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00:10 that in that it may sink to the depths of our soul uh and trans and do its work
00:15 of transforming our lives. We ask for Jesus sake. Amen. We start this year uh
00:23 with a psalm 32. We've actually never preached on psalms for the last five years. Um and I think what are psalms
00:31 about? If you look at psalms, psalms are about a very dangerous topic. It's about
00:37 feelings. And being China men, a lot of us don't like to get in touch with our feelings and talk about feelings. But uh
00:44 I mean you you either um repress or suppress your feelings. In a lot of
00:49 religious circles, we tend to suppress your feelings because you don't want to admit things which are not so good so
00:57 that we can prove ourselves towards God. Uh or on the other hand in society, we
01:02 tend to express our feelings. It's good to express all your feelings. But in the Psalms, there is a third way. The Psalms
01:10 teach us how we are to actually pray our feelings. You got all sorts of even
01:16 intense feelings in Psalms. And Psalms teach us how to process our feelings. We
01:21 neither suppress them or fully express them and let them rule our lives. Nor do
01:27 we suppress them. But we learn to take the feelings that we actually have and
01:33 pray. And and this is such an important spiritual discipline and that's why this
01:40 year we starting I mean you talk about 205. How many of you here put your hands up
01:46 approach 2015 with a great deal of optimism?
01:53 You see, all you have to do is open Malaysia Kiny, Malaysian Chronicle, you
01:58 know, and all that and immediately you feel depressed, you feel doubtful, you feel horrible. And so therefore, we
02:06 don't know what to do with the feelings. Either we succumb to our feelings and really feel nasty about what's going to happen this year. Or we suppress it,
02:12 say, "God's going to make it good anyway. I'm going to ignore my feelings." And you know that's a lie
02:18 because the more you suppress it, you haven't dealt with it. It's going to creep up again. It's going to affect you subconsciously in whatever you do,
02:25 whatever you do in your job. And so therefore, this year, we're going to start off facing
02:32 2015, bringing our feelings. We're going to pray through our fears. We're going to
02:38 pray our anger, pray over our doubts, pray over our guilt. These are the list
02:44 of psalms we're going to work through. And hopefully by doing so, we approach 2015
02:50 with a very realistic way in which we could the Lord can prepare us for facing
02:56 the troubles ahead uh and and and growing in our spirituality.
03:01 Today we're going to talk about a nasty subject. We start off first. It's called confession.
03:07 This is how how do we confession is repentance saying sorry. How many of you
03:13 here have it find it very easy to say sorry? Put your hands up. Only one. You see the rest of us it is
03:22 extremely difficult. How do we when we actually fall or fail? How do we get up
03:31 so much so that we're actually stronger than before, more closer to God than before? How do we stop failure and sin
03:40 from utterly destroying us and devastating us? That's the important thing that we need to learn. U so the
03:47 three things if you actually have your bulletin, it is you've got the performer out there to help you take notes. Why
03:54 should we confess? How should we confess? What happens when we confess? These are three things we should be
04:00 going through. So it is a spiritual discipline. Now it's a spiritual discipline. That's very important. Okay.
04:08 Um All right. So uh when we confess, why
04:15 should we confess? We're talking about confession. We're talking about repentance. And and this will actually
04:20 apply to not only confessing to God, but saying sorry to each other. All right. it it the principles involved are
04:28 exactly the same. So first thing we're going to look at is why should we confess
04:34 the blessing of confession one blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered. Blessed
04:40 is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity in whose spirit there is no deceit. And the first thing we notice
04:48 very funny you know we talk about bless when we come to talk about confession there's blessing the first thing is
04:53 blessing that comes out and there's blessing that comes out uh and it's quite different when I I grew up as a
04:59 Roman Catholic born as a Roman Catholic uh and what we had to do my mother made me do every month you got to go to this
05:06 little box at the corner of the uh church we must get Malcolm to build one
05:14 he's very good at that And then I would see a priest and and and he would be behind the screens, you know, and then
05:20 you've got this whole catalog of sins and you go through your catalog in sins
05:26 and at the end he'll do a sign of the cross and then you know you know you're forgiven of your sins and you go back
05:32 you must say how many hail Marys how many you know things in absolution so
05:37 that you will be saved and to me it was very very difficult because how many of you like to go and say you're sorry. But
