The Blessings of Full Confessions

This message is one of the Times Square pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge P.O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas, 75771, or calling 214-963-8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. David says, "...How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile or no deceit." I want to talk to you tonight about the blessing, or blessings, of full confession.

The blessings of full confession. Now, this psalm, as I was reading it this week, moved my soul, deeply moved me to both joy and sorrow. It was during a time of just casual Bible reading, but somehow it just began to grip me.

I've read this many times before, but suddenly it arrested me, it stirred me, it blessed me, and it moved me to tears. And you know, I'm amazed how many of the Old Testament writers, especially in the Psalms, had a vision of the cross when the cross was yet centuries in front of them. David, the author of Psalms 32, had a glimpse of Calvary.

He had a glimpse of the cross, and the power of the blood, and the power of forgiveness that is simply awesome. Now, this psalm was probably written sometime after David's sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, and yet it was not written too soon after it. There apparently was a long period between the sin and the confession, because David, and the reason we believe that is we see that David went through a period that he felt in his soul, he felt in his mind, and even physically in his body, the ugly consequences of sin.

And he covered up that sin, and especially this was someone who was in the light, who had come to the light, and yet he had sinned. David was a haunted man after he seduced the wife of his most loyal soldier, and then he arranged with Joab for the murder of the man himself. And for the best part of a year, David seemed to have put up a bold front, and he tried to act like nothing had happened.

Have you ever noticed in the news, have you ever noticed how politicians, when accused of doing wrong, will suddenly pull a King David? They'll call a press conference, and they'll put up a very brazen front. And they'll say something like, I didn't do anything wrong. I know I'm going to be vindicated.

Translated, it means I didn't do anything different than all the other politicians. Why are they picking on me? And you'll see their colleagues will all be standing there. They'll all be supporting him, you know, grim-faced as well.

And they're probably thinking to themselves, I'm glad the heat's on him, and I'm worried that the heat might be on me, because a lot of them are in the very same position. And so, publicly, David stonewalled it, as we might say. Put on a brazen front.

But behind the scenes, behind closed doors, David was haunted day and night. Psalms 38 and 8, David put it this way, he said, I am benumbed and crushed. I groan because of the agitation of my heart.

Now, the importance of this psalm is seen, among other reasons, in the fact that there are three Selahs in it. You'll notice in verse 4, it ends up, it says Selah. Verse 5, it says Selah.

And verse 7, it says Selah. And Selah means think about that, or give special attention to it. In fact, when I saw that, I realized I need to apologize to these other two pastors, because I've remarked sometimes about, you know, we have different styles of how we want to get your attention if we think we don't have your attention.

And David occasionally will say now, now look at me now. Look this way now. And Bob used to say, are you with me now? And I realize he hasn't been saying that for a while, and I think it's because I picked on him so long that he's not saying that anymore.

But it's scriptural. Every once in a while, it's alright for us pastors to say Selah. Give attention to this.

This is important. Meditate on it. And there are three of them here.

The first one is preceded with this warning. It says, For day and night thy hand was upon me. My vitality was drained away with the fever of the heat of summer.

And then the next one he said, Thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. Selah. And then he said, Thou art my hiding place.

Thou dost preserve me from trouble. Thou dost surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.

And so David in this psalm and in the three Selahs deals with conviction, with confession, and with a confidence that comes as a result of total confession. Coming totally clean before the Lord. And from David's own bitter experience, he sets forth in this wonderful psalm, a sermon in song on the nature of sin.

And what happens when it's concealed. And then what happens when it's confessed. And we're cleansed and that sin is conquered and it's brought out into the open.

And that sin is forgiven and covered. We hear the glorious song of David as a result of that. And that's what I want to talk about tonight.

First of all, the greatest misery that anybody will ever experience is that which comes from unconfessed and concealed sin. Flip, if you will, over to Proverbs, the 28th chapter. Though this would, I could quote it and it would be familiar to many of you.

I want you to look at it. I want you actually to go to it. Proverbs 28, 13.

