Introduction: The Law of God as Sovereign Rule

Weaver introduces Proverbs 28:4, 9, 13 and explains that all of God's Word is law because He is King. The only alternative to God's law (theonomy) is man's law (autonomy), and rejecting God's law is a rejection of God Himself.

And I want you to open your Bibles today to Proverbs 28. Proverbs 28. The title of the message is "Practical Truths from the Law of God." Practical Truths from the Law of God. So I'm going to just read three verses. And I hope that you're going to see the connection as well as the practicality of these verses as I progress. So notice Proverbs 28, verse 4. The Bible says,

Now if you'll skip down to verse 9. "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination." Now verse 13.

I've preached many times on the applications and the practicality of the law of God to our lives. In fact, you will probably remember not too long ago, I just finished 23 messages on the promises of the law. And then, of course, there were multiple other messages where I've dealt with the law of God in several instances. But while reading through the book of Proverbs recently, these verses just literally popped out before my eyes. And while I've used these verses before in different sermons, I've never placed them in one sermon, and I've never really showed the connection between these verses as well. So before I show you the practicality and the applicability of these three verses to our lives, I want to reiterate one specific truth, and that is, in reality, all of God's word is law. We talk about the law word of God, and when we talk about the law word of God, we're not just simply referring to the Ten Commandments, although the Ten Commandments are usually referred to just simply as the Decalogue or the moral law.

But you must remember that the Bible says where the word of a king is, there is power and there is law. And the truth of the matter is this. When God speaks, it is law, because He is God, He is King, and He is sovereign, and His Word, then, issues forth demands and commands upon our lives. A king rules by his law, and God is certainly no different from any other king in that sense of the word, because His law is an expression of His will, and that is His declaration for His creatures and that is how He rules. The Bible says in Isaiah 33 and verse 22,

So God then has the offices of king, of lawgiver, and of judge. When you get to the book of James chapter 4 in verse 12, the Bible says that there is one lawgiver, who is able to save and destroy.

And then he asked this question, "Who art thou that judgest another?" So he says, when we begin judging, we are officially taking the place of God. But he said, no, God is indeed the only lawgiver. So when it comes to God's law, there should be no ambivalence. There should be no hesitation. Because it is absolutely impossible to claim God as sovereign and to claim man as sovereign at the same time. There can only be one sovereign. Sovereignty excludes anything and everything else as well. And our Lord makes this exceedingly clear in Luke chapter 11 and verse 23, when he said, "He that is not with me is against me and he that gathers not scattereth." So our Lord makes it very, very plain.

Now, when you stop and think about the law of God, really and truly, there's only one alternative to the law of God. And when I talk about the law of God, let me just mention the word theonomy, and I will explain it. The word theos, of course, is a Greek word for God. Nomos is a Greek word for law. So theonomy just simply means God's law. The only alternative to that is the word which you and I use so many times, autonomy. Auto is the Greek word for self. And nomos is the Greek word for law. So basically what you have, you either have God's law or you have self-law or man's law. So God's law recognizes God as sovereign and man's law recognizes man as sovereign. So it's actually impossible to live without law. So you're going to submit to law. It will either be God's law or man's law, but you're going to submit to law one way or the other. Now, what we don't understand is this, that when we reject or refuse or repudiate God's law, the only alternative is man's law.

Forsaking or Fighting (Proverbs 28:4)

Those who forsake God's law end up praising the wicked, while those who keep the law contend with the wicked. Forsaking includes neglect and abandonment; keeping means guarding and observing. Contending involves rebuking, reproving, and living obediently, which condemns disobedience.

And I will explain that. So look in verse 4, God says, "They that forsake the law, praise the wicked. But such as keep the law, contend with them." So when it comes to God's law, we basically only have two options. We either forsake it or we fight for it. And when you are not fighting for God and His law, in reality, you are forsaking God and His law. Now, if you look closely at the word forsake, "they that forsake the law praise the wicked." The word forsake in the Hebrew means to forsake, to leave, to leave behind, to leave alone, to abandon, to neglect, to apostatize, and to desert. So when you forsake God's law, you have apostatized, you have deserted, you have abandoned, you've turned your back upon that law. Now, ignoring God's law, or pretending that it is not real, is the same as forsaking, because it is neglect.

