Hidden Faults

Psalm 19. I'd like you to stand with me as we read the entire chapter of Psalm 19.

! In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.

It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other. Nothing is hidden from its heat. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous.

They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold. They are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned, and in keeping them there is great reward.

Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins. May they not rule over me.

Then will I be blameless, innocent of the great transgression. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight.

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. If you have your Bibles open to Psalm 19, that is the passage from which our text comes tonight.

I wonder if you've ever hidden anything so well that even you couldn't find it. Like your glasses.

Or years ago, whenever my wife would buy sweets and bring them home, we would need to hide them.

Because if we didn't, our children would have the bag empty before sundown. And so it was Christmas time, I believe, and she had bought a bag of bite-sized candy bars to stuff the stockings.

And after doing that, we still had quite a few left in one of the bags. And so I did the responsible thing and hid them in a place where no one could find them.

I hid them in a drawer that no one ever used. Not even me. And I hid them so well that I forgot that they were even there. And I didn't have another thought of them until years later.

I was in that drawer and I said, oh yes, I now remember. But they were as hard as rocks and good to no one. Now according to David in this psalm, the same thing can happen with our sins.

They can be hidden so well that even we cannot find them. We can not even know that they are there. Our text is verse 12 of Psalm 19.

Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Now there's just two main points here. A shocking realization and then a cry of confession.

First, the shocking realization. It's this, that right now as you sit there and as I stand here, we have sins that we are not even aware of.

Now just let that sink in. We're aware of some of our sins. But as we are here tonight, we have sins that we aren't even aware of ourselves.

Who can discern his errors? Who can see them? Who can detect them? Who can find them? David is acknowledging that his own sins and faults are very difficult to discern.

And almost in exasperation, he cries, Who can discern his errors? Not me. Spurgeon says that the question mark should be an exclamation mark.

Who can? It's a statement of we can't discern our errors. And so David is realizing that he has hidden faults that not even he is aware of.

They remain hidden. Certainly not from God. For nothing in all creation is hidden from his sight. And maybe not even from other men who may well see his faults.

But rather they remained hidden from himself. He could not detect them. Now how did David make this discovery about himself?

Notice the context. He's talking about the two books of God's revelation. First, there is the book of creation. And it reveals that God is glorious. But then there's the revelation.

The book of the law of God. The scriptures. And he talks about that book. It's perfect. The perfect law. It's trustworthy. It's right. It's radiant.

It's pure. It endures forever. It's sure. It's altogether righteous. It's precious. It's sweet. The law of God. It sets forth our duty to God and to man.

It tells us what God expects of us. It's the standard of what he accepts as right in his eyes. And it's in the light of this perfect law of God that David cries out.

Who can discern his errors? He looks at this perfect law and he says, who can discern his own errors? His hidden faults.

Who can discern all the ways that we come short of this standard? Paul says, by the law is the knowledge of sin. It's through the law that we become aware of our sin.

And the more we understand of the law of God, the more we understand of our sin. And the more we understand of how little we know of our sin.

Isn't that the way it works? Do you remember when you were first converted? And as you studied the word of God, you started seeing that some of the things you've been doing for years.

That's sin. And you begin to wonder, what else is there in my life that's sinful? And that's a progressive thing that goes on and on in our lives. Remember David Vaughn, our missionary to France, telling us about that lady in the Bible study that announced to the ladies in the group, I never sin.

And she remained in the Bible study long enough to where she then one day announced to the ladies, I never do anything but sin. Every day, all day.

Who can discern the number of ways that we sin against our God? That's the point that Dave, that's the realization that David has here. He says in Psalm 40, my sins have overtaken me.

I cannot see. They're more than the hairs of my head. You can sooner count the number of hairs on your head than you can count the ways that you sin against your God.

That's what he's saying. Because many of them remain hidden from you. So at any given point, we only are aware of the tip of the iceberg.

And God is aware of the whole mountain of our sin that is beneath the surface. Who can discern his hidden faults?

That's the shocking realization. We have sins that we are not even aware of. Now, what is it then that makes our errors so hard for us to discern?

Why are so many of our faults hidden to us? And I think one reason, we'll look at seven. One is an erroneous view of the law, a faulty view of the law.