It says, He who covereth or conceals his transgression will not prosper. But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion or mercy. I recommend that you underline it.

Put it in red. More importantly, put it in your heart. Now, going back to Psalm, go back to Psalm 32 now.

David here talks about four types of offenses against God. And all four of them are sin, but he calls attention in this particular Psalm to the most dangerous and the most subtle of all of those sins. For example, in verse 1, he mentions the word transgression.

Now, transgression is the rebellion or revolt against lawful authority. It's probably the very first thing that you see in a child. You tell a child no and there is something that rises up in the child.

They want to do exactly the opposite. The Bible says rebellion is bound up in the heart of a child. Now, transgression is rebellion against God's authority and doing what is clearly forbidden.

And that's what David did. He transgressed the law. But then David also uses the word sin.

And sin comes from a Hebrew word that means missing the mark or to fall short. And it indicates something missing in one's life, a defect, a coming short of the glory of God. You see, transgression is an offense of breaking the law.

But sin is not living up to the commandment or the requirements of God. And there are sins of transgression and there are sins of omission. For example, to hate your brother or your sister, to hate your brother or sister is to transgress God's law.

But you see, that's not enough. You might say, well, I don't hate my brother, but I don't love him or I don't love her. And to not love someone is to fall short of the glory of God.

In other words, it's not just enough to go along with God's law and not transgress. He wants more than that. And he says we're not to fall short of the glory of God.

And if we do, we sin. And thirdly, David mentions iniquity. And iniquity means a perverseness.

It comes from the word bent or crooked. And man by nature is bent. He's warped in his thinking and in his actions.

And David recognized that not only had he transgressed, not only had he fallen short of the requirements of God, but there was iniquity in his heart. There was a perverseness, a crookedness that would cause him not only to sin in breaking one of the commandments, but even going deeper than that to cover it all over. And there was a perverseness within him.

Now the fourth type of sin is the one David deals with most in this psalm. And that is deception. He said, blessed is the man in whose spirit is no guile.

And guile means deceit or cover up or duplicity or cunning or phoniness, if you please. And this was at the heart of David's sin or what followed his transgressions, what followed his sins and his iniquity. In other words, he transgressed, he sinned, and he had iniquity in his heart.

And then he tried to cover it all up. Deceit means to cloak over, trying to hide. And we are inclined to think that no Christian can practice guile in the presence of God, but that's not so.

It is done. And we do it by arguing God's presence that some evil thing is not evil after all. And so we do it, and especially when we try to make an excuse for that sin.

And that is guile. That is guile. That is deceit.

And King David knew from experience when he writes, he said, blessed is the man in whose spirit is no guile. And tonight, what this message or what David's lesson speaks to me and for this congregation and for you tonight is beware of unconfessed and covered up sin. Now it's bad enough to sin.

It's worse to conceal it and to deceive yourself and to cover up that sin. Do you know we have in the church, we have what I call stealth bombers. This is very interesting.

I saw something in the scripture. Do you know the United States has a secret airplane? It used to be secret. A very, very secret airplane until it crashed out somewhere in the west.

And they got word that our United States is developing a very secret airplane. It's called the stealth bomber, S-T-E-A-L-T-H, stealth bomber. And what it is, is it's made in such a way that it can go, it can deceive the enemy.

It can go through radar and not be detected. And the term stealth means secret or deceptive or to steal secretly. And the purpose of that airplane is to steal its way into the enemy territory and drop a bomb.

In Mark the 14th chapter at verse 1, listen to it. That word stealth is used in the New American Standard. It says, now the Passover and unleavened bread was two days off.

And the chief priest and the scribes were seeking how to seize him by stealth and to kill him. In other words, what the Jews wanted to do, they wanted to be like CIA agents. They wanted to secretly or by craft or deception or by cunning means take Jesus without the notice of the Roman authorities, without due process of law, without going on trial and kill him themselves by stealth.

And you see, we have stealth bombers in the church. People who believe it is possible to continue to live in sin and be undetected and get by the Holy Ghost radar screen. And it can't be done.

