Psalm 32 | The Blessing of a Clear Conscience | Pastor Daniel Batarseh | Maranatha Conference 2025

Pray with me. Lord, we we take every meeting seriously, and we recognize it as a gift from you. And, Lord, tonight we trust that you will meet us. We need your help. We we can't do this in our own strength.

Our hearts are desperately deceptive and wicked. Lord, we ask that you would guide us every step in this message and in this time of worship, that you would have what belongs to you, our our total devotion, our complete affection, and that, Lord, we would find ourselves again where you've called us to be. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. You may be seated.

I wonder, when you think about the blessed life, what comes to mind? Is it to be physically sound? Is it to secure financial stability? Maybe even prosperity? Is it to find a spouse?

Maybe one that exceeded your dreams and your prayers. And to not only share life with someone, but to even create life and have children. What comes to mind when you think of a blessed life? And while blessing does include many of those things, I invite you to Psalm 32 to see how the Lord defines and qualifies the blessed life. We turn to Psalm 32, which is a Psalm of David, and I'd like for us to read the first two verses together.

Psalm 32, a maskil of David. 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. The Holy Spirit through David informs us that blessing in great part incorporates at least two things. Number one, someone who is truly convinced that they have been forgiven of every sin that they have committed.

And the blessed life also includes someone who is confident that their lives are free from any hint of hypocrisy. According to the Lord, that is the blessed life. And our hearts should already be stirred with joy because the implication of this Psalm is that it is possible to know that every wrong that you have done can be covered. And with that, you can actually live a consistent life of faith, of integrity, of worship, without ever succumbing to entertaining a double life. It's possible.

It's attainable by God's help. Now if you're thinking, well wait, I've heard this language of blessed is the man before. You're right, you have. It's how the very book of Psalms opens. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. Now, if you take Psalm one and bring it together with Psalm 32, you have a wonderful message. Because what Psalm one does, it it informs us how one can remain blessed. Remain blessed. And and to remain blessed is to renounce, it is to reject the thinking, the behaviors, and even the company of the wicked, while making the word of God your daily companion.

That's how you remain blessed. So what's Psalm 32 about? Psalm 32 is about how the righteous can be restored on that path of blessing. Being restored, if you have ever deviated from the path that Psalm one speaks about. And the key to that reinstatement is in one word, confession.

That's what Psalm 32 is essentially about. Confession. The blessing of confession. The blessing of a clear conscience. And what's fascinating here to me is that we learned that confession of sin before the Lord is the u-turn for those who have lost their way.

And this Psalm was penned by a man, who for most of his life, was treading on that path, the Psalm one path. But because he let his guard down, he veered off tragically. And as we heard earlier, Psalm 32 was written by King David. Now, we can't make the mistake here. Psalm 32 is not David's confession of his infamous sin.

That's Psalm 51. What you have here in Psalm 32 instead is a reflection of his admission. And him telling about his experience when he was confronted about his sin, and how he was able to be recovered, reconciled, restored unto the Lord, and ultimately on that path that Psalm one describes so beautifully. Now people debate, is David in Psalm 32 speaking about that notorious act that he had committed with Bathsheba, the adultery, the lying, the murder. Is that what's in view here?

Well, it's it's up for debate, sure, but I find something so interesting in Psalm 51 that I think confirms what Psalm 32 is really about. Now, many believers are familiar with Psalm fifty one eleven and twelve, but I'm not sure how many can recall what verse 13 is. Come here to Psalm 51 verse 11. This is the Psalm where David confesses his sin. And he says this near the end of the Psalm.

Psalm fifty one eleven. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Pause. Do you know where everything went wrong for David in great part?

He lost the joy of his salvation. The moment Christianity feels more like duty than delight, danger. Danger. Why else do you think he's saying, oh, I need you to restore to me the joy of my salvation. You need to do that in me, Lord.

And this is something that we we often memorize, we even sing songs about, but look what he says in verse 13. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. He makes a promise to God. Lord, if you forgive me, if you restore me, if you cleanse me, I vow to use my experience and teach others who have also lost their way how they can come back to you. Psalm 32 is a partial fulfillment of this vow.

