Introduction (Psalm 32):
- When I cover my ways, I Suffer . (Psalm 32:3-4, 10a)
- When I acknowledge my ways, I am:
- Forgiven . (Psalm 32:5)
- Directed in right paths. (Psalm 32:8-9)
- When God covers my ways, I am:
- Blessed . (Psalm 32:1-2)
- Protected . (Psalm 32:6-7b, 10b)
- Exultant . (Psalm 32:7c, 11)
Proverbs 3:6 - In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Proverbs 3:6 - So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:01-00:03
I do want to make a pitch for baptism.
00:03-00:10
As Jeff said, we're going to have a baptism after the service, and today's the day.
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And I think by the end of this sermon, you're going to be convinced that that's one of the things you need to do.
00:18-00:21
And the point of this sermon is very simple.
00:21-00:23
It's to acknowledge the Lord in all of your ways.
00:24-00:32
When we're done, I want you to commit to acknowledging God in all, in all means all, of your ways.
00:34-00:41
Now I was going to read through the whole psalm initially, but I think my sermon might run a little long.
00:41-00:42
I hope you don't mind that.
00:44-00:51
So to save a little bit of time, we're going to read through the psalm as we address each point.
00:53-01:03
So Psalm 32, it's a miktam of David, and it contrasts the blessings of forgiveness with oppressiveness of concealing one's sin.
01:04-01:09
A forgiven person is blessed, whereas a person who hides themself has sorrow and suffering.
01:10-01:18
The contrast of hiding versus being hidden in this Psalm is expressed poetically in different ways.
01:19-01:56
But the key terms for us this morning to be acknowledging, that is uncovering and then of course covering. Now in Old Testament practice, one sin was atoned for by an animal sacrifice, one sin was covered up and put out of God's view. That's what the Hebrew word translated atonement means. It means to cover over. Now there's many things going on in Israel's sacrificial system, but for our purposes this morning, the central point is that by offering a sacrifice, the worshiper's sin was covered.
01:57-02:02
The relationship with God was restored and the worshiper could be in God's presence again.
02:03-02:08
Now, a couple of weeks ago, we heard about the ineffectiveness of leafy underpants.
02:09-02:16
They were just simply inadequate to cover Adam and Eve's guilt and their shame because those leaves would eventually dry out.
02:16-02:18
They would turn to dust just like Adam.
02:20-02:26
And we learned that God provided a better covering through the death of animals.
02:26-02:35
He covered Adam and Eve with the animal skins, it was somewhat more durable covering, but it emphasized the consequences of their sin.
02:37-02:42
It hid their shame, and it also prefigured the work of the promised Messiah.
02:44-02:50
But we'll see in our passage this morning, there is no reference to animal sacrifice as a means of covering.
02:51-02:53
Psalm 32 presents two alternatives.
02:54-02:58
Either we cover our sin or God covers it.
03:00-03:05
In Psalm 32, David sings about covering his sin himself and things don't go well for him.
03:07-03:08
So that's our first point.
03:08-03:11
When I cover my ways, I suffer.
03:12-03:17
Look at verses three through five, and then we're gonna look at verses nine and 10.
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David says, "For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
03:25-03:28
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me.
03:28-03:31
My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
03:32-03:32
Selah.
03:34-04:08
Do not be like a horse or a mule without understanding which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or will not stay near you." And then verse 10, "Many are the sorrows of the wicked." We see here that David describes great physical suffering, which he experienced because he hid his transgression. That's possible. He's referring to the year-long period during which he covered up his adultery with Bathsheba and his subsequent murder of Uriah to cover up her pregnancy.
04:09-04:11
He kept silent.
04:11-04:47
Probably many people in the palace knew what was going on. Bathsheba, she certainly knew, and his oldest sons, they probably knew, and they began to act just like him. Like a stubborn animal, like a stubborn mule, David refused to confess and be corrected, and he suffered as a result. He felt God's heavy hand upon him, squashing him and afflicting him with pain and weakness all the way down to his bones. When he says his strength was dried up, it was though all the vitality had been just drained from his body.
