The Hinge

Well, we've had a wonderful beginning, so let's get right to it. The title of our sermon study, the second sermon study today, is The Little Hinge. The Little Hinge. Just a few days ago, many of us observed the day of Thanksgiving, of course, a day established by Abraham Lincoln back in the year... class? Did we know this? 1863? Did we get that right? 1863. And he established this day, actually celebrating partly victories in the then still raging Civil War. And in establishing this day, he spoke some of the most incredibly striking words. As he was the leader of the nation at that time, of course, Lincoln remarkably evoked the need for the nation to confess their sins, humble themselves before God, simply stated he urged the nation at that time to bring their sins to God for forgiveness. I'm going to read you a portion of Lincoln's speech here as it's going to direct our sermon topic revolving around this whole matter of confessing our sins and imploring to God for forgiveness. Lincoln speaks 1863, establishing this day of Thanksgiving, quote, quote, It is the duty of nations, as well of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with the assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth announced in holy scriptures and proven throughout all of history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord. We know that by his divine law, nations, like individuals, are subject to punishments and chastisements in the world. And then he asked this question, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of the civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? He asked. I'm going to stop there for a moment. Think about what Lincoln is saying here. He says that the civil war at that time in which they were experiencing may be nothing more than the judgment of God upon a nation for their disobedience.

Incredible. Can you imagine a leader today, evoking these words, suggesting that the chaos that's before us in our nation today is nothing more than an indication of the punishment and wrath of God against our sin, and that God is inflicting this wrath upon us in order that we might experience a national obedience, reformation, necessary to survive as a nation?

Continuing from his speech, Lincoln says, We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has grown. But we have forgotten God, and we have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us. And we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and persevering grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us.

Continuing, it seems fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart, one voice by the whole American people. I, therefore, do invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, also those who are at sea, also those who are so journeying in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwells in the heavens." Signed, Abraham Lincoln, October 3rd, 1863.

Those are powerful words there. And I thought we'd allow this speech to inspire us today and move us to a deeper understanding of this whole matter of confessing sin, seeking forgiveness of God to obtain the power to overcome and move back to Him in righteousness.

And in thinking about these matters, there is one particular psalm that deals exclusively with these things. And perhaps Lincoln, no doubt, was a student of Scripture. Perhaps he was thinking of this very psalm as he penned that letter to the nation. It's Psalm 32. So if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn together to Psalm 32 as it is, again, fitting for our focus this afternoon of confession, of seeking forgiveness. We're going to read beginning in verse 1 all the way through verse 11. You will see here in Psalm 32 that Lincoln, no doubt, struck some of these notes that we're about to read here. The psalmist begins Psalm 32 verse 1. Here it is.

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and whose spirit there is no deceit. The psalmist says, verse 3, When I kept silent, my bones grew old, through my groanings all day long. For day and night your hand, God, was heavy upon me. My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah verse 5. Here he's going to begin to speak to God. I acknowledged my sin to you, and my iniquity was not, I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave my the iniquity of my sin. Selah. For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near him. You are my hiding place. You shall preserve me from trouble. You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Verse 8. I will instruct you now God is speaking and teach you in the way you should go. God says, I will guide you with my eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with a bit and bridle, else they would not come near you. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he who thirst in the Lord shall mercy shall surround him. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

Let's stop there. So very quickly when you begin this psalm you're confronted with the dire effect of unconfessed sin, because you'll notice the psalmist's dreadful condition again. Verse 3, when he says, when I kept silent, he says, my bones grew old through my groaning all day long. He says so he was living in a condition of essentially tolerating the sin, allowing it to remain by allowing it to be unspoken, undelt with, if you will. By contrast, in that way, he wasn't living in the blessing that comes from forgiveness. That's verse 1. Verse 1 is the contrast of that condition that the psalmist was in. Verse 1 clearly says, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. So that's the contrast. But again, the psalmist was not living in this blessing of confession, leading to forgiveness, leading to the blessing of joy, the blessing of liberation through the repentance process here, the liberation brought by bringing our sin before God, asking for forgiveness and the power to turn from that sinful behavior.