05:43 I hardly went. Maybe once a year mother reminds me, scold me, nag me, and I have to go. Uh it's it's very painful because
05:49 why should I get all down and dirty and admit I'm less than what I should should be. Uh nowadays, it's easier. Instead of
05:56 going to meet a priest, you have an app. You know, Pope Benedict actually authorized an app. So you actually don't
06:03 have to meet a priest. You don't have to have Malcolm build a box. You can just download the app from app store and you
06:08 can confess. But the only difference in the Catholic church, you don't get absolution. You still got to go to church for absolution. So um
06:17 blessed is the one whose transgression, you see, you see the blessing confession comes on the fact that we're actually
06:22 forgiven from our sin. You've got transgression, sin, iniquity. Three words that tell us this is the number
06:29 one thing that actually separates us from God. Uh we have iniquity, which is basically missing the mark. I mean,
06:35 you're not quite the person you're supposed to be. You're not quite the person God made you out to be because
06:42 you re you had perversion, your disrespect for God or actually you rebelled against God. This is a sin and
06:47 whatever sin it is, it's always against God. David said against you and you alone I have sinned. Hey, hello David
06:54 sinned against Uriah. He stole his wife. He murdered Uriah. But the sin is
06:59 actually against God. All sin is against God. And in Psalm 32, there are three
07:06 ways in which the three categories of sins are forgiven. One, it's forgiven,
07:12 lifted up, th out of sight, thrown away, but not really thrown away because the second word is covered. That means it's
07:19 still there, but it's out of sight to remind us that that that we have sin
07:24 which is forgiven, but it's still there. It's covered over. It's covered over by the blood of Christ. But you can never
07:30 say the skin sin is gone. If you say your sin is gone, then you're lying. And the third one is that he doesn't
07:35 consider that he has missed the mark. That means uh the sin is missing the mark having exam and failed and god
07:42 saying okay you pass three things uh and this is why we are blessed when we talk
07:48 about blessed okay blessing is more than happiness. If you got a easier Bible to
07:54 read it'll say happy are those this is the beatitudes blessing is complete wellness of being. It's more than happy.
08:01 It's profound fulfillment. God's approval, congratulations. It's
08:07 something when God looks at you and says, "I'm pleased with this person." And you are pleased because he is pleased. So when you actually confess,
08:15 we actually enjoy God's blessing. Take a look at Luke chapter 7. We've got a lady
08:24 who comes to the house of Simon, one of the uh uh Pharisees, who has Jesus over
08:31 for dinner. And Jesus takes both of them. The guy who invited him for dinner, which is a Pharisee, and a lady
08:37 who comes in, and she's so remorseful over her sin, she she actually buys a
08:44 year's worth of perfume in the alabaster jar and she pours it on his feet. She
08:52 cries and she cleans it with her tears and wipes it with her hair. And Jesus
08:57 says, you know, look at you, the Pharisee, and look at her. And he says
09:03 these words, therefore I tell you, her sins which are many are forgiven, for she has loved much. He who is forgiven
09:09 little loves little. You see, she is filled with passion
09:14 and compassion for Jesus Christ. Have you ever thought why am I not filled with passion and
09:23 compassion when we talk about Jesus Christ we talk about Lord's supper I say it's okay bit of bread
09:29 why isn't that passion and compassion there because she has felt the depth of
09:35 her separation and the depth of her love and she who has forgiven much loves much
09:41 and this man who is unaware of his sin is forgiven little so he loves little
09:47 and sometimes the passion we have in our spiritual lives is directly proportional to how much we feel our sin and how
09:54 great and enormous it is and how great the forgiveness of God is to us. What
09:60 else if you don't if you what are the benefits of confession? Well, if you don't confess there the consequences are
10:05 a broken fellowship. There's guilt for I kept silent. My bones wasted away
10:10 through my groaning all day long. For day by day your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was tied up as by the heat
10:17 of summer. This is metaphorical language. Psalms talk to you about
10:22 metaphorical language. It's not exactly you sit down there and you look like very curous, you know, your bones wasting away. It is a description of you
10:29 being totally unwell because if you don't confess your sin to the Lord, this stands between God and you. Very famous
10:36 cyclist. You remember his name? Lance Armstrong. He won the tour to France. How many times? Anybody know?
10:43 Seven. He's Jewish, I think. All right. Nobody actually wins it seven times.
10:49 Okay. He won it seven times. And you know why the reason why he won it seven times? Anybody know?
