Is Something Wrong With Me?, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. Your enemy says you're a thief. You're a failure. You're a liar. You're an adulterer. You're untrustworthy. Jesus shouts louder.

Yes, and such were some of you. But now you are wise. You are justified. You are sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. The way to get rid of internal voices of guilt is not to ignore them. It's not to argue with them. It is to drown them out with the louder voices of the gospel. Thanks for joining us today on Summit Life with Pastor J.D. Greer. As always, I'm your host, Molly Vidovich.

Where does that come from? That's our subject today on Summit Life as Pastor J.D. continues our teaching from Psalms chapter 32 and a message he titled, Is Something Wrong With Me? As always, you can catch up on previous messages for free by visiting J.D.

Greer.com. But for now, grab your Bible and here's Pastor J.D. to read something that connects very closely to that question. David is going to open up Psalm 32 with the same word that opened up Psalm 1 from last weekend. If you remember, it's the word happy. Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven.

Blessed is the Hebrew ashrei. It literally means happy. Happy is the one whose sin is forgiven, whose sin and whose transgressions are covered. In this Psalm, he's going to connect happiness with forgiveness. He's going to say that there is, in fact, something wrong with you and that feeling of shame or uneasiness has a grain of truth in it, even if it's been distorted. And I'll explain that in a moment. And that in order to be happy, you have to deal with that feeling.

But you're not going to deal with it in the way that you typically think that you should. So let's keep reading verse three. For when I kept silent, when I tried to ignore it, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. Verse four, for day and night, your hand was heavy upon me.

My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah. Selah is a word that scholars say probably means stop and think about this. The psalmist in verse three begins to look upward and he connects this feeling of unhappiness, this sense of condemnation to God.

And he is correct in doing that. You see, when Adam and Eve first sinned, the first emotion they felt was shame over their nakedness. That feeling of soul nakedness is now ingrained in our souls and it goes back to our relationship with God. Not all shame is legitimate. Sometimes shame comes from suffering or abuse.

That has nothing to do with you. But we have a sense of soul judgment that comes from our separation from God and the realization that it connects to God as a gift from God. Not all guilt and not all shame is bad. Guilt can be God's messenger showing you that something's not right. And that's what this psalmist is experiencing. Maybe you are finally at a place now where you have for the first time in your life begun to see what your selfish actions have caused in the lives of others. So the psalmist goes on.

The first sign the light of God is coming into you is that day and night you feel like your hand is heavy on me and your strength is dried up. The psalmist goes on, verse 5, so I acknowledge my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity. I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and then you forgave the iniquity of my sin, Selah. He's telling us, begin to tell us how to be happy.

He's going to give us five ways here. Number one, to find happiness, he said, you've got to be honest about your sin. You've got to be honest about your sin.

I didn't cover my sin. That's a clear reference back to the Garden of Eden because that's what they had done in the Garden of Eden. They had id. The first thing that God did when he came to them was he called them out from hiding. He made them uncover themselves. And after they had come out from hiding and uncovered themselves, it was then that he dealt with their sin. And he did that by killing an animal and making them coverings from the animal's skin, giving them a picture of how he would deal with their sin in the future. In order for God to cover their sin, you see, they had to first uncover it. That's an important lesson.

In fact, here's how I encourage you to write that down. Cover your sin and God will expose it. Expose your sin and God will cover it, which is closely related to number two. To find happiness, you must own your sin. You've got to own your sin. Four times in verse five, he uses the word my. My sin, my iniquity, my transgressions.

Number three, to find happiness, you must learn to hate your sin and not just its consequences. The word used for confess and the Septuagint, which was the Greek translation of the Old Testament used during the time of Jesus. The word used for confess implies something beyond what our English word confess means. Confess in Greek means that you see things from the perspective of the one that you've wronged. Not only are you admitting that you've done wrong, you are changing your perspective to the perspective of the person that you wronged. You see, in English, you can confess something and not really feel any differently about it. You can just admit that you did that. The classic expression of this is, if I've offended you, then I'm sorry.

You know as well as I do. That means I'm not really sorry for what I did. I'm sorry that you're upset about it. That's not repentance.

That is a cheap, selfish attempt at peacemaking. Confess in this psalm means more than that. It means now, God, I see things from your perspective in confessing.

I acknowledge that what I've done is wrong. Many people confess their sin and turn from it because the consequences get painful. They get caught. They're embarrassed.

They pay a penalty. Life becomes painful. When your attitude, your hard attitude toward the sin itself has not changed, you have not really confessed. Number four, to find happiness, you must actually change direction.

