Psalm 38

All right, well, it's great to be here.

Let's grab our Bibles at this point.

Maybe you can share with the folks sitting to your left or to your right.

I'm going to try and get a handle on looking at folks over here and over here.

That's not going to be easy.

But we want to all be moving in our Bibles to the 38th Psalm.

And when you get there, you'll see it's a Psalm of David, the 38th Psalm.

The Psalms are these great sections in our Bibles that I think all of us are really glad that God has left for us.

I'd say most of us this morning are probably in love with the Psalms.

The Puritans, if you've ever read those men, they used to call these Psalms God's great medicine chest for our hearts.

In the sense that when we're opening them up, we find that there's things in there that soothe us.

And much the same as myself this morning when I woke and there was this croak in my throat and I was rummaging around for Beecham's and so on.

And often when we hit crisis point in our homes and lives, we turn to the Psalms and we find that there's things in there that soothe, I suppose, these answers to queries that we have that God knows that we need.

And so maybe, for instance, I don't know, we've been watching the news, there's no doubt we've been doing over the course of the last number of weeks,

and we're thinking of all of these bombs that are raining down from a great height on IS.

And there's this sense, at least in my heart, that it's not making a button of difference at all.

There's still all of these threats like last night on the London Tube or even over in the west coast of the States.

And so suddenly, you see, we're maybe climbing the pole and we're getting worried for our kids.

We're thinking of their lives.

We're wondering if all of this is going to come to these streets.

And yet, do not be fretting, Psalm 37, this is a great text,

you're not to be fretting, Psalm 37, over men that are evil or be envious, as he adds, of all of those who do wrong,

for they are like the grass, and they wither, and they're gone, and just like green plants, they will die, as he says.

And so straight from the throne, you see, when we get into the Psalms,

and even in this instance of fear, as we're saying, there's this wonderful, rich perspective

that our Father knows that we need, as if we came for the medicine, you see.

And the Father, as it were, he delved all the way into his cabinet of truth.

That's the sense that this gives to us.

And then maybe much the same thing when we're getting a little too big for our boots,

some have lost a sense of, I don't know, a sense of perspective,

or a sense of wonder over the interest of the Father.

And for once, we were so staggered that one so great and out of this world could love me

and shower over me his interest and his affection, and his mercies, and his time,

and all of his interest even in our families and our homes.

And we remember some Sundays when that thought on its own made us praise.

We were sitting in our seats saying,

this is amazing, I have a Father and he loves me.

But maybe not now.

And we've moved on from those times, and the years have been passing,

and we've kind of been rolling in on Sundays and growing up in the church.

And if we're being honest, the wonder is kind of a way, and it's gone.

There's no more sense of amazement in his kindness and his care,

mainly maybe due to the crises that have risen up and stolen our minds.

I don't know what's going on in your lives,

but we would concede, wouldn't we, that life's events end up stealing our minds.

Or maybe we've been thinking about all of the things that are just transient and passing,

like our houses and exams and our pensions and our mortgages and our interests and our sports teams

and all of these things.

And God, if we were being honest, is kind of shunted to the side.

And this is the way that it is.

We would know this.

And then maybe one night, who's to say, over the course of the winter,

when you're walking under the stars and there are all of these lights,

even millions and billions of them,

and the moon is just hanging there.

Or maybe there's a sunset and it gets you.

And suddenly you see the doors to the medicine cabinet have kind of swung back on their hinges,

because when I consider your heavens, we will say,

and the moon and the stars that you have set in their place,

well, hold on.

What is man that you are mindful of him?

Or the son of man that you would be caring for me?

That's the eighth psalm.

And suddenly you're away and your spirit is lifted and the medicine from the psalmist just hits the spot.

Do you see what we're saying?

And on and on in that kind of sense,

we could go exploring all sorts of different medicines that the psalmist has kindly left

for our churches and our lives.

And actually here it's the same this morning.

