This morning's message comes to us from Psalms 32. Of David, a mascal. 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 is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all the day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was drained as in the summer's heat. Then I acknowledged 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 is faithful pray to you immediately. When great floodwaters come, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place. You protect me from trouble. You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance. I will instruct you and show you the way to go. With my eye on you, I will give counsel. Do not be like a horse or a mule without understanding. That must be controlled with bit and bridle or else it will not come near to you. My pains come to the wicked, but the one who trusts in the Lord will have faithful love surrounding him. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones. Shout for joy, all you upright in heart. Well, good morning. I am really looking forward to our time together in God's Word this morning. Let's pray now and ask for God's help as we look at Psalm 32. Gracious Father, we come to you now. We ask for your Spirit's presence and power to be at work among us. I pray that you would give us hearts to truly believe your word. Help us to know, to experience the joy of your forgiveness and to refuse to hold on to hidden sins. Oh Father, give us grace to be quick to confess our sins to you, confident, rejoicing in your gracious and merciful forgiveness of all of our sins through Jesus Christ our Lord. So we pray these things in his holy name. Amen. Amen. Well, we are in a short mini series through the Psalms this summer, and we're looking at Psalm 32 today. And I am really excited about preaching through this Psalm because I love talking about joy. One of my biggest passions in life is to grow in my joy in Christ and to help others grow in their joy as well. I want to be a happy Christian, and I want Christians around me to be happy as well. Now, please don't misunderstand me. I'm not talking about a superficial happiness that lives in the denial of pain and hardships. That's not true Christianity, dear ones. Christianity is honest about the hardships of life. So I'm not talking about a happiness that puts a fake smile on because it doesn't know how to grieve or how to suffer in hope. I am talking about the happiness and joy that come from a deep awareness of who God is and all that he has done for us in Christ. I'm talking about a joy that's not tied to our external circumstances, how things are going for us in the moment, but a joy that is anchored deep in the unchanging reality of the gospel of Jesus Christ. A joy and happiness that no amount of suffering, no amount of hardship can fully extinguish because no suffering and no hardship can truly threaten this joy. It is safe and secure in God and His promises. Another word for this is blessed. Blessed. The blessed life. The Bible will speak of the blessed life as a life of flourishing in God. A life characterized by joy and happiness in Him. It's a beautiful life. The life we were created to live and to enjoy. It's the life our hearts long for. Whether we realize it or not, we are all looking for searching for joy and happiness in this life. We all want our lives to be blessed, to feel like they're flourishing, that there's joy and meaning and happiness. But not everything we pursue leads to the joy and blessedness of life that we all so desperately want. There are many things in this life that promise us joy and happiness, but none of them seem to be able to deliver the true, the lasting, the deep, the meaningful joy and happiness our hearts long for. They can scratch the itch, but they are never able to completely satisfy it. And this is where Psalm 32 comes in. God, in incredible love and grace, has revealed to us the path to true joy and true happiness. This psalm is really God's gracious invitation to you. God is graciously inviting you into a life of blessing, into a life of deep joy and unshakable happiness. That's Psalm 32. So let's look at this psalm now and see this truly good life, this blessed life, this life of joy that God is calling us into. Psalm 32, look at verses one through two. David, the dear psalmist, says this, how joyful. 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 is no deceit. The psalm begins with this double refrain of how joyful, or as some translations say, how blessed, how good, how wonderful. The point is the person being talked about is flourishing in life. Their life is full of joy and happiness. There's a goodness and a sweetness and a beauty to their life. And what is it that makes their life so joyful, so blessed? Their transgressions are forgiven and their sin is covered. In other words, they are experiencing the deep joy that comes from knowing that all, every single last one of their sins has been forgiven. The guilt that they used to feel for their sin is gone. The Lord has forgiven it. It's no longer being charged to their account. Their debt of sin has been paid for and taken away. They are forgiven. Now, in order for us to fully feel the weight of joy that comes with forgiveness, we must first feel the weight of our sin and our guilt. We must first come to realize that our sin and guilt is our biggest, most significant problem in all of life. Financial struggles, health struggles, relational struggles, all of these struggles pale in comparison to this main central problem. We have disobeyed and rebelled against our Creator God, and we are guilty and deserving of His just judgment. That is our problem. And the Bible is crystal clear on this. Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And a few verses earlier in Romans 3, 10 through 12, we read, there is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks God. All have turned away. All alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one. This is the sad condition of every single human being. We stand guilty and condemned before God because of our sin and rebellion against God. And no matter how hard we try, we cannot shake the feeling of dread and fear that judgment day is coming. Revelation 20, 11 through 15 describes the day of judgment like this. Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence and no place was found for them. I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books. Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them. Each one was judged according to their works. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. There is a reason that culture after culture after culture has tried to find ways to deal with guilt. It is an inescapable reality of human existence. We know intuitively that we are not good enough and that one day we must give an account for how we have lived. Some respond to this by seeking forms of sacrifice or other means of atonement. Others try to drown out the feelings of guilt and impending judgment through denial and distraction. And yet, try as we might, we cannot shake this feeling of guilt and doom. We cannot appease our tortured consciences. Deep down, every single one of us knows that judgment day is coming and that it is not going to go well for us. This is why, this is why sin and guilt is our biggest, most significant problem as humans. If our sin and guilt are not dealt with, we will die and face God's holy and righteous judgment for our sin. And as Revelation says, we will then be thrown into the lake of fire where we will experience the horrors and agony of God's wrath and judgment for all eternity. Day after day, year after year, millennium after millennium, we will suffer conscience punishment in hell for our sins. So no wonder, David says in verses one and two, how joyful How joyful is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sin is covered. How joyful is the person whom the Lord does not charge with iniquity and in whose spirit is no deceit. Oh, how joyful, how blessed, how wonderful is the forgiveness of sins. What joy and relief come from knowing that your great debt of sin to God has been completely taken away. The horror and the ugliness of your sin has been covered. The great judge of all the earth is no longer charging you with iniquity. You have been forgiven. All of your guilt has been taken away. But notice the last bit of verse two. Part of what makes this person's life so full of joy is that the deceitfulness of sin is gone. Instead of trying to deceive others or even God and themselves about their sin, they have honestly confessed it. They are not hiding anymore. They are done pretending to be something they are not. They have taken off the mask. They are done deceiving. They are walking with integrity now. No more lies, no more half-truths, no more deceit. And as a result, they are experiencing the deep joy of walking in the light of honest confession. However, this is not easy to do. It is often so scary for us to bring our sin out into the open and to confess it. It feels so much easier and safer to just try to hide it and bury it. But this, this does not lead to a joyful life of blessing, but to misery and agony. Look at verses three and four. David says, when I kept silent, When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long. For day and night, your hand was heavy on me. My strength was drained as in the summer's heat." So here David is recounting his experience when he kept silent about his sin. Instead of confessing his sin, he chose to hide it. And I love what one commentator, William Plummer, says about this. He writes, this concealment did not bring relief. Sins never grow out of date. There is no statue of limitation for crimes either at God's bar or at the bar of conscience. Our sins do not grow out of date. Ignoring them does not make them go away. As Tim Keller says, you can get away with your sins, but you can never get away from your sins. No matter how hard we try, we cannot escape the guilt of sin. It begins to eat at us. It's like a poison that we refuse to spit out even though it's destroying us. David says his bones became brittle from his groaning all day long. Now this word for groaning could also be translated as roaring, like the roaring