The Small Hinge of Confession

A title that we have for our sermon today is The Small Hinge of Confession. The small hinge of confession. Every November, our nation gathers around tables, dinner tables, with their friends and family for the national holiday of Thanksgiving, formally established by Abraham Lincoln in 1863.

And remarkably, the day of Thanksgiving, it was established in one of the most darkest hours for our nation, the dark hours of the American Civil War. And what was so remarkable about it is that on that day, in the midst of war, Lincoln not only called the nation to Thanksgiving, but he more remarkably called the nation to a day to acknowledge and confess our sins. So, in the shadow of the national chaos, in the midst of civil war, brother fighting against brother, Lincoln did not ultimately blame the war on politics, nor did he blame the war on economics, nor even military miscalculations.

Rather, he pointed the blame for the civil war upon the nation's sin. And on that day, he dared suggest that the awful calamity of war, which was desolating the land, was in fact the chastening hand of our God upon the nation. And he declared on that day that the nation had forgotten God. So, this was an absolutely breathtaking moment in our nation's history, breathtaking, because in establishing this National Day of Thanksgiving, the President of the United States rebuked the nation for its sin, thereby proclaiming the same truth that God has pronounced from the beginning, where the Bible, when we read it, proclaims this same declaration that the chaos and the wars of the world flow from these sinful desires within the human heart.

And when mankind rejects God's rule in order to pursue pride, power, or selfish gain, then the conflict inevitably follows. The Bible says that. And likewise, God's people. We as God's people. When we look out on today's landscape, and when we look upon and analyze this war that we're in, we do so not merely with the lens of diplomacy or through the lens of strategy. We don't look upon the landscape of our war today through the lens of ideology or power. When we speak of war, we do not merely speak of geopolitical tensions, ethnic divisions, economic sanctions, historical grievances.

So, we say, as Lincoln said, and as the Bible says, the root of war is not found in foreign policy. The root of war is found in the human heart. That is the truth. Where do fights and wars come from among you? That's what Jesus' brother James asked. And then he said, do they not come from the desires and pleasures that war in your members?

That was James' conclusion. For your notes, that's James 4, James chapter 4. So, that's absolutely right. The battlefield begins within us. The chaos on the streets reflect the chaos within our souls. Violence in the nations mirrors our rebellion against God. The breaking of treaties reflects the broken relationship with our Creator. The world is in turmoil, not because God has failed, but because man has rejected God's way.

And it's been that way since the beginning. This war that we see today, and that we've seen throughout all the generations, it began way back in a moment in the Garden of Eden. Man rejected the authority of God on that day, and did not become free, but became ruled by sin. And sin fractures everything it touches. Our hearts, our homes, our churches, and sin ultimately fractures the nation.

So, if I want to put it in a sentence, here it is. This is the sobering truth. The chaos in war we see today, it has come upon us because of collective, multiplied, and institutionalized sin. I'll repeat that. This is not merely political failure. The chaos we see today in the world has come upon us because of collective, multiplied, and an institutionalized sin. And so, when Lincoln penned and stood up and spoke to the nation on that day in the then-raging civil war, he spoke some of the most incredible, striking words the nation has ever heard, and he evoked the need for the nation to acknowledge and confess their sins.

I'm going to read you a portion of Lincoln's speech now, and this serves as setting the foundation of our topic today of this whole matter of confession, confessing our sins to God as the only way to peace. Perhaps some of these words will, you'll remember some of these, maybe hearing these or reading these in school. Lincoln spoke in 1863, establishing the day of thanksgiving, and we really could call it a day. It should be better labeled the day of confession, perhaps. Here it is. Quote, quote, Lincoln spoke on that day, quote, it is the duty of nations, as well as men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow.

Yet, with assured hope and genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven throughout all of history, that those nations are blessed whose God is Lord. And we know that by His divine law, nations like individuals are subject to punishments and chastisements in the world. And he asked this question, he asked, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sin to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people.

I'll stop there for a moment. What a moment this was, and I'm sure you could hear a pin drop, perhaps, at this part of his speech, where he said, you know, look around, my brethren, my fellow countrymen and women.

Could this be the civil war? Could this be none other than the hand of God being applied in judgment due to our disobedience to Him?

Can you imagine a leader speaking these words today?

Could this be the wrath of God against our sin in order that we might experience a kind of national reformation, he says? Turning back to him, continuing with Lincoln, quote, 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 and wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched us and strengthened us. And we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings are produced by some superior wisdom or virtue of our own. Intoxicated with the unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to fill the necessity of the redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. Continuing. It has seemed then fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States and those who are at sea and those who are sojourning to foreign lands to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as the day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwells in the heavens." Unquote. And then he signed it, Abraham Lincoln, October 3rd, 1863. Well, there you have it. And again, we begin with Lincoln's powerful words to allow this speech to establish the focus for us today and onto this whole matter of confession.