And we will benefit much from this promise that David made to God, because we will learn the importance of confession in our relationship with Christ, and we will do so by dividing David's thoughts in three captions. But before we do that, I want to address a possible thought that some might have that will surely distract you from this teaching if we don't deal with it right away. I've heard this before. Maybe you've asked it. What role does confession play in my life if I am a born again Christian who has placed my faith in the finished work of Jesus?

Is it my sin dealt with? Am I not forever righteous? Am I not justified once and for all? Why even think? Why even dedicate a service about the need to confess?

As Christians, I understand the unsaid, but I'm a believer. Well, you have to understand that the Bible teaches that there are marks of a true Christian. You know this very well. And one of the strongest evidences that somebody has really been born again is that they will wage war against their sin. A new relationship with Christ automatically means that you have a new relationship with sin.

And part of a sincere sanctification is that a believer who has, yes, once confessed, so that they would be justified, will continue to confess if sin is ever made known to them in their lives, or if for a moment it has gained victory over them. In fact, confession and cleansing go hand in hand. We know this. Right? First John one nine.

If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive our sin, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He's speaking to Christians here. Oh, I am cleansed. What are you talking about? Cleansing from unrighteousness.

I did that. That's true, but you have to understand the difference between positional pardon and relational forgiveness. Positional pardon, that happens once. Relational forgiveness, you're gonna keep seeking that. A husband and a wife may be bound together forever.

Well, that's the intention of Marriage at least. But every married couple in here knows that you can do things and say things that can harm and hinder the fellowship and the experience of that relationship. It's no different with the Lord. Confession is a vital aspect of the Christian walk. And what we have here before us, if we desire to preserve the richness of our fellowship and communion with Christ, are three things that we must be mindful of.

Let's come back to Psalm 32. The first thing that we must bring to our attention is the misery of unconfessed sin. The misery of unconfessed sin. Read verse three and four with me. David writes, for when I kept silent, my bones wasted away.

Through my groaning all day long. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. So the Psalmist begins by describing a universal truth for all of God's people who are living in known conscious sin. When you hide your sin, when you refuse to come before God honestly, to acknowledge it, and agree with him, to turn from it, you and I invite his discipline.

That's inherited for those who are children of God. Hebrews 12 speaks about it. We invite his discipline and verse three and four highlights some of the things, the consequences that concealed iniquity brings about in our lives. And if you really pay attention, it affects the whole being. Look again here.

Verse three and four shows us the physical is noted in the statement, my bones wasted away. I'm physically aching because of this burden. The emotional, through my groaning all day long, and even the spiritual. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. Every part of David's life was impacted because of his refusal to come before the Lord and confess.

And we can expect similar distress when we prolongingly walk outside of the light. And I think David's experience here is most common for those who share real rich relationship with the Lord. Those who know how to fellowship with him, those who experience his presence, those who really at one point, or for most of their life can actually say in Christ, he is my delight, he is my treasure. This is more for those who understand the beauty of walking with Christ, and how that can be lost. And I couldn't help but compare when I was meditating on this of different parts of the Psalms where David says, almost the complete opposite.

I quoted this in the first session. Let me quote it to you again. Psalm four verse seven. You have put more joy in my heart than they when their grain and wine abound. And then he goes on to say in Psalm four eight, in peace, I will both lie down and sleep.

For you alone, oh Lord, make me dwell in safety. It's like two different people. What happened to this man? What kind of contrast is this? How do we explain this?

Very simple. Hypocritical spirituality forfeits heavenly joy and peace, that can only be enjoyed with a clear conscience. David didn't have a clear conscience. And I'm aware that there are genuine believers who struggle with an excessively sensitive conscience. Have you ever met Christians like that?

They convict themselves more than the Holy Spirit does. And a pattern of rumination that regularly convicts you, even when God doesn't demands a different approach. This message may not be for you entirely. My encouragement to you is that you would develop the wisdom, and you would receive guidance from others to know how to decipher between genuine conviction, and your voice, the flesh, and even Satan Satan's lies. That's your pursuit.

