G'day everyone, my name's Lindsay and I have
the privilege of reading God's Word for us this
morning. As Tony said, we're reading from Psalm
32. Hear these words of God. Of David Amaskal.
Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose
sin the Lord does not count against them, and
in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away, threw my groaning all day
long. For day and night your hand was heavy on
me, my strength was sapped as in the heat of
summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and
did not cover up my iniquity. I said, I will
confess my transgressions to the Lord and you
forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore let all
the faithful pray to you while you may be found.
Surely the rising of the mighty waters will not
reach them. You are my hiding place. You will
protect me from trouble and surround me with
songs of deliverance. I will instruct you and
teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel
you with my loving eye on you. Do not be like
the horse or the mule which have no understanding,
but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they
will not come to you. Many are the woes of the
wicked, but the Lord's unfailing love surrounds
the one who trusts in him. Rejoice in the Lord
and be glad, you righteous. Sing. all of you
who are upright in heart. Good morning. My name
is Nick and I presume I haven't met most of you,
but I'm very glad to be here with you this week.
Michael and I actually did five years of preaching
training, no, one year of preaching training
together five years ago. which I reckon means
we have the same like one or two strengths and
the same 100 weaknesses. So there you go. It's
good to be here with you this morning. I want
to start with this. I want to start with a personality
test with you this morning. If you have a spouse
or a sibling or a friend, you can do it on their
behalf if you would like. And here's the question.
Are you an oversharer or an undersharer? Oversharer,
undersharer. Which one are you? Take a minute
to think that through if you would like. Ponder
which one you think you might be. Here's my thoughts
on it. Oversharers, what do we love about them?
We love that they're like a puppy. The zeal,
the energy, the fact that you can get all the
goss from them in one conversation. Oversharers,
that's what we love. I love the fact that you
never have to guess how they feel. You can just
see it on their face, the excitement, the terror,
the shame, the love, the joy, it's all there
mixed in together. What's wrong with over -sharers
though? Just would they ever be quiet? Over -sharers,
come on. Which is why we love under -sharers,
right? You go and talk to someone who doesn't
share very much and you ask, how are you going?
And they say, good. How was your week at work?
Good. How's the family? Good. Should we finish
this conversation? Very good. That's under sharers,
which if you're an over sharer and you meet an
under sharer, that is the perfect storm. They
are like a deer in the headlight stuck there
listening to you while you prattle on. Over sharer,
under sharer, which one are you? You can talk
about that over morning tea. This morning we're
looking at Psalm 32 and Psalms in the Bible are
kind of like songs, songs on their own. They
often tell a story. There's a kind of a theme
that runs through Psalms and through songs and
so here too we have a Psalm or a song of David
that tells a story from his life. But like songs,
Psalms also a part of an album, a bigger story
that all the little songs fit together. to tell
and therefore this is a song of David but within
the album it is a song for us. And so as we come
to Psalm 32 this morning, the question I want
to put to you is what is more dangerous for a
Christian to be an oversharer or an undersharer?
Which one of those is worse? I ask the question
because in normal life, right, we would say it's
the oversharer. We think gossip is the issue.
That's the thing that's problematic. I was at
a hairdresser recently, maybe this has happened
to you, where I'm just there kind of minding
my own business, getting a haircut, and the bloke
next to me is just falling apart telling his
life story. And there's a part of me that's like
a nosy teenager, just like craning in desperate
to hear all the details, all the kind of things
that have gone wrong in his life, really wanting
to know. It's like an episode of Neighbours.
It's incredible. And there's a part of me that's
like, dude, I'm just here for a trim, like kind
of, you know, chill out a bit. Because we think
over -sharers are problematic. In normal life,
we prize self -control. The British idea of a
stiff upper lip. We like to have a sense of restraint,
measuredness, decorum, civility. But in Psalm
32, spiritually speaking, that's dangerous. Our
propensity to bury things down, to hide parts
of our lives, our propensity to under -share,
is not good. The headline of Psalm 32 is that
God is not looking for people who look put together
but people who openly confess and divulge and
share their sin. To frame it as a personality,
God is not looking for people who say nothing.
He's looking for people who share every flaw
and failure when they confess. And you might
want to ask yourself, how are you going with
that? As we jump in this morning, there's three
parts to this psalm. In verses one to two, David
gives us the goal. He kind of does things in
reverse and gives us the application up front.
Then in verses three to seven, we get the back
story. And then in verses eight to 11, we get
some instructions. A goal. a backstory, some
instructions. That's where we're heading. Firstly,
the goal in verses 1 and 2. Here's the goal up
front. Here's what David wants you to get out
of this Psalm. Verse 1, here it is. Be happy.
