4. A Prayer of Confession - PSALMS: The Language of Prayer - Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

psalm 32 a mosque you love David blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit from 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 I acknowledged my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and he forgave the iniquity of my sin therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found surely in the rush of Great Waters they shall not reach him you are a hiding place for me you preserve me from trouble you surround me with shouts of deliverance I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go I will counsel you with my eye upon you be not like a horse or a mule without understanding which must be curbed with bit and bridle or it will not stay near you many are the sorrows of the wicked but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord be glad in the Lord and rejoice o righteous and shout for joy all you upright in heart this is the word of the Lord all right this is this is like day 72 or day 73 of the ninety day pray through the Psalms challenge yeah hey guys doing faithful remnant hey faithful faithful remnant that's okay so again part of this again this is our summer challenge to the church was to cultivate together the art and learning the language of Prayer you don't just happen to learn how to pray you have to cultivate that skill and part of the whole purpose of this book of prayers and poems in the Book of Psalms is to teach us the language of Prayer and so we've been in different messages kind of camping out and focusing on different life situations that we find ourselves in and how do you pray through that kind of situation or life experience and tonight we're talking about confession praying how do you when when you fail trying to follow Jesus and you're trying to figure this thing out you're likely to fail and to blow it anybody come on alright so it comes with the territory because we're just not very good at being human beings and so so you're gonna fail you get you're gonna blow it you're gonna either at the last minute make a decision that you regret and you didn't think about it beforehand but you're also gonna come across the moments that you knew it was wrong beforehand you knew it was wrong during it and you knew it was wrong after and you did it anyway how how do you process and pray through experiences of real failure before God we fail other people you fail yourself how do you work through that in a way that you don't constantly come out the other side of that just totally wounded and just feeling crippled and just waiting for it to happen again how do you how could we experience confession in a way that ends the way David ends this prayer which is people yelling and rejoicing because of love and faithfulness and who are happy what-what if confession and an experiences of failure could result and work themselves out and you being stronger than you were before actually having more joy and more confidence in the one who's carrying carrying you through what if confession was like that my guess is when I say the word confess it occurs here in in the prayer when I say the word confession you get a smiley face or a sad face like word association the general tone of that word in our language confession yeah we kind of think whatever like guilt remorse pathology something hide ELISA I think negative associations and in this prayer confession is precisely the key to life and to joy and freedom and confidence and so what if what if our failures in following Jesus could results in this kind of ski jump that you hit at the end of the prayer here which is rejoice and be glad what if that could happen and that's precisely what the song is here to do is to help take us to learn the language of confession that leads to joy and to confidence and to life look at the first the first word of the of the prayer here of David's prayer what's the first word how do you say the first word okay I'm hearing blessed but then I'm also hearing blessed exactly right now this here's the funny thing this has nothing to do with Hebrew or anything like that this is just what I call religious speak which is for some reason there are just some words that we only say in religious settings even though we never say them like that and the other setting I doubt if you weren't if it wasn't related anything else you would you wouldn't say I feel so blessed today but for some reason when we read the Bible out loud we feel like anyway it's just a funny thing about religious communities that we have special language so now so so blessed and again this is a really a religious word that carrom almost becomes trite to us you might recall this is also the first word of the whole Book of Psalms yeah there were Psalm 1 that Josh opened up the whole series with his blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked stand in the way of sinners and so on talks about this person who's blessed because of all these things that he doesn't do and so this psalm begins with exactly there's actually probably about a dozen in the book of psalms it began just like this and blessed it becomes kind of benign in English we don't again or try it or something like that this is actually a very powerful concept that is in every single one of our heads we just don't use the word blast to talk about it so what what this is what this word is is it's the billboards that are all up and down like the streets from highway that depict some sort of favorable pleasant scene where life is free of all problems because you have their product in your hand so you have whatever you have the this six-pack of Budweiser and then the guy also holding it has a six-pack for sure you know saying it's so so here right there like a male fantasy version of whatever scantily clad women around a a beach or something like that and here we go right that's the it's the ideal it's the good life so to speak my idea of the good life is