10:55 He took drugs. You name it, EPO, he took, you know, steroids he took. There's nothing else he didn't take. And
11:02 then he describes the fact that even though he won the tour to France, he said, "It wasn't the happiest time in my
11:08 life. Imagine I haven't even won the tour to France once. I haven't even entered once." Right? But he has won seven times to say
11:14 it's not actually the heaviest time in my life. You see, when you live a lie,
11:20 even though you're not a Christian, there is unhappiness because there's a hand there's a guilt that's heavy upon
11:27 him. And he had a great uh uh coming out because he was caught and he went to Oprah because the best way to to do this
11:34 and um he said he was happier giving his confession. Do you actually believe this? He's actually happier giving his
11:41 confession than winning the tour to France because when you don't confess
11:46 that thing comes between you and God and you and yourself and you can't find peace. Blessed is the one whose
11:52 transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered. Blessed is man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity in whose spirit
11:59 there is no deceit when you live a lie. Confession clears the deck. Confession
12:05 provides transparency. Confession lets you walk clear without anything hanging
12:10 at the back of your mind. Um if we confess our sin, he's faithful and just.
12:16 He will forgive us of our s sins to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a
12:22 liar. His word is not in us. We live a lie. See the word for conf for
12:28 forgiveness is covering the sin. The sin is still there. We cover it up uh by God covering it up. So that to say we have
12:34 no sin makes him a liar. Now you overcame the disease. That's what Lan
12:41 said. You win the to def France seven times. You have a happy marriage. You have children. I mean it's just this
12:48 mythic perfect story. And it wasn't true. Um Oprah asks, "Was it hard to
12:55 live up to the picture that was created?" He answers impossible. Certainly I am a flawed character as I
13:02 well know I couldn't do that. I certainly couldn't handle it. I was used
13:07 to controlling everything in my life. I control every outcome in my life. Right?
13:15 So what Lance was doing is covering up. You see blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is
13:20 covered up. When you look at this word sin is covered up. It brings you back to a very important passage in Genesis
13:26 chapter 3. In Genesis chapter 3, the man and women sinned. And the moment they sinned, their eyes were open. They knew
13:33 they were naked. They saw fig trees together and made themselves loin cloth.
13:39 That's exactly what Lance Armstrong is saying. He's covering up. When they sin,
13:44 they cover up. You cover up one lie after another and he find that he can't
13:50 control it anymore. He tries as hard as possible. We're all covering up. We work harder to cover up for our inadequacies.
13:57 We don't eat so much because we we feel we're too fat or or people look at us, they look down on us. We always covering
14:04 up um our inadequacies and our sins. Lastly, advantages of confession is that
14:11 not only uh uh you is blessing, there are consequences, this provide transparency, it provides a healthy
14:17 sense of danger. Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer to God, offer to
14:23 prayer to you at a time when you may be found. For surely the gush of great waters, they shall not reach him. There
14:30 is a time limit where you may be found. And this basically is a warning because
14:35 if you continue to sin and not confess, you will slide further and further and
14:41 further away even though you say you're a Christian. This is a story of Benjamin
14:46 Keech who is a very famous Baptist who was a Baptist theologian who wrote lots
14:52 of books luminary among Christian circles. He was actually persecuted for his faith. They
14:59 they put him in stocks and they threw things at him. He he suffered for his faith. But later on Charles Spurgeon
15:05 preached a sermon in which he described Benjamin Peach actually sinned and
15:10 didn't confess and moved away from God. And when he was dying on his dead bed, death bed. This is what Spurgeon wrote.
