[0:00] to be here right and early so when we were asked who forgot to set their clock back you know I look forward to that all year, that extra hour and I got up this morning and I was up too early well it's a hassle getting up too you gotta get up at 2am to set the clock back because that's the law, right?
[0:36] it's like a mandate, isn't it? it's like, don't we do mandates? oh wait, we don't do mandates no, but the law is 2am so that's what I'm saying yeah, I'm a good lawbreaker too take out your Bibles with me please and turn to Luke chapter 11 we continue in our walk through what we're calling the disciples prayer it's commonly called the Lord's Prayer but it's really the disciples prayer he gave it to the disciples to pray the Lord's Prayer is recorded in Gospel of John chapter 17 where he prays in the garden we're going to read the text then we'll pray and then we'll dig into this fifth prayer forgive us our sins so if you're able, please stand as I read Luke chapter 11 beginning verse 1 through verse 4 now Jesus was praying in a certain place and when he finished one of his disciples said to him
[1:48] Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples and he said to them when you pray or whenever you are praying say or ask Father Hallowed be your name your kingdom come give us each day our necessary bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us did I read that too enthusiastically?
[2:25] a little bit yeah and lead us not into temptation so it reads let us pray Father cause your name to be set apart cause your kingdom to come make your will pliable in our hearts give us this morning the bread we really need forgive us our sins for we are working on forgiving those indebted to us lead us not into that temptation that testing today Lord we pray open our eyes to see your word we pray in Christ's name Amen please be seated so
[3:27] I tried donating blood last week I'm not going to do it again too many stupid questions whose blood is it where did you get it from and why is it in a bucket no nothing I don't know if that was hilarious so that's a lie I didn't do that so forgive me I just sold my homing pigeon on eBay for the 22nd time probably need forgiveness for that I came across some odd notices I thought were interesting in an office it said toilet out of order please use floor blow and a laundromat it said automatic washing machines please remove all your clothes when the light goes out wait what in a London department store bargain basement upstairs in an office would the person who took the step ladder yesterday please bring it back or further steps will be taken as well they should in an office notice was posted after tea break staff should empty the teapot and stand upside down on the drain board no I don't think
[5:04] I'm going to do that outside a second hand shop the sign said we exchange anything bicycles washing machines etc why not bring your wife along and get a wonderful bargain now obviously these are these are mistakes grammar mistakes they're forgivable mistakes what about the more serious stuff like what we pray for Jesus Jesus teaches us to pray daily to give us our sins but here's the question as Christians hasn't God already forgiven our sins all of them past present future are we not eternally secure why does Jesus teach us to pray forgive us our sins
[6:04] I know brother you so here we are fifth request I want to do a brief look to kind of give a little background we talk about sins now some of you don't need this background some of us need reminding of what the issue is Romans 3 describes to us well the book of Romans describes to us not just our sinfulness but the pervasiveness of our sinfulness the old doctors called it total depravity which is a truth of scripture total depravity does not mean I'm the worst that I could be but it means I am corrupted in total all of my being is corrupted that's what that means so the book of Romans just just very briefly Lord help me be brief Romans is Paul's gospel it is his magnum opus on the gospel right it's what he says this is what he's preaching the whole book is the gospel the first three chapters are about God and sin chapters the second half of chapter 3 and chapter 4 is about justification by faith our forgiveness chapters 5 through 8 are about sanctification how do we walk therefore as those who have been forgiven it's about chapters 5 through 8 are about our assurance and also about our freedom chapters 9 to 11 are the defense of the gospel chapters 12 to 16 are the application of the gospel what do we do how do we therefore how then shall we live so he starts the book in chapter 1
[8:04] I mean he exposes the sin of men chapter 1 he talks about how God has brought the gospel but the problem is men are under the wrath of God and they're under the wrath of God because God has made himself known he has made himself obvious he has spoken in creation he has clearly made himself known yet men suppress that truth they hold it off this is the language that he uses and they come up with other ideas and we know what a lot of those ideas are to explain God away but God is saying they have no excuse it's not a matter of oh I just can't figure it out no it's a matter of you are suppressing the truth so that's where he starts that God is a creator and men have basically pushed him out of the way explained him away and gone their own way then he gets to chapter 3 and he gets a little more specific in
