No More Hiding

August 9 |No More Hiding| Psalm 32:1-5 

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Open your Bible, if you have one, to Psalm 32. 

Last week we started our Psalms for Summer series in Psalm 139. King David reminded us that God has searched us and that he fully knows us; that God knows the part of you that everybody sees and the part of you nobody sees. He knows all of it, and he is still right there. 

Psalm 32 takes us one step further and asks the question: If God already knows, why are we still hiding? 

In the first couple of years of being married, I would get this weird feeling whenever it was time for me to tell my wife what I was feeling. 

I wasn’t used to doing that. And if I’m honest, that weird feeling was feeling like I was being feminized by sitting down and talking about my feelings. 

I would rather be angry and passive-aggressive than sit down and say, “This is how I feel about what happened.” 

But here’s the fascinating thing: every time I fought through that weird feeling and opened my mouth, the anger that I felt washed away like sand on a rainy day. 

Anybody know what I’m talking about? 

There is something freeing about finally opening your mouth and speaking the truth about what is happening in your heart. Sometimes what we are experiencing loses its power the moment we stop hiding it. 

My anger dissipates the moment I stop hiding my hurt.  

The question to ask then is why do we find it so hard to tell the truth, especially about our sins? 

I think one of the reasons might be shame. Shame tells us that opening our mouths will cost us more than remaining silent. But friends, here’s what I’ve learned, silence has a cost too. 

King David, in Psalm 32, shows us what is waiting on the other side of honesty, on the other side of confession, on the other side of telling the truth.  

He opens up in verse 1-2 with “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” 

On the other side of confession is the joy of forgiveness. On the other side of confession is freedom from shame and guilt. There is a life where you no longer have to keep looking over your shoulder, wondering who will find you out. 

And notice, the blessed person in Psalm 32 is not a person who has never sinned. But the person who committed what David calls transgression, what he calls sin, what he calls iniquity. He is not minimizing what happened or trying to give it a softer name. He calls it what it is.  

It can be easy for us to fall into the trap of looking at those who sin as defective, but the bible calls them blessed and what makes a sinner blessed is not even that they sinned, but what God does with their sin. 

God forgives it. God covers it. God no longer counts it against them. 

Brothers and Sisters, that is freedom! 

But David adds one more thing at the end of verse 2 that’s important to catch. He says, “in whose spirit there is no deceit.” In whose spirit there is no deception. 

The blessed person who has sinned and has had his sin covered by God, has stopped pretending. They have stopped explaining their sin away. They stopped acting like it wasn’t a big deal. They are honest about where they have fallen short. 

The road toward experiencing the joy and blessing of forgiveness starts with honesty. You cannot experience the freedom of being forgiven while you are still committed to pretending there is nothing to forgive. 

How many times have you heard people pray for God's grace for success in an endeavor that is against God's desires? How many times have you pretended your sin isn't a big deal so you continue to live in deceit? 

David knew what it felt like to live on both sides. He knew the joy of being forgiven, but he also knew the weight of remaining silent. 

Look at what he says in verse 3 and 4, “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.” 

His mouth was quiet about his sin, but everything else in his life was feeling the weight of his sin. 

He sinned, and rather than confess it, he kept silent. We don’t know why he kept silent. Maybe the shame of confessing was too much because you know sometimes saying what we have done out loud makes it feel real, so we figured it’s better to keep it in. 

Maybe he didn’t think it was that serious. Maybe he convinced himself that enough time had passed and it was no longer a big deal. 

Whatever the reason was, hiding his sin began to cost him. 

His sin weighed on him like a ton of bricks. He was not himself. He felt it in his bones. He felt it in his lack of strength. The hand of God was on him, but it did not feel like a comforting touch. How many of you have been there? How many of you sinned and failed to confess and it weighed on you like a ton of bricks?

Last week in Psalm 139, David described the hand of God holding him. Here, that same hand in Psalm 32 is inflicting pressure. 

Sometimes the love of God will make it difficult for you to remain comfortable with something that is destroying you. 

Church, hear me this morning, the effect of hiding your sin often extends into other areas of your life. It affects your mental state, your relationships, your friendships, your sense of self-worth, and even your relationship with God. 