You know, we can think that God just demands that we live in a certain way as to our external behavior. And we think of the law of God as only touching what we do on the outside.

People think, indeed, in Jesus' day, they thought if they hadn't put a knife in the heart of their neighbor, then they hadn't violated the sixth command, you shall not murder. And they thought if they hadn't been in bed with their neighbor's wife, that they'd not violated the seventh commandment.

You shall not commit adultery. If they hadn't robbed a bank, they were not guilty of the eighth. You shall not steal. Paul had that legalistic, externalistic view of the law.

And he tells us when he looked at his life, he thought he was perfect before the law. He thought he measured up just fine with God's law. I think our brother this morning in his testimony said much the same.

He thought he was good with God. Don't do this, this and this. And I'm good to go. But then something happened to Paul.

Remember, he says the commandment came with power to my heart. And when I came to see what God's law really required, he says, I died.

Then I saw how many sins I had. I wouldn't have known what sin was if the law hadn't said thou shalt not covet. But when I saw what the law really required, I saw what a sinful man I was and am.

And so with us. It's not just that that happens once, but it's a progressive thing, isn't it? It goes on and on right through life so that Paul begins by saying that he was less than the least of all the saints.

But by the end of his life, he says, I'm the chief of sinners. I'm sinner number one. As he sees more of God's holiness. More of his sinfulness.

More of the fact that there's so much more that he's not even aware of. So you're in a dark room and suddenly the sun peeks through out from behind the clouds and streaks of sunlight shine into the room.

Revealing thousands of pieces of dust that you've been breathing all that time and didn't know it. They were always there. But it was the burst of light that showed it to you.

So with our hearts, the more the light of God's truth and his law and his spirit shine in, the more sin we see.

And the more we realize that there's a whole lot more that we haven't seen. And still don't see. Who can discern his errors? His hidden faults.

David himself had come to see the spiritual nature of the law. That the law puts requirements and demands far more than just our outward behavior.

It puts demands upon our spirits, upon our hearts. He says in Psalm 119.96, To all perfection I see a limit. But your commands are boundless.

Your commands are exceeding broad. God. They make demands not only upon what I do with my hands and my feet, my eyes. But they make demands on all sorts of inward behavior.

Every thought that I think. Every inward desire. Every motivation of my heart. Every word that crosses my lips.

So that an angry word is murder in the heart. A lustful look is adultery of the heart. Greed is idolatry of the heart.

In other words, God's law is exceedingly broad. And it makes demands that far extend beyond just what we do on the outside. Consider how exceeding broad God's command is just in one area.

With what we do with our tongues. When words are many, sin is not absent. Proverbs 10.19 says.

When you talk a lot, there will be a lot of sin. In other words, we sin a whole lot more with our speech than we may even realize. All day long we're talking.

How many sins of speech are we unaware of every day of our lives? Every unkind word. Every untrue word. Every embellished, exaggerated word.

Every deceiving word. Every self-centered word. Every gossiping word. Every slanderous word. Every proud word. Every bitter, sinfully angry word.

Every word that does not edify those who hear it. But hear this. Every careless word. Every idle word. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 12.36.

I tell you that men will have to give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. Are you aware of how many careless words you've spoken this last week?

I'm not. Who can discern his errors? Who can even begin to fathom the amount of our hidden faults? We all stumble in many ways, James says.

And if anyone is never at fault in what he says, he's a perfect man. And so when we realize how far reaching the demands of God's law, how far their fingers reach into our lives and into our thoughts and inward beings, we too will say what David.

Who can discern his errors? They're far more than we ever know. Now, why is it that it's so hard to discern them then? Well, first of all, an improper view of the law.

We think it only requires things outward. And we come to see, no, that it makes demands of our insides, too. Second thing that makes it hard to discern our own errors is our proud love of self.

It's thinking too highly of ourselves that blinds us to our own sins. Have you ever known parents who had such high view of their kids that they were blind to anything that they ever did wrong?

They couldn't even see their faults because their kids were perfect in their eyes. Well, the same thing can be true of our own faults. We can have such a high view of ourselves that we fail to see our own sins.

