GOOD NEWS FOR THE GUILTY
Psalm 32
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, the novelist who created the master detective, Sherlock Holmes, enjoyed a practical joke at other people’s expense. He sent identical telegrams to twelve of his friends. The telegrams were anonymous and simply said: “All has been discovered. Flee at once.” Within twenty-four hours, all twelve men had fled the country.
Is there some unconfessed sin in your life that has put you on the run from your guilty conscious? If so, I have good news. However, I must first give you the bad news: You can run, but you cannot hide from God. David, the author of this psalm, learned this the hard way. In 2 Samuel 11, David was at the prime of his life and the height of his powers. Foolishly, he sent his armies out to war, as he relaxed at home. David was secure in his military strength. But his spiritual weakness left him vulnerable to temptation when from his balcony his saw a beautiful woman bathing on her rooftop. David committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of his soldier, Uriah. This began a freefall that took David from adultery to conspiracy to murder. For more than a year, David lived in self-deception, thinking that he had gotten away with something.
David finally hit rock bottom when God confronted him through the prophet Nathan. In 2 Samuel 12:13 David confesses: “I have sinned against the Lord.” This simple confession is fully expressed in Psalm 51, where David prays: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” Psalm 32 is sequel to Psalm 51. For that reason, it is often categorized as a penitential psalm. But Psalm 32 is not a prayer of confession. It is a song of praise to God for the blessing of forgiveness. Psalm 32 is good news for the guilty. I repeat: The bad news is that you can run but you cannot hide from God. The good news is that you can run to God and hind in God. God is ready, willing, and able to give you another chance, a fresh start, and a new beginning. This is the good news for both lost sinners and saved sinners: By the sovereign grace of God, sin can be forgiven and sin can be avoided.
I. SIN CAN BE FORGIVEN.
The story is told in Spain of a father’s strained relations with his teenage son who had ran away. He was determined to get his son back. But after all of his efforts failed, he finally placed an ad in the local Madrid newspaper. The ad read: “Dear, Paco, meet me in front of the newspaper office at noon. All is forgiven. I love you. Your father. And it is said that the next day at noon some 800 teenagers named Paco congregated in front of the newspaper office, all seeking the forgiving love of their fathers.
Maybe you have a guilty conscious that troubles you to set things right with some family member, friend, or loved-one. More importantly, maybe you have a guilty conscious that troubles you to set things right with God. I stand to tell you that God loves you and no matter what you have done, your sin can be forgiven. David testifies to this in the first stanza of Psalm 32.
A. THE BLESSING OF CONFESSED SIN
Psalm 32 is the second psalm that begins with a blessing. The first is Psalm 1: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1 blesses the one who travels the right path and does not allow the temptation to sin to cause him to stray away. Psalm 32 blesses the one who has come to a fork in the road and has chosen the wrong path. Yet at some point you turned around and came back to God, only to discover that he had not left you. He was still where you left him, waiting to give you another chance. That’s what it means to be blessed.
If this is not a blessing that excites your heart and mind and soul, you have not come to grips with the sinfulness of your sin. David had. Note the four terms he uses in verses 1-2 to describe his sin. First of all, it is transgression – willful rebellion against the revealed will of God. It s when you know the right thing to do, but you essentially say, “I don’t care. I’m going to do what I want to do.” David says, “I’m guilty of that.” Likewise, it is sin – to miss the mark or fail to reach the goal. It is a sports term that refers to the archer who carefully shoots but misses the bulls-eye. It is those times when you try to do right but fall short of what is pleasing to God. David says, “I’m also guilty of that.” Furthermore, it is iniquity, which refers to that which is bent or twisted. “Transgression” and “sin” describe our sinful ways. “Iniquity” describes our sinful nature. It is the inclinations of our fallen nature that result in sinful thoughts, words, and deeds. David was guilty of all of this. Even worse, verse 2 indicates David was also guilty of deceit, during a period in which he would not honest with God about his sin.
David was a front-running candidate for divine judgment. But what he deserved was not what he received. His transgression was forgiven, with the unbearable burden of guilt being lifted off and rolled away. His sins were covered, with all of its ugliness hidden under divine atonement. The Lord did not count his iniquity against him, like a creditor who graciously rights off the debt you could never repay and calling off his collectors. So David sings, “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” Is this your testimony? Are you really blessed? Have your transgression been forgiven, your sin covered, and your iniquity charged to the account of our sin-bearing substitute, Jesus Christ. Can you sing with H.G. SPAFFORD? –
MY SIN – O THE BLISS OF THIS GLORIOUS THOUGHT!
MY SIN, NOT IN PART, BUT THE WHOLE,
IS NAILED TO THE CROSS, AND I BEAR IT NO MORE
PRAISE THE LORD, PRAISE THE LORD, O MY SOUL!