And it is a form of abandonment as well. Now, when one forsakes God's law, then he is living in contempt of it and disobedience to it. So he lives contrary to God, contrary to God's demands and commands, and he has no regard for God or His law whatsoever. Now, I want you to note, if you would, one of the consequences of forsaking God's law. He says, "They that forsake the law praise the wicked." Isn't that interesting? The forsaking of God's law is praise of the wicked. You've heard the old adage that actions speak louder than words. And you heard it said also, "I can't hear what you're saying for the way that you're acting," which is another way of expressing the same exact truth. So actions of disobedience and contempt, in reality, when you're acting in disobedience and contempt of God's law, the ultimate result is that you end up praising the wicked. That is, you're celebrating, you're glorifying not only the wicked, but wickedness as well. In other words, by your actions, you're commending those who are transgressing God's law as being commendable, honorable, and praiseworthy, when in reality, they are despicable and deplorable. Moreover, when you forsake God's law, you're not only praising the wicked, but in one sense of the word, you're actually saying that those who are sinning against God have the right to sin against God. And they have a right to transgress. And therefore, because obviously you've forsaken the law of God and you would be ultimately doing the same thing. Now look at verse four, "They that forsake the law, praise the wicked."

Now the word wicked here refers to the ungodly. It refers to the wicked, the guilty and the criminal and those that are hostile to God and man. Now, when he says in verse 4, "They that forsake the law praise the wicked," he's not just praising the wicked, he's ultimately justifying the wicked. Let me show you. Look in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 17 and verse 15. Proverbs 17 and verse 15. Here the scripture says,

Now to justify is to declare righteous. To condemn is to declare wicked. So God says if you justify the wicked, that would either be by words or deeds, you are an abomination to God. If you condemn the righteous, either by words or deeds, that is an abomination to God. So God says, very plainly, if we forsake the law, then we end up praising the wicked, which is an abomination in His sight.

Now, if you look at verse 4 again, there is an alternative to forsaking. He says, "They that forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law, contend with them." In other words, the alternative to forsaking is to fight. Now, let's consider the word keep. Look at it. "But such as keep the law, contend with them." The word keep is from the Hebrew word shamar, which means to keep, to guard, protect, to act as a watchman, to keep the charge, to observe, to regard and retain and to treasure up in memory. So when it comes to keeping God's law, you're guarding it. You're protecting it. You yourself are keeping it. You are observing it. You are retaining it. You're not forsaking it. You're not throwing it away. And to make sure you are treasuring it up in your memory. So, verse four again. "But such as keep the law, contend with them." So we must understand the word contend as well. The Hebrew word actually means to stir oneself up. It means to excite oneself.

You stir yourself up, you excite yourself up, listen carefully, to engage in war. In other words, it means to fight. You remember even in boxing you have a contender, and that's someone who's going to fight against the champ. So obviously, we have to hear that we can fight.

Now, when you stop and think about this, "but such as keep the law, contend with them," that is contend with the wicked, how do we contend with the wicked? Well, we may contend with them by rebuking them, reproving them, admonishing them, exhorting them, and proclaiming the truth of God and defending the throne rights of God. In keeping the law and contending with the wicked, we are actually upholding His throne and His rights. We're upholding His dominion and His kingdom. We're saying that He is sovereign, and we're confessing that He is the Creator, and He has absolute control, and He has the absolute right to tell all of His creatures exactly how they should live, and what they should do, and what they should not do. So, in one sense of the word, that is indeed contending or fighting against the wicked. There's another thought here.

And this point, I believe, is most often overlooked, and at the same time, it is exceedingly important. Look at the verse again, verse 4. "They that forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law contend with them." So here's my question. Has it ever dawned upon you that one way that we may fight against the wicked and contend with them is by our own obedience to God. While the lawless forsake the law of God and they end up praising the wicked, we fight against them, yea, we contend and condemn them by our obedience to God and His law. So let me say this another way. Our obedience exposes their disobedience. Our righteousness exposes their wickedness. Our refusal to turn from God and His law is an act of contention, that is, it's an act of fighting, and it is also an act of condemnation against the wicked. Now, let me tell you where the fight is primarily. The truth is, the fight primarily is in our minds. You remember Elijah.

