Counseling In The Psalms (part 3)

verses 1 and 2. These are just direct from the text. Your sins forgiven actually there are some specific ways in which it is listed there.

Transgressions forgiven, sin covered, the

Lord counts no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Those are the four elements that are given there and that's basically what he says. There is a blessedness to these four elements and again

I think it if you just summarize them all you know your sins are forgiven and here are different ways in which it talks about the forgiveness or how it is actually forgiven for believers and I am not going to spend too much time here but I want because I think for most of you here these should be familiar.

What does it mean to have your sins covered? What does it mean that the Lord counts no iniquity?

It is not that we have not sinned but God does not account it against me. He covers my sin and for us with the

Revelation of the New Testament you know how he does that as well in the Old Testament they were looking to the sacrificial system pointing to Christ.

So let's go to the next question. So this is blessed and I want us to just keep that in mind what is foremost in David's mind in this particular

Psalm in terms of blessed, the term blessed. So now the next one next question is this.

Do you agree with David or would you define someone who is blessed differently? Because that term blessed when

I say you know God bless you or when I think of myself I wish the Lord would bless me abundantly what are the things that just come to my mind?

What would you say? Would you agree with David? And I think the context of my question was a little different but that's very important.

You know many a time when we think of blessedness we normally don't think in terms of spiritual standing before God in terms of what it means to be blessed.

Very often I think of blessedness as in the world I'm either going through a trial let's say a consequence of my sin which is the context of the

Psalm that I either want to get out of the consequence of the sin maybe I'm going to be arrested for doing something wrong my blessed thing would be that you know

I don't get arrested or you know that's basically what I'm just an illustration. So I think you know too often my blessed state is considered in this in this plane as opposed to my standing before God and what it means to be truly blessed in my relationship with Him.

So and I think you know that's the first step in most counseling for myself too is when I think of sin

I don't want to be just dealing with okay you know this is let's many sins have physical practical consequences maybe not with the law but what are some of the other consequences that sin has practically in your life?

Lose your job if you're slothful or you're slacking off at work you can find that you don't have a job very good you can hurt other people we are selfish very true so you can actually depending on the type of sins against your body or otherwise you can actually have consequences physically and the second half we'll be looking at some of that.

There was one more. Sickness Yes, similar.

That's right so you don't have a fruitful or productive life here that God calls you to in order for an eternal reward the heaven, the gifts that you get.

Now so if we limit ourselves to just this consequence and my life here on earth is just not as fulfilling because of the sin and my blessed state is just to get out of you know make sure

I have a job or I you know the people around me are happy and if that is all that I can think of as blessed I think we're just missing the point of sin.

Sin, yes, has these issues with regards to our life here and to life towards the others but I think the focus that David brings and I think very crucial to all of us ought to be where is my standing with God in all this and in Psalm 51 he brings that back again against you and you only have

I sinned and the immensity of sin against God ought to be always foremost in our mind so if I don't come to that point

I'm still not dealing with sin in the way that I ought to so you want to make sure when I think of blessed state in the specific area of sin that I look at it along these two verses that David breaks out for us and as Peggy said

I think that's the broader picture is this is the component I mean this is this is something that begins our life so when you think of blessed state of anyone before God we begin by a relationship of forgiveness with Christ our sins are forgiven and we are restored so there's always this forgiveness that begins this relationship and as we are sanctified it is an ongoing process we do like 1

John 8 we'll see in a minute that needs to characterize it but there is also the positive side of not just the sin being taken away but also

Christ's righteousness given to us the joys of living this life according to the word by the power of the

Spirit there's just so many things to be added but focus to this sin I want us to just bring that back blessed state it is not just myself it is my relationship with God now let's look at the next question what are some of the consequences of carrying around unrepented sin and we see this in verses 3 and 4 what happened to David and let's first say what happened to David verses 3 and 4 just one person can answer them he lost all his strength he said when

I kept silent I did not confess my sin my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long and why was that God's hand was heavy upon him here we're talking about actually let's actually go it's the next question but we're talking here about the chastisement of God upon his children

God does not need to correct all the unbelievers God can save unbelievers while they're in the midst of the sin like we were but for believers

