Psalm 32

Psalm 32

July 21

(Note: There is no video available for this message, due to this being an outdoor service.)

Good morning, River City Church! It is good to be with you here in the Park today – just want to give a warm welcome to all of our guests with us this morning. Thank you for being here as well – it’s a beautiful morning, and we’re thankful for the opportunity and the freedom to gather like this. We just want to acknowledge that in many countries around the world, something like this is unheard of. So we want to be grateful today that we can sing and preach and pray here in public. 

Today we are looking at Psalm 32, so if you have a Bible with you – either a paper version or on a device, I would love for you to follow along with me. We obviously don’t have screens this morning to show the scripture on, so it’ll help you stay with me to have it in front of you. 

As you’re finding Psalm 32, ponder a question with me – what is the most relieved you have ever been? What’s the most relieved you’ve ever been? 

I’ll share two stories from my own life – first, when I was a eleven years old, our family had a house fire. And I’ve talked about that before at River City, but this was now 2 years later. It was a Sunday evening, and our family was coming home from Sunday evening church – how many of you grew up going to church Sunday morning and Sunday evening? We had church Sunday evening, and we were leaving for an extended family vacation the next morning. 

Now, I grew up on a farm out in the country, so you could see our house quite a while before you actually got to it. So we were coming home from church, and as we turned down our country road, we could see that lining the road in front of our house were no less than a dozen emergency vehicles. Fire trucks, ambulance, police, red and blue lights flashing in the night sky, and all we could think was – ARE YOU SERIOUS?! Our house was on fire again? And our minds are racing – Did we leave something on the stove? Did we forget to blow out another candle? What on earth? 

We pulled in the driveway, the fire chief met us and said everything was fine. A branch fell out of a tree onto our camper and pulled down the power line that went from the road poles to the house. It had thrown some sparks, and someone driving by called it in. We all breathed a huge sigh of relief. 

The second situation for me was just a few months ago. Jodi was out of town, and it was just my daughters and I at home. The girls were at school late because of play practice, but were usually home by 6pm. But tonight, they were late. It’s 6:30, then 7:00 and I’m wondering where she is. I called her phone, she didn’t answer. I was making supper, and looking out the window toward Highway 1 which runs by my house, I noticed the traffic going very slow. That’s never a good sign out there. 

So I walk out to the end of the driveway, look to the West and there I see why everyone was slowing down. A wrecked car was off on the shoulder of the road with it’s hazards flashing, people are running around on the highway helping each other out, and that was when I realized – Alana drives a small silver four door Ford, and the wrecked car was a small silver four door Ford. My heart jumped into my throat, and I literally froze. 

A minute later, I’m running up the highway expecting to find my daughter in God only knows what kind of condition, and as I get closer I realize it’s a white car not a silver one, it’s not her. A huge sigh of relief flooded over. It was the neighbor, everyone was okay, and Alana soon came home. 

I’m sure we could open the microphone and you could all tell similar stories, probably more dramatic and scary than either of those, with those moments of relief and joy when you find out things are going to be okay after all. 

Here’s how Psalm 32 begins: How joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! 2 How joyful is a person whom the Lord does not charge with iniquity and in whose spirit is no deceit!

Look at those four words used in verses one and two – Transgression, which means rebellion; sin, which would be going astray; iniquity, or twisting the truth; and a spirit of deceit, which tries to hide the transgression, sin and iniquity. Cover it up. Hide it.

And the enemy plays on this all the time, and tries to draw attention to our pride – hey, you don’t need to confess that to anyone. They’ll think less of you. They’ll judge you. They’ll think differently of you – just tuck it away and handle it yourself. And we take the bait – yeah, he’s right. It’s not that big of a deal, God understands, or whatever. 

But David says in verses 3 and 4 that it’s no fun keeping your sin silent. The particular sin that David may be speaking about here in Psalm 32 was adultery and murder, and he kept it hidden for a whole year! And he’s letting us know, man, He felt like his sin ate him up. He even alludes to being physically sick, to the point of having no energy, like he’s been working outside in the blistering heat all day.

And in verse 5 – he couldn’t take it anymore – Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not conceal my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. 

Author AW Tozer said that what comes to mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you, and right here at the end of verse 5 is where his statement really comes into play. A person never repenting, never confessing their sin, or someone who tries to ignore it or cover it up — that all comes down to your view of God. 