He had a great contest with the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings chapter 18. He slew 400 prophets of Baal. And after that battle was over and Jezebel heard what he had done to her prophets, she said, "God do so to me and more also tomorrow if your head is not like one of theirs." In other words, I'm going to cut your head off just like you cut their heads off. And Elijah ran. And you know, the story set under the juniper tree, the angel fed him and he told him to rise and eat because he had to go 40 days and 40 nights in the strength of that meat. And when Elijah finally got to a mountain, God came and God asked him, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" What are you doing here? Listen to what he said in 1 Kings chapter 19 and verse 14. When God asked him, "What are you doing here?" He said,

Now I want you to know what he was saying and what he was thinking. I'm the only one. Everybody else is dead. Everybody else is apostatized. I'm here by myself. I'm the only one left, and they're trying to kill me. And God answered him in 1 Kings 19 and verse 18, and he said this, "Yet I have left me 7,000 in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him."

So Elijah thought that he himself was alone. And God says, no, you're not alone. They're 7,000. They've not bowed the knee to Baal. They've not kissed the lips of Baal. So Elijah was wrong. He believed that he was alone and that he was the only one left standing for God. So the point is clear in this sense of the word. Most of our fighting is going to be within our own minds. Listen carefully. Endeavoring to keep them clean and clear from what the Bible calls vain thoughts. What are vain thoughts? A vain thought is something that is useless, worthless, sinful, fleshly, carnal, unbiblical. The Bible says in Romans 7 and verse 14, the apostle Paul said it like this, "For we know that the law is spiritual. But I am carnal, sold under sin." So on the one hand, you have the spirituality of God's law.

On the other hand, you have the carnality and the fleshliness of man. And of course, Isaiah 58 tells us that man by nature does not think the thoughts of God. So that means our fleshly, carnal thoughts are usually vain thoughts. They are wrong. They are wicked. And so we have to learn to fight against those thoughts. David said it like this in Psalm 119 and verse 113. He said, "I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love." Now, when you stop and think about vain thoughts, every one of us who have prayed, each one who has prayed at one time or another had some kind of carnal fleshly, filthy, wicked thought just hit his mind and you think, where did that come from? How did that get in my mind?

Sometimes you may be reading scripture. Sometimes you may be driving down the road, maybe even singing a hymn and all of a sudden this stupid thought hits your mind. Where did it come from? And the answer is it came from your flesh because your flesh hates God. Now listen to me. I don't care what the vain thought consists of. It could be a thought of fornication. It could be a thought of adultery. That thought then would have to immediately be rejected, and you would have to say to yourself, "Lord, I refuse that. Thou hast said thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou hast said thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife nor anything that belongs to your neighbor." In other words, you're rejecting the vain thought. I don't care if it deals with theft. I don't care if it deals with greed. I don't care if it deals with pride, arrogance.

You know the story when we do that which is right, and we then think that we've done that which is right, and we become so proud that we've done that which is right, and we think, wow, I'm on top of the mountain. I'm on the hill. Really? Then you have to stop and think, you know, everything that you have, God gave you. He gave you faith. He gave you repentance. He gave you life. He gave you health. He gave you his gifts. Everything that you have, everything you were able to do, you did only by the grace and mercy of God.

So there goes your pride. You have to refuse that vain thought and say, "Lord, no. I am what I am only by the grace of God." So we have to learn to say, "I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love." So when we keep God's law, we are fighting against the wicked. We're contending with them. We contend not only in our minds, but we also contend in our actions and our bodies.

So when we think right, as I pointed out before, we end up acting right and doing that which is right. In other words, our actions or demonstrations of our thoughts is what it amounts to. And just like God told Elijah, "I've got 7,000 have never bowed the knee to Baal. I've got 7,000 never kissed him." And so once you understand this, here are people who were condemning the Baal worshipers by their refusal to bow to Baal and kiss Baal.