It's pride. It's it's this inflated view of self. Listen to what David says in Psalm 36 and verse two.

As he speaks of the sinfulness of the wicked, he says. In his own eyes, he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin.

He flatters himself too much to even detect the fact that he has sin. He's got such a high view of himself. He can't see his sin. Pride is like the rose colored glasses that make us look better than we are.

And so as we look at ourselves, we distort reality and we can't see our faults. And so in our text, David is acknowledging that we do not have 20-20 vision when it comes to seeing our own sins.

We're all farsighted. You know what farsightedness is that that we see objects at a distance far better than we see objects up close.

So I can see you back there, but I'm squinting up here because I need glasses to see things up close. And it's that way with our sin. We see sin out there.

I see your sins just fine. But I have I've got a lot of trouble seeing my own. It's a blur up here. That's what pride. Does to our eyesight.

It blinds us to our own sin. And so in Matthew 7, we find the Lord Jesus. Bringing us up short for the way that we judge others.

While we do the same things ourselves. And he says, why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

You see, we've got 20-20 vision when it comes to seeing the specks out there in other people's eyes. We don't even see a plank that's coming out of our own eye.

Up close, we're blinded to our own sins. And they may be bigger sins. They may be the same sins. They may be worse sins. How can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when all the time there's a plank in your own eye?

You hypocrite. First, take the plank out of your own eye. Then you'll see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. So we're all farsighted when it comes to sin.

We see sin in others more easily than in ourselves. We're thinking too highly of ourselves.

And so the Pharisee in Jesus' parable. Remember, he comes into the temple to pray. And he sees the sin of that tax collector just fine. And he thanks God he's not like him and others like him.

But he doesn't see any sin in here. Only that which is commendable. And he prays about how good he is before the Lord. And Jesus spoke that parable to some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else.

You see, the high view of self, confident in their own righteousness. It's pride, love of self that blinds us to our own faults. And David is acknowledging that in Psalm 19.

But there was a time when David himself had that same farsightedness. You remember he was guilty of adultery and murder. And yet he had a foggy vision as to his own sins.

Hardness of heart and conscience about his own sins. So God sent Nathan the prophet to him. And Nathan comes and instead of just pointing out his sin directly, he tells him a story.

Let me tell you about a story. There was this wealthy man and this poor man living beside him. The wealthy man had many sheep. And the poor man had one sheep. It was a pet.

The family pet. It slept with them, ate with them. It was like one of the kids. Then the wealthy man had a visitor come to him. And he wanted to put on the spread, a feast for him.

And instead of taking one of his many sheep out of his flock, he went to his neighbor and he took his one pet lamb and he killed it and fed his guest with it.

And David's face went red with anger. That man will pay, he said. He saw clearly the sin of that wealthy man.

And then the prophet Nathan pointed his bony finger at David and said, you are that man. You are that man. You who had many wives.

Went and took your neighbor, Uriah's wife, his one wife. And then David saw his sin. But you see, for a while, he could see the sin of others at a distance.

Fine. But he failed to see his own sin. That's the same David that's now speaking and telling us who can discern his errors. Who can who can really find his his hidden faults?

Why do they remain so hidden? And why are they so hard? Well, because thirdly of the deceitfulness of sin, of Satan and of our own hearts.

There's this trinity of deceit. That keeps our sins hidden. First of all, Hebrews 3, 12 and 13 speaks about and warns against our hearts being so hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Sin itself is so tricky and lies to us so well. That we can end up sinning and not even know we're sinning. That's how deceitful it is.

And it's not just sin is deceitful. Satan himself is the great deceiver. He's the father of lies. He's the master of deceit. He himself masquerades as an angel of light.

And so we've got sin itself is deceitful. Satan, the tempter, is deceitful. But worse of all. Jeremiah 17, 9 says the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Who can know it? Who can discern his errors when our own hearts are so deceived and deceiving? Who can know it?

I, the Lord, search the heart and examine the mind. So there's the trinity of deceit. And that's another reason why it is that sins remain hidden to us.

When even others and obviously God sees them. And so it's that deceitfulness of our hearts that leads us to tell ourselves, well, it's just thrift when it's really greed and selfishness.

