Text: Psalm 32
Topic: How to receive the peace of God

• Illustration: At the end of World War II, many Japanese soldiers would not surrender because they were afraid. .

• If you are at war with a stronger opponent, if you have created enmity with a more powerful foe, it is natural to fear.
• When we fear, it's natural to hide.
• Tradition says David wrote Psalm 32 after his great sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah.
• He went into hiding, trying to cover himself from God.
  • Illustration: When Dallas Willard's two-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter, Larissa, wanted to get away with something bad, she told her grandma: "Don't look at me, Nana. Okay?"
  • Illustration: Arthurs shares a number of stories of people who sin after saying to God: Don't look at me, God. Okay?
• Sinners try to cover themselves, using various methods, tools, tricks, and devices.
• David used deception.
• Peter tried to ignore that he had denied Jesus.
• We spend 12 hours a day at the office to occupy ourselves, or we spend 4 hours a night on the Internet to fill our minds.
• We also cover our sin with attempts at justification.
• Scripture teaches that when we try to cover our own sins, God's hand falls heavy upon us.
• In verse 3 and 4, David describes the physiological response our bodies have to a troubled conscience.
  • Illustration: Researchers at Temple University have found that it takes more effort from the human brain to lie than to tell the truth.

• We can try to cover our own sins, or we can confess as David did.
• We must always confess to God: I've done wrong. I'm sorry. I repent.
• Since we have also wronged each other, we confess to our brother or sister when appropriate.
  • Illustration: After blowing up at his sons over a mistake they had made, D. L. Moody confessed his sorrow to them.
• When we confess, God extends his shalom to us—his peace, fullness, health, prosperity, and blessing.
• The passive voice of verses 1 and 2 tells us that we cannot cover ourselves; we must be covered by Christ.
• How blessed—how happy, how fortunate, how full of peace—is the one whose sins are laid upon Christ's shoulders.
• Isaiah says, "Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them as white as snow."

• If you are at war with a more powerful opponent—if you have created enmity—then you fear and hide; but what if the war is over?
• We must come out of hiding and receive the peace of God.