Summer Psalms #5 - The Psalm for Overcoming
Psalm 32:1-11
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - June 24, 2009
*Jesus Christ wants His followers to be overcomers. God’s Word makes this clear in many places. For example Rom 12:21 tells Christians, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. The original word there is nik-ah’- o. It’s where Nike got the name for their shoes. And this word that we translate “overcome” is found 28 times in the New Testament. You see, God wants His people to be overcomers.
*1 John 5:1-5, is a good example. There John said:
1. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.
2. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.
3. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
4. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith.
5. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
*Through Jesus Christ we can overcome everything the world throws at us. And the reason why is because Jesus has overcome the world! As the Lord said in John 16:33: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” A thousand years earlier, God had already sent Psalm 32 to help us find His victory in life.
1. First: God shows us how to overcome our sins.
*In vs. 1-2, David was a man who had overcome his sins. You can almost hear him sing out in joy, “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 guile.” David was certainly saved. By faith, he was looking ahead to the salvation that God would provide through the Messiah. And now, on the resurrection side of the cross, we know that the only thing that can cover our sins is the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for our sins, and when we receive Him as our Lord and Savior:
-Our sins are forgiven.
-Our record is cleared.
-The righteousness of Jesus Christ is put in our account.
-And we are saved!
*David was a saved man. But he was also a sinful man. And there was a time when he tried to cover up his sin before the Lord. David talked about that time in vs. 3-4, and said, “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.”
*Most of us are familiar with the dark story of David’s adultery with Bathsheba and his cover-up conspiracy to murder her husband. Now we could try to take false comfort by saying, “Oh, I’ll never do that.” But that doesn’t get us off the hook. We are all sinners. 1 John 1:8 tells believers, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
*We are all sinners. And the truth is that we are a lot worse than we usually think we are. Every moment that we spend doing something wrong is a wasted moment when we could have been doing something good. Every moment we spend not loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength is a moment in sin. Every moment we spend not loving our neighbor as our self is a moment in sin.
*We are all sinners, and there are many ways to sin. In fact, man is such an expert in sinning that God used 15 different words in the Old Testament to describe our sins. David used 4 of those words in vs. 1&2.
[1] “Transgression:” That’s defiance, rebellion, revolt. “I’m gonna do what I want to do!” -- That’s transgression.
[2] “Sin:” That’s a defect, missing the mark. This is the man who is really trying his best. But he can’t seem to make it. This is the person who walks all the way across the desert, but can’t crawl that last 10 feet to the waterhole.
[3] Then there’s “iniquity:” That’s a distortion -- something warped, bent, crooked, twisted, perverse. It could be sexual, but it could just be a warped outlook on life. Have you ever known anybody with a warped outlook on life?
[4] Finally, there’s “guile:” That’s dishonesty -- lying to others and lying to your self.
*These 4 words cover a lot of ground! And how many of us have never sinned since we got saved? How can we overcome our sins? God’s way is not to cover-up our sins, but to confess them to Him. Listen to David again in vs. 3-5:
3. When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long.
4. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah
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.
*God shows us how to overcome our sins.
2. And how to overcome the storms in our lives.
*There are two keys to overcome our storms, and the first one is: Pray! David tells us in vs. 6: “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.”
*What do you do when the flood of great waters is headed straight toward you? God says: “Pray!” -- And when you do, God is going to take care of you! Of course, you will not always have a protective bubble over your life. David knew about floods:
-In his younger years, on the run from King Saul.
-Losing a baby because of his sin with Bathsheba.
-Then many problems in both his family and in his kingdom.
*But David would tell you that God always made a way to take care of him. Storms will come, but God will take care of us. And prayer always makes a difference. So, don’t panic. -- Pray. And trust God through the troubles.
*This is the 2nd key, and we see it in vs. 7&10, where David said:
7. You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.
10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him.
*Notice that David is looking into the future here. He was trusting in the Lord to take care of him, and so can we. Trust God through your troubles. The Lord wants to be your Hiding Place. Many times He will preserve you from trouble! He will also surround you with His mercy, and with songs of deliverance!
*Many of us can tell of the stormy times in our lives when God took care of us. He surrounded us with His mercy, and gave us a song of deliverance! One of our times was in 1992, when our son, Eric, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The tumor was the size of an orange, and it was only a half inch away from his brain stem. But God made a way for us to go to St. Jude. We had one of the best surgeons in the country. Before the surgery the doctor told us that one big problem would be for him to know the edge of the tumor, because it would be the same color as the normal brain tissue. But when he got in, the tumor was a different color. So a surgery that could have taken 6 to 8 hours only took 4. Eric only spent one night in ICU. One of the ICU nurses told me that most of their patients stayed a month. The tumor was discovered on a Friday, surgery was on Monday, we drove home the following Saturday, and were in church that Sunday morning. On top of everything else, a tumor that should have been malignant wasn’t! Our pediatrician told us that in all of her years of practice, she had never seen an astrocytoma come back benign. But Eric’s was benign!
