Continue in our Summer Psalms and Proverbs series. We’re in Psalm 32 today, one of the 7 penitential psalms, which means psalms of confession and forgiveness. As we look to the reading of God’s word, if you join with me in prayer.
Father of all mercies, in your word we see your great glory, and your word guides our steps. It gives discernment to those who seek you. We ask then that you would increase our ability to see your light this day, that you would continue to teach us to love your sacred word and to hear of you, our Savior. And Lord God, by your spirit, that our hearts and lives would continue to be changed and transformed by your word revealed to us. And we pray and ask all these things through Christ our great Redeemer.
Amen. Beginning in verse 1: Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit. 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.
I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgression to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found. Surely in the rush of great waters they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule without understanding, which must be curbed with a bit and bridle, or it will not stay with you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but the steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart. The word of the Lord.
What makes for a good life? People often ask that question and wonder. And if you do ask people that question, I doubt very many would say, “Having my sins forgiven.” And if you said that, many would think there was something wrong with you, that they might tell you that you’ve let this religious thing go too far in your life. Our society is not very comfortable with this idea of sin. That implies there’s a standard beyond ourselves.
We don’t like standards imposed on us by others, and currently now, especially from religion. And so when we speak of forgiveness, it’s almost always meant by many as a personal therapy device. In 2005, there was a book on the title, but it also coined this phrase: moralistic therapeutic deism. Quite a mouthful. But the idea is that we think of God as this distant creator who is out there for the purpose of just making us happy.
And so when I forgive someone, it’s for my own personal benefit, sort of my, my therapy. Now there is truth to the benefits of forgiving others, to be sure, but it puts you and I at the center and not God. Our forgiveness of others flows out of the forgiveness that we have received from the Lord for sinning against him. Him. Our greatest problem is to be in right relationship with our God.
Our main need is to have our sins forgiven. For David, confession and repentance was more than just saying, you know, I made some bad decisions, lapse in judgment, momentary indiscretion. No, he recognized that he actually sinned, and his sin was against the holy and righteous God. And because we have been made to be in relationship with this holy God, we must have our sins removed by him if we are to have life and joy in him. People think that they decide what is right and wrong for themselves.
That’s another aspect of our culture we see all around us. And even with that, even when we become the center, we still feel like we don’t measure up to something. Something is still wrong. Even if we rename our guilt as just leftover religious baggage, shame still remains. An inner sense of condemnation that we just can’t get rid of.
And people either think or say to the effect, “What’s wrong with me?” A stain we cannot remove regardless of all the therapy in the world, of all the attempts to shout it down through constant distractions, pleasure-seeking, entertainments. But in Psalm 32, we see that we are blessed to confess. And David says just that: Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed— or you could use the word happy— blessed, happy is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity and whose spirit there is no deceit. David, he uses 3 different words for sin here: transgressions, which speak of of rebelling against God’s authority.
Sin, which is a falling short or not measuring up, a failure to do that. And then iniquity, it speaks of guilt and wrongdoing, of corruption and a twistedness in us. And by using all three of these, David is showing the full range of our human sin. And then he uses three words for God’s remedy. Forgiven.
Literally, our sins are lifted off and covered. The Day of Atonement, the mercy seat, that it is the covering. Our sins have been covered. And then counts not— God does not keep a record against us. The focus of this Psalm is God’s great and all-encompassing mercy, and the result of God’s forgiveness is cleansing and right relationships with him and joy.
In Romans 4, Paul is speaking about Abraham being justified apart from works. And there he said, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. And he said that this isn’t a wage because you can’t count a wage when a gift is given. And the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, By faith is counted as righteous. And then he uses this example from Psalm 32, just as David speaks of the blessing, the one whom God counts righteous apart from works.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. So Paul is tying that together, that this is a work of God’s kindness. It is a gift given confessing our sins, admitting our guilt. Is not something that we do as a righteous work. We don’t get rewarded for it.
