WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:17.879 God, we are grateful for the privilege to be adopted into your family so that we could have a loving father who loves to grant us the request we bring in prayer. 00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:36.739 And Lord, we want to pray according to your will. So we want our prayers to be informed and motivated by what we find in your word. 00:00:36.739 --> 00:00:43.500 So we pray that as we go through Psalm 32, you would speak to us. 00:00:47.880 --> 00:00:51.540 Meet with us this evening. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:55.660 We're in Psalm 32. 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:01.060 It's a masochist of David. 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:06.980 I'll read it out loud to start. 00:01:11.980 --> 00:01:15.960 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, 00:01:15.959 --> 00:01:18.879 whose sin is covered. 00:01:20.179 --> 00:01:24.079 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, 00:01:24.419 --> 00:01:26.579 and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 00:01:27.579 --> 00:01:33.000 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 00:01:33.719 --> 00:01:36.579 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. 00:01:37.079 --> 00:01:39.979 My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. 00:01:40.639 --> 00:01:41.039 Selah. 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:45.600 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity. 00:01:45.700 --> 00:01:49.020 I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. 00:01:49.860 --> 00:01:52.460 And you forgave the iniquity of my sin. 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:53.500 Selah. 00:01:54.660 --> 00:01:59.460 Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found. 00:02:00.460 --> 00:02:03.380 Surely in the rush of great waters they shall not reach him. 00:02:03.379 --> 00:02:08.400 You are a hiding place for me. 00:02:09.960 --> 00:02:11.780 You preserve me from trouble. 00:02:12.599 --> 00:02:14.939 You surround me with shouts of deliverance. 00:02:15.340 --> 00:02:15.719 Selah. 00:02:18.539 --> 00:02:21.460 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. 00:02:21.879 --> 00:02:24.280 I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 00:02:24.859 --> 00:02:27.740 Be not like a horse or a mule without understanding, 00:02:27.900 --> 00:02:30.539 which must be curved with a bit and brittle, 00:02:31.259 --> 00:02:32.879 or it will not stay near you. 00:02:33.379 --> 00:02:37.500 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, 00:02:37.740 --> 00:02:40.819 but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:44.159 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:47.599 and shout for joy, O you upright in heart. 00:02:49.340 --> 00:02:55.039 So the main message of this psalm is that sin must be uncovered in confession 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:59.159 before it is covered by forgiveness through Jesus Christ. 00:02:59.159 --> 00:03:04.439 And it talks about the blessing of forgiveness and the joy of confession. 00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:09.919 And in the first part, verse 1, David begins to talk about what a blessing it is to be forgiven. 00:03:10.599 --> 00:03:16.060 But then he goes to recount a time when he hadn't confessed his sins and the pains he experienced. 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:18.560 And he uses three different words for sin. 00:03:18.819 --> 00:03:22.979 Transgression, which refers to kind of crossing a boundary that you're not supposed to. 00:03:23.419 --> 00:03:27.659 Sin, which refers to missing a mark kind of that God has for us. 00:03:27.659 --> 00:03:32.620 And then iniquity, which refers to kind of a corruption, distortion, or perversion of God's order. 00:03:32.939 --> 00:03:36.659 So I think he uses the three words to indicate the fullness of his sin. 00:03:36.900 --> 00:03:40.719 You know, that he's sinned in all the ways that God has told us not to. 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:50.620 And when we do that, you experience grief and loss and pain. 00:03:51.159 --> 00:03:53.219 And David describes in verses 3 to 4, 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:59.699 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 00:04:00.199 --> 00:04:02.740 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. 