It's just liberty of conscience when it's really an excuse to sin. It's a legitimate rest when really it's laziness. It's entertainment when it's really worldliness.

It's serving the Lord when it's really promoting ourselves. It's legitimate concern when it's really sinful worry. And on we go, putting a good face upon our behavior.

And who can discern his errors? Well, there are many other reasons we might mention. A self-righteous legal spirit will hide our sins from us.

A lack of self-examination. That's a key reason why it is we do not detect our sins. We are not looking for them as we ought. Self-examination used to be a discipline Christians were familiar with.

Well, that's the shocking realization. That's the discovery David made. We have many sins that we're not even aware of ourselves. Who can discern his errors?

But the second part of the verse is the response of a gracious heart to that discovery. So what? What does a gracious heart do with the fact that we sin a whole lot more than we realize?

Well, he gives a cry of confession. Forgive my hidden faults. If it's true that I sin a whole lot more than I am aware of.

That I'm not just going to confess the sins I am aware of. Oh, Lord, forgive my hidden faults. Forgive the sins that I don't even realize I've committed.

Now, first of all, we must realize that though we are unaware of our faults, they are nevertheless sins. And need to be forgiven as much as the sins that we are aware of.

You understand? If it's sin, it needs to be forgiven. Even though I don't know that I've sinned, it still is an offense to God and needs to be forgiven.

Even in the Old Testament, God instituted sacrifices for sins of ignorance. You can read that in Leviticus. That though they were unaware of their sins, they were nonetheless guilty because of those sins.

And there were sacrifices for those sins of ignorance. So just because we're ignorant of our sins doesn't mean God is ignorant about them or that he treats them lightly.

There's enough evil in all of our sins to send us to hell forever. So we need to appreciate the fact that God is so holy that even our hidden faults must be pardoned if we are to live in his presence.

His eyes are too pure to look on evil. He cannot tolerate wrong, even wrongs that we are unaware of. Hidden faults also separate us from God and render us unfit for his presence.

To ignore them is perilous. To know we have them is a gracious revelation. Do you know that you sin more than you realize?

That's a gracious revelation. Only those will seek to be forgiven for their hidden faults. So the gracious heart will not rest until he finds pardon for his hidden faults.

And I want to emphasize the fact that this is the response of a gracious heart made good by the Holy Spirit. Such a person is not okay with this discovery.

He's not at rest knowing that God sees things that he doesn't. Something must be done about this. And he cries, forgive my hidden faults.

He knows how much God hates sin. He knows what an abomination it is to him. The very antithesis of his holy character. It rubs him the wrong way, as we say.

God is holy and sin is an offense to that holiness. David knows that. Think of what you find the most repulsive to you.

What do you find most offensive? Something that makes your blood boil or churn inside. Things you cannot stand. That's disgusting, even nauseating.

That's a faint picture of God's response to all of our sins. Even the ones we're unaware of. And the gracious heart is bothered to know that I have such things.

And though I'm unaware of them, God is not unaware of them. Does my holy heavenly father have to look on such things in my life day after day?

Does my dear savior who died to save me from sinning have to endure such things? Does the holy spirit have to live in such a heart where such things dwell and go unnoticed by me?

How many times a day are such pollution spewing out that filth into the face of the spirit of God who dwells in us? And do I go on unmoved and uncaring?

I don't know about them. There's no skin off of my back. No. Oh, forgive my hidden faults is the response of the gracious heart.

Forgive the way that I offend you daily and don't even have a clue about it. Forgive the ways that I fail to do my duty. The way I fail to love you as I ought and even fail to love my neighbor as myself.

Forgive the sins of thought and motivation hidden beneath layers of my pride. Forgive the idols of my heart that I'm oblivious to that are taking your place there.

Forgive my hidden faults. Are you such a gracious soul tonight? Are you bothered at all by the fact that you have sins that you are unaware of? Does it drive you to cry for mercy from the God of all grace?

Then we also see from this cry that there is forgiveness. There is forgiveness for our hidden faults.

David prays for it. There is one person that we can go to to have our sins forgiven. It's to God whom he calls at the end of this psalm our rock and our redeemer.

