1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 Reading from Psalm 51, verses one to 12. 2 00:00:05,560 --> 00:00:09,460 It is Psalm of David when the prophet Nathan came to him 3 00:00:09,460 --> 00:00:13,700 after David had committed adultery with Betzeba. 4 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:19,600 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love, 5 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:22,120 according to your great compassion, 6 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:27,040 blot out my transgressions, wash away all my iniquity 7 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:30,360 and cleanse me from my sin. 8 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,820 For I know my transgressions and my sins 9 00:00:33,820 --> 00:00:35,920 is always before me. 10 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:39,200 Against you, you only have I sinned 11 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:42,800 and done what is evil in your sight. 12 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:45,100 So you are right in your verdict 13 00:00:45,100 --> 00:00:48,540 and justified when you judge. 14 00:00:48,540 --> 00:00:50,980 Surely I was sinful at birth, 15 00:00:50,980 --> 00:00:54,720 sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 16 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:59,000 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb. 17 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:03,200 You taught me wisdom in that secret place. 18 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:06,300 Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean. 19 00:01:06,300 --> 00:01:10,000 Wash me and I will be whiter than snow. 20 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:12,480 Let me hear joy and gladness. 21 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:15,920 Let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 22 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:20,920 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. 23 00:01:21,380 --> 00:01:24,120 Create in me a pure heart, O God, 24 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:27,800 and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 25 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:30,360 Do not cast me from your presence 26 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:33,000 or take your Holy Spirit from me. 27 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:37,240 Restore to me the joy of your salvation 28 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:41,020 and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. 29 00:01:41,020 --> 00:01:42,240 The word of the Lord. 30 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:45,240 Morning. 31 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:51,440 It is wonderful to be with you on this sunny summer morning. 32 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:54,560 And as I've been introduced, my name is Sandra 33 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:56,280 and I am a sinner. 34 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:01,060 I know, that's not how you usually start a sermon. 35 00:02:01,060 --> 00:02:04,440 Perhaps a greeting more common in the 12-step group, 36 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:08,360 but our topic today is confession. 37 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:10,560 Now you see, when Rob asked me if I would cover 38 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:13,100 this summer for this service when he was away on holiday, 39 00:02:13,100 --> 00:02:16,000 I said yes, without knowing the summer theme 40 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:17,560 or the topic of the day. 41 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:22,560 The summer theme of a playlist is lovely. 42 00:02:22,640 --> 00:02:24,840 There are so many good psalms, 43 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:28,940 and in fact so many good settings of the psalms. 44 00:02:28,940 --> 00:02:32,720 And if you like to support local musicians, 45 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:34,880 there's actually a Toronto artist that's now 46 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:39,400 on his third volume of putting some of our psalms to music. 47 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:41,080 I'm gonna shout out to Mike Jansen, 48 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:43,880 who's actually a member of another Anglican church 49 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:44,800 here in the city. 50 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:48,180 If you haven't heard his settings of the psalms to music, 51 00:02:48,180 --> 00:02:49,600 I highly recommend them. 52 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:52,240 But confession? 53 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:56,460 Well that isn't a topic I had expected. 54 00:02:56,460 --> 00:02:59,800 It's emotionally right up there with politics and money, 55 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:03,000 the things we tend to avoid at family gatherings 56 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:05,760 because we know it could lead to division. 57 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:07,760 And I kind of have a hard time 58 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:11,600 picturing a casual conversation about confession. 59 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:14,020 So my husband's name is Matt, so I just imagine this, 60 00:03:14,020 --> 00:03:16,040 hey Matt, how was your day? 61 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:17,880 Anything to confess? 62 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:20,600 And his reply, well Sandra, my day was great. 