It’s an act of God’s grace, mercy, and kindness. And how different that is from the religions of the world. It really is. Christianity stands unique. When you are trying to get some sort of inner cleansing, that inner cleansing, that enlightenment is a work.
It’s something you do. And if you’ve done bad things, you need to do enough good things to outweigh the bad. So that you can be made right. Now Christianity tells us that there’s nothing we can do. Jesus has done it for us.
Now even with that, we all know we can often try and self-attone. But what does that mean? What it means is if I feel bad enough long enough, then I can be forgiven. We do that with God. We do that with one another.
You know, we sort of just show the sad face and we walk around just, “Oh, I’m a terrible person.” And over time you feel like you can kind of pop back up and be normal again. No, we can’t atone for our own sins. This must come from the Lord. Remember, God is not obligated to forgive me. It’s not like God is in the forgiveness business and we drive up to the window and we pay and we order, you know, a side of forgiveness, and God is back there like a fast food worker packaging up our forgiveness and hands it out the window and says, My pleasure.
Come again.
How, how often that we think that way somehow that that’s just what God’s, that’s just God’s business. No, it’s a gift. David did not presume upon the Lord’s mercy as if God owed him forgiveness because he asked for it. There’s no joy in getting what you paid for, only the sense of obligation fulfilled. And that’s not what David is doing here.
He recognizes this as a gift of mercy. And notice that David, he speaks of the effects of sin on himself. In verse 3, 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 by the heat of summer.
For the believer, unconfessed sin makes you miserable. The Holy Spirit in you is grieved. You will and should be agitated until this is corrected. We should not be at peace in our sin.
And what we see here is that the sin does have an effect on our whole being. We are a body-soul combination, and, and sometimes that effect on us for the things we have done in unconfessed sin, it can radically affect us.
So much so that at times it can lead towards physical problems or sickness. We see when Jesus healed a lame man in John chapter 5, after he healed him, he found him. And then Jesus said, see, you’re well, sin no more that nothing worse will happen to you, making an implied connection there. And then at the same time in John 9, when the disciples see a blind man, they go, who sinned, him or his, his parents? And Jesus said, no, no, no.
It was not this man who sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. And so we recognize both of these things are true. And David’s experience was one who had sinned and he felt it through his whole being, recognizing what that did and how it affected every part of him. And we don’t know exactly what sin it was. It, it could be his adultery and, and murder.
It, it could be something else. We’re not sure. Psalm 51. Is his confession there? But whatever it was, it affected all of David.
And then David says, I acknowledge my sin to you. I did not cover up my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord. And you forgave the iniquity of my sin. He confessed it.
This is a great gift that the Lord gives to us. Part of our weekly corporate worship is, is confessing our sins in order to train us for daily confession. We do this as a corporate body, and we are to do this individually. And David goes on, verse 6, therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer, meaning a prayer of confession, at a time when you may be found. Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.
The Lord is merciful. Run to him, confess your sins, and you will not be overtaken by judgment. And notice that line, at a time when You may be found. See, the danger of continuing in sin is that we can harden our hearts beyond remorse. And David is saying, no, don’t be, don’t be like that.
Come with us, a tenderness of conscience. The Lord has convicted you, rush towards him to receive from him his forgiveness. And David says in verse 7, you are a hiding place for me. You preserve me from trouble. You surround me with shouts of deliverance.
David has the refuge of a clean conscience. He is unburdened by his sin. He has been set free. It, it shouldn’t surprise us that we, we read the same language in Colossians 3 from the Apostle Paul. He says, for you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Our lives have been put in the safety deposit box of Christ Jesus. And Paul goes on there. He says, when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you’ll also appear with him in glory. Those who are forgiven, whose lives are hidden and protected in the Lord, have this great promise and assurance. Their life is in Christ.