04:48-04:55
You know, we kind of feel like that if we've had a high fever and we recover and we just feel like, oh, all wrung out, right?
04:56-04:57
That's how David felt.
04:59-05:02
But there's also a hint here of being cooked.
05:03-05:17
The Hebrew phrasing in verse four, it's subject to some different interpretations, but there is a suggestion here of a cake, like a pancake being scorched on a griddle.
05:19-05:23
And don't miss the fact that God is the one doing the cooking.
05:24-05:31
So what David is experiencing as torment, God is dispensing to him as grace.
05:33-05:38
As a result of David's torment, he became an ineffective leader and an ineffective father.
05:39-05:42
Above all, he was an ineffective worshiper.
05:43-06:01
His relationship with God was completely shattered and there was absolutely no sacrifice David could have offered for adultery and murder, even if he had wanted to make such an offering because the sacrificial system was for unintentional sins, not high-handed sins like murder and adultery.
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So David's stuck.
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He's stuck in mental and physical torment.
06:07-06:12
He's afraid to confess and there's no way that he can see to be made right with God.
06:13-06:18
Now I have some experience with trying to cover my sin.
06:19-06:23
One or two of you might have some of that kind of experience.
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One of my many experiences occurred when I was about eight years old.
06:29-06:39
I had a friend, he was a bad influence, and he told me, "It's easy to steal candy bars "from the drugstore down the street from our house.
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"It's easy.
06:40-06:44
All you got to do is stick it under your shirt and you just walk right out with it.
06:47-06:47
Okay.
06:49-06:52
You know, some details about sticking it under your shirt would have been helpful.
06:54-07:03
So I go into the drugstore and I grab a candy bar off the rack and I stick it under my shirt and I'm walking out right by the cashier.
07:05-07:12
She grabs me and she's, I'm like, "No, no, let me go, let me go." Nope, nope, nope, nope, you're coming with me.
07:13-07:27
And she hauls me back to the back of the store, puts me in the stock room, tells the druggist who owns the store what I've done, and where I was sitting, I could see him.
07:27-07:35
He was up like in this booth where all the drugs were kept, and I could see the front door of the store.
07:35-07:37
I could sort of make a clear shot down the aisle.
07:37-07:40
I'm like, maybe I could just bolt.
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No, I can't.
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And I'm just sitting there suffering.
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I'm sitting there for hours just like squirming.
07:50-07:51
It felt like hours.
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So finally the pharmacist, he comes down, he comes down to where I'm sitting.
07:57-07:58
Okay, kid, what's your name?
07:59-08:00
Where do you live?
08:01-08:02
What's your phone number?
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Your parents know you're here?
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I'm like, I'm not saying anything.
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I'm not gonna tell you.
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You better tell me or I'm gonna call the police.
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No, I'm not gonna tell you.
08:14-08:15
Don't call the police.
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You better tell us.
08:18-08:19
You better tell me.
08:20-08:24
Okay, I'm gonna call the police, but you sit here and you think about this for a little while.
08:26-08:27
It just felt like an eternity.
08:29-08:36
And he comes back with one of the stock boys, Teenage kid, same questions.
08:36-08:36
What's your name?
08:38-08:38
Where do you live?
08:40-08:40
I'm not telling you.
08:41-08:42
Looks at the stock pipe.
08:43-08:44
Go call the police.
08:45-08:46
No, no, don't call the police.
08:46-08:47
Please don't call the police.
08:48-08:54
'Cause I had been to the police station before on a grade school field trip.
08:55-08:57
And they showed us the cells.
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They put us inside there.
09:00-09:02
I'm not going to the police station.
09:03-09:04
So I told him everything.
09:04-09:05
I told him where I lived.
09:07-09:08
Tells the stock boy, take him home.