63 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,040 I never did sin, clocking up those heavenly merit points. 64 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:25,520 How about you? 65 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:26,840 Well I had a tough day. 66 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:28,880 Let me tell you all the ways I messed up. 67 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:33,040 Like we don't typically have conversations like this. 68 00:03:34,060 --> 00:03:38,340 So how do we talk when we need to apologize 69 00:03:38,340 --> 00:03:39,440 or be sorry for something? 70 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:41,280 Well since this is a playlist theme, 71 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:44,160 I look to songs to see if there's sort of a sense 72 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:47,080 in the common culture of how we approach these things. 73 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:50,000 There's not too many songs actually about apologies. 74 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,680 Mostly they're based in relationships, 75 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:55,420 but I picked two out of fairly famous people 76 00:03:55,420 --> 00:03:56,420 just for reflection. 77 00:03:56,420 --> 00:03:59,800 One is a Justin Bieber song back from 2015 78 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:02,080 and it's called I'm Sorry. 79 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:06,100 3.8 billion views on YouTube 80 00:04:06,100 --> 00:04:09,760 and it's a heartfelt ballad about a relational breakup. 81 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:11,820 Here are some of the words from that. 82 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:16,520 You gotta go and get angry at all my honesty? 83 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:19,520 You know I try, but I don't do well with apologies. 84 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:22,560 I know you know that I made those mistakes 85 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:24,000 maybe once or twice. 86 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,680 Oh, by once or twice I mean a couple of hundred times. 87 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:31,040 So let me, oh let me redeem myself tonight 88 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:33,900 because I just need one more shot at second chances. 89 00:04:33,900 --> 00:04:38,900 Well, theologically there's quite a lot we could parse. 90 00:04:38,900 --> 00:04:42,820 Our God is a God of second and third and more chances, 91 00:04:42,820 --> 00:04:46,460 but that last bit about redeeming oneself, 92 00:04:46,460 --> 00:04:49,900 that doesn't align with how the Bible talks 93 00:04:49,900 --> 00:04:51,940 about forgiveness. 94 00:04:51,940 --> 00:04:54,740 Love the tone of honesty, 95 00:04:54,740 --> 00:04:57,620 but ultimately if you read on or listen to that song, 96 00:04:57,620 --> 00:05:00,300 it's really about getting back together 97 00:05:00,300 --> 00:05:02,020 with a previous lover 98 00:05:02,020 --> 00:05:05,020 and trying to say the words so that that would happen. 99 00:05:06,500 --> 00:05:10,740 The other artist who has sung a little bit more about this 100 00:05:10,740 --> 00:05:12,580 is Adele. 101 00:05:13,860 --> 00:05:16,060 She has a rich and deep voice 102 00:05:16,060 --> 00:05:18,260 and there are two songs of hers 103 00:05:18,260 --> 00:05:21,620 that have quite significant elements of confession to them, 104 00:05:21,620 --> 00:05:23,980 Hello and Easy on Me. 105 00:05:25,020 --> 00:05:28,740 There is in her music a truthful vulnerability 106 00:05:28,740 --> 00:05:31,260 about her own life, about her emotions, 107 00:05:31,260 --> 00:05:34,260 you get a sense of sadness and regret. 108 00:05:34,260 --> 00:05:35,300 When you look at it, 109 00:05:35,300 --> 00:05:39,740 there's also a lot of excuses and explanations. 110 00:05:39,740 --> 00:05:44,140 So let me read you a few verses from Easy on Me 111 00:05:44,140 --> 00:05:45,780 or phrases there. 112 00:05:45,780 --> 00:05:48,180 There ain't no gold in this river 113 00:05:48,180 --> 00:05:50,740 that I've been washing my hands in forever. 114 00:05:51,580 --> 00:05:53,380 I know there is hope in these waters, 115 00:05:53,380 --> 00:05:55,860 but I can't bring myself to swim. 116 00:05:55,860 --> 00:05:59,860 I had good intentions and highest hopes. 117 00:05:59,860 --> 00:06:03,860 But I know right now that probably doesn't even show. 118 00:06:03,860 --> 00:06:06,300 Go easy on me, baby. 119 00:06:06,300 --> 00:06:08,100 I was still a child. 120 00:06:09,820 --> 00:06:13,380 Now, in this song, which has more views and downloads 121 00:06:13,380 --> 00:06:14,220 even than Bieber's, 122 00:06:14,220 --> 00:06:18,180 she poetically captures the complicated set 123 00:06:18,180 --> 00:06:20,620 of experiences and emotions 124 00:06:20,620 --> 00:06:24,020 that are connected to looking for forgiveness. 125 00:06:24,020 --> 00:06:27,460 She recognizes that she can't change on her own, 126 00:06:27,460 --> 00:06:30,060 that there is even a difficulty 127 00:06:30,060 --> 00:06:31,580 in willingness to change, right? 128 00:06:31,580 --> 00:06:34,060 That like I'm in the water, but I don't wanna swim. 129 00:06:35,620 --> 00:06:37,260 The feeling at the same time 130 00:06:37,260 --> 00:06:39,700 that she needs to justify her actions. 131 00:06:40,860 --> 00:06:43,500 And then just also say that she wants to change, 132 00:06:43,500 --> 00:06:44,620 but doesn't know she can. 133 00:06:44,620 --> 00:06:49,620 So if in this kind of poetic language of song, 134 00:06:49,620 --> 00:06:51,980 it's hard to have a conversation 135 00:06:51,980 --> 00:06:54,860 even about relational forgiveness, 136 00:06:54,860 --> 00:06:59,220 let alone a confession to God about how things are going, 137 00:06:59,220 --> 00:07:03,020 then you can imagine that we're not so practiced at it, 138 00:07:03,020 --> 00:07:04,100 even in the church. 