The Joy of Confession

The Second sermon in our series: "Summer of Psalms

Scripture: Psalm 32 

Mark Hutchinson

Teaching Pastor 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:01

Thank you for joining us today. At Crosschurch, we believe people need Jesus. People need each other. People change the world. And people leave legacies. Our desire is for you to understand, accept, and grow in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening. If you would like to know more about Crosschurch, please visit CrossChurch.com.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

All right, well, welcome to church, everybody. How are we doing this morning? I love to hear that. Hey, before we even begin, I don't know about you, but I just marvel at God's goodness in the life of our next gen ministries. Can we just thank the Lord for what he's doing in the life of our church? So many students and how the Lord's at work in the lives of our kids in preschool ministry. It's special, and I just want to say thank you, uh, as Billy said, for your faithful giving and generosity. If we haven't met, my name is Mark. I get the privilege of serving as the teaching pastor here. And I really, really mean this. If it's your first time, I hope that we get an opportunity to meet out in the lobby. But hey, we have been in a series called Summer in the Psalms. We're studying really through the rest of the summer some of the greatest chapters in the book of Psalms. Last week, uh, we started off this series in Psalm 119, but today we're going to be in Psalm 32. If you have your Bible, I want you to open it up to Psalm 32 as we begin in this text. And as you learned last week, that context is important as we study God's word. Context is imperative. Now, as we look at Psalm 32, let me give you some context to what we're seeing. What we learn is that David, he's the one that is penning this text. David, many of you know who this is. David was the young man that was anointed to be king. Uh, he had seven brothers, and he was known as the runt child amongst them, but David was also a shepherd boy. And the Bible tells us that David, this young shepherd boy who was anointed to be king, he found himself waiting many years to see that to come to pass. But now we get to this moment where David, he's standing as king and he's reflecting in Psalm 32 on a moment of his life. Now, the interesting thing about Psalm 32 is as you learned last week, there's different types of psalms. You have psalms that are all different types of literature: some prayers, some laments, some revelations. But what we see is Psalm 32 is what we call a mascal, a maskle. This is a song or a praise unto the Lord. Now, David, as he's penning this, he's he's writing Psalm 32 as a song or praise unto God, as he's reflecting on this truth, that he has this joy that is flowing from the depths of his heart. David's singing a song of praise because he has this joy that is flowing from the depths of his heart. But as I say that, what's interesting is Psalm 32 comes moments after one of David's lowest moments in life. This wasn't coming after a highlight moment or a great victory in David's life. David in Psalm 32, he's penning this as he comes out of one of the lowest moments in his life. Many of you know the story of David and Bathsheba. David, he sleeps with this married woman by the name of Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11. And the interesting thing about it is, David, in an attempt to cover up his sin, he kills this woman's husband, a man by the name of Uriah. Now, we could probably all agree there's not much that David should be overjoyed about as it relates to that. But here's what David realizes as he finds himself in the midst of his sin, grieving and filled with shame and regret. He's filled with joy in his life because he realizes he's been forgiven. David, in this moment, he realizes that he's been forgiven. Let's start at Psalm 32, verse 11, the last verse in this chapter, and I believe it's going to set up our time for today. The Bible says this in Psalm 32, verse 11 be glad in the Lord and what? Rejoice. I want you to underline that word rejoice if you're reading from your Bible. He says, O righteous, and shout what? For joy all you who are upright in heart. David right now is saying to rejoice in the Lord. The common theme right here in verse 11 is that he has this joy that's flowing from the depths of his heart. I want to ask you a question. What brings you joy? I wonder today, what brings you joy? I think that if you were to answer that question, many of you would have different answers. For some of you, it's your kids or your grandkids. For some of you, it's the idea of travel. Come on, somebody. For some of you right now, here's what brings you joy the idea of your children going back to school in August, okay? I got some claps. There we go. I know. I get it. I'm right there with y'all. There's many different things that have this way of bringing a sense of joy into our lives. But David in this moment, he finds himself rejoicing, not because he received a promotion, not because there was a monetary gift that he had received, but rather he is filled with joy because he recognized the debt of his sin was paid in full. I don't want you to miss that. David in this moment is saying, My