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[0:00] Well, what a joy it's been once again to preach through eight Psalms this summer.! Psalm 32 will be our last one. We'll take a break from the Psalms until next summer.

[0:11] And at this pace, in about 25 more years, we'll have covered the entire Psalter, 150 Psalms. It seems like each one is just more fitting and more timely than the last. As you hear Psalm 32, think of God's providence and His timing.

[0:25] This was not planned, but this is where He has us for this open-air evangelistic service. Psalm 32 says, a maskel of David.

[0:38] A maskel could mean three different things. It could be a musical notation. It can mean contemplation. Or it can mean instruction. Or to just make it matters easy for us, it probably means all three.

[0:50] So we'll go with that. And as I read Psalm 32, I do it trusting that it's God's inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear, sufficient, powerful word for you and me.

[1:04] Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

[1:21] When I kept silent, my bones grew old, through my groaning all the day long. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me.

[1:32] My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

[1:51] 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.

[2:04] You are my hiding place. You shall preserve me from trouble. You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.

[2:21] I will guide you with my eye. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you.

[2:37] Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, you righteous, and shout for joy, you upright in heart.

[2:54] The word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Please be seated. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever.

[3:19] Let's pray. Let's pray. Oh, Lord, please cause your people to rejoice by going to Jesus and by confessing our sin, confessing who you are and who we are before you and our great need of you to be our Savior.

[3:44] Please minister, Lord, this forgiveness one more time today that we can truly know with assurance that you have pardoned our sin and that all who will go and confess unto you can receive your forgiveness and know true blessedness and truly rejoice in the presence of you, the holy God.

[4:04] Please do this, Lord, for your glory and for Christ's sake we pray. Amen. Amen. The English word for happiness, I didn't know where it came from, so I looked it up and it came from those old Viking settlers that went to the northern part of North America.

[4:27] So some of the words from their vocabulary have stayed in our own culture and in that old Viking language, the word was hap. And so that same root, hap, is where we get the word haphazard.

[4:42] And so when we speak of happiness, we're really using a word that means exactly what we're saying. The idea of something being haphazard means it's, it has no order and no direction to it.

[4:57] So when we speak of happiness, we really are saying, I might feel something, but it's based on luck or random chance. Psalm 32 uses a very different word with a different origin and a different meaning.

[5:13] The word is blessed. It's a wonderful English word that we need to, to make sure we're grasping the right meaning of this. To be blessed is to be on a straight path or to go forward in the right direction.

[5:28] So where happiness is fleeting, happiness is conditioned by our circumstances, happiness, we can agree with the Vikings, it's only possible if you're lucky.

[5:41] It's haphazard. By contrast, true blessedness, it fixes your joy and mine into our lives being well-ordered and going in the right direction.

[5:54] And we only know this from God, our Creator. He designed us for this. So my word of encouragement for us today, this is our sermon title, is this. You can know true blessedness.

[6:06] You and I can know true blessedness. Psalm 32 is instruction from King David, teaching the nation of Israel. So as we walk through this psalm, I would like to point out five lessons from David as a saved repenter.

[6:23] Five lessons on true blessedness. Number one, only the Lord can give you and me true blessedness. Only the Lord can give you and me true blessedness.

[6:38] The kings of the world, they take whatever they want, whenever they want it. That's the pattern of the world, and that's what the world continues to tell you and me happiness is.

[6:53] They don't wait. They don't obey any rules. Think of David's life. He tried that, and it was miserable. And now in response, in Psalm 32, he teaches what the Holy Spirit revealed to him.

[7:10] This is true blessedness, not that. Look at verse one. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. See, you and I, in our sin, we deserve God's just punishment for our transgressions.

[7:29] What does that word mean, transgression? It means we have rebelled. We have seen that no trespassing sign, and we went there anyway. We've revolted against God.

