Amen. Now as a bit of a disclaimer, and only a bit of a disclaimer, I have had about a couple hours to prepare this homily for you all from a penitential psalm, and most of my time is actually not spent writing the sermon. Most of my time is spent editing the sermon so that I'm nicer. So what you're getting is usually the first, right now is like the first thing that came to my mind with a little bit of softening, but it's Lent. So hopefully you've been around me and we've been together long enough that you know that even though there's going to be some things that I say that are probably going to be hard to hear for some of you, I hope that you know and we've spent enough time together that you know that I do love you and faithful are the wounds of a friend. Okay, so let's pray and ask the Lord to be kind to us as he always is. Father, we thank you for this evening. We thank you for your perfect love. We thank you for the manifestation of your love in so many ways in our lives, especially in discipline. We thank you that you are a good father and every good father disciplines those whom he loves. And we thank you that even when we go through hard, sad, heavy times where our bones are wasting away, we know that you are not far from us, even though it may feel like it. And so we thank you for that manifestation of your love in our life. And as we come to sit under your word, especially Psalm 32, I pray that you would give us eyes to see and ears to hear that you are good, even when it hurts. Bless the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts. Help them all to be pleasing, honorable to you, and edifying to your people for the glory of Christ. It's in his name we pray, amen. One of the many doctrines of Protestantism that Rome despises is the doctrine of the perspicuity of scripture. I had to use a big word because Britain should be talking right now, so. And it's not hard to understand why. Though the actual doctrine of perspicuity is quite nuanced and includes the need for people to listen to their pastors when they teach and preach the word, the most common way most Protestants describe this doctrine is something along the lines of anyone who has a Bible is just as capable of understanding anything in the Bible as anyone else. Practically, this ends up taking the form of, unless you can beat my favorite Bible verses with your favorite Bible verses, I don't believe you and I don't have to do what you say. I confess, as a pastor of Protestants, I can sympathize with Rome. Not because I just want to tell people what to do all the time, but, because I have to watch people suffer from their own sin, their own ignorance, and their own foolishness, rather than listen to biblical counsel from God's word that could otherwise free them from their self-imposed misery. Thankfully, this psalm is about as perspicuous, no, as clear as any. And I hope and pray that you'll take it as such and put David's and my exhortations into practice so that you can experience the blessed happiness that kicks this whole penitential psalm off. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Many of you are quite familiar with the idea that this word could just as easily have been translated happy, yes. David is stating clear, simple facts that should be true about the person whose sins have been forgiven, whose sin is covered against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. That person is blessed and is happy. That means everyone in this room of which these things are true, and I'm presuming it's all of you, is happy. Now, of course, you and I know that's not entirely true, at least not if happy means that fleeting feeling of pleasure when everything is just perfect and your internal and external desires are all being met in just the right proportion. But if happy means something different, something deeper, something better, Well, then you can simultaneously mourn and at the very same time be happy, at least according to David and Jesus. And yet, even though it's clear the Bible says that, you know as well as I do, and some of you better than others, that's not as experientially true as you would like it to be. Now, we don't have much time this evening, so I'm going to have to go quickly, and when we go quickly, we can't always be as careful and as nuanced as we would like to be, but hopefully, the lack of nuance will not cause you to be dismissive, but rather will wake some of you up to get to work and begin to enjoy the very real happiness the Lord would have for you, all while mourning, of course. First, what I'm not saying is that every form of sadness or suffering is because of a one-to-one sin-to-suffering ratio. So is your pastor saying if you're suffering, it's necessarily because of a specific sin you're committing? Please all do this. I don't want to be on a podcast somewhere. Second, I'm not telling you that if you do exactly what I'm telling you to do tonight, you will always be totally happy starting tomorrow and every day after that. So is your pastor telling you, just follow these steps, everything will be perfect immediately and you won't have any suffering? Let's do this. No, hand gardener. No, Kenny, fix that. So there is not a one-to-one sin-to-suffering ratio, but according to the psalmist, when you sin, particularly when you sin habitually and for extended periods of time without repenting, you will suffer. In God's mercy, Many of your bodies are literally wasting away from the inside out, like the psalmist says in verses three and four. But instead of getting wise counsel to help with your ignorance and repenting of your sins so that you might find relief, you're running everywhere else for answers. For some of you, a pill or an injection or a sip or a scroll might cure what ails you. But for many of you, your naturopath is not going to be able to fix your problem because your deepest problem is deeper than they can get to. But it isn't too deep for the word of God. Now we live in a time when everyone thinks they're the exception to every rule. But exceptions are exceptions because there's a rule. And so if you do not feel blessed, and your bones are wasting away, and you feel like God's hand is heavy upon you, and you feel anxious and burned out all the time, then chances are more likely than not you're going through the experience of the psalmist before he repented, confessed, and began practicing walking in righteousness. That's the progress of this psalm. And it's the experience of every sad, suffering sinner saint who the Lord has walked this road with for years and who is also happy. The blessed man is happy now after he's walked through this cycle in this psalm by grace through faith. After walking through that cycle of repentance and confession, look at what he tells the reader in verse eight. Yes, this has historically been recognized as a penitential psalm because of the emphasis on repentance, but verses eight and nine have caused some to label this as a wisdom psalm. After being forgiven and after repenting, David turns, and like a good, wise ruler who knows God and the truth of his word, he tries to offer wisdom and comfort to others who may find themselves in similar situations. David says, I will tell you what you should do and what path you should go on. I will give you counsel as I'm watching your life. And then look how sweet he is about it. Don't be like a horse or a mule. Or my counsel and therefore your happiness will escape you. I don't know how many people we have tried to help and all they have are reasons why it will never work. They have a million reasons why they can't be faithful, can't obey, can't repent, can't be happy, can't sleep, can't do the next right thing. Instead of heeding the counsel and receiving God's balm of grace for their wounds, like a horse or like a mule, they get mad or stubborn or dismissive. More content to be discontent in their misery than to trust and obey God and receive the happiness that could be theirs, even in the midst of their pain. This psalm, the entire Bible, is so clear. By grace, through faith, having received the greatest gift anyone could have ever received, the forgiveness of your sins and peace with God through Jesus Christ your Lord, you can suffer and mourn and go through trials with no joy, and then some joy, and then more joy. if and when you walk by faith according to the scriptures in the life of repentance. So if you can identify with the heaviness and the sorrow, the anxieties, the exhaustions, and the weaknesses, but you can't also at the very same time say that you really are blessed and happy and can be glad in the Lord and rejoice and shout for joy like the psalmist does as he closes this psalm. Please come see me. or Britain or one of your officers and let us comfort you with the same comfort with which we have been comforted. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but much sooner than if you just continue believing, loving, and doing the things the way you've always done them. Take advantage of the Lenten season, beloved. Come, let us reason together, open up your life, and compare it to God's wisdom in his word, and let's focus on repenting of your sins and delighting in the Lord now and forever. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen, let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your goodness in it. We thank you for telling us the truth about the world that we live in, about the world that is outside of us and inside of us. I know there are several of us who have gone through seasons of darkness and walked through the valley of the shadow of death and whose bones have been crushed under your gracious hand. Help us to come alongside other brothers and sisters and to offer them that same comfort that can be theirs if they would but believe and walk by faith. We thank you that you are patient with us, you are kind, that you are merciful. And we ask that you would give us the grace that we need to trust and obey you as we walk toward the journey of the new heavens and the new earth where every tear will be wiped away from every eye forever. We look forward to that day together for the glory of Christ and good of your world we pray, amen.