Protection from Sin and God's Guidance Week 15

We are in Psalms chapter 32. And we've been in this Psalm for a couple weeks now. And uh it's a Psalm of forgiveness. And uh Psalm [clears throat] 32 and Psalm 51 are two chapters that go well together. And uh I I when when I have had to deal with sin in my life, I I always like going to Psalms 32 or Psalm 51 and and using those Psalms as part of my prayer and part of my just cleansing from the word of God. The Bible is is like when you wash, you know, when you confess your sin and get in the word of God, he cleanses you from all that unrighteousness as well. And so, he's dealing with forgiveness of sins.

We talked about how he described the problems that come in when there's sin in their life, the physical problems, the emotional conviction of sin, the depression. Uh we're a far four-part being. And when when we're affected in one area, it affects every other area. Uh I have found that when when I sin it affects me physically. When I sin it affects me emotionally. Sin affects me mentally. But you know it can also be in reverse. When I am physically worn out or hurting it can it can affect me with sin, can it? Not you. You get angry easier. You you get upset easier. You don't deal with things like you should.

And um and when you're when each of these areas when you're emotionally not right, uh it can affect you spiritually as well. And and it's what he's describing here in Psalms. And then he goes in to talk about uh the different terms that are used in iniquity and sin and how we deal with those things. So we're on the second page, page 18 of your notes. And we talked about last week, you know, about acknowledging our individual sin and our sin nature. And he does that in both Psalms 32 and especially in Psalms 51. We see that in 1 John 1:es 8-10. And and to accept responsible I I did wrong. That's half of it.

But that's not repentance. I did wrong because I'm a sinner. you know, we don't, you know, we want to say, well, I I know what I did wasn't right, but I I'm really a good person. And we we got to get beyond that. We got to realize that I sinned because I have a sin nature. And he acknowledged both of these and and uh in dealing with them. So, we're on Romans number four, protection from sin. And I want to kind of look back there just for a minute, a little bit of what we've gone through, verses 6- 11. And in verse number six, for this shall every ma one that is godly pray unto thee in a time where thou mayest be found.

Surely in the floods of great waters, they shall not come nigh unto him. And so the the four this refers back to what we've already read here in Psalm 63 is for this reason you need to that that when you're godly you pray and seek the Lord. And then he talks about while thou mayest be found. Uh and and it's important for us to deal with the sin while the opportunity is there. I I think a lot of us what we do is we wait too long. And what happens when we wait too long to deal with our sin? Number one, we've got a lot more consequences to deal with. When you don't deal with your sin, the consequences just get worse and worse and worse and they build up and they multiply and and they become worse.

And so the sooner we deal with our sin, the sooner we can start, you know, dealing with the consequences of that sin and and moving on from there. I I I I think there's times where God says, "Okay, if you're not going to deal with sin, then here's going to be more consequences with that as well." And I I think also we want that sin to be forgiven. We talked about that. How God forgives our sins. He forgets them. He puts it uh as far as the east is from the west. He buries in the deepest sea. But we have to deal with that sin individually. One day, you and I are going to stand before God and we're going to give account.

And and the word account means a narrative. I believe that somehow we're actually going to have to give a narrative. It's like we're watching a video of our life. God says, "Okay, tell me what's going on here." We're going to give a narrative of our life and and and we're going to have to and and all is going to be revealed, both the good and the bad. And uh but the only things that are not going to be revealed is what we've confessed. And if we confessed it, it's forgotten. And it will not be brought up at the jud seat of Christ. And so if we confess our sins, it's it's forgotten. It's dealt with.

And and we it won't be dealt with at that time. But here's the thing. The longer you wait to confess the sin, the less likely you're going to be to confess that sin. It becomes more generic. In other words, we we well, I don't remember exactly what I did. you know, the longer you get away from it, then we no longer have the opportunity to really truly confess it. And and you want to deal with it now while it's fresh, while it's new, because, you know, not only does does my memory go and I don't remember the details of it, and it becomes a generic confession, God forgive me for all the times I lost my temper, that doesn't work.