something different and I might just have to do two small kids now in absolutely no social life and no sleep but my idea of the good life would be something like living down on on 12th and Belmont in the cool loft apartment with exposed brick you know I'm saying and whatever is you go to work three hours a day minimum maximum right at the coffee shop we're gonna your computer because you have an internet site that's just making lots of money for you and then you go backpacking every weekend and eat at the good restaurants every night there's something like that so that's there you go that's where I'm tempted to go in my mind my changing diapers so whatever it is so we all have our version of this and the this this is what this is talking about this is oh the good fortune of the person who has this setup that's what that's how this prayer is opening here this is about living in an envious or a desirable state of being a state of well-being and fulfillment and so on and so notice how this this prayer begins it says oh oh the the life set up of this kind of person what kind of person is it who has the most desirable enviable life status it's the person who knows that they are deeply flawed and that they have failed big time and they know that they need forgiveness and they know that they haven't they know that they have it because the confidence the tone of confidence in this poem it's amazing as a prayer of confession and this is quite this is quite astounding here how enviable is the person who has a real deep understanding of their character flaws and their failures and they know that they're not okay that they need forgiveness and that they haven't imagined that kind of life and so what this what this kind of prayer does in creating this the good life is the forgiving life is it erases off the board all sorts of visions of superficial kind of religiosity that says somehow the good life if you're religious is to be perfect or the good life Rave some of us you know we might if we would never say it this way but if your friends were honest with you they would tell you that you have just simply too high a view of yourself right and you don't think there's anything particularly wrong with you you're not perfect of course try and follow the golden rule do to others what you would have them do to you and of course you know we all fail but on the whole you know I'm a pretty decent person but I'm really glad Tim's giving this message for some of the other people in the room some of us we would never say it but if your friends were honest with you that's who you are and you're not gonna be able to hear some 1:32 because you're not actually able to take a deep dive into how screwed up you actually are but on the flip side there's a whole other bunch of us who are well able to be here well able to be here won't be able to hear so sleep deprivation there's lots of things to your language so it won't be able to to hear because you have too low a view of yourself not too high and so in in your mind and your kind of your darker moments you actually don't use you think you're beyond forgiveness a real restoration or change and you know you don't know what I've done you don't know my past you don't know what kind of person I am and so that person also will be unable to hear the confident pronouncement of forgiveness the available to those who confess and so what's on 32 is it's it's it's it's the good life for those who not who think they're too good or if not who think they're too bad but for those who somehow merge merge both by saying I have a realistic view of my flaws and my failures I know I need forgiveness and I know I have it and living from that kind of mind set isn't impact we're gonna see in the poem here it's an empowering experience that can result in confession not being you know the kind of like whip yourself on the back or the merry-go-round of confession but then I'm just back at it again two days later like how do you get past that because that's what confession is for many of us and that's that's the path that psalm 32 takes us on and so just I want you to imagine imagine with me a life lived where you actually have a real handle on what's wrong with you and you know that there is someone in your life who has the power and and will to heal you and transform you and has already made their statement that they're committed to you no matter what kind of person you are just imagine if you were to live from that kind of mindset that's what psalm 32 invites us to do look at verse 1 and I'll point out a stumbling block that I think some of us are gonna have in reading this prayer before we move on so the language used in in this ideal life here is is how blessed or how fortunate is one whose transgressions transgressions are are forgiven the language of guilt and of shame an idea that I have wronged God or offended God and that I am living against the grain of the universe and that I need forgiveness this is not a popular idea in our culture this is not a popular idea for lots for lots of different reasons the most primary one I you know I hardly have to explain to you that the basic way and again I'm I am a child is our of our culture as much as you are the basic way you make moral decisions and you evaluate people's bursts of all the greatest sin in her culture is not offending God it's it's disagreeing with someone else about their behavior and saying that it's right or wrong you know what I'm saying that's actually the greatest thing in our culture and it comes out of you know in in just exactly what we grew up in is that moral decisions are a choose-your-own-adventure you know don't tell me what to do and you know kind of shoot from the hip and if it feels right and as long as they're consenting adults and nobody's physically injured then it must be morally acceptable anybody right this is this is how we how we grew up here this is our culture and so to come into that kind of setting and to say well actually there's quite a bit more