09:09-09:13
Stock boy takes me home, tells my parents what I did.
09:13-09:19
My parents were like, oh, Richard, bring me in the house, sit me down.
09:19-09:20
Why did you do this?
09:21-09:22
You know you're gonna have to be punished.
09:22-09:24
Yeah, I got spanked.
09:24-09:27
I got grounded for two weeks.
09:29-09:30
Yeah, it was bad.
09:32-09:36
Well, actually it was good because I felt a lot better after I confessed.
09:36-09:39
Got this all off my chest.
09:43-09:52
But a few weeks later, sometime later, my parents were out running errands and they had to stop by the drugstore.
09:53-09:58
And I thought I could just stay in the car with my mom or with my dad who was driving.
09:59-10:01
I'd stay in the car, mom would go into the drugstore.
10:02-10:18
And she said, "Come on, Richie, you're coming with me." I'm like, "No, I'm not going in there." Because the last thing this guy said to me before I left his store, he got down in my face and he said, "Don't you ever come into my store again.
10:18-10:20
"You got that?" You know?
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So I'm like, "Mom, Mommy, I can't go in that store.
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"That man in there, he hates me.
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"He's mad at me.
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"I can't go in there.
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"No, you're coming with me.
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"Come on, let's go." She drags me out of the car and she's pulling me through the parking lot.
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"No, I can't go in there, I can't, I can't.
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"That man's gonna get me." And my mother says, "It's okay, you're with me." And you know what?
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It was, it was okay.
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I don't even think that guy remembered who I was.
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It was okay.
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Well, back to David.
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He too has had enough of torment.
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And so he acknowledges his sin to God and he experiences forgiveness.
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It's our next point.
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When I acknowledge my ways, I am forgiven.
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Look at verse five.
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I acknowledged my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity.
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I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin, Selah." We're not sure what Selah means, but that's a good place for that word.
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David stopped hiding his sin.
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He gives up the futile effort to cover his crimes and confesses them to the Lord.
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Who knows everything he has done anyway?
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There's no sacrifice offered or even mentioned as a means of covering sin.
11:57-12:02
As I said, there is literally nothing David can do to expunge his sin, let alone cover it up.
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If he were to offer up all the lambs and bulls in the world, it wouldn't be enough.
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Yet David is forgiven because he confesses his transgressions to God.
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Perhaps David is looking back to the Lord covering up Adam and Eve's high -handed sin.
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David is anticipating a further work by God in which sin will be dealt with once and for all and not by animal sacrifices but again by the Lord himself. Either way, David by faith wholly relies on God's known character for mercy and grace for forgiveness. And what is mercy but not getting what one deserves? And what is grace but getting what one most assuredly does not deserve.
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So David is forgiven, but there's something in addition here to forgiveness of sin.
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There is life-altering change.
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David's whole life is placed on a new trajectory.
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Note the statement, "I acknowledged my sin to you." The Hebrew word translated, acknowledged, is yada, to know.
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Maybe you've heard someone say yada, yada, yada.
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I know, I know, I know.
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Well, you know, that's kind of flippant, but to yada, to know, this isn't just a mental knowing, it is a deep and intimate knowing, as in Adam knew his wife Eve.
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It's the same word, Adam yada Eve.
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Essentially, David is saying, "I will know all of my sin before you. I will uncover it all and expose it all to you, Lord.
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I will admit and know that you know all of my sin." Are you ready to do that? Are you ready to know the Lord in all your sin, in every aspect of your life and yourself? Because when we do so, like we will be directed in right paths.
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God responds to David's confession with a promise of teaching and mentoring.
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He says, "I will guide you in the right way." Look at verses eight and nine.
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"I will instruct you and teach you "in the way you should go.
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"I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
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"Do not be like a horse or a mule without understanding, "which must be curved with bit and bridle, "or it will not stay near you." Now, some see in verses eight and nine, David assuming the role of a teacher by turning his experience with sin and confession and forgiveness into instruction for others in the assembly.