joy comes from the fact of what we just sang a few moments ago, that I have a living hope because the blood of Jesus that was poured out on Calvary has atoned and covered for my sin. Anyone grow up in church like me, you remember this song? I have this joy, joy, joy, joy down in my, down in my down in. Now I'm not a singer, okay? Um, so don't judge me. But as I think about that song, that's quite literally what David is declaring right here in this text. That he has this joy that is deep down in his heart, and it comes from this revelation that his sin has been forgiven. If you're taking notes this morning, I want you to write this down as the title for our time today. There's a great joy in confession. The joy of confession. Let's look back at what it says in verse 1 in Psalm 32. David starts out by saying this Blessed is the one whose transgressions is what? Forgiven. I want you to underline that in your Bible and whose sins is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. You see, David, he finds himself filled with this joy when he recognized his sin was forgiven. But Psalm 32, it tells us that this joy came long after David found himself trapped in guilt, trapped in shame, trapped in misery, because he had sinned that he was concealing long ago. And now David, he finds himself, rather than concealing his sin, he reveals his sin. And it's in this moment that as David no longer conceals the sin, but rather reveals the sin, on the other side of that action is joy. I want you to write this down this morning if you're taking notes. David is letting you and I know that joy is found when we make a decision to reveal our sin instead of concealing our sin from God. Let me say that again if you're taking notes. Joy is found when we reveal our sin instead of concealing our sin from God. Many of you heard me tell stories about my children, uh, namely my oldest daughter, Harlan. I'll never forget uh a little while back, my daughter Harlan, as I was picking her up from school and into the evening, she started complaining about her stomach hurting. And what I learned is that my daughter, she has what I call an affinity for church mints, okay? You've heard me mention this before, and some of y'all have an affinity for church mints too. I've seen you walk out of church grabbing a handful of those things, okay? Harlan has this affinity for church mints. And I remember a while back, Harlan, she began to complain, saying that her stomach was hurting. Dad, my stomach is hurting. Even late into the evening, this would happen. And shortly after that, what I learned was my daughter was eating copious amounts of these church mints without us knowing. Okay. I'll never forget picking her up from school, and um I find literally like in the backseat of my truck all of these empty candy wrappers. And I'm like, we got a three-year-old smuggler on our hands. Like, this is this is a whole problem. So I go, Harlan, I need you to give me the church mints. So she takes me over to one of her old backpacks, and in her backpack, I kid you not, I don't know how she figured this out or where she got this from. But this girl had a whole thing of church mints in her backpack. So I'm like, give me the church mints. So she hands over the church mints, and I thought that was the end of the story. Fast forward a couple weeks later, yet again, Daddy, my tummy hurts. I'm like, are you eating church mints?

unknown 8:48

No.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Harlan, you sure you're not eating church? No. I'll never forget a couple days later, um, I'm straightening up her room, and underneath this girl's mattress. Like, it's not a reflection of my parenting, I promise, okay? There's a whole thing of church mints just hidden underneath her mattress. The thing that that I want you to see is that she had failed to hand over the thing that I had asked her to hand over. What a picture of how some of us are living today, as I think about that. Some of you today, you find yourself robbed of joy and peace in your life. You're living in deep brokenness and bondage because you have yet to bring before God the things that you know God has called you to surrender. Some of you today, you find yourself missing out on God's peace, God's presence, and God's power at work in your life because you have unconfessed and unaddressed sin in your life. Some of you find yourselves in this spiritual rut, and you can't seem to shake this feeling of heaviness or this burden in your life. And perhaps you find yourself in that place because you were concealing sin from God. Perhaps some of you today, you've revealed enough of your sin to free your conscience, but not all of your sin that leads you to having a surrendered heart. And what I want you to know is God doesn't want some of your sin. Hear me today. The Bible is telling us that true joy is found on the other side of a confession of all of the sin in our lives. True joy is found when we lay down our sin at the feet of King Jesus and get honest with God. Psalm 32 is telling us that David found himself in unrest, in shame, in regret, and anguish as he failed to confess all of his sin. Here's the main idea for our time today: concealed sin brings misery, confessed sin brings mercy. And forgiven sin brings peace and joy. Let me say that again if