clarity about what's right and wrong than you'd like to admit here and what that means is that I'm actually ending up on the wrong side of the line a lot more than I'd like to admit and actually the one that I've wronged is is like my creator this is not popular this is not popular at all in our culture and because once you lose any kind of basis or like a razor edge for no matter what your friend thinks or no matter what your conscience tells you you can know whether this behavior is right or wrong once you lose that in your decision-making you're just your drift your drift and so the reality is is the announcement that forgiveness is available for those who are guilty there are many people in a city like Portland that just doesn't resonate with because there's a lot of people who desire feeling very guilty here in our culture in an inner city there's like forgiveness is available Brad that's great for you I'm not really feeling very guilty how many of you had that conversation before and so this language can be difficult I think for for many of us to process lucky for us the Bible uses many different images to talk about sin and forgiveness one of them is in this poem right here so look at the poem he says blessed ideal life is of one whose sins or transgressions are forgiven and whose sins are covered now this is brilliant but this is a completely different image isn't it forgiveness is language about relationship you've wronged someone needs to be forgiven but to have your sins covered that's a very different idea of this whole of this whole conversation here and as we're gonna see her in in verse five the word sin in the Bible just means failure failure how fortunate is the person whose failures are covered that speaks a whole different language to us so think think to the very first pages of the Bible one of the very familiar stories in the book of Genesis the story of the first human characters in the story Adam and Eve and so there's a whole thing with a tree of the knowledge of good and evil that they're not supposed to eat from so what what this whole part of the story is about it's it's our humans going to to humbly kind of put themselves under God's wisdom of defining good and evil God's knowledge of good and evil or are the humans going to see is autonomy and sees the authority to to know and define good and evil for themselves and to draw the lines where they see fit that's what's happening there in that story and so when the human sees autonomy they decide to define good and evil for themselves according to their own the their own knowledge in the story what's the with the very first thing that happens when they take and they seize the opportunity what happens it's a little detail in the story that speaks volumes about the human condition the first thing it says their eyes were opened and they realized they're naked and so they're ashamed and then they're like and so they they get some leaves from a tree and they make clothes for themselves like what's so strange right so what is going on there this is this is a profound story about the human condition and so our it's it's it's about clothing but clothing here becomes a symbol if something was deeply wrong with all with all of us so why is it except for petal Palooza and the naked bike ride and that's a whole other different thing that this tells about our culture but most people actually think that clothing is a good idea and I tend to think that's a good idea and for a number of different reasons so clothing is a physical way that we cover ourselves because there are things about me that I don't want you to see there are things about you that you don't want other people have Koli unfiltered access to you know it's a viewing or whatever and that's that's a part there's something deep within us is universal about human beings to be the object of someone's gaze and I have no ability to control what they see or don't see about me that's a dehumanizing experience it's humiliating for us why because physically there are things that we might be ashamed of but of course in the story of Adam and Eve this is this is an image that's not just about clothing this is about who we are and the fact that if if I'm not just physically but if my life if my like thought life was available to all of you totally unfiltered 24/7 there I that would be horrifying to me and it would be horrifying to you to you really thought that about that person who just cut him off you know really but so what but whatever whatever you screwed up too you know so about right back at ya yeah but I mean just the thought I mean really think think about this that some of our worst nightmares are made up of moments where were uncovered you know what I'm saying so and whatever it is it's it's you know for some of us the worst possible nightmare would be in a room like this and through some glitch or whatever you're working the soundboard and on your your internet browsing history appears on the screen in front of everybody or something like that oh my gosh no way or if you know you you leave your phone somewhere and someone starts rifling through all your pictures and they'd see what your life is really you know things that are really taking place in your life even just it's the moments where you're with a friend and you're talking about a roommate or a friend and you're not speaking super highly of them and then you realize oh my gosh they're sitting two tables away and could they hear me right that's what's going on there we do and say and think things that we are ashamed of and a great deal of our effort and our waking hours goes into covering ourselves it's why we dress the way we do it's we present ourselves the way we do this front that we put on to control your perception of me because if you really knew what was going on in this covered area as well I'd be ashamed and so this is a very different image here how blessed is the one who's lived against the grain of the universe has wronged God and other