Psalms 32:1-11

“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the one    whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit. 3 When I kept silent,     my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. 5 Then I acknowledged 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. 6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them. 7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. 9 Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. 10 Many are the woes of the wicked,     but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him. 11 Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!”

After telling us about the happiness of forgiveness David now reminds us what happens when we refuse to get real with God. Its here in verses 3-5 that David describes the:

• Heaviness of Sin

David reveals the reality of not getting real with God when in verse 3 he says: “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.” When David tried to hide and ignore his sin he suffered. The word “groaning” actually describes the roar of a wounded animal it’s the same word that Job used in Job 3:24 to describe his agony: “For sighing comes to me instead of food; my groans pour out like water.” Notice that David’s groaning went on all day, this wasn’t just a momentary moaning but an ongoing agony. When we don’t own our sins and we try to fake it not only is there not forgiveness but it breaks our bodies. Instead of happiness, we experience heartache. When we keep our mouths shut, our conscience screams. Bottling up sin brings brokenness not blessing, as Proverbs 28:13 says: “He who conceals his sins does not prosper.” The truth is that we will be as sick as our secrets. But the secret you want most to conceal is the one you most need to reveal. What are you trying to conceal that you need to confess? Not only does sin bring sickness but David reminds us in verse 4 that it brings discipline: “For day and night your hand was heavy upon me.” The word “heavy” here means to grievously afflict. God’s hand can bring blessings but it can also bruise. Why does God discipline His children, because He loves us. Yes it’s true that He loves us just the way we are but He also loves us too much to let us keep living the way we are. As Hebrews 12:10 says, “God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.” David experience God’s discipline day and night, there was no rest from the cries of his conscience and the conviction of the Holy Spirit. In Psalm 38:2-8 David describes this time of discipline as he says:  “For your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down upon me…my bones have no soundness because of my sin. My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly…I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.” Godly guilt is really a graciously gift designed to bring the sinner back to God. Now after describing his spiritual discipline like the drought and distress that comes from the hot summer sun David then writes the word, “Selah”. It is a word that beckons us to pause, like an interlude, causing us to reflect on what has just been said. Like David we too need to pause and ponder the magnitude of the message, that unconfessed sin leads to sickness and suffering. That the cure to our disease and disciple is to confess our sin to God. Confession and admitting our sin is one of our greatest challenges. Many of us would rather fake it than get real. Instead of being specific about our sins we like to be general with God. We might tip our hat to our frailty but rarely do we fall down on our knees in real repentance before God. We are quick to see the sins of others and equally as quick to dismiss our own. Like the two elderly Southern women who were sitting together in the front pew of church listening to the pastor as he preached. After he pointed out that stealing was a sin, they cried Amen preach it pastor. When he condemned lust and lying again they cried Amen, but when he spoke out against gossip they got quiet and one of the women turned to the other and said, “Well, he’s done quit preachin’ now he’s just meddlin.” I wonder what sin shuts you up, oh it’s easy for us to get upset with those who sin differently than we do but how serious do we take our sin? Verse 5 reveals the remedy to our suffering: “Then, I acknowledged 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.” Instead of concealing there was confessing. We need to realize that God will not cover what we’re not willing to uncover. Discipline drove David to come clean, like the prodigal son who grew tired of living with the pigs and sought the Father. Why would you live in the pigsty when you could live in the palace? Like David we need to own our wrong and stop making excuses for sin. To “confess” means to agree with God about your sin. You see until we say, “God, you’re right, it’s wrong,” we haven’t really confessed. David takes personal responsibility by the use of personal pronouns, “my sin, my iniquity, my transgressions.” David repeats the three words for sins that he mentioned in verse 1. He chooses to acknowledge his sin, he does not cover up his iniquity, and he confesses his transgressions. David didn’t deny, minimize, or blame somebody else, he simply calls sin sin. While we may want to blame others, the greatest holdout to our healing is us. As a society we have become soft on sin. We rename sin to make it more polite and palatable. Instead of calling it adultery we call it an affair. Instead of talking about the sin of anger we talk about losing our temper. We get caught up in the compromise of comparison, judging self-based on others sin instead of by what the Savior says. As a result the scale of sin becomes based on how others behave instead of on holiness. But sin is not graded on a curve but on a cross. We try to justify our sin telling ourselves that we deserve to dabble and participate in the pleasure because we work hard. Or we say I’d forgive but I’m waiting until they change. Corrie Ten Boom once said, “The blood of Jesus never cleansed an excuse.” We tolerate sin believing the lie that it’s no big deal that it’s not hurting anybody, but the truth is its killing us. We try to play the blame game telling others that they make us angry, that it’s not our fault. We try to hide our sin behind a self-righteously smug smile like the Pharisee in Luke 18:11: “The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men…’ It’s time for us to get serious about our sin and stop making excused. When it comes to sin we need to name it and claim it. Why, because there is a solution for sin, it’s called forgiveness, but until we acknowledge our sin there will be no forgiveness and no freedom. Instead of just confessing our sins wholesale, it’s time to own up for the specifics. But confession is more than merely informing God that we’ve sinned, it involves a turning away. It’s not just about recognizing our sin it’s about reject it. When we recognize and reject God removes. It’s here at the end of verse 5 after David confesses and comes clean that we see another Selah. Another pause so that we can ponder and we don’t rush past the beauty of repentance and being made right with God. Why not pause right now and specifically confess any sins that you’ve been concealing.