139 00:07:06,020 --> 00:07:09,140 So that's why we're gonna look at one of the texts 140 00:07:09,140 --> 00:07:11,620 that we would use and has been used in the church 141 00:07:11,620 --> 00:07:14,780 for thousands of years, which is the Book of Psalms. 142 00:07:14,780 --> 00:07:17,540 And what was chosen for us to hear today 143 00:07:17,540 --> 00:07:21,300 is one of the classic ones that is focused on confession, 144 00:07:21,300 --> 00:07:22,820 Psalm 51. 145 00:07:22,820 --> 00:07:25,340 Psalm 51. 146 00:07:25,340 --> 00:07:27,460 Now what's interesting is on the screen, 147 00:07:27,460 --> 00:07:29,540 you saw it starting actually at verse two, 148 00:07:29,540 --> 00:07:32,620 so I'm really grateful that we read starting at verse one, 149 00:07:32,620 --> 00:07:35,220 because right embedded at the beginning of the Psalm 150 00:07:35,220 --> 00:07:37,340 includes the context. 151 00:07:38,460 --> 00:07:42,940 The songwriter was David, and he's a complicated figure. 152 00:07:42,940 --> 00:07:44,940 If you grew up in Sunday school, 153 00:07:44,940 --> 00:07:48,340 you might remember some stories about him. 154 00:07:48,340 --> 00:07:51,100 The two that are often written in Sunday school 155 00:07:51,100 --> 00:07:52,380 are how he was chosen. 156 00:07:52,380 --> 00:07:54,500 He was the youngest of eight boys, 157 00:07:54,500 --> 00:07:57,860 and a dignitary comes to his house, Samuel, 158 00:07:57,860 --> 00:08:00,660 and he's not even there as part of the family to meet him. 159 00:08:00,660 --> 00:08:02,340 His father didn't think he was significant enough. 160 00:08:02,340 --> 00:08:05,580 He was left outside looking after the animals, 161 00:08:05,580 --> 00:08:08,900 and yet he's the one that God chooses. 162 00:08:09,780 --> 00:08:12,260 Or you might remember a story that came a little bit after 163 00:08:12,260 --> 00:08:14,420 when he joins a couple of his older brothers 164 00:08:14,420 --> 00:08:18,780 at the front line and with a slingshot takes down the enemy, 165 00:08:18,780 --> 00:08:22,060 the biggest enemy, Goliath. 166 00:08:22,060 --> 00:08:25,140 It's the showdown that's worthy of fireside tales, 167 00:08:25,140 --> 00:08:27,100 motivational talks, and Sunday school. 168 00:08:29,620 --> 00:08:34,540 But by the time what we heard this morning was penned, 169 00:08:34,540 --> 00:08:37,380 he's no longer that young boy. 170 00:08:37,380 --> 00:08:38,980 He is now the king of the land. 171 00:08:38,980 --> 00:08:41,460 There's been a political transfer of power, 172 00:08:42,580 --> 00:08:44,100 and he lives in a palace. 173 00:08:45,020 --> 00:08:49,060 And it was when he was in the palace that he sees her, 174 00:08:49,060 --> 00:08:52,580 bathing on a nearby roof, and he wants her. 175 00:08:53,980 --> 00:08:57,620 And so because he's the king, he can get her, 176 00:08:57,620 --> 00:08:59,340 and he rapes a neighbor. 177 00:09:00,460 --> 00:09:03,140 Now that's all it says in the intro to the psalm, 178 00:09:03,140 --> 00:09:05,620 but the sin doesn't stop there, 179 00:09:05,620 --> 00:09:08,820 for after he finds out that she's pregnant, 180 00:09:08,820 --> 00:09:12,220 he brings the husband home from war 181 00:09:12,220 --> 00:09:15,380 and tries to get him to sleep with his wife. 182 00:09:15,380 --> 00:09:18,140 When that doesn't work, two nights of that not working, 183 00:09:18,140 --> 00:09:19,740 he gets him drunk, yeah, still doesn't work. 184 00:09:19,740 --> 00:09:22,180 Anyway, then he orders the man to death. 185 00:09:22,180 --> 00:09:24,220 Basically, he tells his military advisors 186 00:09:24,220 --> 00:09:25,660 to put him at the forefront of the fighting 187 00:09:25,660 --> 00:09:28,340 and pull back so that he will die. 188 00:09:28,340 --> 00:09:31,020 All in all, David breaks at least four 189 00:09:31,020 --> 00:09:33,180 of the Ten Commandments, coveting, adultery, murder, 190 00:09:33,180 --> 00:09:35,540 false witness, and if you wanna read some of the other ones, 191 00:09:35,540 --> 00:09:37,140 you might call stealing or some of the other things 192 00:09:37,140 --> 00:09:39,100 in there too, but at least four. 193 00:09:40,140 --> 00:09:43,740 But here's the thing, because he's the king, 194 00:09:43,740 --> 00:09:46,780 even though lots of people are complicit, right, 195 00:09:46,780 --> 00:09:49,380 somebody sent a message to get her from the roof, 196 00:09:49,380 --> 00:09:50,780 someone else brought him home, 197 00:09:50,780 --> 00:09:52,900 someone else did the celebrations, 198 00:09:52,900 --> 00:09:56,900 someone else was identified to do the military part, 199 00:09:56,900 --> 00:09:59,620 all these people are complicit, 200 00:09:59,620 --> 00:10:04,340 he brings them into the sin, no one says anything, right? 201 00:10:04,340 --> 00:10:07,380 He's the person in power, nobody says anything 202 00:10:07,380 --> 00:10:10,860 until a prophet comes, and prophet Nathan comes 203 00:10:10,860 --> 00:10:13,660 and he actually calls it out through a story. 204 00:10:13,660 --> 00:10:18,660 And as a result of that public show of repentance, 205 00:10:18,660 --> 00:10:22,340 this song, we believe, is penned either by him 206 00:10:22,340 --> 00:10:25,860 or attributed to him that we heard this morning. 207 00:10:27,300 --> 00:10:29,740 So there's a deep context there and a complicated one, 208 00:10:29,740 --> 00:10:32,380 so we're gonna look at it, knowing that context, 209 00:10:32,380 --> 00:10:34,860 we're gonna look at two aspects of this 210 00:10:34,860 --> 00:10:37,260 to see what it can teach us today 211 00:10:37,260 --> 00:10:41,500 about practices of confession and the power of confession. 212 00:10:41,500 --> 00:10:45,500 So biblical confession, the practice of biblical confession 213 00:10:45,500 --> 00:10:50,500 is at its root speaking truth to God about our lives. 