scripture reading comes from Psalm 51. We'll read that together and then also confess our faith through the words of the Nicene Creed, as well as reading from the Catechism, Lord's Day 5. Let's turn our attention first to Psalm 51, to the chief musician, a Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him after he had gone into Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies. blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy iniquity from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then I will teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt offering, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, that will not despise. Do good. In thy good pleasure unto Zion build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness with burnt offering and whole burnt offering. Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. Let's unite our hearts together and pray. Can you or I go through a day without sinning? How do you know? Right, some people don't recognize sin. Some people think they don't sin at all. Other people think they only sin if they hurt someone else. Others think they can go days without sinning because their conscience never convicts them. But can you go through a day without sinning? Others see sin as continual because they realize what the Bible teaches. All have sinned. All are prone to hate God and their neighbor. All are prone to stumble. All have become willingly disobedient and do not keep God's law. But even in saying that, they look out there. They look at the people who live in that house. There's opposition out there, there's lawlessness out there, there's disobedience out there, there's disregard for God out there. You see, that wasn't the question we asked. It's not, can people go through a day without sinning? It's, can you? Right? Do you know this from your own life? Have you learned you cannot satisfy the punishment for sin? Because you daily increase your debt. Right? Do you see sin? That's really the question I want to pose before you this evening. Yes, see sin. but realize that you need to see sin. Right, that's based on Psalm 51, but I want to take the idea in verse three, the second part, and really think about that. Right, Psalm 51, verse 3b as our text. My sin is always or ever before me. We'll briefly consider the confession of David here and how it's a realization of all saints. But I want most of this message to be application as you think about yourself. It is a confession of David, right? You know the history probably, the prophet Nathan had gone to David and said, you're the man who steals sheep from the other man. And you serve that man's only sheep to your guests. David was so upset. But then Nathan says, no, it's you. Because you've taken another man's wife and you've had her husband killed. And David pleads for mercy from God throughout the psalm. He asks for forgiveness. He asks for cleansing. He's pleading on God's character. But he also acknowledges what he did. And it's iniquity, it's transgression, it's evil, it's sin. And it's not something that David is just saying, oh, I'm going to confess this, I'm going to say it, and then it's done. I can put it behind me. I can forget it. No, we know God says He does that. But what does David say? My sin is always before me, in front of my face. I open my eyes, and what do I see? I see my sin. Right, David's saying it in this clause, it's what I see. It's what I think about. Every day I wake up, I see my sin. Every day I get up in my house and I go into my house and about my activities and I see my wife and I'm reminded of my sin. I see a sheep on the road. I'm reminded of my sin. I see a funeral. I see the effect of sin, and I'm reminded of the sin I caused. I see a soldier, and I think about the soldier I had killed. My sin is always right here, and its ugliness is real to me. Right? It's not David sinned somehow in the past and he could walk away from it. It's every day. And the burden of sin grows. And this is why David needs mercy. But it's not just David's experience. Right? This is the realization of God's people. As God teaches them and they grow in greater sanctification, they see more sin, not less. And they see not a smaller weight of sin. No, they see the burden of sin growing. And they realize, as the catechism says, they can't make full satisfaction for this. In part, because the number of sins grows daily. I see my sin always, and it's not getting smaller, it's getting bigger. Children, you can think of it this way. Even if, make sure you hear that, even if you could pay for one sin a day and every day you only did two sins, at the end of one week you'd be way behind. Right? You'd be a whole week behind, actually, if you could only pay for one a day, and you only did two a day. The burden of sin grows. Right? After one year, you would be one year behind in paying. That's only if you did two a day and could pay for one. Now, imagine you don't just do two. Imagine you did 10 sins a day, and imagine you could still pay for one. At the end of one year, you'd be nine years behind, nine years in debt. And God would be absolutely just to demand you pay the penalty for the lost nine years, or the sins of the nine years. But realize this, you don't do two sins a day, you don't do ten sins a day. You do many sins every day. And then not only can you never catch up, you can't even pay for one. You cannot sustain the burden of wrath against sin. And you cannot pay God back for one sin. His punishment for one sin would be more than you could handle. And then think of how big the collection of sins is every day. dishonoring parents, disobedient to authority, stealing, adultery, coveting. All those sins