This is not for those who struggle in this area. This is for those who struggle in the opposite direction. Tendency to forget that any sin disrupts, and it could be anything between a fit of rage where you said words that even an unbeliever wouldn't say, secret adulterous relationship. No matter what it is, the longer we justify it, the longer you and I downplay it, instead of experiencing at your right hand our pleasures forevermore, You will know day and night your heavy hand is upon me. It's misery.

Guilt instead of gladness. Sorrow instead of song. Pangs instead of peace. And let there be no confusion, these painful realities are amplified by God for one main reason, to bring you back to himself. If you really belong to God, he won't allow you to sin successfully.

Sinners can sin successfully, not children of God. Notice how Christians even in high positions get caught all the time. Sometimes it's because they're not really born again, they're wolves. Other times because they really belong to God. And like David who was a king, made a grave mistake or two.

So I want you to know that as I've been studying for this passage and meditating on it, I thought to myself at this point, David, if you were tormented in this way Like he talks about like he's actually being tortured. Right? How many people can say I've no con I've known conviction like that? It's rare. This is severe.

And and hold on. You're telling me that all you have to do is just confess it so So that you can be relieved from it? What's the natural question? Why don't you just confess it? Why are you holding on to this?

Why are you so stubborn? Why are you actually clinging to this agony? And then it dawned on me. For the same reason why many of us refuse to confess our sin even before God, pride. Pride.

This goes all the way back to the garden. Now, I know that there are different reasons why somebody refuses to confess, but I want you to think about Adam. There were no TV stations in the garden. There were no podcast. There were no blog post.

There was nothing to fear in terms of embarrassment regarding a scandal. There was only one other person on the planet. And even then, when God confronts Adam, he shifts the blame. Because down deep inside, what we have before us even in King David, is a refusal to acknowledge it. Oh, we tend to do that even before the Lord himself.

David here is wrestling with his soul, and he could not bring himself to approach God and say this, I committed adultery. I lied over and over again. I murdered somebody. And instead, he remains quiet. He tries to silence his conscience, and he even tries to convince himself that nothing serious happened.

I wonder what his thought pattern was like. I wonder, although life went on, and the kingdom was unaware of the scandal largely, no matter what, he was troubled. Day and night, his body, his feelings, his his own spirit, he realized my my closeness with with God is is severed. It's broken. I'm living under divine discipline.

And then came to a point where he couldn't take it anymore. And he had enough faith even in this state of mind to do the next thing. Here's the second thing that we need to learn here. The misery of unconfessed sin, yes. But secondly, the opportunity of confession.

Remember this, the opportunity of confession. Look here at verse five with me. David says, I acknowledge my sin to you and did not cover my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found.

Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. I want you to stare at verse five for a moment and consider how David provides three descriptions of wrongdoing. This is very intentional here. I acknowledge my sin to you. I did not cover my iniquity.

I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. Here's what's so interesting. You find the very same words in the beginning of the Psalm. So go back to verse one and two. Blessed is 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. We can spend time trying to decipher and differentiate between these terms, but I wanna leave you with one main thought. The idea here is that these terms all describe lawlessness in its various forms, and David by the spirit wants to let his readers know that God is ready and willing to forgive all types of evil. No matter how stubborn the rebellion, no matter how far you've missed the mark, no matter how twisted the perversion, God is ready to forgive. Did you notice how with every title for wrongdoing, we have a match of God's willingness to do something by his grace.

Look again at Psalm thirty two one and two. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and whose spirit there is no deceit. All to say that as serious as the sin may be, there is something that God is willing to do. There is a forgiveness that is just as profound.

And so powerful is this forgiveness. That the moment one confesses that sin, the Lord assures us that he will never count it against you. That he will never associate that sin with you, and that he will completely expunge it from your record. Forgiven, covered, no more counted. Here's the question that I want us to answer now.

If if confession leads to such glory, How do I confess? How do I confess? Three ways. The first way is, you must and I must accept responsibility. Come back to verse five and six, and notice here that if this is indeed David's testimony of how he repented of his sin with Bathsheba, then we know exactly the moment that he came clean before the Lord.

Down. Every time David appears, or Nathan rather appears on the scene, he is helping David stay in line with God. And so the Lord sends him. He provides a parable. David indicts himself.