15:16 Spurgeon wrote, this is what he said. Get ye gone. It is of no use. You're coming to me. I have sinned again away
15:23 the Holy Spirit. I'm like Esau. I have sold my birthright. And though I seek it carefully with tears, I can never find
15:29 it. And he would and he would repeat these dreadful words like my mouth is filled with gravel stones. I drink wormwood day and night. Tell me not uh
15:38 uh tell me not tell me not of Christ. I know he is a savior. I hate him and he hates me and I know I must die. I know I
15:45 must perish. He's just too far away. And the Bible warns us there's a period of
15:50 time when you can confess but if you let that drag on your heart so changes that even though he wants to confess he
15:56 cannot confess. Now let's talk about okay we know why we should confess but
16:02 how should we do it? How should we confess? How should we deal with the guilt, the shame and the failure? And
16:08 this will fit how we confess not only to God but to each other. It is a new skill
16:14 for many of us. So let's pay attention. First of all, I acknowledge my sin to you. I did not cover my iniquity. I will
16:22 confess. So the word is I acknowledge basically. And the first thing is that we have to distinguish between true
16:28 guilt and false guilt. There's a story told of a young woman who goes to the
16:34 confessional box and she confessed. He gets inside the box. First thing she says, "Bless me, father, for I have
16:40 sinned." And father says, "What's your sin?" Oh, you know, every day, twice a day, I stand in front of the mirror. I
16:46 look at myself and say, "Oh, God, how beautiful I am." And so what the father, oh really. So he
16:52 he he goes closer to the window and have a quick look at her. I got good news for you, sister. You have not sinned. You
16:58 made a mistake. So you have to determine whether it's real sin or false sin. Some of you bit
17:06 slower. Uh
17:11 and and and Opfra was talking to to Lance Armstrong. Was it a big deal uh to
17:16 you? Did it feel wrong? And Lance said no. Scary. Oprah said it didn't even
17:22 feel wrong. Lance said no. Even scarier. Did you feel bad about it? No. The
17:28 scariest. You see, you can actually sin and have no remorse and no guilt.
17:35 You can actually not sit and feel a lot of guilt. Recently in the in the Commonwealth
17:41 Games, there are 40 Scotty dogs. They came out and led the parade of all the nations including Malaysia. And one very
17:48 very clever Malaysian reader uh leader wrote this. I think it's unbecoming. The
17:54 hosts have not been sensitive enough especially in the so-called knowledgeable civilized society like
17:59 Britain. It is shameful as offended not only Malaysia as a Muslim country but Muslims around the world. Guess which
18:06 leader this is. He only has 900 members in his society but he talks louder than the prime
18:12 minister. So I won't say his name for fear of sedition.
18:18 So so we have this guilt and sometimes the guilt is real sometimes the guilt is
18:23 not real because the Bible says for whenever our hearts condemn us God is greater than our hearts and he knows
18:29 everything. So there is a dissonance between what actually what is real guilt and what is false guilt and the first
18:34 thing that we know know when we come to to acknowledge our guilt before God is to find out the difference for I know my
18:41 transgression and sin is before you so therefore we are going to measure our
18:46 sin against God's will God's heart God's word so so you can't actually know
18:51 you're sinning unless you come to some standard and the standard is the word of God it's a straight edge of which you can
18:58 compare your life You can't go on your conscience. A lot of people go on conscience feeling. They wind up right
19:04 in in the mental hospital or in jail. I did this because my conscience did this or I my feelings led me to this. So we
19:10 have to come before God and distinguish true guilt from false guilt. Second of all, he said I did not cover my
19:16 iniquity. All right? Which means uh we take responsibility full responsibility
19:22 for our sin. You come before God with the sin. We need or all to each other. We need to take full responsibility.
19:29 This is Jamie Diamond stating the obvious. JP Morgan CEO his apology is
19:35 mistakes were made. All right. Clever. Mistakes were made. Now if you ever want to escape apology, you say mistakes were
19:42 made. Who made the mistake? We don't know. What did the mistake cause? We don't know. We don't care. We just put mistakes were made. Uh Tony Fernandez
19:49 says, "My heart is filled with sadness for the families involved in QZ8501. On behalf of a Asia, my condolences to
19:56 all words cannot express how sorry I am." This is not an apology. This is an expression of sympathy. You have to
20:03 differentiate between expression of sympathy and an apology. So I'm very sorry you felt like that poor thing. I I
20:08 cry with you. But that's not an apology. Um, Winona Ryder was caught stealing
20:14 Beverly Hills, you know, uh, uh, uh, Boulevard. Uh, I'm sorry for what I did,
20:21 but my director direct me to directed me to shoplift. Well, that's a good one. So, so you say you're sorry, but
20:28 actually it's your fault. So, it takes two to clap, right? So, you apologize. I
20:33 apologize. We are both same level. Okay. This is a very common cop out. So when
20:38 we actually ask to apologize or you say sorry to God or to each other, you have
20:43 to avoid this. You have to take full blame. It doesn't matter 50% you 50% me. You take the responsibility
20:50 100%. Bill Clinton mistakes were made by people who either did it deliberately or
20:58 inadvertently. It was a mystery. It's like MH370. We don't know who did it and why they
21:04 did it. Um, I may have made an innocent mistake. I'm sorry for if I actually did
21:10 it. I made a mistake, but you also 50% blame. So, so this is Saul, okay? King
21:15 Saul. He says, "I have sinned. I have transgressed commandment of the Lord and
21:20 your words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice." So, what he's doing is blaming the people. Yeah, I did
21:27 wrong, but it was their fault. And so, therefore, when we come to God, we can't do that. We confess our sins. He's
21:34 faithful not just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You take the blame, not
21:41 100% or 50%, but all of the blame. And we understand that God is faithful. He will forgive. I was trying to look
21:47 through all the apologies in Malaysia. Very few politicians apologize. I cannot find. So I have to go down to Singapore.