To find happiness, you've got to actually change direction. You look down in verses 10 and 11, you'll see the psalmist has changed. He's talking about a new trust in God. He's talking about a new joy he has in God, a new surrender in God. Where there has been no change, there's been no real confession. And just so you guys know, listen, where there is no change with the confession, that confession wearies God. Some of you got just enough distorted, perverted church culture where you feel like after you've done something wrong that you can go to church and kind of make it up to God just by being here.

Right? That wearies God. I mean, every year this time we got students, I know of students who get drunk on Saturday night and then show up on Sunday morning with a hangover. And while you're sitting here, you're like, I hate Sundays. I feel so guilty. And God in heaven is sitting up here going, I hate Sundays too because you honor me with your lips, but your hearts are far from me. Listen, you are always welcome here regardless of what last night was.

You always are. But I need you to understand that what God wants is not your attendance. What he wants is your repentance. And so sitting here and sitting in his auditorium is not currying favor with God. What he wants is not a change of your rear end on Sunday morning. What he wants is a change of your heart toward him. Now, I want to clarify, when I say that repentance and confession mean change, I do not mean that you cease to sin, that you never sin again.

That certainly would not be my experience. One of my favorite verses in the Old Testament about this Proverbs 24 16, a righteous man, a righteous man falls seven times and gets back up again. Seven in the Hebrew mind, the number seven was the number of completion. So when somebody did something seven times, it's like that's all they did. I've told you, imagine walking behind a guy at the mall who fell seven times. So time number one, he falls like, I fell. Number two, you're pulling out your phone and trying to get a little, you know, like a little snapshot of it.

Number three, you're posting it on YouTube so your friends can see it. If he falls four, five, six, seven times, you're feeling bad about doing that because clearly the guy's got a problem. You're calling an ambulance. The righteous man falls morally seven times. But every single time he gets back up looking in God's direction. You see, confession does not mean perfection, but it does mean a new direction. So I'm trying to show you that there are many of you that will, yes, you will confess and you will continue to struggle with sin. That is different than those of you that confess in a way of simply saying, God, I'm just going to tell you this. Hopefully it'll make you happier that I'm telling you.

But I have no intention at all of changing what I'm doing in the future. That is the confession that wearies God. Number five, to find happiness, you must hide in God.

To find happiness, you must hide in God. See, verse seven, you are a hiding place for me. You preserve me from trouble. You surround me with shouts of deliverance.

See, let's stop and think about that. You are a hiding place for me. That's, again, a clear reference back to the Garden of Eden when God slew the animal and took the skin and covered their nakedness, giving them a picture of what of what Jesus would one day do for them on Calvary. When his body was torn open like that animals and his blood would now cover our sin.

We would hide in God. I love that imagery, by the way. You surround me with shouts of deliverance. You see, when Jesus died on a cross, it says right before he died with a loud voice, he lifted up his head and with a loud voice said, it is finished. It's paid.

That's a shout of deliverance he's surrounding us with. When somebody, if somebody you love was underwater in a car payment. Right. And the bank came to repo that car and you went down to the bank because you love this person and you paid not only what they were behind in their payments, you paid off the whole car. They owe twenty thousand dollars on it. You just paid it all off. Three weeks later, you hear the bank is back at their house trying to repossess that car.

What do you do? You go down to where they're repossessing that car. And with a loud voice, you say, you can't touch that car because I paid for it. And this debt is no longer outstanding.

You cannot put a finger on that car. God did not simply forget about our sin. He did not brush it aside. He defeated it.

He paid it in full with a loud voice. He said, it is finished. You can't touch it any longer. My sin. Oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to a cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.

Oh, my soul. You see, we have voices inside and outside of us condemning us for our sin. Jesus does not deny that what they're saying is true.

A lot of times what these accusing voices are saying are 100 percent true. He just cries out with a louder voice over them. I paid their sin debt and you got no more claim against them. First John says that Jesus is our advocate before the throne of God. Advocate means lawyer.

Typically what a lawyer does before a judge is he argues your innocence. Or he argues that what you did was not that bad, that we're extenuating circumstances. Our advocate, our lawyer before God is doing no such thing. He is not arguing our innocence because we are not innocent. He is arguing the worthiness of his sacrifice in our place, saying, God, you cannot punish them for that sin because you punish me.

It would be unjust for you to require two punishments for the same sin. So I stand in their place. You're listening to Summit Life with J.D. Greer. We hope you've been enjoying today's teaching and that it's been an encouragement in your daily walk with God. Before we continue, I wanted to remind you about a daily resource that can also help you stay connected to God's word throughout the week. Our daily email devotionals written by Pastor J.D. offer insightful reflections on the Bible and practical applications for your life. Each day's devotional corresponds to our current teaching series here on the program.

