Sunday Morning Service (Psalm 32)

Psalm 32

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"Hope For The Sinner"  •  12.27.15  •  Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service

Intro

- When Nathan the prophet told David that he was the man deserving to receive the King's death penalty, it was simultaneously his most horrific and most relieving moment.

- Nobody who lives a double life wants to be exposed. But as a righteous, God loving man, David also felt a tremendous sense of relief to be free of the duplicity.

- I'm grateful that we are not left to imagine what went on in David's head during that year, as the Psalm before us encapsulates the experience of a righteous man in sin.

- We will be warned of the dangers of sin and be encouraged by the depth of His grace.

Text

• Psalm 32:1,2 : "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit." : This Psalm is simply "a contemplation" or a meditation of King David which he is turning into a teaching opportunity.

- The word "maskil" signals that it is a Hebrew poem with the purpose of instruction. David wants Israel to know of God's dealing with his sinful condition.

- If he could channel what he had learned into poetic structure, he could reach the hearts of others in similar straits. Perhaps some could avoid the traps that he willingly fell into!

- In this way, the person of God performs a great and vital service to his fellow worshipper by finding a way to share what God has taught them through their various "ups and downs" spiritually.

- David begins with an exclamation, a jubilant declaration that sets the tone for the Psalm. There is a blessing from the Lord awaiting those that experience His favor.

- "Blessed" is an intensified word form expressing full happiness or joy. It is the joy of relief. It is the satisfaction of something arduous completed.

- It is the "can't stop smiling because I have it so good" rush of bliss! One imagines that this sense is intensified given the natural course that would have followed the person in question.

- If I had no hope of being found innocent and were doomed by my own actions, God's action to negate that course would leave me doubly blessed indeed! David had been a transgressor.

- The world is full of trangsressors, those who willfully, disobediently rebel against known law. This is what David had done, as he stepped over the law which forbade adultery and murder.

- In spite of that egregious offense, David proclaims, that the person who has transgressed can be forgiven, a word denoting the relief of the heavy burden of their action.

- Happy is the person whose rebellion is lifted off of their shoulders and carried away from them. The world communicates that their life is easier and the pleasures of sin only birth pleasure.

- That is a lie. Sin, for a believer, pleasureable in the moment, brings a burden that is not easily borne.

- To transgress against the Lord's law and against one's own conscience is ask your mind and spirit to carry a burden that becomes increasingly more heavy by the day!

- There are those who are not transgressors but have found that they are sinners nonetheless. They have a desire to live according to God's rule, but find themselves not living up to the standard.

- In moments of weakness, they give in when they should hold fast or they fail to do what they should do. This is more instinctual than intelligent and it's later revealed to them that they have failed.

- For those who have sinned, acted or carried on an attitude in the heat of a moment know that they have offended God's character. These find that their offence can be concealed from Divine view.

- This is an Old Testament way to consider sin as that is exactly what the sacrifice did. When the blood of the animal was placed upon the Mercy Seat, the sin of the nation was concealed.

- God, instead of seeing the sin, saw the blood and the sinner would live another day! While there was no sacrifice that David could offer, he knew that his sin had been covered by God!

- Next, David tells us that there is a blessing for a person whose iniquity is not imputed to them. The word "iniquity" speaks of a perversion or a crooked bent, in this case, morally.

- When the English used this word, it referred to someone who had committed an act that was unfair to another party. Talk about hitting close to home for David!

- He had been rebellious against the Lord's explicit command. He had sinned, hastily, instinctively adding to his initial lust and adultery by conspiracy to cover his sin and murder Uriah.

- But he had been profoundly unfair and unjust. His evil was a hit below the belt! But how blessed is the man that will not see that iniquity put to their account by God!

- The sense is that God does not put the charge of their nature to their account with Him!

- But what a great blessing is upon the man in whose spirit, his inward person, there is no deceit! In the deepest part of a person, there is nothing fraudulent to be discovered.

- This had been David's experience for a year. To the casual observer, nothing was wrong. In fact, David had been a hero of sorts in the public eye, taking in the military widow.

- But in his soul, his inner man, he was being continually deceptive. What a relief and a blessing then it is when a man is delivered from that state.

- There is nothing to hide or discover! They are whole and completely of one unified nature. Before we continue on, for those who would contemplate sin, think of the inverse reality.