21:55 Yeah. Serious. I look around. I don't see anybody apologizing this country. And then the worst the most they come is
22:02 you know God's fault or something somebody uh but here in Singapore this fellow uh senior statesman says I'm
22:09 sorry what I've said has caused you great deal of discomfort. So this is
22:15 actually a very good he takes full responsibility without which the relationship won't heal. I am sorry what
22:22 I said I said not you said and caused you a great deal of discomfort. This is how we take full responsibility. another
22:29 uh uh speaker, another politician. I am deeply sorry. I apologize unreservedly.
22:36 All right. So, I think those of the problems that come with apologies and confession is that we've got this black
22:42 hat and white hat kind of idea. When we're young, we're taught you know that fellow very greedy when he was lining up
22:49 for church lunch, he took two portion rather than one. And so therefore, immediately your mother labels it I'm
22:54 bad person. So you walk around half the church wear black hat half the church wear white hat you know right and and
23:02 you grow up people tell you you make friends with a white hat you don't make friends with a black hat because the black hat will actually cause you pain
23:10 and the older people say I'm so old I don't cannot deal with people with black hats I just deal with all people white hat so you divide but in real life you
23:18 know we all wear black hat that we all are sinners so we and and
23:24 what's the big We are just another sinner telling each other where to find bread. And so therefore, we shouldn't judge all of us. Jesus said, you you
23:31 look at the speck in your neighbor's eye and and you forget the log in your eye. Take it out first. Don't look at who
23:39 take second helping during lunch. Who didn't clean up? Who people complain about all these stupid little things
23:45 when they cheat on their taxes and they complain people take second helping at the church lunch. Wow. It's just that we
23:51 don't know any you cheat your taxes, isn't it? We know that you left the cup unwashed it. Everybody can see you. But
23:57 when you cheat in your taxes, you shout at your wife, nobody knows. You see? So therefore, there are no black hats or
24:03 white. We have all sinned. Thirdly, I acknowledge my ways. Uh uh um I will
24:10 confess my transgression to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. It's very funny, you know, iniquity is
24:16 sin. Sin is sin. And you forgive the sinness of my sin. What does it mean? Well, there is a grievousness of our sin
24:25 and we need to understand the grievousness of our sin and we need to distinguish between grief for our sin
24:33 and self-pity. And therefore, he continues with this word, I will instruct you and teach you in the way
24:38 you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Do not be like a horse or mule without understanding which will
24:44 be curled with pit and bridal or it will not stay near you. You need to distinguish between grief and self-pity.
24:51 And the best way is to draw you a picture of a donkey. And this is the donkey. He's moving around. And you want
24:57 him to go straight. But oh my goodness, there's a nice clump of daffodils as he turns. Makan makan while you're waiting,
25:03 you know. So you get upset. So you take the cane, you whack the f and pull him. Okay. Okay, boss. I'm going right way.
25:09 And he goes along the right way again. Right. After a while, oh, another patch of grass. It goes there. And then you
25:15 take the stick, you whack the fellow again. Oh, so after a while he forgets and you're going to whack him again and
25:21 whack him again. And the Bible is saying that you can ask for forgiveness. You
25:27 can confess your sins simply because it hurts not because of the sinness of your sin.
25:34 You're not sorry. You're only sorry because this fellow whack you. You see
25:39 you you not repeat you confess simply because of that. This is Pharaoh for example in Exodus. Pharaoh hastily
25:47 called Moses and Aaron and said, "I have sinned against the Lord your God against you. Now therefore, forgive my sin."
25:54 Aha. Please only this once and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death. So the locust came. He's
26:00 upset. The locust are climbing on his backside, you know, biting him, doing all sorts of trouble. He's so fed up with the locust. He said, "Please
26:06 forgive me. I've sinned. Take it away." You know how many times he did this? 10
26:12 times. So he's not sorry for the sinners of his sin. is only self-pity because I
26:17 can now badly from the locust and everything else that is very important.