[7:43] But instead of that just punishment that you and I deserve, sinners like us can know true blessedness because verse one says it's blessed to be forgiven by God.

[7:58] You and I deserve to be cast away, carried far away from here. But instead, God has taken our sin and carried that away and kept us in his presence.

[8:10] He spared our life. He's pardoned us instead of being declared guilty and condemned and sent away to prison. He says, I pay that debt. I pronounce you pardoned, fully pardoned.

[8:23] That's what it is to be blessed. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven. And he repeats this same truth in two other ways.

[8:33] He says next, whose sin is covered. You and I deserve God's righteous wrath for our sin. Sin is similar to the word trespass, but sin carries other meanings.

[8:48] Sin refers to our offense against God, falling short of his glory by our lives. We've dug ourselves into a hole and we owe to God what we hollowed out.

[9:01] This pit that we're in, everything in this pit that used to belong there, we dug out by our sin and we keep digging ourselves deeper and deeper into a hole. Instead of the righteous wrath of God being poured out on us in our sin, which is what we deserve, the promise held forth to us in Psalm 32 is that we can experience true blessedness.

[9:31] We can be covered by God. Blessed is he whose sin is covered. That word covered means that that hole that we dug ourselves into, God has filled it up completely for us.

[9:46] God has covered our sin. He's hidden our shame. We were there exposed, humiliated, and instead he's come and he's clothed us.

[9:58] He's robed us. That's what a blessed life is, to know that, to be covered by God. Verse 2 continues, Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity.

[10:14] You and I deserve to be eternally cursed for our iniquity. But we're blessed if we receive from the Lord that punishment, that pouring out of wrath on us being instead not imputed, not put on us anymore.

[10:33] Iniquity means perversity. It means being morally deviated, being twisted. And that's what we would deserve in our sin, but instead of that eternal curse, sinners like us can know true blessedness because the Lord no longer will impute to us what we deserve.

[10:54] The curse of our sin has been imputed to us. That means our account has been charged this great debt. But to not impute it means that the Lord has put the debt we owe that's on our account onto the account of another.

[11:14] From God's perspective, when He looks at us, He no longer views us that way as a debtor. He no longer measures us up as one who is indebted to Him.

[11:25] It's no longer on our account. And He says, in whose spirit there is no deceit. In whose spirit there is no deceit.

[11:38] The word for spirit can be translated spirit, but it can also be an exhaling. It can mean a person whose breath is not telling a lie.

[11:49] Your words or your spirit. Think of out of the overflow of the spirit or the heart, the mouth speaks. So there's a tie between the inner man and the outer man through our words.

[12:02] He says later, when I was silent, when I was not confessing, not breathing out the truth, I was not blessed. But He's saying, blessed is the one in whose spirit there is no deceit.

[12:13] You have put it before the Lord with your words. There's no more guile, no more falsehood, no more hypocrisy. Let me ask you today, have you believed a lie about happiness?

[12:31] Our hearts are right to want to be glad, want to rejoice. But when we slip in and pursue worldly happiness instead of true blessedness, we will always get disappointment.

[12:46] The world lies and wants to tell us that blessedness is getting what you want when you want it. And the devil comes in and whispers to you and me that we'll be happier, we'll be more blessed without God.

[13:00] That His law will restrict your happiness. That you don't really owe God anything. That you're not that bad. You're better than most. The real problem is that our own twisted minds want to believe those lies from the world and those lies from the devil.

[13:18] You know why? It's because the Bible says our heart is more deceitful and desperately wicked than anything else.

[13:30] Brothers and sisters, if we believe the lies of the world about happiness, we will never know true blessedness. We'll miss out on the greatest blessings possible. The only true source of joy and happiness and gladness that comes from God.

[13:46] We'll miss out because He's the Creator. And our Creator knows what we are designed for. The catechism question, we are made to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

[13:59] The good news from Psalm 32 is that you and I can know true blessedness. We can. So here's the second lesson. When you and I refuse to confess our sins to the Lord, we will experience misery instead.