And um so the longer I get away from it, the more I forget what I've done and and I have to deal with it from that perspective. And also the longer you get away from it, it it it just more and more you're you're not dealing with it, you know, in the way that you need to. And so we want to do it while God can be found while there's that opportunity. Uh because when we don't deal with our sin, God, it seems like God gets further and further away. It's not God that's moving, it's you and I. It's like an old couple was driving in their car down the road and they were sitting, this is back when they had bench seats in the front and they wife was sitting over by this window, husband was sitting by that window and they pulled up a stoplight and saw a young couple and they were right up next to each other and snuggly up next to the wife looked at that and says, "Boy, I missed that."

And her husband looked at her and said, "Well, I haven't moved. He was in the driver's seat. He's not moving." Uh, you know, we're the ones that move away from the Lord and we want to we want to take care of this. Walk and be found, walk and be deal dealt with. And and there just comes a point where it comes too late in the process of that. And and so we're down to letter D now. What are the promises in verses 7 and 8? Uh and and and for those who confess, the one who confesses. So look at verse 7. Thou art my hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shall compass me about with songs deliverance.

Sila, I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eyes. So we have here a number of of promises that he gives us these verses. The first one is says, "Thou art my hiding place." Thou art my hiding place. Look at Psalms chapter 46 and verse number one. Psalms chapter 46 and verse number one. God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in time of trouble. Go over to Psalms chapter 91 and look at verses 1 and 2. Psalms 91:es 1 and 2. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in him will I trust.

Finding that refuge in the Lord and and and being under the shadow of his protection. And then go over to Psalms 119 and verse number 114. Psalms 119 and verse number 114. Thou art my hiding place and my shield. I hope in thy word. And and so he's he says, listen, if you confess, then I become your hiding place. And uh and and he comes place where you can hide from the things that are troubling you, where you have protection, where you have refuge. And he says, "Thou art my hiding place." And then he says, "Um, preserve me from trouble." Go to Proverbs chapter 4 and:es 5 and 6. Proverbs 4:es 5 and 6.

Get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not, neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee. Love her, and she shall keep thee. And and so God says, "Listen, I want to provide you a place to hide to hide from the consequences of sin." Now folks, we have to understand, God can forgive us our sins, but that doesn't mean always takes away the consequences of sin. There's differences with that. And uh it's like with our children. Uh we can for we can forgive our children's and when they confess it, we can say, "Okay, I'm not going to punish you, but that doesn't mean you don't have to deal with the consequences of what you've done."

And that's where a lot of people misunderstand. Well, I I confess to why am I still paying the price for it? Because consequences are different than punishment. And when we confess our sin, God says, "Okay, I don't have to punish you anymore, but you still may suffer the consequences of your action." And and the consequences can be many different things. If you if you have sex outside of marriage, consequence can be a a pregnancy, an unwanted pregnancy or it can be a venerial disease or it can be uh marriage problems because you've you've stepped out on your partner and and and those consequences are still there and they don't go away just because you confess a sin.

And that's one of the things we have to understand. A lot of people don't understand, but yet we don't God doesn't have to punish us for what we've done as well. And and so um we have two separate things. And and God says, but you know what I found with the Lord is this is when we confess our sins, he is gracious to forgive us and not punish us. But a lot of times he also takes away or minimizes the the the consequences. And again, we do this with our children. I tell parents in their discipline, one of the things you want to make sure is your children understand there's a consequence to your action.

And if we as parents take away the consequence, they don't learn that. And that's why a lot of children grow up and never learn that that principle that there are consequences to my action. And so we we want and consequences. That's where a lot of our punishments fit in. You you you did this now you're going to pay the consequence. It's like the idea if a child leaves his bike out on the street. Uh the consequence it can be stolen and it can be rusted by the rain and and so you don't want that happen because you're the one that paid for the bike. And so you don't want that to happen. But you can also help understand by saying, "Okay, because you left your bike out and to take care of it, you can't ride it for a week because you could have lost it.

The consequence, you could not have a bike at all." And a mini consequence of that is you're not going to be able to ride it for a week. And and and so many times God will sometimes take away the consequences and and you ought to praise God for that when he does. What do we do when we don't pay consequences for our actions? We think, "I got away with it and so I can do it again." That's usually what happens in our sin nature. But God sometimes, you know, when you don't when you get away with something and don't have to pay the consequence, you ought to praise God for that. And and that's not an excuse to go ahead and do it again.