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Others see that God himself is interjecting him, interjecting here in response to confession.
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I think either understanding would be profitable for us, But for our purposes this morning, I'm adopting the view that this is the Lord speaking to David, primarily because the you at the end of verse eight is singular.
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If the you were plural, it would make more sense that David is teaching the congregation.
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But it seems more likely to me here that God is saying to David and saying to us, I will teach you the way you should go.
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I'm keeping careful watch over you.
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Acknowledging the Lord and having Him teach me how I should go reminds me of Proverbs 3 .6.
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In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.
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Acknowledge here, like Psalm 32, is yada, and like Psalm 32, with the knowing, comes direction.
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The "ways" in the first line refer to our course of life, the things we do, and the "paths" in the second line refer to the way we do them.
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You know, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
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And with the Lord teaching me, I can be assured that I am going in the right way.
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I can be assured that I'm doing the right things and that I'm doing them in a right or straight way and not veering off into the ditch.
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I think that's pretty cool.
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What exactly are all my ways?
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And we'll say, oh, my finances, yeah.
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I acknowledge the Lord in my finances.
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I acknowledge the Lord in my job or my profession.
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I acknowledge the Lord in my relationships, my marriage.
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Yeah, I acknowledge the Lord, especially when I go to church.
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But you know how all those things can be mostly surface?
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It's not, it is what other people see.
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And we can cultivate an image of acknowledging God while at the same time trying to cover up many interior things ourselves.
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The Pharisees were very good at this.
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It's why Jesus called them whitewashed tombs.
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They were all clean and white and fancy on the outside, and in the inside, they were completely gross.
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So what about your inner life?
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Are your thoughts and emotions among your ways?
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How about your anger, your resentments and grudges that you bear?
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How about your insecurities and your worry?
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your depression, your discouragements, everything you bottle up inside, are those among all your ways?
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Our tendency is to say, those are mine, those are mine, don't look at them.
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I'm working on them, not very intentionally, not very purposefully, but I'm working on them and I would appreciate it if you don't notice.
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That's what we do.
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But what happens to all those ways when we acknowledge the Lord in them?
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But first let's go a little deeper.
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Let's do some soul work and go to the source where all these things reside in your memory.
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Our memory is where we store up everything that we've ever done, everything that's ever been done to us.
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Now sure, we have some fond and happy memories, right?
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the big winning play in the game, graduated, my baptism, the day I confessed the Lord as my Savior. I mean there's a whole in entertainment complex out there that wants you to come to their park so you can make memories. You can't just do it once, you got to keep coming back to make new memories and get part with thousands of dollars every time you do it. But I'm talking about the kinds of memories that kind of shackle us. So often we go down into the dark musty basement of our memory and we bust open the crates and we travel down memory lane of our regrets and our shame and our guilt and all the many things we can't or don't want to forget. And we take them out we look at them why did I do that. Why did this happen to me?
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Oh, this is never going to heal. This is never going to go away. We just hold on to it all. Our memories are interwoven with everything we do. They permeate and influence all of our ways, our thoughts, and our emotions, and consequently our actions.
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Do you doubt that? And why do people go to therapists not to deal with the event or events that happened to them? Because the past can't be changed. No, they go for help processing the memories of what happened.
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Why do people worry and become anxious to the point of emotional paralysis?
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because they remember something that happened to them or others in the past and they're afraid it's gonna happen again.
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Why do people harbor resentments and bear grudges? They've always got a score to settle, they're keeping a ledger as though they're entitled to bear some ill will even against a fellow believer.
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Now I'll admit I struggled a bit with this one because there are people who have really harmed us, people who have taken things away from us.
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You know, that could be a whole other sermon.
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That could be a sermon for another day in forgiving those who have really harmed us.