[14:15] That's the next lesson from David's own testimony. When you and I refuse to confess our sins to the Lord, instead of knowing true blessedness of being forgiven, we experience misery.

[14:29] David is bearing testimony in Psalm 32. He puts himself as an expert witness for what it's like to act as the king of your own life in God's place.

[14:42] Look at verse 3. David testifies, when I kept silent, my bones, meaning my body, my strength grew old.

[14:54] It was waxing away through my groaning all the day long. That word for groaning, it can mean howling or grumbling.

[15:07] A man that's, he's like a tortured dog. That's what it's like to not confess sin to God. When I was concealing my sin, secretively devising my own ways, neglecting to tell God the truth about myself, he says, I was miserable.

[15:27] My whole body was like it was going to die. We don't know for sure the context of Psalm 32, but the language points very strongly that this comes right after his great sin and his confession in Psalm 51.

[15:46] Most likely, Psalm 51 was first because it's raw. He's confessing in the moment his weakness and asking God to clean his heart. Then at the end of Psalm 51, he says, Lord, I will teach transgressors your ways.

[16:01] I will bear witness. And so here comes Psalm 32 where he's doing just that. And this great series of sins that he concealed, he kept it back, was slow to recognize it even when confronted by Nathan, had to tell him a parable.

[16:17] He committed adultery with Bathsheba, murdered Uriah, and did not confess this to the Lord, tried to go on acting as if he were his own king, a king like all the other nations.

[16:31] And in Psalm 51, he describes his bones as having been broken by the Lord himself. Remember, he prays, Lord, let the bones that you have broken rejoice again. And see the tie here with verse 3, when I kept silent, this is what my bones were like.

[16:48] It's the bones that the Lord had broken through the heavy conviction of sin. What was that like, David? What was it like to hold that back from the Lord?

[16:58] Look at verse 4. He said, day and night, he's telling God, your hand was heavy upon me. The hand of the Lord. The hand stands for that part of a person that action is carried out through.

[17:15] It's the instrument of God's strength, His power. And it was heavy upon me, pushing down my sin and your conviction. It was such a burden, it was crushing me.

[17:29] He says in verse 4, my vitality was turned into the drought of summer. The word there is sap. Like, maybe he's looking at a tree and he sees the sap of a tree represents the life of the tree.

[17:43] But it was dried up. There was nothing left inside. And then the marker, Selah, reflect on this. Take a deep pause and let this truth sink into your soul.

[17:59] To be as dried up as the summer of Israel where I'm told from May to September there is no rain. We've had some dry days and weeks here in Colorado, some wildfires, but we've also had rain almost every week, every other week.

[18:16] Can you imagine May through September with no rain? And yet there's some parts that it's incredibly humid at the same time. 113 degree temperature.

[18:29] You step outside, you're instantly sweating. You breathe through your mouth once, you make the mistake of doing that without a cloth covering it, and it's like someone shoved a handful of cotton in your mouth.

[18:42] That's what it's like to not confess your sin, David says. A blessed man is strong, but David says, the longer I fought against God's conviction and my pride, the weaker I became.

[18:57] A joyful man is welcomed and refreshed in the presence of God, but David's confessing, because I refused to confess my sin, God put this heavy burden on me.

[19:10] It was weighty, it was crushing me. I was uneasy and restless and troubled. I couldn't get away from it day or night. it's blessed to have energy, to feel full of life, but to be rejuvenated was something David had forgotten what he was even like.

[19:30] Because of his pride, he didn't want to admit his sin to God. His whole existence became parched, dried up, and lifeless. Without God, this is what life now and eternity is like.

[19:46] You and I know this feeling. None of us were born believers, and the Lord saved each one of us at different moments of our lives. And even as a believer, we know what it's like.