Psalms 32:1-11

“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the one    whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit. 3 When I kept silent,     my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. 5 Then I acknowledged 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. 6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them. 7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. 9 Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. 10 Many are the woes of the wicked,     but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him. 11 Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!”

It’s here in Psalm 32 that we see the fruit of forgiveness, David starts first with the:

• Happiness of Forgiveness

David starts with a declaration of blessing for those whose disobedience has been forgiven. Not only is there joy for those whose sin is put out of sight, but this is in the plural meaning many or multiple joys. This is not a onetime blessing but a bundle of blessing. When you study out the Psalms you discover that this is the second Psalm to begin with the word “blessed.” The first is Psalm 1:1: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.” Blessing comes to those who avoid sin and refuse to follow the rebellious. When coupled with Psalm 32 we discover that not only is there blessing for living right but when we do fail there is also forgiveness and blessing. The bible teaches that even when we blow it we can still be called blessed if we will seek the Fathers forgiveness. The first three verses provide a threefold description of what Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, called the three-headed dog barking at the gates of hell. First is the word “Transgression” which depicts a defiant disobedience toward God. This is our rebellious revolt against God. Second is the word “Sin” which simply means to miss the mark of God’s perfection. This could either be through acts of commission or omission, the things we know we should or shouldn’t do. Third in verse 2 we find what at first appears to be the same word, “sin” but which is actually translated from the word “iniquity,” meaning crooked, or perverse. So why use three different words, to remind us that no matter what kind of sin we fall into we can still be forgiven and fully restored.  Not only does David use a triad of words to talk about sin but also to express the fullness of our forgiveness. He starts with the word “forgiven” meaning to lift and remove a heavy burden by carrying it away. Forgiveness means that our transgressions are taken away. Instead of trudging along trying to carry them we let the Lord lift them from us. Unfortunately many of us are trying to bear our burdens because we have not come clean and confessed them to God and been forgiven. Next is the word “covered” which refers to that which is concealed, meaning our offense is put out of sight. It carries the idea that our sins are so covered that they will never again appear. Third we find the phrase, “not count against” which is where we get the words “reckon” or “impute”. It is the same word that is used in Genesis 15:6, where the Lord counted Abram as righteous because of his faith. God does not count our sins against us and in their place he has imputed the righteousness of Christ. As Romans 4 teaches us, we get Christ’s right standing before God and He gets our sin. Because of Christ’s finished work on the cross we can be forgiven and God erases our sin-debt from the books as if it never happened. Isaiah 43:25 tells us that when God forgives, He chooses to no longer remember our sin: “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” To be forgiven is to be free, no wonder David called those forgiven blessed. Forgiveness isn’t just a feeling it means that we are no longer under the sentence of sin. When the Father forgives it is forgotten never to be brought up again. Unlike the man who was telling his friend about an argument he had with his wife. “Every time we have an argument she gets historical.” The friend corrected him and said, “You mean hysterical, don’t you?” “No, I mean historical, every time we fight she drags up stuff from the past and holds it against me!” We have a father who forgives who will not get “historical” with over our confessed sin. Psalm 103:12 tells us: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” And Micah 7:19 says: “You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” David tells us at the end of verse 2 that God does all this for those in “whose spirit is no deceit.” This does not mean those who have no faults but those who readily admit their sins. It is referring to authenticity that we are not trying to hide our sin but bringing it to Him. The key to the Christian life is repentance; it’s not about pretending to be perfect but recognizing that we’re not and admitting it. We need to be honest and come clean about the fact that we are selfish sinners. Unfortunately many of us are dishonest about our sins, seeing ourselves as primarily good. We are no longer grieved over our transgressions.  Today many Christians either have a casual almost careless approach to sin or they seem to be calloused. When it comes to sin not only have we become reckless but we have ranked it. We see some sins as small and others as substantial, we view some as white while others are black. Some sins are permissible even permitted while others are prohibited. We have respectable sin and rotten sin. Why do we tolerate some while others are taboo? Because we don’t take seriously the teaching of God word that ALL unrighteousness is sin. So let me ask you what sin are you sanctioning? Today we seem to have labeled gluttony, gossip, and greed as good sin and homosexual or home wrecking sin as horrible. Why are we so serious when it comes to labeling sexual sin but soft on social sin? No matter what you want to think, or how you try to rationalize and rank sin, there are no shades of sin with God. Sin is sin; unrighteousness is unrighteousness. We must recognize the rottenness of all sin, we must repent so that it can be removed. Are you settling when it comes to sin? How serious do you take your sin? Why would we be careless when the consequences could be catastrophic? We will never be sin sensitive until we take sin seriously. Why not take some time today to not only get alone with God but get real with Him. Where do you need to come clean, what do you need to confess so that you can experience the blessing of forgiveness and freedom instead of the bondage of sin?