So likewise, we have to say we're going to fight against the wicked. How? Not only by reproving and rebuking and exhorting and admonishing and preaching, but by living godly lives in obedience to the Word of God. And our very obedience condemns their disobedience. We have to learn to say with Job, in Job 13 and verse 15, Job said,

In other words, I'm going to do what's right. Even if it costs me my life, I'm going to do what's right and I'm going to trust him regardless. And so this is exactly what he's teaching us in Proverbs 28 in verse 4. "They that forsake the law praise the wicked," but he says those that keep the law contend they fight with them and they do battle and rage war against them. So if you forsake the law, you praise the wicked. If you keep the law, you praise God. Now, look in verse 9, because this passage is very closely connected. I'm going to say on this one, allegiance or abomination.

The Fight in the Mind

The primary battle is in our minds against vain thoughts. Using Psalm 119:113 and Romans 7:14, Weaver explains that we must reject fleshly thoughts by loving God's law. Our obedience exposes wickedness, as seen in Elijah's story and the 7,000 who did not bow to Baal.

He had a great contest with the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings chapter 18. He slew 400 prophets of Baal. And after that battle was over and Jezebel heard what he had done to her prophets, she said, "God do so to me and more also tomorrow if your head is not like one of theirs." In other words, I'm going to cut your head off just like you cut their heads off. And Elijah ran. And you know, the story set under the juniper tree, the angel fed him and he told him to rise and eat because he had to go 40 days and 40 nights in the strength of that meat. And when Elijah finally got to a mountain, God came and God asked him, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" What are you doing here? Listen to what he said in 1 Kings chapter 19 and verse 14. When God asked him, "What are you doing here?" He said,

Now I want you to know what he was saying and what he was thinking. I'm the only one. Everybody else is dead. Everybody else is apostatized. I'm here by myself. I'm the only one left, and they're trying to kill me. And God answered him in 1 Kings 19 and verse 18, and he said this, "Yet I have left me 7,000 in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him."

So Elijah thought that he himself was alone. And God says, no, you're not alone. They're 7,000. They've not bowed the knee to Baal. They've not kissed the lips of Baal. So Elijah was wrong. He believed that he was alone and that he was the only one left standing for God. So the point is clear in this sense of the word. Most of our fighting is going to be within our own minds. Listen carefully. Endeavoring to keep them clean and clear from what the Bible calls vain thoughts. What are vain thoughts? A vain thought is something that is useless, worthless, sinful, fleshly, carnal, unbiblical. The Bible says in Romans 7 and verse 14, the apostle Paul said it like this, "For we know that the law is spiritual. But I am carnal, sold under sin." So on the one hand, you have the spirituality of God's law.

On the other hand, you have the carnality and the fleshliness of man. And of course, Isaiah 58 tells us that man by nature does not think the thoughts of God. So that means our fleshly, carnal thoughts are usually vain thoughts. They are wrong. They are wicked. And so we have to learn to fight against those thoughts. David said it like this in Psalm 119 and verse 113. He said, "I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love." Now, when you stop and think about vain thoughts, every one of us who have prayed, each one who has prayed at one time or another had some kind of carnal fleshly, filthy, wicked thought just hit his mind and you think, where did that come from? How did that get in my mind?

Sometimes you may be reading scripture. Sometimes you may be driving down the road, maybe even singing a hymn and all of a sudden this stupid thought hits your mind. Where did it come from? And the answer is it came from your flesh because your flesh hates God. Now listen to me. I don't care what the vain thought consists of. It could be a thought of fornication. It could be a thought of adultery. That thought then would have to immediately be rejected, and you would have to say to yourself, "Lord, I refuse that. Thou hast said thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou hast said thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife nor anything that belongs to your neighbor." In other words, you're rejecting the vain thought. I don't care if it deals with theft. I don't care if it deals with greed. I don't care if it deals with pride, arrogance.