But uh many times we do pay the consequence, but when we confess it, I found that God in his graciousness either takes it away or minimizes it. Said, "Listen, you're not going to pay the full price, but you still need to learn a lesson here." And so I'm not going to take all of it away, but I'm going to preserve you and not make you pay the full consequences of that. Now, in in our actions with God in confession, we have to come in here saying, "Lord, I don't care what you do. I want to get right with God." Too many times we say, "Well, God, I'll ask forgiveness if you'll take this away. If you'll take away the consequences."

That's not the way it should go. And David had to learn that the hard way. He paid a great price for his sin. He he um he lost his children. He uh had a baby die because of it. There was many consequences of sin. And he said, "Lord, I don't care what you do. I want to get right with you." And that's we have to understand that. But God in his graciousness will will hide and give us a hiding place and give us a place to come where we're sheltered. It's refuge to come and and to him and really find a place to just rest in him after our sin. You know, when I've confessed my sin to God, it's like there's a peace that comes over me.

It's like now I I have that place in the Lord and he preserves us from our trouble. He he many times will say, "Okay, I'm not going to make you pay the full price of this. I'm going to preserve you from that. I'm going to protect you from that." And then goes on in verse 7, it says, "Thou shalt compass me about with a song of deliverance." Go to Psalms chapter 40 and verses 1-3. I waited patiently for the Lord, and he climbed unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.

Many shall see it in fear, and shall trust in the Lord. And then I want you to go over to um I want to look at Psalm 51. It's not here in the notes, but turn over to Psalm 51 with me as well. Psalms chapter 51. And this is David's other confessional, kind of a parallel psalm to what we've been studying here. And and David confesses his sin. And um and he goes on to say, you know, forgive me, create me a clean heart, verse 10, cast me not away from thy presence, restore unto me, verse 12, the joy of thy salvation, uphold me with thy free spirit. then will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners will be converted unto thee.

It's when God has forgiven us and when he's cleansed us that we have a new song and that new song to rejoice in in the joy of my salvation then that gives me an opportunity to share that song with others as well. And so God gives us a new song. Go to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5 and verses 18 and 19. Ephesians chapter 5 and verses 18 and 19. And be not drunk with wine. Where is an excus? But be filled with the spirit, speaking yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody your heart to the Lord. We kind of see the idea of confessing our sins. We get down and say, "God, what I did was wrong.

Please forgive me of it." And we're all done with that. But, you know, there's so much more to confession. I believe to really repent and confess involves not only prayer, but involves opening up the Bible. Open up the word of God. Let the word of God cleanse you and flow over you and and wash that sin and that guilt and that dirt away. And and it also involves music. I I believe a song is is so much a part of that cleansing to have that new song in your heart to have that song of deliverance. And so often in my life that when I when I get right with God, it's like he gives me a song. He gives me a hymn reminds me, you know, this hymn right here.

And and and and that song just repeats over and over again in my mind. And that's what the psalmist is saying. God God wants to restore that joy. You know, I found when I'm when I have sin in my life, I don't want to sing at church or on my own or I don't want to listen to Christian music. But when that when you get it right with God, that song comes back, that song of joy, that song of deliverance to and and to do that. And I would encourage you in your in your confessional life, have certain passages you're going to turn to. Not just Psalm 32 and Psalm 51, but where are the passages that I can turn to at that time to just let them speak to my heart?

And then when you do that confession, have certain songs that are songs that you're going to sing afterwards and just say, "God, thank you for forgiving me." And and to be able to say have that praise to God. So he said, "Listen, he put a he he can pass me about with songs of deliverance." The word compass is is is like putting a circle around me of protection. And and music can do that. You know, when the enemy is attacking you and say how terrible you are, you can have that song that that kind of repulses away. And and God just wants us to have that song of deliverance. And then he will instruct us.

Verse number eight, I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go and will guide thee with my eye. So he will instruct us. Look at Psalms chapter 25. Psalms chapter 25 and verses 7 and 8. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. Accord thy mercy. Remember thou me for thy goodness sake, O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore will he teach sinners in the way. and and so um God will teach us and instruct us. Now in this passage it says remember not the sins of my youth. There's two ways you can interpret this. One is is there are things that we did as as a as a young person, as a teenager, as a young adult, and and those are sins of our youth.

