Tuesday, 28 April 2020
Proverbs 28.13
People who conceal their sins will not prosper,
but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy. TLV
This verse of scripture teaches us the right attitude to deal with sin in our lives. None of us is exempted from this issue of sin. How do we deal with the issue of sin will directly affect our lives now and for eternity. This verse tells us what not to do and what to do with sin and why.
“Whoever conceals his sins will not prosper”
All men sin. When we sin, we have a choice. We can keep the sin to ourselves, hide it from others, not mention even to God, and most likely we will do it again when the opportunity or temptation comes again. Charles Spurgeon in his sermon on this Proverb, listed seven ways how men attempt to cover their sins, all of them in vain.
- Excuses and justifications
- Secrecy
- Lies
- Schemes to evade responsibility
- Time
- Tears
- Religious ceremonies
Since Adam and Eve, human instinct leads us to cover or hide our sins. Nobody likes to admit sin, guilt, and shame. It is much easier to conceal it. We run and hide. We cover it up. We blame others. We pretend it never happened. Or pretend that it wasn’t that bad. We have almost perfected the art of concealing our sin. To the extent, we think we can even hide it from God. One other way to deal with sin is to do some good things or works to counteract our sinful deeds. We will try very hard to make sure our good deeds will ease our guilt and cover our shame. But this Proverb states that covering up our sins is not the right way to deal with sins.
In the Old Testament, we see Adam and Eve tried to cover up their sin and shame by making leaves to cover themselves. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the snake. They run and hide (Gen. 3.7-8). Saul tried to hide his sin from the Prophet Samuel. Saul lied, he obeyed God only partially. It was convenient to lie, but God was not fooled and neither Samuel was fooled.
“Will not prosper” is the result of hiding or concealing our sins. This word “prosper” is not just limited to financial prosperity. This word literally means “to come on mightily; to be forceful” that is to say “to have an overpowering force, with the resultant successful action.” It speaks of succeeding at an endeavour, flourishing, thriving, and being victorious. It is often used of God causing a person’s ways to prosper. In Gen. 39.2 “And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man.” This speaks of Joseph being a successful man – not just wealthy.” The point is when we hide our sins, we will not be successful.
Not only we are unable to hide our sin from God, but hidden sin also brings misery to us. King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband Uriah. For about a year, David “kept silence.” He did not repent before God. He was out of fellowship with God. After a year or so David wrote this Psalm 32.
David described his misery when he was out of fellowship with God
Psalm 32.4-5.
• My body wasted away,
• I groaned all day long
• God’s hand of discipline was heavy on him
• He dried up
• Life was miserable
The second part of this verse says, ”but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”
Praise God! God wants all to have fellowship with Him, but sin must be removed before the sweet fellowship begins. “Confess” is to acknowledge or admit our sin or guilt.
1 John 1:9 New Living Translation (NLT)
9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
We must come humbly to accept sin as sin. No more excuses, no rationalization, and no attempt to justify our actions. We have sinned against God. With our confession, we not only received God’s grace and mercy, but we turn away from sin. We forsake sin. That’s what true repentance is all about. When we come to God for mercy, He will graciously show us His mercy. Immediately our relationship is restored and fellowship resumes.
Psalm 32 New Living Translation (NLT)
1 Oh, what joy for those
whose disobedience is forgiven,
whose sin is put out of sight!
2 Yes, what joy for those
whose record the LORD has cleared of guilt,[b]
whose lives are lived in complete honesty!
Please read Psalm 51 and 32.
Prayer for today
I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:
“O Lord, you are a great and awesome God! You always fulfil your covenant and keep your promises of unfailing love to those who love you and obey your commands. 5 But we have sinned and done wrong. We have rebelled against you and scorned your commands and regulations. 6 We have refused to listen to your servants the prophets, who spoke on your authority to our kings and princes and ancestors and to all the people of the land.” Daniel 9.4-6
O Lord God, we humbly come before you to confess our sins as individual, as a family and as a church. We confess to you our pride, our stubbornness, our rebellious attitude towards you. Because of this we have broken our relationship with you, with members of our families. We ask for your forgiveness. Restore us back to you and to one another. Help us to increase our love for Jesus and our family. Help us to grow into spiritual maturity.
James 5:16 New Living Translation (NLT)
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
Confession is not limited to God. Confession of sin before others and asking others to pray for us to get right before God. Real, deep, genuine confession of sin has been a feature of every genuine awakening or revival in the past 250 years. (Trapp)
O Lord, we yearn for a fresh revival today. With this pandemic, we pray all people will humble themselves to seek your face and turn from our wicked ways, and you will hear from heaven and will forgive our sins and heal our land.
O Lord, sin has caused so much misery in our lives and in our homes. May your Holy Spirit come and reveal these hidden sins in our hearts. Help us to confess to you, remove these sins and set us free. Grant us humility to confess our sins to each other and heal our homes. O Lord, remove the guilt and shame and restore your joy and fellowship with you and our loved ones.