I'll just say as a side note, there is a misunderstood, erroneous teaching that once you've come to that initial faith and confessed your sin, that the erroneous teaching is that, nah, you don't have to worry about it from that point on. It's been dealt with once and for all past, present, future. You will hear that erroneously taught in the world's pulpits. But it's not so. When you read the Bible, you know that the repentance process, it's an ongoing aspect of the believer's experience. And as clearly as this psalm says, if we quit bringing our sins to God, quit seeking forgiveness on a daily basis, fail to do this daily, we're going to be in this state. We're not going to enjoy the blessing that God intends for us here. So we do see this condition, and it's a horrible condition that's marked by silence. Silence. When I kept silent, he says, he knew there was a word to be spoken. He knew that God's ear was open to his cry, yet he remained silent.

I don't know about you, but I don't think I'm the only one that can relate to this and identify with these words. You know, to know what it is, to know that there's a word that needs to be said, but to remain silent, to live in the realm where you know there's a sorry that needs to be extended and said, forgiveness sought, a word given to bring about liberation, to restore joy, restore all that it's meant to be in our Christian experience, but to remain silent. Have you been in that condition? And all that, despite what we know about 1 John 1.9. This may be a memory scripture for you, but keep your marker here. I want to show you the clear teaching. Keep your marker here of 1 John 1.9. After I read it, you'll say, oh yes, I know that scripture. Let's look at that just to remind ourselves. 1 John 1.9, I just want you to see how clearly stated it is with regards to confessing our sins. 1 John 1.9, here it is, simply stated, if we confess our sins, he God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We know this scripture, but we don't live in the experience of it, do we? If we confess our sins, he's faithful just to forgive our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So let's be crystal clear here. Crystal clear. How is forgiveness possible? How is cleansing possible? How is forgiveness possible? How is cleansing possible?

Well, the possibility begins with a two-letter word, and that two-letter word is the word if. If. If we confess our sins. I saw this quote from an anonymous theologian. I tried to find an individual to assign it to, but it really, this quote is the inspiration for our title today. Let me give you this quote regarding this particular scripture that we just read. Here's the quote. What we have here in this verse is a very large door swinging on a very small hinge. Okay? A small hinge. The small hinge being the word if. So the large door being that of the experience of forgiveness. The large door being that of the cleansing of God being applied. This big door of forgiveness and cleansing all made possible by the small hinge of confession.

Small hinge of confession. So in turning back to Psalm 32, Psalm 32, again verse 3, if this is the means, if confession is the means to this large door, this large blessing being available to us, we might ask, why did the psalmist stay quiet? We might ask, why do we stay quiet? You know, again, Psalm 32.3, when I kept silent, he says, why did he keep silent?

This, of course, the psalmist, of course, is David. We know this. He stopped saying sorry, simply. Suddenly, he was no longer on speaking terms with God, and he had enjoyed such a good relationship there on the hillside, looking after the sheep. At that time, God was so close to him. At that time, God seemed so real to him. At that time, God's grace was so precious to him. But now, in his experience, it's no longer. He kept quiet. Why did the psalmist, why did David stop talking to God? Why do we stop talking to God? Perhaps you're in one of these silent experiences. You know, we know God should be the first person that we speak to in the morning when we wake up. And then we should continue to talk to him through the day. And he should be the last person that we say good night to, if you will, when we lay our head down on the pillow. Does he hear your voice every day here? If not, what's this condition of silence? Why was David in this condition?

We might speculate in different ways. I think, though, perhaps for David, it's simply the silence of despair. Despair. He was overwhelmed at this point. I mean, in my silence, he says, my bones grew old, he says. Groaning, groaning. You know, he was in the crushing awareness of his sin, the despair. Believing, I believe, it's very clear that he didn't think he could ever be forgiven.

