Study Notes

I.      Proverbs 28:13-14-If you want to prosper and advance, then you must not cover sin

A.    What is sin?

1.      To miss the mark, To error, Be mistaken; Wonder from the path of uprightness and honor; To do or go wrong; To wander from the law of God

2.      James 4:17-If you know you should be doing something and you’re not to you it’s sin (miss the mark)

a.    If you know to do it and you aren’t doing it, then you’re missing it and you know it because your own heart condemns you-1 John 3:21

3.      When we talk about sin we’re talking about you knew to do something, God showed you to do something and you didn’t do it

B.     ***When you miss it whether you cover or confess will have a big impact on your future***

1.      What are ways that people cover their sins? (Cover-Hide, Conceal, Clothe One’s self)

a.    (1)-Making an excuse (2)-Justifying wrong behavior (3)-Blaming somebody else (4)-Lying about it

b.    Covering is not changing, Covering is not repenting

c.     Why are you covering? Because you know it’s wrong; You have light that it’s wrong and you’re not walking in the light you have and rather than change it you’re going to cover it

2.      Confess and Forsake – That’s how you handle a sin

a.    You own it and you turn away from it (change); that gets you mercy

1)       Confess-To own or acknowledge a fault (If you own and acknowledge it you’re not covering it)

2)       Forsake-To leave, Depart from, Abandon, Leave behind

3)       Mercy-To have compassion, To show compassion, Have tender affection

3.      Repentance (Regret and Reform-You care that you missed it, you’re sorry about it and you change)

a.    Heartily to amend (change, improve, alter, adjust, modify, correct)

b.    Repent means to change (Meta)

c.     To care afterwards and can include the idea of regret; It’s not just crying and feeling bad it’s changing-If you didn’t change you didn’t repent

C.    Not repenting of sin (confessing and forsaking) will keep you from advancing, making progress, breaking out (Prosper-Advance, Make Progress, Succeed, Break Out, To experience prosperity)

1.      If you want to prosper, to advance, to make progress, succeed, break out, and experience prosperity, then when you are corrected/directed, when you miss it, you must confess it and you must change

a.    You can make all the right confessions, but if you don’t confess it and change when you’re corrected/directed you won’t prosper; you can sow seed, tithe, come to church, read your bible, but if you miss it and don’t repent you won’t prosper

2.      This hardening and covering and refusing to change keeps people from advancing

a.    Some are missing out on promotion and advancement because God has showed them something and instead of changing, they harden themselves, cover it and don’t repent

b.    God promotes on a step by step basis, not all at once-Romans 4:12

1)       These little corrections God’s gives to you, how you handle them, what you do when they come plays a big part in what he is able to do in your life

2)       If God says to you come to church on Wednesday night and you don’t, to you it is sin and if you don’t repent/change then you won’t advance or be promoted to the next step

3)       You don’t get big steps first you get little steps and if you don’t handle the little steps properly you never advance to the bigger ones

c.     God’s plan for your life is not set in stone; how you handle the correction and direction he gives you determines how much of his plan that you experience

1)       It was God’s plan that Moses take them into the promise land, but that didn’t happen

2)       If you want to experience the fullness of his plan, then you must walk in the light you have and repent and change when he corrects you

3)       Jeremiah 29:11-He does have a plan to prosper you, but without this you don’t get to that plan

d.    Your life that is hid in Jesus is a continual series of directions and corrections 

1)       God will constantly shine the light on you bit by bit and when you see imperfection if you want to advance and prosper then you must change

3.      We’re not just talking about ugly sin (i.e. fornication, adultery, unforgiveness, hatred), we’re talking about you knew in your heart to do something and you didn’t do it; And if you cover that and hide it and don’t confess it and turn from it and change, then you won’t advance     

II.     Proverbs 29:1-When you harden yourself to correction, you are positioned for destruction

A.    His response to the correction is a hardening of the neck; He’s covering, not confessing and forsaking

1.      Is this person missing it? Does he have light that he’s not walking in? If he’s being corrected, then it’s obvious he’s missing it in some way

2.      Hardens-To be difficult, To be harsh, To be severe (That come out of people when they are corrected); Stubborn, Obstinacy (Pigheadedness, Inflexible, Uncooperative, Rigid)

3.      Neck-To be stiff of neck, obstinate

a.    Obstinacy-Stubbornly refusing to change one’s opinion or chosen course of action despite attempts to persuade one to do so

4.      Rather than having a neck that’s lose and bowed in godly sorrow, it’s stiff, it won’t acknowledge the truth and repent; He’s covering not confessing and forsaking

B.     What happens to the person who when corrections comes they harden themselves continually? They are suddenly destroyed (in an instant)

1.      The destruction didn’t come in an instant because they had many opportunities to repent

2.      Why suddenly? Because he was given time to repent while he was being often reproved

3.      This guy is perishing because he will not repent

C.    There’s no cure for destruction that comes because of an unwillingness to repent

1.      The remedy to this destruction was to repent, but he won’t repent so there is no remedy

a.    The remedy was to change but he wouldn’t change

2.      Can we pray this destruction off of this guy? NO

a.    You can’t live a unrepentant life and then try to pray the perishing and destruction off that came because you wouldn’t repent

D.    People don’t perish because God corrects them one time and they didn’t repent; This guy was corrected often (frequently)

1.      GNT-If you get more stubborn every time you are corrected, one day you will be crushed and never recover.

2.      CEV-If you keep being stubborn after many warnings, you will suddenly discover you have gone too far.

3.      ERV-Some people refuse to bend when someone corrects them. Eventually they will break, and there will be no one to repair the damage

4.      MSG-For people who hate discipline and only get more stubborn, there’ll come a day when life tumbles in and they break, but by then it’ll be too late to help them.

5.      NLV-A man who does not listen after many strong words are spoken to him will be destroyed all at once and without help.

6.      VOICE-The one who remains defiant after repeated reprimands will suddenly be shattered, and there will be no remedy for him.