in the Old Testament were punished with death. Why? Because God was saying this, it can't continue, and this is the punishment. And the point today is, realize with the saints that you have no way, absolutely, 100%, you have no way of satisfying God for all your sin. And every day, the burden grows, right? Go back a few weeks. Every day, the wagon gets heavier. every day. And David says, my sin is always in front of my eyes. And saints realize my sins are always in front of my eyes. And the question for you tonight, then, is exactly that. Are your sins in front of your eyes? Do you see your sin? Right, it's a personal question, and I want it to be personal tonight. Let's break it down into five questions. The first is this. Do you see your sin as you go through your day? Do you wake up in the morning without a thought of God? Do you see it as sin? Right? You wake up, you sit up, you put your feet on the floor, and you begin a day without a thought of God. You think, I can get up in my own strength. I'm going to pull up my pants with my own strength. And you do it because it's so normal. And you never stop and give God thanks for being alive, for waking up, for having energy, for being able to put on your pants. Right? Not expressing dependence on the Creator for the beginning of this day. Do you see the sin? And do you see the sin of gobbling down something for breakfast without stopping to give thanks? Gotta shovel in these Cheerios before the bus gets here, right? Need energy for the day. Do you see the sin of racing off to work? Because you can't upset your boss. You can't be one minute late. And you're more afraid of your boss than stopping to talk to God. Right, do you see the sin of rushing through life, living for and anticipating the recreation of the weekend, vacations? Right, do you live with the, oh, Friday afternoon point of view? Always aiming at that, living for that. and not finding joy in the God-ordained ordinariness of every day? God didn't create you for vacations. You see your sin as you go through every day. Maybe, children, you meet your siblings in the morning. Yeah, right? Grunt, good morning. You get to school and there's classmates there, and it's an elbow or something rather than even a neutral interaction, right? Do you see how little things in life display selfishness? Do you see how it's the sins that just happen throughout the day? You come face to face with your siblings, or maybe it's your parents, or maybe it's your spouse, or maybe it's your employer, maybe it's your employee, and your interaction with them just reveals your own pride. You have to put some down, you have to dismiss the other one. As you talk to others every day, do you realize how often your interactions shout out that you actually don't respect other people? Right? Do you see those sins? As you go through the day, do you see sin? There's way too much slow farm traffic on these roads. I get so upset. Or let's talk about potholes, what they do to my precious car. Or slow checkout lanes at the grocery store. Right? All these little things of life, they bring to the surface emotions, but there's emotions that are sinful. Right, and do you see sin then as you experience all these different scenarios, as you see other people who frustrate you, as you have noisy children interrupt your thoughts, you get bitter, resentful. Do you see how your behavior changes around different people? So around these people I'm gonna behave this way, around these people I'm gonna behave this way, because I want them to think of me one way and I want them to think of me another way. Did you forget God in all of this? Right, do you see your sin? The heart's a perpetual factory of idols, priorities and dreams that dethrone God and exalt myself and make a mockery of my claim to try and be living as a Christian? And then never mind the sin of covetousness. because I just walked to my car in the parking lot and I see there's eight other cars that are nicer than mine. There's maybe one that's not as nice as mine. Right, sin, it's pride. Right? Sin's not an abstract thing. Sin's a regular thing that comes up in everyday real scenarios. And it comes up in my heart and it gets expressed in my words or my thoughts if I keep it to myself. But you see, God knows all these things. And these sins of every day have to become larger in our life so that we're more filled with hate with the sins that are ours, not everybody else's, but mine. Right, we need to learn to see every day with David's eyes. My sin is always before me. No one sees all their sin. But have you ever prayed that God would make you see more of your everyday sins? Right, sometimes we pray that God would help us forget the big sin in the past that we're trying to forget. But have you ever prayed that God would teach you to see more of the sins of your hearts as they pop up throughout the day? Because there's not two of these scenarios in a day. Job asked the question, Lord, how many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me to know my transgression. It's chapter 13. If we willfully say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, John. If we willfully hide sin so others can't see it, Proverbs says we cannot prosper because our sins are right in front of God's face. Psalm 90. But do I see my sin? Let's change the category. Second question then, do you see your sins as you consider worship? Right, even as you think about driving to church on a Sunday, do you see the possibility of sin there? Right, there can be sins as you think ahead to Sunday. There can be sins in entertaining the question, am I gonna go to church today or not? Why? Right? We are to keep this day holy as the day to