Text: \u00a0Psalm 32:1-5<\/p>\n
Why do you begin your service that way?\u00a0 It\u2019s so negative.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like that part of your worship. <\/em> Ever heard that?\u00a0 I have.\u00a0\u00a0 Ever thought that about the way we usually begin our worship?\u00a0 By confessing our sins, our sinfulness?<\/p>\n Well you know what?\u00a0 We shouldn\u2019t like it.\u00a0 It shouldn\u2019t be easy to say to the One who made us, who provides for us, who gave his own Son to suffer and die for us, I have sinned against you.<\/p>\n Yet maybe it has become easy for us — at least to say the words we are about to say.\u00a0 Maybe at times our confession has become something else.\u00a0 Kind of a shrug your shoulders ritual where the words roll of our lips but hardly speak from our hearts.<\/p>\n Today we hear the inspired words of King David who wrote this psalm.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of a number of psalms we call penitential, that is a psalm of repentance.\u00a0 Of course, when we think of David it\u2019s easy to say, no wonder.\u00a0 That guy really sinned.\u00a0 He had a lot to confess.\u00a0 No wonder he was so happy to be forgiven. <\/em><\/p>\n But if that\u2019s our reaction, we\u2019re missing the point.\u00a0 This is not just about David.\u00a0 It\u2019s about each of us here.\u00a0 For how have we come today?\u00a0 How do we come every time we gather.\u00a0 Trailing a trash bag behind us.\u00a0 A bag that contains all kinds of things.\u00a0 Unkind words to those we are supposed to love, lousy attitudes, ingratitude, impatience, anger, lust to name a few.<\/p>\n With this psalm the Holy Spirit urges us to come to God confessing our sin.\u00a0 But here with David, the Spirit shows us so much more.\u00a0 This is the great thing we see today in this Word.\u00a0 The blessedness\u2026<\/p>\n O the Happiness of God\u2019s forgiveness<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>There are Christians who believe that if you are a true Christian, you can never fall away.\u00a0 If King David were here, he would tell us something much different.\u00a0 About himself.\u00a0 He did fall away like some of us have at times in our lives.\u00a0 The tawdry details of David are in 2Samuel 11.\u00a0 \u00a0One night, up on the roof of his palace, he spotted a woman bathing. She was beautiful. David wanted her even when he found out she was married.\u00a0 He had to have her for himself even if it meant conspiring to have her husband killed.\u00a0 He did that.\u00a0 And then he flaunted his sin by bringing Bathsheba into his palace.<\/p>\n Then we come to chapter 12.\u00a0 We hear how the Lord\u2019s prophet courageously confronted the King.\u00a0 He showed him his sin and David confessed it.\u00a0 But what we don\u2019t see is that a year went by in between.<\/p>\n During that year it may have seemed to many, that things were going good for David.\u00a0 After all, David was in his palace.\u00a0 There servants attended him.\u00a0 He lived in luxury, doing whatever he pleased and there he was surrounded by a bevy of gorgeous women.\u00a0 It might have seemed that David\u2019s sin, his guilt, was no big deal.<\/p>\n But read this psalm.\u00a0 Read psalm 6 and you learn the real story.\u00a0 In stubborn silence, David was wasting away.<\/strong> Listen to him describe it:\u00a0 3<\/sup> When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4<\/sup>For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer<\/span>.\u00a0 David\u2019s guilt would not leave him alone.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t sleep.\u00a0 His body ached. And he was dog tired like we might be on a hot summer day. All symptoms of something far worse. A soul weighed down, burdened with guilt hemorrhaging inside.\u00a0 A soul in stubborn silence, keeping its distance from God, wasting away.<\/p>\n And we are no different.\u00a0 We waste away when we live in our own stubborn silence.\u00a0 When we refuse to open \u00a0that trash bag of our lives and admit to God what we\u2019ve put there.\u00a0 For guilt is a terrible thing.\u00a0 And yes counselors may be able to help us push back against those guilty feelings.\u00a0 But they can\u2019t take away the guilt for what we\u2019ve done or failed to do. \u00a0They can\u2019t remove the threat of God\u2019s judgment.<\/p>\n So David warns us here.\u00a0 Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding<\/span>\u2026 You or I may not have four legs but there have been times when I have born a close resemblance to a mule.\u00a0 I foolishly went on in my own stubborn silence. \u00a0Don\u2019t,\u00a0 David says.\u00a0 .Instead as we see here: \u00a0confess your sins and enjoy the freedom of God\u2019s forgiveness<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 5<\/sup>Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, \u201cI will confess my transgressions to the Lord\u201d <\/span>That didn\u2019t happen by itself you know.