26:22 Um Saul says I have sinned you see yet
26:28 honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel and return to me that I may bow before the Lord. So he
26:34 he is more interested in that Samuel will honor him rather than his contrite
26:41 or grieving because of his sin. So we need to distinguish between self-pity
26:46 and true sin. You know, you've got all this trouble between marital couples.
26:51 Imagine the husband always coming back drunk. Wife very upset. Take the rolling
26:57 pin. Maybe this is a bit extreme. All right. Then he promised, "I'm not going to drink anymore. Take rolling pin
27:04 again." After a while, his the wife says, "I'm going to leave you." Oh, you'll panic already. I'm not going to
27:10 drink anymore. I go home and you know he's okay for a while. After 6 months, no divorce paper. The coast is clear. A
27:17 vodka again, you know, beer again. Then comes back again drunk. You think he's really sorry? He has self-pity.
27:25 He has no grief. He doesn't see that that that drinking destroys his family. So therefore, he cannot change. So
27:32 therefore, we cannot change if our confession is out of self-pity. We can only change when you see the sinness of
27:39 our sin. And that's why some people keep on repeating the same sin over and over
27:44 and over again simply because they don't see the sinness of their sin. They actually have self-pity in they sort of
27:50 avoid trouble. Thirdly uh fourthly I will acknowledge
27:55 my sin to you and and I will confess my sin. The word confession is very interesting. Word confession comes from
28:03 the word uh homologous which is same word to say the same thing be of the
28:10 same mind. So when we confess we need to take the mind of the person to whom the
28:19 injury was meed out to. So therefore this is the prime minister's son. Uh
28:25 he's not as good as his father. Look at his apology here. If we didn't quite get
28:30 it right, I'm sorry. Well, we are sorry we didn't get it exactly right. Now, any
28:37 what's wrong with this? Anybody know? Did he do any wrong?
28:42 Did he do any wrong? Nothing. Yeah. If you think he's doing wrong, you is your fault, isn't it? Right. So, therefore,
28:49 he's not exactly apologizing. He's avoiding the apology. We think we're exactly right. Uh if in my enthusiasm I
28:57 offended anybody, please accept my apology. You see, um Justin Timberlake,
29:04 this is because of wardrobe malfunction from uh Listen, I know it's been a rough week for everyone. What happened was
29:10 unintentional, completely regrettable. I apologize if you guys were offended. If
29:16 you see, therefore, when you say if it puts the onus back on the guy, why you so sensitive? Why you simply get
29:22 offended? What's wrong with you? Isn't it? You don't take responsibility. So therefore, we need to take the
29:28 perspective. If this guy was hurt, you go and sit in the shoes of the guy who
29:33 was hurt. And I want to show you a good apology from a criminal.
29:38 Okay? But it's a good apology. It's called Oscar Ptorus. Everyone knows him as a nickname. What?
29:45 Blade Runner. Okay? Why? Because he got no leg. All right? He got two legs called blades. All right? So, so he was
29:51 uh found guilty of shooting his girlfriend. There was a sound in the middle of the
29:56 night a and and he woke up and he's got this great big gun next to him and and
30:02 then somehow don't know how his girlfriend winds up in the bathroom. Maybe he bear out or something inside there. And then he and he takes this gun
30:09 and he shoots through the door, you know, without knowing who it is. And she dies. And this came out a very famous uh
30:15 court case. And then when he stood up, he apologized to a very sternlook
30:21 mother. My god, look at that. How to apologize to June Stein Cam. My
30:28 goodness. And yet he did. And I want you to I want to read this to you. I beg your pardon, my lady. I'll speak. I'd
30:35 like to apologize and say there's not a moment and there's not been a moment since this tragedy happened that I
30:40 haven't thought about your family. I wake up every morning. You're the first person I think of, the first person I
30:46 pray for. I can't imagine the pain, the sorrow, the emptiness that have caused
30:53 you and your family. Whether this apology is real or not, but it has all
30:58 the makings of a real apology. Why? Because homologus means confess means take the position take the perspective
31:05 of the person whom you hurt and then you feel like them that is an apology and
31:12 when you come before God you come before God and says I can't imagine Lord what
31:18 it's like for you to have invested everything in me and for me to turn around and say to you I'm not bothered
31:26 when I got time I will pray to you I will look at you otherwise I'm off to do everything else. I can't imagine what it
31:33 feels like. And if you're a parent, I think you understand what it feels like
31:38 more so than anyone else. But why do we sometimes still feel guilty? This is the
31:45 last point. Why do we sometimes feel guilty even though we we we say sorry to God? Blessed is the man against whom the
31:51 Lord counts no iniquity. So, so basically what is God saying is that
31:57 when when when God forgives us, he doesn't count it against us. It's like we failed the test. We missed the mark.