[9:07] Romans chapter 3 he kind of finalizes argument on sin and he says Romans 3 9 he says what then are we Jews any better off because he talks about the Gentiles and he talks about the Jews he says no not at all Jews aren't better off for we have already charged that all both Jews and Greeks are under sin we've all sinned as it is written none is righteous no not one no one understands no one seeks for God now notice he gives a universal statement all are under sin then he begins to break it down it's a heart issue how pervasive is it it's a heart issue no one understands remember in biblical language the heart is the mind the heart is what thinks and understands the heart is the will no one understands their heart is out of it no one seeks for God there's the will all have turned aside together they have become worthless no one does good not even one
[10:12] I thought some people were good Paul is saying the biblical testimony is no one no one even does good all have turned aside together they become more no one does good not even one their throat now see it's not only the heart the mind but it becomes the speech watch the language their throat is an open grave they use their tongues to deceive the venom of venom of asp is under their lips their mouth is full of curses and bitterness see so our speech our language is corrupted our heart and mind is corrupted our language as Jesus said what's in the heart comes out of the mouth the language is corrupted what goes further than that their feet are swift to shed blood in their paths are ruin and misery just their ambitions their goals what they do what we do lead to ruin and misery apart from God period this is
[11:15] Paul's indictment the way of peace they have not known conclusion there is no fear of God before their eyes that's why all the other happens that's why the heart and mind and soul and goals and lips are all involved because their whole orientation of life is to dismiss God no fear of God now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law the Jews so that every human mouth every mouth may be stopped and the whole world including Gentiles may be held accountable to God for by the works of the law no human being will be justified nobody can keep the law in God's sight since through the law comes the knowledge of sin purpose of the law Paul says is not here's the standard you have to keep here's God's standard it's a holy righteous and good standard but you can't keep it the law is to show you
[12:18] I can't do it that's what the law is for it's to show you you're a sinner and if you take the law as that's my guide now in some sense the law is a guide in some sense the law is a light it does show me the way but it's not to get me okay I will never be okay following rules because I will break them I will fail at them so his final point really is sin is corrupt in every facet of our being our thoughts our words our actions our goals all humanity is in debt to God his creator why has he given life see that's the whole point in chapter one Romans is why are we created are we created to do our own thing why are we created to live for ourselves that's what we want the whole point is why are we sinners because we've ignored our creator everyone has ignored their creation and they know he's there and they know they're accountable to him that's what
[13:32] Paul's argument is chapter one there's no such thing as an atheist or even an agnostic there's not they know I'll take Paul against agnostic any day so that's for all humanity we have a debt we must recognize before God he's given me life he's given me breath he's given me how will I respond will I at least give thanks more than one day a year and then talk about a Christian okay well we've been given even more multitudes more haven't we've not just been given life and gifts and ability to do things in this world but we've been given new life forgiveness washing away of shame and guilt and oh my how much we owe him not owe him in the sense to to try to deserve what he's given us but owe him out of gratitude owe him out of thanksgiving owe him out of insurpassable joy so there's our context so let's dig into our prayer for forgiveness and what
[14:55] I want to do today is I want to ask how come at this is how are we asking this what is Jesus getting at when he says pray father forgive us our sins and by the way we're only taking the first half we're not getting to the second part the second part gets complicated doesn't it second part is where everybody's got a question I got a question I got a question does forgiveness mean you trust them does forgiveness mean you right does forgiveness means so you know there's all kinds of questions that go with the second part so we're going to do that next week okay are forgiving others can we can we hold off on that for a week because that's where the questions comes so I don't want to rush through that okay and this is enough anyway forgive us our sins there's something to deal with so I think there's three elements to this we're going to look the first two today what does this prayer involve well first of all it involves confession on the basic level it involves a confession from a humble heart an acknowledgement of my sin
[16:06] I mean before I can ask for forgiveness I have to acknowledge that I am a sinner and then the second element is simply contrition the appeal for forgiveness right that's where we say forgiveness I think we start with confession and then we get to the appeal the contrition or the repentance of it the sorrow the godly sorrow for our sin because if we're praying this let's pray it real right we don't want to just go through motions and it's so easy to go through motions it's so easy just to say this because I want to skip the second part of this one right forgive us our debt says oh yes we forgive!