Now you can slip through the pastor's radar. You can slip through the church's radar. You can fool the church.

You can fool your friends. You can fool your family. You can fool your wife.

You can fool your mother, your father. You can fool your friends. But you can't fool God.

You can't get through his radar. Isaiah 29, 15 says, you don't need to turn to there. It says, woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the Lord and whose deeds are done in a dark place.

And they say, who knows it? I'm a stealth bomber. I've got a cover up for this. A few verses before it, then the Lord said, because this people draw nigh me with their words and honor me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts from me and their reference for me consists of tradition learned by rote.

Excuse me, their reverence for me consists of tradition learned by rote. Oh, I want to tell you, there is a lot of rote in the church. There's a lot of tradition and a lot of rote.

And let me tell you, there is a danger and tragedy of living a double life. You see, on one hand, to put on a church face, to put on a Christian face and say all the right things and do all the right things and have a tradition by rote because you know the songs, you know how to raise your hands, you know how to put on that church face and do lip service. Yet on the other hand, to live in sin and to conceal it.

That, I don't know any more dangerous position to be in. And by the way, don't say, oh, I wonder who the pastors are thinking about tonight. Everybody, yes.

I read to you Proverbs 28, 13. The next verse says this, don't turn to it. Verse 13 said, he who conceals his transgression will not prosper.

The next one says, how blessed is the man that fears always. But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity or trouble. The stealth bomber was supposed to be secret.

It's been found out now. It's been in the Time Magazine. It's been in New York Times.

They got pictures of it now. It's been found out. Be sure your sin will find you.

You can't stealth God. David in his sin with Bathsheba. And his murder against Uriah admits to four offenses against God.

First, he rebelled, revolted against divine authority. He broke two of the Ten Commandments. Coveting his neighbor's wife, then killing to cover it up.

In doing this, he fell short of God's requirements. These actions revealed the crookedness, the perversity of his heart. But the final offense and the one he addresses primarily in this psalm is called guile or deception.

He had conspired by trickery, by craftiness or phoniness to hide his sin. And when that failed, he acted like nothing happened. Usually the second thing that a sinner does or transgressor does is what David did.

To try to cod and cover up the transgression. The very first thing that Adam and Eve did when they sinned was try to hide. Because you know that the Lord said, Then the Lord called unto the man and said to him, Where are you? Where are you? And the Holy Spirit tonight is calling out here.

No to who? When I prayed for the last two days and I said, God, bring to this meeting tonight the right people. Now David's right, it's for all of us because God wants us to live in full confession. Whenever we transgress against God, He wants us to come clean right away.

But I'm particularly talking tonight if you're David. And if you're hiding behind something. I'm going to ask you tonight, where are you? Are you hiding a secret sin from God? If so, look at the price you'll have to pay.

Next, David relates the consequences. The consequences of unconfessed covered up sin. Look at verse 3. When I kept silent.

When I kept silent. Let me say it again. When I kept silent.

When I covered up. My body wasted away through my groaning all the day long. Oh listen, David knew the misery of unconfessed sin.

It took its toll not only spiritually in separating him from God, but physically, emotionally, and mentally. He was in torment. You see, I picture David who was an outdoorsman.

He was a king, but I believe he was an outdoorsman. He was a soldier. But I picture this physically active, healthy king and soldier spending more and more days at home.

Locking himself into his room. Sleeping late in the morning. Up late at night.

Maybe for days he's not seen. And people say, where's the king? Where is he? Even his daylight hours are spent under spiritual darkness. Because it says that he's groaning all day long.

And you see, sin and your conscience will sap your physical strength. That's the price that you'll pay for covered up sin. Not only that, there often will be outbreak of things in your body.

He said, my bones, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. You know, most psychologists will tell you clearly that half of all physical and emotional problems arise from guilt. Now, those that are non-Christian will call it guilt feelings.

And they try to relieve you of your guilt feelings. But I'm not talking about those kind of psychologists or psychiatrists. Here's what one doctor, a Christian, says who documented the close connection between what he called the sinful activities of the lower nature and many diseases of the physical body that accompanied it.