Because if you think of God as an angry tyrant, a strict judge with no leniency, or an unforgiving police officer, you will imagine that in verse 5, David found God to be a begrudging old man… I acknowledged my sin, and you said Fine. I forgive you, but get off my lawn. Don’t come back here again. Some of you may have grown up with a dad who treated your sins like that and it’s hard to imagine God being any different. So of course, you will hide your own sin. Of course you’ll do whatever it takes to cover it up, act like it didn’t happen, shift the blame to someone else. 

But look back at verses 1 and 2 – Exclamation points! Joyful delight! Hopefulness! David’s response to being forgiven tells us that going to God with our sin is a lot less like pleading guilty to a judge hoping he’ll give a lighter sentence, but a lot more like coming home to the surprising embrace of a Father who says, I forgive you – I love you. We’ll take care of it together. I’m so thankful you’re home and that you told me. Whatever consequences you will face because of your choices, I’ll help you walk through them. I won’t leave you hanging.

And what David writes is that when he stopped deceiving himself – when he stops trying to cover up his own rebellion, sin and iniquity, but owns it and confesses it, that God covers it! He’s forgiven!

Huge sigh of relief. 

So David gives every one of us this piece of advice in verse 6. Don’t do what I did!  Therefore – because acknowledging my sin to you, and bringing it into the light – confessing my transgressions to the Lord is like coming home – let everyone who is faithful pray to you immediately. As soon as you sin, confess it. Don’t wait around. Don’t hang on to it. Don’t wallow in it. Don’t let it get in your head. Don’t deceive yourself and say it’s okay. Don’t let the enemy start to get a foothold in your mind and in your heart. Stop trying to cover it up, and take it straight to God as soon as you can and let him cover it with his grace. 

There are benefits to this: 

1. 1. When great floodwaters come, they will not reach him. 7 You are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance. If you grew up around church or are familiar with the Bible, anything you read the words “floodwaters” you should be thinking about Noah and the ark full of animals. What was the flood all about? It was about God’s judgment on sinners. Genesis 6 says that the thoughts, attitudes, and mindset of every human on earth was nothing but evil all the time. There was no repentance. No confession. No acknowledgment of God or of sin. Romans 6:23 says the payout for sin is death, so God judged the world with death. 
      1. Notice verse 6 says “when” great flood waters come, not “if”. The NIV talks about rising flood waters, the ESV talks about the rush of flood waters. In other words, judgment for sin is coming. Scripture is very clear — anyone who persists in sin and does not repent is going to face eternal suffering. We’ve seen enough flooding around here in Iowa the past 20-30 years to have a pretty good mental picture of rising waters, and the warning God gives us through David is that we should get our rescue, our ark, in place before it’s too late. 
      2. David says one of the benefits of a life of prayer and confession is that you avoid the judgment that is coming. What did the ark provide for Noah’s family? It was their hiding place. Rescue from trouble. Deliverance from judgment. It hid them, or protected them, from the fury of the flood. I would guess the moment that huge boat started to move a bit and started to float there was a huge sigh of relief and maybe even shouts of joy as Noah and his family said to each other, I think we’re going to be okay. So benefit #1 of repentance is that God’s judgment is diverted. 

• 8 I will instruct you and show you the way to go; with my eye on you, I will give counsel. The second reason we have for confessing sin immediately is so God can open our eyes to the right way to live. Confession is a teachable moment. We can learn in those moments how we were tempted, where our weaknesses were, what drew us away from God and toward our own selfish nature. The Holy Spirit is the Counselor. The Guide. The Helper. The Power to do what is right. The LORD, speaking through David, warns us not to waste these moments in verse 9 Do not be like a horse or mule, without understanding, that must be controlled with bit and bridle or else it will not come near you. Don’t be so hard headed and ignorant that the only way God can teach you something is by inflicting you with pain. Look back at verse 4. David says until he repented, he felt God’s hand heavy on him day and night. He was physically miserable until he confessed his sin! And he warns us – don’t be a stubborn mule that has to endure a painful bit in its mouth just so it goes the right way.

So here’s David’s summary: 10 Many pains come to the wicked, (those who stubbornly persist in their sin) but the one who trusts in the Lord (in this context, the one who doesn’t hide his sin, but quickly repents and lives a life of prayer) will have faithful love surrounding him. 

