Psalm 32

Good morning Church. It’s good to be here with you all again this morning. Before we begin, let us pray to our Lord.

Alright, if you have your bibles please turn to Psalm 32, and if you are able please stand for the reading of God’s word.

1  Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

2  Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,

and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3  For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away

through my groaning all day long.

4  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;

my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

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. Selah

6  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.

7  You are a hiding place for me;

you preserve me from trouble;

you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

8  I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

9  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.

10  Many are the sorrows of the wicked,

but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.

11  Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,

and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Thus the reading of God’s word, you may be seated.

When it comes to the doctrine of salvation, we, as Protestants, are unqiue. Every other religion this world offers us requires the work of man in order to in some way contribute to our salvation. Even the likes of the former faithful, such as the church of Rome, or the Orthodox church, who at one time were faithful institutions, have drifted and apostasized from the one true faith, and added works as a neccessary ingredient for our justification.

So, what sets us apart from every other religious understanding and faith system? Besides of course the fact that what we believe is true? Is our understanding of salvation. We believe, as Reformed Christians, that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. No work we can do will lead us any closer to our salvation. So, if that is the case, what is required of us? Or rather, what is required for us, in order that we might be saved?

Well, if you spend any time in the New Testament reading, you will a very simple answer to that question. Jesus says in Matthew 4:17 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Peter says in Acts 2:38 ““Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Luke 13:3 “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” 2 Corinthians 7:10 “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret.” 2 Timothy 2:25 “Correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.”

Are we seeing a pattern here? The New Testament is replete with verse after verse after verse talking about this thing we call repentance. Repent, repent, repent. We hear this word a lot in the scriptures. We hear it a lot in Christian circles. What on earth does it mean to repent? Well, to translate it directly from the greek, the verb metanoeō or the noun metanoia means to change ones mind, but more specifically it means a comprehensive change of one’s orientation toward following God. The idea being you are turning away from ones sin, and turning towards or orienting towards God. Towards obedience.

This repentance is what Jesus tells His disciples to proclaim to all nation in Luke 24. This is the repentance that John the Baptist offers in baptism for the remission of sins in Mark 1 and Luke 3. So, what does repentance actually look like for those of us who are in Christ. Before we dive into the text we’re looking at this morning, I want to preface it by stating that this repentance is not something we can do in our own power. This is not a work we can come up with and produce. Repentance is something God grants to His people. Remember, what did we just read in 2 Timothy 2:25? “God may perhaps grant them repentanc, leading to a knowledge of the truth.” When we read this in tandem with Ephesians 2:8-9 which says that “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Faith and Repentance are a gift that God grants and gives to His people. We did not earn it, we did not work for it, nor do we initiate it or produce it. Salvation and repentance is what we call “monergistic” - which is opposed to what we would call “synergistic”. Monergism states that all of our faith and practice is a work of God in us, that He produces and preserves. Synergism states that in some way we cooperate with God in our salvation, contributing what we can to our salvation. We are Calvinistis. We are Reformed. We believe that God is truly sovereign over all things, including our salvation. This truth squashes any possibility of pride in us, as we truly contribute nothing to our salvation but the sin that makes it neccessary. God is glorified, not us. I once heard this saying and I don’t remember where but I love it. “Yes we are saved by works. Christs works!” Amen?

Alright, Psalm 32. This is another one of King David’s Psalms. Psalm 32 is a medatative psalm. It’s not like Psalm of lament, like many of David’s psalms as he goes through trials. Nor is this a psalm of praise, but rather, David is pondering the mysteries of God and leading us along with him to participate in these musings. He begins the psalm by speaking to the fruit of repentance. He says “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.” What is the fruit or result then of our God-given repentance? Our sins are forgiven! Look I’m ot charasmatic, but can I get an amen? He says that we are blessed, because our sin is covered. The Lord, he says, counts no iniquity against us. Our spirit is found without deceit! What greater blessing can possibly be had among men than the forgiveness of sin? Praise God.

What else is gleaned here, in the first 2 verses? Well, we see that the cause of our misery and sorrows is sin. Sin is that what seperates man from God. It’s that great evil of rejecting or ignoring our great God, and disobedeince thereof. And yet, for His people, Christ takes our sin upon Himself on calvary and bares our sins Himself so that we could have repentance and forgiveness of sin. Jesus the Christ, the only one who knew no sin, perfetly obeying all the law of God, takes on the sins of the world and suffers the full wrath of God poured out on Himself, so we, His elect, could be called blessed.

And yet, in our flesh, we continue to be stubborn and hard headed, and we have a difficult time bending the knee before God and repenting. As we move to verses 3 and 4 we see the fruit of withholding our repentance from God. When we in ur stubborness delay repentance, there are consequences. David says “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. Selah” I want to be clear, that what David is describing here is only true of the true believer. We can find great assurance of salvation if what he is describing, accurately represents how we feel when we sin and fail to repent.