And and I've illustrated this before, but if you were to draw a timeline of your life and have it every 10 years, have a kind of a a a break there and looking at that, you know, when you're in your teenage years, you're in that second group of that timeline. Now, the Bible says that, you know, you live to 70 or 80 years old. So, if we put that timeline had marks for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years all the way up to 80. Here's the thing with your sins of your youth. what I did as a teenager, I've got to live with that now for the next 60 years. And and those of us that are older, you understand this.

There are things that you did as a teenager, you're still living with the consequences of those today. Those there's things you did as a teenager that you're still living with the guilt of those today. Even though God's forgiven you, you know, it's still there's still guilt, is there not? those things you did as a teenager are the sins of the youth. And and the psalmist is saying, "Lord, remember not the sins of my youth." And I'm thankful that God forgives and forgives them. But the problem is the reality is they don't just go away because you get older and and and both the good and the bad things, you know, the things I didn't do what I should have done when I was a teenager, like learn how to type.

I remember, you know, I had the opportunity to take typing class and I thought, nah, it's too much practice. And and you know what? Today I'm going like this, thinking, I wish I'd learned how to type. I wish cuz I'm not going to learn at 70 years old. I'm telling you that, you know, and uh and those are consequences you deal with. And those things that you did, you're going to live with those sometimes in very real ways. you had sex outside of m marriage as a teenager, got a girl pregnant, you got a child for the rest of your life. That's your child and there's consequence to that. But if she didn't get pregnant, there's still guilt.

There's still that that barrier that's there because you had sex outside of marriage. And so he said, "Listen, I'm thankful that the Lord remembers not sins my youth, but the problem is we struggle with those things. And according to the mercy, remember thou me for thy goodness sake, oh Lord." And he says, "Good and upright Lord." Therefore, he will teach sinners in the way. When you confess your sin, learn your lesson. Boy, that's something a lot of us don't do. We don't learn our lesson. We we repeat it over and over again. So, when you confess, stop, take time, and say, "Okay, thank you, God, for forgiving me, but what did I do wrong?

Where did I go wrong? Where did this start at?" You know, the Bible talks about that God will make a way for you escape and in in Corinthians. But here's the thing. The exit's back there and you're already up here. So often when we finally realize what we're doing is wrong, we're already past the point of no return. We're already past the exit door. And and so what did I do wrong? How did I get here to this point? How did I get to this situation? How did I allow this to happen? And looking back and it's a good time to stop and say, "God, teach me so I don't have to do this again." You know, and and why did I end up here?

And evaluating that. And then going back to Psalms 32, he said there in verse number eight, I will guide thee with mine eye. Psalms chapter 25 and verse number nine it says the meek will be he guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his way. So what does it mean to guide me with thine eye? I I think there's a couple pictures I get in my mind. One of them is is to realize that God's looking. You ever had your kids start to do something and they turn around and see you looking and they change their mind? That's God. That's guiding with your eye. You know, I've got eyes in the back of my head, boy.

You know, that's guiding your eye. We want to remember that God is looking. And when you realize that and remember that, you're less likely to do what you did, you know, and and so he guides with his eye. But how else does he guide with his eye? He guides with his eye by giving you a look. You ever You ever had your parents give you one of those looks like, "Yeah, they say a word." It's like, "Don't even think about it." what you're going to do right now is is is a guide. And I want God to guide me and and and and to guide me into what's right to do and not what's wrong. And then the other thing I think of also is sometimes with that is is is a look of encouragement.

Not just a bad look, but also the look like, yeah, yeah, that's good. The the look like you're doing the right thing. You know, sometimes our kids will look at us, is this okay? And it's like, yeah, it's okay. and to guide. God wants to guide us. Now, we don't physically see God's eye, but spiritually we ought to. And it's just remind ourselves that God is looking. And most of our sin is done when we think nobody else is looking. And and we need to realize that God is looking and God wants to guide us. This is right, this wrong. and and just to stop and think would God shake his head yes for this or would he go like don't even think about it and let him guide you and is also guided was I

just that that encouragement no we're okay you know a lot of times my kids when they were bad they later on they'd look at me like are we okay now you know and they want that eye contact to see we're in good standing again we're okay and and God guide us that way okay go back to Psalms 32 and verses 8-11 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye. Be not as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding whose mouth must be held with bit and bridal lest they come near unto thee. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked and um but he that trust in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.