B. THE BONDAGE OF CONCEALED SIN
In the first stanza, David stands on a mountain peak and rejoices in the joy of being made right with God. In this second stanza, David looks down into the valley from whence he had come and remembers the reality of sin’s bondage. Verse 3 says, “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.” David recalls the year or so between his sin with Bathsheba and his confrontation with Nathan. He describes that time candidly and directly: “I kept silent.” David refused to be honest with God, thinking he had gotten away with his wicked acts. During this period, David’s “bones wasted away.” He started getting before his time He started “groaning all day long,” as his inner turmoil struggled for expression. This period of silence affected David physically, emotionally, and psychologically. I cannot explain the severe and painful consequences of sin David describes here. But this deep experience issues an important warning. If you don’t deal with your guilt; then your guilt will deal with you.
Verse 3 tells about the reality of sin’s bondage. Verse 4 speaks of the reason behind sin’s bondage: “For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.” This is an ANTHROPOMORPHISM, which describes God in physical terms. God is a Spirit and does not have hands as we do. But David describes God in physical terms to make it clear that God will not let you get away with sin. Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” Could that be why you cannot seem to get ahead in life? Could it be that you are reaping the bitter fruit of the wicked seeds you have planted? Could it be because God’s hand is at work against you, so that your vitality is being sapped from you like the heat of summer parching the ground?
Well, there’s good news. You can be released from sin’s bondage. David shows us the key in verse 5: “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And you forgave the iniquity of my sin.” Divine forgiveness requires personal confession. Proverbs 28:13 says, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” To say that God is faithful to forgive means that you don’t have to wonder how God is going to respond when you confess your sins to him. The Lord can be trusted to forgive if you confess your sins to him. That’s what God did for David. God forgave David as soon as he confessed. No delay. No time to think it over. No probationary period. In fact, verse 5 says that as soon as David determined to confess, God forgave him. This is how God will embrace you if you will acknowledge, confess, and repent of your sin. God is more anxious to forgive than you are to confess.
II. SIN CAN BE AVOIDED.
PORTIA NELSON wrote an essay entitled, Autobiography in Five Short Chapters. It reads: Chapter 1: I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost. I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find my way out. Chapter 2: I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I am in the same place, but it isn’t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out. Chapter 3: I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in. it’s a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately. Chapter 4: I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it. Chapter 5: I walk down another street.
Am I talking to anyone here who is tired of falling for the same old stuff? I have good news for you: Sin can be avoided. You can walk down another street. You can choose another path. You can go another way. Proverbs 6:27-28 says: “Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?” It is foolish to put your hand in the fire and then pray for strength to resist the heat, protection from burns, and deliverance from scars. Just keep your hands out of the fire! The best way to deal with guilt is not to do what is wrong in the first place. If we avoid sin, we avoid guilt. That’s the point David makes in the second half of Psalm 32. In Psalm 51:12-13, David prayed, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you.” David fulfills that vow here. As David shifts from testifying about forgiveness to teaching about godliness, he gives us three instructions for avoiding sin.
A. LOOK TO GOD FOR REFUGE.
Verses 6 says, “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.” After learning from his failed attempt to hide from God, David teaches how godly people respond when they mess up. In the process, he drops a bomb on us: Godly people mess up! This may be a revelation for many of us who mistakenly equate godliness with perfection. But the two are not synonymous. No one is perfect – except the Lord Jesus Christ. So godliness is not about the absence of sin. It is about your attitude toward sin. Godly people have the same attitude toward sin that God has. They hate it – even their own.
So when godly people sin, they do not live in deceit, play the hypocrite, or try to hide it from God. They pray to God while he may be found. Godly know that there is a time when God can be found and a time when God cannot be found. But they don not know when that time is when God cannot be found. And they don’t want to know. So when they sin, they don not waste any time before they rush to God prayer. Isaiah 55:6-7 says, “Seek the Lord while me may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
In verse 6 David counsels the godly to call on the Lord while he may be found. And he promises that God will be a refuge so that the floodwaters will not overtake you. This does not mean that godly people will be exempt from trouble. It means that they will be preserved in the midst of trouble. Verse 7 tells us why: “You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.” From whom did David need a hiding place? In light of the context of this psalm, the only right answer is God himself. Verses 3-4 tell us that David suffered physically, emotionally, and spiritually because God’s hand was heavy upon him. But now he teaches that if you pray to God while he may be found, the God of the heavy hand will become the God of the helping hand. He will hide you from his own wrath. He will preserve you from trouble. He will surround you with shouts of deliverance.
Is God your hiding place? Is he your preservation from trouble? Do you have any songs of deliverance? Because God holy, just, and righteous, all sin must be punished. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We who live on this side of the cross know that God’s hiding place is not actually a place but a person: THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. And every sin will either be punished in hell or pardoned in Christ. You can trust your own goodness and be a deserving victim of the floodwaters of God’s holy wrath. Or you can run to the cross and find a hiding place in the divine nature, virgin birth, impeccable life, atoning death, glorious resurrection, heavenly priesthood, and immanent return of the Lord Jesus.