Confession of our sins. Seeking forgiveness. So as to come back into obedience to God.

Now, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to perhaps assume that perhaps Lincoln, on that day, took some inspiration from one particular psalm in the Bible. There's one particular psalm in the Bible penned by David himself which strikes the same notes in Lincoln's speech to the nation that day. Do you know which psalm it is? It is a kind of confession of sin psalm, and it is Psalm 32.

So if you have your Bibles, I invite you to open them now to Psalm 32, and we'll begin reading in verse 1. Psalm 32 verse 1. Again, I don't think it's too much of an assumption to assume maybe Lincoln did reference or find his inspiration on that day from this particular psalm.

As we read it, we'll hear the echo of Lincoln's words here.

As the psalmist begins here, Psalm 32, let's read verses 1 through 5 to begin.

This could almost be an extension of Lincoln's speech that day.

Psalm 32 verse 1. The psalmist, David says, 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.

Now listen to verse 3 as he now records the fact that he has unconfessed sin.

Verse 3, David continues, When I kept silent, my bones grew old, through my groaning all day long.

For day and night your hand, God, was heavy upon me. My vanity was turned into the drought of summer.

Selah. And then listen to verse 5. Here is a turning point where he finally opened his mouth in confession. Verse 5, I acknowledged my sin to you and my iniquity. I have not hidden, and I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you, God, forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Selah. Let's stop there. By the way, side note, Selah is a word that is given to allow the listener or the reader to consider, to pause and consider what was just said or what was just written. So he says, Selah there at the end. And very clearly, as we utilize the Selah, we realize that David's dire condition was simply on the fact of unconfessed sin. And in a way, he is the psalmist. David was kind of having his own kind of civil war that was battling within himself. You know, that war within us. God is calling us out of our own nature and calling us to his nature. It's that battle, that civil war within us between the flesh and the spirit. So this is strikingly the psalmist's dreadful condition as a result of unconfessed sin. When I kept silent, he said, I had this dreadful condition here. So in other words, when I was tolerating sin, when I had not acknowledged the issue at hand, the true issue at hand, it's not about all this auxiliary things. What's the real issue? Where's the true battle occurring? This is the thought process that David's going through here. And the absolute contrast to verse 3 is verse 1. And verse 1 says, well, okay, blessed is he, David begins, whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. So it's almost like you get this picture that David's speaking to his own heart. Okay, this is what I know. Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered. Yet, I kept silent. Verse 3. This is where he's at. He's living in, he's not living in the blessing of confession, which leads to peace, peace, that inner war, peace to that inner war. You know, this is the repentance process.

It is the beautiful repentance process. One of the things I always want to get across to our young people who are stepping into this, their following Christ, is to really grab on and to love this repentance process, where you can have any and all guilt lifted from you, the guilt from sin. But you have to start. There's a process, it's a beautiful process, that leads to that forgiveness, and also the power to not return to that very thing that is caused to this war within you. A little bit of a side trip, by the way.

That's why, in considering this beautiful process of repentance, that's why I think one of the most ugly and erroneous teachings in mainstream Christianity is that repentance is kind of this once and for all act. So as you go through baptism, perhaps, you're cleansed, and they will erroneously put forth the ugly teaching, that is a singular act, and you never have to engage the repentance process again. It's erroneous. It's ugly. And I think that's why many men and women, even in so-called Christian circles around the world, they carry around a type of guilt that is more heavy than you could ever imagine. And it's affecting their emotions, it's affecting their mental state, it's affecting their physical health. Because they don't know this beautiful gift God has given us of repentance.

And this is what David needed to discover on that day.

And perhaps this is the process that the nation needed to discover, and Lincoln knew that.

It's an ongoing process in the believer's experience, bringing our sins to God, seeking forgiveness to overcome them, and then enjoying the blessing and peace which God intends.

And that's where the psalmist is here. He's marked by silence here. An internal civil war was occurring because he remained silent. And, you know, David needed to realize that there needed to be something that was verbalized and brought to God. Lincoln understood the nation needed to verbalize and bring this to God. The real civil war, the reason for it. This is what we all need to discover.

And confession of sins and guilt is where the process begins.

It's interesting we know this, but we don't always do it. David, I think, he knew God's ear would be open to him and that blessing was available. He states it right at the beginning, but yet he remained silent. Very relatable. You know, this is one area that we could certainly all relate to David in. There's a sorry that needed to be given, that needs to be given, and a sin acknowledged, a forgiveness sought, a word was needed for liberation and peace, but despite knowing that, we remain burdened by guilt, the guilt of sin.