of a lion. So this is a picture of a restless, tortured man being eaten alive by his guilt. And not only was his guilt destroying him, he was experiencing the crushing weight of God's hand upon him. David says in verse four, for day and night, your hand was heavy on me. My strength was drained as in the summer's heat. As Texans, we know something about summer's heat, don't we? We know how exhausting and how draining it can be on a hot July day in Texas. The heat just sucks the energy and life right out of you. And this is how David is describing his experience of hiding his sin. Day and night, he felt God's heavy hand of conviction on him. Instead of joy and blessing, he felt misery and exhaustion. So what about you this morning? What is your current experience of God like? Are you experiencing the joy and happiness of confession and forgiveness and no deceit? Or are you miserable and exhausted? Roaring and groaning and restless because of your hidden sin? Are you feeling eaten alive by guilt, crushed under the weight of a guilty conscience? If that's you this morning, I have such good news for you. You can experience joy and blessing if, instead of keeping silent about your sin, you confess your sin to the Lord. Look at verse five. David says, then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not conceal my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the guilt of my sin. It's so beautifully simple, isn't it? You just open your mouth and confess your sins to the Lord and he forgives all your guilt. There's no mountain you have to climb, no number of good deeds you have to do, no self-punishment you have to inflict. You just acknowledge your sin to God and confess it. Instead of trying to conceal or cover your iniquity, you give it to God to cover. Remember verse one, God is the one who can cover or conceal sin. They're the same word in Hebrew, they're just being translated differently. So notice the point David is making in these verses. David is saying that if we try to cover our sin, it doesn't work. It doesn't work. There is nothing that we can do to adequately deal with our guilt and sin problem. Only God is able to cover our sin. So our job is to simply uncover our sin to God so that He can then cover it. Instead of trying to hide and conceal our sin, we want to bring it out into the open and honestly confess and acknowledge our sin to God. This, this is how we come to experience the joy of forgiveness. This is how we experience the blessing of our guilt being taken away. But what are some ways that we are tempted, like David was, to try to conceal or cover our sin? Well, here are three popular ways we try to do this. First, blame shifting. Blame shifting. This is where we refuse to take full responsibility for our sin, and instead we try to push it off on others or our situation. Anything to take the heat off of us. So we say things like this, I'm sorry I got angry, but if you hadn't disrespected me so badly, I wouldn't have snapped at you. I'm blaming, I'm shifting, I'm saying it's your fault. Or, as Adam said in the garden when God confronted him about his sin, the woman you gave to me, he's blaming God. The woman you gave to me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate. Oh, you poor helpless victim, Adam. No, see, this is blame shifting. Instead of owning our sin, we shift the blame on others in a desperate attempt to try to excuse ourselves and to cover our own sin. And this is not true confession, and it does not lead to the joy of forgiveness. Another way we try to cover or conceal our own sin is through self-pity. Listen to what one author says about this. He writes, wallowing in self-pity may appear to be repentance, but it is not. When our wrongdoing brings down real world problems on our head, we cry, I wish I hadn't done that. But our sorrow isn't over how we wrong God or others, but over the trouble it has brought to us. We are not truly troubled by the sin. And if the consequences go away, we slide back toward the wrongful behavior that proves that the seeming repentance was just self-pity. And then he writes this sobering statement. Self-pity looks like repentance, but it is self-absorption. And that is the essence of sin. Dear brothers and sisters, do not be deceived into thinking that your sorrow over the consequences of your sin is true repentance. Your sin cannot be covered by you feeling sorry for yourself. Simply feeling bad about being caught is not true repentance. It is your attempt to cover your sin through feeling bad about it. Third, another way we try to conceal our sin is by beating ourselves up. We try to deal with our guilt, that nagging sense of guilt, by punishing ourselves. We think that if we can only make ourselves miserable enough, that we will somehow atone for our sin, that we will be able to pay back the debt we owe, that the scales will finally balance out once we have suffered enough. But beating ourselves up does not take away our sin and guilt. God's word is clear. None of our attempts at concealing or covering our own sin work. It is impossible for us to cover our sin. But thankfully, God