The Joy of Confession (Psalm 32)

Probability I got to tell you Bill. It's really cool to see your family Jarrett. Thank you for joining us this morning and Jared is really cool to see your family what they really excited to be really excited to watch you. Do your thanks. That's really I was really special. So thank you for being a part of that. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn with me to Psalm 32 Psalm 32.

I hope you guys are well this morning and we are continuing our series on the words of wisdom as seen in the wisdom literature of scripture and we're hanging out in the Psalms the last couple of weeks last week. We looked at Psalm 139. We highlighted the importance of knowing god and knowing our self and we can't really know our self until we really know God he tells us who we are here to find everything about us and over the last couple of weeks. We talked about how this stress and struggle come from every direction according to the Psalms north south east and west of life. But so does God's grace his grace comes from every direction and his grace is what defines us. So we ended last week with a quote from John Calvin talking about how the key. The knowing our self is to know God. That's the absolute essential key. We cannot properly worship until we know our self. and so this morning we're going to pick up where we left off and look at little bit of a deeper level of who we are as people and what God is calling us to and it's interesting because this morning I was talking with the first-time guest and he was like, hey what you're teaching today and I sits on 32 welcome to the table, so This is an interesting song though. Psalm 32 is what is what's called a penitential Psalm which means it's dealing with sin and repentance and confession. But the interesting thing about this song, is that a celebratory It's a joy filled. It doesn't seem like it belongs with the category of Sorrow repentance and sorrow over sin. There's a different tone that the song has I don't want you to hear it as we read through the scripture and I want you to think about one or two words may be that as we read resonate with you for some reason, maybe ask the question. What in this text is present in my life. What in this text is absent from my life. As we read through that think through that. After we read we're going to take a few moments to ask God to to do something in our hearts this morning and then we'll get into it. So Psalm 32 Joy of forgiveness the joy of forgiveness. How joyful. Is the one whose transgression Is Forgiven whose sin is covered? How joyful. Is a person whom the Lord does not charge with iniquity and in whose Spirit there is no deceit.

When I kept silent my bones became riddle. My groaning all day long. Fur Day and Night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was drained as in The Summer's Heat.

I acknowledge my sin to you. And I did not conceal my iniquity. I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore let everyone who was faithful pray to you immediately when great flood waters come they will not reach him. You are my Hiding Place you protect me from trouble you surround me with joy. Out of Deliverance. I will instruct you and show you the way to go with my eye on you. I will give counseled do not be like the horse or mule without understanding that must be controlled with a bit and bridle or else it will not come near to you.

many pains come to the wicked. But the one who trusts in the Lord will have faithful love surrounding him. Beagle and Laura in the Lord and rejoice you righteous when shout for joy. All you upright in heart.

Father we thank you for your word. We ask this morning. We be aware of your presence. Use this song to speak to the deepest part of our life the place as we struggle the places we conceal. Be with us. Holy spirit help us tune our hearts to your will and your presence in Jesus name. amen

That's awesome sound sad.

Did it sound like somebody who was a miserable and weighed down and just couldn't get free. It sounds like somebody who is reflecting on a difficult time in their life and they found something that they never found before the scent of freedom and joy that they've never experienced.

And what does Somas dealing with? Is not just discovering sin but discovering sin. Opening it up for what it is. And then being recovered with Grace re-covered. Not just discovered and recovered but discovered and then read covered with something else.

When were talking about Sin a lot of people get nervous and probably right.

Send makes us uncomfortable. And the cultures approach to sin and you can see the seeps into the secular universities Clinical Psychology various Avenues within our culture and our culture of Houston as kind of outdated at best and psychologically harmful at worst, because the problem is if you just walk around all day thinking you're a sinner I'm bad. I'm bad. I'm bad that is psychologically harmful that is not good. So the culture has said we must remove the concept of sin. And what we've done is we've replaced it with sickness. It's just how it is. It's just Who You Are. This is how it is. You see this in Clinical Psychology all the time. I've been in secular counseling before I affirm it. I think there was benefits to it. Also think there are limitations to it. So don't hear this as a rebuke. We just here this is something I've observed and my time in counseling.

When we remove when we will happen is that we remove this concept of sin because it's light seems to be psychologically harmful. And so what happens is everything becomes sickness and when everything becomes sickness, there's no moral responsibility and when there's no more responsibility, it's easier to leave and let things linger there are times when medications are necessary. So again, please do not hear that. I too have been on medication before for anxiety. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is when everything is sickness when everything is just how it is. There's no there's no real movement. It's really hard to still grass that sense of joy. Set up a lot of Clinical Psychology is done. But over the years what's happened is is there trying to find language to put to something because any clinical psychologist worth their salt will tell you the importance of taking more responsibility of your actions. So there's this dichotomy there. I don't want to call it sin, but they don't have language for it. Because what clinical psychologist and especially in the Christian world will tell you is that when we feel a sense of moral responsibility when we realize that there that we have some responsibility and Recovery. It's liberating.