You know the story when we do that which is right, and we then think that we've done that which is right, and we become so proud that we've done that which is right, and we think, wow, I'm on top of the mountain. I'm on the hill. Really? Then you have to stop and think, you know, everything that you have, God gave you. He gave you faith. He gave you repentance. He gave you life. He gave you health. He gave you his gifts. Everything that you have, everything you were able to do, you did only by the grace and mercy of God.

So there goes your pride. You have to refuse that vain thought and say, "Lord, no. I am what I am only by the grace of God." So we have to learn to say, "I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love." So when we keep God's law, we are fighting against the wicked. We're contending with them. We contend not only in our minds, but we also contend in our actions and our bodies.

So when we think right, as I pointed out before, we end up acting right and doing that which is right. In other words, our actions or demonstrations of our thoughts is what it amounts to. And just like God told Elijah, "I've got 7,000 have never bowed the knee to Baal. I've got 7,000 never kissed him." And so once you understand this, here are people who were condemning the Baal worshipers by their refusal to bow to Baal and kiss Baal.

Allegiance or Abomination (Proverbs 28:9)

Turning away from hearing God's law indicates no allegiance to Him, making even one's prayer an abomination. Weaver discusses the Pledge of Allegiance's socialist origins to contrast true allegiance to God. He cites Matthew Henry and Psalm 66:18 to show that regarding iniquity hinders prayer.

We had forsaking or fighting, now allegiance or abomination. Verse 9, "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination." He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination. So the one who turns his ear away from hearing God's law has no allegiance to that law. When you think of the word allegiance, you may be surprised at even how that word is defined by modern-day dictionaries. I want to give you two definitions. I want you to listen carefully. And I want you to be able to pick up on these words. Allegiance. The loyalty of a citizen to his or her government or of a subject to his or her sovereign and loyalty or devotion to some person, group, cause, or the like. So we've talked about loyalty. We've talked about devotion. Here's another one. What is allegiance? The fidelity owed by a subject or citizen to a sovereign or a government. So when you're talking about allegiance now, you're talking about loyalty. You're talking about devotion. You're talking about fidelity. So the forsaking and turning from the law of God indicates that there is no allegiance. There is no loyalty. There is no devotion. There is no fidelity to Him. If you did give allegiance to Him, you would not turn from His law. Now, I want you to understand this concept. Some of you may remember a number of years back, I preached two messages on the Pledge of Allegiance. The Pledge of Allegiance was written by Francis Bellamy, who was a socialist.

He was actually a defrocked Baptist preacher. He got kicked out because even the people back then could not stand his socialism and downright communism. But let me just tell you about allegiance so that you can understand this. And what I'm going to tell you and give you right now is what Bellamy said in his own words, when in August of 1892, he sat down and penned the original words to the pledge.

Now, the phrase, "under God," was only added, it was either 1952 or 1954. "Under God" was not in there originally, okay? But here's what he said. He said, "It began," that is the way he began to think of the pledge, "it began as an intensive communing with salient points of our national history, from the Declaration of Independence onwards, with the makings of the Constitution, with the meaning of the Civil War, with the aspiration of the people."

Now, I stop right there because I need to ask this question just to provoke your thinking. He said, "with the meaning of the Civil War." Here's my question. Whose meaning of the Civil War? You see one's framework or perspective is always influenced by his theology and by his culture.

Now I'm going to give you his perspective because he says that and listen to what he goes on to say. "The true reason for the allegiance to the flag is the Republic for which it stands." You would say, well, I have no problem with that, but let him finish. He says this, "And what does that vast thing, the Republic, mean? It is the concise political word for the nation, the one nation which the Civil War was fought to prove."

Now, let me just stop right there. I'm going to pick up his quote momentarily. But you must remember our founding fathers did not give us a national government. It gave us a federal government. There's a vast difference. And so he is saying now, this war was over for the nation. Now I'm continuing the quote. "To make that one nation idea clear, we must specify that it is indivisible.