Be happy, that's what blessed means at the start
of this Psalm. Blessed, it's the idea of joy,
a good life, the feeling of having it all together.
Before you leave today, the goal for the psalmist,
the thing he wants you to experience and feel
and know is blessing to be happy. Why? Because
of forgiveness. Verse 1 and 2, look at what they
say. Blessed is the one, happy is the one whose
transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not
count. against them. Psalms are poetry, right?
They kind of need to be read slowly to get the
treasure out of the details. And here's one thing
to notice. Notice he uses three different words
for sin, followed by three different words for
forgiveness. Three words for sin, verse one,
transgression. It's the idea of rebellion, treason.
Verse 2, sin, it's the idea of failure, falling
short, missing the mark. Verse 2 again, it says
sin but in some older translations it says iniquity.
It's the idea of perversion, a way of taking
life and twisting it, bending it in directions
it's not supposed to go. Three different words
for sin, why three? because it's supposed to
reflect our total corruption. Three words, three
different definitions to say that we rebel against
God, that we fail Him, we let others down, that
we don't live in the way we're meant to because
we're constantly bending life out of shape. It's
the totality of sin in our lives, the muck, the
shame, the wrongheadedness, the mistakes, all
of that three words for sin met with three words
of forgiveness. There's a famous parable of the
Christian life called the Pilgrim's Progress.
It's kind of an oldie but a goodie, and maybe
you've read that story before. And in the story,
a Christian, who's the aptly named main character,
he has this thing called a burden. It's this
kind of weight that bears down. I think we're
supposed to see it as kind of a rock or a bowl
or something on his back that just weighs down
on him. And in the parable, it's very clear that
his burden is his sin, this thing that he can't
shake, this weight that bears down on his life.
And in the parable, he comes to the cross, the
place where Jesus died for the sins of the world,
and as he walks towards it, kind of stumbling
and heaving because of the weight, as he gets
to the cross, the thing that finally happens
is the burden falls from his back. The story
says this weight, loosed off his shoulders, it
fell from his back and suddenly he's free. In
the story, Christian, he starts kind of jumping
for joy, he's dancing around, he's ecstatic,
his life has changed, his burden has gone and
because it's an old story, this is how I put
it, it says he was merry of heart. Mary of heart
because the burden of his sin has gone and in
this Psalm that is forgiveness. Forgiveness in
the Old Testament, it connotates the idea of
a load being lifted up, the weight of guilt being
taken away, lifted off you by God. Maybe you've
had that experience where you've stuffed up with
a friend or a family member and it just kind
of gnaws at you all day. That feeling of regret,
guilt, disappointment, wishing you could go back
and rewind again and again. And so then you go
and you see them and you've kind of got a speech
prepared and you confess and you say you're sorry.
And the moment this passage is trying to describe
is the moment where they say, thanks so much
for your apology, but don't worry about it. You're
totally forgiven. don't mention it. And so you
hug and you make up, maybe you share a cup of
coffee, and that feeling you had is completely
gone. And this Psalm is trying to describe that.
That feeling of reconciliation, the feeling of
sin disappearing from your shoulders, total forgiveness
from God. And in our world, where we stuff things
up most days, most hours, most minutes. Where
we make mistakes, get things wrong, do it again.
The psalmist wants to say that knowing forgiveness
like that is happiness. That's what it means
to be blessed. To know that you are forgiven
by the one who made you. That is what it looks
like to be merry. hearts. Three words for forgiveness
that we've seen. One is forgiveness. The other
at the end of verse one he says it's when sins
are covered over, wiped clean from your record.
In verse two it says it's when God doesn't count
your sin against you. He refuses to write down
what you've done. For the psalmist that is what
God has done. That's what He's done for you,
but there's one thing you must do. You cannot
be self -deceived. Verse 2, I don't know if you
noticed how it finished, but have a look again
what it says. Translation, David was once an
undershera. And that brings us to his backstory
in verses three to seven. As we said, this is
poetry and here's something that might be helpful
for you. English poetry is of almost no use to
reading Old Testament poetry. So if you did English
at school, congratulations, it's not going to
help because in the Bible, Poetry doesn't rhyme
with words that sound similar. It often rhymes
with ideas that mean something similar. So I'll
give you some examples. When I say, roses are
red, violets are blue, I can't remember the rest
of the poem, but neither can you. In that poem,
which I think is pretty good, by the way, what's
the words that rhyme? It's blue and you. They
sound similar. That's how kind of modern English
poetry works. But in the Bible, it's the meanings
that rhyme. So here's some examples of that.