- Those who live in sin ask for a burden to be placed upon them emotionally. They ask to produce something foul before the Lord visually and a spot on their record judicially.

- Finally, there is the way that they live their life hypocritically! All this can be wiped away according to King David, but it was not immediately the case for the Psalmist. Verse 3.

• Psalm 32:3,4 : "When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer." : David's experience within the year between his sin and Nathan's discovery was marked first by silence between he and God.

- This was unnatural to David, who had spent most of his years in open communication with the Lord. David prayers took on a formality and the silence with regard to his sin was deafening.

- The decision not to address his sin didn't change God or the situation. It did however change David and not for the better! As his "silent mode" continued, David physically responded.

- He could sense his bones growing old. The picture is that of an old garment, tattered with age, falling off of him because of his "groaning."

- The word indicates that David internally roared like a lion in distress, as one continually fighting to survive during this season, leaving him exhausted and worn.

- It's difficult to imagine the trauma that is experienced by a person who is just trying not to die every single day! This was David's experience for a year!

- Do you think that he looked this way publically? As the King, there is no doubt that he only presented himself in the best possible light. But when he was alone, he was trapped in despair.

- To make matters worse, he didn't have anyone to vent these things to, so the pressure built up further and further as each day passed.

- Why? He had escaped the consequences of his society, but not the hand of God!

- God continually pressed David to release his hold on himself. With each passing hour, God's hand progressively became heavier upon the King. God did not relent.

- Every moment that passed was a new moment of God's pressing hand upon him, the pressure slowly suffocating him and taking the life right out from him.

- David speaks of his "vitality," the word referring to something made fresh, filled with the appropriate moisture.

- The life that he lived before the Lord was being sucked right out of him and he was as dry as  the hot parched summer ground.

- These conditions were foreign to David, but are the natural realities related to a Christian's experience with sin. This is what a Christian is bound to experience!

- A non-Christian has no clue what this means. They are happy in their sin because that is their natural environment. Not so for the believer. This is descriptive of a complete emotional drain!

- Believers are never meant to experience such things, but there are many who are listening right now who identify, and needlessly so with David's words here.

- God forbids sinful attitudes and actions, rebellious wanderings and giving into our naturally bent ways because they offend His character and will bring more trouble than they are worth.

- When one sees the mental toll that is taken, it's hard to imagine why we one would choose it. What sinful action or attitude could be worth this price?

- You might be tempted to believe that these consequences are punitive. They are not! They are corrective measures instituted by God!

- These mental and even physical consequences are a part of a Christian's life and are meant to drive that person to a proper response to sin.

- God in His mercy will do all that He can to bring His believer back in line!

˚ "The Lord knows that there is that in your heart which would take you back to your old sins, and so he is making them bitter to you; he is burning you, that you may be like the burnt child that dreads the fire; he is letting you see the disease in its very climax, that you may from henceforth avoid the company in which that disease was found; he has taught you the full evil of your heart the full obnoxiousness of sin, in order that from this fay forth you may become a more careful walker, and may the more zealously hate every false way."  Charles Spurgeon

- I believe that is where David eventually arrived. He's now ready to respond in a godly way. He's done hiding or seeking reprieve from his emotional distress. He's ready now to come clean. • Psalm 32:5 : "I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,' and You forgave the iniquity of my sin." : When the mental drain had become too much, David finally resigned. Notice all of the personal pronouns: My sin. My iniquity. My transgression.

- You will never be free until you own what is yours! Perhaps one could say that being caught by Nathan helped the process along and that may be true.

- I'm not one to dismiss such a thing, as that humiliation was certainly a part of what eventually led David to acknowledge his sin to God.

- He had come to know and then made a declaration of his action. He declared along with God, that his action was sin. Sadly, some never get this far.

- They are fine with calling their sin a "mistake," "a poor choice" or "ill-advised behavior."

- Do yourself the favor and call it your own personal "sin" and that against the Lord!

- God does not need the information that David is providing. All things are open to Him. He knows exactly what has been taking place. Rather, it is our need to agree with His assessment!

- David had been concealing his iniquity, but decided not to conceal it any further. He would point out, confess his rebellions to the Lord. Do you notice God's heart in the matter?

- The moment David acknowledges, God forgives! In fact, it is true that God is more willing to forgive than we are to confess! That is God's grace right here in the Old Testament!