So why ask? He's right in the midst here of his fall with God, out of his relationship with God in his experiences with Bathsheba. That's where he is at this point. And he finds himself in this horrible condition emotionally, physically, spiritually. Are you here? Are you here? Are you silent today? Is it because of despair? Boy, one of the things that really can silence us in our relationship with God is this guilt of heart. I know I've experienced that. The very the very moment that you should come to God most intimately is the very times that we pull back. It's part of our human nature. And I think it is because somehow we know that God died for our sins. We know forgiveness is possible, but somehow or another it's possible for everyone else but me.

So we don't speak. We don't cry out to him. And within our heart is this crushing silence of despair. If you're there, if you're there on the strength of Scripture, I just want to assure you that if you know within your heart some desire to turn and come back to God, then you have not sent yourself out of God's grace. You know, God's grace is so big, so overwhelming. He's so gracious. If you know just anything in your heart of remorse, grab on to that. Grab on to that. You're still within God's grace. And you listen to the words of David here and his condition. You may see something of yourselves here. And just remember, as soon as you would open your mouth in confession to God, it's a very personal process, you will begin to start this process of opening the door to discover this reality of forgiveness and all that comes with it. The hymn writer picks up on David's words. This is for your notes. We won't turn there, but it's Psalm 139 where David says, search me, O God. We're going to sing this song in a little bit. I've asked to make it our last song. Search me, O God. Know my heart today. Try me, O Savior. Know my heart, I pray. I don't want anything to be hidden from you. I am laying it out to you, Father. See if there be some wicked way in me. And then what comes? That's the hinge. Then what comes? Cleanse me from every sin and set me free.

So you see, our coming to God first with this verbal confession opens the door for cleansing and the ability to set you free from that sin that's had its grip on you.

So David's voice was silent here. Strength was gone. Bones growing old. Groaning. Groaning. Maybe you've been in your car, you know, closed the bathroom door to get some privacy. And you've had this groaning. I have. I've been prostrate on the ground before. Just, oh, you know, couldn't put a sentence together. Groaning. And it's an unconfessed sin. And when people groan like this, what it is, is that they've learned their sin, which is good. It's front and center. But they've forgotten their Savior. That's what the groaning is. Your sin is front and center in your awareness, but you've forgotten your Savior. So all you can do is groan. All you can do is groan. And the initial impulse is to stifle that guilt by silence rather than bring it to God. Uncover it. Bring it to God. Because you'll notice, verse 5, everything changes once David opens his mouth here in confession. Look at this. Verse 5. He says, I acknowledged my sin to you. Verse 5. There's the hinge. This is the small hinge. And my iniquity I have not hidden. I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. And you forgave my iniquity of my sin. So here he was now. He had been out of communication. His strength was ebbing away physically. He is just nothing of himself physically. I don't know if you've ever been spiritually out of line and spiritually in the depths, it affects you physically.

I have the opportunity to help my son in school. And this reminded me of Hamlet's great soliloquy. I'm going to take you back to school for a moment. I'm sorry. Hamlet to be or not to be. That's the question. And what Hamlet was saying is, to die or not to die. That was the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take up arms against the sea of troubles by opposing them, end them. So I'm in this despair, this pits, the play says, Hamlet says, to die, he says, to sleep no more and by sleep to say, end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to. Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep, to sleep, perhaps to dream. Ah, there's the rub, he says. It's a great commentary on the human condition.

He's thinking, am I better off to live or to die? And his conclusion is, I don't think this despair will ever leave me. That's the human condition without God. That's where David is. That's where Lincoln was. When Lincoln looked out at the nation, he said, don't mistake some of our victories to somehow mean that God's pleased with us. Don't think that for a moment. We need to get on our knees. We need to ask God for forgiveness.

We need to confess our sins. That's what he was saying. That's what he was saying. And David is in the depths here. And so how does David get from verse three all the way to verse 11? Look at verse 11. Well, your eyes to go down to verse 11. After experiencing all that he said at the beginning there, he now says, verse 11, Be glad, be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous, and shout for joy all you upright in heart. How does David get to this place of rejoicing?

