Happiness

What would it take you to be happy were honest all of us probably have a list in Psalm 32 King David is searching for happiness.

After having made some terrible choices today on Truth for Life. Alastair Bragg reveals some surprising keys to happiness that David discovered part of a new series called the missing piece happy is he who is transgressions are forgiven.

Sins are covered. Happy is the man whose iniquity.

The Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. But 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 sat. As in the heat of summer.

Then I acknowledge my sin to you, and did not cover-up my iniquity.

I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore let everyone who is godly, pray to you while you may be found. Surely, when the mighty waters rise. They will not reach him.

You are my hiding place, you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance and then God speaks to the psalmist.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle are they will not come to you.

Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in rejoice in the Lord and be glad you righteous saying all you who are upright in heart. This sign begins as do a number of signs with the word which comes 26 times in the Psalter, the same word with which the whole book of Psalms opens up, namely the word blessed or happy happy is actually the more evocative translation and the better translation for that is another word in Hebrew for blessed very contemporary notion happiness. In fact, it is a timeless notion and it is true no matter where we go in the world no matter what language we may attempt to speak, we will discover people who, if surveyed, will quickly respond that one of their great designs and desires in life is simply that they might be happy. Augustine spent the first part of his life in on on Ronald commitment to indulgence, drove his mother completely nuts. She went to priest after priest asking the priest to fix her son and priest after priest said Monica I can fix them. You can fix it. All you can do is pray that God will fix and that he will read the Bible and meet God and What Ave., Augustine exactly that and he emerges from his haze and he says all God, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.

Now here's my question. Do you think Augustine was right. Do you believe that Augustine was right. Do you believe what Augustine believe this because I want to tell you that the basis for Augustine's statement is to be found in this book, and indeed essentially in the opening two verses of this sound, you will notice to that honesty is a vital die. Mention of this discovery, you need to start see that at the end of verse two. Happy is the man who sin the Lord is not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.

The person is not lying to himself are lying to anybody else that you cannot deceive yourself and enjoy genuine happiness because deceit and happiness don't sleep in the same bed but he says when I kept silent, my bones wasted away when I deceive myself when I concealed things.

When I refused to come out into the open and the knowledge what really was true. My life was a complete disaster. He says in Psalm 103 01 of the other sons. He says you know I was.

I would like a sparrow lonely on the rooftop of the building. It was like a scarecrow and a melon patch. He was a disgraceful disastrous deceitful's, but he's one is all the happiness in the first two verses we see the Bible calls us to be as honest about ourselves as the Bible is honest about ourselves and the problem for many of his is that were dishonest about ourselves and therefore we don't like the honesty of the Bible and by the honesty of the Bible is a very uncomfortable experience. You may not necessarily find that these two verses at first strike you as anywhere related to happiness or tall indeed. You may look at this and say this is a phenomenal oxymoron to me, using the word happiness in the context of transgression and sin, and in equity. Surely it is no help to me on the road to happiness.

To be reminded of what I'm really like well I think this out with me because that's exactly what the verses do and therefore that's what we have to discover three words are used here.

I want to point them out to you because they all have different aspects of the human predicament. The first word is transgression. What is the problem that we face will we are transgressors or weak trespass we go where we shouldn't go.

The word speaks of a positive offense that are double yellow lines and say you must not park here at any point during day or night and you pulling you park your car there, you're a trespasser you're a transgressor for the Bible says is that in relationship to the law of God, his double yellow lines as it relates to loving him and having no idolatry in our hearts and no covetousness and no theft and no malice, no adultery, and so on. We have by our individual decisions parked on guards yellow lines and we are therefore transgressors.

The second word is sin familiar with this little three letter word.

Most of us try to avoid it. We don't like the sound of it, and we think that is actually just a Christian neurosis is a thing that Christians used to try and explain things away. That's an interesting idea demands, thoughtfulness, but sin is a negative transgression is a positive, sin is missing the mark.

Failure to attain to an objective or an ideal. Most of his awareness of ideals and objectives for ourselves standards for ourselves. Again, if we are honest, we would have to admit that we can't even live up to our own standards, let alone live up to the standard that God is said we missed the mark. We fall short. What sin is is is is missing God's basket consistently. He says make a free-throw and we try and we try and we try and we just disputed ourselves with started growing we become miserable.

We decide that were not going to show ourselves up again will remove the hook.