God will chastise he will bring his hand upon us in order to bring us back to him and in the process while David was unwilling to repent while he was still in the midst of his sin he saw that his strength was dried up as the heat of as by the heat of summer

I think those kind of poetic languages should remind us as we look into our own lives which is the next question is what are some other times when we walk through our lives that are each of us has our own specifics in the sins that I struggle with may not be the ones that you struggle with but when we walk through those times as believers as you're maturing you know the hand of God that comes heavy upon you you know those times when your strength is drying away and those things are meant to point you to what actually begins it in verse 3 which is when

I kept silent I would not want to give up my sin because at this point you know going back to our theme that we've been looking at the fear of the

Lord is not what is dominating my mind it is rather this sinful pleasure that I am focused on so 3 and 4 give you that illustration of life that is just not truly enjoyable actually let's just take a minute here because I think this is helpful many a time when we get into sin we do it because it's good right whatever it is that is sinful maybe like you said slacking it's hard work and labor to you know go in early stay late give my full 8, 9, 10, 12 hour job it's a lot easier to say

I went for a lunch break and then I'm out for another half an hour nobody's watching I can come back no one's the wiser and and the thing is is that really what gives people joy

I think maybe that's not as good an example maybe I think if what Deb was talking about there are certain things that you do let's say someone likes to use substances that are pleasurable for the moment and then there are consequences to those substances in the body down the road and sin is like that and every sin including the one that we just talked about have those consequences on our lives and and and the thing is for a believer we know that displeasing

God versus pleasing God there is a there is a I'm sorry I lost my train of thought

I forget who said this someone said sin is the most irrational thing that you can actually do it is irrational for a couple of reasons one for and mainly for believers so we can do this for unbelievers too but for believers we know that God is holy we know

God is powerful but in addition to that we also know that God is the summum bonum he's the best the most good the best of all things that a believer can hope for and enjoy so while we think about our purpose to glorify

God the joy that a Christian has is in communion with God the ultimate joy is in relationship with Christ is in contemplating in the goodness of God in following the good part of God that we saw in Psalm 1 last time and our life is productive fruitful like the tree while we follow after God you know do what is good in in in pleasing

God and that is not just in the sense that God is pleased with it we enjoy the goodness and the benefits of actually doing this setting our hearts upon God and doing what

God calls us to do so that is good that is a rational that's the most wise way of living life excellent and I think

Hebrews 11 is a very good example of people who go through persecutions trials because they faith their eyes are set on Christ on God and and this even in the short -sightedness there is foolishness because we are not looking for the gains that are good we are looking for gains that the flesh the sinful tendencies of our heart want us to enjoy for a moment and I think that momentary pleasure was as eternal is what we see in Hebrews so let's so I just want to give that before we come back to this text so in this text we saw verses 3 and 4 what was going on with David now can you maybe relate to this in in more practical terms what are some other things that you notice when you do not repent from sin when you know there is something that is going on you know that this is short term you need to get out of it but what are some of the similar consequences in your life that you would you would experience things that you can relate to yes no peace because when we are established an unbeliever can have peace in his sin because there is no struggle because he is devoted his life to the temporal world and he can continue sinning because he can sear his conscience whereas for a believer who is committed to Christ and his ways there is a conflict when you do something that is contradictory to what your whole life is all about and so inwardly you cannot have peace and we saw the hand of God he will not let you stay in peace the spirit of God would wake you up yes guilt and we see that again in first John 1 there is a there is a all all people have a conscience that will warn them towards true and error but for believers who are quickened by the spirit who are informed by the word the guilt is a good thing because that is meant to make you uncomfortable with the current state and you cannot stay in that state if you are a true believer because you will need to come out of it and and like in David's case the sooner the better because the longer you languish there you are a sinful but also you are going to experience the lack of joy and peace that comes with it any other?

let's keep moving on so what happened to David in verse 5 according to his testimony when he confessed in the end of verse 5 he is forgiven and through the rest of the psalm you can you can see what actually happens when

David reflects on the forgiveness of God now let's look at verses 6 and 10 and what is