[16:51] deliver I want to get by that one because that one bothers me so first element how do we begin this prayer for forgiveness I think what it involves an element of it is it involves confession from a humble heart because we're talking about our sin and in connection to that our debt because Jesus connects what he says forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who have debt so he's connecting sin and debt on the same level okay and there's lots of words for sin in the Bible but here's the word our sins is the most generic basic word for our wrongdoing it just means to fall short come up short we fail right so it's the most basic level we fail on all kinds of different levels who walks before
[17:56] God without failing who follows Christ without stumbling no we're all sinners we all fail at this we stumble at it we fall short of it who gives thanks in all things right this is God's will for you right pray without ceasing rejoice always and in everything give thanks woohoo do that everything give thanks really everything something happened the other day oh gosh ever lose our temper how about lust covenant how about the oh don't mention words the tongue right the things that come out of our mouth always edifying right okay so linked to that is the other word that he uses not just sin but debts okay so in a general sense we this this element of confession recognizes we have a debt that we cannot pay we owe
[19:06] God everything now there's an element of Christianity that doesn't like this language and I understand why because to them it smacks of legalism the oughts and the shoulds and you should do this and you ought to do that well yeah when that's coming from somebody else at me that's legalism yes but the language of debt and owing God is biblical language we just don't want to over do it okay but it is real I owe him everything on that level I can never pay him I can never deserve but but in a genuine humble sense I owe you that's what I'm recognizing and so there's a sense where I come each day and say forgive us our sins forgive me the debt that I that I just
[20:10] I didn't live up to I never do I didn't give all the effort I could you know the greatest commandment that Jesus gives us is what love the Lord God how much of your heart all your heart and your what all your heart that's my mind and will right all my what soul what's that desires affections all the stuff that goes all over the place and then all my oh right my strength my my physical so we doing that do I want to do that yeah there's part of me absolutely I want to do that I fail at that every day even on my best days right that's so that's my and sometimes that okay Romans 8 12 says we have an obligation to
[21:11] God not to the flesh but we have an obligation to the spirit to walk according to the spirit we have an obligation that's the language Paul used we have an obligation we have a debt not a legal debt but a relational debt you understand the difference we'll get to that in a minute why is this important why is confession from a humble heart important well it's about our relationships this prayer deals with two relationships have you recognized that we're saying to the father forgive us our debts for we have forgiven others right so I have a vertical relationship with the Lord and then I have a horizontal relationship with others that's why this prayer gets complicated right I like give us our daily bread that's just nice and simple this one gets complicated forgive us and there's a whole bunch that I need there for I am for I like the way well I don't know if
[22:16] I like the way Matthew puts it better than Luke Luke just sounds so Matthew has forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors right Luke has forgive us our sins for we right for we ourselves forgive everyone who's indebted to it that just sounds more complicated than Matthew because because Lord we're always forgiving people that makes it sound like I don't even know if I can say that because I don't think I'm always forgiving people well I know I'm not forgiving it takes work it takes grace it takes humility it takes brokenness it takes to forgive but this is a prayer about relationships it's a prayer about relationships and forgiving relationships the Father forgiving us us forgiving those who have debts that they will never pay and each impacts the other people my relationship with the
[23:31] Father impacts my relationship with other people and my relationship with other people impacts my relationship with my father so if I'm messing up on the human level and not being forgiven guess what that impacts my relationship with my father right so in other words it's not just me and Jesus Jesus doesn't let us get away with that following Jesus is not just about me and Jesus it's not just vertical Jesus makes it no it's horizontal too you follow me it's not just all about me it's a lot about me but it's also a lot about hey treat them so so if I'm unforgiving with others it hinders this vertical relationship and we'll get into that next week so I'm going to pile up all these questions and stuff for next week