We asked this in Jesus’ Name. Amen
Pastor Isaac Yim.
xxx
每日灵粮
28/4/20
作者：严以撒牧师
箴言28：13
遮掩自己罪过的，必不亨通；
承认离弃罪过的，必蒙怜恤。
这段节经文教导我们应对生活中罪恶应该有的正确态度。没有人能免于这个罪恶的问题。我们如何处理犯罪的问题将直接影响我们现今和永恒的生活。这段节经文告诉我们如何处理我们的罪，什么是应该和不应该做的事，还有为什么要如此行。
“遮掩自己罪过的，必不亨通”
所有人都犯罪。当我们犯罪时，我们有选择。我们可以将罪恶躲藏起来，向他人隐瞒，甚至不向上帝提起，当机会或诱惑再次出现时，我们很大几率会再次犯罪。查尔斯•司布真（Charles Spurgeon）在这段箴言的讲道中，列出了人类掩盖自己的罪过的七种方式，所有都是徒劳的。
1、 借口和理由
2、 保密
3、 谎言
4、 逃避责任的计划
5、 时间
6、 眼泪
7、 宗教仪式
自从亚当夏娃以来，人类的本能常常引导我们掩盖或隐藏我们的罪恶。没有人喜欢承认自己的罪恶，内疚和羞耻。隐藏是个更容易的方法。我们躲藏自己的罪恶。我们掩盖我们的罪恶。我们责怪别人。我们假装从未犯过罪，或者假装犯的罪不严重。我们几乎已经完善了隐藏罪恶的艺术。在某种程度上，我们还认为我们甚至可以隐瞒上帝。我们人处理罪恶的另一种方法就是将功补过，做一些善事来抵消我们的罪恶。我们尽力确保我们的善行减轻我们的内疚并遮盖我们的耻辱。但是这段真言说明掩盖我们的罪过不是处理罪恶的正确方法。
在旧约中，我们看见亚当和夏娃用树叶掩盖自己的罪恶和耻辱。亚当责怪夏娃，夏娃责怪蛇。他们逃跑并躲藏起来（创世记3：7-8）。扫罗向先知撒母耳隐瞒自己的罪过。扫罗撒谎，他只部分地顺服上帝。撒谎很方便，但上帝并没有被欺骗，撒母耳也没有被欺骗。
“必不亨通”是隐藏我们罪过的结果。 “亨通”不仅限于金融繁荣。这个词的字面意思是“勇往直前”；“变得有能力”，就是说“拥有极大的力量，即获得成功”。这里说的是成功完成任务、繁荣昌盛、取得胜利。经常用于上帝使一个人“亨通”。在创世记39：2中：“耶和华与他同在，他就百事顺利”或“耶和华与他同在，使他凡事亨通（CCB当代译本版本）”这说明约瑟是一个成功的人，而不仅仅是富裕。关键是当我们隐藏自己的罪过时，我们不会顺利。
我们不仅无法向上帝隐瞒我们的罪过，而且隐藏的罪恶会给我们带来痛苦。大卫王与拔示巴同房，犯了奸淫，谋杀了她的丈夫乌里亚。大约一年，大卫“不做声”。他没有在上帝面前认罪悔改。他不与上帝相交。大约一年后，大卫写了诗篇 32篇。
大卫描述他没有与上帝相交的痛苦。
诗篇32：4-5
• 骨头枯干
• 终日哀叹
• 上帝管教的手在他身上沉重
• 他如同夏天的干旱
• 他的生命痛苦
这节经文的第二部分说到：“承认离弃罪过的，必蒙怜恤”。
赞美神！上帝希望所有人与他相交，但必须消除罪恶，才能与神有甜美的相交。“承认”就是承认我们的罪过或内疚。
约翰一书1：9
我们若认自己的罪，神是信实的，是公义的，必要赦免我们的罪，洗净我们一切的不义。
我们必须谦卑地接受罪就是罪。不要再给更多的借口、不要把罪过合理化、更不要为我们的罪过辩护。我们得罪了上帝。通过认罪，我们不仅获得了上帝的恩典和怜悯，我们也远离了罪恶。我们放弃罪恶。这就是真正的悔改。当我们来到上帝面前求怜悯时，祂会以恩慈怜悯我们。我们的关系立刻得以恢复，与神相交。
诗篇32
1 得赦免其过、遮盖其罪的，这人是有福的！
2 凡心里没有诡诈、耶和华不算为有罪的，这人是有福的！
请读诗篇51和32。
今天的祷告
“我向耶和华─我的神祈祷、认罪，说：主啊，大而可畏的神，向爱主、守主诫命的人守约施慈爱。5 我们犯罪作孽，行恶叛逆，偏离祢的诫命典章，6 没有听从祢仆人众先知奉祢名向我们君王、首领、列祖，和国中一切百姓所说的话。”但以理9：4-6
上帝啊我们的主，我们谦卑来到祢面前，承认我们个人，家庭和教会的罪过。我们向祢承认我们的骄傲，固执和对祢叛逆的态度。我们因此中断了与祢以及家人的关系。我们恳求祢原谅我们，使我们回到祢和彼此之间有的关系。帮助我们增加对耶稣和我们家庭的爱。帮助我们在灵里成长、成熟。
雅各书5：16
所以你们要彼此认罪，互相代求，使你们可以得医治。义人祈祷所发的力量是大有功效的。
认罪不仅限于上帝。在别人面前认罪，要求别人为我们祈祷能使我们和上帝恢复关系。真实、深透和真诚的认罪一直是250年中每一次复兴的特征。（Trapp）
上帝啊，今天我们渴望复兴。面对疫情，我们祈祷所有人会谦卑、祷告，寻求祢的面，转离他们的恶行，祢必从天上垂听，赦免我们的罪，医治我们的地。
主啊，罪恶在我们的生活和我们的家庭中造成了极大的痛苦。愿祢的圣灵降临，并在我们心中显露这些隐藏的罪过。帮助我们向祢认罪，除去这些罪过，使我们自由。让我们谦卑自己，互相承认自己的罪过，医治我们的家庭。上帝啊，除去我们的内疚和羞耻，恢复我们与亲人和祢的喜乐和相交。
我们奉主耶稣的名祈求。阿门。
杨仕涵译