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So for this morning, I just want to talk about a situation where someone hasn't necessarily sinned against you. Let's talk about when just somebody bugs you because you're connecting them to something in your past, in your memory, their personality, their behavior. Maybe you don't like their hair color, their body art, their clothes, whatever petty little thing that just rubs you the wrong way, causes you to compare yourself and feel small. Maybe you feel like you're in competition with that person or they're they're maybe gonna take something away from you that somebody's gonna like them better than you. And this kind of stuff gives rise to gossip and bitterness, hard feelings, and we just continually remember, you know, I don't really don't like that person.
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He just rubbed me the wrong way. Why do people engage in self-sabotage?
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You remember something that happened to them in the past, it makes them feel worthless, I feel like a screw-up, someone told me once I was stupid and I wouldn't amount to anything. We remember that stuff and in time we come to believe that's true.
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So we keep repeating the lies to ourselves instead of what does the Word of God say about me?
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In every instance memory might not be true but we treat it as though it's fact.
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And all our ways then become enslaved and distorted and wrecked by our memories.
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So we must recognize that our memory is indeed among our ways in which we must acknowledge the Lord.
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I have a memory to share with you.
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I think it illustrates the great benefits of acknowledging the Lord in our memory.
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When I was a boy, about seven years old, my father had a dog named Robin.
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She was a little Pekingese, and he raised her up from a puppy, and he loved that dog.
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He just loved her.
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He loved her more than his own flesh and blood.
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All his tenderness, all his kind words were saved for that dog.
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He showed her more affection, more tenderness, than he ever showed any of his kids.
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In my case, he was more likely to tell me I was stupid or berate me for doing something immature than he was to praise me.
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And he never said he loved me.
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But he loved Robin.
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And she adored him.
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She was his one source of unconditional love.
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And when he came home from work each day, he'd pull the car up the driveway and he'd get out and he would open the gate and he would pull the car up into the driveway alongside the house and go back and close the gate.
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And then the big moment, he would go open the door on the side of the house and Robin would come bolting out that door, barking, and she would run around and bark and, "Oh, there you are, my girl.
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How are you?" up and she'd squirm and he'd rub her oh you little dickens you how you been how was your day oh it was it was the best time of the day for both of them and everything was just right in their worlds but one spring afternoon my sister Marlene and I were in the house when dad came home from work and for reasons I never understood afterwards my dad let Robin out of the house before he pulled the car into the yard. And a few minutes later I heard my dad's anguished yell into the house, "Marlene, help!
25:47-26:28
I just killed my dog!" We rushed to the door and I looked out the door and there's Robin's broken little body, maroon blood flowing from her muzzle and a glassy stare in her open eyes. And my father yelled at me, "Richard, get back in the house!" And I ran into the living room, I'm in tears, and I can hear him out there cursing and taking God's name in vain and calling down oaths on himself, and I ran into the living room and I knelt down and I'm crying and praying, "God, please don't let Robin die, please don't let Robin die." Over and over. My prayers were of no effect.
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Sometime later, I door on the side of the house to see what my father was doing and he was kind of standing in the middle of the driveway with the hose. He had washed all the blood off the driveway and he was just standing there lost in thought or maybe self-recrimination. I saw he had pulled the car up into the garage and Robin's body was wrapped up in some kind of old bedspread and he had laid her up on the trunk before he buried her. I was deeply impressed by my father's response to this tragedy. He never spoke of Robin again. He and the whole family, we went on with our lives as though she had never graced our lives, never been part of the family. But for my father was another bitter loss. Both of his parents had died within the previous five years and if memory serves me correctly which it may not his sister's husband had recently died after a long and difficult illness but my father he rolled with the punches he accepted tragedy and he moved on his His silent stoicism and acceptance of what could not be changed taught me how to respond to tragedy.
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That is what I remembered for over 40 years.
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But that is not what really happened that day.
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The truth emerged several years ago when I wanted to write about that event, a poem perhaps.
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It was after my father died.