And after Nathan confirms that this was really about his sin and how God knew about it all along, I want you to hear how David confesses in second Samuel twelve thirteen. David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. Full stop. Sometimes there's greater beauty in fewer words than more words. Nathan said to David, the Lord has put away your sin.

You shall not die. He didn't blame Bathsheba for not having her shades in the right place when she was taking a bath. He didn't provide lengthy explanations about his childhood trauma. David didn't have the best upbringing. He didn't go into any rant about generational patterns.

He didn't even offer psychological reasons why he was attracted to multiple women. Nothing. I have sinned against the Lord full stop. Oh, how people confess so differently. David here owned his sin without any excuses.

In fact, if you read verse five carefully, notice how he owns it. My sin, Do you remember how Saul confessed when Samuel confronted him? The turning point in his life, really the turning point for the nation of Israel. Saul is an illustration of how not to take responsibility for your sin. I think it's worth turning there.

Let's go to first Samuel. Nathan was sent to David. What did he say? I have sinned against the Lord. That's it.

There are a lot more words that Saul offers Samuel. Notice what happens. Let's come to verse 13 of first Samuel 15. God commanded the king of Israel, Saul, to completely destroy the Amalekites. If you struggled with the ethics of that command and that story, I encourage you to study the history of the Amalekites.

And understand that in that dispensation, God used Israel many occasions as an agent of judgment against other nations. And God also used other nations as agent of judgment against Israel. Saul, I want you to destroy every living thing among the Amalekites. Everything. There shouldn't be one thing that's left breathing.

God speaks to Samuel. He didn't do it. Go and confront him. Here's what we find in verse 13 of first Samuel 15. And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, blessed be you to the Lord.

I have performed the commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, what then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear? I want you to notice the wisdom of Samuel. I think there's something here for us and even how we approach somebody who we know to be in the wrong. Samuel didn't come in swinging.

Did he? No. He came in and he offered a question with clear evidence of the contrary. And he gave Saul the opportunity to come clean. I hear the noises of animals.

Can you explain that? Here's how Saul explains it. Verse 15. Saul said, they have brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction. He completely missed it.

Instead of realizing, okay, this is my opportunity now to actually just come clean and say it as it is. He excuses it, and even acts as though nothing had happened. He he still wants to confirm that he obeyed God, and that he fulfilled the mission. And I want you to notice something with Saul also here. He's a wonderful example of what happens to believers who are in sin, but are not hiding from other Christians while they're in sin.

Because one of the consequences or the signs of a believer who is living in unconfessed sin is that they retract and they separate themselves from the fold. But there's something else that believers do. If they don't physically hide, they hide in a different way. They try to camouflage themselves with spiritual jargon. Notice again how Saul speaks.

It's so out of character. Look again here at verse 13. Blessed be you to the Lord. Come on. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.

This is a smokescreen. These are the mechanics of someone who is trying to cover themselves, And try to make it appear as though everything is okay. Hey brother, how you doing? Praise God. God is so good.

Alright. Get to see your church again. They begin to speak King James all of a sudden. Quoting scripture in the most awkward place in the conversation. Blessed be you to the Lord.

Saul, come on. You're saying one thing, but your life is saying something else. You're talking this way, but I hear sheep. And so he's trying to drown out in a sense, the clear evidence of the lack of genuine fellowship and spirituality with these tricks. So he makes an excuse.

He actually makes it seem like everything is okay. But notice what happens down in verse 19. Why then, Samuel says, did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord? And Saul said to Samuel, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord.

I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice the Lord your God in Gilgal. What is he doing now? He's shifting the blame.

He went from nothing's wrong here to okay. Yeah. Well, they did it. I'm just part of them, but it's not really me. The the the blood is on their hands, Samuel.

The prophet continues to press. And now we come to verse 24, and this is where people think that Saul actually confess his sin. But if you read closely, you'll realize that it's not genuine confession. Look at verse 24. Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned.

I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. So even in the supposed confession, he's still blaming. Well, they pressured me. I feared them. That he won't let it go.

And remember, compare that to David's confession. I have sinned against the Lord. Period. I have sinned. I have yeah.