Air and breath. So they don't sound similar,
but they're similar things, aren't they? Air
and breath, we can see that. Another one, quick
and slow. Again, they don't sound similar, but
what's the rhyming thing there? It's the opposites,
quick and slow. One more, straight and narrow.
Don't sound the same, but they're kind of similar
descriptions. So that's the principle. Listen
again to verse 3 and see if you can spot the
ideas which match. Here's what it says. Verse
3, when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through
my groaning all day long. When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away through my groaning all
day long. What are the ideas that go together
there? It's the quietness of silence with the
loudness of groaning. So what's David trying
to say? He's trying to say in his attempts to
cover up his sin, to stay silent about what he
had done, it groaned loudly within him. It's
a paradox. He's trying to describe a time when
he was in so much self -denial, so silent, working
so hard to suppress what he had done that it
felt like it was killing him loudly inside. His
guilt, his shame. In verse 3, he says he can
feel it in his bones. Verse 4 says he feels like
a plant or a carcass left out baking under the
sun. Just lifeless, dying. barren, dry. In his
silence, maybe you've done this as well, he tries
to ignore it, tries to push it away, tries to
think about something else and it eats away at
his soul. See David thought this would make him
happy. He believed the lie that ignoring his
sin would give him peace and yet what it actually
brings is sorrow and sadness. Which is exactly
why, in verse 5, he changes strategy and finally
speaks to God. Verse 5, he comes out into the
open, doesn't he? And he acknowledges what he's
done. He doesn't cover it up. He lets it all
out. He says it out loud. He becomes an over
-sharer. Instead of silence, he speaks. And the
thing that he finds is forgiveness and happiness.
Pure bliss to be forgiven by God. And if that
was true for David, then why on earth would we
cover up our sin ourselves? Why would we cover
up our sin? I remember when I was a kid, I was
playing at home in the backyard and I tore down
a branch from the tree in our backyard and as
a little kid that looked like half a forest.
And mum was quite smart. I think it was about
12 o 'clock. And mum came out and she said, your
father's going to deal with this when he gets
home at 5 o 'clock. And so I had five hours to
sit and think about my sin. Thinking's the last
thing I actually did though. I got out there
and I thought, OK, maybe I can kind of hoist
the branch back up into the tree and hopefully
dad doesn't notice. I think one point, maybe
the idea was to... to put it in the neighbour's
backyard and blame their cats or something like
that. I reckon if it happened again, I would
try and blame climate change. It was nature.
It wasn't me. Who knows how it happened? Sorry,
Dad. But the reason this story sticks out is
that Dad came home, and clearly he could see
what was going on, the elaborate cover -up operation.
And he walked over and he said, Totally forgiven.
Don't sweat it. And we went off and played together
or something like that. Turns out, next time
I confess my sin to him, it did not go that way.
I got in a lot of trouble. So that was a kind
of a once -off operation. But the thing that
sticks out is that moment, this great teaching
moment. Father and son. Sins forgiven. Pure Why
would we cover up our sins ourselves when God
our Father can cover them up Himself? Why would
we cover up our sin? That's what Jesus' blood
was spilt for. The Bible talks about the redness
of His blood making our sinfulness as white as
snow. removing our sin as far as the East from
the West. God making atonement for our sins so
that we might be righteous in His sight. Verse
7, I love verse 7. David says that instead of
a fearful judge, God was a hiding place from
all that He had done. So why would we cover up
our sin when we have an offer like that? It's
been great spending time with your church this
week. I've really enjoyed being part of different
things. Sundays, Bible studies, ministries during
the week. And one of the things about joining
another church for a little while is you start
to notice the things that really stick out that
are different to your church. So one of the things
that really stands out to me is that this place
was definitely some kind of carpet or furniture
store. The fact that you have this wooden runway
kind of going through the middle of the auditorium,
that sticks out. The random pillars just jotted
around. You can definitely see what this building
used to be. I actually wonder if you could use
the windows to your advantage though. Like you
could put a different family each week in the
display cabinet at the front. And as people walk
past you could show them the finished product
of what Jesus could do to you. So that's a free
one from me. The other great thing is we hang
out with Michael. It's been nice to catch up
with him. And one of the things I've noticed
about him is he loves to use Siri. to do all
his work for him. So he's got Thelma in the office
and a Thelma in the pocket, which I think is
pretty neat. The problem with Siri, though, is
Siri keeps spelling my name wrong, which I think
she's doing deliberately. And so maybe that's
something that elders could work on together
to get back at Siri on my behalf. Now, what does
that have to do with anything? Siri doesn't listen
properly, but there's two instructions left in
this passage. Make sure you listen properly to
these. Two instructions. Listen carefully. Here's
the first one in verse eight and nine. We'll
read it together. I will instruct you and teach
you in the way you should go. I will counsel
you with my loving eyes on you. Do not be like
the horse or the mule, which have no understanding,
but must be controlled by bit or bridle, or they
will not come to you. That's the text. That's
the first instruction. Do not be stubborn like
an animal. That's the message for us this morning.