Be glad in the Lord and rejoice ye righteous and shout for joy all you that are upright heart. So here we have the speaking is is is um is God is speaking to us. God you know I will instruct thee. God says I will teach thee. And and so um it is God speaking to us but at the same time I think that it's also David saying this is what I need to do. Go back to Psalm 51 again. The first 12 verses of Psalm 51 is David's confession. And then look what he does in verse number 13. Psalms chapter 51. Then will I teach transgress thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee. See, David is realizing, okay, one of the ways that I can deal with my sin is using this as an opportunity to teach, to say to somebody else, you know, don't make the same mistake I made.

I've been there. I've done that. it doesn't work. And so to instruct, see, God says, "I'll instruct thee, but he also wants us to instruct others." You know, I I appreciate men that have struggled with pornography, that are willing to be transparent and deal with other men and say, "Listen, I've been there. I've done that, and here's how I've gotten victory." It's not easy to do because you got to admit, I looked and that's embarrassing. but to be willing to do that. I'm thankful for couples who have gone through pretty bad situations in their marriage and and and were on the verge of divorce and and maybe it was adultery or maybe it was abuse or maybe it was just whatever problems they had.

And now that they've gotten right with each other and right with God, now they're using this as an opportunity to instruct others. Say, "Listen, we've been there. You know, we we've been there and and done that and here's what you can learn. this is what you can do to get this right with the Lord. And so it's not David speaking here, I will instruct thee in teaching the way which thou shalt go. I think it's God speaking to us, but at the same time, David is saying, but I can do that for the Lord. I can be used of God to instruct and teach others also. I I can be used of God to to accomplish this.

And so that's what I think David is saying. I I've learned my lesson and I can help you. I've been there and done that. Um, how will he guide us with his eye? Let's look at Psalms chapter 34. We kind of talked about this already a little bit. Let's go finish it up here. Psalms chapter 34 and verses 15 and 16. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to the cry. The face of the Lord is against them to do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. And so God's looking, God's watching and and he guises with his eye. Go to first Peter chapter 3 and verse number 12.

1 Peter chapter 3 and verse number 12. 1 Peter 3:12. For the eyes of the Lord over the righteous, and his ears are opened under their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against them due to evil. So God's looking, God's right there in heaven watching you to see what you're going to do. Again, as a parent, I remember times where my kids didn't know I was watching. But I stood there watching say, "Okay, what's going to happen here? What are they going to do?" And God is watching us. And if we remember that, it's going to change what happens, what we're going to do. You know, when your wife is watching, when your parents are watching, when somebody else is watching you, it changes how you behave.

We know we're being watched and God is watching. Look at Luke chapter 22. and verses 61 and 62. Luke 22 and verses 61 and 62. And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he said unto him, "Before the cockro, thou shalt deny me thrice." And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Peter had sinned. He looked up and saw the Lord looking at him. And that just broke his heart. And that's how we ought to be to realize that God is looking. I don't want to see that disappointment. I I don't want to feel that disappointment in me. And and so the eyes of the Lord are watching us.

All right. Go back to Psalms 32. He said, "Also, which uh but be not as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with a bit and bridal, lest they come near unto thee." And and so why a horse and a mule? Look at Psalms chapter 26 or Proverbs 26, I'm sorry. Proverbs 26 and verse number three. Proverbs 26 and verse number three. A whip for the horse, a bridal for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back. You know, so often you have to use those things in in in a horse or a mule. And I think the point the psalmist is making here is this is listen, why do you have to be beat in subjection?

Why do you have to be controlled by the outside? You know, I I've talked about this before, some of you been around, but we had a dog many years ago named Bandit. Jerome, you remember Bandit, right? And uh Bandit was a walking stomach. That's you know, uh they would come to us and tell us that Bandit was down at Jack in a Box nearby begging food. If there was a party around, that's where Bandit would be. And Bandit had very little self-control. And we'd take Bandit for a walk and I I I I wanted to walk with him, but it was it was a battle every time. We'd put the leash on him and we'd go out there and that's back when he had the choker chain leashes.