Church, that's the commandment of the Lord and your words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. And then he says something else. People again commend Saul here. Notice verse 25. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord.

Some translations say that I may worship before the Lord. Oh, there he is. He's he's confessing. Uh-uh. What does he mean here when he says, pardon me that I may bow down before the Lord?

Well, he confirms it. The more Saul talks, the more he exposes himself. Scroll down here to verse 30. This is exactly what he meant. Then he said, I have sinned, yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel.

And return with me that I may bow before the Lord your God. What does he want to protect? His image. We read earlier what? That when Samuel was walking away, he clung to his cloak and he ripped it.

Remember? The prophet turned around and says, that's gonna happen to your kingdom. So he wanted Samuel to stay close so that everybody around him would think everything's still okay with Saul. If Samuel had gone on and separated from Saul, then people would think, what's up with Saul? Saul didn't want that.

Reputation. So he clings to Samuel. He's not clinging to God. He reaches for his cloak. He doesn't cry out to the Lord.

This is not real. I've sinned against the Lord, David said. You want to confess in a way that really clears your conscience, you have to accept responsibility. The second thing is to admit honestly. Now when you come back to Psalm 32, David doesn't offer just a theological thesaurus of of different shades of sin.

When he mentions transgression and iniquity, No. He's identifying his actions the way God does. We're so clever. People are so clever. You know, even in our confession of sin, protect our image.

And one of the ways that we do this is we we use different terminology. When we confess before God, especially in front of people, so that we kind of soften the offense. Right? It's not really sin. It's a mistake.

It's not really unfaithfulness. It's just a lapse of judgment. Why do we do that? Because we want to make ourselves feel better, and we want to look better in front of people. David doesn't do that.

He goes to God's dictionary, and he calls it what it is. Transgression, sin, iniquity. And God honored him for that. God respected this man. And that doesn't suggest that you have to use theologically accurate statements and words in order for you to win approval.

But it does simply mean that you have to be honest, and accept honestly the gravity of whatever offense was committed. Admit honestly. Thirdly, if we're gonna confess the way the Bible tells us to confess, we have to act urgently. Act urgently. Look at the warning back in verse six of Psalm 32.

Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found. Don't quote this scripture to unbelievers, saying, hey, hey, you need to call upon the Lord in order to be saved before it's too late. He's not addressing the unsaved. What does he say in the beginning of verse six? He's speaking to the godly.

So how do we make sense of this? We know that when we sin, we don't lose our status before God. What is he saying here when he's saying, offer a prayer to you at a time when you may be found? Well, I think the next part explains it. Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.

Here's the point. Believers, confess your sin before God's discipline reaches new levels. The longer you wait, the longer you try to deflect and deny the conviction, you try to silence that voice. What does he say here? It's possible for the rush of great waters to come.

Now he's saying it in the in the negative here. Do so, so that these things will not happen. Implying that if you don't, it will happen. That he can intensify. Again, he can make his hand heavier.

He can cause things to happen in your life to get your attention. And sometimes in love, those things have more lasting ramifications. David says, don't do that. Act urgently. One of the ways in which you can ensure a soft heart is that when you feel conviction, genuine conviction, again, not those who are obsessively introspective, but those who know genuine conviction is to respond to it as soon as you can.

Act urgently. Here's what I love so beaut this is so beautiful to me here. Why endure another sleepless night? Why rob yourself of another day of joy? If if you didn't hear anything from this teaching so far, can you can you please remember what I'm about to say?

And you can forget even the things I say after it. I think the most glorious aspect of this Psalm is that we are reading about a man who was reluctant to confess his sin to a God who was ready to forgive him without hesitation. So we've been looking at it from David's perspective, looking at it from God's perspective. Back here in verse five, he confesses his sin, his iniquity, his transgressions, and notice the last part, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. No probation.

No penalty box. No prove yourself David. None of that. We are reading a man who was so hesitant to confess to a God who was willing and ready to embrace him the moment he did. So why not act urgently?

This is how we confess. But we now come to the final aspect of this. We talked about the misery of unconfessing, and we talked here about the opportunity to confess. And lastly, we come to the blessings of confessed sin. Let's come back to Psalm 32, and let's look at verse seven.