And here’s the thing, you can’t walk with Jesus intentionally and not feel the effects of unconfessed sin. It bites at you. It tugs at your conscience. And the longer you minimize it, ignore it, and hide it, the worse you feel. 

The silence will drain you just as it did King David. And my hope this morning is that you and I will not stay silent forever.

But the good news is that he did not stay silent forever. 

Look at what happens in verse 5, “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.” 

King David found relief, and his relief came when he opened his mouth. 

He finally told the truth, and God forgave him. 

He says, “I acknowledged my sin.” He called it what it was. He stopped explaining it away. He stopped blaming everybody around him. He stopped waiting for enough time to pass so he could feel better about it. 

Confession is when you stop arguing with God about what happened. 

David says, “I did not cover my iniquity.” I did not act like it wasn't there. I did not reveal parts of it and leave the other hidden. I exposed it all.  

Check this out church, when David covered his sin, he was bound by guilt; he felt it in his bones. But when God covered his sin, he experienced freedom; he experienced joy. If anybody is going to be covering sin, let it be God and not you.

We cover because we are afraid of what will happen if the truth comes out. Will God still love me? Will people still respect me? Will there be consequences I cannot control? 

But look at how quickly verse 5 moves. David says, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.” 

David had to open his mouth, and God forgave him. 

There was no trial period. He confessed and God forgave him. There was no prove it first. He confessed and God forgave him. There was no let me shame you first. He confessed and God forgave him. 

Some of you might still be trying to act like your sins are not real. Others of you might still be walking with your head weight down by disappointment and guilt. 

Hear me this morning, God is ready for you to tell the truth. 

For some of us, telling the truth to God will also mean telling the truth to somebody we trust. 

James 5:16 says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” 

There are some things you will not overcome by yourself because secrecy has been helping them grow. 

You have prayed about it. You even have asked God to forgive you. But nobody in your life knows, so no one can ask you the hard questions. Nobody can pray with you. Nobody can help you when you feel yourself slipping back into the same pattern. 

You may need to talk to your spouse. You may need to talk to a trusted friend. You may need to talk to a pastor, a counselor, or someone mature enough to help you without using your confession against you. 

Bringing your sin into the light breaks the power of secrecy. But opening your mouth alone to people cannot pay for your sin. 

That is why we need Jesus. The Apostle Paul quotes these same words from Psalm 32 in Romans 4. He explained in Romans 4 that David in Psalm 32:1-2 is describing the blessing of the person whom God forgives apart from works. 

We cannot work our way into this forgiveness. 

We cannot serve enough, give enough, pray enough, confess enough, or punish ourselves enough to pay for our sin. 

Confession is how we come into the light and Jesus is the reason there is forgiveness waiting for us. Jesus is the reason opening our mouth guarantees the forgiveness of God.

Jesus carried our sin on the cross. He experienced the judgment our sin deserved. Three days later, he rose from the dead so that you and I could be forgiven and brought into a healthy relationship with God. 

Because of Jesus, God’s word over your life this morning is you can be forgiven. Your sin can be covered. It does not have to be counted against you anymore. You do not have to hide anymore. 

Music Team 

As we wrap up, I want you to think about one question: What have you been hiding? What have you been minimizing? What have you been afraid to say out of your mouth? 

God already knows, and he is still calling you closer. 

Today can be the day you decide to tell the truth. 

If that's you, I want you to take this opportunity to confess to the God who wants to forgive you. Right where you are, close your eyes and open the palms of your hands like you are physically receiving this prayer. 

I want to give you a few quiet moments to talk to God. Just tell him the truth. 

[PAUSE FOR PERSONAL CONFESSION] 

Maybe you are here this morning and you have never placed your trust in Jesus. You have been trying to fix yourself, clean up your life, or become somebody God could accept. 

You can stop running today. 

Jesus knows all of you, and he is ready to forgive you. He is ready to give you a new life. All you need to do is confess that you need him and place your faith in what he did for you when he died and rose from the dead. 

If that is you, I want to pray for you. 

Salvation Prayer 

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Church, you do not have to hide anymore. 

Your sin can be forgiven. 

Your shame does not have to keep controlling your life. 

There is freedom for you in Jesus. 

Closing Prayer