you're taking notes. Maybe you want to take a photo of that. Concealed sin, it brings misery. But confessed sin brings mercy, and forgiven sin has this way of bringing about peace and joy in our lives. Now, as I prayed for this sermon, I just felt a burden to really help some of you, especially those of you who have been walking with the Lord for many years, to restore your joy today. Because the reality is, some of you, you've lost sight of joy in your life, you've lost sight of this peace and this freedom in your life because you have unconfessed sin in your life. And can I tell you, when you're hiding sin in your life, here's what's actually happening: you begin to actually hide from God. And some of you today you're wondering, why am I in this place where I feel like I can't hear from God? There's no intimacy in my time with the Lord. Perhaps it's because you are hiding sin in your life, therefore you are now hiding yourself from God. And you can't experience the life that which He has for you when you're living your life in those terms. And when you begin to hide from God, can I tell you 10 out of 10 times? It will keep you from the life that God has for you. It will keep you from the life that which the Lord has for you. And I've been praying even as I was driving over here, because I just feel the burden to help some of you realize, especially those of you that are followers of Jesus, hear me today. That some of you, you have Jesus in your heart, but you have bondage in your souls because you have unconfessed sin in your life. You may have Jesus in your heart, but your mind and your soul is bound, unable to experience the freedom that which Christ Jesus died on the cross for, because you have unconfessed sin in your life. But look at what it says in verse 3. David says this, For when I kept what? Silent, my bones wasted away, through my groaning all day long, for day and night your hand was what? Heavy upon me. I want you to underline that part of that verse right there in verse 4. Your hand was heavy upon me, and my strength was what? Dried up as by the heat of the summer. David, in this moment, what he's saying is when he f failed to confess his sin, it's almost as if he was suffering in silence. He felt like his bones were being wasted away. He felt like God's heavy hand was suppressing him, and upon him he was groaning day and night as the hand of God was heavy upon him. It even dried out his strength. He uses this picture of a summer drought. Uh, each and every one of us can resonate with a summer drought. Can I get an amen? Um, I remember when we're moving to Arkansas from Florida, people are like, You're gonna love the weather. Y'all liars, okay? I don't know about you, but but especially in the summertime, I'll just walk out the front door of my house and it's just like humidity just hugs me. It just just hugs me and embraces me. I'll never forget when we first moved into our house, it's like, I'm gonna be the man that mows the lawn. Some of y'all know where I'm going with this. I was like, man, I'm I'm gonna mow the lawn and I'm gonna cut my own grass. But what I learned after the first time, even the idea of mowing the lawn just makes me perspire. It just has this way. I remember uh when I first started mowing the lawn, it was like 15 minutes into me cutting the grass, and my shirt is just like smogged to my body and it weighed 10 pounds, just filled with sweat. And I'm literally going, what did I just sign up for? And after I finish mowing the lawn, let me just kind of past her some of the men and women of our church, the husband and wives. I walk into the house, and my wife, I love her so much, she's amazing. She goes, Honey, would you mind just doing some of these things for me? How many of you know, men, after you mow the lawn, that's the last thing you're trying to hear? Like wives. As we mow the lawn, hear me, it feels like we literally are meeting with Satan as we mow the lawn, okay? It just has this way of robbing us of strength, robbing us of this feeling or ambition to do anything else. But what a picture of how unconfessed sin works in our life. For some of you today, you find yourself in this place where you're robbed of strength and you become apathetic in areas of your life that you were once passionate about. You were once passionate about honoring your spouse, you were once passionate about leaving a legacy, you were once passionate about passing on the things of faith to your children, but unconfessed sin has a way of robbing you of keeping that in front of you. Some of you today, you find yourself in this place where sin has this way of making you feel so weak to the point that you feel like you have no strength. There's no desire or ambition or desire for you to take ground for the kingdom of God. Some of you walked into church this morning. And here's the thing you find yourself in a summer drought in your spiritual faith. Some of you find yourself in a spiritual drought this morning. Even as you sit here under the teaching, you may have walked into church with a smile on your face. Meanwhile, here's what's happening: your soul is decaying because you have unconfessed sin in your life. For some of you today, as you sing songs and lift your hands, you really feel deep down in your heart that there's this emptiness as