The redeemer, the one who pays the price for our ransom and our freedom. There is such a redeemer. Jesus, God's own son. And here is the way to have our hidden faults forgiven.

It's through the substitutionary curse bearing of God's own son. And he takes the rap for our sins. Yes, our known sins and our hidden sins.

Not just the tip of the iceberg, but the whole mountain of our sin. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought.

My sin, not in part. But the whole is nailed to his cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, oh, my soul.

You see, there is forgiveness for hidden faults. The blood of Jesus, God's son, cleanses from all sin. Sins known and sins unknown.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And in this confession, we bring our sins, even those we are unaware of, to the Lord Jesus to have them forgiven and blotted out forever.

That's the that's the glory of this great redeemer. Now, this is where our hidden faults can be truly hidden, then under the blood of Jesus, where they will be remembered no more against us.

If you think about the greatness of of our hidden faults, mine, yours all together, dear ones in Christ, we ought to adore that obedience of our Lord Jesus.

He didn't have any hidden faults. He didn't have any inward sins or outward ones. And we ought to adore the merits of his blood, that there is such merit and value in the Lord Jesus that it not only covers forever our sins that we're aware of, but our hidden faults as well.

There's a third lesson we learn from this cry of confession. And it's not repudiating the fact that we ought to confess our sins specifically. We don't sin in general.

We sin specifically. We break specific commands against God. Therefore, our confessions of sin ought not just to be general. Lord, forgive my sins.

But specific. Full confession in the Bible is very specific, isn't it? We own the wrong we've done.

We name the sin. Lord, that word was not completely true. Lord, it was not kind what I said. That thought had no place in the mind of one of the redeemed.

And I didn't reject it. I mulled over it. We name the sin. And then we agree with God that what we did was wrong.

What we left undone was wrong. And yet, you see, after we have confessed all of our known sins, it still is befitting for the best of us here to say with David and, oh, Lord, forgive my hidden faults.

Forgive the whole mountain of sins that I'm not even aware of, oh, Lord. We're not saying that by this confession we don't confess specifically. We confess specific sins.

But then we always have reason to add and forgive my hidden faults. I am aware that I'm unaware of a lot of sins that you see.

Oh, forgive me. So that's the response of a gracious heart. And I would say that it's it is. Not the only response of a gracious heart.

There are other things that a gracious heart will do about this problem of hidden faults. The heart that prays, forgive my hidden faults also prays. Search me, oh, God. Doesn't he?

This is the same David in Psalm 139. Who realizes I've got hidden faults. And so, so, so, Lord, forgive my hidden faults. That's not all he prays.

He also says, search my heart, oh, God. Know my heart. Test me and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

You see, there is in the gracious heart an implanted hatred of sin. A desire to kill it wherever it's found. And that's what makes the heart want to discover those hidden faults.

Lord, search my heart. Not so you can see it. You already see it. But search it and reveal to me so that I see it. That I might come and vomit out my sin to you in repentance and confession.

And mortification by the power of the Spirit. None desire their hearts to be searched. But real Christians.

A believer wants to know the worst about himself. What he fears is not detection, but deception. And so he cries, search me, oh, God.

Show me what you see. I know I've only seen the tip. And give me grace to repent and walk in the right way. The way everlasting.

It's the real Christian who wants his heart to be searched. Whereas unbelievers don't want to be searched. They don't like the light in their face. They don't like the light exposing the darkness.

It's our Lord Jesus who says in John 3. This is the verdict. This is the truth of the matter. This is the court case. And this is the verdict. That man, light has come into the world.

That men love darkness. Instead of light. Because their deeds were evil. And everyone who does evil hates the light. And will not come into the light.

For fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light. And nothing to hide. The one who loves God and wants to mortify sin.

Comes into the light. Search me, oh, God. I want to be done with sin. Oh, but the unbeliever does not pray.

Search me, oh, God. Well, how does God search our hearts. And reveal to us what he sees. Well, it's in the light of his word, isn't it? That we come to see what he sees.

The entrance of your word gives light. By the knowledge of the law. Is the knowledge of sin. And so we bring our hearts into the light of the word.

