PAUL TRIPP

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What you're saying is, “I know law, but I don't give a rip about law because my needs are more important to me than anything else in my existence. I will park here, thank you, I am the Lord.” Seriously! That’s rebellion! It is laying claim to my rulership over my life. Now think how much of your sin is rebellious: husbands, when you yell at your wife, you yell as a rebel because you know that's wrong. Right? Your problem is not ignorance! When you're on the Internet, and you're looking at pictures you shouldn’t look at, you’re not doing that because you're ignorant! That's an act of clear, focused, intentional rebellion against the authority of God. That’s rebel behavior! When you have just eaten yourself into gluttony, you’re not doing that because you’re ignorant. That’s a clear act of rebellion against God! My pleasure, the pleasure of edible flora and fauna is more important to me than the glory of God. It’s rebellion! And I think it is dangerous for us, as believers, to think that our rebel days are over; our rebel days are not over; we are still being redeemed from our rebellion. The second word, it’s the word “iniquity”. What's iniquity? Iniquity is the most foundational word for sin; it’s moral uncleanness. It captures nature. It's not just that I do wrong things; it's not just that I say wrong things; it's not just that I have wrong reactions to different circumstances. I am wrong; there's something wrong inside of me, and it's the uncleanness that allows me to be a rebel. And so, change has to happen inside of me. That's why I need a Redeemer. When you begin to embrace moral uncleanness, when you begin to embrace it’s stuck to you, and you cannot escape it, you’ll cry out for a Savior. And, yes, although the power of sin has been broken, that moral uncleanness is still inside of us in some way and is being progressively eradicated by the relentless grace of Jesus Christ. The third word for sin: it is the word “sin”. And it’s said that sin means missing the mark, and that's sort of true, but not really a good definition. If you want to take that picture of a bowman pulling his bow and aiming at a target, it's not just that the arrow misses the target. It's that, with his best aim and the best of his power, the arrow consistently falls short of the target. That's what sin is. If transgression is rebellion, if iniquity is moral impurity, then, sin is inability. Sin leaves me lame; it leaves me crippled. It leaves me now unable to live up to God’s standard apart from the gift of divine power. And so, you put these words together, not only do I not want to do God's will often, I can’t apart from his rescue. That’s the theology, and that's why there's nothing beautiful about sin. Brothers and sisters, sin is the ultimate human disaster: it destroys relationships; it destroys government; it destroys communities; it's destructive at every point. And if you would pray anything this morning, even during this sermon, is pray, “Oh, Lord, open my
eyes to the sinfulness of sin. May I no longer see sin as a beautiful thing.” Because when you're there, you cry out for change. That’s where David was. Verse three: it is a grace to know and feel and experience the pain of conviction. I love the words here: “For I know my transgression, and my sin is ever before me.” It is a wonderful thing to be haunted by the convicting mercies of the Holy Spirit, a spirit who will not let me go. Now, is that pain an enjoyable thing? Oh no, it’s not! But hear the theology here; the Bible tells us that as an act of mercy, God has taken the heart of stone out of us. Now, notice the metaphor: if I have a stone in my hand, and I would press it with all of my might, guess what would happen? Nothing! Because that stone is impenetrable, it's resistant to change. The Bible says that God has taken the heart of stone out of us and has replaced it with a heart of flesh. So that, that now is sensitive to the pokes of the spirit. It's now moldable. That's a beautiful thing and because if you're God's child, you have now that fleshy heart in you, that sensitive heart, you will feel the pain of conviction. Now stay with me because this is important. When you feel that pain of conviction, you only have one of two choices: you will gladly receive that as a good thing; that pain is actually a warning system. It's like the pain in the body. Pain in the body is not nice to experience, but it alerts us that there's some kind of disease system or injury that needs to be dealt with. You know this is probably true for most of us. That’s the thing that gets us to the doctor, some kind of physical uncomfortability. And the pain lasts long enough, and it's intense enough, we finally go to the doctor because we realize something is wrong. So when I feel that pain, when I experience that pain of heart, a result of conviction, I only have one of two choices: I immediately, joyfully confess that that thing is wrong, and I place myself once again under the justifying mercies of Christ, and I receive his forgiveness; or, I begin to erect some system of self-justification that makes that wrong acceptable to my conscience. We are very good at doing that. I argue for my righteousness; I defend myself; I recast my history; I try to convince myself that what God says is wrong, isn't so wrong after all. So I would ask you this morning, “Are you thankful for the pain of conviction? Are you thankful that there is a relenting Savior who has invaded your life, and he will not relent until his work is done?” Look at what it says in verse eight: “Let me hear joy and gladness.” Are you ready for this? “…let the bones that you have broken rejoice.” That who has broken? Say it! “God!” Brothers and sisters, God loves you so much that in order to reclaim your heart, He will break your bones. That’s not judgment; that’s grace!
Page 1 and 2: PAUL TRIPP MINISTRIES, INC. Confess
Page 3: And that moment when God opens your
Page 7 and 8: Like we do, Johnny got it wrong! Li
Page 9: Are you committed to change? Are yo

PAUL TRIPP

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