So we can't quite get rid of it. But we also want to get rid of it. All that's how our cultural response to our culture also tells us at large outside of counseling. They said you don't have any reason to be guilty while I feel guilty don't feel guilty for anything that you're doing just do whatever it is that you want to do this or do whatever makes you happy. Just do whatever you want to do don't feel guilty for the problem is that doesn't quite work because we still feel the sense of an emptiness and so the cultural narrative is still bankrupt. It's still ultimately bankrupt. I can't tell you how many people I meet with that have bought into that narrative and said I can't figure out why I can't find holness. I can't figure out why I still feel empty. I thought this would be what I thought this would do. This would do it. The coaches don't feel guilty about trying anything. Why do we still feel that something is off?

now the church hasn't dealt with send that well either.

We reduced it to send management a whole life is about send management. Don't do this. Don't do that. Don't do this. Don't do that. Return send it to a list of moral regulations by which if you don't keep you or out of the door.

Linger into camps either we tend to be overly excited about dealing with sin. 55 minute sermons on sin in the last 5 minutes is about Grace. Or we go silent on sin and we don't address them at all. Another one of those are helpful. Both are damaging. I'm very skeptical of the church that is dropping the hammer on sending leaves. No room for Grace.

They said we got to be bold, but we can fuse bowl with aggressive arrogance. and credit incredible spirits

got to tell it like it is. So often what does Reveals His will tell it like it is until we find ourselves in the simple situation. Then We crave the very Grace that we deprive others of.

Is a dichotomy there? But neither excitement with dealing with it or avoiding, it is healthy. But the song teaches us something it says it and try to convince you that soon as real or it just assumes that it is it assumes that in the heart of every person there's something that feels disrupted.

But the song is powerful and it's a joyful because it says that what you feel and dealt with and that if we don't deal with send it deals with us.

The song is celebrating. Joy found in discovering sin and letting God have his way.

We shout at people. Or we stay silent. But this doesn't allow us to do either of those. This is a very helpful framework for how we ought to engage since so we can talk about it and three ways we can talk about the pain of sin the power of confession and the path of Grace. The pain of send the power of confession in the path of Grace. The pain of said it starts off by celebrating that they held. Joyful is the one whose transgression sin and iniquity has been covered and dealt with

This is about a sense of freedom. And wholeness when we discover our sin and are recovered by Grace but it assumes that soon as natural as soon as I sent it is real but there's two things. I want to highlight typically in church as we talked about sure. It will talk about Sin in the judicial Center as found in Paul and Paul's letters. We're in court we're guilty of arson. Jesus absorbs are penalty on the cross. We have been set free. We are no longer in Chains because Jesus set us free. Amen. That's good news. That's good. That's part of the Gospel. That's part of sin, but that's one. of several images of sin in Scripture at the foundational level is it is not judicial. At the foundational level is not the illogical or intellectual. It is relational. It is relational said I want you to send the two ways as I'm out of foundational level. If you don't hear anything about said I want to hear these two things. It is the relational disruption between us and God. But has a relational consequences for us in each other and it is a relational debt that has to be paid.

Relational disruption in a relational debt go to Genesis chapter 1 I want Genesis chapter 3. I want to read something to you verses 1 through 9. I don't want you to tell me if you think this is judicial or relational.

Guinness not to minimize Paul's letters. They're very their equally authoritative, but we need to understand that the foundational off of what sin is if we're going to celebrate it or going to celebrate being set free from it.

Now the serpent was most cutting of all of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman did God really say you can't eat from any tree in the garden.

The one that said that we may eat from the trees in the garden.

What about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden? God said you must not eat it touch it or you will die, which is again a distortion. He didn't say don't touch it. It's over exaggerating kind of what we do because no you will not die the serpent said to the woman. It's back to God knows that when you eat for your eyes will be open and you'll become like God knowing Good and Evil. The woman saw that the tree was good for food delightful to look at and then it was desirable for attaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it. In the eyes of both of them were open to me knew they were naked so they sewed fig leaves together and made what? coverings let me coverings for themself. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden and then at the time of the evening Breeze and they hid from the Lord among the Trees of the garden. So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him. Where are you?

This is not a theological question. This is a relational question.