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I wanted to capture in some way how my father had responded to the death of his dog.
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So of course I asked my sister Marlene about it, what she remembered.
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She said, "Well, I wasn't there that day.
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Mother was home." So I described to her what I remembered.
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And I said, "Why did dad let Robin out of the house before he pulled the car in?" She said, "He didn't." Our memory sometimes has a funny way of shaping things.
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That's all she said.
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She didn't say any more, and you know what?
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She didn't need to.
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was enough for me to remember what had really happened. I was responsible for Robin being in the yard when my dad came home from work. I had come into the house probably from playing outside and it must have been near to the time when he would come home from work. And I opened the door and she bolted out expecting to find my dad. It's just that kid.
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My mother told me, "You need to get her back in the house before your dad gets home." I probably whined about it, I put my coat back on, "All right, I'll go out and get her." Robin, of course, wanted nothing to do with me, and I made a less than half-hearted attempt to get her into the house. "Come on, come on, we got to go in the house. Come on, Robin, come on." she's running around the yard, she's running around between my leg, she's just you know squirming around, she's not gonna pay attention to me. So fine, fine, stay in the yard. I go in the house, she won't come in, declare defeat, that's that.
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You know the rest of the story. Except that my father had no idea that Robin was in the yard when he pulled in. And after the sickening thump and finding it was his beloved dog, my mother Lucille that my father called out to. And when I was crying and praying it was my mother who stood behind me and said, "Your prayers aren't going to bring Robin back." As I was preparing this message I told Bethany about my real role and she said, "You were a little boy. You couldn't have known what would happen, but whether I could foresee the consequences was not the issue. I knew what I was supposed to do. James 4:17 says, "If anyone then knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them." I knew what I was supposed to do. Just pick up a dog and carry her into the house. Just stay with the dog in the yard until your dad gets home. Go stand at the fence and let your dad know that hey Robin's in the yard dad don't pull the car in. Just do the right thing the right way at the right time. That pretty much sums up all sin doesn't it?
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The failure to do the right thing the right way at the right time and when we don't there are consequences.
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Speaking of which, you could probably guess what my father did to me afterwards.
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My father who loved his dog more than me. I deserve spanking, anger, recrimination. How could you be so stupid? Hatred toward me for having done something unforgivable. But none of those things happened. Ever. As I said, for over 40 years I remembered how my father handled Robin's death, but I completely forgot my role in it. You might ask, "Well, now that you remember what really happened, don't you feel awful? Doesn't that change the way you see yourself? No. And yes. Because in recounting my misremembering in the actual truth, I see the power of grace.
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How? Because my mother placed herself between me and my father. Yes, he loved his dog and yet in his own way he loved me, but he really loved my mother. And my mother took responsibility for Robin's death. She took the blame. She was the adult in the room.
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She covered over my role and took responsibility. She took the blame. She covered over my role.
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And because my father really loved my mother and because he valued their relationship above everything else, he could not stay angry at her, nor did he direct any anger at me.
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He instead showed me grace and love because my mother, out of grace and love, protected me and restored me to my father.
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My parents' gracious actions enabled me to live in a forgetful way for decades.
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That is real grace, enabled me to live in freedom from guilt and self-recrimination and shame.
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Grace enabled me to never have to wonder what my father thought of me, or if he remained angry at me, or if there was going to be some future reprisal or punishment.
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Do you see the gospel here?
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The Father loves us, but our sins have separated us from him.
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But Jesus put himself between us and the Father, and out of love and obedience to the Father, he took responsibility for all of our ways.
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He took our sin and our blame and our guilt upon himself, and he bore the punishment we deserve.
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And rising to life again, He covers us with His righteousness and holiness and brings us to the Father.
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And it's alright, because we're with Him.
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Because the Father really loves the Son.
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He approves and accepts all that Jesus has done on our behalf.
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And therefore, He really loves us just as He loves His Son.
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Jesus has protected us and restored us to the Father.