Here's what he said. No one can appreciate so fully as a doctor the amazing large percentage of human disease traceable to worry, fear, conflict, immorality, dissipation and ignorance and to unwholesome thinking and unclean living. The sincere acceptance of the principles of Christ with respect to the life of mental peace and joy and the life of unselfish thought and clean living would wipe out more than half the difficulties, diseases and sorrows of the human race.

In other words, more than half of the present afflictions of mankind could be prevented by the tremendous power of actually living up to the personal and practical spirit of the real teachings of Christ. Oh, it pays to live clean. Listen, there's enough that our bodies face eating the kind of foods that we eat today and living the kind of society there's enough you're going to have to face physically to not have to add to it by living with unconfessed sin or secret sin in your life.

You'll add to it. This doctor goes on, he says, irrespective of future rewards of the future life he said in addition, it would pay any man or woman to live the Christian life just for the mental and moral rewards it affords them in this present life. Someday man may awaken to the fact that the teachings of Christ are potent and powerful in preventing and curing diseases.

Amen. You see, David knew that long before modern medicine. He knew that, that's what he's saying.

David had once been a healthy, happy man. He was known as a sweet singer of Israel. But the notes went sour.

He hung his harp as it were. His harp was getting rusty. Because there was an inner roaring of the conscience.

There was a flaming fire of conscience that drove him to become a recluse. And in verse 4 he says, day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was drained away with the fever heat of summer.

I know, and these pastors can verify it, I know situations where I personally dealt with people, had to confront them regarding sin. Knew clearly that there was sin. And saw those people either deny it or what we call cop a plea.

You know, they cop to a lesser plea. And don't come totally clean. And I've seen such individuals turn right around and get sick in their body.

Now don't think I'm saying just because you're sick that you've got sin in your life. Because there's some people that think that immediately. I'm not saying that.

But I'm saying David said there's a good possibility that if you cover up sin, it'll eat at you. And he said day and night my spirit was heavy upon me. You know there is a certain Christian leader, he's an author, he's also a pastor.

Who like King David committed the sin of King David. His case was not in the secular news but it was known in the evangelical circles and evangelical press. And this man placed himself under discipline.

Came to confession, he came to a right place before God. He repented, he put himself on the authority of some leaders, some Christian brothers. He stepped aside from ministry for a period of time.

And now has been wonderfully restored back to the pulpit and back to the ministry. He did it right. He did it right.

On a Christian radio show he was asked this question. How did you go about handling the reality of your sin? Listen to what he said. He said to be honest for a period of time I tried to live with a secret.

He said I think for most men and women who get themselves into trouble with a devastating sin. Their first instinct is to cover it up. A lot of men and women in the world are secret carriers.

They're trying to live with a secret of something they've done hoping it will go away. Or that the consequences will not catch up or that some miraculous thing will happen. He said privately they may have renounced what they've done but the secret lives on.

He said frankly I tried to do that for a while and then realized it was impossible. It was too big a thing. He said I lived for months in a private hell.

I cannot describe to you what it's like to go to bed. And to wake up after midnight. And to be sleepless for hours as you implore God to bring you a sense that you're forgiven.

The experience of being forgiven does not come easy. Often it was as if Satan would say I've got a carousel projector here. And I'd like to show you the slides of the kind of man you are.

And who you hurt. And who you betrayed. I would look at the slideshow night after night after night and cry out to God to pull the plug.

That went on for a long period of time. When I was able to confess and here's what he says finally. When I was able to confess the sin to my wife.

We began to help one another. She was relieved to know at least what she was working with. And I was relieved to have someone to talk to.

And he goes on and he talks about the beautiful experience of being restored. And as I read that I just picked that up out of a magazine as I was studying David. And I thought how that parallels David.

He's verifying the very thing that David was talking about. But then David goes on and he goes from concealment to confession. And David finally realizes after all that he's gone through the suffering of all.

That when the prophet Nathan came to him and said thou art the man. He was ready. He was ready.