David says, you are a hiding place for me. You preserve me from trouble. You surround me with shouts of deliverance. Notice that David does not describe abstract benefits of confessed sin. Everything that he mentioned here is intimately tied to the nature of God and and being in relationship with him.

You are. You are. You are. And in short, this is what the ultimate blessing is in confess sin. It restores fellowship with God.

It it it restores a sense of security regarding God's favor and his guidance in your life. There's the assurance that I don't have the heavy hand of God on me now. I have the guiding hand for me. This is a summary. And honestly, we can break these things down individually.

My favorite part is the last one. You surround me with shouts of deliverance. What does that mean? It's profound. Here's David, assuming that he's talking about that awful sin.

And he says, no matter who might condemn me, no matter who might accuse me of this heinous evil that I've committed, every voice is muted by the assurance of God's pardon. You surround me with shouts of deliverance. In other words, God's voice of acceptance speaks louder than any heaping condemnation of any crowd, of any critic, of any self righteous individual. Notice he doesn't say you surround me with you didn't say that I'm delivered, you shout it. He is delivered.

He is mine. She belongs to me. And David says, I can't hear anything else. And as glorious as that is, the blessings of confession confession only continue in verse eight. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.

I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Now the Lord interjects in this Psalm and he prophetically speaks through David. And what he's essentially saying here is that I promise to now give you my guidance. I promise to give you my provision, my supervision. This is yours now.

Since you confessed, I will lead you. Unconfessing does a lot. And one of the things that it brings to a believer's life is that it clouds judgment. It makes them dizzy. There's so much lack of assurance in that state.

Instruct you. I'll make you sensitive to my spirit again. I'll make you realize my providential goodness. Every night before you go to bed and the morning when you wake up, you don't have to expect my heavy hand. Again, you can expect my guiding hand.

This is yours. And here's what happens next. You would think that it would end here in verse eight, and it would be appropriate I guess, but it's as though there are final instructions now, and here's what's happening. David is giving final exhortations to those who have this tendency to repeatedly fall into seasons of unrepentant sin. So he's getting really practical here.

He wants to sign off by addressing those who have that roller coaster type of consecration. Two months, you're living for the Lord. Four months, you're living in the world. Two months, you're living holy. Three months, you're living in the indulgence of your flesh.

David is aware that there are people like that, that don't have prolonged times of holiness, and then sin comes in in tragic ways, but people who tend to sin grievously over and over and over again. Here's what he says. Look at verse nine. Be not like a horse or a mule without understanding, which must be curved with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. So the first thing he mentions here is that there are people, even godly people, who only stay near God when he inflicts pain in their lives.

Don't be like that. Don't let don't let affliction and God harnessing instruments and agents of affliction be the only reason why you get on your knees and spend time with God. He says it's possible to actually stay near the Lord because you enjoy it. Don't be like an animal. Stubborn.

And what a shame it is that for many people, their whole Christian experience is just that. Story. And then he goes on to actually say in verse 10, many are the sores of the wicked, but the steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. In other words, hey, wake up. What's the reason for this vacillation?

Do you not understand that the only thing that belongs to the domain of the wicked is sorrows, many sorrows? What are you attracted to exactly? What is it that you keep returning to? It's just really sorrow in the end. And it compels them.

Steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in in the Lord. And he asked that verse 11, be glad in the Lord. In other words, your strategy to staying close to God is being satisfied in God. Be glad in the Lord also showing us that true joy and delight is only in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, oh righteous, and shout for joy all you upright in heart.

Do you have to confess something to God? There's a whole another teaching that we can bring about confessing to one another. Some sins do require confession before others, especially if you've sinned against them or your sin impacts them. But that's not what's in view in the Psalm. Just you and God.

Do you have to confess of your lukewarmness? Like this. Yeah. You have to Is there a sin that you're struggling with and you admit that it's sin? You maybe even talk to others about it, but you have never gone to God alone and said, this is sin.

I'm offending you God. Cleanse me. When's the last time you came to God not for a need, but simply to confess? Message like this and try to find something to confess so that you can respond to the message. You probably lean on the side of, again, introspection, severe introspection.