people and is forgiven how blessed also is the person who knows their secrets who knows what they are they know these these covered areas that they won't let anyone see imagine the freedom and bled the good life that could come from not living in in secret anymore from not having to cover from knowing there's at least one being in the universe my maker who knows me who knows me fully that I don't have to hide from anymore that would be something that would be something that's what this that's what this prayer is about and so whether you're aware that you've wronged God and feel guilty or whether you're just simply aware that you have stuff in your life that you would no way want anyone to know about the psalm speaks to both of you and says the way forward is compliant the language of confession learning learning how to confess look at look at what happens to a human being when we when we stuff it in look at verses 3 and 4 were made to confess we're made to clean out the cupboards because look at verses 3 and 4 he describes what happens when we when we don't confess he says when I kept silent my bones wasted away through 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 as some of you have been here before it's either a decision that you made something that you did whether it's in your pastor and your present or whatever and you knew it was wrong or you feel ashamed of it and you just you're bottling it up and is eating your lunch is ruining you and actually what came the first image that came into my mind we've had you know with little kids the house is a total pigsty and the you know there's those Tupperware's that find their way into the back corner of the fridge for two months you know that action okay it's bad it's bad so that's but that's the image that actually came to my mind it's like human beings we we need to get cleaned out we need to be haven't be like flushed through every now and then for the stuff that we hide and that we conceal because it like rots inside of us and so some of you you lived verses 3 & 4 before when you're living with regret with guilt or was something you're ashamed of you can't tell anyone you're hiding it and you know exactly what it's like for your bones to waste away and your strength to be sad because you know you need forgiveness you know you need some kind of resolution and you need to be covered but not in the way you're used to covering yourself in some kind of different way we need forgiveness and therefore we need to confess which is what happens here in verse 5 verse 5 is kind of the center of this prayer and this is one of the most clear and I think beautiful acts of confession in the whole in the whole Bible David says then I acknowledged my sin to you I didn't cover up my iniquity I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the guilt of my sin now I want to both camp out and geek out here because you know me because this is real this is this is a really compact but brilliant exploration of the nature of confession do you see there's three steps here it's got three steps that he goes through do you see it here what are they he says I acknowledged my sin to you so I named it I set it out loud I say it speak it here's what I'm covering here's what I've done it says I don't cover I said I stopped covering I own up to the fact that here's something I'm trying to hide because I'm ashamed because I feel guilty we have I can't rotting inside I stopped covering sign name it I stopped covering and then he says I will confess and to confess again as a religious word to most of us it just means to tell the truth in the Bible you can confess as an act of praise which just means tell the truth about who Jesus is speak the truth about who God is but you can confess also as an act of getting your sin on the table as a way of telling the truth about who you are and what you've done that's what it means tells the truth and so you can see the the flow of the experience here I acknowledge it I name it I stop covering it up and I tell the truth about it truth has a way of illuminating and flushing us out cleaning out the temper the Tupperware so the Tupper the Tupperware so to speak right now this is even more brilliant here because in verse five there are three phases to confession there also three words for sin here do you see that here and actually this is interesting in the whole vocabulary of ancient Biblical Hebrew there are three words for sin and David uses all three of them here and they all actually are a little different in meaning and illuminate what this confession is about here and this is where I'm geeking out as I normally do so let me show you the the words of this and it the way this hole fits together is really it's really cool so he says I acknowledge I named my sin sin as a heap from a Hebrew word name cut that out to clear your throat word once you say it with me its most basic it just means to fail like I said earlier failure and specifically moral failure but this word is also used in settings where has nothing to do with morality at all so there's a tribe of Israel called the Benjamites Benjamin Knights and they were famous for training good slingshots for horse it's a random little story in the book of Judges and it says you know the the the warriors of Benjamin they could throw a stone with their sling and never ha - ah they would never sinned ie fail fail and so what this what's behind this is an idea about what human beings are here we're here for a purpose we actually have a purpose and you can fail to live up to that purpose and one of the main ways that we fail is is through making moral decisions where I define good according to what's good for me and my tribe my self advantage at the expense of others elevating myself above others meeting my needs before others are just that self orientation that's a failed human being according to the Scriptures one that lives only inwardly and for self advantage that's cut aha you're failing to be what God made us to be and