214 00:10:51,420 --> 00:10:53,940 I'll say that again, it's at its root speaking truth 215 00:10:53,940 --> 00:10:57,140 to God about our lives. 216 00:10:57,140 --> 00:11:00,540 It is an acknowledgement of the corruption of the cosmic, 217 00:11:00,540 --> 00:11:03,260 the societal, the personal fabric. 218 00:11:03,260 --> 00:11:08,260 Biblical confession does not hide in excuses or explanations, 219 00:11:08,260 --> 00:11:11,260 it doesn't say I had the best intentions, 220 00:11:11,260 --> 00:11:14,700 go easy on me, I was a child, no, it is a presentation 221 00:11:14,700 --> 00:11:19,220 of the wrong we have done in thought or word or deed. 222 00:11:20,940 --> 00:11:24,300 Biblical confession is the starting point 223 00:11:24,300 --> 00:11:26,060 of the process of turning to God. 224 00:11:26,060 --> 00:11:29,780 It is a foundational component of our relationship 225 00:11:29,780 --> 00:11:33,540 with God because it's about trust and being truthful. 226 00:11:34,860 --> 00:11:36,660 Perhaps you've heard the phrase God accepts us 227 00:11:36,660 --> 00:11:39,380 as we are but doesn't leave us there. 228 00:11:39,380 --> 00:11:41,660 Well, how do you know God accepts you as you are 229 00:11:41,660 --> 00:11:44,820 if you don't talk to God about who you are, right? 230 00:11:44,820 --> 00:11:47,140 He accepts us as we are, that's confession, 231 00:11:47,140 --> 00:11:50,020 he doesn't leave us there, repentance is when we turn around 232 00:11:50,020 --> 00:11:53,820 and receive God's grace and change our lives. 233 00:11:53,820 --> 00:11:56,340 So let me use a digital example 234 00:11:56,340 --> 00:11:57,580 to see how that might play out. 235 00:11:57,580 --> 00:12:00,580 So I'm old enough to remember life before 236 00:12:00,580 --> 00:12:04,420 and after smartphones and it's true, 237 00:12:04,420 --> 00:12:07,500 the dopamine cycle of reinforcement impacts me 238 00:12:07,500 --> 00:12:09,700 just like it impacts anybody else 239 00:12:09,700 --> 00:12:12,660 and there is an addictive potential 240 00:12:12,660 --> 00:12:15,260 that all advertisers are counting on 241 00:12:15,260 --> 00:12:19,020 and it just starts in your body when you open that phone 242 00:12:19,020 --> 00:12:20,820 and it works your brain. 243 00:12:21,700 --> 00:12:23,620 So I don't know about your smartphone 244 00:12:23,620 --> 00:12:26,100 but my smartphone gives me a weekly accounting 245 00:12:26,100 --> 00:12:29,900 of how I've spent my time with my device. 246 00:12:29,900 --> 00:12:32,740 It will tell me how many pickups I've had every day, 247 00:12:32,740 --> 00:12:35,820 what's the first thing I open when I turn on my phone, 248 00:12:35,820 --> 00:12:37,220 it will tell me the length of time 249 00:12:37,220 --> 00:12:40,260 I've spent on various platforms. 250 00:12:40,260 --> 00:12:42,060 So if I were to look at that, 251 00:12:42,060 --> 00:12:44,780 confession would be speaking to God in prayer 252 00:12:44,780 --> 00:12:48,540 about what I notice about how I relate to my device. 253 00:12:49,660 --> 00:12:51,980 I might say, oh God, you know, 254 00:12:51,980 --> 00:12:53,780 you know already that I look at my phone 255 00:12:53,780 --> 00:12:55,700 for more than two hours a day 256 00:12:55,700 --> 00:12:58,620 and I spend most of that time on social media. 257 00:12:58,620 --> 00:13:00,860 It's having an impact on my thoughts, 258 00:13:00,860 --> 00:13:03,060 it's having an impact on my feelings about myself, 259 00:13:03,060 --> 00:13:04,580 it's having an impact on my actions 260 00:13:04,580 --> 00:13:06,460 because I'm looking at my phone. 261 00:13:06,460 --> 00:13:10,060 I'm sorry, have mercy on me, forgive me. 262 00:13:12,700 --> 00:13:14,380 So I'm not saying that confession 263 00:13:14,380 --> 00:13:15,820 is throwing that phone out the window. 264 00:13:15,820 --> 00:13:17,380 My mother even has a smartphone 265 00:13:17,380 --> 00:13:19,260 but she actually uses it as a phone, right? 266 00:13:19,260 --> 00:13:21,540 Like she doesn't do all the other stuff. 267 00:13:23,060 --> 00:13:26,500 But confession is seeing the phone for what it is. 268 00:13:26,500 --> 00:13:30,020 Now, compared to what it could or should be, 269 00:13:30,020 --> 00:13:33,180 if I was relating to that phone in a way 270 00:13:33,180 --> 00:13:36,060 that is relating to it rightly with myself, 271 00:13:36,060 --> 00:13:38,220 with my neighbor and God. 272 00:13:38,220 --> 00:13:40,140 So it's acknowledging what is now 273 00:13:40,140 --> 00:13:42,420 while also realizing what could be. 274 00:13:45,140 --> 00:13:48,220 So that process is a bit tricky to unpack 275 00:13:48,220 --> 00:13:49,700 in all areas of our life. 276 00:13:49,700 --> 00:13:51,980 And so David in this Psalm 277 00:13:51,980 --> 00:13:55,660 actually uses three different words for sin 278 00:13:55,660 --> 00:13:59,620 to help us figure out how we can be fully true 279 00:13:59,620 --> 00:14:02,420 and fully truthful to God about who we are 280 00:14:02,420 --> 00:14:04,340 and how we live in this world. 281 00:14:04,340 --> 00:14:06,660 And those three words that he uses 282 00:14:06,660 --> 00:14:11,380 are transgression, iniquity, and sin. 283 00:14:11,380 --> 00:14:13,060 And they're similar but they do have 284 00:14:13,060 --> 00:14:14,220 slight different nuances. 285 00:14:14,220 --> 00:14:15,660 So I'm gonna go through those 286 00:14:15,660 --> 00:14:17,540 because I think they're helpful for us 287 00:14:17,540 --> 00:14:20,140 when we don't have a lot of language about confession, 288 00:14:20,140 --> 00:14:21,300 it's easy just to be like, 289 00:14:21,300 --> 00:14:23,620 well, I didn't break a commandment today, did I? 290 00:14:23,620 --> 00:14:24,780 Do I have anything to confess? 