Do not be stubborn like an animal. Now, I don't
know your heart. You don't know mine. But I think
we can both bet that there is something we have
each said or thought or done where our current
default setting is to say it's not that bad.
Whatever it is for you, maybe we kind of play
the blame game, put it on someone else. Maybe
we kind of downplay it, it's not a big deal,
everyone's overthinking it, it's a minor sin.
Maybe we just feign ignorance, we pretend we
never did it, wipe it from our memory. But whether
your sin is as bad as an affair, or a serious
addiction, or as benign as a white lie, don't
make the mistake of being a fool. The psalmist
says denial is foolish. In his words, to do that
would be to be like a wayward animal refusing
to turn left All right, refusing to come to water
and foolish especially because you're refusing
forgiveness. Refusing the offer of God to have
the weight of your sin lifted off you. The offer
of blessed happiness in Him. Because what's the
thing that's happening here? It's not saying
you're foolish because you need to be more serious
about what you've done. It's not saying you're
foolish because really you should have known
better. It's not saying you're foolish because
you've got to do a better job. It's saying you're
foolish because you're denying the one person
who can pardon your sin. We're like Adam and
Eve in the garden, bare naked, and we're playing
with fig leaves, trying to cover it up ourselves.
When there is one standing there waiting to forgive
us. waiting to help. So point blank, let me ask
you this question. Is there an area of your life
right now where you are acting the fool and trying
to cover something up? Is there something going
on in your life where you need forgiveness and
mercy and grace? Don't leave today without asking
God. to offer you that. Instruction one, don't
be stubborn like an animal. Instruction two,
we'll finish with this, do rejoice in God. Do
rejoice in God. You see it in verse 10 and 11.
Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord's
unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in
him. Rejoice in the Lord and be glad you're righteous.
sing all you who are upright in heart. Three
times in those verses, not the totality of sin,
not just the totality of forgiveness, but the
total experience of joy and happiness and glory
in God. And that's what this passage is all about,
receiving the blessedness, the happiness of knowing
God's grace for you. Dalrath Davis tells the
story of a prisoner who finished his time in
prison and because of what he'd done he kind
of ruined all his relationships with his family
and he kind of broken trust, he sent them bankrupt
and so as he leaves prison he writes them a letter
saying I'd love to come and visit and so what
I'm planning to do is to catch the train past
your house and if you'd like to see me just put
a white ribbon in a tree as I go past and I'll
know that you want to welcome me in and if there's
no ribbon that's totally fine I'll go to the
next station and I'll never see you again. And
so he sends this letter and he gets on the train
and as you can imagine he's pretty nervous thinking
about what's going to happen on this train and
with this tree and as he goes close to where
this tree is he's so nervous and sweaty and and
worried that he asked the passenger next to him
to kind of tell him what's on the tree. He goes
and sits on the other side and just covers his
eyes and waits to hear what happens. And as the
train goes past, he says, please tell me what
was on the tree. And the guy says, there's no
ribbon. There's hundreds. The tree is just covered
white from head to toe. There's white ribbons
everywhere. I think your family really wants
to see you again. And you can imagine the joy
and the glee and this guy's excitement that this
family that he has trashed and ruined and driven
away has not been driven away. That they want
him back. That he's been forgiven. And that is
the joy of forgiveness. The joy of knowing that
God sent His Son to make us right with Him. That
He spills the blood of Jesus to make us white.
That He doesn't spare anything for our sake.
The joy that not just our God, but He's become
our Father. And that He wants us to enjoy it.
To have the security of knowing that will never
be stripped from us. To have the assurance that
we're known and loved. to have the joy that the
past doesn't matter, that the things we've let
God down with and others with are no longer on
our record, to have the joy and blessing and
happiness of His grace. And so each week, as
we've done today, we do confess our sin. We do
open up and tell God and tell each other what
we've done. but not so that we can be sour and
look down on ourselves, but so that we can turn
our eyes to the brilliant, marvellous, glorious
forgiveness of God who has covered up our sin.
Amen.