He is saying that when we fail to confess our sin to God, note here that repentance includes confession of sin to God, when we fail to confess our sin to God, or dare not approach His throne, perhaps because of repeated sins, that our very bones waste away. The very foundation of our bodily being begins to become weak and frail. We decay with grief and sorrow, feeling the heavy weight of conviction from God’s hand upon us. That our very strength leaves us, as it might during the intense heat of summer. That rings true especially for people like Lauren and I who hate the warm weather. The conviction of sin is that feeling of great sadness and hatred for it. Only those who belong to Christ know this feeling. The heaviness of guilt, and filthiness before a perfect and holy God. It’s described as God’s heavy hand upon us. The prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon in his “treasury of david” put’s it this way: “God’s finger can crush us—what must his hand be, and that pressing heavily and continuously! Under terrors of conscience, men have little rest by night, for the grim thoughts of the day dog them to their chambers and haunt their dreams, or else they lie awake in a cold sweat of dread."

Beloved - when you sin against the Lord your God do you feel like this? If not…why not? I plead with you church to consider the seriousness of your sin before a perfect and holy God who would be right to send you to your eternal peril for violating His perfect laws but once, and we do it daily.

So far we have seen the fruit of repentance, the consequences of withholding it, and the thing that brings us to the place of repentance, that is, conviction. But what is repentance. David goes on. Verse 5 says “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. Selah” The act of repentance begins with acknowledging our sin to God. We rightly recognize that we, in fact, have sinned. That we have violated the perfect law of God and failed to live up to His standard of perfect righteousness. We dare not try and cover our sin and hide it from the all knowing, ever present God, how foolish that would be. We don’t cover it up. We recognize it. And then we move on to confessing it. And, unlike our catholic neighbors, we’re not bound to confess our sin to some priest in a closet, but rather to the great high priest, the only one who can forgive our sin, God almighty.

It’s at this moment we know that our salvation draweth near. Not our justification, but that sanctification that we work out with fear and trembling as the Lord works in us. Absolution has come. For he says that God has forgiven our sin. Both sin and guilt are removed from us. Freedom has arrived. We have been pardoned. Hallelujah.

Verse 6 and 7, “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. Selah" David turns to a place of encourgement. He’s looking at you and at me. We’re being emplored to offer God prayers in our times of guilt and conviction. to seek the same relief he just described in the previous verses. But the time for this is not unlimited. There will come a day when Christ returns, the floodgates of judgement will pour out, and our pleas for forgiveness will no longer be available. It is only the man of prayer and repentance that will be safe on shore. Free from the fear of judgement, as He is our safe haven, our shore, the one who keeps us from trouble on that great day and delivers us! Amen?

Verses 8 and 9 take an interesting shift where it is no longer David speaking but rather God speaking to the writer of the psalm, providing an answer for the prayers we have seen put forth. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 9 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.” God has not pardoned us merely from sin, but He has also pardoned us for something. He has ordained for us good works that we should walk in them, Ephesians 2:10. It is our very own creator and savior who sees fit to instruct us in the ways we should go.

In fact, the teaching and training of God in His precepts is one of the very blessings and benefits of covenant membership. God teaches us not just good orthodoxy, that is, sound doctrine, but also good orthopraxy, that is, the practical application of our doctrines. For if our doctrine and instruction isn’t transforming us by the renewing of our mind, what hope is there for us to ever be holy? God promises to keep His eye on us, likewise, in all things, our eye should be on Him, waiting for both the overt and the subtle cues for learning and transformation. When we keep with repentance, we are free to learn and grow from our heavenly teacher.

He goes on to instruct us not to be stubborn buffoons like a horse or a mule, foolish, unable to understand. Our reason, logic, understanding, is one of the very things that separates us from the wild beast, so we’re told here not to act like the wild beast that is not made in the image of God, but rather to seek to run towards and for wisdom. Rather than to resist counsel, to seek it out. It shouldn’t have to be said, but it does, that we are stupid. Our hearts are desperately wicked and, as Calvin says, idol factories. We are so easily decieved and lead astray, like beasts. Instead we should seek to be like those angels in heaven who are quick to submit and obey every command, and learn from their maker. But much like the horse or the mule who corrected with bit and bridle, sometimes God must chastise us for our foolishness to bring us back into obedience. Those of us that are parents recognize that sometimes our children need a soft instructive conversation, and other times need a swift swat to the derrier.

The 1689 London Baptist confession puts it this way in chapter 5 article 5:

The most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave for a season his own children to manifold temptations and the corruptions of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled; and to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon himself; and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for other just and holy ends. So that whatsoever befalls any of his elect is by his appointment, for his glory, and their good.

God is so good that in His infinite wisdom, at times, we are left to the consequences of our sin as a harsh punishment for our own foolish choices, and yet it is still for our good and His glory.