as Webster and Lincoln used to repeat in their great speeches, and its future." Now let me just stop right there. And he said, "and it is indivisible." May I remind you that when the Treaty of Paris was written and entered into by George III and the colonists, it was entered into with 13 separate sovereign and independent states. It was always divisible, still is divisible, and we may see that even sooner than we think. But he goes on to say, "and its future," now listen carefully, his question and its future is answered in his next paragraph. He saw that as a result of the Civil War, the United States had taken a giant step toward becoming the socialistic utopian society born of the French Revolution he dreamed of creating in the United States. Bellamy stated that the purpose of the Pledge of Allegiance was to fulfill his and his cousin's lifelong goal of making their socialism fantasy a reality and that the true reason for allegiance to the flag was to indoctrinate American schoolchildren into what our founding fathers would have considered totalitarian socialism. So the man who wrote the pledge was a socialist and that is exactly what he wanted and what he wanted was for you to pledge allegiance to a sovereign state or a sovereign government not to a sovereign God.

So I hope that just that quote has stirred you up to listen to those two messages, which you have not heard in many, many years on the pledge and its history. But I also wanted to stir you up to think about the word allegiance, because as Christians, our allegiance is to be to the Lord Jesus Christ first, foremost, and forever. It is not to a state. It's not to a nation. It's not to a flag. It's not to some humanistic cause. Our allegiance is indicated by our adherence to our Lord's person and His principles, which we hear, heed, obey, and apply. You're ultimately going to obey your Sovereign, whoever that Sovereign is. You're ultimately going to follow the principles of that Sovereign's law.

I hope you can begin to see now how verse 9 says, when you turn your ear away from hearing God's law, and remember God's law is an expression of His will for His creatures. So when you turn your ear away from hearing God's law, He says even your prayer now is an abomination. So it doesn't matter how pious someone tends to be or pretends to be. It does not matter how religious or how devoted they are seemingly. If you are not listening to, if you're not hearing, if you're not heeding, if you're not studying, if you're not applying the law of God to your life, He is saying that even your prayer is an abomination. And the word abomination means it's a stench in God's nostrils. I want you to listen to what Matthew Henry said. He said, "It is by the word and prayer that our communion with God is kept up. God speaks to us by His law and expects we should hear Him and heed Him. We speak to Him by prayer to which we wait for an answer of peace. How reverent and serious should we be whenever we are hearing from and speaking to the Lord of glory. If God's word be not regarded by us, our prayers shall only not be accepted of God, but they shall be an abomination to Him. Not only our sacrifices, which were ceremonial appointments, but even our prayers, which are the moral duties, and which, when they are put up by the upright, are so much His delight. The sinner whose prayers God is thus angry at is one who willfully and obstinately refuses to obey God's commandments, who will not so much as give them the hearing, because his ear declines the law and refuses when God calls, God will therefore justly refuse him when he calls."

So that's exactly what he's saying. "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination." Now, I want you to watch. David gave us another truth. In Psalm 66 and verse 18, I'm sure that you can quote it. David said,

Now think about that. If I regard iniquity in my heart, you know what the word regard means? It means to esteem highly. It means to count as something valuable, something good, something honorable. So David said, if I just merely esteem iniquity, if I think it's right, if I think it's good, if I think it's honorable, God will not hear my prayer. Now, if the mere regarding of iniquity causes God not to hear our prayer, how much more is our prayer an abomination when we actually engage in iniquity and turn our ear away from God and refuse to obey Him?

So that is exactly what he's saying. Now, you're in the book of Proverbs. Look in Proverbs chapter 15 and verse 8. Proverbs 15 and verse 8. God says,

Not just His prayer, but His sacrifice. But, he says,

Now, the upright are the righteous, the obedient, and those that are honoring Him. So, turning your ear away from hearing the law of God indicates that you have forsaken Him.

That you have no allegiance to Him. And therefore you are not righteous, you're not obedient, and you have no desire to honor him or obey his commands. Therefore, even your prayer, he says, is an abomination to him. Now the principle is also clearly stated in 1 Samuel 2 and verse 30. You remember God was speaking to Eli, just the latter half of that verse, he said this,

Those that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. God said, I'm going to honor those that honor me. If you want to dishonor me, wonderful, I'll dishonor you. So whoever turns his ear away from hearing God's law, even his prayer shall be an abomination.