And we say, search me, oh, God. And show me what you see. And it's here that we see the high standards of God. And what he expects. And that his spirit then begins to show us.

How far we come short of this standard. He's showing us what he sees. It's through the word. Hebrews 4. For the word of God is living and active.

Sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit. Joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and motives of the heart. How will you ever learn about what's going on at the level of your motivations?

This word is such a sharp sword. It will penetrate down there. And reveal what's there. The next verse. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight.

Everything is uncovered and laid bare. Before him to whom we must give an account. And he reveals it to us, you see. Through his sharp word as we come to this word.

And say, search me, oh God. He knows himself best. Who's found often before the mirror of God's word. You spend a lot of time with the mirror.

You come to know more and more. Of who you really are. And some of those hidden faults. Are thereby exposed. So we cry, search me, oh God.

And then not just leave the book closed. But we search it. And we examine ourselves. In the light of this book. Remember what I said earlier.

One of the causes. Why sin is so hard to discern. Hidden faults. Why do they remain hidden? Because we're not looking for them. Examine yourselves. Test your heart.

Test. Try your reins. Is the repeated command of scripture. And so we examine ourselves. Against the standard. Of God's word.

That shines that light. Into our hearts. And exposes our hidden faults. They're hard to find. Hidden faults. Are hard to find. They hide out.

Very well. And unless we make a careful. And diligent search. We will think there is no sin. In the very place. Where it is hiding. And we'll walk right past it.

We'll look in the bushes. And not see the little guy. Hiding there. We'll walk right past it. And we'll think there's nothing there. When that's precisely where it is. It's not just the casual glance.

That will expose the hidden fault. We must be diligent. In our search. We must hunt them down. As we search. As we would search for bats. That we know are in the house.

It's not a question of. If they're in the house. It's where are they. We've seen them in the house. Now where are they. And so it is with David. It's not a question. Of if he has hidden faults.

Where are they. Search me God. Show them to me. Then lead me in the way everlasting. Our prayer.

For the Lord. To forgive our hidden faults. Is really pretty cheap. And shallow. And maybe even ingenuine. If it's not followed up. With the cry.

Search me oh God. Try my heart. And show me what you see. I mean I'm so serious. About those hidden faults. I not only want you. To forgive them. I want you to show them to me.

So I can repent of them. And put them to death. And so our. Prayer with David. Forgive my hidden faults.

Needs to be followed up. With the cry. Search me oh God. And it needs to be followed up. With the diligent search. Of his word. And our diligent. Self-examination. In the light of that word.

And there's one other way. That our hidden faults. Are revealed to us. And it's by our brothers and sisters. That's why God doesn't want us.

Going to heaven alone. We've got blind spots. Truck drivers know what blind spots are. They look in the mirror. And they don't see anything.

But there's something back there. I've got blind spots. I cannot see this part of my body. Right back here. Behind my head.

I'm sorry. I just can't see back there. But you guys have no problem seeing back there. If I'm having a bad hair day back there. You see it. I don't.

It's a blind spot to me. That is true of our spiritual lives as well. We're blind to a lot of our faults. They're hidden faults. But they're not always so well hidden.

But that our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. Can't see them. Sometimes they see them very readily. What's the matter with pastor? Look at his hair.

If I believe that. And if I really. Hate sin. If I really want my hidden faults forgiven. And exposed. And put to death.

Then what will be my attitude towards my brother? Brothers and sisters. If you see some of these blind spots. If you see something in my blind spot.

That I haven't seen. Would you please come and tell me? Dearie. If I'm headed out the door.

Into an important appointment. If I've got spinach on my front tooth. Will you point that out to me? Will you do me the favor. Of telling me.

Things that are out of sorts. Will you hold the mirror up. In front of me. So I can see. What I really am. Are you that serious about sin?

That you welcome. Rather. You invite. You give permission. To all your brothers and sisters. Will you please. Hold the mirror up. For me. When you see.

Some fault. That is hidden. To me. We made that commitment. As members of Grace Fellowship.

Didn't we? To one another. Have you renewed it? Have you expressed it to anyone? Oh how David's prayer.

Searches my heart. Forgive my hidden faults. How badly do. You. John. Want to be. Rid of your hidden faults. Others may see our sins.