John knew this need, and he spoke about it very directly in one of the most well-known scriptures in all the Bible, but I'm not sure. Even though it's well known, I don't know if there's many women that understand the exact beauty of it. So if you will keep your marks here. Let's see what John says on this matter. Just one verse. Keep your marker here in the Psalm, and let's turn over to 1 John 1.9, where John wrote on this topic of confession.

John 1 verse 9. Excuse me, 1 John 1.9. 1 John 1 verse 9.

So the letter of 1 John chapter 1 verse 9, just one verse, simply stated. Perhaps you could write this on your heart this Passover season and return to it again and again.

1 John 1 verse 9. John simply writes, if we confess our sins, He, God, is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Let's stop there. This is the quote we need to internalize here and live in the experience of it. If we confess our sins to God, He's faithful. We know that. He's faithful to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, to do the supernatural work to help us not return to that state again. How is forgiveness and cleansing possible, brethren? How is forgiveness and cleansing possible? Well, the possibility begins with a two-letter word, if.

If we confess our sins, then this is available to us.

Now, the inspiration of the title comes from several commentary which, in speaking of this verse here in 1 John, a few of the commentators describe this verse in this way.

That, quote, we have here in this one verse, what we have here is a very large door swinging on a very small hinge. I'll quote that again to you. What we have here in this verse from John is a very large door swinging on a very small hinge, the small hinge being the word if, and the large door being the experience of forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness.

David needed to engage this small hinge of confessed sin in order to bring peace to this inner civil war that was occurring in him. The nation, Lincoln knew, the nation needed to engage in this small hinge, engage this small hinge to open this wide door in order for there to be true peace within the nation and the civil war that was occurring. Now, turning back to Psalm 32, if you will, verse 3. With all of this, we could ask then, it's a natural question, why did then David stay silent when he knew these things? The blessing was there for him to receive. Why the difficulty in engaging this small hinge when you know the large door will fling open if you do?

It's a good question. You know, David hadn't always been silent. He had very strong bones, we could say. He was very physically vitalized when he was out there on the the hillside tending to the sheep, and God was doing a work with him out there, and he was conquering different animals and learning different spiritual lessons, engaging in God no doubt daily there on the green hillsides in his youth. Back then, God seemed so close to him, no doubt. Seemed real to him.

He knew, perhaps, the wonder of God's grace, or was beginning to grow in it in a young age, but here he's no longer in that experience, and he's silent.

Likewise, why do we, brethren, why do we stop talking to God in this way?

Why do we stay silent when we know there's a word to be spoken? Why have we grown silent, perhaps feeling burdened by the weight of guilt, carrying unconfessed sin?

You know, this, David was in a space of the despair over his sin, adultery and murder was what David was feeling, the incredible guilt, the burden. So, perhaps likewise, there is a burden of guilt upon your heart, and one of the results of that is closed lips. And you're not even bringing it to God. For some reason, the despair of the sin has caused you to grow silent. It's crushing. David had the awareness of his sin, and I believe that's what was happening here. And he's in this horrible condition here, holding on to the guilt.

And perhaps, feeling that forgiveness for you is not possible.

How could God swing open this door in your life? You know? So you don't cry out to him.

And this crushing, you're in this space of crushing silence and despair.

Well, if that's you, I want to tell you today on the strength of Scripture that the orb of God's grace is vast. Vast.

Vast.

And so vast that if you know this kind of remorse in your heart, due to this the enormity of the sin that's within your life, that there is no way to step outside of his grace.

And I believe if you're feeling this weight, it is, in fact, good news. Because it is God pricking your heart by the power of the Holy Spirit for the purpose for you to come out of the silence. And so, as you listen to this word and as you think about the Psalmist David, as you look at your own condition here, remember that as soon as you would open your mouth in confession, you will then begin the process, the beautiful process, to discover the reality of forgiveness. Think of the small hinge if you're in that moment. If. If we confess our sins. It begins there. It begins there. The hymn writer says it perfectly.

You know, we sing this weekly or monthly, Search me, O God. Here's the process, the words of confessed sin, where we open our mouths and we say, Search me, O God, and know my heart today.

I want to begin to verbalize these things. Try me, O Savior, and know my thoughts. I pray.

I don't want anything hidden from you, God. See if there be some wicked way in me.

And then what comes? Cleanse me from every sin and set me free.

So, our coming to God is first. It's the first beautiful part of the process. And then comes the cleansing and the setting of free. This is what David needed to end the Civil War within him. This is what the nation needed to end the Civil War between brothers.