\u00a0 The Lord sent his prophet Nathan to bring David back to his senses. Who is your Nathan?\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to resent that Christian who shows you your sin.\u00a0 It\u2019s easier to kill the messenger than listen to the message.\u00a0 It took a lot of courage for the prophet Nathan to confront his King.<\/p>\n But that he did.\u00a0 And it convicted David\u2019s heart.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit broke down that wall of stubborn stony silence.\u00a0 And now David confessed, I have sinned against the Lord<\/span>.\u00a0 And here David must have marveled.\u00a0 How can this be?\u00a0 For right on the heels of his confession came this: The Lord has taken away your sin.<\/span> (2Sam 12) Of course, we Christians today need not be surprised.\u00a0 We know that parable told by our Lord Jesus.\u00a0 How a father waited anxiously for his son\u2019s return.\u00a0 That son who had made such a mess out of his life. \u00a0But what did that son find when he returned?\u00a0 A father so very ready to forgive his son.<\/p>\n That father represents our Father in heaven. God the Father who sent his one and only Son to this world. He made it possible for David to hear.\u00a0 He made it possible for us to hear every time we come confessing our guilt:\u00a0 The Lord has taken away your sin.<\/span><\/p>\n David can hardly contain himself here.\u00a0 1<\/sup> Blessed is he <\/span>whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. <\/span>2<\/sup><\/span>Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him <\/span>and in whose spirit is no deceit.<\/span><\/p>\n That first word blessed<\/em> hardly conveys the joy David then knew.\u00a0 O the happiness of sins forgiven.<\/strong> Happy is the man. Happy is woman who truly knows what God has done.\u00a0 Listen to how he meets us.<\/p>\n Our sins are forgiven<\/strong>.\u00a0 Literally it means, lifted.\u00a0 He has lifted the guilt from you.\u00a0 He no longer sees it.\u00a0 As far as the East is from the West so far have I removed your transgressions from you<\/span>.<\/p>\n And we know where that trash went from our bulging bag. \u00a0\u00a0Away from us to God\u2019s own Son on a cross.\u00a0 Look at that cross and know the Lord has taken away your sin.\u00a0 O the happiness of sins forgiven.<\/strong><\/p>\n O the happiness of sins now covered<\/strong>.\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s really hard. Someone offends us so that every time we see that person we think back to what they did or said.\u00a0 Well in countless ways we have offended God.\u00a0 But how does God meet us when we confess our sins?\u00a0 They are covered.\u00a0 Covered with something that is yours in Christ.\u00a0 His righteousness. His good and perfect life.\u00a0 You know the kind of life we fail to live.\u00a0 Our life is now covered with his goodness. That\u2019s what God sees.\u00a0 O the happiness of sins now covered.<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s the happiness of sins that the Lord will not count against us.<\/strong> In another psalm, we are reminded, if you O Lord kept a record of sin, O Lord, who could stand?<\/span> None of us.\u00a0 We\u2019d perish.\u00a0\u00a0 But how did God meet this guilty sinner named David?\u00a0 Just as he meets us.\u00a0 If we confess our sins, he promises to forgive us. \u00a0He promises not to drag those things out that now make us ashamed.\u00a0 And why?\u00a0 In\u00a0 love, Jesus stood in our place.\u00a0 \u00a0In love. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us.\u00a0 \u00a0O the happiness of God\u2019s forgiveness in Christ.<\/p>\n So bring that trash bag that we keep filling.\u00a0 Admit what\u2019s in it here before the Lord.\u00a0 \u00a0And I realize.\u00a0 It\u2019s no fun.\u00a0 It\u2019s doesn\u2019t make me feel good to look at the contents of my bag.<\/p>\n But listen to one who has know it both ways. \u00a0He speaks to you in this psalm.\u00a0 King David.\u00a0 He speaks to you from this pulpit. Your pastor.\u00a0 One who has wasted away in stubborn silence.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s no good at all.\u00a0 Better to Confess your sin and enjoy the freedom of God\u2019s forgiveness.\u00a0 Think about it.\u00a0 In Christ, <\/strong>He gives you the right to set that bag down and leave it behind. O the happiness of God\u2019s forgiveness.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text: \u00a0Psalm 32:1-5 Why do you begin your service that way?\u00a0 It\u2019s so negative.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like that part of your worship. Ever heard that?\u00a0 I have.\u00a0\u00a0 Ever thought that about the way we usually begin our worship?\u00a0 By confessing our sins, our sinfulness? Well you know what?\u00a0 We shouldn\u2019t like it.\u00a0 It shouldn\u2019t be easy to say to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":300,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299\/revisions\/300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}