Part 4: Jesus Can Steer Me. Series

Jesus Can 2007

Part 4: Jesus Can Steer Me.

Psalm 32:1-11

Sermon by Rick Crandall

McClendon Baptist Church - Feb. 11, 2007

*I have a wonderful wife! This Valentine’s Day we will celebrate 32 years of marriage. Lord willing, we will be in Texas for a week of vacation.

*I remember getting down on my knee just after Christmas that year and asking Mary if she would be my wife. Many of you know that the first thing she said was, “I’ll have to think about it.” Now a third of a century later, I am so glad that the Lord led her to say, “Yes.” Mary needed some guidance from above. We all need guidance in life, and Jesus can show us the way to go.

1. Let the Lord lead you away from your sin.

*We all need this kind of guidance in our lives. We all lose our way; we all get into trouble. As God’s Word says in Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way. . .”

*Wouldn’t it be nice if after we received Jesus, we never sinned again? It would be fantastic, but that’s just not the case. King David was certainly saved. He talked about it in vs. 1 when he said, “Blessed or happy or joyful is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”

*David was a saved man, but he was also a sinful man. Most of us are familiar with the dark story of David’s adultery with Bathsheba, and his cover-up conspiracy to murder her husband. Now we could try to take false comfort by saying, “Oh, I’ll never do that.” But that doesn’t get us off the hook.

*There are many ways to sin. In fact man is sort of an expert when it comes to sinning, so much so that God had to use fifteen different words in the Old Testament to describe our sins. And David used four of them here in vs. 1&2:

-Transgression: That’s defiance, rebellion, revolt. “Get out of my face. Get off my case! I’m gonna do what I want to do!” That’s transgression.

-Then there’s sin: This is a defect, missing the mark. The man who is really trying his best, but he just can’t seem to make it: The person who walks all the way across the desert, but can’t crawl that last ten feet to the waterhole.

-And iniquity: That’s a distortion, something warped, bent, crooked, twisted, perverse. It could be sexual, but it could just be a warped outlook on life.

-Finally there’s guile: Dishonesty, lying to others, lying to yourself.

*There are many ways to sin. Steven Chapman says, “Think how many temptations you and I face in an ordinary day:

-Staying in bed late: The temptation to laziness.

-Growling at the breakfast table: The temptation to unkindness.

-Arguing over who should change the baby this time: The temptation to selfishness.

-Starting work 10 minutes late: The temptation to laziness.

-Losing your temper when a co-worker crashes your computer: The temptation to impatience.

-Flirting with that good-looking woman, taking a second look at the good-looking man: The temptation to lust.

-Refusing to speak to a person who has hurt you: The temptation to malice.

-Repeating a juicy story of your neighbor’s misfortune: The temptation to gossip.

-Lying awake at night thinking sensual thoughts: The temptation to impurity.

-Taking your anger out on the children after a hard day: The temptation to cruelty.

-Going out to eat when you can’t afford it: The temptation to self-indulgence.

-Having a second helping and then a third: The temptation to gluttony.

-Firing off a hasty letter to a friend who hurt you: The temptation to revenge. (1)

*We could go on, but man, that’s a lot of sin. And if you didn’t see yourself anywhere in that list -- Let’s talk about pride.

*How many of us have never sinned? How many of us have never sinned since we got saved? All of us have sinned and sometimes we get stubborn about our sin, so the Lord has to push us in the right direction. God talked about this down in vs. 9, when He said, “Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle . . .”

*Have you ever said someone was stubborn as a mule? Has anybody ever said that about you? Were they right? God doesn’t want us to be stubborn as mules, so He will confront us and convict us about our sin.

*God will even give us some painful correction for our sin. That’s what David went through in vs. 3&4, probably when he was trying to cover up his sin with Bathsheba. And David said: