The Joy of Forgiveness

Bible Passage: Psalm 32

Summary: Psalm 32 celebrates the profound joy and relief that come from experiencing God's forgiveness, contrasting the burdens of sin with the freedom found in confession and divine grace.

Application: This passage reminds Christians that confessing our sins leads to restoration and joy, encouraging us to approach God with honesty rather than hiding our struggles. In a world where shame weighs heavily, realizing the joy of forgiveness can motivate us to extend grace to ourselves and others.

Teaching: The sermon teaches that true happiness is found not in the denial of our shortcomings but in the acceptance of God's forgiving nature. It emphasizes that confession is not merely an act of sorrow but a gateway to experiencing God's grace and joy that surpasses our guilt.

How this passage could point to Christ: In the context of the Bible, Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of this promise of forgiveness. Through His sacrifice, believers have full access to God's grace, allowing for complete restoration and the joy that Psalm 32 speaks of—pointing to the New Covenant where sins are washed away by His blood.

Big Idea: True joy and freedom come from acknowledging our sins before God and receiving His forgiveness, which leads to a transformative relationship with Christ, enabling us to live in His grace.

Recommended Study: As you prepare this sermon, consider exploring the Hebrew terms used in Psalm 32 to understand the depth of 'forgiveness' and 'transgression.' Additionally, you might find it useful to examine how this psalm relates to the New Testament's teachings on confession and forgiveness, particularly in 1 John 1:9. Use your Logos library to investigate commentaries that delve into these themes and provide insights on how they were understood in the Jewish context.

Introduction to Sermon/Lent

Good morning, everyone!

I’m glad to be back again. This would have been my third appearance, but we were snowed out the last time. But luckily, we’re in March, and we should be pretty good with the weather going forward!

So, today, we’re diving into Psalm 32. It’s no coincidence that it’s also the first Sunday of Lent. I think Pastor Tim designed that.

Lent is a season of 40 days -40 days to prepare our hearts for Easter, reflect, repent, and draw closer to Christ. Unfortunately, some people don’t view Lent as a time for preparing our hearts, but many become caught up in deciding whether to give up coffee or chocolate. And if that’s what you’ve decided, that’s great. I’m not trying to discourage you. We should take on a much more intentional approach. As Christ fasted for forty days, He was tempted and tested; we should take that time to strip away things that disconnect us from Christ. These things are weighing us down, hiding us from God.

So, Lent is about the time Christ spent in the wilderness. Matthew 4:1-2 states, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.” Many times, it is during our wilderness experiences that we are closest to God. Because we are dependent on Him. In the wilderness, Christ faced hunger and was tempted with pride and power. Each time, he trusted in the Father’s mission. And that is the way we should look at Lent. It is our wilderness walk with God. We should use those forty days not to give up on guilty pleasures but to use that wilderness time to face what tempts us, to confess where we have stumbled, and to find God, who is faithful and merciful and will forgive our sins.

Psalms 32 gives us this kind of picture of living out Lent. It begins with honesty, then we lean into the mercy of God, and then we set our sights on the resurrection. Please, stand, if your able for the reading of the Word of God.

English Standard Version Psalm 32

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!

Prayer:

Lord, we thank you for your blessed word. We ask that your Holy Spirit prepare our hearts for this message that you have for us today. Lord we thank for the work of Christ on the cross and we acknowledge that we are indeed blessed because our sins are forgiven. Thank yo Lord, in Jesus mighty name we pray, Amen.

i. Hook

So, I have twin boys, and one of them, does this thing that drives me and my wife insane. If you see him walking from afar, you’ll notice that his book bag is weighing him down. I mean, its literally slowing him down. And one time, after he got home i picked up his bag to put it on the hook where its supposed to go. When I picked it up, it was like fifty pounds. I looked into the bag and their was about seven bottles of iced tea. Some of them were about half way full, and the others were completely full. He was hiding these bottle from us and they were weighing him down.

Pause

This baggage was completely unnecessary and weighing him down. So, not only was he hiding these things from us, but he was carrying them around. We oftentimes do this with our sins. He hide them, and we carry them around.

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We do this until someone comes to us and removes the junk from our bags and we don’t have to carry them around any longer. The Bible calls these people, who have these burdens removed, as Blessed. We are a Blessed people.

ii. Contextual setup

But, i think its important to have a little context to this psalm, before we dive in. Before reading any psalm you want to know if the particular psalm is in some sort of historical context. The reason why I say this is because many psalms have a superscription at the very beginning which was added later on. But that superscription tells us something about that psalm.

In the case of our psalm, we have a superscription that says, “Of David. A maskil.” This tells us that David wrote the psalm. And maskil is just means that this is part of a collections that is used by a group of Levites who are called the maskilim. So, if you ever playing jeopardy and you come across an answer that says “a collection of songs for use in worship by a special group of Levites who are called maskilim.” The answer would be “What is a maskil?”

But the important part is that this is a psalm of David and its about the blessing of forgiveness. We all know the story of David. He struggled with a few things, right. So this psalm is commonly connected with psalm 51, that has a superscription that it was the time of silence after David’s sin with Bathsheba. It’s not necessary that you read this psalm this way. But, it may be helpful that you understand that this may have been written after someone sinned and is reflecting on his sin. I mean look at how it begins, Psalm 32:1 “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” This is written by a man who is in deep reflection of their failures

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I mean, it kind of changes your understanding of this psalm, right? Think about it, David was a man who had a deep understanding of the mercy and grace of God. Remember another psalm that he wrote, Psalm 145:8 “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” This is why God describes David as a man after his heart. 1 Samuel 13:14 “The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart” and acts 13:22 where the Lord said, Acts 13:22 “‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’”

Pause

David, the man that had a man killed and then took his wife, is described after a man after God’s own heart. We’ve all sinned in this room, but I guaranteed that no one in here has had someone killed so they could take their spouse. It sounds like a story out of those true crime podcasts.

iii. Main idea

So, what of it? Well, do you think its important to carefully look at a Psalm from a sinful man, of whom God says of him, “I have found in David, a man after my heart?”

Pause

This psalm is a treasure. In fact, Paul cites this very Psalm, it says in Romans 4:7 ““Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;” This is Paul speaking of the Justification of our sins. We are a blessed people who have the free grace of God in forgiving our sins.

1. Blessings of Forgiveness

Psalm 32:1-2

Verse 1: Psalm 32:1 “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”

Immediately upon reading the first verse, a number of questions should come into your head. What does David mean by blessed? I see the words transgression and sin, are they different? Also, I see the words forgiven and covered, are those the same? This is how you should approach these Psalms when you are reading them. This is poetic language and language is everything.

First what is Blessed? If you were to look at a bible dictionary, yes those exist, it would define is as being fortunate or happy because of circumstances. So, it is being happy, privileged, fortunate, etc. This describes the one who’s sin are covered.

We are also met with two definitions of sin. Transgression and sin. Transgressions are acts of rebellion against God, while sin is a broad term used in the Old Testament. But, they are essentially the same thing.

The next thing you should notice is the what is done to each sinful act. One is forgiven the other is covered. What’s the difference? Well, the idea is that God has put the sin out of his sight. He remembers it no more.

Pause

But why is the one that the sin/transgression are forgiven/covered are blessed or privledged? Its simple to understand. Think of a time when someone did something against you…

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I’ll pause for a bit longer… Your were probably able to come up with an example, right away. Why? because we do not forget. We carry these things around, waiting for an opportunity to weaponize it. This is such a common human behavior. We do this all the time, to our loved ones, to our co-workers, to our neighbors, we do this all the time.

But God, forgives and remembers no more, this is why we are privileged. This is why David begins with this verse.

Pause

Verse 2: Psalm 32:2 “Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.”

Verse 2, similarly restates the same idea. It even introduces another definition. Iniquity. He also, does not count… iniquity against you. Again, the Lord forgives and puts the sin out of his sight. He counts no iniquity against you. This is a blessed man.

Pause

But this verse introduces a new idea. “and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” This verse is a little tricky because it leads into a thought that is explained in the next verse. But before moving on, we have to that being a person “in whose spirit there is no deceit” is one that is also blessed.

The idea here is that you, are blessed, you are privileged because you fit in this category. You are forgiven, your sins are covered, God remembers your sins no more.

This is how David opens this Psalm. He declares a status to the reader.

2. Burdens Lifted by Confession

Psalm 32:3-5

Verse 3-5:

Psalm 32:3–5 ESV

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 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

So, I would like to go back to the thought that I had earlier. “in whose spirit there is no deceit.” Now, this is a weird one, right? If in our spirit, there is no deceit, why are our sins forgiven? After-all, no sin, no need for forgiveness. Right?

To understand this we need to go back to King David. Remember, David was in a period of silence because of his sin with Bathsheba. David confesses to the Lord. He has no deceit, does not mean that he is sinless, but rather, that he is honest about his sin and confesses it to the Lord. We see this idea in verse 3, Psalm 32:3 “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.” David tells us of the consequences of remaining silent about your sin. His “bones wasted away, through his groaning.”

He continues in verse 4: Psalm 32:4 “For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah” Day and night we was suffering under the weight of his own sin. The weight is guilt. David was guilty of sinning with Bathsheba. He was convicted of his sin, and it was heavy.