32:04 And yet God gives us 100%. All right? And what happens that he says, "You are a hiding place for me.
32:11 You preserve me from trouble. You surround me with shouts of deliverance." Now, this is very funny. You know, how
32:18 can God be a hiding place when God is the one we're running from in the Garden
32:23 of Eden? When they sin, who are they running from? God. And then David turns around and says,
32:31 "God is hunting for you. God is whom you agrieved. And yet we are to find a
32:36 hiding place in God. We are going to hide from God in God." How does that make sense? Doesn't make sense, doesn't
32:42 it? It makes sense if we look at the cross. When we have the cross, what
32:50 happens when God sent his only son? So we're all so busy covering ourselves.
32:55 When they crucified him in the cross, they nailed him legs together, hands
33:01 apart, completely naked. You know, all the drawings are politically correct.
33:06 They cover the genitals. In real life there is no Pierre Kandin underwear.
33:14 It is there the whole world to see and you can't cover it is nailed apart. He
33:20 is uncovered so that we are covered. And in this Christ's death for us there is
33:28 no cont. When God looks at us all the debt of our sin are completely paid for
33:34 are absolutely completely paid for. So when you come to God and ask confession
33:39 of sin, if you hide in him, you trust in Jesus' death for you, you will be
33:46 forgiven. All right? Now, the problem is some of us will turn our act of
33:51 confession into a way to earn forgiveness. You come before God and you say, "Oh, I cried so much, Lord. I'm so
33:58 submitted. I'm so sorry. I feel so bad." And you really work yourself up to a frenzy. You know why? so that you
34:04 deserve your confession. You try to earn your confession. You
34:10 know on the cross Christ is forgiven all your sins. Why do we confess? We confess
34:16 simply because we want to reconnect with God with intimacy. We want to reconnect.
34:22 We want to have his eye back in with us. It's like a husband and wife. You fight,
34:29 right? But you're not divorced with the wife treats you coldly. Why? Because you
34:34 you you didn't say nice things and there's an air of iciness. You confess
34:41 and bring the relationship back. But the relationship is always there anyway. So when we confess, we're actually ex
34:48 reexperiencing reconnecting with the intimacy with God. Because if you don't confess, the intimacy go with God is
34:54 lost. But your relationship is not lost. So that's why we need to connect. A and
34:59 and if you think you can earn forgiveness by feeling very sorry then that's a very vicious cycle because even
35:06 your repentance is not right my repentance George Whitfield famous evangelist said my
35:12 repentance needs to be repented of because let's say you have sinned a you shouted against your wife then you
35:19 repent on that but do you know that your repentance is not perfect it may not be
35:26 true guilt it may be actually full of self-pity.
35:32 So therefore, that's not perfect. So your repentance is also a sin. So therefore, you can't earn God's
35:37 forgiveness. So therefore, we need to come before God and use him as his
35:42 hiding place. This is Judas. And Judas
35:47 found out that he actually had betrayed Jesus Christ in the end. He felt remorse. He went to the high priest and
35:54 said, "I've sinned by betraying innocent blood." The high priest said to him, "Why is that to us? See to yourselves
35:60 and get lost." You know what he did? Throwing down the piece of silver into the temple. He departed and hanged
36:06 himself. He hanged himself. Why did he hang himself? Sometimes you come to God and you confess.
36:12 But you still feel guilty. You still feel God cannot forgive you. Why?
36:18 Because you are answering to someone higher than God.
36:23 Maybe your own expectations. maybe your parents' expectations and even though God may have forgiven you, you still do
36:30 not feel the joy because you cannot forgive yourself. You see, so therefore
36:36 uh we need to find the only perfect hiding place in the world and hiding place is hiding in the power and the
36:42 Lord Jesus Christ. If you still feel guilty, it means we don't really understand
36:48 the beauty and power of God's forgiveness. So we need to how do we confess our sins? We distinguish between
36:54 true guilt and false. Take full responsibility. Distinguish between grief and self-pity. Change our
37:00 perspective and change our hiding place.