remember the Lord and His wonderful deeds. But what happens so often? We put it as part of a checklist and it's like, this has to happen today. This has to happen today. I know it's a requirement, but I'm going to check off these requirements. And at the bottom line, I guess I can go to worship today. Or maybe it's, I have to go today because mom and dad are gonna be here and I want them to see me in church. Or maybe we're older and we come to church and we think, well, it's the elders who are gonna see whether I'm here or not. That's why I'm going to worship. Or maybe it's, I need to be the sounding board. I need to be the critic of everything that's done here. And I'm going to make sure as long as these certain things are done and these certain things are said, it's a good Sunday. And we forget to worship. Right? Do you see the sin even in coming to worship? Right? And go through the worship service as the laws presented to you and as it's read week after week. It's not about seeing other people's sins. It's do you see your sin? And maybe it's not the sins of, oh, breaking these 10 things. Maybe it's the sin of this. We've heard it before, right? Is that your response to God's law? There's another piece of the liturgy that we just do because we do it. Or maybe you hear the summary of the law. And you realize the impossibility of loving God with all that you are and loving your neighbors as yourselves. And we say, that's such a high standard, I can't do it. And we dismiss it. And we forget that it's God's law given, at least for one reason, to drive us to the cross. And we should hear it so that we're driven back. Right? And then you go through the worship service. And you're presented with God's Word. From another passage. Do you see how your heart struggles at least to understand God's Word? Do you see how your heart struggles to submit to the authority of God's Word? And when it comes to something that's explicit, you try and make detours around it so that it doesn't apply to you. It might apply to 90% of the church here, but it doesn't apply to you. Or at least you get an exemption because you had this happen. Do you see the sin in the mental games that we play? And as the sermon comes to you and you're taught from God's Word, do you see your sin? God's truth is to be delighted in, but how many times don't we just put up with it rather than delight in it? And then we have to sing. Do you see sin possible in singing? Half-hearted singing? Singing that doesn't match what's actually being sung? Right, and then pray. You see sin in prayer. You see your sin as prayers happening. Right, it's not just, oh, singing, and I don't like singing. No, it's, these are to be expressions of our hearts united, but if we're not reflecting on them or confessing them, it's sin because we're doing it half-heartedly or thoughtlessly. If we hear the prayers but let our minds wander, It's sin. If amen is really a jolt back to reality, it's sin. And sometimes, right, we listen to sermons and we like the illustrations, and that's what we remember. We don't even remember the point or the teaching or the truth. Do you see your sin in worship? Or maybe when sin's pointed out, you leave church sad and sorrowful. Because like the rich young ruler, you don't really want to part with the sin that you were just convicted of. Right? Seeing sins in daily life and worship, both are to bring you back to God. And it's true, seeing sin so much can turn vitality of a person into drought, their bones grow old, they can groan and feel God's hand is heavy on them, as Psalm 32 describes. But you see, even in all of these questions, the point's not to remain here. The point's Like David in Psalm 51, do you see your sins so you know what to pray for? There's a poet, William Chatterton Dix, who expressed it this way, only one prayer today, one earnest tearful plea, a litany from out of my heart, have mercy, Lord, on me. Although my sin is great, still to my God I flee. Yes, I can dare look up and say, Have mercy, Lord, on me." Right? As you see your sin in daily life, do you look up for mercy? As you see sin in worship, do you look up for mercy? Or, third question, Do you see sin as you minimize the gospel? Right, there's so many ways we minimize the gospel, but do you see them as sin? Do you see sin as going to Christ for forgiveness? Maybe 90%, but I got to do the last 10%. Right, there's sin in trying to complete the gospel for Jesus. There's sin in trying to add to what Christ has done. There's sin by saying, do I need to do this? Or do I need to believe this? Or can I continue in this? Or can I be like this in order to be saved? Right, do you see your sin as you try to please God? for the wrong reasons. Not because you love Him, but because you're trying to earn His favor. Do you see sin as you try to satisfy His justice, thinking, yes, I can pay for one a day? Do you see your sin as you bear burdens, thinking, I have to carry this because God is punishing me? Do you see the sin in coveting the spiritual graces and peace that other people have? Oh, I wish I had that. Right, I think this is one of the things Paul's getting at in Romans 7. When he says, I would not have known sin except the law, for I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, thou shalt not covet. And why was covetousness the sin that was so convicting? In part because Paul had thought he had kept the whole list, right? He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He had done everything well. He was trying to be good. And actually he probably was pretty good. He was a decent fellow apart from the fact that he's chasing these followers of the way. Paul knew he didn't have peace. Right? And