and saying all the glory to you your blood is so precious oh that it would cleanse me oh that i would no longer conceal anything before you lord jesus i surrender to you how long has it been since you talked with the lord and told him your heart's hidden secrets how long has it been that you knew that he cared so much for you how long has it been since your mind felt at ease and you prayed and your heart knew no burden how long has it been how long has it been since you knew that he cared for you i butchered that song but i want you to know ladies you can know the lord and you don't have to wait how long has it been since your mind felt at ease and your heart knew no burden how long has it been since you told him your heart's hidden secrets i want you to know there's room at the cross for you there's room for me and there's room for you i've wandered far away from god praise his name he called me back home and that's what we're doing in this hour let's bow for prayer let him call you home today you say i've wandered so far away i've concealed and i've