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And when we acknowledge God in all our ways, including our memories, the grace of God enables us to live in a forgetful way.
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Beloved, this is real grace that brings us to life in freedom from guilt and self-recrimination and shame.
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We never have to wonder what our heavenly Father thinks of us.
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He delights in us because Jesus has removed our sin from us as far as the East is from the West.
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He has thrown them into the depths of the sea.
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He does not remember the sins of our youth or even last week.
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And when we repent and put our trust in Jesus, neither should we.
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You see, if my earthly father's grace toward me could set me free from guilt over the death of his dog?
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How much greater does your heavenly Father's grace set you free from everything you've ever done and everything you've covered up in your memory?
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We are not defined by our memories.
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We are not defined by our past.
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We are free indeed, and we are defined by our Savior, Jesus Christ, because of what he has done for us and because of our union with him.
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So acknowledge the Lord in all of your memories and see how God has used every one of them, every event in your life to demonstrate his grace.
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See how he has used even your sin to spur you towards repentance and faith in Christ.
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And when you see how his grace was at work in your past, humbly thank him and leave the old behind and from now on walk in the ever-present grace and freedom in Jesus Christ.
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We can do this because for freedom Christ has set us free.
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We can live this way because God shows his love for us.
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Even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
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Whereas once we were alienated and hostile in mind toward God doing evil deeds, Jesus has now reconciled us to the Father by His death, to present us holy and blameless and above reproach before our Father.
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God transforms our inner life, indeed our whole existence when we acknowledge Him in all our ways.
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So let's make some application to a few of the ways I mentioned earlier.
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Now I admit I've been prone to deep discouragement and feelings of worthlessness, but I have a choice.
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I can wallow in self-pity and self-recrimination and really self-destruction, or I can acknowledge God there.
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Remember who was roasting David, so to speak?
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God was.
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Now we're tempted to say when we get down in the depths of discouragement, "Lord, where are you?
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"Where have you been?
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"It's about time you showed up." And he says, "I've been there the whole time.
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I am omnipresent, you know. All you had to do was acknowledge me. All you had to do was know me. I'm right here. How can I wallow in self-pity when I am with the Lord who says, "I am with you always to the end of the age." To acknowledge the Lord in such a place is to say to my soul, "Hope in God, for I shall again praise him my salvation and my God and I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love because you have seen my affliction and you know the distress of my soul how about your resentment your grudges we're again we're going to talk about our brothers and sisters in Christ are you entitled to bear ill will against a brother and sister are you authorized by God to hold petty little grievances against your siblings in Christ because they are or do something you don't like because they just rub you the wrong way.
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You have a biblical warrant to withhold grace and love when we're commanded to love one another.
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Jesus didn't say, "I have a good suggestion for you. It would be really great if you really liked each other." No, the command is to love one another as I have loved you.
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The command is to love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins, as well as overlooking personality differences and other human quirks for the sake of Christ.
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And there's that cover word again.
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If your heavenly Father can graciously cover over your sins and your quirks and your personality, can you not do the same for your brother and sister in Christ?
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What would our humble little assembly here look like if we graciously lived with one another in such holy forgetfulness and unity?
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How about your worry?
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What happens when you acknowledge the Lord in all your worry?
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Some people seem to be really proud of their ability to worry about things.
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Oh, I just worry about everything.
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Like that's the most natural thing to do?
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It's the right thing to do.
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I just worry about everything.
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I just lay awake at night worrying.
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I'm not making fun of people.
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Believe me, I'm not making fun of anyone.
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I'm here to encourage you because God says, "Do not be anxious about anything, "but in everything by prayer and supplication "with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." Because the Lord has given us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.
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To acknowledge the Lord in my worry is to remember that I can be strong and courageous and not be in fear or dread, for it is the Lord my God who goes with me.
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He will not leave me nor forsake me.
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In every memory, in every way, God is there.