there's sin in coveting what other people have. Right? He's trying to squash these new Christians. He's breathing out hatred. He's making a havoc of the church. But he couldn't get out of his mind this one picture. The picture of an event that had happened when he was a younger man. is at one point he had stood around a circle and people threw all these clothes at his feet because they were gonna pick up stones. And they were gonna throw them at this fellow named Stephen who was standing there. And Stephen had just looked up. He didn't even run away. He didn't fight back, he just looked up. calmly and almost with joy. Look, I see the heavens opened. I see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. And Paul knew Stephen had something he didn't have, and he realized he was coveting that. I want What he had, but he was full of anger, resentment, right? He wanted God to see he's doing all these things. He can give him the same gifts Stephen had. But his coveting became evidence of his own sinfulness. What sin was in front of Paul's eyes so big? It wasn't adultery like it was with David. No, it was covetousness. My sin is always before me. Right? And as in his life as Saul, he's avoiding grace. He's minimizing grace. He's not believing grace. He's trying to earn, earn, earn. And all the while, he's realizing, I don't have it. I'm not getting it. And you see, there's sin in chasing grace the wrong way. And there's sin in coveting the graces God gifts to others. God convicts all of his people of different sins in different sequence. And it's not the sequence that's important, it's the recognition that my sin, my sin, is always before me. And I daily increase my debt. My sins rise up against me. If thou, Lord, should count how many sins I've done, who could stand? But Psalm 51, is our example, again, in teaching us how to pray. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. But is that the way you pray? Or, still, is it a minimizing of the gospel? Don't see my sin. Right, it's not that. There's no appreciation for the gospel. Maybe it's appreciation for the gospel that's out there. But when the question comes up, how can I be saved? Who shall deliver me from this body of death? The impulse is still, I have to do it. And there's no surrender to God. But you see, we need to come to the point where we can say, I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's it. I thank God. Or do you see your sin of not thanking God for Jesus Christ? Right? That was perfectly man, perfectly righteous, yet more powerful than all creatures. He's one also very God. I've never looked to Him. And that fact just increases my sin every day. Or here's the fourth question. Or do you see your sin Not just in daily life, not just in worship, not just in response to the gospel, but do you see your sin nailed to the cross? Right, it's not so much the inward look anymore, it's not the guilt or the burden for that sin, but do you realize that God offers grace and pardon through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ? And have you seen all those sins, as big as they are in front of your eyes, as big as the burden was on your back, have you seen all of those sins as it were placed on Him and nailed to the cross? Yes, all the sufferings of the garden, all the temptations and the anguish that came on the Lord of glory. But as we read, he was sent for our salvation. And you need to see that all those sins that are in front of your eyes nailed to the cross. Now you think of the sufferings that Jesus had to endure, right? Blow after blow, stripe after stripe, thorn after thorn, curse after curse. Why? Right? Here's another sinner's list. Here's another sinner's sin. And it's not just out there, right? You want it to start coming from here. He took on my anger. He took on my pride. He took on my coveting. He took on my lust. He took on my pride to my siblings. He took on my half-hearted worship. He took on my minimizing of the gospel for all those years. He took it on, and for those reasons of me, He was deserted in darkness and anguish. And to bear my punishment, He cried out, My God! But you see, this is the blessing of the gospel then, isn't it? You can take all those sins that you see, and you can see them nailed to the cross. So as Paul tells the Colossians, you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he is made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of the requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, because he has taken it all, as it were, and nailed it to the cross. But the question again is that's not just for other people out there or maybe 90% of the people in here. It has to be your sight so you can see your sins nailed to the cross. Because if you are to, as the catechism says, look for this mediator and see the value in Christ on the cross, you need to realize the immensity of your sin and the inability to pay for your sin. But say, there's Jesus, and he went to the cross, and my sin, oh, the bliss of the glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole, was nailed to the cross. I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. But do you see it? Do you live it? John Piper uses a helpful illustration, and I usually wouldn't use a long illustration from someone else, but it's so compelling. This is Piper. It says, imagine three people. A man if you're a man, lady if you're a lady, child if you're a child. Just take three and make it fit your situation. But there's three people. And all three of them are standing beside this pit. It's deceptively attractive, but it's lethal. But you don't know how lethal it's gonna be and how quickly it will be lethal. It looks very attractive. And