[20:00] David, in this context, already knew of God's grace and salvation, and yet the Lord allowed David to fall into great sins that he pretended for too long he had not committed.

[20:13] Without God, life is miserable. When we refuse to confess our sins, we will experience a torturous existence. Maybe there's someone within earshot, maybe someone even in our group here today, that needs this caution from Psalm 32.

[20:37] How will you spend your days on earth and for all eternity? will you hold on to your pride? Will you stay far from the Lord?

[20:50] Will you pretend like he doesn't know our hearts and doesn't know all things? Where God is graciously offering to you true blessedness? And that's the third lesson from Psalm 32 that David teaches us.

[21:07] Here's what you and I must do to experience true blessedness in the Lord. Look at verse 5. David says, I acknowledged my sin to you and my iniquity I have not hidden.

[21:20] I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. This is such great news. To acknowledge your sin, it means to see it correctly, to agree after observing a thing.

[21:38] David is reflecting back looking at his own life and then owning it finally. A proud king would look at his reflection in the mirror and he'd see a smudge on his forehead and then respond by shattering the mirror into a thousand pieces, blaming the mirror, where the problem is he's got mud on his own forehead.

[22:04] God's word says in Romans 420, we just read this today, receive God's promise. Don't waver in unbelief.

[22:15] God promises acknowledge your sin and God will forgive the iniquity of your sin. Don't waver in unbelief but be strengthened in your faith in the Lord, giving glory to God.

[22:33] Be fully convinced that what God had promised in his word, he is able to perform in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[22:45] Receive Jesus Christ humbly and know that you are saved in him. Why can this be true? Well, for David it would mean going through the ceremonial steps that God had ordered.

[23:02] It would mean going to a priest a mediator between God and man. And it would mean bringing along a sacrifice that would take the punishment of the sin you deserve. And the priest putting his hand on that sacrifice and laying your sin on this substitute instead.

[23:20] And watching that substitute be slain and bleed and having that blood cover you. And then that aroma goes up to the Lord and you receive by faith all that this sacrificial system pointed to.

[23:35] And it's fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. God himself provides that substitute for you and me.

[23:46] Jesus Christ is also the priest. He's the one who welcomes a sinner like David or like you and me. And he's the one who says your sin is put on the substitute on Jesus Christ himself the Lamb of God.

[24:00] And it's Jesus who is slain for the sins of his people. And it's the blood of Jesus that flows to cover our sin. And it's a double exchange.

[24:12] Not only is the sin of the sinner paid by Jesus the Lamb of God but the righteousness of Jesus the second Adam the keeper of the law. His righteousness his good life his meritorious obedience to the Father is also given to the people that he saved.

[24:30] This is the gospel. Our Lord Jesus takes your trespass your iniquity your sin and mine that deserve God's punishment and in exchange he gives us the forgiveness and the life and the grace of his perfect life.

[24:48] For all who trust in Christ Jesus as Lord his death on the cross has fully paid for the debt that you and I owe God. It's his flawless holiness that secures eternal life for you and me now and forever more.

[25:06] This is why we humble ourselves before God. His word convicts us. We know the problem is in us not in his law. We confess our sin to him and we can know true blessedness in Jesus Christ.

[25:21] Christ that's what you and I must do to experience it. We must confess our sin to the Lord and trust that in Jesus Christ he is able to save and forgive our sin.

[25:34] the fourth lesson from David in Psalm 32 is this you've heard the good news of salvation that God has provided the lesson is this don't put it off now is the time for you to know this true blessedness in the Lord now is the time that's what he says in verse six for this cause look there with me for this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to you in a time when you may be found now is the time of finding he says surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near the one that has confessed his sin to you in Psalm 51 David makes a specific vow I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners shall be converted to you and now in Psalm 32 David looks back and he knows this was true for him the