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So acknowledge him and you will find freedom and release all your ways that bind you.
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He will make all your ways straight with his truth and he will cover all your ways with his grace and his forgiveness and his steadfast love.
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Now we're almost done.
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When God covers my ways, I am blessed.
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I'm blessed because my sins, first of all, have been completely removed.
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Look at verses one and two.
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Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
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Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
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To be blessed is simply to be happy.
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As we've seen, God has removed all of our iniquity.
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He's removed every barrier between us and him.
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God is always for us and to be blessed is to live in the assurance that our Abba Father He's always steadfastly with us in all of our circumstances.
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When God covers my ways, I'm protected because I'm in the very presence of God and He surrounds me.
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Look at verses 6 and 7 and then verse 10.
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"Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found.
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Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.
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are a hiding place for me, you preserve me from trouble." And then verse 10, "And steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord." The raging waters will not reach me. The raging waters are a figurative way of describing trouble and chaos. In the Hebrew mind, in the biblical account, the sea is a place of chaos. But God promises such chaos will never surround us or overwhelm us. Instead, we're hidden in Him and, as verse says, we're surrounded by His steadfast love. Instead of being overwhelmed by chaos and distress, we are overwhelmed with the Lord's steadfast love. And then finally, when God covers my ways, I'm exultant.
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I can exalt God because He is exultant over me. He surrounds me with shouting and songs. Look at verse 7, see the last line there in verse 11. You surround me with shouts of deliverance, Selah, and Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
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To be exultant is to be filled with or expressing great joy or triumph.
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To be exultant is to be filled with a jubilant joy.
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Other translations render verse 7c as "You surround me with songs of deliverance, or joyful songs of deliverance." The easy to read version renders it, you surround me and protect me.
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So I sing about the way you saved me.
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We become effective, joyful worshipers.
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We sing out of our restoration, out of our freedom to our gracious father.
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So let's review.
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When we acknowledge our iniquities and our sins, we're forgiven.
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When we go on to acknowledge the Lord in all our ways, He directs us in straight paths.
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And here's a good opportunity.
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If you've repented of your sin, and you've believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, but you haven't yet been baptized, here's your opportunity.
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You say, "Well, I didn't come to church "expecting to get baptized today." Well, you know what?
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Neither did the Ethiopian in Acts chapter eight.
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And when he heard the gospel and he believed, He said, "Look, here is water.
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Look and stand in the way of my being baptized." Nothing, absolutely nothing.
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Pastor Jeff is in the back of the sanctuary.
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If you want to get baptized, do it, do it today.
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There's nothing to prevent you from doing it.
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We've got all kinds of clothes, flip-flops, towels, everything you need to get baptized.
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And Jeff even mentioned undergarments.
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I should note that they're brand new.
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Right?
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You got everything you need.
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Get baptized.
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And you know, I'm not ready with a testimony.
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It's okay, it's okay.
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Jeff will help you out.
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Your testimony is dying and being raised again to new life through Jesus Christ in your baptism, that's your testimony.
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That's acknowledging the Lord in all your ways.
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So nothing is standing in your way except maybe a mule-ish stubbornness, but no, acknowledge the Lord publicly today.
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And then finally, when we acknowledge the Lord in all of our ways, he covers us, blesses us, protects us, surrounds us with jubilant song, And that's what we're going to do right now.
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We're going to worship the Lord in jubilant song, and that is going to be our prayer.
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So call the music team to come up, and let's worship the Lord exultantly.
Small Group Discussion
Read Psalm 32
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Why do we cover our sin rather than live in the blessing of forgiveness? Why is it difficult to uncover our sin?
Consider this statement: People who have not embraced God’s grace have a difficult time extending grace to others.
After hearing this message, have you thought about past events in your life, especially difficult situations, and been able to retrospectively see God’s grace? For example, you realized your need for salvation?
How will your life be different when you acknowledge God in all your ways?
Breakout
Pray for one another.