*God took care of us in many other ways. He surrounded us with His mercy, and gave us a great song of deliverance! -- But God is taking care of us even when the healing doesn’t come, -- even when the storm rages on.
*Tony Wood and Kevin Stokes wrote a song that explains:
-All who sail the sea of faith find out before too long
-How quickly blue skies can grow dark and gentle winds grow strong
-Suddenly fear is like white water pounding on the soul
-Still we sail on knowing that our Lord is in control
*Sometimes He calms the storm
-With a whispered "Peace be still" He can settle any sea
-But it doesn’t mean He will
-Sometimes He holds us close and lets the wind and waves go wild
-Sometimes He calms the storm and other times He calms His child. (1)
*How can we overcome the storms in our lives? Don’t panic, -- Pray. And trust God to take you through your troubles.
3. Next God shows us how to overcome our stubbornness.
*The first key to overcoming stubbornness is to listen to the Lord. There is a remarkable change here in vs. 8. Up to this point David has been talking to the Lord. But in vs. 8, the Lord begins to speak to David. And as He speaks to David, God also speaks to us: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.”
*God is surely willing to speak to us, instruct us, teach us and guide us. But we have to be willing to listen to Him. Listen to the Lord, and then let the Lord lead you. This is what the Lord is trying to do in vs. 8&9. God says:
8. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.
9. 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.
*The Lord is trying to show us here that sometimes we are stubborn enough and foolish enough to head off in our own direction. “You’re stubborn as a mule!” Has anybody ever told you that? -- Were they right? -- Probably.
*We tend to be stubborn. I’ve certainly been there. My dad used to tell me, “You would argue with a telephone pole!” He told me that a lot, -- because I was stubborn as a mule. God says, “Don’t be like that.” You can do terrible harm to yourself and to others.
*In the summer of 1986, two ships collided in the Black Sea off the coast of Ukraine. Hundreds of passengers died as they were thrown into the deep water. News of the disaster was further darkened when an investigation revealed the cause of the accident. It wasn’t a technology problem like a radar or engine malfunction. It wasn’t a weather problem like thick fog. The whole cause was stubbornness.
*Each captain was aware of the other ship’s presence nearby. Both could have steered clear, but according to news reports, neither captain wanted to give way to the other. Each was too proud to yield first. And by the time they came to their senses, it was too late. (2)
*How many people have we hurt by our stubbornness? God says, “Don’t be stubborn.” We need to listen to the Lord, and let Him lead us. Jesus promises to lead us. On the night before He died on the cross, Jesus told His disciples:
12. "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
13. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
14. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. (John 16:12-14)
*God will guide us by His Word and His Spirit, but we have to listen to the Lord, and let Him lead us. That’s how to overcome the stubbornness in our lives.
4. God also shows us how to overcome our sadness.
*We see this in vs. 11: “Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” We will be sad at times, but believers, we can always be glad in the Lord. We can always rejoice in the Lord!
*Maxie Dunnam described the joy of the Lord with these words: “Joy is the banner flying high over the castle of my heart when the King is in residence there.” Maxie also said, “Joy is the gift of the Spirit that becomes a condition of the heart which is confident of its relationship with Christ.” (3)
*That’s the kind of relationship that led David to say, “Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous; And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!”
*Several years ago I met Jan, a bright and joyous lady from south Louisiana. Jan is one of those people who can bare their soul to a stranger in just a few minutes time. She told me about the long struggle she had after losing her first baby in a car accident. It happened when he was only 6-weeks old.
*Jan had six more children, -- but still the pain was there. She even got a degree in theology to try to help her understand why the accident had happened. All of that study did not help her. The only thing that ever helped Jan overcome her sadness was choosing to let go, and find her joy in Jesus.
*No one can help us like Jesus! Let Him help you overcome your sin, your storms, your stubbornness and the sadness in your life.
1. Recorded by Scott Krippayne, written by Tony Wood & Kevin Stokes, 1995 BMG Songs Inc.
2. Adapted from SermonCentral sermon “WHAT MEAN THESE STONES” by Evie Megginson - Josh 4:6-7
3. ChristianGlobe.com sermon “Singing in the Rain” by Maxie Dunnam - John 15:1-17