291 00:14:24,780 --> 00:14:26,500 Well, no, when you unpack this, 292 00:14:26,500 --> 00:14:28,780 you're gonna see that there's a lot more richness 293 00:14:28,780 --> 00:14:32,980 and it helps us to look at ourselves truthfully 294 00:14:32,980 --> 00:14:35,420 in our relationship with God. 295 00:14:35,420 --> 00:14:39,100 So transgression, in Hebrew that's the word pesha 296 00:14:39,100 --> 00:14:42,620 and its meaning is to step over the line 297 00:14:42,620 --> 00:14:45,260 in violating a relationship of trust. 298 00:14:46,100 --> 00:14:48,940 Just violating a relationship of trust. 299 00:14:48,940 --> 00:14:50,940 In verse one and three, David says, 300 00:14:50,940 --> 00:14:52,900 he knows his transgressions 301 00:14:52,900 --> 00:14:55,420 and he asks God to blot them out. 302 00:14:55,420 --> 00:14:57,140 So how did David violate trust? 303 00:14:57,140 --> 00:14:58,780 Well, on many levels, right? 304 00:14:58,780 --> 00:15:02,660 Personally to Bathsheba, to her husband, Geriah, 305 00:15:02,660 --> 00:15:06,740 but then also to all those people that he involved, right? 306 00:15:06,740 --> 00:15:10,620 To the military, to the court, even to the country. 307 00:15:13,020 --> 00:15:14,900 Another passage in the Old Testament 308 00:15:14,900 --> 00:15:18,340 that uses this same word, pesha, 309 00:15:19,500 --> 00:15:23,340 the choice to mistreat or ignore the poor and vulnerable, 310 00:15:23,340 --> 00:15:25,940 that's called a pesha, that's called a transgression. 311 00:15:25,940 --> 00:15:28,380 So what Amos is trying to tell us by doing that 312 00:15:28,380 --> 00:15:31,660 is that this type of relationship violation, 313 00:15:31,660 --> 00:15:34,460 it can be active like we saw in David's case, 314 00:15:34,460 --> 00:15:38,980 but it also can be passive through mistreatment or ignoring. 315 00:15:40,740 --> 00:15:44,460 Now in the work that we do at Young Street Mission, 316 00:15:44,460 --> 00:15:48,460 we serve many people who have faced trauma 317 00:15:48,460 --> 00:15:50,540 because they have experienced pesha 318 00:15:50,540 --> 00:15:53,100 or transgression against them, right? 319 00:15:53,100 --> 00:15:56,820 They have had multiple violations of trust, 320 00:15:56,820 --> 00:15:59,780 both active and passive mistreatment, 321 00:15:59,780 --> 00:16:03,820 but a lot of being ignored because they're poor. 322 00:16:05,260 --> 00:16:09,100 So when we think about transgression, 323 00:16:09,100 --> 00:16:12,340 to biblically confess that is to recognize 324 00:16:12,340 --> 00:16:14,380 not just that we might be at the receiving end of it, 325 00:16:14,380 --> 00:16:17,300 which is the easy part, it's actually to recognize 326 00:16:17,300 --> 00:16:20,100 that we could be the ones stepping over the line too. 327 00:16:20,100 --> 00:16:23,660 So really like daily example, I have two kids, 328 00:16:23,660 --> 00:16:26,500 they're now 18 and 20, but my teenage daughter 329 00:16:26,500 --> 00:16:28,900 said to me in a way that only a teenage daughter 330 00:16:28,900 --> 00:16:30,900 can say to her mom, mom, did you remember 331 00:16:30,900 --> 00:16:32,340 to ask Emily about the backpack? 332 00:16:32,340 --> 00:16:34,300 You said you would, did you? 333 00:16:34,300 --> 00:16:36,140 With that kind of accusatory tone, 334 00:16:36,140 --> 00:16:39,420 because if I didn't keep my word in her world, 335 00:16:39,420 --> 00:16:43,940 I would have not, I would have violated the relationship, 336 00:16:43,940 --> 00:16:45,300 right, I would have stepped over the line, 337 00:16:45,300 --> 00:16:48,660 I did not keep my promise, and that's how you build trust. 338 00:16:48,660 --> 00:16:51,260 And that's how you build trust, right? 339 00:16:51,260 --> 00:16:53,700 That's a very small daily example. 340 00:16:56,100 --> 00:16:59,020 As the Anglican prayer goes, we say, 341 00:16:59,020 --> 00:17:01,220 merciful God, we confess we have sinned 342 00:17:01,220 --> 00:17:03,660 by what we have done and left undone. 343 00:17:04,660 --> 00:17:07,540 And transgressions fit in both categories. 344 00:17:08,500 --> 00:17:11,300 Now the second word that David used is iniquity. 345 00:17:12,260 --> 00:17:16,220 The unpacking of that word is to bend or distort. 346 00:17:16,220 --> 00:17:19,460 It's a Hebrew word called avon, might not be pronouncing it 347 00:17:19,460 --> 00:17:22,380 exactly right, because I studied Greek, 348 00:17:22,380 --> 00:17:23,700 we had to choose between Greek and Hebrew, 349 00:17:23,700 --> 00:17:26,620 so I don't always get the pronunciations right. 350 00:17:26,620 --> 00:17:30,300 In Lamentations, this same word, avon, 351 00:17:30,300 --> 00:17:32,820 describes a twisted or crooked road. 352 00:17:33,860 --> 00:17:37,820 In Psalm 38, it's translated as a malformed back 353 00:17:37,820 --> 00:17:39,220 that's bent out of shape. 354 00:17:40,260 --> 00:17:43,900 Its meaning is that it's distorting of something 355 00:17:43,900 --> 00:17:47,140 that was otherwise beautiful and good. 356 00:17:48,780 --> 00:17:50,940 So let's start with David again. 357 00:17:50,940 --> 00:17:51,780 What did he do? 358 00:17:51,780 --> 00:17:56,380 He distorted faithfulness into adultery. 359 00:17:56,380 --> 00:17:58,940 He distorted celebration, because he invited 360 00:17:58,940 --> 00:18:01,780 Geriah to these big celebrations, to deceitfulness, 361 00:18:01,780 --> 00:18:03,060 because he was just trying to get him drunk 362 00:18:03,060 --> 00:18:04,460 so he'd sleep with his wife. 363 00:18:05,580 --> 00:18:08,020 He distorted his right use of authority 364 00:18:08,020 --> 00:18:10,540 and relationship to domination. 365 00:18:10,540 --> 00:18:15,540 Iniquity, that's the bending or distorting. 366 00:18:16,420 --> 00:18:19,940 And like transgression, it can be done by us or to us. 367 00:18:19,940 --> 00:18:22,140 So for example, if somebody were to use 368 00:18:22,140 --> 00:18:24,540 a crooked set of weights or scales, 369 00:18:24,540 --> 00:18:27,100 or have an algorithm that's biased in one direction 370 00:18:27,100 --> 00:18:31,300 or another, we might be experiencing iniquity, 371 00:18:31,300 --> 00:18:33,140 a distortion of justice. 