Now we approach the end of our psalm. Verse 10 begins with “many are the sorrows of the wicked” - as David reflects on his status before God, as a man in agreement with the Lord, he can see the clear contrast between his own state and that of the wicked. He understands that apart from God’s mercy, our sorrows abound. The portion of the wicked is unbearable. Their sorrows multiply and their joys fade. Such were some of us, in darkness, perhaps even ignorant to the reality, before being saved. I’ve often said to those who consider Christians as condescending, that no, we don’t think we are better than them, but we certainly are better off then them. We have relief from the sorrows of the world, and we will be free from it altogether in the life to come.

And don’t we see this playing out in our daily lifes? Think about it. For example, every person killed in a school shooting over the last 2 years was killed by a transgender person. Why? In their darkness and perversion they don’t find happiness or joy? Their sorrows are multiplying as they war against God’s design. Or in hollywood, why do so many famous actors and actressess struggle with drunkness, drugs, and even suicide? Shouldn’t they be the happiest, according to the world’s standards? Many are their sorrows.

For family worship at night, my family has been reading through Ecclesiastes - and it’s very relevant to this thought. The whole book begins with the header “All is Vanity.” How true that is. This world has nothing to offer us of meaning and purpose. It’s all vain. Worldly wealth, wisdom, wants and worries, all of it is like chasing after the wind. It’s vanity. And as such it’s utter waste of our time and effort, unless our deepest desire is to multiply our sorrows like the wicked. Pursue that which is eternal, dear church. Seek after God and His wisdom, and there you will find peace.

The verse continues. “but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.” What a contrast we have. The wicked has a multitude of sorrows, but those of us who trust in the Lord are surrounded by an unwaivering love. Trust, or faith here, is what has been placed in opposition to wickedness. Our faith produces confidence in Lord. It is, as Charles Spurgeon calls it, they very source of virtue. And that confidence is they very security blanket we so desperately need in the times of repentance. When we are broken at the very feet of God, when our spirit is contrite and our very soul grieves over our own wickedness, be at peace. Because in our repentance we find a God who surrounds us in everlasting love and comfort.

Finally, verse 11 swoops in to instruct uson how we are to respond to the blessings, forgiveness, and love we encounter when we have repented to our Lord. Our first duty is “Be glad!” “Be glad in the Lord!” Far be it from us to be so ungrateful for the forgiveness of sin following repentance that we should be anything but glad. And yet, our gladness is to be in the Lord. Not in some worldly hope, or worse, some worldly sin, but rather in the Lord who has the power to forgive sin, and to erase it from our debtbooks eternally. Folks, not only is there a God, but He belongs to us, and us to Him. And He, in His mercy, forgives our trespasses, despite all our stubbornness and repeated offenses.

Rejoice, it says, rejoice oh righteous. Rejoice and shout for joy, all you upright in heart. If we be glad, if we are truly overcome with joy and appreciation for what God has done, cleansing us of our filth, is it not appropriate to respond by proving such gladness with shouts of praise, with songs of praise even? Now don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting we get all charasmatic and start running around yelling and acting chaotic. But if your repentance doesn’t bring you to a place of rejoicing, then you either don’t understand your sin, or the forgiveness you have in Christ.

I have no doubt that the majority of the western church greatly reduces just how serious sin is. Not only do we often not understand it, but when we do it, we think very little of it. So many of us have been taught a false gospel of hyper-grace, with no law, no obedience, no real repentance. “God is love, right?!” He isn, but He is also a just God who abhors sin. So, with such a poor understanding of what sin and forgiveness truly is, it’s no wonder we have so little a grasp on what repentance looks like.

So let’s review. Repentance is both a verb and a noun. When we withold our repentance, it hurts. It wastes away out very being, under the heavy weight of conviction and guilt. This ought to bring us to a place of ackowledging our sin before God, rather than hiding it. As such, we confess our sin to our loving and merciful God. Those of us who repent will find that when the end comes, God is out safe haven, the one who protects us from judgement and ultimately death. And our repentance does not go unanswered. God promises to sanctify us in it, to teach us, and lead us, and counsel us. And in our recognition of our forgiveness, we should turn back to God in gladness and praise.

Church, I urge you to examine your own life. Consider your times of repentance, and ask yourself, does it look like this? I know for certain this is not always the case for me. More often than not I find myself going through the motions rather than finding myself on my knees before the most high, God forgive me. Let us all lean into this hard teaching, and use it to make us into a more holy people. A people who truly are broken over sin, and truly overjoyed at our great salvation, and in the one who provides it.

And then church, be emboldened in the confidence true repentance will bring you. And use that boldness to make war. Make war against the world, against the flesh, and against the devil. He shall have dominion. If He is for us, who can stand against us? Amen?

Let us pray.