How does Lincoln start off his speech that way and then declare a day of thanksgiving? How does he get there? Well, this is the encouragement for us because in the midst of it all, we have a God who loves us, and he longs to just set us free, set us free from the grip of sin and all the despair it brings.

And God's hand is initiative. He takes the initiative with us. Look at verse four. Going back up to verse four, verse four is the best news you and I could hear in this condition. It might seem counterintuitive at first, but it is the best news.

Verse four, For day and night your hand, God, was heavy upon me. That's actually good news. David says, I wake up in the morning, your hand's heavy on me. Have you experienced that throughout the day? God's hand is heavy upon you. You lay down at night, you can't sleep. God's hand is heavy upon you. This is wonderful. This is wonderful. This is where the rejoicing begins. This is where the thanksgiving comes from because God is confronting us again and again, and He's confronting our silent voice. That's what He's confronting here. The condition of despair.

We rejoice that His hand is heavy on us because it's for a purpose, and it's for one purpose and one purpose only. He says, I want you to come to me in humility and weakness and say, forgive me. Forgive me, Father. I am sorry. I'd be remiss not to mention at this point the prodigal son. I mean, what we're talking about here, it's the prodigal son, and I love this story. Keep your marker here. I've got to turn there. It's one of my favorite stories.

We'll just turn there for a moment, but it's Luke 15, beginning in verse 16. Keep your marker there in Psalm 32. We'll come back in a moment. But Luke 15, let's read verse 16 through 24. Luke 15 verse 16 through 24. Here he is in the pigs' mire.

David was in the pigs' mire, if you will. Nothing left of the prodigal son, physically, emotionally, nothing of himself. So much so, verse 16, Luke 15 verse 16, so much so, so nothing of himself that he, the son, would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. But, verse 17, he's beginning to discover the small hinge. Here it is. Verse 17, gracefully, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have bred enough and despair, and I perish with hunger? I will arise and go to my father and say to him, here it is, the small hinge.

Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, Verse 20. Do you hear this? This is not the prodigal son running. This is the father, out on the front porch, every morning, looking for his son. And the minute he sees him, he's gone. Running, falls on his son's neck, hugs him, kisses him. Oh, I've been waiting for this son. Just been waiting for you to come out of the mire.

And here you are. And look at this big door here. Look at this big door beginning in verse 22. The father said to his servants, bring out the best robe, put it on him, put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet. Verse 23. Bring out the fatted calf and kill it. Let us eat and be merry. Rejoice, Thanksgiving. Verse 24. For this is my son. He was dead and is alive again. He was lost and he's found. And they began to be merry. What a large door this is. Do you know this? Do you know this experience? You know, God, as it were, is standing, waiting for us to come in the realm of the small hinge of confession, begin to open this wonderful door here.

And going back to Psalm 32, as we work to a conclusion here, I just want to show you, this is the pattern. David is experiencing nothing more than what the prodigal son experienced. Look at this. Psalm 32 verse 7. After the confession, though the one who was heavy on him with a heavy hand now becomes his hiding place.

Look at this. Psalm 32 verse 7. David now says, you are my hiding place. You shall preserve me from trouble. You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. After the confession. And look, and then God moves into instruction. Verse 8. I'm going to instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with my eye. So I'm going to, not only am I going to forgive you and restore you, I'm going to start instructing you.

You're back with me. You're under my house, so I'm going to start instructing you how you can come out of this mire for good so you don't go back. I'm going to instruct you in these ways. Boy, I'm so glad you came to me. You know, he says, this is the beginning. This is the beginning to the joy of forgiveness, thanksgiving, placing ourselves under his protection. He's our hiding place, preserving us from trouble.

So as we conclude, I hope you know you don't need to walk around burdened and in despair, perhaps troubled sleep, feeling destroyed, hindered by your past.

Let's come to God in humble confession. Let him know you want to be set free, cleansed, covered, forgiven. May we all access this wonderful big door through this little tiny hinge of confession.