David does what removes that weight, Psalm 32:5 “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”

Confessing to the Lord is acknowledgement of sin. Confessing to the Lord is repentance of sin. We confess sin and God covers it up.

Allow me a quick illustration of this idea.

It is a perfectly human thing to struggle with sin. We are all struggling with sin, whether you acknowledge it or not. And I invite to to look within yourself as I give this illustration. It may be a persistent sin that you’ve has for a while or maybe its something new. I’ve had persistent sin as a young man and as my son did with his bag full of drinks, I carried around all those sins for a long time. And I can give you a personal testimony that will help those in that position now is… Confess your sins to the Lord. You may be saying, of course I confess those sins… Hear me out… Change your prayers. Your prayer of you persistent sin should be as follows: Lord, forgive me for my sins. Forgive me because I refuse to let my sin go. Forgive me because I love my sin. Change the disposition of my heart. Change the desires of my heart. I know that I sin, because I’m a sinner. Amen.

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I hope you were not alarmed by that prayer.

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You have to confess your transgressions. Part of your transgression is that you sin, because you want to sin. That’s part of the sin. David says, he acknowledges his sin and does not cover it up. Then he restates it. And he ends with the result of his confession, “you forgave the iniquity of my sin.” Again, I invite you to look within yourselves and confess your sins.

Can we move on…?

3. Protection in God’s Presence

Psalm 32:6-7

Verse 6 & 7:

Psalm 32:6–7 ESV

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

This next portion is David calling out to the faithful people or God’s covenant people to turn to God in prayer. In this Psalm he is telling the reader to seek God and confess. Why should they confess, so that the great waters will not reach them. Great waters is an ancient saying that means calamity. In other words, to avoid calamity coming to your doorstep. Therefore, the reader is to find his “hiding-place” from the corrupt world and the promise is that you will be surrounded by songs of deliverance.

If we, yet again, come back to my son with the backpack. This would be like him being relieved from the weight of his backpack and then he goes around telling other to seek God, confess the ice tea in your backpack. By the way, he has absolutely no idea i’m telling this story.

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So the Christian response to the blessedness of your sins being remembered no more is that you call on to others to do the same thing. You testify your experience. You call out to others to pray and confess and rest in the Lord’s promises. We don’t internalize these things and keep them to ourselves. We call others to do the same.

4. Guidance of God’s Love

Psalm 32:8-11

Verse 8-11

Psalm 32:8–11 ESV

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!

Now we have come to the final block. We see here that David takes the role of a sort of sage. In this role he assures the congregation that he will teach them the right way. And this falls into a traditional language of wisdom. Like the books of Proverbs or Ecclesiastes, David gives advice or imparts wisdom based on his experience. He says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.” “I will counsel you with my eye upon you.” He’s saying I’ll teach you the way and watch over you.

Verse 9 switches to a warning or a word to the wise. Don’t be like a horse or mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle. That will wander. Does everyone here know what is a bit and bridle or are we all city folk, like I am. I had to look it up. Its the thing that goes around the horses mouth that is used to guide the horse. So, David is telling you, don’t be like a foolish horse or mule that would wander away without a bit and bridle. The wise, willingly submit to the Lord.

I’ll be landing the plane right now, so if the worship team would like to start making their way up.

The last verse is something that is common in the Old Testament, maybe, if you’ll have me back I’ll teach on it. Its called the retribution principle, that means that the wicked will experience woe and evil, while the righteous will experience good or God’s unfailing love. And David closes with this idea.

So, what do we know about Psalm 32? And knowing is not for the sake of just knowing, either. Remembering this Psalm will help us in those time when we are under the weight of our sins. When we are overwhelmed with guilt. We remember that we are blessed, because when we confess our sins, and not hide from the Lord, he is merciful and will forgive our sins.

He will remember your sins, no more.

Remember in this season of Lent, what Christ did for us, He became the curse of sin so that we are not condemned by our sins. Christ freely offers forgiveness for our sins. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The Psalm that we looked at today has been realized by the work of Christ. If anyone here does not have Christ in their lives, I invite you to come to Christ, confess your sins and He will remember them no more. Pray with me if you will.

Prayer:

Lord, we thank you for this message today. Lord we confess our sins to you today. We understand that when we sin, it is against you Lord. Forgive us Lord. Remove the burden of guilt in our lives. And cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In Jesus wonderful name we pray, Amen.

Prayer/Benediction:

Lord, we want to thank you for this wonderful morning of worship. We ask that you inscribe today’s passage onto our hearts. Lord, that we confess our sins to you, Lord that we hide nothing from you presence. Let us rest in the assurance that you are gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Church, receive this benediction:

"May the God of peace who raised Christ from the dead Strengthen your inner being for every good work. And may the blessing of God Almighty Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon you and dwell within you this day and evermore. Amen.