So you can stay plugged into the themes and ideas we explore here, even if you miss a day. To sign up, simply visit J.D. Greer dot com slash resources and enter your email address. Thank you for your financial support that makes this resource and the rest of Summit Life possible. It's because of friends like you that we are able to proclaim the gospel each day to a dying world. Now, let's get back to today's teaching with Pastor J.D.

Greer here on Summit Life. The way to get rid of the internal voices of guilt is not to ignore them. It's not to minimize them.

It's not to argue with them. It is to drown them out with the louder shouts of the gospel. So your enemy comes to you and says, You messed up. You're no good. There's no hope for you now. Jesus shouts with a louder voice.

No, there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. Your enemy says, You have no future. You have no future.

Jesus shouts. Oh, but I know the plans that I have for you. Plans to give you a future and a hope.

Plans to use you for good and not for evil. Your enemy says, You're a thief. You're a failure. You're a liar. You're an adulterer. You're untrustworthy. Jesus shouts louder.

Yes, and such were some of you. But now you are wise. You are justified. You are sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. The way to get rid of internal voices of guilt is not to ignore them. It's not to argue with them.

It is to drown them out with the louder voices of the gospel. You say, Well, Pastor, well, I get all this. I know this. I know that I'm forgiven by God. I still don't feel forgiven.

I can't forgive myself. And I know that when you say that you feel so spiritual and so sanctimonious because you got a higher standard than God. You know, it's just like I get that. But when you say that, what you're showing is that somebody else's voice in your heart is louder than God's voice. Maybe it's your own voice of your own standard, a perfection you wanted to be.

Maybe it's, you know, your father or somebody that was important to you telling you weren't good enough. You've got to let God's voice become louder than their voices. You've got to let his opinion become weightier than their opinion so that when he says, You're my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

That's all you ever need to hear. Let me close this or begin to close this by showing you two things that the psalmist does as he ends this song. The first is a warning that he gives to us. The second is a test, a warning and then a test.

Here's the warning. Verse six. Let the godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found, because surely in the rest of great waters, you will not be able to reach him. The psalmist is telling you, seek God while he can be found, because there's a time coming when the waters of judgment will overcome you. And in that day, you will not be able to call upon God for mercy. The waters of judgment will come. That time is not now, though, because right now Christ is here and Christ has mercy for all who will receive it.

By the way, Psalm 32 is where I get that illustration I use with you. It comes from Jonathan Edwards who talks about the judgment of God being like a mighty river held up by a dam that suddenly splits down the middle and you're standing near that dam in a valley and you see this wall of water rushing at you several hundred feet high going to sweep you away. You cannot run from it. You cannot escape to your right or to your left.

Your death is certain. Edwards said when right in front of your feet suddenly the ground shakes and splits open and a great chasm opens up and all that water dumps into that chasm and not a drop touches you. He said this is what Jesus did. The judgment of God was coming like a rushing water toward us. He stepped in the way. He took the cup of God's wrath. He drank it to the dregs.

He turns over and with a loud voice says, it is finished. And right now you got a chance to have your sin paid for by Jesus. But if you ignore that, if you reject that, then one day you will come where that will not be available and you will bear the judgment of God for your sin upon yourself. What that means, listen, is that heavy hand the psalmist talks about. That voice that speaks in you.

All those things. They're not there to punish you or pay you back. They're there to bring you back.

They're there to wake you up. God is not trying right now in your life to beat you to death. He's trying to raise you to life. He says seek mercy while it may be found because it is in Christ.

In fact, maybe you jot this down. You can only hide from God by hiding in God. You can only hide from God by hiding in God. And right now Jesus opens up his side.

Rock of ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Hide from God by hiding in God. And here's your test.

I would think of it like a litmus test. The psalmist explains after you found the happiness of forgiveness, two things are going to happen to you. Number one, you're going to start feeling love for God and you're going to start feeling compassion for others.

Love for God. Verse 11, you'll see the psalmist talks about his hope and joy in God. He is glad in the Lord. Jesus said that those who are forgiven much, watch this, love much. And so those who don't love God much is because they have little to no concept of what they've been forgiven of. That means for those of you who don't love God much, you're not really that exuberant in worship. You don't ever really weep when you think about the gospel. You don't have passionate love for God.

The answer to that is not work up love in your heart. The answer is to have God open your eyes to how great a forgiveness he has given you, how close you were to hell when he saved you, how awesome his mercy was when he extended it to you. Charles Spurgeon said it this way, when we think too lightly of sin, we will think too lightly of the Savior. But the one who has stood before his God convicted and condemned with the rope around his neck. This is the man who will weep for joy when he is pardoned. This is the man who will hate the evil that has been forgiven him. And this is the man who will live for the honor of the redeemer by whose blood he has been cleansed. It is knowing the love of God for you that produces love for God in you.