David telling you when you are in sin so let's let's look at it from my perspective just think of it as a command phrase what should you do reading verses 6 and 10 when you are struggling with sin yourself when you're in the midst of sin pray yes and 10 kinda gives you a trust in God because it is

God who actually provides the means out of your out of your sin and in fact

I think verse 8 if you look at it a little more closely sometimes you need wisdom to get out of that particular sin not every sin is like very simple black and white sometimes you need to know

God's counsel in terms of what do I need to do to start maybe it's become an ingrained pattern in my life and I need wisdom to rethink that part of my life to say where do

I begin how do I start rooting out this particular sin that I have where he says I will counsel you with my eye upon you and then let's quickly switch to 1st

John 1 8 or if someone knows that by memory you can just say it what does 1st

John 1 8 say and one of the things we do with the psalms is we try to go back to the

New Testament to have principles that reinforce what we have studied in the

Psalms because sometimes the Psalms use so poetic language that you can interpreted a little broadly and we want to make sure some directive commands from the

New Testament we use to anchor them and make sure we're not interpreting it incorrectly 1st

John 1 8 someone has it wants to read it yes and then if you can read verse 9 too and I think that's one of the keys to a believer's sanctification you know sometimes we look at Psalm 32 and maybe we think of Psalm 51 too and say you know

David that kind of sin you know I don't have I'm fine I don't commit adultery I haven't murdered anyone but I think as a believer we need to remember that God is constantly in the process of purifying us and there is always going to be sin that we struggle with some that are more conscious some that we've been deliberately sucked into that we need to forsake and whichever the state may be when you come to verse 8 we don't want to be in that verses 1 and 2 verses 3 and 4 of Psalm 32 which is

I'm gonna keep silent I'm going to just stay where I am because that would be verse 8 yeah you're talking about the curbing with the bit and bridle yeah and actually there are and this is actually something

I was preparing for but not for today when you look at Hebrews the warnings for those who apostatize you know believers are held by the hand of God so you are you will persevere if God if you did indeed trust in Christ and yet there are some very solemn warnings just talking about don't presume upon the grace of God because that is a very dangerous thing and here this is like you know you have a choice to willingly joyfully repent of your sin when you when you're brought into conviction or the

Lord has his ways of bringing you back to the truth and better to do it with with a love for the

Lord rather than the painful hand of chastisement that's very true in fact

I think that's the point of first John 8 there are those who claim that they don't have sin just because they're looking at these bigger sins and forgetting the real specific issues that they need to deal with their lives on that on that very day or things that they have been blind to and I think as believers we need to be

I mean I don't I'm not saying you know our whole life is just going to be introspective just digging up on every little sin and looking at my next job is you know figuring out what is going on there is a way in which the word washes you and this is the way

I like to illustrate it when you become a believer you come to know Christ you know sin in the broad terms

God saves you whatever specific areas God convicts you of and as you read the word you get more knowledge of the purity and beauty and majesty and the will of God and in those areas that the

Spirit of God opens your eyes to then you start working on them because then you once again realize how great a sinner you are so 20 years down the road the

Lord has done a lot of work in your life he's killed and cleared the land of your soul and yet there is so much more because now you know the word in much greater depth and there are some sins that you have repented and yet you still occasionally fall and then you say you know how could

I and so sometimes you may have a greater sense of guilt later in life although you have your life is for an external observer a lot more transformed and purified but we never give lose sight of 1st

John 1 .8 which is we are ever sensitive to the Spirit to say where is it that the

Lord is asking me to repent and when that happens I always go to 1st John 1 .9 and knowing with that confidence that God always forgives us in Christ so let's maybe stop there now this is pretty much mostly reflecting so when

I'm in sin you know there is I think of a couple of different faces that I'm in that is

I think the best way is to I'll just read this from James 1 each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire and desire when it's conceived gives birth to sin and when sin when it's fully grown brings forth death now we all know the progression of sin especially as it wants to gain a foothold in our life temptation is not sin you can see a lot of things you can hear a lot of things but they can fly over you and you don't need to give them a landing space in your mind they do not need to go from your mind into your thought process and then out and outward into action but when and that's normally the easiest place to stop sin when you actually when you're tempted to look to God once again when we've been talking about the fear of the