That way no one will see that we are consistently missing the third word is the word iniquity again a picture from sports may help us get this if you seen crown bowls and they have that little white ball that they're trying to roll with the bowls to and no matter how hard they try to pull them straight. They know that it is absolutely impossible. And that is because there is an inherent bias in the bowl. Therefore, you have to ball it outward to bring it in and that's exactly the word for iniquity in equity, moral perversity and internal bias. The corruption of our natures.

I say again here is quite surprising is that that he starts off happy, happy, and then immediately introduces these three aspects of the reason he is able to address them is because the predicament is more than matched by the cure. The diagnosis is absolutely matched by the cure that is offered. See you would not want your daughter to lie to you and all that allying physician will do is provide as a momentary feeling of elation we go where assessed.

He tells were fine. We walk out with a spring in her step and put the keys in our ignition and drive away. But if the person is a liar. They have done is a great disservice. Far better it would have been a lot more painful for them to have been honest about the diagnosis allowing is then to say, well at least I know what my predicament is and perhaps now we can turn our energies towards a cure and dissolution, the great physician never tells lies and actually the great physician never has to say what some physicians will inevitably say I'm sorry. There is nothing more that can be done if you've been trying to deal with the fact of your trespasses and your unfilled baskets, your internal bias and you've been going places where eventually you know there is no answer there, why wouldn't you consider what said here.

I think you would to follow as the threefold predicament is addressed by a threefold cure. Happy is he whose transgressions are forgiven, the word for forgiven means lifted or the word remains means staying that is removed as standard is removed, you're a drycleaner with treasures and you weren't playing golf and have not all of the insights because you're such a hacker and and in you say the man if you could please get rid of the stains on the inside of these treasures. It will be a tremendous encouragement to me and the followers says just making sure that he doesn't disappoint you.

In the end he says well I'm not sure I can guarantee it but I'll see what I can do and so that's our best hope is that she in the way you're trying to deal with the stain of the transgressions in your life going to places and going to people who tell you I there's no way I can guarantee it but I'll see what I can do. Let me suggest you come here Eileen Park site. I mean here because there is a phenomenal happiness in those whose burdens are lifted and who stains or remove the second word he uses is covered. Blessed and happy is the one whose sins are covered.

The ideas not covering are hiding something that is still present and unresolved.

The way you may hack hiding something in your Gary's. That's not the word that is used here is another guard covers it over hang the sheet over it and just makes it sound as if it's all gone.

Know the word that is used here is the reverse of the staining word he he removes the stain and he blots out the transgression. He blots out the transgression so that it is absolutely impossible to see the handwriting because the blood is so significant and so deep you could not see any of the writing. All the things that were against me all the things that I did wrong. All of my sin and all of my ugliness all that stuff. He blots out he blots it out. That's the basis of happiness and are making that are presented in Isaiah 4325. I am he who blots out your transgressions and thirdly, happy is the man whose sin.

The Lord does not count against him. In other words, not only does he cleanse us and cover us when he cancels the dead against us cancels the dead against us. What we have here is actually the doctrine of justification by faith whose sin. The Lord does not credit to him. Genesis 15 when there are six we get the first instance of this in relationship to Abram. Genesis 15 six Abram believed the Lord and the Lord credited it to him as righteousness. Happy is the man whose sin the Lord is not count against him doesn't say happy is the individual who sin the Lord is not count. It says, whose sin the Lord is not count against him. Why, because he counts it against his son. That's the significance of Jesus dying in the place of sinners because God is holy, he must count sin, because he is just he must punish sin, while I am a transgressor. I am sinful I am iniquitous what possible hope do I have only in this that he does not count our sins against us because he counts our sins against him know if you're still awake. You may find yourself saying, how does this work for David. In the Old Testament because after all, Dave is a long way away from Jesus dying on the cross and if you read your Bible at all you seniors worked in the Old Testament. I don't know what was going on there and since I know some of you are probably asking that question. I want to give you the answer to it and to do so by reading to you from my favorite Old Testament scholars and up and a friend and mentor Alec Matina and in his book look to the rock. He points something out and I want you to listen carefully to this in the Bible truth is cumulative for while.

What is first revealed needs.

The completion which only a further revelation will bring yet. The first Revelation is indispensable as an eternal word of God.

An essential contribution to the whole fabric of revealed truth is I didn't get any letter talk that's okay because he's about to illustrated.

