Hopeful Forgiveness
Notes
Transcript
A Maskil of David.
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!
Start with story of David sending Uriah off to war to be able to sleep with Bathsheba; maybe do it without the names and then let it out at the end
this was a huge sin, especially sin David is a “man after God’s own heart”
David realized what he did and repented; went on to write Psalm 51 where he says Psalm 51:3–4 “3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,
talk about how sin separates us from God; lean on the sin of Adam and Eve in the garden and how they were not only spiritually separated but God physically separated them
forgiveness is hard; just to try to move past something that has happened is extremely hard, especially if it is something that they did to you
I think it would be safe to say that many of us sitting here today are still holding on to something that someone did to us and we are not willing to forgive them
this is dangerous; when Jesus taught the Lord’s prayer, in it we ask God to forgive us to the same degree that we forgive others;
would we be forgiven much at all if this were to come true
an understanding of forgiveness is required for us to really understand Psalm 32;
the psalms are not necessarily in order, David actually wrote 51 before he wrote 32; to truly understand forgiveness David first had to understand repentance
open with a call to repentance as a means to get us to forgiveness
Just as David, through repentance understood what it means to be forgiven, we can too
Big Idea: Because of the forgiveness of God, we have hope
Big Idea: Because of the forgiveness of God, we have hope
a focus on forgiveness in our passage; prayer today is that we can come to a deeper understanding of forgiveness through David in our text
5 observations
Forgiveness Leads to Blessing
Forgiveness Leads to Blessing
David was a blessed man; know the stories; shepherd turned king; slayed Goliath; lead the kingdom; united the tribes into one kingdom, made Jerusalem the political center of the nation; established stability and prosperity
but he even knew that his greatest blessing was not an accomplishment but it was a gift
1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
forgiveness; but even deeper, forgiveness of his sins; specifically the killing of Uriah to cover up the pregnancy of Bathsheba
talk about hiding sin; David understood that his sin against God was not able to be hidden from God, so he sought forgiveness
2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
true forgiveness of sin is like amnesia; we don’t have that when it comes to sin;
“I will forgive but I won’t forget”; I am not sure how we can truly forgive someone and not move on
Our lack of perfection will always keep us from being able to fully forgive; things that help this are time and reputation
use the example of someone coming into my house and attacking me; it will probably be a while before I invite you over for supper
I believe that those who have sinned greatly and been forgiven greatly truly understand this. I think back to Elizabeth Elliot. Her and her husband were missionaries and he went to a tribe to build a relationship with them to share the gospel with them. The tribe murdered him and his companions. Several years later, she traveled to this tribe and witnessed many of them turn to following Jesus as Lord and savior. She stood in front of the men who killed her husband and didn’t see them as the enemy but saw them as brothers in Jesus.
I believe it often takes receiving great forgiveness from someone to truly understand God forgiving us of our sins. And in that is a wonderful blessing.
Forgiveness Relieves Burden
Forgiveness Relieves Burden
David seems to reflect on unconfessed sin; how it affected him greatly
3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
most uncomfortable and un-fun thing to talk about; no one in the flesh wants to confess their sin; unconfessed sin actually takes a toll on you
there is a spiritual toll - putting more and more distance between you and God
also a physical toll - bones wasted away through groaning
use the idea of cancer; if you could just take all of the cancer out of someone, they would be well again; same happens with the confession of sin
God will put a weight on us
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
instead of forgiveness being heavy, it was the hand of God; that led to David having a heat stroke almost
I am the first to complain about how hot it is, but if you told me that I could get rid of this heat by confessing a sin I am holding onto, I would think I would start confessing to things I didn’t even do.
not the reality though; I am just like David and try to hold onto sin; but when we understand how heavy the burden is when we confess, we have true freedom and understand even more what forgiveness feels like
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
referencing Psalm 51 when David confessed the sin of killing Uriah to hide the fact that he had sex with Bathsheba; the burden that was on David was heavy; tried to hide it until his friend Nathan confronted him about it and that is where we get the beautiful work of Psalm 51
I would ask that between now and the end of the sermon today, that if you have unconfessed sin, that you begin to work that out with the Lord and let him left that burden from you right here, today. He offers forgiveness and his forgiveness relieves burden
Forgiveness is a Refuge
Forgiveness is a Refuge
talk about safe spaces; a refuge is a safe space, but it is also a place where we find comfort and rejuvenation
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.
one of the biggest parts of seeking forgiveness is prayer; how important is prayer to you; if you see someone have a thriving prayer life, they understand God to be their refuge
I read a version this week that translated this as when the dam bursts and all hell breaks loose, we will be on high ground and untouched; now that is a refuge
7 You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah
God will protect us; in him, we are hidden from evil, we are protected from trouble; even the trouble that we bring upon ourselves
this verse is a reminder of the importance of praise; when we are in the hiding place that is God, we are surrounded by shouts of deliverance; brings assurance to us
ends with Selah; put into psalms to pause and reflect on the goodness of God
I pray that we all have refuge in the forgiveness of God
Forgiveness Brings Guidance
Forgiveness Brings Guidance
talk about people going to remote areas to hunt and the need for a guide
we all need guidance in life; we go to different sources(name a few); but no better guide than God
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
shift in the narration; God seems to respond to David
instruction and teaching is of utmost importance for the life of the Christian
John Piper quote
Exalting Jesus in Psalms 1–50 The Counsel about Sin Is Essential (Psalm 32:8–9)
What good would it be if he [God] guarded us from destruction but did not tell us which way to go? Protection with direction, care with counsel, that is the happy condition of the person who prays to God and receives forgiveness for his sins. (“Go to God in Prayer”)
God’s guidance and instruction is a means of his enormous grace that he shows us
uses animals for an example
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.
don’t be stubborn; to train a horse, the horse must submit to the trainer; the horse must trust the trainer
don’t be so resistant to God that he had to put a bit in your mouth because that is not fun; David wanted to be stubborn like a horse and God made sure that David experienced some suffering because of it
Let God guide and teach you because you have experienced forgiveness
Forgiveness Leads to Joy
Forgiveness Leads to Joy
Psalm 1 contrasted the way of the wicked to the way of the righteous; David brings that back into our foresight
10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.
gonna be wicked? you will have sorrow
But! if you trust the Lord, you will receive his steadfast love; forgiveness is a way that God shows us his steadfast love; God doesn’t love us because we are perfect, we are sinners and he still loves us
but we experience his love in a mighty way when we confess our sin and receive forgiveness
and forgiveness will lead us to joy
11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
rejoice! be glad! shout for joy!
but who can do this? those who are righteous and are upright in heart; if you want to rejoice in the forgiveness that God shows, then you have to turn your heart to him because if you don’t, then you have not recieved true forgiveness
David understood forgiveness; he is not different than us; he tried to hide his sin from God and it found him out; he struggled but finally understood what forgiveness is and was able to rejoice
present the gospel clearly with emphasis on repentance leading to confession which leads to forgiveness
Stop trying to hide your sin from God
conclusion
King David understood what worldly blessings were. He had success, was a conquering warrior, and was sitting on the throne of a mighty kingdom. But when he sat down to tell about the blessing that he received, none of that came up. Only the forgiveness that he had received from God. David had learned something that every one of us must learn: the greatest blessing God can give a sinner is not more success, more money, more health, or more happiness. The greatest blessing God can give a sinner is forgiveness.