[24:34] Lord willing we'll remember them so we looked at 1 John a few years ago was it years already and remember the letter that John writes the first letter John writes is written to believers remember he writes he tells us at the end of 1 John he says I've written this that you who believe may know that you have eternal life so in other words it's a book about assurance how do I know if I have eternal life to you who believe if you're a believer how do I know if I'm a real believer because there's different kinds of believers not all are saved and so the first John remember went through those tests what are the tests how do I know so here's one of the first ones confession of sin 1 John 1 5 this is the message we've heard from him and announced to you that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all so what are the implications of that
[25:44] John works that out so if God is light if we say that we have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness we lie and do not practice the truth if he's light and we're in the darkness guess what no fellowship but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin so our fellowship together when it is in the light when it is open and honest when we're not hiding from one another in the dark when we're open and honest guess what happens cleansing cleansing that's different from just this cleansing it's this one he goes on if we say we have no sin no I'm good I don't have any sin there are
[26:50] Christians who say that they say they've stopped sinning okay good luck with that if we say we have no sin we're deceiving ourselves truth is not in it so there you go so on the other hand if we confess our sin here's the verse we know right if we confess our sins if we acknowledge if we openly agree with the Lord that we are sinners if we confess our sins he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we say we have not sinned that's different from saying we have we don't have any presence in it it's saying I haven't sinned I'm not we make him a liar because he says yes you have highlight verse 9 there if we confess our sins he is faithful and righteous to forgive us if we confess our sins he is faithful to forgive us and he is righteous to forgive us how is he righteous to forgive us because of the cross because your sins have been painful we sang so here's the only honest response right if we're walking
[28:18] I love the picture John gives in 1st John walking in light or walking in darkness if I walk in the light of God what happens what does his light reveal my sin and what do I do I have a choice I can go run and hide in the dark pretend it's not there don't want to deal with it or I can walk in the light and say no absolutely Lord I yeah because he probably exposes different sins doesn't he to us at different times there's always that one but then there's you know some other stuff I mean lately he's revealed some stuff to me it's like man I don't need another thing that you know okay I mean this is the kind of prayer in part of this prayer might be simply search me oh God show me if I'm simply not aware and he says I am then I need a little help maybe I got blind spots maybe I've hidden it so deep right so if I walk in the light he exposes me he reveals my sin
[29:36] I confess out of humility and brokenness it drives me to Jesus if I walk in the light and he shows me who I am and he he doesn't do all of it at once thank God but he shows me who I am and sometimes that just breaks us right that just breaks us oh thought I was okay in that area so it drives me to Jesus it drives me to Jesus and to confess so that's one element there's another element to this forgive us our sin is not only confession but then then there's the contrition there's confession of what I call a humble heart and then there's a contrition of a broken heart that's where I appeal forgive us so the first one's dealing with acknowledging my sin the second one's dealing with appealing to God to forgive me what I mean by contrition is sorrow repentance so not just confessing and acknowledging there's a deeper level of contrition that that is crushed by my sin it is well broken right and then sorrowful
[31:16] Paul talks about a godly sorrow there's a kind of sorrow that leads to regret you know I say sorry to the Lord and later I regret it because it wasn't really deep felt but there's a godly sorrow so what is forgiveness so what do we mean when we say forgive well literally it's a word that's translated for many different terms it means to send away to let go to cancel the debt to pardon the guilt to release an obligation to let it I like the term let it go the same word for forgiveness is the same word for divorce because you're sending away you're letting go isn't that interesting so I don't want to go to that one stay with this one so Luke 4 remember when Jesus got baptized he went out he was tempted by the devil and after that he went into the synagogue and began to preach and he took out the