[26:36] Lord had preserved him he saw like a flood of great waters the coming judgment of God the wrath of God that the Lord patiently holds back David deserved to receive every bit of that but the Lord pardoned the Lord held back his own flood of judgment from David but his reflection in verses 6 and 7 is urgency pray to God now he says in a time when God may be found see the warning is that there is a time of judgment coming and he's alluding here to a flood of great waters David is now repeating like a prophet the warnings of Noah Noah stood and said turn to the Lord believe in God the door is still open come inside the flood of judgment is coming and Psalm 32 still preaches to me and you today come to Jesus before he comes in his judgment come now while the door is open the arms of

[27:41] Jesus are open now but soon he's coming in wrath he will judge the living and the dead David could testify of God's steadfast love if you come to him now you will be preserved look at verse 7 you are my hiding place Lord you shall preserve me from trouble and look at how the Lord receives you you sinner in me who run to him now while the time of finding is at hand in verse 7 he says the Lord surrounds save sinners like you and me with songs of deliverance the door will close one day those who ignore the warnings to run to Jesus now will run out of time!

[28:36] they will drown in a flood of God's wrath that will cover the whole earth there will be nowhere to hide you will be surrounded by screams of death if you reject God's call to enter that vessel that he has prepared you will soon face his judgment for all eternity but here's the good news here's the time this is the hour here's the good news all who are hidden inside Jesus Christ God will preserve to the very end you will be delivered you will be hidden in Christ and God will surround you with songs of deliverance this is not a time to keep silent do not push God off any longer now is the time to confess our sin to the Lord and to pray that he will forgive us we run to him to

[29:40] Jesus Christ with his arms wide open to receive you to surround you with songs of deliverance we hide in him we trust by faith that he will be our hiding place he will preserve us in times of trouble!

[30:04] verse the fifth and final lesson from psalm 32 and David today the Lord himself is the source of all blessedness the Lord himself is the source of all blessedness if we look for happiness or gladness or joy anywhere else we will be disappointed we will come up short we find true blessedness in the Lord look at verse 8 verse 8 I believe is the only verse where the speaker changes look at who is speaking in verse 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go I will guide you with my eye upon you only God can speak this way it's the Lord himself who guides us in true blessedness remember it means to have a life that's correctly ordered and in the proper direction that we are designed for the

[31:07] Lord himself will do this I will guide you with my eye I love that imagery God says I will come at your level I will come close to you eye to eye with you whom I have saved my countenance my face my approval or displeasure will guide you you will know me it will be our relationship that will keep you walking in my path I'll be close to you and you will walk with me because I am near you this was promised throughout all of the scriptures it was promised in Jeremiah 31 and we see this fulfillment quoted by Hebrews 8 God promised I will put my laws into the minds of my people I will write them on their hearts I will be their

[32:08] God and they shall be my people and they shall all know me the Lord has promised to be near his people to teach every single one with his countenance with his close relationship think of how this is fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 11 starting at verse 28 Jesus says come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you my yoke is easy my burden is light and learn from me I am gentle and lowly in heart come to me and you will find rest for your souls it's the Lord himself teaching his people guiding his people walking with his people our Lord Jesus Christ fulfills this then I believe in verse 9 the voice the person speaking changes again

[33:10] I think it's back to David the Lord is so kind and patient and gentle promising his presence and now David commands like a king do not be like the horse or the mule which have no understanding which must be harnessed with bit and bridle or else they will not come near to you it's not the Lord saying you won't come near to me it's David saying if you're!

[33:34] like that they won't even like a horse tends to do and if the Lord gives you an understanding faith to know who he truly is you won't fight against walking toward him like a mule verse 10 sets up a contrast don't be this way do be this way look at verse 10 many sorrows shall be to the wicked but he who trusts in the Lord mercy shall surround him come near to the Lord if you want many sorrows if you want to be miserable go the way of the wicked ignore the Lord pretend like you're your own king a little bit longer let your bones waste away let your mouth dry up but if you want to be blessed if you want to know what you were created for in the right way to live that the

[34:35] Lord is just pleased to bless you with and pour upon you his mercy then you go to him trust in the Lord that's the command it's not anything else it's the one who trusts in the Lord mercy shall surround him trust in the Lord and don't trust in yourself brothers and sisters we see this clearly with our eyes and maybe even we we accept it with our minds but the truth of this command that trust in the Lord we need to be persuaded over and over don't we our flesh our pride fight against it our deceitful hearts want to push God away so David's problem I believe is wanting to be king!