you go about worshiping the Lord. Some of you, you try to open your Bible and read and even talk to God. But as you pray, here's what's happening. When you find yourself in a spiritual drought, start feeling like your words are just empty and hollow, and they're just hitting the ceiling and nobody's hearing them, and God is nowhere in plain sight. Some of you find yourself right now in the midst of this spiritual summer drought. And I want you to know today that the Holy Spirit of God, through his word, is telling me, telling you right now in this moment, it's time for you to come to a place where you receive my forgiveness and you rest in my mercy. It's time for you to receive my forgiveness and rest in my mercy. Here's what I know. A few weeks ago, when we were coming out of this series that we did uh for several weeks on spiritual warfare, we kept speaking about this idea that you and I have a real life enemy. His name is Satan. And here's the thing about Satan Satan, every single time you come into church, every single time you sit under the teaching and proclamation of God's word, Satan wants to keep you from responding to the word of God. Satan wants to keep you from doing what the word of God is instructing us to do. Why? Because the Bible says that it is the truth of God's word that has the power to do what? To set you and I free. So the enemy, he wants you to sit here and as you hear this, he wants to whisper lies into your ears. We talk about confessing sin and revealing sin in our lives. He says things like this you can't tell anyone about your sin. Like, man, if you go to that altar, you're gonna get exposed. Everyone's gonna judge you. The lie of the enemy in some of your ears this morning is, man, if you go down to that altar and get honest about your struggle, your family and those closest to you are gonna think you're weak. They're gonna think you're a fraud. He has these ways of just whispering all of these lies into your ear in an attempt to keep you from truth. Why? Because he wants you to conceal your sin. Why? Because concealed sin brings misery. But can I remind you the truth of God's word? Confessed sin brings God's mercy. He wants to keep you from mercy today. But I believe by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, some of you are gonna respond with the boldness and lay down the shame, lay down the sin, get honest with the Lord, and take up his mercy, and on the other side of his mercy, you're gonna find joy. Let's look at verse 5, what it says here as we continue. David said, I acknowledge my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity. Said, I will confess, underline, confess, my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity. In other words, the guilt and the shame of my sin. Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer what? Prayer. Let everyone who's 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. I don't want to move too fast, too quickly past what we just read. What David's doing in this moment, he's quite literally giving us three practical ways that you and I can find joy and take up the mercy of God as we go about restoring our joy according to the scriptures. If you want to restore your joy, let me give you three points as to how you do it pertaining to our sin in our lives. Number one is this we need to acknowledge that we have sin in our lives. This idea of acknowledging sin means to admit that you have sinned before the Lord. It's admitting that you and I have sinned against God, that we've been in the wrong, that we've gone against the will of God. Some of us need to begin right here by acknowledging the present sin in our life and even some of the past sin in our lives. Moments that you have not lived your life in alignment with the will of God, you need to acknowledge those things today. And I think that many of us, instead of acknowledging our sin, we oftentimes get to this place where we try to justify our sin. We just start saying things like this, well, it's just a bad habit that I have. Well, man, my mom or my dad struggled with that and seems like it was just passed on to me, or man, it's really not hurting anyone. Some of you in the room, you need to acknowledge the sin in your life as the moments where you turn to turn to things that you know you shouldn't turn to. You need to acknowledge the sinful actions in your life where you look at things that you know you shouldn't look at. You need to acknowledge the sin in your life where you talk to your spouse or your children in a way out of anger that does not honor the Lord. The Lord is saying, Would you acknowledge those things in your life? And I just want to lovingly pastor us through this because what I recognize is there are real sins, heavy sins, that lie in the hearts of each and every one of us. And I believe as we hold on to these sins, it's gonna continue to keep us from the life that God has called us to live. So number one is if we want to restore our joy, we need to acknowledge our sin. But number two is this we need to confess our sin. We need to confess our sin. This idea of confessing sin simply means this to align yourself with God's truth. This idea of confessing sin means when the Spirit of God convicts me of my wrongdoing, as a follower of Jesus, I respond by bringing it before God. And I