[32:22] Bible and he read the passage from Isaiah and said this is fulfilled the passage said that the spirit of the Lord is upon me and he's anointed me to proclaim release to the captives to preach release forgiveness to preach the setting free of the captives and then he began casting out demons as an illustration but more it was about the gospel message that really sets us free remember the Old Testament on the day of atonement remember they had a big gathering and they would have two different goats right one they would sacrifice and the other one they would send away it was a picture of forgiveness it was they were laying their sins on the scapegoat and sending him away as a picture of see
[33:27] God has sent your sins away they're gone now so that's that picture of forgiveness so here's the question why do we still need it I thought we're all forgiven does not scripture say he has forgiven all our trespasses and sins and laid them on his son they are forever gone has he not said yes absolutely amen right he has forgiven Romans 8 says there is therefore now no condemnation nothing nothing God praise the Lord so why is Jesus teaching him to pray for forgiveness well there's something else going on isn't there so when we talk about yes he's forgiven all my sins and laid them on
[34:37] Christ we're talking about justification we're talking about eternal salvation we're talking about legal forgiveness okay justification I don't feel that that's an account in God's book God has said I forgiven it all I put him on Christ he's paid your debt and he's given you his righteousness and now you are a saint right don't you feel like that don't you feel like a saint no because it's a legal transaction you don't feel it but it's a truth you believe it just like I believe Jesus will never leave me or forsake me even though there's days I feel so alone okay I don't feel that it's a promise so we're not talking about legal forgiveness we're not talking about justification we're not talking about salvation he's not saying yeah you lost your salvation again you gotta pray for forgiveness again he's not talking about that that would contradict so much of scripture that we wouldn't be able to trust in it so what does he mean he's talking about who am
[35:45] I praying to more specifically father the father I'm praying to the father in the name of the son with the hope of spirit I'm praying to God yes I'm praying specifically to the father what does that imply I'm not praying to the Lord I'm not praying to you know God in general I'm praying to our father how did he become my father is he everybody's father no adoption exactly remember we looked at that that was first week we looked at that how is he our father right he's adopted us as his true children so now I'm in a relationship I'm in an intimate relationship so when I'm asking the father for forgiveness of our sins I'm talking about relational forgiveness forgiveness not legal not salvific do you like that I got a little theological there salvific you want to write that one down use it in conversation this week people go but you can't spell it you can't write relational forgiveness forgiveness with my father that's why the other part is there when we talk about eternal salvation there it is grace alone through faith alone in
[37:27] Christ alone there is nothing that I do to earn it I am not required for this salvation to be forgiving of others okay am I right unless you want to pervert this text by grace alone through faith alone Christ alone I do nothing except receive it by faith and even that Paul says is a gift and I don't even get crazy oh I have faith whereas this is relational so here's the thing God has already forgiven me and then if I don't forgive others after he's forgiven me what's going on there hypocrisy false darkness self serving
[38:27] I'm not acting like his child at all and I can do that I can I can act up just like a three year old or a twelve year old eighteen year old really how about a thirty three year old well sixty five can still act up so yeah see Luke eleven where Jesus is teaching us same thing in Matthew six where Jesus is teaching us to pray he's teaching us in the context of a relationship of a father and a child I'm asking my father forgive me because sin hinders that relationship with him that's why asking for forgiveness daily with my father is important because if I let sin pile up it blocks my relationship with the
[39:39] Lord remember what Peter said to husbands he said a whole bunch to wives he had like five or six verses to wives because they need more instruction no I'm just teasing he has one verse to husbands so Paul's like never mind I love Peter because his insights are incredible he says to husbands honor your wives treat her with honor as a fellow heir as an heir of Christ and then he says that your prayers may not be hindered in other words Peter is telling husbands if you don't honor your wife you don't treat her God's not going to listen to your prayers what no it's just me and Jesus so how
[40:45] I treat others so my sin hinders my relationship with God how do I clear that up it's easy as pie confess your sin easy as pie what's the new pie I just tasted what was it lime!