You know what I'm talking about? And we'd go out there and go for a walk and I'd say, "Bandit, just walk with me." And but Bandit be out there. He'd he'd be out there all the way at the end of the leash pulling you out like this and choking. I mean, he'd be walking down the sideway going because he can't breathe, you know? And I'd yank him back and say, "We're going to get there, bandages, just wait." And but he'd be right back out there. And I'd yank him back and he'd be right back out there biting me the whole way. And it got to the point, we just didn't take him for walks anymore. And you know, when we when we wanted to go out for a walk, we'd spell, "Let's go for W A L K."

Because he did he never learned how to spell. And so, uh, we we'd go out there because we didn't want to take him because it was a battle the whole time. What God wants us to do is he wants us to heal. He wants us to walk with him. Not to need that bridal, not to need that control, but that we're walking with him on a daily basis. And and that's what he's saying here in Psalms chapter 32. He said, listen, he says, uh, be not as the horse's mule. They have no understanding. His mouth must be held by bitt and bridal, lest they come unto thee. And don't be having to [clears throat] be whipped and and pushed and be stubborn.

Don't plant your feet and not willing to go. Don't be that way. And and God wants us to be willing to submit and to heal to him. The horse, the reason for the two different ones, I believe he uses a horse because horses want to bolt ahead. My wife had a horse growing up. She said, "One of the big problems with that horse is when it got its mind, it's time for me to go back to the barn. He'd just take off and go and she it wouldn't wouldn't let her control it. The horse wants to bolt ahead where the mule wants to hold back. If you ever been around a mule, they get stubborn. They're not moving. And that's how we are.

We either are bolting ahead of God or we're holding back from God. And then um he goes on to say, "Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he that trust in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. And be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous, and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart." So the wicked have sorrows because they do not repent. The godly have joy because they do. So you and I when we repent, that's when the joy comes back. Look at Philippians chapter 4. Well, you know, Philippians 4:4, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. And God wants us to have joy.

Sin is wrong. And when we sin, it's going to bring physical, emotional, mental, spiritual drought in your life. is going to affect you. But boy, when you confess it, but folks, most of us don't confess sin, right? And I believe part of your confession is not only saying, God, I'm sorry. I think number one is saying, God, I'm sorry for and naming your sin. There there's no generic forgiveness. God, I'm sorry for. And that's why you don't want to wait and put it off. do it while you can because you'll forgive and then there's no real confession when it's just generic in that way. Confessing directly for what it was.

What I did was wrong. I did it. I take personal responsibility. Kind of looking at like we talked about earlier in the passage. Is this a is this a a sin or iniquity or transgression? What in the difference between them? Some are deliberate. I I deliberately chose to do wrong. In other case, Lord, I did wrong. I wasn't I didn't do it deliberately, but I wasn't paying attention. I wasn't being careful, and I got myself into sin. You know, this is part of the confession is what caused me to to do this, so I understand it. But then get into the word of God. Have your passages in scripture that these are my go-to when I sin.

Now, sometimes because it's a specific sin, go to specific passage. I lost my temper. I'm going to look up verses about anger or I got depressed. I'm going to look up verses about depression or whatever else it is. But get into the word of God. That's part of the confession. That's part of the cleansing. Get a song. And if if you're not a singer, then get some music to listen to and just let God cleanse you through his word and let God cleanse you through that music and just kind of surround yourself with that and get that place where you're again right with God so you can restore that joy and and and and learn what is the lesson.

I think that's where we again fail in confession. We don't stop saying, "Okay, Lord, here's what I've learned. this is how I'm not going to do this again. This is what the next steps I need to take in this process and going in that direction and doing that. So, I hope that's helped you. I want you to take a look at Psalms chapter 37. I'm not going to hand out the notes. I didn't get going print off beforehand, but we're going to introduce this psalm a little bit for the time we have left. This next psalm we're going to look at. And as we introduce it, there's a couple things we want to see. And that is it's always kind of good when you read a psalm to know the context of when it was written.