so I named it I say it out loud I'm a failure if everybody could do things right but but there you go I mean this and for some of us that might be the hugest hurdle to actually for the first time own up to the fact that you're wrong that you're wrong as really hard for some of us and for lots of different reasons but you can't you can't make a step forward towards Jesus without admitting that you're wrong about some really fundamental things in life and so you name that and you take the next step which he says I named it my failures and I stopped covering over my iniquity now there's a word you use this last week right iniquity so it's a good Bible word and it's the word of own you want to say a von didn't you you're like whoa iPhones in the Bible but it's not violence so I've own I've owned the the images is that life is a journey this word comes from the metaphor of life as a journey and there's there's the path you need to go on to get to where you're going and then there's the other path and I've own is choosing the other path it's going astray it's waywardness and it might be unintentional or intentional there's there's in the Book of Leviticus which I'm sure you're prone to read they're different kind of sacrifices for intentional sin or unintentional sin but the Bible makes this distinction actually this is actually quite important that we don't cover up the fact that there are ways that I know I'm screwed up and no one has to tell me but we should never limit our idea of how screwed up we are just to what I'm aware of you know that's a lie Gladys that's a fatal fatal step right right there so you may not think you have a problem just with selfishness or whatever I guarantee your roommates know all about it that's their and if you don't apparently they don't love you or not honest with you enough to tell you about it and some of you may have a problem with anger and and you know that's not the path you want to go down but you end up choosing it anyway and you may have no idea that you have a problem with anger I guarantee your spouse does I guarantee your best friends do and if you remain ignorant about it is because they're choosing not to tell you and we choose not to tell each other and point out each other's flaws for all kinds of different reasons usually they're selfish ones because I want you to like me I want you to think highly of me I don't want to cause conflict with you I don't want to risk what you might think about me so I'd rather save face and not bring up your issues and vice versa I mean come on this is what this is how we do it and so the language of confession it just cuts cuts right through it says stop the cover-up game with each other and with God it's the language of confession so I named my failures I stopped covering up the fact that I perpetually choose the path that I know I'm not supposed to be on and then I speak the truth I confess about my transgressions and the word here is pesha and pesha is not you just happen to fail you just happen to choose the wrong path it's here's a line it's a moral line I know it's wrong cross it anyway that's pesha and so he's he's using a whole vocabulary cab you Larry of all the ways that we make horrible decisions intentionally or unintentionally and you just says get it out there it's the best thing for you it's the way to the good life is to get that stuff out on the table first and foremost before God it's the way to live and notice then he just entered right here with this quick statement and what is God's response than all of this look at look at verse 5 this is unbelievable does he say and you considered forgiving you thought about forgiving he just right here I did all of the heart searching I knew how to do get it all on the table and here's God's response you forgave you forgave it's part of God being faithful to his own character as we'll see in a second here I just want you to imagine if you've ever had this kind of experience think back to it if you've never really gotten this raw and honest with God or another person before I just want you to imagine what if you were really to get all of your mess on the table in an act of confession like this can you imagine the freedom can you imagine the the confidence you would have not in yourself but see once you once you know that the worst of me is out there now and here's God's response to me that's that's an empowering experience to know that grace is stronger than anything of my mess that I can throw on the table in an act of confession I'll just start to change you if you learn the language in the habit of of confession and so look look what he did what he describes here as a result of it verse 6 he says therefore let all who are faithful pray to you while you may be found surely the rising of mighty waters won't reach them you are my hiding place you will protect me from trouble you'll surround me with songs of deliverance is this confident language here and he's not confident in himself he's confident in the one in whom he's hiding he's now God as his forgiver is the one that his confidence rests yeah he's not confident in himself he knows what kind of person he is he's the person who who does Cotta uh oven and pesha that's what he is he's not confident in himself he's confident in this one who's moved towards them in an act to to forgive and if you don't if you don't know that experience of grace that when you experience it it feels so extravagant and ridiculous that God would move towards you that's that's it man that's the real thing right there and most of us miss out on that and for us confession it doesn't result in this of confidence or empowerment or joy that's out the other side and and this is what the last part of the poem is about why is that why is it for many of us confession doesn't result in lasting change or some kind of transformation look where he goes here this is so interesting verse eight he says I'll instruct you I'll teach you in the way you should go I'll counsel you with