37:05 Lastly, what happens when we confess?
37:11 This is the last two verses so the music team can come up now. Many are the sorrows of the wicked. be steadfast, but
37:19 steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts the Lord. If we do not confess,
37:25 we are counted with the wicked and we are sorrowful just like Lance Armstrong was stewing in his pain. Uh even though
37:32 he was successful, but his steadfast love surrounds the one. So if you trust God as your hiding place, no matter how
37:39 bad your sin is, you're going to be surrounded by the love of God, the relationship, the fellowship is
37:46 restored. And be glad in the Lord and rejoice, oh
37:52 righteous, and shout for joy all of you who are upright in heart. So you're upright in heart because God forgives
37:58 you and the joy is restored. All right? So we need to be a confessing people. If
38:05 you're not a confessing people, how do you apply this in life? If let me ask you a few questions. Are you a safe
38:12 person to give or receive criticism? When you criticize someone, there only
38:17 two things that happen. First of all, going to blow up. My goodness, he said he called me sloppy. My goodness, I hate
38:23 him. I get very upset. I never forget. Oh, I come to church. All this play, this perfect stranger came and told me
38:29 I'm sloppy. Or you completely melt down.
38:34 Why? Because you haven't understood what confession is.
38:41 Are you a safe person to confess to? I confess to you next next uh day it
38:49 comes out Malaysia Kiny. Or worse still, I confess to you and
38:55 then next two weeks I don't even see you near me. Walk see you walk the other way. Why? Because you've judged the
39:01 person. You see, if we truly confess uh um
39:07 basically we will be blessed in such a way that we understand what sin is that
39:13 we are people who are like drug addicts. We struggle with our sin every single day. Don't have anybody here tell me you
39:20 you have no sin. Then you'll be a liar. We are all recovering drug addicts. And
39:25 what we do in recovering drug addicts, you know how you know how alcoholics help each other? They join alcoholic anonymous alone. Everybody join together
39:34 and so therefore we help each other. The first thing the alcoholic anonymous people will say is stand up. I'm Peter.
39:39 I'm an alcoholic. I'm Peter. I'm a sinner. I'm Lee Yiddian. I'm a sinner. Everybody stands up a sinner. No. It's
39:45 only what kind of sin. Your sin more exotic than my sin. Your sin more wonderful than my sin. But
39:51 we're all sinners. Just tell me where who hasn't only one fellow put a hand. You know the no problem with confession.
39:57 Hopefully by the end of this sermon today, we are all going to feel, hey, confession is something that must happen
40:04 because we're all sinners. Confession, that's wonderful because at the end of confession, there's blessing. There's
40:09 release, there's transparency, there's clearing of our relationship with God, there's rejoining of intimacy, there's
40:16 joy. So, we don't have to worry about confession being a little box at the corner. Once a year we can start
40:22 confessing every day, half a day, all the time because we are sinners always
40:30 being caught out in our sin. The alternative is we don't confess. We cover ourselves
40:37 like Lance Armstrong. One lie covering after another lie until explodes years later on. Let us be open. Let us come
40:45 before God as sinners and have him restore us, have him bless
40:52 us, has him come in with his love. Let's pray.
41:00 Lord, we come before you and all of us
41:08 this morning recognize that we need you. We confess,
41:16 we bow down, that we say without you, we fall apart. You are the one that guides
41:23 our hearts. And Father Lord, this morning I pray for all of us. We just thank you for the
41:30 blessing of confession, for the blessing that even as we say these words, you have already forgiven us. You've
41:35 restored us to the joy of your son, Jesus Christ. We do not have to be guilty. We do not have to be ashamed. We
41:44 are all sinners. We're not one better than the next. So, we commit our lives to you and ask
41:50 you to just reconnect and give us a power to live for you. We're going to
41:56 have a last song at the end. last song when the service is over and Pastor Moby
42:02 says the benediction. For some of you who'd like to come forward to pray with some of our leaders, you stay back.
42:09 Okay? So, when others have left, you stay back. We'll pray with you because
42:15 you're a sinner and I'm a sinner. I'll confess to you, you confess to me. And we help each other through this
42:22 difficult period of time. Maybe you're struggling with guilt. Maybe the Lord has forgiven you, but you can't forgive
42:27 yourself. We need to find him as a safe hiding place.
42:34 Should we all stand and sing the closing song together? Lord, I come.
42:42 I confess in you.
42:48 I find my rest without you.