And as we have received this from the Lord, so we are enabled then to forgive and to instruct others. In verse 8, I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Now there is a question, well, who’s speaking? Is this the divine instruction from the Lord to David, or is this David’s instruction as the one who’s been forgiven is instructing to others?
And it’s hard to tell. Commentators are a bit divided, but the lesson being taught, it’s all through the Lord either way. What is clear is that We take what we have been given and then we give it to others. And then there is a warning. Do not be like a horse or mule without understanding, which must be curbed with a bit and bridle, or will not stay near you.
You know, that expression stubborn as a mule has been around since there were mules. And all of us can be mule-headed. David’s saying that’s not a good thing. It’s not good to be stubborn like this. The invention of the spurs are not because they were a nice looking fashion accessory for boots.
And the Lord at times will use the spurs in us when necessary. And that’s what he did with David. And David’s saying, don’t be like that. Don’t be like those who are slow to repent of their sins. Those who are slow to forgive others when they’ve been sinned against.
Are those who just keep going back to the same sins. He’s saying, don’t be like that. And then he says further, verse 10, many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. A, a great contrast of life to those who are forgiven and those who go their own way. Many sorrows are surrounded by love.
And that is quite a contrast. Don’t be muleheaded. There’s a price to be paid for that. Yield to the Lord’s teaching of wisdom, actually loving the Lord and others and caring for them. And then he ends in verse 11, be glad in the Lord and rejoice, oh righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
That’s a beautiful command. In reality, when you step back and you see all the benefits of the Lord for you, your heart ought to be moved with joy. Those who have been forgiven know gladness. Those whose lives are hidden and protected in the Lord, they rejoice. If you do not know the joy of being forgiven, it’s a heart check to say, do I, do I care about the things of God?
Have I allowed my heart to become hard and embittered? It’s a heart check. And here we know. That my damnable good works have not earned me God’s mercy. And at the same time, God’s mercy given to me is not a sin anytime you want card.
Shall we sin that grace may abound? By no means, Paul tells us. Entirely a gift, and a gift that transforms us, and that brings joy. But how is my sin covered? The entire sacrificial system in the Old Testament pointed the way to the ultimate sacrifice of the Son of God.
There’s always been a cost to forgiveness, and it is the Lord who bore this cost for us. It’s precisely here that Christianity parts ways with all other religions. It’s here that we see the power of God fully on display. In the Gospel of Luke chapter 7, Jesus is invited to a home of Simon the Pharisee. He’s invited to come and to share in a meal.
And there we read that a woman of the city— and it says, who was a sinner, and highlighted was a sinner— I mean, there was something well known about her that was scandalous in the community. This sinful woman found out where Jesus was And it says, she brought an alabaster flask of anointment, and standing behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair and kissed his feet and anointed his feet with this oil. Think about that for a minute. That’s really weird. It ought to make us a little uncomfortable.
If you were watching this, That would just be, what’s happening here? Crying on Jesus’ feet, down on the floor, and wiping them with her hair, anointing with oil. That certainly got everybody’s attention. And as this is happening, Simon is saying to himself, if Jesus were really a prophet, he would’ve known who and what sort of woman this is who’s touching him, for she’s a sinner. And while this is going on in Simon’s head, Jesus says to him, Simon, I have a question for you.
Say it, teacher.
There was a moneylender who forgives two people who had different debts, one 500 days’ wage and one 50 days’ wage. Which of them you think will love him more?
The one, I suppose, who canceled the larger debt. Probably used to giving all the right answers.
You answered correctly.
Now Jesus takes him to his heart. Do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she’s not ceased to kiss my feet.
You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little. And then he says to her, your sins are forgiven. And everyone at the table turns and begins saying among themselves, who is this who forgives sins?
And then he says to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace.
Notice Jesus acknowledges her many sins. Jesus forgiving sins does not mean he overlooks them, but Jesus is the sinless one who identifies with sinners, and Simon, the religious one, is a sinner who overlooks his own sin but not hers. And the tragedy in all of this is what Jesus points out. Simon excludes himself from the body of sinners, and he excludes her from the body of saints.