And look at verse 5. He said I acknowledge my sin to thee. And my iniquity I did not hide. I said I will confess my transgression to the Lord.

And thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. Hallelujah. I believe the second most beautiful words a man or woman can utter.

Apart from the words Jesus I receive you. The second most important words are those of King David. He said I will confess my transgression to the Lord.

Note the determination of David to come to total cleansing. Once he realized the foolishness, the pain, the sorrow, the physical, emotional, psychological pain of covering it up. Once he realized that he said I acknowledge my sin.

He said I do not hide it any longer. I said I will confess. And by so doing David handed the Lord the key to his secret hideout.

He handed him the key to that secret and he said it will be secret no longer. Augustine said this the confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works. There is no salvation without repentance.

And for a Christian who harbors or covers up secret sin. There is no freedom. There is no peace.

Until you come totally clean before the Lord. All the blessing of full confession. The end of side one you may now turn the tape over to side two.

Everything must be brought to Christ. Everything must be brought under the blood. If we say that we have fellowship with him.

And yet walk in the darkness we lie and do not practice the truth. That's John speaking to the church. He's talking to the believers.

He said the Christian who is covering up sin he said don't lie. But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light. We have fellowship with one another.

And the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin. When in fact we have sin.

If we say we have no sin. We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins.

He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You see Psalms 32 reads like 1 John the first chapter.

David experienced what John was talking about. In Psalms 32 every time David mentions an offense against God. God had an answer.

Because he came clean. In verse 1 when he says about transgression. How blessed is though in whose transgression.

He talks about transgression. He said oh it's been forgiven. He talks about sin.

But he said all my sin is covered. He talks about having iniquity. How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity.

You know what that impute means? It means that when anyone went to check David's record. Or his sin on the computer. It did not appear on the screen anymore.

It did not compute anymore. Because God gave it a wipe out hallelujah. He had covered it praise God.

Couldn't be thrown up on the screen. It didn't compute anymore hallelujah. And then he said blessed is the man in whose spirit is no guile.

And tonight I say to you that if you are a secret sin carrier. Or of that matter if you're openly a sin carrier. The lesson King David wants to teach you is this.

If you're ready to come out from under your cloak. And your cover up and your hiding. If you'll give him the key to your secret hideout.

If that moment has come. When you're ready to say God I've hidden this thing long enough. By trying to excuse it.

I want it out of my life. Be merciful to me a sinner. Then at that moment.

Or even right now as I speak in your seat. You can make a decision in your heart. And say I don't want to cover it up anymore.

God is going to come out. He will forgive you right now in your seat. Even before you get to this altar hallelujah.

The moment. The moment you want to bring that to the light. He comes like the flash of a lightning hallelujah.

And he's there. And says I will forgive you. I will forgive you.

No wonder when David was going to write about this. As he opens a psalm. No wonder when he's going to write a psalm about this matter.

That he begins it like this. How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. He's talking about a man or a woman.

Who's carrying a secret. But then David shares something else. David also shares the rewards of total confession.

Look at it in verse 6. There's two things I'll mention. Actually he says three or four things. But I'll just mention two of them.

The blessings. The rewards. Of confession.

Of total confession. Of coming out from underneath your cloak. First of all he said the channel to God is reopened.

His prayers are being heard once again. Look at verse 6. It says therefore. And the therefore goes back to verse 5. When he says I acknowledge my sin to the Lord.

I confess my transgression to the Lord. And because he did that. Verse 6 says therefore.

Let everyone who is godly pray to thee in a time when thou mayest be found. You see this means that there was a time when David could not find God. And that's a sad time.

That was a period of his cover up. Not only was David living through physical pain and emotional distress and mental anguish. It was a time when he felt no contact with God.

You see when he kept silent about his sin. God kept silent. And his prayers were not getting through.

But now he says let everyone who is godly. Let everyone who confesses sin. Pray to thee because in a time of confession you can be found.

The channel was opened up once again. And I want to tell you tonight. If God isn't answering your prayer.

He ain't hiding. God ain't hiding. The cause may be that you're hiding.