my eye on you don't be like the horse or the mule doesn't have any understanding and has to be controlled by bit and bridle or else it won't come to you cue the motorcycle don't be like that don't be like that many are the woes are the wicked because they're like stupid mules but the Lord's unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him rejoice in the Lord be glad you righteous sing you were upright in heart know what he's getting at here is there's two roads of confession there couldn't be a form of confession or refusing to confess that'll land you with the woes of the wicked but there's a way through confession to joy and confidence and he says it's not being like a stupid mule do you see that they're not being like a dumb donkey now leave it to the Bible to be strange we're just all amazing about confession and covering and then we're talking about horses and donkeys straight so that's the Bible it's wonderful is what it is so it's a little parable isn't it it's a little parable about donkeys and horses now I don't have any expertise in in either horses horses or donkeys I'm terribly allergic to horses and I found this out when I was about 13 broke out in hives haven't touched one since so I don't know a whole lot about horses I know at least from movies growing up that not all horses are dumb black stallion this kind of thing right so but I'm guessing maybe some horses are very stubborn and stupid yeah and I think a higher percentage of donkeys are dumb you with me right so here's the idea here is don't be like a dumb horse or a dumb donkey so just imagine the little scene that can only ever do the right thing when it hurts so here's the scene is that it's like a rider and a dog key you're going up like a steep switchback path right syncs hiking up in the gorge or somethin steep switchback in the section there and you're riding a donkey pass is very narrow and it keeps wanting to pull left and to the left is steep like rocks and you're gonna get hurt or injured died or something like that and so the riot what's the right are gonna do it's gonna keep pulling the reins to the right get it to go right now what's gonna what's the dark you're gonna do when the rider just on the reins like that what's what's gonna happen is it gonna go right if you pull hard enough it's absolutely gonna go right why because it's gonna yank on the bridle this connected that piece of metal right there in its mouth and it's gonna grind on its teeth and jerk into its guns it's gonna hurt that's what its gonna do it's gonna hurt and the donkey's gonna go oh I don't like that and negative consequences avoid pain increase pleasure get over to the right you know and that's there you go that's how you get a donkey to do the right thing don't be like that don't be like that so apparently there there is a way to do the right thing to even enter into a form of confession that does not result in lasting change and doesn't result in any kind of transformation because it's like you're like it being like a dumb donkey because a donkey does a donkey in that moment think like oh yes my rider of course he has three small children and it would be a tragedy for him to be injured or he gives me yummy apples or something like no the donkey doesn't think that at all the donkeys focus on itself its own desire for pleasure and negative consequences I don't want pain that's all it is it's what the donkey sorry about is the negative consequences of its behavior and I think it's precisely precisely why confession for many of us doesn't result in lasting change is because if we have if we don't do the real deep work are the reason we make the decisions that we make is because we think that they're they're gonna get us towards what's good that's why we make the decisions it's because we're a pursuit of the good life the blessed life and we have deep deep issues about affections and values and what I'm after in life and your confession doesn't dig down there to address those issues why do I think that that kind of life outcome is desirable why do I constantly go back to these kind of superficial relationships that are purely physical or whatever why do I think that's a way to the good life you need to get there and do that deep work dealing with your gut - ah your sin and your iniquity and your transgression and when you get there you begin to discover the motivations for your behavior and that's that's what God's grace has to get to otherwise all confession is is us kicking back and feeling sorry for the mess that we've made and I don't like the fact that I made this decision and here I met him again and what we're actually sorry for is not what we've done or that we've wronged our maker what we're sorry for is ourselves and that we've landed in a bad spot again and there you go because the moment that the rider lets up on that bridle five minutes later what's that donkey doing again once it's forgotten about the pain this is just pulling left again and and and then you'll find yourself oh I tried the Christianity thing I tried the religion thing and it's no dude no we tried a superficial religion you never engaged in a real relationship with Jesus where you got your serious issues on the table where you confessed you sought help and allow Jesus to get in there and do real transformational work with his unconditional love and grace until you've tried that I mean you just you're not in touch with the real thing there's just religion and that's a very hard merry-go-round to get off of and all of a sudden then your confession then becomes all some other thing - because your confession you begin to believe that your confession is what it is that warrants God's forgiveness of you and so you feel like man I really was sorry I thought I was sorry I thought I asked for forgiveness and I don't feel very forgiving or whatever and all it just becomes this subjective mess I knew like did I really confess I'm not sure I was I really sorry enough I'm sorry do I have to be and it's