It says many pains come to the wicked, but notice it doesn’t say “but no pain will come to the one who trusts in the Lord.” That would be nice, but that’s not what God has promised. What he does promise is that the one who trusts in the Lord, pain or no pain, will have faithful love surrounding him. Never alone. Never unloved. Never forgotten. So

11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones; shout for joy, all you upright in heart. Instead of physical misery, there is gladness and rejoicing. Instead of a deceitful spirit, there is an upright heart. Instead of having our iniquity, transgressions and sin held against us, we are declared righteous. What a shift! Simply by acknowledging our sin and confessing it! This Psalm says, in effect, ‘Happy/joyful/glad/blessed are those who recognize that they are not righteous, and who know what to do about it.

At our house, we have a driveway that’s about 100 yards long, and I love to walk up and down that driveway in the mornings when I’m praying or reading. I think I pay attention to what I’m reading more if I am walking when I’m reading. And as I was reading, the Lord had been making me aware of a particular sin I had participated in. One I was embarrassed to talk about. I had confessed it to my wife several weeks earlier and felt so ashamed when I did, and was still carrying some of that shame with me as I was reading this particular morning. 

And as I read down the page, I read this: The scripture in 1 John 1 says the blood of Jesus cleanses us from “all sin.” That means there is no sin that the blood of Christ cannot cleanse away. So, think of your worst. It’s hard, I know, but think of the sin you most regret, the sin in your past that haunts and troubles you to this day.

And at this point as I’m reading, I’m thinking about what I just confessed to my wife and how I still felt so much shame from that – and the next sentence I read says this. Think about your worst sin. THAT is the point in your existence where Jesus loves you the most tenderly. THAT is the sin that Jesus bled to wash away from you. Your renewal means that much to him. 

And those sentences nearly took my legs out from under me. I almost fell to the driveway as tears started flowing and I couldn’t even see the page anymore. A huge sigh of relief washed over me and the weight I was carrying fell off, and I suddenly knew what Psalm 32:1 was all about – Oh how joyful, how blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How joyful, how blessed, how glad is a person whom the Lord does not charge with iniquity! I was still holding that sin against myself, but Jesus wasn’t! 

Why? Because he took my sin on himself. That’s the reason my sin is forgiven. That’s why it’s covered, and not counted against me anymore. Isaiah 53 says my sin was counted against JESUS instead of me. And when God raised him from the dead, it cleared the record— it was proof that the cross worked! It did what it was supposed to do! Jesus himself is the ark that rescues us from the floodwaters of judgment that are coming. 

So once I’m in Christ, I don’t have to hide my sin anymore. It’s all forgiven. Under the blood of Jesus, as we say. Even as I’m in the middle of the act, it’s not held against me. I can come to the Father in prayer immediately, and trust that I will not be met with condemnation, but with grace. 

The late author and pastor Tim Keller wrote this conclusion about Psalm 32 — many people insist that guilt is an unfortunate inconvenience in our society, that people should be able to define right and wrong for themselves. Even so, we all have a sense of condemnation, of not being the way we should be, that we can’t shake. The freedom of forgiveness starts with honesty. It is only when we stop hiding our sin that God is willing to cover it. He removes our guilt so it can’t bring us to punishment, and removes our shame so we don’t have to live in anguish. The happiest, most blessed, most joyful people are those who not only know they need to be forgiven, but experience it. 

So I don’t know everyone here this morning. I don’t know where you’re all at with the Lord, but there are only two options: 

1. Maybe you’re here today and you’re still trying to hide your sin. You refuse to confess it to the Lord, you refuse to tell anyone else. You try to tell yourself that everything is fine, that you’re fine, that it really isn’t that big of a deal. That spirit of deceit only deceives you - no one else is fooled. The invitation for you today is to come home to your father. Come home to the Father who loves you, the Son who died for you, and the Spirit who will fill you with everything you need to live the way God intended you to live. 
2. The other person that’s here today is the person who has experienced the deep joy and relief of knowing your sins are forgiven! That they are under the blood, that they aren’t held against you anymore, that Jesus carried every one of your sins - even the worst one - and there’s nothing you can do to make him love you more than he currently does, and nothing you can do to make him love you less. Sigh of relief. That’s worth a joyful shout of praise, if you ask me! That’s worth singing another song about our God who loves us and saves us. So stand with me, and let’s sing it out together.