Where are you? He does not say what have you done? He first says where are you? The relational disruption that has separated us from God. And that happens has this in this relational to write disruption. We live for the self which only creates guilt angst shame Despair and emptiness and disillusionment. What we see in the garbage, that's about a broken relationships not just about broken rules. That's important for us to understand about Sin about a broken relationship not about broken set of rules. Now God is the God of all life to be around him to be in his presence as life when he comes into the burning bush. The bush doesn't die. Because it's a bush that won't. Because the presence of God is within it. So to be in the presence of God is to experience life. Now when we have separated ourselves from God will separate ourselves from life. So the natural consequence of separating ourselves from the god of life is death.

The relational disruption has led to death and that's a relational debt. And that God's creation. We have hijacked God's creation vandalize the Shalom and have called it art in the image of humanity. We have vandalized God's good creation and said look what we've done look how good it is. We have robbed him and it's a debt, but it's also like robbing a spouse of trust and wholeness when one spouse cheats on another.

We stolen goodness and restoration is fully dependent upon forgiveness when one spouse cheats on another. Who gets to set the terms of forgiveness the one who cheated or the one has been offended? Someone is going to be offended and forgiveness does not mean you forget. It doesn't mean that you ignore it. No forgiveness. Actually mean that you assume the dead doesn't go away. You've chosen to assume it. So are relational debt has to be paid. It has to be paid. And we can set the terms of forgiveness because we were the ones that walked away. Who gets to set the terms of forgiveness? The one has been offended God?

He's chosen to forgive. In through his son Jesus.

The result of sin though is that we live life on our own terms seeking to fill the void and only finding guilt shame angst and emptiness. We are way too down we feel it. We know it's there.

We don't know what to do about it. Our natural tendency is to keep it silent which musician 2 verse 3 of Psalm 32. He says when I kept silent listen to how painful The Sounds my bones came little

my strength was drained.

Is feeling the weight of a sin and it's because of this in his remaining silent.

He's trying to hold it in his trying to deceive other people to make everybody think that he's doing okay. I'm okay. I'm good. We do this all the time in the church. Hey, how are you? I'm fine. How are you? When this week we just had a wreck of a life.

One thing I want for the table is I want for it to be that relational space. We can be authentic enough to say, you know, what kind what kind of a rough week?

And I could use some prayer. Not just a casual niceties of Hi. How are you? Good. Good. Good. How are you?

We have a tendency to keep silent the sins and the struggles that eat Us Alive.

In the pain of sin, and the power of sin comes in its secrecy.

The more its secret the more has a hold on us.

ultimately silence we're choosing to say to God as I've got this and it's a form of rejecting God's grace. When was silence? And why do we keep silent while I think it's because we are fearful that no one will love us if they truly know who we are.

I think there's a fear that if people know how messed up I really am then they'll never want to be my friend. I never care for me. They never loved me. But the irony here is that when we keep our struggle silent, they still don't know you anyway.

They still don't know the real you. And it removes the possibility for empathy humility and love which of the foundations of a healthy relationship. So the more secrecy that we have regarding are sending struggles the less authenticity less authentic scuse me. Our relationships will be they don't love me. Well, they don't even know you.

My bones were brittle the idea of here is a Decay and exhausted because send what does what sin does Adam and everything gives nothing back to put you on a cycle of repeating the same thing over and over again, trying to find significant satisfaction security, but you find nothing it demands everything cost. Everything gives nothing and he says your hand. Was Heavy upon me to do things are happening and not dealing with not communicating. Confessing sin. Two things are happening the weight of our own emotional and psychological pain and God's heavy hand trying to lead us away from it.

Both things are working at the same time and what the Samus is doing. He's looking back saying that hand was heavy on me got I was feeling the weight of my wrong, but you weren't trying to condemn me me. You were trying to set me free in retrospect. He's looking back same God you were trying to leave me out of this not squash me down. His vision of God was skewed in the midst of the silence and not dealing with his sin.

And guilt became the motivation for his walk. Your hand was Heavy you feel that when you deal with send that that I can sense of heaviness part of it is God's hand trying to move you away from it. Part of it is us not wanting to deal with it and remaining silent. There's that tension. It's a tug-of-war for our soul.

It's the pressure of knowing what's right and not engaging it.

N2n, 2012 movie came out called flight. my man, Denzel, Washington Was the lead actor there and he play whip Whitaker? And the story is how whip Whitaker gets on a plane drunk after a night of doing cocaine and heavy drinking gets on a plane and he's when he's got he's got his wits about himself. He's doing good. He do some tough spots in the air and he takes a nap in the middle of his nap something happens to the plane. We know that if something happened with the plane it wasn't because he was drunk it was because the plane was broken to paint the plane fell apart is going down and he does this miraculous upside-down maneuver where he rolls the plane and Isabel Landing it and saving many lives. He loses. I think six lives and is like a hundred and two or something like that now he's a hero. He's a hero, but they were at the front not able to determine the cause of the crash and a toxicology report was off-the-charts. So the whole movie is about whether or not

his addiction is alcoholism.