We don't always know that with all the psalms, but like we know Psalm 51 was written after David's sin. And from everything we know about it, we believe was after his sin with Basheba and uh and the murder of her husband. Uh other ones we we know were written when it was he was a young boy. Other ones were written when he's older. You know, when and where was the psalm written? What were the circumstances going on at that time? In this case, David wrote this psalm in his old age. We know that from verse number 25. I have been young and now am old. Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

So, we know he's old. Exactly. How old, we don't know, but we know he wrote this. What I would tell you now at 70 years old is very different what I would have written and told you at 25 years old. And and by the way, I think that's one of the things you ought to realize. One of the best things I can offer you as a pastor is I've been there, done that, and I figured out what I did right. I figured out what I did wrong. I can give you a lot better advice than I could as a 20 or 30 year old pastor. And so, he's wrote this in his old age. And so, what is the emphasis of the psalm? What question is being answered?

And and in this case, it's always kind of good when I look at a passage, I always want to ask what what are the main questions? what what is he writing about? What's the emphasis here? And if you look at verse number 22, see if you can catch it from these verses. I got four verses I'm going to read to you. Verse 22, for such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth, and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off. Look at verse number 28. For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints. They are preserved forever, but the sea of the wicked shall be cut off. Look at verse number 34.

Wait in the Lord and keep his way. And he shall exalt thee, exalt thee to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. Look at verse number 38. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together. The end of the wicked shall be cut off. You see, there's a certain phrase there in all those verses, right? Cut off. Um, whenever you study a passage of the Bible, a book or a chapter, look for repeating words. Like we know in Philippians, joy is one of the repeating words. It's used quite often in the book of Philippians. In this this chapter, he talks about the wicked being cut off and the righteous being preserved.

And so I think the theme of this is is he's saying, God, as you read through it, you'll see he's saying, "Well, God, why do the wicked prosper?" Do you ever get the feeling, why do people like Elon Musk make trillions of dollars and and Bill Gates and all these they're they're not godly people and yet they're rich. And why do good people seem to get sick and godly and ungodly people don't? You know, they they got better health care and all rest. You look around the world and some why do the wicked and that's what David was. In fact, a lot of psalms are kind of that theme. But he says, why are the wicked prospering?

And his conclusion is they may be doing good now, but they're going to pay for it later. And we that are may not be doing so well now, we're going to we're going to be rewarded later. And and that's what he comes back to. So the theme of this psalm really is trust in the Lord. God, I understand, but I'm trusting you. I understand, but I'm going to trust in you. And it's really trusting the Lord. Now, I think a book of the Bible that deals with that same question, the same theme is probably Job. Throughout Job, they're saying, "Why did this happen? Why did this happen?" Even Job questioned, "Why?

I' I've been a good person. why did it happen to me? And and and so it's kind of along that same line. Now, what's unique about the style of this psalm in the Hebrew is it's an alphabetic acrostic. Every two verses a different letter of the alphabet and and so it's like an acrostic and it was used as a memory aid. So when they memorized it, they would say, "Well, letter A is this, letter B is that and it was so it was acrostic to it as well." and and that meant that this psalm was important. Certain psalms were written and meant to be remembered. One of the things we don't do very well is memorizing the word of God.

But the Old Testament Jew, that's the only way they could know the word of God because they couldn't read. They didn't have books. They they didn't have their own copy of scriptures. And so they memorized. There were certain passages were designed to make them easier to memorize because this is an important passage. And so most Jews of that day would have memorized Psalms chapter 37. Um, and so that's the ideas of it. So he talks about in Psalms 37, he talks about trusting God. He talks about doing what's right. And he talks about which way are you going? Are you going the right way or the wrong way?

And and so that's that's the that's kind of the theme of this psalm as we go through it and and taking a look at that. And and so we're going to talk about that next week. and we'll go through that in more details. I have the notes for you there as well. But those are the the the foundational things. So encourage you read Psalms 37 between now and next week. In fact, read it every day. And when we study it next week, you're going to have that much more to get out of it as well in in looking at that. Uh this is this is classical David. He struggled with this over and over again. He would say, "God, why are they doing so well and I'm not?" And he struggled with that. And and so and and I don't know about you, but I do as well. I struggle with that and and it's a challenge.