[35:28] like the world and that's our exact same problem our hearts are idol factories we want to live as though we're our own kings and queens but we need a greater king we need the only king who's able to persuade us and to keep us near God to keep us trusting in God we need Jesus Christ to be our king amen we need Jesus Christ to be our king because our hearts are hostile toward God we are utterly!

[35:59] unable! to turn ourselves to God on our own we need Jesus Christ to be the king because he's the one that's powerful enough to break us of our stubborn pride to lead us to confess our sin again to God and to draw us to receive God's grace we need Jesus Christ to be the king because only he can rescue and secure us from all of our spiritual enemies from sin and Satan worldliness and woes that want to devour us we need Jesus to be our protector we need Jesus Christ as our king because only he is powerful enough to convince our minds to subdue our rebellion and to sustain our faith amen above all we need Jesus Christ to be our king because only he can deliver us from death and preserve us all the way to his heavenly kingdom we need

[37:00] Jesus Christ to be our king he will preserve you you will be surrounded with mercy in just that one line psalm 32 is is just just cracking the door open inviting us into all of the scriptures what is it like well God fulfills this what's it like to be surrounded by his mercy listen to just a small sampling of what the Bible says about this truth that you in Christ are surrounded by God's mercy Jesus himself said in John 5 24 truly truly I say to you he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life listen carefully and you will not come into judgment you'll be surrounded by my mercy according to Isaiah 43 42 if you are in

[38:02] Christ God has blotted out erased completely your record of sin against God you're surrounded by his mercy according to Hebrews 10 17 if you are in Jesus Christ God remembers your sin no more God who is omniscient surrounds you with so much mercy he can be described as remembering your sin no more according to Micah 7 18 Jesus Christ has taken away your sins He has cast them into the deep and all of the sins of his people are so far buried under the oceans they can never be found again and never be brought back up and used to accuse you by Satan if you are in Christ God promises that he has cast your sin behind his back so to speak according to Jeremiah 33 8 if you are in Jesus Christ God has pardoned your sin and he sees it no more that's blessed happiness in the

[39:11] Lord Psalm 32 teaches this is the only place where you can have true gladness look at verse 11 be glad where in the Lord you can only know true blessedness if your gladness your contentment your happiness your joy in life is in the Lord and who is this offered to who can truly rejoice in this way he says rejoice you righteous shout for joy you upright in heart we just confess that none of our hearts stay upright on their own to be righteous means you are right with God and none of us can be right with God on our own when Jesus Christ rules over you as the king of your life he keeps your heart upright before the Lord our hearts keep wanting to slag and tip over he keeps us right with

[40:12] God when Jesus Christ is your Lord and your Savior you are clothed in his righteousness God sees you as being just as righteous as Jesus himself you are righteous if you are in Jesus Christ and that's the only place where true gladness can be found it's in the Lord any and all who are covered by Jesus Christ are blessed come near to God who first came near to you and me in Jesus Christ confess who you are and your great need of him confess a sin if he's convicting you and trust in the Lord and his full righteousness know that you receive his pardon he pronounces this over you you are forgiven and no true blessedness in

[41:14]  Jesus Christ let's pray Lord we thank you for your faithfulness to us we praise you for your kindness for your love we pray that you'll teach us by the mercy of Jesus to receive your gospel truth today Lord to rest in the pardon that Jesus secured for us we ask this for your glory and for his name's sake amen