Will put him in prison. After he saved the plane. And the whole movies about him suppressing his alcoholism pretending it's not there in the whole movie. You can find people connecting with him saying it's basically got his haunting him throughout the movie people come up and say you need to come to church with me. I need to come to this meeting with me need to do this Gods coming after you in fact the co-pilot who basically ended up being paralyzed ends up praying with him in the in the hospital saying Lord. Would you deliver him? Would you receipt would you show him your kingdom? And so God is haunting whip Whitaker in the film, but he keeps stuffing it down. I keep stuffing it down. Now it comes to surface at the plane was actually at fault. He is one lie away sitting in Courtney's One Lie away from Freedom one mile away from getting away from his alcoholism from getting away from his from his sin that has ruined his relationship with his wife is kid his new friends as old friends One Lie away from all of it being okay and him not going to prison.

and then he realizes that his send starting to really affected somebody that he deeply loved he was going to have to attribute the alcohol that was found on the plane to

A flight attendant who you was in a relationship with who died in the crash. You couldn't do it. Even though I look to the Mike and he said God help me. It is for the whole movie cursing God and he says God help me. And he said I was drunk. I'm an alcoholic.

The next scene is him sitting in prison. sharing with a group of guys how to spell story How he was trapped by it. He says this he says this is going to sound real stupid coming from a guy who's locked up behind bars for the first time in my life. I'm free.

The first time my life, I'm free this what we're talking about here. The suppression The Silence of dealing with sin hinders our freedom and doesn't mean that when we confess there's not consequences. But it means that were free.

That's The Power of confession is he says I acknowledge my sin and this word acknowledge this have to do with how I thought about it I'm aware of it cool. No, he's an acknowledgement of the Hebrew word there is actually a deep experiential sort of knowledge It's the sort of knowledge that you can't unsee. It's a sort of knowledge that permeates your heart. It's not an intellectual awareness. It's an experienced concept Ivan knowledged my son. We realize that something is not right and then we admit that it's causing the K in our soul and with our relationship with God and others. We begin to see the effects of our sin and our need to be for it to be discovered. Rhonda's light for the secrecy has no more power over it. is beautiful

But it's difficult. And do our first year of marriage a Christian I would not doing well and I had immerse myself. I wanted more than anything to be in Ministry. It was it was it was what I wanted to do and we had landed the sideline as a part-time job and Austin working at a very large Church doing some worship and some youth stuff and I was also working full-time and a financial institution. And so I was busy here busy there that was going going going and we had experience and things that I'd love to have some just some difficulty in our marriage. But I just continue to immerse myself in work and work and work. We're basically it got down to the point where I was neglecting Christy to the point in our marriage where she had said look you got to make a decision. It's either or marriage or its Ministry.

And so out of that I was convicted by the spirit and went to and made the Mason past 2 to counseling and I went and sat with the counselor. And what she did was she discovered my son. As a Ministry is an idol to you. You need to get away from it. So we did. next few years were very difficult with some health complications the medical challenges, but we kept growing closer and closer and closer and closer together. I found the idol. Confessed it move away from it. My relationship with God took off in a different direction than it's ever been in my relationship with my wife has never been more healthy than it is now.

When are citizen secretive kills our relationship with God and each other?

Places like knowledge my sin and it says I confessed it in this word confess. This is fun this word confess. When you think of confession. What do you think of you might think of I'm sorry, forgive me the words actually more about Thanksgiving and praise.

Have you thought about confession in a wave is praising God for what? He's already done? I thank you. This is not I'm so guilty. I'm so bad. I'm so awful. I'm so I know this is the word confession in the Huber has to do with praise and thanksgiving. not with condemnation

So how do I know what to confess part of me thinks that we don't need to spend a lot of time here part of me knows that every one of us deals with one or two things that just are pervasive in our life that we struggle with. But the one question we can ask ourselves is what captures my all and what drives me to angst. If you want to know what needs to be confessed off what captures my all and what drives me to angst. You'll find your idol real quick.

And the power of confession is that our words carry weight when we speak something happens were made in the image of God and then God spoke let there be light there was like there's power in his word. Then we confess there is power in that. There's just declaring its throwing it out in the open.

It's saying I'm accountable and I'm owning this I need help. It's like whip Whitaker before he said I'm sorry. He said God help me. That's the beginning of confession God help me.