think some of us get hung up here because we just hide the sin. We do what we're talking about in this text. We conceal the sin. We hold on to the sin in hopes that we won't get caught or that we can just shake it. Often move forward. Can I tell you, God's idea of confession means I'm going to align myself with God's word. I'm going to acknowledge that I've sinned, that I've wronged God, that I haven't been living my life in alignment with Him, but I'm also going to believe Him for His grace and His mercy to meet me. That's what confession looks like. The Bible says in James chapter 5, verse 16, that when we confess our sins, God would be faithful to do what? Heal us. To heal us. Perhaps at the end of the message today, this is going to be a moment for you to confess your sin. And hear me, the healing power of God is going to rest upon you as you bring it to the altar. God's heavy hand is not here to suppress you. Hear me today. Here's the picture. God's heavy hand wants to lift you up, which you need to acknowledge and you need to confess. But the third is this you need to pray. What do I mean when I say pray? You need to pray, asking God for forgiveness as you go about acknowledging your sin and confessing your sin. And when we pray, praying for forgiveness isn't something that we as believers should passively do. I believe that as we pray and as we cling to God, as we come acknowledging and confessing sin at the altar, as we do this Monday through Sunday, even in our personal lives, hear me today, we ought to get broken about the things that once put Jesus on the cross. We ought not to be passive about praying and asking God for forgiveness, because hear me, it's the same things that we keep on turning to that put the Lord Jesus on the cross. And I think that if we're to be honest, we overlook that. We lose sight of that as we mature in our Christian faith. Can I tell you one of the most powerful things you could do, no matter where you find yourself on the faith journey, it's preach the gospel to yourself daily. It's to continue to remind yourself that you are a sinner in need of the saving grace of God in your life. And it's as I remind myself of that truth. It leads me to live my life in alignment with the will of God. Hear me, when you pray a prayer of confession, that doesn't earn forgiveness. It's you simply doing this, it's posturing yourself to receive the forgiveness of your sins that Jesus already purchased on the cross. It's posturing yourself. It's coming under that truth. Now let's look at verse 6. It says this 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. I want you to underline that in your Bible. You preserve me from trouble, and you surround me with shouts of deliverance. See, when David in this moment speaks about these great waters, maybe you want to underline that. He's using a picture or an image that people in ancient Israel would quite literally pick up on instantly as they heard it. You see, in ancient Israel, uh it was filled with dry riverbeds that would uh become deadly flash floods after heavy rains and heavy waters would come through. And what David is saying in this moment is that at one point things would look safe, things would look fine, but suddenly, the next moment, rushing waters would bring great destruction, sweeping everything away in plate sight. So what David is saying in this moment, that's what life apart from God looks like. When you're not living your life in alignment with the will of God, when you're not actively confessing sin in your life, there's gonna be this moment where the destruction comes upon your life and it keeps you from the life that which God has for you to live. So David in this moment, he's actually saying this when we confess our sin, here's what happens: God becomes our hiding place. God becomes a form of deliverance in the life of a believer that is actively confessing sin, acknowledging sin, and bringing it to the feet of King Jesus. He says, God, you become my hiding place and my deliverance. I wonder how many of us in the room today need God to be a form of hiding for us. We need maybe God to come through as a form of deliverance in our lives. And that's what David is saying in this moment. He's saying in verse 7, the presence of God was upon him. And now in verse 8, what we're gonna see is that God was not only faithful to protect him as a hiding place, but God was gonna be faithful to show him that he's also his guide. I don't want you to miss out on this. Look at it, verse 8. It says this I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you, I want you to underline that, with my eye upon you. Verse 9 be not like a horse or a mule without understanding, which must be curved with bit and brittle, or it will not stay near you. Many are the sorrows. Maybe underline that word sorrows in your Bible of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who does what? Trust in the Lord. So much good content right here in these two verses. There's a scholar by the name of uh James Boyce. He he comments on this moment. I want you to hear this. This is what James Boyce says. He says, as long as David refused to confess his sin, he experienced God's hand as heavy upon him. But when he confessed his sin, the same hand that became a hand of guidance, or that same hand became a