There are many places he says where we see this cumulative principal at work in the Old Testament, and nowhere more obviously soul then in the question of sacrifice. If you read your Old Testament you find yourself say what were these people doing with their they are offering the sacrifices after all the sacrifices we know could never take away sin. So what was happening. When they offer the sacrifice.

How do they know they were forgiven.

Listen, at the risk of seeming over simple Lenny presented in this race is midtier father has just returned from the temple after presenting his sin offering as prescribed in the book of Leviticus, he comes back into the house and the dialogue goes as follows.

Why did you go to the temple today.

Father says I I wanted to make a sin offering because I needed the Lord's forgiveness and have you been forgiven all yes how do you know because I saw the goat die in my place but how do you know what was dying in your place because I laid my hand on its head and appointed it to be my substitute. Why was it your substitute. Well, this is what the Lord told us to do.

He taught us that he wants us to offer a sacrifice for sin and that when we lay our hand on the animals head becomes our substitute. But how do you really know that when the animal died. Your sins were forgiven because the Lord promised says midtier this simple piece of imagination is no more than a conversational spelling out of Leviticus 17, all true religion must come to rest on a veritable divine revelation.

He told us to do and all the benefits of true religion come to the worship on the ground of believing the promises of God.

We could even dare to extend the conversation one step further and listen to what one of the son says and what the father replies. The sun then having listen to this dialogue says to his dad really dad what you're saying is this you believe the promise of God, you could say that your justified by faith.

Well, says the dead is not an expression I've ever used.

But yes, that's the truth of the matter, justification by faith. I must tell Paul that when I see I know, intends to write something along those lines is a think about back out into the community tomorrow and tell people that you are reading Psalm 32 verses one and two, and it confronted meeting you with the fact that you're a transgressor that you missed the mark, and that your morally perverse, but you also discovered that God has made provision for our transgression for our sin for our iniquity. He cleanse his eyes he covers is over with a robe of righteousness, and he cancels all the debt that is against the and our friends all say to his and how do you know that's true and what is our only answer because he said it is no different.

Seven centuries before Christ, or 2000 years after Christ's happiness is to be found in the living God that relationship with the living God is grounded in forgiveness of forgiveness which Paul writes about in Romans four, because what is he do to illustrate the principle he quotes the very verses here from Sam 32 and he makes it clear that Abraham is a classic Old Testament illustration of this truth and he makes are just the most wonderful and clear explication of in chapter 1 and in verse 18 and following he has pointed out the human predicament that God has given man over to the consequences of their sin has verse 24 of Romans chapter 1 therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchange the truth of God for like they worsened and served created things rather than the creator and so on.

In other was the reason for the mass is because God gave us over to the consequences of our sin, but because of the kind of God. He is he in turn gave up his son for the consequences of ours and until a man or a woman understands the first preposition to the second preposition means not, I can tell you all day and all day long by his death upon the cross, Jesus cleanses, covers, and cancel sin but until the Holy Spirit works within your heart and mind and confront you with the fact of your transgression with the reality of your sin with the nature of your internal bias in the fact of what Jesus has done for us remains entirely irrelevant to us.

By then we better stop there. Come back to this true and lasting happiness comes only when we find real forgiveness.

There is no other substitute you been listening to Alistair Begg Truth for Life. Today's teaching gives us a clear picture of how Jesus forgives our transgressions, he came to wash away our sin, but I think all of us at times struggle to overcome past mistakes to feel as if the slate has really been washed clean, even though we've already asked Jesus to renew us, we may still be weighed down by the burden of guilt is Alister just taught that can leave any of us discouraged.

This is why we have selected the book gentle and lowly, to supplement our current study, gentle and lowly explores the very heart of Christ and his desire to forgive matter how many times we fall this book about Jesus heart for sinners, you'll discover that Jesus came to seek and to save.

In fact, he loved us to say and gentle and lowly pinks are vivid picture of a Savior who has endless compassion for all who seek him, searching for forgiveness. Request your copy today when you give a financial gift to Truth for Life. You can donate using the mobile app by tapping on the book image or go to Truth for Life.org/donate also get by calling us at 888-588-7884 Bob Lapine thanks for joining us. King David clearly had some dark secrets that were eating away at him tomorrow on Truth for Life will discover how such hidden sentence can be cured. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life for the Learning is for Living