00:04:03.139 --> 00:04:06.020 My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. 00:04:06.020 --> 00:04:10.460 So this could be a metaphorical description of a spiritual struggle. 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:19.300 But it could also just be that the spiritual struggles that he experienced left him physically disabled to kind of ailing. 00:04:20.579 --> 00:04:26.439 And so when he turns, this all turns around though, when he starts to confess his sin. 00:04:26.680 --> 00:04:31.740 And then when he's confessing his sins, he uses the same three words he used earlier to talk about his sin. 00:04:31.740 --> 00:04:35.740 So transgression, iniquity, and sin, I think to indicate the fullness of his confession. 00:04:35.740 --> 00:04:37.500 He brought it all to God in verse 5. 00:04:37.960 --> 00:04:41.160 I acknowledge my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity. 00:04:41.500 --> 00:04:44.620 I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. 00:04:45.220 --> 00:04:48.600 And the result is, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. 00:04:49.420 --> 00:04:56.340 As I was preparing for this, I saw a really helpful analogy from a Bible commentator named Peter Craigie. 00:04:56.939 --> 00:05:00.519 And then he compares confession to kind of opening a dam, right? 00:05:00.680 --> 00:05:04.000 Like when the dam, before I get it closed, all the pressure builds. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:08.819 There's a lot of, you know, pressure, pain just kind of surrounding that. 00:05:09.019 --> 00:05:11.959 But as soon as the gate lifts, you know, the water subsides. 00:05:12.379 --> 00:05:15.339 And then there's peace and there's easing of the pressure. 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:18.680 And that confession, that kind of breakthrough, a spiritual breakthrough. 00:05:18.680 --> 00:05:24.519 And then we wonder then why does God forgive sins? 00:05:25.240 --> 00:05:30.220 Because unless someone has paid for the wrong that they've done, unless there's penance, 00:05:30.400 --> 00:05:32.980 it's not right to absolve someone of their guilt, right? 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:33.939 Unless they pay for it. 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:36.379 And so how can God do that? 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:40.480 Because he does that without really us making proper amends for the sins we've committed. 00:05:41.079 --> 00:05:42.560 And then Romans 3 talks about that. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:49.819 Of course, later, God was able to forgive sinners in the past because he was looking ahead to the fact that Jesus was going to come and make it right 00:05:49.819 --> 00:05:56.319 and show forth God's justice by absorbing the punishment that the people God forgave deserved themselves. 00:05:57.199 --> 00:05:59.660 And so that's the reason why God forgives sins. 00:05:59.699 --> 00:06:02.500 And he could forgive sins even here because he's looking ahead to Jesus. 00:06:02.500 --> 00:06:10.660 And that's the reason why, as Christians, we can come to God in confession with joy instead of dread, right? 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:12.939 Because we know that God's gracious to forgive. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:16.379 And so he says in verse 6, 00:06:16.500 --> 00:06:22.000 Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found. 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:26.759 Surely in the rush of great waters they shall not reach him. 00:06:26.759 --> 00:06:31.159 And it's kind of similar to Isaiah 55, 6, 00:06:31.240 --> 00:06:31.399 which is, 00:06:31.500 --> 00:06:33.039 Seek the Lord while he may be found. 00:06:33.399 --> 00:06:35.959 So he's saying that there is an opportune time for confession. 00:06:37.019 --> 00:06:44.139 You know, of course, it's right after you've committed it really is the best time to confess your sins, 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:47.259 to come to God, to not delay, to not wait, 00:06:47.300 --> 00:06:51.579 because we know that God's waiting to forgive, waiting to hear us, hear our prayers. 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:54.399 And so he's saying there's an opportune time, so don't wait. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:57.839 May everyone offer prayer to him at a time when God may be found, 00:06:57.919 --> 00:07:02.839 because it might be too late when we try to confess when the judgment comes. 00:07:03.259 --> 00:07:05.919 And that's the reference here into the rush of great waters. 00:07:06.019 --> 00:07:08.919 It's the same word for flood that came at the time of Noah. 00:07:09.659 --> 00:07:11.979 So when the judgment comes, it'll be too late, 00:07:12.019 --> 00:07:14.659 so we should confess our sins, repent of them when we have the opportunity. 00:07:15.620 --> 00:07:17.759 And then really the crux of the psalm, 00:07:18.019 --> 00:07:20.719 the joy of confession here comes down to verse 5, 00:07:20.899 --> 00:07:23.459 where verse 1 and verse 5, there's a play on the word cover. 00:07:23.459 --> 00:07:24.639 It's the same word. 00:07:25.479 --> 00:07:29.339 It talks about how David at first covered his sin, 00:07:29.939 --> 00:07:33.939 but then later he talks about how the sin will be covered by God. 00:07:33.979 --> 00:07:35.039 It's the same word, right? 00:07:35.359 --> 00:07:39.120 So there's a word play there to convey the fact that sin has to first be uncovered 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:40.639 before God in confession, 00:07:41.079 --> 00:07:43.120 before it can be covered by God's grace, 00:07:43.219 --> 00:07:44.599 by forgiveness through Jesus Christ. 00:07:44.979 --> 00:07:46.560 And this is a really key insight, 00:07:46.719 --> 00:07:49.079 because sin always thrives and grows, 00:07:49.159 --> 00:07:51.979 and grows in power in isolation, in darkness. 00:07:51.980 --> 00:07:54.939 When it's not confessed in the secrecy of the human heart, 00:07:55.100 --> 00:07:56.379 it grows in power. 00:07:57.540 --> 00:07:59.379 And then connected to that, 00:07:59.460 --> 00:08:02.920 it's important that we confess our sins not to just God, 00:08:03.319 --> 00:08:06.360 but to one another, as James talks about, right? 00:08:06.420 --> 00:08:07.960 In James 5, 15 to 16. 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:09.939 And this is the case, 00:08:10.080 --> 00:08:12.560 not because confessing to each other is more important, 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:14.819 confessing to God is the most important, 00:08:15.319 --> 00:08:16.660 but because of our lack of faith. 00:08:16.660 --> 00:08:22.000 So really, it should be harder for us to confess our sins to an all-knowing, 00:08:22.180 --> 00:08:24.120 perfect, and holy God, 00:08:24.200 --> 00:08:25.860 who is perfectly righteous and just. 00:08:26.340 --> 00:08:29.060 I mean, it should strike fear in us to be able to bring our sins to him, 00:08:29.160 --> 00:08:29.620 confess them. 00:08:29.700 --> 00:08:33.259 But because we don't really believe that God is like that, 00:08:33.340 --> 00:08:35.820 because we don't really believe in the gravity of our sin, 00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:36.480 when we bring it to him, 00:08:36.519 --> 00:08:38.420 we could rattle off, confess our sins to God, 00:08:38.820 --> 00:08:43.160 but in a way that we would never dare to do with another human being, right? 00:08:43.159 --> 00:08:49.039 And that's why it's so important to expose our really easy believism, 00:08:49.620 --> 00:08:50.299 just our really, 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:52.799 that's another way to cover our sins is to say, 00:08:52.919 --> 00:08:55.579 oh, I confess to God and not bring it to other believers, 00:08:55.980 --> 00:08:56.759 to the church, right? 00:08:57.120 --> 00:08:59.480 And so that's why I think that confession to one another 00:08:59.480 --> 00:09:02.299 is specifically enjoyed in James 5, 15 to 16. 00:09:02.779 --> 00:09:04.279 Because when we bring it to another believer, 00:09:04.459 --> 00:09:05.399 another brother or sister, 00:09:05.799 --> 00:09:07.039 we bring it to God, 00:09:07.139 --> 00:09:09.299 because we bring it to the body of Christ, right? 00:09:09.299 --> 00:09:10.339 And so that's, 00:09:10.679 --> 00:09:13.219 so sin has to be uncovered in confession 00:09:13.219 --> 00:09:15.559 before it is covered by forgiveness through Christ. 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:17.699 And that's the, 00:09:17.699 --> 00:09:18.199 uh, 00:09:18.899 --> 00:09:20.120 ...