Lord there are counsel that is to be obtained while you're in the midst of trouble but the best medicine is always preventative that you are always in the word on a daily basis that your mind is always looking to the fear of God rather than the blessedness of this world so when my mind is on the blessedness that comes from a right relationship to God when the temptation come it is always seen in the context of where it stands what is rational it's the long -term consequence of this apparently short -term pleasure which seems good but really is not but so when we think of so when we think of sin you may be either entering sin or you might be in the state of sin and actually enjoying its pleasures or you might be in where David is which is you're you're in this place and you know no longer have peace because the chastisement of God has come upon you so no matter where you are the right counsel for us from Psalm 32 is to go back and say you know this is what blessedness truly is there is prayer that I can that I can bring before God there is trust that I can bring before God there is no sin that is so horrific that God cannot cleanse me no guilt that is so immense that God will say no 1

John 1 8 and 1 9 and that's those are all truths that we need to make sure we go back to because sometimes you don't feel that way

I mean I've been in some sins where I think you know I've been in the sin so long and maybe I've been blind to the sin so long and it has become a part of me so long that you know maybe there's really no hope for this

I mean I know especially in my early years there were some sins that would just leave me devastated but not devastated in the right way but it was you know there's really no hope here and that we need to make sure we come back to the scriptures to say

God is faithful he irrespective of what sin I've failed my

God in he is always able to save me and then I have a question this is just for yourself we won't be talking about this so as we think of counseling you may want to think this what are those sins that are outstanding in my life today like I said when we counsel ourselves maybe something is not going well in the earthly plane we want to maybe self -examine maybe my soul is dry like that summer heat that David is talking about and we want to ask ourselves is there some sin that is outstanding and if so maybe let me just go back and read what

David did what was his plan of action what was his confidence in by his fear of the

Lord and what ought I to do it and what are some wisdom steps that I need in order to get out of it and once again this is self -counsel for yourself and also counsel for someone else who may be struggling with a particular area and is looking for help when they come and talk to you so any questions on this or any thoughts further yes very true let me take that Vincent can you and we have some handouts to pass out but while they're passing out

I'll just pick that up because sometimes because the consequences are difficult

I might want to hide my sin you know there have been place cases I mean David himself where it's it's embarrassing as a king of the nation and he has to be openly rebuke and then there's a physical consequences of his son dying and in other cases we have when we have the right view of God we we place that above everything else so confession the repentance that this the cleansing that comes those are more important than what might happen because I repent and confess of my sin but and the good news about first John 1 9 is that your forgiveness is complete there is no faced process to that when

I confess my sin it is he says it let me make sure

I say this right if he confesses his sin he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanses from all unrighteousness the cleansing that we get from God is complete

I might feel dirty and wicked and horrible for what I've done but before God though forgiveness is not on the basis of the degree of my confession it is on the basis of the finished work of Christ which is always and ever complete so when

I come repentant before God it is gone washed away no matter how the idea is that of a stain

I poured yucky stuff over me and but when God cleanses it is gone but the physical consequences of that sin we might still need to deal with okay so do we have the handouts for everyone does anybody still need you can just raise your hand if you need okay so this handout is a is a completely different topic the psalm 32 was supposed to have been done last week this one

I think is extremely crucial so I'll just will go as far as we can and then we'll stop the topic is called living confidently in the

Lord and this is connected with the fear of the Lord the problem that we have

I think for many of us in this world is we know propositionally God is in heaven he is sovereign he is ruling my life ought to be ordered after his principles

I ought to make sure I'm aligned with like a compass with what God says yet even with my devotions and everything else

I do I am so much in the world that my my thinking my my my boss maybe at work maybe who's an unbeliever or my neighbors who are having this view of my if you're a child my student fellow classmates you know here are all the things that are going on and and then myself my own sins and my propensities they tend to take the focus away from what is true they give me fears that dominate my life that are not godly they are ungodly fears so we're going to be looking at how

Christians are not just meant to just survive in the in the bare sense of the world but actually will live a victorious and confident life so if terms like depression terms like you know horrific fears in terms of anxiety and things in terms of making the wrong choices because I am forced towards it by the consequences and the circumstances of my life