Why? Verse 11, verse 10, the psalmist says, steadfast love surrounds me. It's when steadfast love surrounds me that steadfast love for God grows in me. So his heart toward God has changed.

Has yours? The psalmist has become also compassionate toward other people. In verses 8 through 11, the psalmist, you see, begins to address other people. Verses 1 through 7, he's talking to God. Verses 8 through 11, he starts talking to others. And what he's doing is he's counseling people who have gone through the same guilt and iniquity that he has. And he is pleading with them because once you have the sense of how much you've been forgiven of, you become one of the most compassionate, merciful people people have ever met. Those who have experienced deep mercy become genuinely forgiving people. Are you like that?

Here's a few questions to ask yourself. Are you like that in your marriage? Are you just a person very quick to forgive, realizing that any time your spouse sins against you, you feel that rope that used to be around your neck and you remember when Jesus took it off? And so it's hard for you to hold somebody else in judgment because you remember when you were forgiven. Are you a safe person for other people to be vulnerable with their weaknesses around? If you've had experience of deep forgiveness, you will be.

Why? Because you'll remember every time you see weakness and faults in somebody else, you'll remember when the rope was around your neck and you'll remember Jesus taking it off. And you won't be the one to rush to judgment. You'll be the one that says, hey, I've got mercy.

Let me show you how to find mercy too. Are you the kind that can admit your faults to other people? Can you admit your flaws freely?

And by the way, when I say that, I don't mean like, you know, the classic Christian. Like every guy is like, well, you're struggling with pride and lust. Just sort of something. It's like a badge of honor. I struggle with pride. I struggle with lust. You know, I mean like really being vulnerable. Saying, yeah, I'm a messed up human being. Can you be vulnerable with others? If you're hiding places, God, you can be. But see, if you're the kind who has to maintain the illusion that you're perfect in order for you to feel good, then no, you cannot be vulnerable because you won't have any way to feel good about yourself.

Right? Or how about this one? Do you take criticism well? When other people criticize you, do you take it well? If you've had an experience of deep forgiveness, you will.

Why? You won't mind other people pointing out your sin because you're very aware of their sins. You're not trying to hide behind a mask of your goodness. God's mercy is your hiding place. You'll find you even start boasting about your faults so that other people can find the same hiding place for their souls that you found for yours.

The psalmist asked, do you want to be happy? It's not found where you think it's going to be found. It's going to be found when you're honest about your sin. It's going to be found when you own your sin.

It's going to be found when you hide in God. Let me tell you, listen, forgiveness leads to happiness. Listen, because forgiveness reconnects you to God. Forgiveness doesn't bring happiness by making you guilt-free. Forgiveness only brings happiness because it brings you back to God. It's not being guilt-free that makes you happy.

It's being connected to God that makes you happy. You see, all forgiveness can say is, you may go. Reconciliation says, you may come. The gospel is about reconciliation. Jesus did not say, I died for your sin, you may go. He said, I died for your sin, please come near. And it is when you are reunited to God, that's when the fullness of joy begins to fill your heart.

Have you found that happiness? Forgiveness is just a means to an end. The end is not guilt-free, the end is connected to God.

There are basically two errors that I find people fall into with this. The first one, and perhaps the majority problem, is that a number of us have just never really seen how bad we are. This is why we've never embraced with tears the forgiveness that Christ offers us. And all I can do, all I can do is pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to how far God had to reach to save you, how great was His mercy in saving you, how close to hell you were, how condemned you actually were in your rebellion against God. I just can pray that God would open your eyes.

There are some of you, though, who do get that sense of judgment. And where you struggle with this is you think you're too bad for God to save you. You think, I know that I'm condemned, but I don't think God could ever really love me and save me. All I can do is pray that God would open your eyes to how wide, how high, how deep, and how long is the love of God for you, how extravagant was His grace in sending Jesus to the cross for you, how sufficient was His sacrifice in paying for your sin, how powerful was His resurrection, ready to fill you with new life, how ready the Holy Spirit stands to fill your life and extend mercy to you if you will simply open your heart and receive Him. I pray that for both groups God will give the spirit of wisdom and revelation because apart from that, there is no hope for you to understand the gospel and true happiness.

The only path to true life and happiness goes through the cross. You're listening to Summit Life and a study in Psalms called Question Everything. Like I mentioned earlier in today's broadcast, there are tons of free resources on jdgrier.com that you can check out, but we're also creating exclusive premium resources each month that we send to our financial supporters and gospel partners.

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Sign up when you go to jdgrier.com. I'm Molly Vitovich. Thanks for being with us this week. Join us next week for biblical answers right here on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.