hand of guidance in David's life. Don't miss that picture. In verse 3, the heavy hand of God was upon him. It had this way of almost feeling like David was being suppressed by the guilt and the shame of life. But here in verse 8, the hand of God not only becomes his form of hiding and deliverance, it's also now his guide. Some of us today we're like, man, God, I've been praying, I've been seeking your voice, I can't hear from you, I'm trying to make decisions about my life, my future. I need your guidance. Could it be that your unconfessed, unaddressed sin is hindering you from hearing from God? Could it be that it's the sin in your life that's keeping you from hearing from God and getting the direction that which you need? You see, when we fail to confess sin, here's what happens: we suffer in silence. We invite pain and sorrow into our lives, and it ultimately destroys our intimacy with God. It destroys your intimacy with the Holy Spirit of God. Why? Because the Bible says in Ephesians 4 that sin in the life of a believer, it grieves the Holy Spirit. It grieves the Holy Spirit perhaps today. Maybe you feel heavy and hard because you're living actively in sin. And it's grieving the Holy Spirit of God at work in your life. But here's the good news: here's what confess sin does it restores our joy, it restores our peace, it restores our strength. And when we confess our sin, it deepens our intimacy with God. It brings depth to our relationship with the Lord. It no longer brings us to a place where the heavy hand of God is upon us, but it leads us to a feeling of God's heavy hand leading us, guiding us, directing us, and pointing us to the life that which he has called us to live. Now, as we look at verse 9, many people ask, what does he mean about this horse or mule? When he says, don't be like a stubborn horse or mule, what David is saying in this moment is stop resisting the instruction of your Heavenly Father. As we talk about sin, David understands that the great proclivity in the life of a believer or our temptation as followers of Jesus is to do what? To resist the instruction of God's word. Some of you today, maybe you have a dog. Anybody got a dog? We're praying for you, okay? Um here's what I know about dogs. When you put your dog on a leash, um, your dog does not care about your commands. Your dog wants to go anywhere it wants to go, it does not care about what you have to say. And what David is saying in this moment in verse 9 is that's a picture of how some of us are living. That we are not listening to the instruction of our heavenly father, and we are going any which way other than his instruction tells us to go. I wonder today. Even in this moment, what is God instructing you to do? What's he saying to you right now in this moment? So, with all of that in mind, how does David end? He says, Be glad in the Lord and rejoice. Oh righteous, shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart. The beauty of this verse in verse 11 is David is concluding all of this psalm. Like I mentioned, it's a mask, it's a song of praise, but it's also a psalm that gives us instruction. And David, in this moment, quite literally, what he's doing is he is testifying to what he has spoken about in this text, and he's saying it actually works. Like when I get honest about my sin, when I acknowledge my sin, when I confess my sin, and I bring my sin to the Lord, it has this way of allowing me to experience the forgiveness of sin, the mercy of God, and the power of joy in my life. He's saying it works. And I just wonder how many of us today find ourselves robbed of that type of life, robbed of that type of testimony that, man, I don't have peace in my life. Man, I feel like I have no joy. Man, I feel like I have no purpose. Man, I feel like there's no direction for my life. Man, I feel like there's no intimacy in my walk with Jesus. Perhaps take heed to the instruction of the word of God today, and get honest about where you are in your walk with the Lord. Perhaps this is a reminder for you today that you need to acknowledge, confess, and bring to the feet of King Jesus the unconfessed sin in your life. And I'm passionate about this hearing me because here's what I know simultaneously, as I'm preaching this sermon, here's what the enemy's doing. The enemy, right now, he is condemning some of you in this room. As you ponder and think about the sins that you have committed in your life, the enemy, he's whispering lies in your ear that are leading your heart to this place of shame. Here's what I want you to know. The Bible very clearly speaks to this idea of condemnation, but it also speaks to a better idea called conviction. The Bible tells us that God has not given us, hear me, a spirit of condemnation, but rather a spirit of conviction. Here's what condemnation does: condemnation is about shaming you, conviction is about shaping you. And what the Bible is doing right here in this text is the Spirit of God is using it to convict believers, not to shame you, but to shape you and make you look more like Jesus. He's shaping you, He's transforming you by the power of His word. And right now, here's a simple application. Here's what He's saying. As you are being shaped and transformed into the image of Christ Jesus, here's what you need to do. As you ponder and think