is able to cover our sin. David says in verse five that when, instead of trying to conceal our sin, try to cover it ourselves, we confess our sin to the Lord, then he forgives all the guilt of our sin. But what does it mean to confess our sins to the Lord? Tim Keller offers this helpful definition. He writes, to confess is to make a full, clean admission of what you have done wrong, without qualification or excuse, without minimizing or relativizing. It is to take full responsibility. And this is why David says at the end of verse two, no deceit. Those who know and experience the joy of forgiveness are those who have been honest about their sin. They are those in whose spirit is no deceit. They have not tried to excuse or to downplay what they have done. They have just openly acknowledged it to the Lord. And this is the path to joy and blessing. This is the path to happiness. So if you are here today and you have been trying to cover your own sins, I want to plead with you to give up that exercise in futility. Instead, confess your sins to the Lord. Uncover your sins to the Lord so that He can cover them for you. God is the only one who can provide full and complete forgiveness of all your sins. And God can do this because in His love and justice, Jesus Christ has become our substitute. On that Roman cross some 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ took His people's sin upon Himself and endured the full fury of God's wrath and punishment toward His people's sin. God is not excusing or ignoring sin. No, He has punished it in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And now all those who come to Jesus Christ confessing their sin and putting their faith in Him have all of their sins taken away and are covered in the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ. No more guilt. No more condemnation, just full forgiveness and acceptance by God. This, this is the good, wonderful, life-changing news of Christianity. Anyone. Anyone who confesses their sins to God and puts their faith in Jesus Christ immediately has the joy and blessing of knowing that all of their sins are forgiven and they have peace with God. How joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. So do not delay any longer. Eventually, it will be too late. Your opportunity to confess your sin to the Lord will pass at some point and you will be left with the guilt of your sin. So heed David's warning in verse six. He says, therefore, let everyone who is faithful pray to you, when? Immediately. When great floodwaters come, they will not reach him. Don't miss the urgency here. Don't delay in praying to God and confessing your sin. Don't think that you can do it tomorrow. Today is the day to call out to God. Today is the day to uncover your sin, to confess it to God. And I think it's possible that in this verse, David is referring to God's judgment of the great flood in the days of Noah. Noah built the ark, right? But people refused to turn from their sin. And then all of a sudden, the floodwaters came and it was too late. They drowned under the waves of God's judgment. They had missed their opportunity to turn to God for mercy. And David is saying here, he is pleading with you, don't let that be you. Don't continue to try to conceal your own sin. Pray to God immediately. Confess your sins to Him while there is still time. And in verse seven, David gives us even more reasons to turn to God. He says to God, God, you, you are my hiding place. You protect me from trouble. You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance. This is so important to understand, guys. David, For David, God is so much more than a get out of hell free card. So much more, so much more. David has a personal relationship with God. He loves God and he praises God for who he is and what he has done. He is David's protector. The one who is with him and who keeps him safe. He is the one who surrounds David with joyful shouts of deliverance. Again, note the emphasis on joy. There is tremendous joy for those who are in right relationship with God, for those whose sins are forgiven and who have God as their protector. And then in verses eight and nine, we continue this theme of the joy and goodness of relationship with God. God says to his people, I will instruct you and show you the way to go. With my eye on you, I will give you counsel. Do not be like a horse or mule without understanding that must be controlled with bit and bridle or else it will not come near you. So in these verses, David is contrasting two very different ways that we can interact with God. In verse 8, God presents himself to us as our counselor and teacher, the one who will show us the way that we should go, the one who carefully watches over us with his eye upon us. The implication is that we should eagerly and attentively listen to the counsel and instruction of our good and wise and loving Heavenly Father. We should not be like a horse or mule that has to be controlled with bit and bridle. Verse nine is a picture of a stubborn fool who has dug in their heels and refuses to listen to God. David says they become like