But no, at this moment in David's experience of verse 3, only silence. And he says his bones were growing old. I don't know if you know that experience. I have been so burdened by sin in my life, it affects me physically, you know, where you just feel this heaviness. You can barely get out of bed. What do I do with this heaviness? Groaning here. You know, perhaps you've gotten in your car and all you can do is just kind of a groan here. And it's the recognition that perhaps the groaning is as a result of unconfessed sin.

This kind of groan comes when you're fully aware of your sin, but you have forgotten that you have a Savior. That's this kind of groaning. Oh, you're fully aware of where you've missed the mark, but you've forgotten what to do at that point. And ultimately, you've forgotten God. You've forgotten your Savior.

And David's initial impulse was to stifle that guilt, but I believe he's penning this Psalm for us so that we could benefit from it and not repeat the experience he had to go through. Did you know that the safest place for a sinner to be is with God? The safest place for a sinner to be is with God, is with the one who can change your experience, can change your position.

Go to him. It's the safest place.

Because you'll notice when David changes his perspective, everything changes. Verse 5 again, Psalm 32 verse 5, I acknowledged my sin to you and my iniquity. I did not hide. Search me, O God. Know my thoughts, I pray. And he says, I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. It's almost as if he's telling himself that I will do this. I will do this.

And then he experienced the forgiveness, and you will forgive my iniquity of my sin, selah. Perhaps the selah was for his own heart. I need to consider these things.

And this is what Lincoln was speaking to the nation about. We need to consider these things.

I'm surprised Lincoln didn't finish the Declaration for Thanksgiving with Selah.

Consider these things, nation. But thankfully, as for David, we know he did find his voice here.

If you allow your eyes to go down here in this Psalm, verse 11, David then, at the conclusion of it all, says, Be glad, brethren, be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, you righteous, and shout for joy all you upright in heart. He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So now David's proclaiming, you are righteous. You can stand righteous before God for the saving work that Jesus Christ has now applied in your life. And you now can go forward, not heavy and low, but now with a upright heart. He says, wow, just a matter of a few verses here, he's able to reach these things. And that's why I'm glad, perhaps, and it's even more fitting that Lincoln didn't declare it a day of confession. I think declaring it a day of thanksgiving is actually more appropriate, because that's the end result of all of this is thanksgiving. Thanksgiving.

But it starts when we would employ that little small hinge, if. So this is the encouragement for us today, that the Father loves us and longs to set us free.

And interestingly, David doesn't leave this part out. God's initiative in helping us move to the upright heart and rejoicing. God helps us in this. God is so great.

Look at verse 4, where David says, for day and night your hand, God, was heavy upon me.

That's a great blessing. Did you know that's a great blessing? If God's heavy hand is upon you day and night, making known to you of the sin?

Did you know that's a great blessing? It's wonderful. It's God's initiative here, and the knowledge that God's hand was heavy upon us here. It is a fact for rejoicing in thanksgiving, because when God's heavy hand is upon your life, and when He confronts you again and again, confronts your silent voice again and again, we rejoice because we know He does it for a purpose.

And the purpose to which He puts a heavy hand on our lives is to bring us and move us to do the thing, to engage the small hinge in our lives, and to say, Father, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. So David says, I acknowledge my sin to you. And then look at this large door that swings open. Verses 4 through 7. Here's the large door. So David says, I acknowledge my sin to you. Verse 4, In my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. And then look at this big door here.

Verse 5, 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, the flood of waters, shall not come near him. You, God, are my hiding place. You shall preserve me from my trouble. You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. God says, verse 8, I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go. 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 or a bridle, else they would not come near.

Do not be like that. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. And then verse 11, Be glad in the Lord, rejoice you righteous, and shout for joy all you upright in heart. Let's stop there. The small hinge of the if here then leads to this large door with all these blessings here that David would receive, and that we will receive as well. But it all begins and is made possible by the small hinge of confession. Confession. So we know that we need not walk around burdened in despair over the guilt of our sin. We need not walk around with the constant internal civil war between our two natures. No, we can be set free. We can be cleansed, forgiven.

Peace is available to us. And so as we conclude, this brethren absolutely was an incredible blessing in David's life. When he truly discovered this, this beautiful process that God offers us, this is the blessing for David. And one day, this will be the blessing for our nation, in all nations, when Christ returns and when he does, when he establishes a true day of thanksgiving. It'll be a kind of forever day. A national reformation will be pronounced.

And we'll have this holy forever day of thanksgiving. But until then, let's engage this small hinge and let it be said of us, not if, but as David said, I will, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. And he will then swing open this large door of forgiveness, blessing, and peace.

Selah.