the gospel just cuts right through that and it cuts through it because of the basis of confession and limine clothes the clothes with this look that statement of verse five notice he says like I confess I do the deep work get that on get it all in sable and he's just you forgave there's no hesitancy at all you forgave look averse to good right at the beginning it says how how blessed how fortunate is the one whose sin the Lord doesn't count against him now that's just an that's an astounding statement but apparently the God that we confess and believe in here is a God who's in the business of not counting people's wrongs against them that's crazy that's what that is that's crazy like how can David so confidently just say stuff like that and this is as crazy as I'm so I like I 84 it was closed closed this weekend yeah how's that going for you yeah so huh a whole bunch of us like didn't pay attention we weren't looking at the news or whatever and so you were trying to get somewhere on time whatever do something or is 39th yeah that section was closed here and you didn't know or whatever so you ended up in the mess and on the detour and I read Oregonian article they they place cops all over the side streets around the closures record 39th racked up 280 tickets in one weekend so there you go from well the cops they put on there so whatever see you that person and you get you get nailed because you were frustrated you've missed it on the detour and you're racing through some side streets or whatever little kids are playing like okay I need to get where I'm going and so whatever so where you get you get the ticket and and you go down to the court courthouse and sometimes showing a person will lessen the fine just a little bit or not if you're a skateboarder I know for have experience and and and all of a sudden the judge just says do you you know yeah that was probably a rough day rough day that you were having there let's just forget this whole thing you know I allow me to personally call your insurance agent strike it from the record you know here's a tootsie roll as you go out the door yeah and so that's ridiculous that's utterly ridiculous and that's as ridiculous as what David is saying here it should make our jaws drop apparently this God is in the business of just straight-up I confess you forgive and God finds a particular pleasure in giving people the good life where he count their wrongs against them where does David get this confidence and so like all of these prayers in Psalms we've been exploring week after week they're there they're putting down signposts in the story of the Old Testament that are all pointing forward to the great act of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus where God deals with the sin and the iniquity and the transgression of humanity in our world that's what this is pointing to and Paul's Paul picks up on the language Paul the Apostle picks up on the language of verse two in numerous places in his writings and one of them is this right here 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21 he says God made the one who knew no sin to become sin for us so that in him that is Jesus we might become the righteousness of God the basis of Christian confession is not how sorry I feel it's and it's certainly not like feeling a pity party for this mess I've made for myself and the confidence that I have to come and confess all of this mess that's inside of me is not how and somehow that I could think I can do something about this Christian confession the basis of it is purely what Jesus has done for me that I cannot do for myself and Christian confession is this raw honesty about Who I am but it's this trusting by faith acknowledgment that there is a forgiveness and a covering available to me long before I ever knew it existed and that is perpetually available to me in the future that's Christian confession and that gets you off the merry-go-round of was I sorry enough to be honest it doesn't matter how you know and what matters is that the cross happened and if you could just wake up to the fact of that the cross was for you and then it has transformative power to heal and change you now we're now we're talking then confession becomes becomes a pathway to joy and to change into confidence and so this big room there's so many stories represented and all of us have our own version of what we would be horrified to have put on the screen you know from when you were by yourself and no one saw and we all have our version of that nightmare and the question is what do you do with that how do you pray through that and David paints away for us as he points to the cross the place where where Jesus was given a status and and and treatment that he did not deserve so that you and I are treated and receive a status that we do not deserve and there you go this is good news of God's grace to two people who consistently hide people like us amen so I don't know where you need to go in the time that we have left you know we the way we do our services as always to have a time for for prayer for reflection and meditation and to come to the bread in the cup which which is it I would just encourage you to use as a space for confession maybe some of you need to sit with verse 5 in front of you and let verse 5 guide you in a confession before God tonight and then let the bread in the cup where Jesus's blood that was shed for us or his body that was broken for us can become become something different than what it normally is to you or perhaps some of you to do that for the first time as an act of confession I don't know what you need to do but as I close us in prayer I'm just gonna pray for us and that God's Spirit will be at work softening our hearts and telling us where we need to go in our confession so let me close us in a word of Prayer you

Channel: Tim Mackie Archives

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Length: 45min 38sec (2738 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 31 2017