Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Tonight we come to Psalm 32.

The second of the so-called penitential psalms.

This psalm is also the first of 12 psalms that bear the title of Maskil, which has been interpreted several ways i.e. “a skillful song, a song of instruction, a contemplative poem.”

It is an instructional psalm whether the instruction is given or comes through contemplation.

This psalm is used by the Jews at the close on the Day of Atonement; the Church calendar has it for Ash Wednesday.

The psalm is a psalm of forgiveness - or the experience of forgiveness and the resulting joy.

To be forgiven results in an emotion that defies description.

The relief of an enormous burden lifted, a debt canceled, a conscience cleared and able to rest and of guilt being gone.

Some burdens are so heavy they consume us and no burden is greater than the burden of unresolved and unforgiven guilt.

King David the man after God’s own heart knew well what it was to carry this burden.

Though blessed greatly and given prophecy and victory - yet committed vile callous acts - adultery and murder to cover it up.

This Psalm here tonight is the testimony of the joy of forgiveness

Experiencing Forgiveness

King David begins this psalm describing the joy for the one who has been forgiven.

He can describe this accurately because as we will see a little later down it is his own testimony of coming and finding forgiveness.

David uses three words for sin - transgression, sin and iniquity.

Transgression is the Hebrew word peshah and literally means a going away or a departure - in the sense of a rebellion against God and His authority.

The second word sin is chattath and is the equivalent of the Greek word hamartia.

Both mean coming short or falling short of the mark.

Used to describe an archer who shoots short of the target.

The target is God’s law and sin by this word is a failure to measure up to it.

The third word is iniquity in Hebrew hawon - NIV also interprets this word as sin but it means corrupt, twisted and crooked.

The weight of sin comes out in these three terms.

Transgression is a willful knowledgeable act of rebellion against God.

It is the picture of our relationship with God.

The second word describes our relationship with His divine law.

We fall short of it and because of that we are condemned by it.

The third word describes our condition corrupted, twisted and crooked in our practice and understanding of righteousness.

David also gives three words for what God does with sin.

What does God do with sin for those who confess and repent?

He forgives, covers it and refuses to charge it against the sinner.

Forgiven is the word - Nasa - literally means to carry away or to lift off.

When your sin is forgiven it is lifted off.

The burden of carrying the sin is lifted off.

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!

Covered is what God does with our sin.

It is a word that comes from the Day of Atonement imagery in which the high priest of Israel takes blood from an animal that had been sacrificed in the courtyard of the temple and carried it to the Most Holy Place where it was sprinkled on the mercy seak of the Ark of the Covenant.

The mercy seat was the lid or covering for the ark and the blood was sprinkled there because it came between the presence of the Holy God and the broken law of God contained in the ark itself.

It thus covered the broken law and shielded the sinner from God’s judgment.

In Greek the word for mercy seat means “propitiation” which is the act of turning God’s wrath aside, and Hebrew is Kisah - covered.

The third word is what God doesnt do.

Goid does not charge the sin against us.

This word is translated elsewhere as impute and is a bookkeeping term.

Paul quotes from this Psalm in Romans.

No wonder David describes the one whom God does that for as being joyful!

What joy to be forgiven!

To have your guilt covered over and the account of your conscience cleared!

There is no greater joy than to know our sin has been forgiven covered and will not be charged against us.

Pathway to Forgiveness

David moves on from experiencing forgiveness to what he experienced before forgiveness and how he came to find or receive forgiveness.

David says that before forgiveness he was silent and he kept silent.

When he was silent David didnt acknowledge nor did he confess his sin.

In a lot of ways perhaps he thought if he just stayed quiet it would pass or enough time would make it all better.

Instead he was miserable and even says that his bones became brittle.

Nouthetic counseling is a biblical counseling model in which confession and forgiveness of sin are necessary to experiencing freedom and healing.

In many recorded encounters with some of the most extreme and catatonic mentally distressed people after counseling and confession many have been freed to regular normal mental capacity and functioning.

It goes to show that guilt weighs heavy and is very crippling to the body - the spiritual reality manifesting in a physical ailment.

David says during this unconfessed time night and day he felt the hand of God upon him heavily.

His strength was zapped as if he had been out in the heat all day.

Perhaps the dryness in your life could be sin being harbored causing a drought in your spirit.

Not all dryness is the result of sin, but much is.

David then shares his testimony of when he experienced freedom, forgiveness and joy.

He acknowledged his sin before God.

When we sin we wish we could forget and overlook it hoping God may ignore it.

God cannot and will not ignore sin and so He brings pressure upon us that we might acknowledge sin and confess it.

David did not conceal his sin before God any longer.

We are fooling ourselves also to think that we can hide our sin from God. Man has been trying to hide his sin before God since the garden.

David says I will confess - he determined to confess his sin and it was in that confession that forgiveness came.

God hasnt changed this since the garden.

God covered Adam and Eve in their sin after they confessed.

God forgave David’s guilt after he confessed.

God forgives our guilt after we confess, confession is the way of restoration and forgiveness from God.

Also notice here that verse 5 is the theme of the psalm and in verse 5 is the heart of David’s testimony.

The three words used to describe the scope of our guilt of sin are all addressed here in this verse as well.

David acknowledged his sin, and did not conceal his iniquity and confessed his transgressions to the LORD.

David confessed it all and God forgave it all.

Do not miss a major detail in the forgiveness of God - this forgiveness was not only total, but it was immediate.

This statement of David that he determined to confess and the LORD forgave ends with the word SELAH.

Which we remember is a pause in order to reflect on what was just said.

The pause to reflect is after confession not in confession no hesitation between confession and God’s forgiveness of it.

Admonishment From the Forgiven

David then admonishes that after considering the quickness of God’s forgiveness following his confession that everyone who is faithful would pray to God immediately.

Why oh why do people prolong coming to God and confessing - especially when God promises to forgive us?

God not only promises to forgive but in David’s experience and everyone else’s who has come and confessed God is ready and willing to forgive!

The time to confess and pray to God is immediately - also translated is when He can be found.

When the great floodwaters come - the flood of judgment - they will not reach the one whose sins are forgiven, iniquities covered and transgression is not counted against them.

I believe it is simply an exhortation to pray now.

It’s another way of saying: “Today is the day of salvation,” and that none of us has a claim on tomorrow.

Are you experiencing God’s conviction right now?

Then respond, right now.

Confess right now.

Who is to say whether you will experience God’s conviction tomorrow?

Cry out to God now, while he may still be found.

And when you call out in faith to God, not only will God cover up your sins, but God will cover you.

He will surround you with his protective care.

When the waters rise they will not reach you, for you have taken cover in God.

He is your hiding place, and he will protect you from trouble.

He will surround you with songs of deliverance.