What should have happened? Simon should have been overjoyed with what he saw. This man who knew the word of God, who knew Psalm 32, he just said, oh my goodness, God’s mercy has come to this poor woman who has been locked in her sins. And this is an amazing day. I got to witness the wonder of the Lord’s mercy firsthand.
Thank you, Jesus, for inviting me to see such a lavish display of your love and your grace.
But Simon saw himself as worthy and this woman as unworthy. And that’s how his religion worked. Good people are blessed by God, bad people are not. I’m good, you’re bad. And he missed the power of God at work, displayed before him.
That Jesus walked them through it. You see, in Simon’s religion, there really is no need of a Savior. There’s no mighty love. There’s no act of divine mercy, no need for the self-sacrifice and the self-giving of God on behalf of his people. Just do better, try harder.
And if you’re struggling, just find somebody who’s worse that you can stand next to and go They’re terrible.
And they’re all astonished at Jesus, to be sure. Who can forgive sins but God alone? Exactly. This is who he is. And more than that, Jesus also changes her status.
She is now among the forgiven. Jesus is inviting Simon and all his guests to recognize this woman in a new way. But it’s also an invitation to view themselves in a new way.
I’m better, she’s worse. No, no, no, Simon, you’re missing the point. You have been the need of just as much forgiveness as her.
Forgiveness always costs someone. It never happens free of charge. To let go of the debt is costly. The greater the debt, the greater the cost that is borne. And Jesus is the one who bore the cost of forgiveness.
Simon saw his sin as little, and her sin as great. He, if he had seen his own sin for what it was, he would have joined the Apostle Paul when Paul says, “I am the chief of sinners.” That’s not hyperbole on Paul’s part. It is the statement of anyone who has true conviction of their sin that you go, “I am the worst one.” And we all are able to say that because we recognize the sin in our own heart, no longer comparing it to somebody else. Heartfelt love and devotion are the fruit of receiving God’s mercy and grace. There’s no room for a cold and sterile faith because we do not serve a cold and sterile God.
That was Simon’s God. But it wasn’t hers. She met Jesus, who lifted her up and brought to her exactly what she needed, and exactly what every one of us needs— to have our sins forgiven, to be reconciled to God, to be brought back into the community of saints because of Jesus identifying with us. And bearing that weight. And that’s why David ends, be glad in the Lord and rejoice, oh righteous, shout for joy, all you upright in heart, saying those who have received this, it should transform your life.
This is what makes it good news. When you are telling people of the good news of Jesus, that your sins are forgiven, your debt has been paid. And for all of those who, who want to just You know, this is just religious mumbo jumbo. This is a baggage of bygone era. They are locked in suffering and struggling in these very same sins, this very same consequences, and they cannot free themselves from it either.
And it is the gospel that liberates us. It brings us freedom because Jesus is the one who bears the cost for his people. And we receive that, and it ought to transform our lives into joyful responses. And therefore, as we go and we’re around other sinners, the foundation of our reconciliation comes because it’s with God first, empowering us and enabling us to do what we could not in our own strength. That is the glory of Jesus.
With us. Let’s pray. Father, indeed we thank you. We, we’re mules, Lord, you know that. Father, we are slow to learn.
And Lord God, we would ask that you would continue in your patience to bring us, Father, to the understanding of who we are and who you have made us to be in Christ Jesus. And Father, I would ask too, if there are any here who who do not know the saving work of your Son, that you, Lord God, would open their eyes to see. Father, that you would bring them to the joy of having their sins washed clean through Jesus. Father, that you would set them free. And Lord God, we also pray that you would keep us from a Pharisaical heart that somehow thinks we deserved your goodness.
Lord, we bless you. For the mercy we have received in your Son. And we pray and ask all of these through him. Amen.
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.