[41:04] Key lime pie! I always thought eww then I tasted it it's like ooooh that's easy so so let me change the wording confession is simple not easy simple simple it's not complicated it can be hard because of my heart so does that make sense why we pray we're not praying to be saved again we're praying to just clear that I want to make sure I've got clear channel with the father remember Jesus' illustration in John 13 remember this is the upper room he takes his outer robe off he puts a towel around himself and he gets a wash patient and begins to go around and wash the disciples feet remember he's the master the master doing this and he gets to
[42:16] Peter of course we know Peter we love Peter nobody else apparently says anything but Peter Peter's not going to let this go right no no no no no no no no no no let me do you that's this isn't right and then Jesus says hey if I don't wash your feet you have no part of me huh okay all of me I want top down I want everything get in my ears I want you to get everything that's Peter and then what does Jesus say here's the lesson what does he say you don't need all you you're already clean you're already forgiven you've already been washed by my word just your feet because your feet get the daily dirt get the picture forgive us today our sins because my dirty feet
[43:18] I'm already clean I've got forgiveness I am eternally secure but I still get dirty there's stuff the minute I wake up well what was it I don't know what time it was when I realized I forgot the time change wasn't my best moment I cherish!
[43:47] sleep I don't sleep well so when I had to get up okay never mind it's not a place for me to complain is it okay so how does it we say it involves confession with heart it involves contrition sorrow repentant from a broken heart we appeal for forgiveness how does that look we have an example of broken contrition repentance from one of the men in the Bible we love dearly and find extremely disappointing David David now imagine so what are psalms by the way what are psalms they're psalms to be sung and I wish we had a way to actually sing the psalms through not just one phrase or a verse from it
[44:54] I wish I can't wait till we get to heaven we go psalm 119 I can't wait so psalm 51 is a psalm of David and not very self glorified it is extremely humble it's not full of pride it's not full of I did the right thing it's full of brokenness and when we think we talked about this in the men's group a while back I remember just thinking we were talking about how do you write that and then want people to sing about your greatest failure in life he did it so that it would teach and help others but man did it highlight his shame so psalm 51 begins with this little insert that tells us the historical background this is a psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone into
[46:12] Bathsheba now there's a whole bunch in there there's a whole bunch in between those lines about what David did not only did he covet and then did he then pursue and steal someone else's wife and then committed adultery with her and then had him taken out and then lied about things so that's at least five commandments he broke I mean he's done he's done and there are no sacrifices that he could offer because the only sacrifices he could offer were for unintentional sins not deliberate outright breaking the covenant okay so that's the context so what does he do how does brokenness look so listen to David he says have mercy on me oh God according to your steadfast love according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions blot them out wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever ever ever before me
[47:31] I live in guilt and shame covered with it and look at the words he uses three different words transgression means to transgress trespass go across the line that's deliberate and rebellious he uses the word sin which just means to fall short right to basic sins and then he uses the word iniquity you know what that one is there's sin and then there's trespass and then there's that one where I twist it all up and pervert truth turn everything upside down even that sin forgiven against you you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment there's confession by the way that's 1 John 1 you've said it I agree behold I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me he's not saying that conception was sinful he's saying that I was born with sin
[48:39] I came into this world already sinful as an infant I inherited it from mommy and dad passed on that's all he's saying there okay so you know he's saying I started off behold you delight in truth in the inward being and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart purge me with hyssop and I should be clean wash me and I should be whited in snow let oh listen to this let me hear joy and gladness why is he praying that it's been a while he hasn't heard joy and gladness for a long time let the bones that you have broken rejoice hide your face from my sins blot out all my iniquities he's going to say it all over again in different ways create in me a clean heart oh God oh there you go create in me a clean heart oh God and renew a right spirit within me then he comes later in the psalm he says for you do not delight in sacrifice
[49:50] I would give it if there was a sacrifice I could offer under the legal code I would offer it there's not one besides you don't even delight in it you're not pleased with a burnt offering what would please God the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart oh God you will not despise in other words you will welcome broken and contrite I looked up the Hebrew word for contrite means crushed so there's broken and then there's crushed out but that's what we need sometimes isn't it we need that sometimes because we get around in our numbness and our blindness and we're hiding in the dark