Give Jesus the key to your secret hideout. And let him come in and cleanse you of your sin. When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray.

You know the first thing he said when you pray. When you pray say forgive us our trespasses. In other words the very first approach to God is.

God is there anything. Is there anything in my life. I want to come clean.

And then when you confess. Then the door is opened. Then he says alright you can come in boldly to the throne of grace.

Hallelujah. No one who harbors sin can come boldly to the throne of grace. You come limping.

Another result or reward of confessed sin is in verse 8. He says this. He said I will instruct you. And teach you in the way that you should go.

I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Hey listen to me. People who live in the light.

And who do not conceal sin. Hear God's voice often and clearly. I don't know about you.

But I want to be instructed. I need the counsel of the Lord. I need him to teach me in the way that I should go.

That's referring to divine guidance. That's talking about knowing his will for the present for the future. You see unconfessed sin can throw your life into confusion.

Confusion about your job. Confusion about your future. Confusion about marriage.

Confusion about school. Confusion about a career or other personal matters. Because God can instruct you.

I've seen Christians who spun their wills for years. Not having a clear direction for the living in a state of unrest and unhappiness. All because they refuse to deal with present or past sin.

God wasn't leading them anymore. David says don't be that way. Look at verse 9. He said don't be as a horse or as a mule who have no understanding.

Whose trappings include bid and bride or to hold them in check. Otherwise they will not come near to you. In other words don't have to come to confess the hard way.

With all the misery that comes with it. Come readily. David is saying.

He said I didn't have to go through all of this. I went through all this suffering. I went through all this anguish.

Because I was stubborn. All I had to do was confess. You know.

President Ford. President Gerald Ford. Who I have nice pair of couplings from him.

And a nice picture of him. I met him in the White House when he was running for the president. Presidency against Jimmy Carter.

You know why he was defeated? He was defeated because he pardoned Richard Nixon. And American public. You see.

We are not willing to put that behind it. Because he never confessed. He never confessed.

And all the whole situation of Watergate. Could have been over in one week. All he had to do is go before the American public.

And say I sinned. I was wrong and confessed it. That's all he had to do.

But because he was pardoned. When he had not confessed. American people were angry.

At Gerald Ford. And he was not voted into the White House. But you notice something in verse 8. Up to that point.

The language changes in verse 8. Up to this point David is speaking. But in verse 8 it's the language of God talking. It's God talking.

After he acknowledged his sin. And God saying to him now. I will instruct you.

I will teach you. Listen to me. Sheila.

Sheila. You know the sorrow of silence is probably the worst of all. Oh I would hate to live.

And have God not listen to my prayers. Or God not give me direction. To hear no voice in the hour of our greatest need.

Is perhaps the most distressing thing that David suffered. But now that full confession had taken place. God's talking to him again.

He says I will counsel you with my eye upon you. You know when you live in secret sin. And you're like a stealth airplane.

You want to hide from God's radar. But once your soul is right. And once your soul is clean.

And the guile is gone. Then you want his radar. Then you don't want it.

You want his eye on you. And say God watch over me. Protect me.

Warn me. Show me. Keep your eye on me.

And when God sees that you want to come clean. He will instruct you. And he'll keep his radar on you.

Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. To guide you.

To warn you. To lead you through the fog. Or whatever else the radar does.

Go to Philippians the first chapter. And I've got one more verse. One more thing that I want to share with you.

Philippians the first chapter. We see the same thing here. Philippians chapter 1 verses 9 and 10.

Paul now is praying. For the church. And basically he prays.

That they. Will not happen to them what happened to David. And that they will come to the light.

And they will live in total confession. He says I pray that your love may abound more and more. In real knowledge and in all discernment.

So that you may approve the things that are excellent. In order to be sincere. And blameless.

Until the day of Christ. I want to talk in closing just about that word sincere. Because it's an interesting word.

And what I'm addressing tonight is the need. For you and I to be sincere before God. As Paul meant it in this verse.

Now the word sincere today. Is a very diluted word. And we talk about you know if a person is sincere.