A Sunday school teacher was teaching her class about how the eyes of the Lord are in every place. And she asked follow up questions to see if her children understood. She asked, “Is there anything God cannot see?” To her surprise, a little girl raised her hand. “Do,” inquired the surprised teacher, “Do you know something that all-seeing God cannot see?” The little girl replied, “Yes, ma’am, I know one thing God can’t see. God can’t see my sin when it is covered by the blood of Jesus.” That little had good theology, for God indeed counts as righteous all those who are covered by the precious blood of the Righteous One who is our Advocate, the Lord Jesus Christ.
THERE IS A FOUNTAIN FILLED WITH BLOOD,
DRAWN FROM EMMANUEL’S VEINS.
SINNERS PLUNGE BENEATH THAT FLOOD,
LOSE ALL THE GUILTY STAINS.
B. LOOK TO GOD FOR GUIDANCE.
Verse 8 says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.” Notice the connection between godliness in the previous stanza and guidance in this stanza. The two are inseparable. Psalm 139:23-24 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” Notice how the prayer for guidance comes after David asked the Lord to deal with his heart. This divine order applies to us. Only when God is your hiding place from sin’s penalty can he lead you away from sin’s presence.
Here’s why: God’s guidance is personal. He says, “I will do it.” God’s guidance is assured. He says, “I will do it.” God’s guidance is wise. He says, “I will instruct you and teach you.” God’s guidance is right. He says, “…in the way you should go.” And God’s guidance is unfailing: “I will guide you with my eye on you.” This statement is often read to mean that we are to stay focused on the Lord at all times. But David does not call us to keep our eyes on God. He promises that God will keep his eye on us. God will watch over you. God doesn’t write out directions for you figure out on your own, he keeps his eye on you to make sure you make it safely to the destination.
I TRUST IN GOD WHEREVER I MAY BE
UPON THE LAND OR ON THE ROLLING SEA
FOR, COME WHAT MAY, FROM DAY TO DAY
MY HEAVENLY FATHER WATCHES OVER ME.
Verse 8 is a promise of divine guidance. But verse 9 is a warning against sinful rebellion: “Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.” In this verse, David warns us, “Don’t be like me!” When David saw Bathsheba bathing on that rooftop, he became like a wild horse galloping uncontrollably to sin. Afterward, he was like a stubborn mule constantly kicking against God’s call to repentance. So he warns us not to be wild horse or a stubborn mule so that God has to discipline you with bit and bridle.
Be warned: God knows how to put you in your place. He knows how to humble you. He knows how to break your rebellion, even if he has to hurt you to do it. But the good news is that your place is close to him. Verse 9 says, “Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.” The bit and bridle are not meant to get you to do right, finished the task, or go to a certain destination. The goal is to get you to stay near. That’s where God want you. Does your life lack a sense of divine guidance? It could be that you’re trying to get God to lead you to a place, person, or possession, while God is trying to lead you closer to him. You need to stop bucking and kicking against God today and pray:
JUST A CLOSER WALK WITH THEE
GRANT IT JESUS IS YOU PLEASE
DAILY WALKING CLOSE TO THEE
LET IT BE, DEAR LORD, LET IT BE.
C. LOOK TO GOD FOR JOY.
Verse 10 presents two ways to live: “Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.” Here are the options. You can live a wicked life of sin, deceit, and rebellion. But the result will be “many sorrows.” That is the danger of buying the devils lies. All the pleasure is given up front. But it will cost you later on. But there is another option. You can trust in the Lord. Proverbs 3:5-6 says: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” If you trust in the Lord, steadfast love will surround you. The NKJV calls it “mercy.” The NASB calls it “lovingkindness.” The NIV calls it “unfailing love.” The HCSB calls it “faithful love.” The Hebrew word is hesed. It is covenantal relationship. It is loyal love. It means that God does not change his mind about you when you change your mind about him. In Lamentations 3:22-23, Jeremiah sings: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
What do you do when you are surrounded by mercy? Verse 11 says, “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” If the Lord has surrounded you with his mercy you are commanded to rejoice. Psalms 51:15 says, “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.” Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say Rejoice.” And 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
I’ll close when I tell you of REV. W. STILLMAN MARTIN and his wife Cavilla who regularly visited a family, the Doolittles, who were going through a touch time. Mrs. Doolittle was an invalid, who had been confined to her sick bed for twenty years. And Mr. Doolittle was a partial invalid who had to run the family business from a wheelchair. Yet they were joyful people. Cavilla asked what their secret was. Mrs. Doolittle said, “I was reading the Bible and saw that a sparrow doesn’t fall without God knowing about it. So I just told myself if he watches over the sparrow, I know that he watches over me. That reply lodged in Cavilla’s mind and heart. Later, those words came back to Cavilla who wrote:
WHY SHOULD I FEEL DISCOURAGED?
WHY SHOULD THE SHADOWS COME?
WHY SHOULD MY HEART BE LONELY?
AND LONG FOR HEAVEN AND HOME?
WHEN JESUS IS MY PORTION MY CONSTANT FRIEND IS HE.
HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW AND I KNOW HE WATCHES ME.