[50:54] I got no light telling me right well darkness is like light to God right so then I can hide in the dark but this doesn't mean he won't pursue me he still pursues me so our prayer forgive us is not just words we recite oh Lord keep us from that God delights in truth he wants a genuine prayer he wants an honest prayer and if we're broken we know that we can't fix ourselves that we can't pay it back that we're crushed with our need for cleansing and mercy and washing hear that spirit of David in that prayer hear that that that that that that that that appealing not to anything in himself but everything into of God's love and mercy and according to your love right so and David recognizes in this brokenness that it's more than just forgiveness of a debt he needs a heart that's cleansed he needs a right spirit that's renewed as long as I have unconfessed sin as long as I'm hiding something or if
[52:09] I'm rushing through this prayer and not really having an attitude of search me oh God and see if there be you know and when you do pray that I found by the way I found that when I pray that he shows me something he shows you one time it was like one two three I was like whoa okay that's enough I had to go forgive somebody I had to go make something else right I had to stop something it was yeah he answers that prayer I thought I put some what somebody stole my toilet paper excuse me tissue paper toilet paper works too so if I if I hide if I do not confess in the light it blocks my joy and my peace you know that don't you when we seek to hide from God or avoid God or ignore
[53:09] God for a while you know and we do it because you know we're exhausted we're overwhelmed we're beat down we're depressed or whatever and there's times we get prodigal right it's just I hate it but during those times not a lot of joy not a lot of people any peace right gee I wonder why and we know we we know don't we we know I gotta get right I gotta get right that's not easy it's absolutely simple but it's not easy when you're hurting the path to joy and peace is a broken and contrite spirit have you lost your joy you lost peace you live in misery would you even admit that you're miserable there's nobody more miserable than a Christian with unconfessed sin do you try to get along by just suppressing the pain inside distracting yourself with other things you don't think about it the longer you keep silent you waste away you groan within you are crushed under God's heavy hand let me read you David's experience here's the simple cure
[54:56] Psalm 32 was written after Psalm 51 I know I know it doesn't make sense but Psalm 51 is David's confession Psalm 32 is his rejoicing after he was forgiven but he gives us some insight Psalm 32 he says blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity he uses the same words again transgression sin iniquity and whose spirit there is no deceit for when listen to this 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
[56:00] Selah I acknowledged my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity I said I will confess my transgression to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity the twistedness the worst part of my sin see love therefore let everyone who is godly which simply means not because you got it all together just means you focus on God everyone who is godward offer prayer to you at the time when you may be found which is now surely in the rush of great waters they shall not reach in don't wait for the tragedy you are a hiding place for me you deserve you preserve me from trouble you surround me with shouts of deliverance see law you know what see law means yeah it's a pause and not not not anybody's absolutely sure but I
[57:04] I trust one Hebrew scholar who said it means it's pause but think about that ponder that so there's a purpose for the pause you know maybe music's just instrumentals playing or whatever but you hear you sing those words and they go okay I gotta I gotta I gotta digest that one he's got three sea laws in there right a lot of stuff to digest so struggling how you doing if you're struggle seek him come to him you know he's gentle you know he wants you and remember I've said this before you know the difference between guilt and conviction if you feel guilty where's that come from the devil if you feel conviction where's that come from the Holy
[58:10] Spirit guilt does what drives you from God conviction draws you to him that's the difference so if you're feeling guilty and shame dismiss it or rebuke it come to Lord he doesn't use shame to bring you conviction gentle well in David's case heavy hand still I'd rather have his heavy hand than him ignore right it takes sometimes it takes a brick on the hard head okay let's pray Father thank you for your word thank you for teaching us to pray we thank you that this reminder we need every day for your forgiveness in our relationship with you there are so many things we do so easy to stray so forgive us Lord our prayerlessness our self seeking our ignoring of you our wandering astray forgive us
[59:30] Lord when we look for escapes when we really need to look to you forgive us Lord our sloth in regard to you oh we're busy and have lots of diligence and energy for our things but often oh God we're slothful in regard to you we want others to do it so help us hear from you help us Lord search us and try us and see what hurt and waywardness is in us and show us that Lord so that we might not confess whatever someone else wants to us to confess but confess what you want us to confess this we pray in Christ's name Amen Amen Thank you.