a mule without understanding or reason. Instead of pursuing joy and the blessing of confession of their sin, receiving God's forgiveness and living in relationship with Him, they have foolishly, stubbornly chosen their sin. At this point, I want just to pause for a moment and draw our attention to something absolutely remarkable. about our God. Remember that our sin is a direct attack on him and his holiness. And yet notice the remarkable patience, grace, mercy, compassion, love of our God toward foolish, stubborn sinners. God is not letting this foolish and stubborn mule go. He has put a bit and bridle on him. He's tied him to the back of his pickup truck and he is dragging him back to the barn. And in verse four, don't forget that it was God's hand that was heavy upon David. It was God's hand that was sapping his strength as in the heat of summer. In both of these verses, we see God's relentless, gracious pursuit of sinners. And though God would much prefer us to willingly listen to his counsel and instruction, God will, when necessary, put the bit and bridle on us and cause his hand to weigh oh so heavy upon us. Because God loves us, he will discipline us and cause us to suffer until we stop hiding our sin and confess it to him. But do not make the mistake of presuming on God's grace, of thinking that you can continue to hold on to your sin and confess it later. God's staggering, relentless grace and mercy is designed to lead you to repentance, not to encourage you to continue in your rebellion. As verse six says, the call is to pray to God immediately. To be broken by his grace and mercy and to turn to him. So don't be an arrogant, foolish mule. Humble yourself before God and confess your sin to him and follow his instructions. Listen to his voice of counsel. His way is the way of joy and blessing. The way of the mule is the way of hardship and pain. Look at what David says in verse 10. Many pains come to the wicked. but the one who trusts in the Lord will have faithful love surrounding him." David is fighting for your joy in this psalm. He does not want you to make the foolish mistake he made of being a mule and trying to hide his sin. Unconfessed, hidden sin will wreck your life. David says, many pains come to the wicked. This is true in this life, but oh, so much more so in the life to come. Hell is a place of eternal torment and pain. Don't let that be you. Instead, be the one who trusts in the Lord. Instead of many pains, you will have God's faithful love surrounding you, protecting you, caring for you. Again, notice the relational emphasis in this Psalm. Whereas sin breaks our relationship with God, forgiveness beautifully restores it, doesn't it? We live as those who are protected by God, instructed and counseled by God, and surrounded by God's faithful love. And so David exhorts us in verse 11, Be glad. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones. Shout for joy, all you upright in heart. To be a Christian truly is to embrace a life of joy. It's to know, it's to know that all of your sins are forgiven and that you are surrounded by God's faithful love and care. The greatest threats to your life, your sin and guilt have been completely taken care of by God. And even though there was absolutely nothing you could do to cover your own sin, God has so graciously, so mercifully covered it in Christ for all those who just confess their sins to Him and trust in Him. Tapestry Community Church, in this psalm, God has graciously revealed the path to true joy and happiness. True joy and true happiness come not from hiding our sin, but from honestly confessing our sin to the Lord and living in restored relationship with Him. So may we not be mules, miserably trying to conceal our own sin and having our strength drained as in the heat of summer. Instead, may we be a church full of people who are quick to confess our sins to the Lord and then enjoy a life of deep joy and unshakable happiness in a restored relationship with our merciful God. Let's pray. Father, how joyful it is to have our transgressions forgiven and our sin covered. I pray for any here today who are not experiencing that joy, but who are desperately trying to hide and cover their sin in their own strength. I pray that in your mercy, your hand would weigh heavy on them. Drain their strength as in the heat of summer. Do whatever it takes for them to acknowledge their sin to you and confess their transgressions. Bring them, draw them into the joy of your forgiveness and a restored relationship with you. Father, you are our protector. You instruct and counsel us and you surround us with your faithful love. I pray that you would help us as a church to be so glad in you and to rejoice. And help us to be a church that passionately invites others into the joy of knowing that through confessing their sins and trusting in Jesus Christ, their sins too can be forgiven and they can have peace with you. What wonderful, joy-producing good news. Help our hearts always to be glad and rejoice in you. I ask these things in the name of our sin-defeating Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.