372 00:18:34,140 --> 00:18:36,260 And again, it's twice that David uses this 373 00:18:36,260 --> 00:18:37,380 in this particular Psalm. 374 00:18:37,380 --> 00:18:40,940 He asks God to wash it away, to blot it out. 375 00:18:40,940 --> 00:18:44,260 And iniquity is something that has consequences 376 00:18:44,260 --> 00:18:46,300 in the real world. 377 00:18:46,300 --> 00:18:49,300 That even in the story of David, 378 00:18:49,300 --> 00:18:52,660 the child that he has born through iniquity 379 00:18:52,660 --> 00:18:54,380 bears the burden of it. 380 00:18:54,380 --> 00:18:59,380 David is pardoned, but the child dies. 381 00:18:59,580 --> 00:19:02,420 See, the weight of wrongdoing that distorts 382 00:19:02,420 --> 00:19:05,180 has implications in the real world. 383 00:19:05,180 --> 00:19:07,180 Unless we think that that's just something 384 00:19:07,180 --> 00:19:08,860 in the past, we have to think about it 385 00:19:08,860 --> 00:19:11,420 at the societal level of how many ways 386 00:19:11,420 --> 00:19:14,340 truth maintains this distortion, 387 00:19:14,340 --> 00:19:15,540 and then what happens in the world. 388 00:19:15,540 --> 00:19:18,340 So we go back 30 years, what happened? 389 00:19:18,340 --> 00:19:21,460 The Rwandan Civil War, a whole ethnic group, 390 00:19:21,460 --> 00:19:24,460 a whole ethnic group were called cockroaches, 391 00:19:24,460 --> 00:19:27,140 distorting the truth of their humanness 392 00:19:27,140 --> 00:19:28,980 with a genocidal result. 393 00:19:28,980 --> 00:19:32,340 They were seen as animals, not people. 394 00:19:32,340 --> 00:19:36,340 January 6th, truth was distorted. 395 00:19:36,340 --> 00:19:38,140 What happened? 396 00:19:38,140 --> 00:19:40,460 Violence and anger. 397 00:19:40,460 --> 00:19:43,540 Or just last week, misinformation, 398 00:19:43,540 --> 00:19:47,980 the distortion of truth, stoked unbelievable rioting 399 00:19:47,980 --> 00:19:49,420 in British streets. 400 00:19:50,660 --> 00:19:54,820 See, to confess iniquity, we recognize that we too 401 00:19:54,820 --> 00:19:58,740 might be complicit in personal or societal iniquity, 402 00:19:58,740 --> 00:20:02,100 which is the bending and distortion of truth 403 00:20:02,100 --> 00:20:03,940 that can lead to violence. 404 00:20:05,940 --> 00:20:07,300 That's word number two. 405 00:20:07,300 --> 00:20:10,620 Word number three for sin or wrongdoing in Psalm 51 406 00:20:10,620 --> 00:20:12,700 is the word kata. 407 00:20:12,700 --> 00:20:16,340 It's the most common term, and it addresses 408 00:20:16,340 --> 00:20:21,060 the moral failure of missing the mark or missing a goal. 409 00:20:22,380 --> 00:20:26,580 In Genesis 4, 7, Cain is warned that when he does not 410 00:20:26,580 --> 00:20:32,380 choose good, sin is crouching at the door. 411 00:20:32,380 --> 00:20:36,700 It's the word that speaks of our human condition 412 00:20:36,700 --> 00:20:41,420 where we make choices that separate us from God. 413 00:20:41,420 --> 00:20:44,780 In medical terms, it would be a failure to thrive. 414 00:20:47,260 --> 00:20:49,580 So David's world view, he would have understood 415 00:20:49,580 --> 00:20:52,660 that he was made in God's image, the likeness of God, 416 00:20:52,660 --> 00:20:57,660 but fell short on a daily basis of living into that likeness. 417 00:20:57,660 --> 00:21:02,660 And so while it was clear to David that he had wronged people, 418 00:21:02,820 --> 00:21:06,660 we notice in Psalm 51 in the confession that he actually 419 00:21:06,660 --> 00:21:10,220 acknowledges this wrongdoing as ultimately 420 00:21:10,220 --> 00:21:12,980 against God's very self. 421 00:21:12,980 --> 00:21:17,980 Verse four, against you and you only have I sinned. 422 00:21:18,420 --> 00:21:21,940 He has raised the scope and heightens the impact 423 00:21:21,940 --> 00:21:25,100 because he recognizes that there is a cosmic implication 424 00:21:25,100 --> 00:21:26,740 of his human actions. 425 00:21:28,140 --> 00:21:32,780 And then in verse five, he turns and he looks at this thing 426 00:21:32,780 --> 00:21:35,700 that he's done, but then he looks backwards at his life 427 00:21:35,700 --> 00:21:38,740 and he sees a pattern and he's like, wow, that's not just 428 00:21:38,740 --> 00:21:42,500 a singular one-off look over the balcony to my neighbor, 429 00:21:42,500 --> 00:21:45,820 but he actually sees that his whole posture in the world 430 00:21:45,820 --> 00:21:47,620 is a self-centered one. 431 00:21:48,780 --> 00:21:51,900 And our self-centered posture is always in contrast 432 00:21:51,900 --> 00:21:55,180 to God's self-giving love and he says, I've been sinful 433 00:21:55,180 --> 00:21:56,500 from when I was born. 434 00:21:59,020 --> 00:22:02,140 And the only thing that he can say in response to that 435 00:22:02,140 --> 00:22:06,020 is that I need a new heart because the very posture 436 00:22:06,020 --> 00:22:09,860 of the world, the very core of my being is leading me away 437 00:22:09,860 --> 00:22:14,580 from God and so he says, a broken and contrite heart 438 00:22:14,580 --> 00:22:16,100 you would not despise. 439 00:22:16,100 --> 00:22:19,500 The very core of his being, he needs realigning 440 00:22:19,500 --> 00:22:22,020 and he asks for that in confession. 441 00:22:24,340 --> 00:22:26,980 So these three words are just different ways 442 00:22:26,980 --> 00:22:31,380 that we can both wrongly be and wrongly do in the world 443 00:22:31,380 --> 00:22:34,700 and it is all part of what it means to do biblical confession 444 00:22:34,700 --> 00:22:37,380 which is about talking truthfully to God. 445 00:22:38,340 --> 00:22:41,620 But biblical confession would be incomplete 446 00:22:41,620 --> 00:22:43,500 if all we did was talk about ourselves. 447 00:22:43,500 --> 00:22:45,900 That's another way of keeping ourselves 448 00:22:45,900 --> 00:22:47,540 at the center of things, right? 