Means you know if they have a pious look. Or if they put on you know good outward show. Or whatever you know basically if you're sincere.

They're a good person. But that's really not what sincere means. Paul's prayer to the church.

Is my prayer for you tonight. And that you will be sincere and blameless. Until the day of Christ.

Now the word sincere. Is also translated pure. Or transparent.

Or in other words no phoniness. No dishonesty. The original word or in fact words.

In Greek. Which the translators use to translate sincere or pure. Were from a combination of two Greek words.

Meaning. The sunlight. The sunlight and to judge.

In other words to be sincere or pure. Before God. Meant that Paul is describing something or someone.

Which can stand the judgment of the sun. That's S-U-N. And something when it is held up to the clear light of the sun.

Reveals no phoniness. No flaws. No faults in it.

There's no guile in it. There's no deception in it. Now suppose you would go.

To a little shop here. And want to buy a vase. And you would say.

You would take the vase. And want to go outside. And of course the guard would stop you and say.

What are you doing with that vase? And you might say. I want to see if the vase is sincere or not. You would not get outside with that vase.

You probably would get arrested for shoplifting. But in ancient days. You see that's what they did.

They took vases or cloth outside. To see if it was sincere. In the eastern bazaars or flea markets.

The shops were very small. And they were dark and they were shadowy. And if there was an article that you were buying.

Say a piece of pottery or a piece of cloth or glassware. It might look alright in the dim light. Of that merchants booth.

But the wise buyer would take it out on the street. And would hold it up. And submit it to the judgment of sunlight.

And many a time the clear rays of the sun. Would reveal faults or flaws. That could never be noticed in the shadows of that shop.

And Paul had that in mind. When he said in the original. He used that word.

Which was translated sincere. But what he had in mind. When he spoke of purity of mind and gallousness.

Is a place where nothing is concealed in the shadows. And no sin lurks under the surface. John put it this way.

I've read it to you before. But if we walk in the light. As he himself is in the light.

We have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin. Why? Because we want to walk sincere before the Lord.

We want everything to be held up to the light. And say Lord reveal yourself. And if there's a flaw.

If there's sin. Then I'm going to bring it to you. And when you bring it in full confession.

He says the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you from all sin. And tonight if you're a sin carrier. If you're a secret carrier.

Bring it to the light. And you will experience the blessing of total confession. Go with me again to Psalm 32.

We're going to read the whole Psalm in closing. And I want you to stand to your feet. I want you to take your Bibles stand with me.

We're going to read the whole Psalm tonight. I'm reading from the New American Standard. You may have whatever you have.

How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. Whose sin is covered. How blessed is a man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity.

In whose spirit there is no guile. There is no deceit. There is no phoniness.

There is no stealth. There is no concealment. But when I kept silent about my sin.

My body wasted away through my groaning all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was drained away as with a fever heat of summer.

But he said I couldn't take that anymore. He said I acknowledge my sin to thee. And my iniquity I did not hide any longer.

I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. And thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. Hallelujah.

On the spot at the very moment. Hallelujah. Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to thee in the time when thou mayest be found.

Surely in the flood of great waters they shall not reach him. In other words you can be in the worst situation. It won't touch you.

A wall of fire will be built around you. Thou art my hiding place. Thou dost preserve me from trouble.

Thou didst surround me with the songs of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Don't be like I was. Don't be as the horse or as the mule that have no understanding. Whose trappings includes bid and bridal to hold him in check.

Likewise they will not come to you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked. But he who trusts in the Lord.

Loving kindness shall surround him. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice you righteous ones. In other words you who have confessed.

You who have come to total confession. Rejoice you righteous ones. And shout for joy all you who are upright in heart.

Hallelujah. Thank you Lord. Thank you Jesus.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you Lord.

Thank you Lord. Hallelujah. Lord speak to hearts we pray tonight.

Do a work. Do a work in hearts tonight we pray. In Jesus name.

Amen. They are praising thee. They are praising thee every once in a while.

They are praising thee when everything goes their way. They are praising thee when they come to Times Square Church. No it does not.