Covering or Confessing (Proverbs 28:13)

Covering sin prevents prosperity, but confessing and forsaking sin brings mercy. The law defines sin (Romans 3:20, 7:7; 1 John 3:4). True confession (homologeo) means agreeing with God about sin's wickedness and leads to forsaking it. Confession without forsaking is mere bragging.

Now you're going to probably ask me, well now pastor, how does this fit in with the law of God? And how is this point in verse 13 connected with the previous points that you've made? Well, let me answer those two questions by asking you some questions. Look, first of all now at verse 13 again. "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." Okay, so here are my questions. How do we know what sin is? How do we know what confession is? How do we know what it means to forsake? How do we understand mercy? You see, all of those questions are answered when you consider the answer is the law of God. Now, let's look at verse 13 again. "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper." How do we know what sin is? How can you confess something as sin if you don't even understand what sin consists of? The Bible says in Romans chapter 3 and verse 20, "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.

Listen,

Without the law, you have no idea what sin actually is. You can't confess sin if you don't have the law of God. What did he say in Romans 7 in verse 7? The apostle Paul said, "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Listen carefully. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law, for I had not known lust, except the law had said thou shalt not covet." Again, Paul said, the only reason I understood what sin was, was because of God's law. And then you have 1 John 3 and verse 4.

There cannot be any clearer statement than this. 1 John 3 and verse 4. "Whoso committed sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law." Whatever transgresses God's law is sin. If there is no transgression of God's law, it is not sin.

Now, when one forsakes God's law, according to verse 4, and turns from God's law, according to verse 9, in essence, he is hiding and covering his sins by denying them and or pretending that they do not exist. Because he does not believe that God will call him into account for his sins. Here is what the one who forsakes and turns from God's law thinks. He thinks that his sins are not actual sins against God's law. No. They are merely shortcomings. They are failures.

They are a lack of perfection. But they're not really, really sin. Do you understand it is impossible to even know what sin is apart from the law of God? And what is absolutely astounding to me is the way men seek to hide and to cover their sin all at the same time, even denying its existence. Well, if you're going to deny its existence, why are you taking the pains to cover it and to hide it?

Now, look at what he said in verse 13. May I tell you what confession is? Confession is a declaration of sin. Confession is a declaration of the violation of the law of God. You're never going to confess if you don't believe in God's law. You're not going to confess unless you believe in God's sovereignty. The first step in repentance is indicated by confession, because in confession, you're acknowledging that God is God. He is the sovereign. You're acknowledging that his law is the rule of our lives. And you're confessing His sovereignty and the superiority of His law. You cannot truly confess your sins without admitting to and recognizing God's sovereignty and the supremacy of His law. I want you to look in 1 John 1 and verse 9. I can quote this verse, but I want you to see it. Look in 1 John 1 and verse 9. I want you to understand this passage because it's going to be important just momentarily. 1 John 1 and verse 9, the scripture says this, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

If we confess our sins, what in the world does confession mean? Even the Roman Catholics have a confession. You go and sit in this little booth and you talk to the priest and you tell him what you've done. That's called confession. But is it real, genuine confession? Let me point something out. Confession is more than the mere mouthing of words. Confession is more than a simple statement of wrongdoing. When he said, "if we confess our sins," the Greek word confess is homologeo. We understand the word homo, which means one in the same. Lego is I say. The word confess there literally means I say the same thing as God says. Let me go a little bit further. It means to agree with God. So if I confess my sins, listen carefully now, I am saying what God says about my sins.

I'm saying they're wicked, they're vile, they're transgressions of His law, they're iniquitous, and that they deserve the death penalty. I am agreeing with God that I have sinned against Him, that I've broken His law, that I've violated His law. That's confession. When I agree with God. Now, if I mouth my sins and don't really agree that they're wicked and wrong and deserve the death penalty, then I haven't really confessed my sins at all. You follow that?

Now, listen to what he said. "If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Wow. True confession leads us to the forsaking of our sins. Look back in Proverbs 28 and verse 13. "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." You don't really confess your sins unless you forsake your sins. In other words, let me put it to you like this. If I'm confessing my sins, and I agree with God that my sin is wicked and vile and a transgression of His law and it deserves a death penalty and the only reason I'm alive right now is by His grace and His mercy. If I really genuinely believe that my sin deserves a death penalty and that God has the absolute right in justice to kill me if I sin, do you think I want to keep on in it?