- Here is God the Father running to His penitent son as he expects only to be a simple farmhand! Instead, with only a few words out of his mouth, the man is the favored son again!

- Without a single reference to sacrifice or even time expended, God is said to have forgiven a truly penitent man of his heinous sin!

• Psalm 32:6,7 : "For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You in a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near him. You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance." : Because God lifts the burdens, David implores God's people to pray in a timely fashion.

- See that he doesn't say sacrifice! You would expect to see that and it's not there! David tells them to pray and seek this response from the Lord.

- Call on Him while he may be found before the flood waters reach you! I like the rendering from the NLT.

• Psalm 32:6 (NLT) : "Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time, that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment." : You can almost see David saying, "Don't delay another moment! Don't put off being right with the Lord!"

- David is right! Call upon Him even now! He'll deliver you from the flood waters that are coming your way! This is a harrowing concept for us to consider.

- Conviction is God's private, gentle call to a believer. As he or she refuses, they experience what David has laid out for us in verses 3-5. That is the best part of judgment!

- The King seems to indicate here that greater catastrophe lies ahead. You might say, "Would God allow such a thing to take place?" A loving God would!

- It's our perspective that causes us not to understand. The best thing that God can do for a person is afflict them and perhaps even carry them home if they will not be dissuaded otherwise.

- Is this a pleasure? Not at all. But if it issues in their turning to God, then it is the best thing for them! You and I simply pray that they receive the grace to repent before they destroy themselves!

- These are the floodwaters of judgment and yet, when a sinner repents, they find that God is their hiding place! It is a place hidden from view, away from the enemy's gaze.

- While there, God would keep watch over him from distress and would provide a protective circle around him with a shout over him, a song of victory!

- He delivers them out from their self-induced trouble and raises them up to a safe place where they can have security in their God.

• Psalm 32:8,9 : "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you." : When David came into this safe harbor of God's forgiveness, he began to understand the error of his ways and God began to communicate freely with him.

- What does a sinner do after his time of sin? Listen to God's heart captured by David. "I will instruct you." "I will teach you." "I will guide you."

- God promises to give the recovering sinner His Divine insight. He will point out and direct paths before them.

- Imagine yourself freshly returning to His path. At first even an experienced spiritual "veteran" would be disoriented.

- God promises a personal hand in the process, as He gives you relevant insight, pointing out your path in the way that you should go! I love this!

- For every sinner recovering from a time of lapse into sin, there is an appropriate path of recovery. For some, it will seem extreme. For others, there will be minor course corrections.

- For all who experience God's correction, there will be change that is tailor made for each person! His personal touch is further seen in the next phrase, as He guides with His eye.

- The word "guide" could also refer to counsel. The idea is that God watches closely and with the purpose of providing instant, watchful wisdom.

- On the other hand, there is an important distinction. He expects you to remain close enough to Him that you can see His face and discern His thought by looking at His eye!

- Why would God have to say this? Every sinner who gets away from their sinful past eventually begins to believe in their own sufficiency to lead themselves!

- God tells you here that once you have been delivered from sin, that you are to stay close to Him and keep your heart submissive to His plan!

- Unfortunately more know what it's like to be a stubborn animal who can't see beyond their immediate desire! God wants His person to come near, to attentively listen and heed His commands.

• Psalm 32:10,11 : "Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!" : For those who are bent on wickedness, not merely those who indulge in it from time to time, there are multiplied, varied sorrows to experience.

- David is saying, "If what I experienced as a righteous man is horrible, imagine the person without the hope of reconciling with God!

- Don't let the world fool you! Their reward is their best day on Earth and that day is full of activity meant to suppress their Savior's call!

- There simply isn't a limit to their suffering and frankly, if they remain in their wicked state, there will be no end to their suffering either!

- The righteous man, the one who trusts in the Lord however will receive mercy. The word "mercy" may better be translated as God's goodness or faithfulness.

- That goodness of God will encamp around them! Be glad. That's the expression of blessing. Rejoice and shout for joy!

Conclusion

- If you have never known the reality of David's foray into sin, never know it. This Psalm is your warning. If you know the reality of David's sin, never return to it! This Psalm is your encouragement!

- If you think that sin is inconsequential. Think again! This Psalm is your education! If you think that the sinner in your life can never be different, think clearly!

- The God who forgave David still has the power and the desire to forgive. He stands ever ready, especially as His Son has riches to spare for the humble hearts that call upon Him.