out of the pit come three ropes. One rope bound to each of the persons. And the strength of the rope is exactly the same for everybody. For the sake of the illustration, it's a hundred pound test. And the first person begins to get pulled into this pit that looks exciting, but he knows is not good. And there's five pounds of pressure. and there's 10 pounds of pressure, and there's 15 pounds of pressure, and he digs his heels in and he pushes back a little. It's 20, 25, and the rope starts to dig around his waist and he's uncomfortable. And he gives up, he says, I may as well go in. and he clicks the button of his mouse and enters a cesspool of sin. The second person begins to get pulled into the pit and there's 10 pounds of pressure, 20, 30, and he says, I'm gonna resist, I'm gonna fight back, and he digs in his heels and the rope starts to squeeze, but he says, no. And it's 40 pounds of pressure, 50 pounds, 60 pounds. It's getting harder because he's feeling his organs getting squeezed, the ropes tightening around him, and it begins to hurt. 70 pounds of pressure, and he says, I can't stand anymore. He jumps into the pit. Right? Click. The third person. has the same beginnings of experience. There's 10 pounds, 20 pounds, pulling him in. Like the others, he resists, digs his heels in, fights. There's 30 pounds of pressure, 40, 50, the rope squeezes just as it did the others. 60 pounds of pressure, it's harder to breathe as the rope tightens around his stomach. 70 pounds, he feels his feet slipping. 80, he cries out for help. He reaches out for anything that's gonna stop him. Sees his wife off in the distance. She's going about her business. She thinks he's doing well. Over there, his children are playing, their hearts just full of love for life. He's still getting pulled in towards the cesspool. And there's all this pressure. And he sees the scenario. Daily life. But in his mind, he sees Jesus Christ. With a gash in his side, nailed to the cross, hands outlifted, nail holes visible. And Jesus is looking at him. That's 80 pounds of pressure, and it's 90. And the rope's cutting in and he's starting to bleed. The pain's stabbing, he can't handle it. He's down to tears and crying out, but he's looking to Jesus on the cross, who he knows bore more and carried it for sinners. And there's a hundred pounds of pressure. And the rope snaps. And there's no click. There's no entrance into the cesspool. Which one of these three has gone to the cross who has seen their sin? And not just said, okay, I want to resist a little bit, but I'm going to give in. No, who's seen their sin and gone to Jesus with the sin? Of course, there's grace for those who failed, but the grace is for those who come to learn to look. And you don't need to live in sin to see sin. Right, David never had to say, I'm gonna continue in my sin so my sin's always in front of me. No, I flee it, I hate it, I resist it, I look to Jesus instead of it, but what do I see still? I see my sin and my sin drives me to him. I have to go back to the cross if I am to have any hope, any peace, any joy, any love, any rejoicing. It comes from knowing my sin and then taking that sin and knowing by grace it's nailed to the cross. And then you can look and say, my Lord, my God, what thou, my Lord, has suffered was all for sinners gain. Mine, mine was the transgression, but thine the deadly pain. Lo, here I fall, my Savior, tis I deserve thy place. Look on me with thy favor. Vouchsafe to me thy grace. Do you see your sin nailed to the cross? You bear it no more. There's still one more question. Do you see your sin buried in the grave. Jesus was taken down from the cross and he's carried into the grave. And what's that to teach us and remind us? It's dead. In Christ, sin is dead. In Christ, the power of sin is dead. If your sin is nailed to the cross, it stayed there on Him, but it goes with Him into the grave. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who have died to sin live any longer in it? We were buried with Him through baptism into death, and just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we should also walk in newness of life. And you see then, for everyone who looks to Jesus Christ and their sins being nailed to the cross, they can see that sin being buried, dead, and they can walk in newness of life. Right, their sin, yes, they see it, but it no longer condemns them. Their sin, they can see it, but it no longer stops them from living. Because where there is in Christ Jesus a remission for these sins, there is no longer an offering for sin. If Christ has taken those sins, you are no longer paying for them. And there's no expectation of you to pay for them. Spurgeon says it this way, there's no wrath left in God's heart against those for whom the Savior has died. Think of sin as badly as you can. Have it in front of your eyes as much as you can. But think right gloriously of Jesus Christ. There's no sin which the blood of Jesus cannot take away. There's no sin so big it cannot be nailed to the cross. There's no sins that are so many that they cannot be taken and buried in the grave and know that there is no wrath left in God's heart. For those who see their sin, but know it's nailed to the cross and buried with Him. So let's go back to the question. Do you see your sin? If you say, yes, I see my sin, in ways every day, but also at the cross and in the grave. You can go back to David, Psalm 51, right? Because it's David who also prays, restore to me the joy of salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. Oh Lord, my mouth shall show forth thy praise. Why? Because his sin was always before him. and he knew what God did for him. May we know the same. Let's pray.