Now, true confession leads to the forsaking of your sin. Now watch verse 13 again. Look at it. "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." In other words, mercy comes from confessing and forsaking. Confession leads to the realization of what sin is, and the wickedness of it, and the vileness of it, and the agreeing with God concerning it, which then leads to forsaking that sin, which shows God's mercy to the individual. Are you listening? Confession without forsaking is merely bragging. I did it. Look at me, I did it. That's all it is. Confession, real genuine confession, always includes the forsaking of sin.

We don't really confess until we forsake. Now that does not mean that we are perfect from there on out. It does not mean that we would not be tempted again in the same area, but it does mean that we're not going to plan on it, we're not going to be doing it, not purposely, not deliberately. We're going to turn from that sin. We're still sinners, and we're still weak, and we still need the grace of God. But it does mean, if I'm confessing that I have stolen, and I realize that stealing is deserving the death penalty, I want to make restitution, and I'm going to quit stealing. By quitting my stealing indicates that I've really genuinely forsaken that sin. I might be tempted six months from now, but I don't have to do it. I'm just simply pointing out the fact if we genuinely confess our sins, we forsake those sins. We turn from them because we agree with God concerning our sins. Let me make some applications.

Applications: The Broadness of God's Law

God's commandment is exceedingly broad (Psalm 119:96), covering all areas of life. Believers must fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12) by knowing and obeying God's law. Allegiance to Christ is supreme over all other loyalties. Weaver challenges the congregation to study and apply God's Word diligently.

The first one is this. David said in Psalm 119 verse 96,

What I wanted you to see today is the practicality and the applicability of God's law to every area and every sphere of our lives. He said,

In other words, God's law covers every area of our life. I don't care if it's prayer. I don't care if it's our marital relationship. I don't care if it's our money. I don't care what it is. It covers every area of our life.

And our allegiance is to be to Him and the totality of His Word. Here's the second thing. We have been commanded in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 12 to fight the good fight of faith. Fight the good fight of faith. How can you fight the good fight of faith to a sovereign to whom you have no allegiance? You have to have allegiance to fight the good fight of faith. How can you fight against the wicked by obeying God's law if you're totally ignorant of God's law? You cannot obey that which you're ignorant of. How can you fight the good fight of faith?

You see, the truth of the matter is this. Listen carefully. If you and I are not reading, listening, hearing, studying, and applying God's law, in reality, we're forsaking it and turning from it. Because we give allegiance to our Lord, and we give allegiance to His law, which means it must have reign in our lives. One reason we fail so miserably in obeying Jude 1, verse 3, when you and I are told to earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints. To earnestly contend, that means to earnestly fight for the faith that was once delivered to the saints. We're totally ignorant over which we're to fight. We have no idea. How can we contend for the faith if we do not even understand the faith or know the history of the faith and know our sovereignty and know what He demands. Here's the third one. And I think you will understand what I mean by this. I love my wife, and I will fight for her and defend her. I love my family, and I will fight for my family and defend my family.

I also love my state, and I love my country. And I would fight for and defend my state and my country. However, my allegiance is to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is sovereign. He is God. All these other things fall under my allegiance to Him. He is first, foremost, and forever. He is God. He is Lord. He is sovereign. And He deserves all honor, all glory, all praise. All other entities must fall under Him.

What I want to do is this. I want to challenge you. I want to challenge you this year to read the Word of God over and over and over. Look up words. Study. Then ask, how am I to apply this to my life? How am I to apply this to my family's life? You should have a burning quest. You should have a holy zeal. You should have a desire to say, Lord, my allegiance is to you. And I want to fight and not forsake. I want my allegiance, not an abomination. And I want confession, not covering. I want to do that which is right and holy and godly and obedient by Your grace and by Your mercy. The practicality of the Word of God should strike us in every area of our lives. And we should learn to apply it in every area of our lives. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ that You would help us, that You would teach us, that You would build us up in the most holy faith.