449 00:22:47,540 --> 00:22:49,780 Did you notice in the first verse that was up 450 00:22:49,780 --> 00:22:53,580 on the screen today that before David gets into 451 00:22:53,580 --> 00:22:56,660 all the details, right, before he talks even 452 00:22:56,660 --> 00:22:59,660 of the transgression or sin or iniquity, 453 00:22:59,660 --> 00:23:03,180 this is how he starts, he says, have mercy on me, O God, 454 00:23:03,180 --> 00:23:05,700 according to your unfailing love, 455 00:23:05,700 --> 00:23:08,060 according to your great compassion. 456 00:23:09,140 --> 00:23:13,460 See, biblical confession also needs to speak of who God is, 457 00:23:13,460 --> 00:23:16,460 of who God is, the one of unfailing love, 458 00:23:16,460 --> 00:23:18,820 the one who demonstrates compassion, 459 00:23:18,820 --> 00:23:22,060 the one who can create a new heart. 460 00:23:22,060 --> 00:23:25,060 We do not redeem ourselves, no matter what Bieber thinks, 461 00:23:25,060 --> 00:23:27,500 it is God who redeems us. 462 00:23:27,500 --> 00:23:29,260 The one who can heal a broken heart, 463 00:23:29,260 --> 00:23:32,660 who can do something about those crushed bones, 464 00:23:32,660 --> 00:23:36,580 give us new ones and can then renew a right spirit, 465 00:23:36,580 --> 00:23:39,340 a steadfast spirit, ongoing strength. 466 00:23:39,340 --> 00:23:42,180 All of that is in Psalm 51. 467 00:23:42,860 --> 00:23:45,780 See, David lived with a covenantal understanding 468 00:23:45,780 --> 00:23:48,620 of God's promises to God's people. 469 00:23:49,740 --> 00:23:53,260 He knew he was flawed, but he knew God was flawless, 470 00:23:53,260 --> 00:23:56,500 and he knew he was unfaithful, but he knew God was faithful. 471 00:23:58,020 --> 00:23:59,940 And it's the characteristics of God, 472 00:23:59,940 --> 00:24:04,260 it is God's very self that gives David confidence 473 00:24:04,260 --> 00:24:08,700 to speak truth to his maker and not to his enemies. 474 00:24:08,700 --> 00:24:10,500 And not to be afraid. 475 00:24:11,780 --> 00:24:14,300 Not to be afraid that he's gonna reach judgment. 476 00:24:18,620 --> 00:24:20,700 The practice of biblical confession then, 477 00:24:20,700 --> 00:24:25,540 as modeled in this Psalm, is speaking both the truth 478 00:24:25,540 --> 00:24:27,860 and the trust at the same time. 479 00:24:27,860 --> 00:24:31,620 It's speaking the fault and the faith together. 480 00:24:32,660 --> 00:24:34,780 Because together, these two sides, 481 00:24:34,780 --> 00:24:36,820 these practices of confession allow 482 00:24:36,820 --> 00:24:40,340 for the process of repentance and redemption 483 00:24:40,340 --> 00:24:42,380 to begin to flow. 484 00:24:42,380 --> 00:24:46,060 It releases, if you will, the power of confession. 485 00:24:46,060 --> 00:24:49,380 Now, I'm not gonna get into Jesus' role right at the end, 486 00:24:49,380 --> 00:24:54,380 because in Psalm 51, even centuries before the time of Jesus, 487 00:24:55,220 --> 00:24:59,180 David can already see four ways that the process 488 00:24:59,180 --> 00:25:03,460 of confession brings impact and power into his life. 489 00:25:03,460 --> 00:25:06,620 And he talks about how confession and this act 490 00:25:06,620 --> 00:25:10,460 of coming before God truthfully brings cleaning, 491 00:25:10,460 --> 00:25:12,860 it brings covering, it brings recreation, 492 00:25:12,860 --> 00:25:15,060 and it even brings celebration. 493 00:25:16,780 --> 00:25:19,700 David acknowledges that one power of confession 494 00:25:19,700 --> 00:25:21,700 is to be cleaned, right? 495 00:25:21,700 --> 00:25:23,860 To be cleansed, white as snow. 496 00:25:23,860 --> 00:25:26,300 He's not gonna have to wash his hands forever, 497 00:25:26,300 --> 00:25:29,060 like in the Shakespeare plays, right? 498 00:25:29,060 --> 00:25:33,380 Wrongdoing, wrong being, it feels like a sin 499 00:25:33,380 --> 00:25:35,780 and it feels like a stain and a dirt. 500 00:25:35,780 --> 00:25:38,300 The emotional word here would be guilt, right? 501 00:25:38,300 --> 00:25:41,460 God releases us and cleanses us from our guilt. 502 00:25:42,940 --> 00:25:46,740 God specifically in this Psalm is asked 503 00:25:46,740 --> 00:25:49,740 to clean David using hyssop. 504 00:25:49,740 --> 00:25:51,540 And that was a practice of that time 505 00:25:51,540 --> 00:25:53,860 that the religious leaders would use 506 00:25:53,860 --> 00:25:56,580 for the ceremonial cleansing. 507 00:25:56,580 --> 00:25:58,900 So when you look at it, there's like cleaning 508 00:25:58,900 --> 00:26:01,260 and washing up, and then there's like the religious side. 509 00:26:01,260 --> 00:26:03,460 So in a sense, he's recognizing that this power 510 00:26:03,460 --> 00:26:06,100 of confession can clean him physically, 511 00:26:06,100 --> 00:26:07,660 it can clean him emotionally, 512 00:26:07,660 --> 00:26:08,940 it can clean him religiously. 513 00:26:08,940 --> 00:26:12,780 Like all parts of him can be cleaned by God's hands. 514 00:26:12,780 --> 00:26:14,820 So that that dirt under the fingernails, 515 00:26:14,820 --> 00:26:17,540 the guilt that is sort of weighing heavy, 516 00:26:17,540 --> 00:26:20,460 and even the flashbacks, they can all be gone. 517 00:26:21,700 --> 00:26:24,100 So the one power of confession 518 00:26:24,100 --> 00:26:26,300 is that it can lead to feeling clean. 519 00:26:26,300 --> 00:26:29,140 But not only are we clean, David says 520 00:26:29,140 --> 00:26:31,860 the power of confession is that we get covered. 521 00:26:31,860 --> 00:26:33,620 We get covered. 522 00:26:33,620 --> 00:26:35,580 It's verse nine, and sometimes it's read 523 00:26:35,580 --> 00:26:38,380 that the sin is hidden by God, but the word is covered. 524 00:26:38,380 --> 00:26:42,820 And it's like a hyperlink back to Genesis 321. 525 00:26:43,980 --> 00:26:46,380 So back in the Garden of Eden, 526 00:26:46,380 --> 00:26:48,900 when the first act of sin happened, 527 00:26:49,900 --> 00:26:52,100 what does God do for God's people, 528 00:26:52,100 --> 00:26:53,620 Adam and Eve at that time? 529 00:26:53,620 --> 00:26:55,620 What's the first thing he does? 530 00:26:55,620 --> 00:26:57,300 He covers them. 531 00:26:57,300 --> 00:27:01,980 It says God made the garments for Adam and Eve. 532 00:27:01,980 --> 00:27:03,780 He closed them after he sinned. 