I think this will actually help us rethink those and I think this is a good good subject for us to to look at so let's begin by this relationship between fear and confidence so the first thing

I have there is godly fear produces confident living and I think that's the theme of the psalms we've been looking at constantly there are two ways to live the life one is the way of god which is good and then there is a way of the wicked now why do you think uh confidence that you have in your life let's say this week even maybe tomorrow when you go into work or school why should that confidence in your work be tied in with the fear of god what what do you think causes that confidence and I think you know that's a great example

I think of like Ephesians once blessed in the heavenly realms with everything that we have in Christ and when we think you know here is the one that I serve and then everything else pales in comparison and then when

I think I'm here whatever my job is you know there have been jobs that you go in and you have no idea what you're supposed to do you know that you might get fired or laid off or or consequences that you have no control over and yet when you know that my god is the one who is in control and whatever he does is good for me that godly fear of god gives you a great confidence no matter that you have no control over your specific temporal events god is ultimately in charge of it and you can actually live boldly and confidently um and because it eliminates that ungodly fear or the fear of the world we live in now now let's talk a little bit about the right side uh which is just ungodly fear and what it produces so if I don't keep my eyes on god if I don't have the fear of the lord governing my mind but instead

I'm looking at the circumstances of life and this event is in my life now and it is fearsome what what do you think would be the consequences in your life what would you do as opposed to being confident and bold in your actions that honor god what what would be some of the actions you think that would come if you are fearful let's just say fearful of man what would you do when you're anxiety because this person is normally having power over my life or whatever it is that he has authority over and so I would be fearful and my my mind starts to not be clear and and focused on what it knows to be good now it is just trying to respond to whatever it is that that person is authority or control over bruce yeah so you try to just work in this in this plane so if I think we had an example

I think bob you brought that up last time so there is some way of keeping your job that is maybe not god honoring not an intake one with integrity you now start contemplating that temptation rather than saying no this is my my fear should be of the lord not fear of just keeping my job and so now my thinking starts to subvert one of the things that I'm going to focus here is on this thing called laziness because the area that we'll as we get into this more maybe in the next time we will see there is there is an there's an ungodly fear that saps the vitality of christians when we as christians have a clear vision of god when god remains first and foremost in our lives then there is a confidence in approaching life with joy irrespective of the circumstances whereas when when

I am dominated by the fear of the fear of man and the circumstances of life I tend to not do what is honoring to god so let me actually just give you a few examples and then we will we will pick this up so if you

I'm not going to go into this text because it's a pretty big one the first one I'm going to look at if you want to take down is in Matthew 25 14 through 30 and this is the parable of the man who went on a journey gave some talents to his servants the three men and then each one comes and says you know

I did this with what you gave me did this with what you gave me and then the last one in verse 24 he received one talent and he came and said

I knew you to be a hard man reaping where you did not sow gathering where you scattered no seed so was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground here here you have what is yours and his master answered you wicked and slothful look at the term slothful servant you knew that I would reap where I had not sowed and gather where you have no seed now there is an ungodly fear that does not employ what

God has given in a godly manner and that because that ungodly fear results in sloth it does not use what

God has given in the means that God has ordained the next one is in first kings 19 3 to 8 and this one is very famous the

Elijah being afraid of after the killing the servants of Baal and there in verse 3 he becomes afraid of the queen and then he ran for his life and in verse 4 and this is basically the issue with lack of confidence that I think

I want us to grapple with he says he asked that he might die saying it is enough now oh lord take away my life for I'm no better than my father's and when he said that when he said you know my my life

I I'm afraid again this not this fear of God but the fear of this this wicked queen

Jezebel he basically says my life is not worth anymore you know the talent

I don't I don't have any I I'm just ready to go back take me away and what he does in verse five is he lay down and slept under a broom tree and then you see the graciousness of God with Elijah in bringing him um rest and restoration when he actually takes him up to the mountain and reveals himself to him but I think um what we want to recognize is in even in these great men of God who were used mightily by God the temptation to lose confidence

I mean if you think of who can have greater confidence than Elijah here he is before the 400 prophets of Baal and God does his mighty miracle and you would think you know this guy can walk more boldly than all of us and yet um when his focus shifted on this wicked queen uh and he let that fear dominate him uh you see how