We view confession as a negative, but it's meant to be entirely Redemptive.

The next thing that happens after confession as he begins to tell people what's happening he begins to instruct them. I think I'm going to instruct you in the way of life because confession without action is absolutely useless.

He carries a sense of repentance. There's a joy that comes from confessing our sins being free and wanting to tell people and repentance is not just simply a 180. if it's a 180 if you to repent two times, you're back where you started so it's I don't know. That's the answer. I think that repentance is a complete reorientation of how you and I perceive reality about what's the good life and then living in to that? That's what we're Fenton says it's complete reorienting the way that we view how life should be an ought to be lived and then choosing everyday to live into that reality that's repentance. It's a daily thing it applies to everything. You have to redeem your vision of all things that we engage with with the redeem the way we view money. We have to redeem the way we view sex. We have to redeem the way we view power and authority and position and possessions that's repentant the reorientation the way we think about the entirety of life and choosing to live in the way that God says to live that's repentance. As joyful in this life giving never negative in Scripture.

the last leave the path of Grace

He says pray immediately. Don't hold on to send one more minute than he have to because if you have flooding water cuz I think if we're honest and we deal with send it kind of feels like we're sinking. Sometimes he says the flood waters will not capture those who are confessing and dealing with the Brokenness in their life. And again, I will instruct you. how with empathy and humility, it sounds like It sounds like he can lead others well because he has experience that himself sin and grace are not theoretical intellectual Concepts. They are experienced in relationship with God.

When we're talking about Sin and we don't mention Grace. spiritual malpractice and bad exegesis and interpretation of scripture

Dimension send without Grace is it biblically inaccurate?

That's how he's leading them. He's leading them out of his own experience with sin and Grace. Don't be the person who loves to call out sin and tell him like it is I'm very skeptical of people like that because I used to be like that and I know my heart when I was doing that it was only to make me feel better about myself.

It was also a cover of my own son.

And don't be the person who avoids send because I've been that person too. Am I avoidant my voided if I'm asked it was saying I'm just trying to keep peace but really was more about self-preservation and fear.

So God never addresses sin for the sake of addressing it but address is sin for the sake of Salvation and wholeness.

What does text tells us that those who were once silent have now been surrounded not with condemnation, but with faithful love. Notice what surrounding not condemnation but faithful love of God and noticed that very rarely in scripture. Does God shout he's shouting here. And what is he shouting forgiveness Grace? Very rarely do we see where God is shouting? What is he shouting? What is the church typically shout sin. If we want to be more like God and we want to shout something at better ought to be grace.

and the Beautiful part is not close with this is that God has always God is always.

It's hard to cover our son Genesis 3:21 read this is how they make they make cloth to cover themselves. It was an adequate listen to this the Lord God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife. He clothed them. They thought it already try to close themselves. They couldn't do it their them clothing themselves with inadequate. It didn't work. So from the very beginning we see God trying to cover what we could not would not cover. Well, there is nothing we can do but merely respond to what God wants to do he chose to cover them and it's a beautiful

They tried to cover themselves and it didn't work. Does that sound familiar?

What is the beautiful part last verse 1st Peter 3:18? Is not judicial listen to it Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned but he died for Sinners to bring you safely home to God not to bring you into the courtroom. He does show up in the courtroom but to bring you home home. The God he suffered physical death that he was raised to life in the spirit. He paid the relational debt that we could not pay.

He is clothed us with forgiveness and Grace.

and from this comes a deep sense an overwhelming sense of joy.

And you know the people who have experienced this because they are quick to give Grace to other people. The people who haven't experienced it. They're really critical and cynical and judgmental. And it still just a theory. Let people of Grace let people that like God shout Grace and forgiveness and let's my challenge for you this week. Is this I want you to focus on just your sin.

Spend a week just reflecting on the condition and position of your heart. towards God don't look at anybody else. Just deal with this. And see what God does this week? I suspect that his word is true and that he will discover and then recover you with Grace. If you come in confession you feel guilt. That's not of Jesus. That's not the way of God. amen Millet spray father we thank you for your word. We ask that you just lead us in a time of prayer God help us Orient ourselves around the needs around the table. And it'd be mindful of you. We have things for your word. Elvis walk in at this week in Jesus name. Amen. So guys were running a little out of time. So what I wanted to do is I would just like you to take about five minutes and just pray as a table and then Fred's going to close us out with some communion. Okay, so just take up some friend request and spend some time praying with one another and if you want to linger afterwards and hang out, I think I'd be good. So let's just take some time to pray. And then further come up in just a minute.

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