533 00:27:03,780 --> 00:27:06,660 So we get cleaned and we get protected. 534 00:27:08,260 --> 00:27:11,740 And then after that, we get recreated. 535 00:27:11,740 --> 00:27:15,420 Verse 10 in Psalm 51, creating me a clean heart, O God, 536 00:27:15,420 --> 00:27:17,740 renew a right spirit within me. 537 00:27:18,740 --> 00:27:22,020 God could, God, sorry, David could already see 538 00:27:22,020 --> 00:27:25,900 that God was doing something about that self-centered sin. 539 00:27:25,900 --> 00:27:27,980 And so he says, God changed my heart. 540 00:27:29,340 --> 00:27:32,460 Now this vision of God's intention for recreation 541 00:27:32,460 --> 00:27:35,300 and renewal from the inside out, 542 00:27:35,300 --> 00:27:38,060 we can look back now knowing Jesus 543 00:27:38,060 --> 00:27:40,740 and kind of put a Christological focus on it. 544 00:27:40,740 --> 00:27:43,980 But even without that, we see the hints of what's to come. 545 00:27:43,980 --> 00:27:46,860 David had this vision of what was to come 546 00:27:46,860 --> 00:27:48,900 because not only does he ask for that recreation, 547 00:27:48,900 --> 00:27:51,060 but then he talks about God's Holy Spirit presence 548 00:27:51,060 --> 00:27:52,940 staying with him, which is all language 549 00:27:52,940 --> 00:27:57,220 that we still use to this day. 550 00:27:57,220 --> 00:27:59,900 Now last but not least, David draws our attention 551 00:27:59,900 --> 00:28:02,860 to the power of confession in one more way. 552 00:28:02,860 --> 00:28:05,660 So we're cleaned, we're covered, we're recreated, 553 00:28:05,660 --> 00:28:07,980 but then there's celebration. 554 00:28:09,500 --> 00:28:13,540 So confession itself, yes, is somber and sober. 555 00:28:14,780 --> 00:28:17,420 But confession is also part of a process. 556 00:28:17,420 --> 00:28:19,820 It's part of being in relationship with God. 557 00:28:19,820 --> 00:28:22,380 And if confession leads to repentance, right, 558 00:28:22,380 --> 00:28:24,580 God accepts us where we are but doesn't leave us there. 559 00:28:24,580 --> 00:28:27,020 So if you actually go to the doesn't leave us there part, 560 00:28:27,020 --> 00:28:30,100 then there is so much to be joyful about. 561 00:28:30,100 --> 00:28:32,580 And in verse 10 he says, 562 00:28:32,580 --> 00:28:34,580 this leads to the joy of salvation. 563 00:28:34,580 --> 00:28:36,660 Restore in me the joy of salvation. 564 00:28:37,660 --> 00:28:41,860 We are healed from our iniquity, the deliverance of guilt. 565 00:28:41,860 --> 00:28:46,060 It brings a freedom that returns joy. 566 00:28:46,060 --> 00:28:51,060 It returns the capacity for praise to be proclaimed. 567 00:28:56,980 --> 00:29:01,500 Now if David, David who was well before the time of Jesus, 568 00:29:02,900 --> 00:29:06,580 sees all these things as the power of confession, 569 00:29:06,580 --> 00:29:11,580 how much more confidence can we have who know of Jesus? 570 00:29:11,580 --> 00:29:16,340 Who know of Jesus, how much more confidence can we have 571 00:29:16,340 --> 00:29:19,020 to know that we will eventually come to joy 572 00:29:19,020 --> 00:29:22,380 and not judgment if we step into confession? 573 00:29:24,420 --> 00:29:28,460 Jesus fulfilled the words of a prophet, many of them, 574 00:29:28,460 --> 00:29:30,900 but specifically Isaiah 53, 575 00:29:30,900 --> 00:29:34,020 which speaks to what we're talking about today. 576 00:29:34,020 --> 00:29:35,980 Surely, in Isaiah it says, 577 00:29:35,980 --> 00:29:38,180 he took up our pain and bore our suffering. 578 00:29:38,180 --> 00:29:41,380 He was pierced for our transgressions. 579 00:29:41,380 --> 00:29:43,820 He was crushed for our iniquities, right? 580 00:29:44,780 --> 00:29:47,500 His bones were crushed instead of our bones. 581 00:29:47,500 --> 00:29:51,580 The punishment that was brought on him, 582 00:29:52,620 --> 00:29:54,260 it brings peace to us. 583 00:29:55,540 --> 00:29:57,980 And it's by his wounds that we are healed. 584 00:29:59,220 --> 00:30:03,340 See, Jesus carries the burden of our transgressions. 585 00:30:03,340 --> 00:30:05,620 Jesus carries the burden of our iniquity. 586 00:30:05,620 --> 00:30:08,180 Jesus carries the burden of our sins 587 00:30:08,180 --> 00:30:13,180 so that you and I can truly and freely live 588 00:30:13,540 --> 00:30:15,340 and experience even joy. 589 00:30:15,340 --> 00:30:18,140 Joy in the days when the days are hard 590 00:30:18,140 --> 00:30:20,620 and joys when the days are easy. 591 00:30:20,620 --> 00:30:24,660 Joy in the sunshine and joy in the rain. 592 00:30:26,380 --> 00:30:28,740 Now, I don't know how your last week was 593 00:30:28,740 --> 00:30:31,420 or what you've got planned for next week. 594 00:30:31,420 --> 00:30:34,100 I really hope it wasn't as bad as David's. 595 00:30:34,100 --> 00:30:37,180 But whatever events you experienced, 596 00:30:37,180 --> 00:30:39,780 whatever things you did or didn't do, 597 00:30:40,820 --> 00:30:45,060 we receive forgiveness when we ask through confession 598 00:30:45,060 --> 00:30:47,100 because of Jesus. 599 00:30:47,100 --> 00:30:50,220 That's one of the core foundations of our faith. 600 00:30:50,220 --> 00:30:52,540 And so spending time looking at this psalm 601 00:30:52,540 --> 00:30:55,740 just helps us to build our relationship with God 602 00:30:55,740 --> 00:30:58,700 because it helps us to grow in trust with God. 603 00:30:58,700 --> 00:31:01,300 We tell God all the things of our lives 604 00:31:01,300 --> 00:31:04,380 and he receives us and loves us. 605 00:31:04,380 --> 00:31:06,820 Confession is the start of that process. 606 00:31:06,820 --> 00:31:09,340 So if that's what you're interested in, 607 00:31:09,340 --> 00:31:12,500 then it's a good thing to add to your summer playlist too. 608 00:31:13,620 --> 00:31:15,340 Thanks be to God. 609 00:31:15,340 --> 00:31:35,340 Amen.