No. I'm talking about real sin. I wanna give you opportunity to do that. But before I do this, I wanna ask a question that I asked in the morning session. Does Psalm 32 ever appear in the New Testament?

We asked that about Psalm 19. What about Psalm 32? Answer? Yes. Where?

Romans. Let's go there. In Romans four, and this is our closing text. Romans four verse five. Because this Psalm was for the godly, for the righteous, those who have at one point walked on the path of Psalm one, but lost their way.

But I want I want you to see how Paul now reaches over to Psalm 32, and he applies it to all men, especially those who are not saved. In Romans four, Paul is making a treaty, a case for justification by faith. And I want you to see what he says here in verse five of Romans four. And to the one who does not work, but believes in him, who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness. Underline these three words, apart from works.

And he quotes the first two verses of Psalm 32. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will count, not count his sin. So in the immediate context, Psalm 32 is for the believer who has once confessed their sin, but needs to confess their sin in Christ. But Paul says, no, you have to understand what David is doing, not just as a psalmist, but as a prophet, is foreshadowing the gospel.

And he wants you to see, did you notice that in Psalm 32, there was no mention of restoration toward God as a result of works? Simple confession. And God bestowed the mercy. And David wants to tell the unbeliever in this place, by the spirit, the only thing that's keeping you from new life and having everything that you've done wiped clean is confection. What is Christianity really about?

What does it take to be Christian? One thing, humility. That's all it is. There's no hoops to jump through. There's no performance to be made.

Psalm 32 is quoted to show, the way in is you opening your mouth before God and admitting that you're a sinner. And I'm not gonna use my broken home as an excuse. I'm not gonna use how other people have treated me. I'm not gonna use trauma or tragedy to justify my behavioral patterns. I've sinned against the Lord.

And you will be met with the Lattice Forgiveness. With a message like this, don't you think it's appropriate to take a little bit of time to talk to God? To talk to God? When I first got saved, my favorite part of conferences was whenever the preacher gave some time to respond. And at that point, I never thought that I would be preaching at conferences.

But I want to present that same opportunity to you. I'm not going to manipulate anybody's emotions here. I want you to stay exactly where you're at unless you want to go away somewhere. You can do that too. Clean before God if you need to.

Genuinely confess. Accept responsibility. Admit honestly. Act urgently. You bow your heads with me?

And the you bow your heads with me? And the praise team will join us in a moment here just to play softly to minimize distraction. And we're gonna sing in a moment here, but I want to invite you to just spend some time with God. And if you're not a Christian in this place, I wanna give you the opportunity to confess your sin before Christ, and also confess that he is Lord and savior. Jesus Christ, the living Messiah, is ready to hear your voice and to provide shouts of deliverance over you for the rest of your days if you would trust him as your savior.

And so today can be the day of salvation for somebody where you can come before the Lord and leave here as a child of God. Oh, believer, take your time. And if you're somebody here who needs prayer, needs some questions answered, you will find me in the back of the sanctuary. You can come to me at any point. I'd love to pray for you.

But listen, you don't need me. Just go go directly to the Lord. But if you do need anything, I will be there. Let's take some time and just seek God. Allow me to pray for us before we continue to sing.

If you're still doing business with God, you don't have to, respond. You can stay seated, but let's just pray together. Thank you, Lord, for showing us what a true blessed life is and how accessible it is. Oh, Lord, we just wanna there's no sin we wanna cling to. There's no life style we wanna justify.

There's no relationship that we are trying to fight for that's not of you. We we wanna be we wanna be cleansed, and we pray that you would hear our voices. Even if the the voices are are merely in our hearts, we trust that you hear us as loud as my voice is in the microphone. Our thoughts to you, and, Lord, we pray that even moving from this place, if we sin, we would know the blessing of confession. Help us pursue a clear conscience always.

Lord, receive our praises. As David ended that song with exuberant praise, we give it to you now realizing, are your forgiveness is our joy. We bless your holy name now. In Jesus name, amen. Well, if you wanna sing praise, you can stand.

If you wanna stay seated and pray, you're welcome to do that. Let's give God glory both ways, shall we?