Far quicker. Than they appear to us. That's why. We are to encourage each other. Daily. Lest. We. Have a heart. That becomes hardened. By sin.

That's why we need. Constant. Interaction. With the people of God. Open faced. Honest. Interaction. Lest our hearts. Become hardened.

And those hidden faults. Start eating the vitals. Right out of us. Spurgeon says. Get a friend. To tell you. Your faults. I'd give you that advice.

To get a friend. To tell you. Your faults. Or better still. Welcome. An enemy. Who will watch you. Keenly. And sting you. Savagely. What a blessing.

Such an irritating. Critic. Will be. To a wise man. But what an intolerable. Nuisance. To a fool. Critic. Somebody that watches you.

Every step of the way. And jumps all over you. Are they a nuisance. To you. Or have you made them. A blessing. By examining yourself.

In the light. Of their criticism. And saying. Could it be. That. I'm blind. In this area. And need this light. Even from an enemy. David says.

Let a righteous man. Strike me. It is a kindness. Let him rebuke me. It's oil on my head. My head. Will not refuse it. I'll welcome it.

He says. You come to me. And hold the mirror up. So I can see what I am. That's refreshing. I'll welcome it. Like a refreshing oil. I'll not refuse it. Blessing.

To have brethren. Who will point out. Our blind spots. And where sin is viewed. As enemy number one. Those who point out. Yours. Are true friends.

True friends. Get a friend. To tell you. Your faults. Faithful. Are the wounds. Of a friend. But the kisses.

Of an enemy. Are deceitful. Proverbs 27. 6. Faithful. Are the wounds. Of a friend. And the best friend. Of all. Is the Lord Jesus. Faithful.

Are his wounds. Because the one. Who wounds us. Is the one. Who heals us. Is faithful. Is faithful. Is faithful. To our souls. Is faithful. To perfect.

Our faith. Is faithful. To purge. Out. Our dross. To uncover. Our hidden. Faults. Is faithful. To make us. More like himself.

To get out. Our spots. And wrinkles. And present us. Faultless. Before his presence. With exceeding joy. That's. That's. Our faithful.

Friend. Friend. Friend. Jesus. The most. Faithful friend. Are you listening. To him. You're listening. To what he's saying. To you. You're taking in. His every word.

And examining yourself. In the light of it. And he who wounds us.

Was once wounded. For our transgressions. Our hidden faults. And by. His stripes. We are healed.

Let's pray. Oh Lord. What. What can we say.

Before a text. Like this. That. You know us. Like no one else. Knows us. You know our.

Uprising. And our downsitting. You know our thoughts. You know every word. On our tongues. Even before we speak them. Such knowledge. Is too wonderful.

For us. And yet. What. What is this God. Who would not only know. The worst about us. But would send your one. And only son.

To die in our place. That we might. Have our sins. Known and unknown. Forgiven. Pardoned. So that we might. Have that. Terrible obstacle.

Of sin. That stood between. You and us. And would have stood there. Forever. To have that obstacle. Of sin removed. That we might know. The light of your face. We might be right.

With you. Through the blood. Of our Lord. Jesus Christ. And how blessed. We are to have this book. The Bible. To not be left.

To our own high views. Of ourself. To be left. To the views. Of other people. About us. But to have your word. Of truth. That searches us. And shows us. Exactly what we are.

Thank you for speaking. Your word to us. Thank you that it is. A living word. It has eyes. That see us. It has a mouth. It speaks to us.

It has feet. That run after us. It has hands. That grab hold of us. It is living. And active. And we thank you. That it reveals. The very thoughts.

And motives. Of our heart. And then it sends us. Running to the Lord Jesus. To have those sins. Washed away. So help us Lord. Help us with our hidden faults.

To so hate them. That we will. Welcome the light. From your word. From your spirit. From friends.

And brethren. Wives. And husband. Children. And parents. And even from our enemies. If only we might come to know ourselves.

As we are. That we might. Come and plead that blood. To cover our sins. And have them blotted out. Forever. We. Thank you then. For your word.

And for this time. Together in your presence. And we praise you. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. name. Amen.