about your sin, you need to receive God's forgiveness, and you now need to rest in his mercy. As you get honest about your sin today, that's the application for this text, for this sermon. That you would be a person that responds here in a few moments by coming to this altar, acknowledging that you have sin in your life, confessing your sin in your life, and taking up the forgiveness of your sins and resting in the mercy of God. In a moment, I'm gonna pray, and that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna respond. And some of the men and women of our staff, they're gonna come to this altar and they're here to pray with you and for you. And if you recognize, man, I've got sin in my life, unconfessed, unaddressed sin in my life, I want you to come. And I just simply want you to tell one of the men or women of their staff, I've got this sin in my life, and I need prayer. And here's what they're gonna do: they're gonna pray God's truth over your life. And I believe as they pray God's truth over your life, hear me, the truth of God's word is gonna set you free. You're gonna lay down shame and you're gonna pick up forgiveness in your life. You're gonna lay down regret, and you're gonna take up the mercy of God in your life. Some of you, you're gonna find yourself in a moment where you feel the ministry of the Holy Spirit at work in your life, and it has this way of just reigning and washing over you the power and the presence of God again. That's what I believe for this moment. For some of you today, you need to come to this altar and get honest with the Lord. I read this quote earlier this week from a scholar. His name is Derek Kidner. He said this, this really spoke to me. The pardon of God is not only the end of guilt, it's the beginning of joy. In other words, the finished work of the cross. It's not just freedom from a life of shame, guilt, and regret. It leads us to a life of mercy. And hear me, on the other side of mercy, there's joy. The Lord wants to restore your joy today. I believe there are many of you in this room, you've got Jesus in your heart, but like I said, you are bound in your mind, you are bound in your heart, and you are bound in your soul because you have unconfessed, unaddressed sin in your life. And maybe it's not just present sin, maybe it's past sin. Sin that has kept you suffering in silence. Hear me for decades. I want you to know King Jesus died for that sin. I want you to know because of the blood of Jesus that was poured out on Calvary, you are forgiven. Today you can experience the mercy of God, and on the other side of God's mercy, there is joy. I also think there's a group of people in this room, though, that in a moment after I pray, not only do you need to come to this altar, acknowledging that you have sin in your life, you need to acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of saving. See, the Bible speaks to this idea that apart from God, you and I are sinners. There's no good in us. And hear me, the thing about sin is this sin doesn't make you bad, sin makes you dead. But God, who is rich in his love and his mercy, he sent his only son, Jesus, to die on a cross to be your living hope. So that you could go from death to life, so that when you look in the mirror, you no longer have to look at yourself and go, man, what a sinner I am. You go, no, I'm a son and daughter of God. See the thing about the cross that which Jesus died on, hear me, it wasn't a cross, it was our cross. But God who loves you and I, he sent his son to die for. And as Jesus died on that cross, gives you and I an opportunity to now step into new life. Some of you in the room today, you need to admit and acknowledge that I'm a sinner in need of saving. And after I pray, I'm gonna give you a moment to respond by stepping into a relationship with Jesus, where not only do you find joy, you find the life that which you were created to live. You find abundant life, not just here on earth but for all of eternity. So, Heavenly Father, I just pray in the mighty name of Jesus that you would come and that you would minister to our hearts right now. I pray, Lord, as our staff comes to this altar, that men and women who sense the prompting of God in their heart to say, I need to go to that altar. I need to confess the sin that has kept me suffering in silence. God, I pray that they would respond. I pray that they would come. I pray that they would acknowledge and confess and surrender the sin in their lives. Lord, I pray right now that you would come like a mighty rushing wind, and that you would restore what's been broken in lives, that's with stolen legacies, that's with stolen generational futures, because of the unconfessed sin that started maybe with a parent or a grandparent. Lord, I pray that you would break the chain right now and that you would come and do what only you can. God, I pray for the men and women in this room that need to respond by coming to this altar saying, I need a relationship with Jesus. I want new life today. I pray that they would do that with a boldness in heart, believing you, Lord, for new life in you. We thank you for your blood in your body that was broken on that cross. And we ask you to come and meet us in this moment. It's in Jesus' name we pray.

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