I will use quote unquote depression we'll talk about it next time um brings him to an unproductive and and a dangerous point in life until the

Lord brings his hand back on him I don't want to stop on this note we'll just take a few more minutes and then we'll continue the next time we meet um now laziness is not the only consequence of God ungodly fear but I'm going to pick that up because I think that's helpful now the contrast to that is for us to consider our position and our calling in Christ so when you want to have a godly uh fear and as opposed to an ungodly fear what are some of the um titles that we have as Christians can you think of some terms that the

Christians are called um when we think of confident living that comes from a godly fear rather than an ungodly fear what does

God call us more than conquerors and that's in Romans 8 37 and uh which is it's a superlative it is you not just conquer those uh circumstances in in a godly way but you are actually excessive and I think in Ephesians you see that like that over and above there is this is not just you meet the demand but you are equipped like that I think the powerball is great it's like much more than what you will ever need for your circumstance what else could you think of you are light in the world and I think you know that's that's again especially if you are in a circumstance of immense darkness and which

Elijah was you know here was this queen who was trying to snuff him out um to recognize that you are actually an agent of God and your light is divine

I mean it's through Christ that you are shining and you are able to speak of the excellencies of Christ even in a time when no one would listen to you so yeah you have the light of God himself in the word and in in your action in your in your lives as you live that in that place a few other examples are like Ephesians 6 11 talks about being a warrior you are not just some well when

I say warrior especially young boys I'm not thinking of you know go get that weapon physical weapon out there is a sense in which we are to engage with those trials that come our way but we are also given everything that we need to equip ourselves to deal with struggles that come for sure as Ephesians 6 talks about the armor of God then the other term is in first Corinthians 9 24 to 27 we are to be athletes we are to work ourselves out to excel to win the prize there is a there is a sense in which when we think of confidence whether the conquerors or the warrior or being an athlete

God has equipped us with everything that we need for life and godliness and what he calls us to in order to live confidently is to make sure that we have the right fear of God rather than the right false fear of man and the and the challenge with counseling here is that many a time we don't recognize where our fears are we normally know that we are anxious normally we know that we are doing these symptoms and the challenge for us when we come to the word is always to go back and say where am

I beginning what is the motivation in my heart that is leading me to the place where I am living unconfidently where I am living in a way that is unproductive and and then to begin there and say you know

I need to get that back so that my eyes are back on Christ and then let that follow through so the truth of God changes my mind and then governs my actions so that my life will be not just confident in terms of my pleasure that I get and the peace

I get but that it will actually be productive and that I will be a light in the place that God places me let me just say this one more and I'll stop because I kind of use the term

I didn't want to use it here because we have more to talk about this when I said depression there's many connotations that it is used of but the one connotation that I'm going to be using here is this

I'm going to use this in the not good term not good sense the not good sense of depression is a cessation of God -given responsibilities so here is

Elijah given a responsibility to do it and he goes and lies down and says you know kill me God I don't want to do because I'm done so when

I come to the point where I'm the fear ungodly fear has dominated my life as opposed to the fear of God and I say

I know I am here is my things that God has called me to do today but I'm going to say no

I'm dropping everything because I'm afraid because I may not know this but I'm afraid of something that is ungodly that would not be good now there are things that lead up to it there are times

I mean nobody here I maybe some of you are going to be living in a super high the whole time you know exuberant and you know completely happy quote -unquote because all of us have our ups and downs there are times when you're going to feel exhilarated and great sometimes you're going to feel like really low and down everybody has blues but the but the issue is how do we let not don't let these ups and downs of this physical life that we live here where we do deal with sin in the flesh get us to the point where we get to be incapable of fulfilling what

God calls us to do and again you know there are times when we sin in this area but when that becomes a pattern that becomes very dangerous and we want to look to the word of God and some of the notes you have that may be helpful for you on your own so you can read it so that not just that we enjoy this life not just that we live confidently and boldly that but we would honor

God with this precious life that he has given us we don't know how long maybe just today maybe the next 20 years but that every moment would be a moment that we would please

God and honor him so let me stop there any questions all right let's pray dear