It's basically the same for us in the 38th psalm,

because Lord, David is saying,

don't rebuke me in your anger or discipline me, he says, in your wrath,

which we could say is a shot of medicine for those who've kind of wandered away from God's ways

and they've been up to their ears in all kinds of pursuits,

which is maybe the case for some of us this morning,

or maybe a psalmist that we're to tuck away for the future and keep in our minds

when all of your closeness with the Father is gone.

Don't rebuke me, he says,

for your arrows have pierced me, he says,

and your hand has come down on me,

and because of your wrath there's no health in my body

and even no soundness in my bones because of all of my sin.

My guilt has overwhelmed me, he says,

like a burden too heavy to bear.

My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly.

I'm bowed down and brought low,

and all the day long I am mourning.

My back is filled with a searing pain.

There's no health in my body.

I am feeble and utterly crushed.

I groan in anguish of heart,

and all of my longings lie open before you, Lord.

My sighing isn't hidden from you.

My heart pounds.

My strength fails me.

Even the light has gone out from my eyes.

My friends avoid me because of my wounds.

My neighbors stay far away,

and then those who want to kill me set their traps.

Those who would harm me talk of my ruin,

and all the day long they scheme and they lie.

Oh, I'm like the deaf, he says, who cannot hear,

and like the mute who cannot speak,

and I become like one who doesn't hear

and whose mouth can offer no reply.

But Lord, I wait for you,

and you will answer, Lord my God.

For I said, do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me

when my feet slip, for I'm about to fall,

and my pain is ever with me.

I confess my sins.

I'm troubled by them.

And many have become my enemies without cause,

and those who hate me without reason are numerous.

Those who repay my good will,

with evil, lodge accusations against me,

even though I seek only to do what is good.

Lord, do not forsake me.

Do not be far from me, my God.

Come quickly to help me,

my Lord and my Savior.

Psalm 38, one of seven penitential Psalms

that are all over the Psalter.

We've got Psalms 6 and 32.

51 is another one.

103.

130 is the fifth one,

which of the seven in the cluster

is probably the most famous of all of them,

because if you, Lord, kept a record of our sins,

who could stand?

And so out of the depths,

I cried out to you, Lord, for mercy,

and with you there's forgiveness,

and so you're to be feared.

Psalm 130.

Psalm 143, then, is the seventh.

And all seven, as we're saying,

are often labeled as Psalms of penitence,

where there's this sorrow in his heart,

and there are even tears in his eyes,

this sense of contrition and sadness,

because of all of his failures and his sins.

As if, as one writer puts it,

the psalmist's whole life, he says,

is like a bruise, a bruise,

which is surely an analogy which helps us along

in at least some of our minds,

maybe some of us thinking back to football practice

last Tuesday when someone kicked us in the shins,

or they ran their studs over our thighs,

or maybe they stamped on our toes,

and now there's this throbbing pain in our toes,

and yet here's a man bruised, Psalm 38,

from his head to his toes.

That's what he's saying.

And every which way there's this soreness

and this grief and all manner of discomforts

that are all over his mind,

and even his body, he says,

and on into his soul,

and the cause, as he says,

is his sin.

It's his sin.

And hence this psalm that we're in

gets a place in the cluster of seven,

where we're shown in this text

the true state of our hearts

and how Christians,

who are real Christians,

are going to feel about that inside.

Now, let me ask you,

where do we go when God himself is offended?

What do we do in those days?

And the reason he's offended

has got nothing to do with anyone else,

but it's me.

We've come out here to church this morning,

and no one around us can see it,

and yet hidden away in your heart

there's this pile,

this whole pile of if-onlys.

If only, Graham,

if only I had kept myself pure,

or if only I could change

the whole story of my life

till this point,

if only I could get back

all of the years that I've wasted.

We look back in our teens,

and maybe all of the times

when there wasn't a closeness with Jesus,

and your conscience is seared,

and there's this sense of your guilt.

I mean, when I was driving here this morning,

I was thinking about the state of my prayers,

the inconsistency of my prayers,

the lack of endurance at times

in my own prayers.

And so what have you got, David,

for me in this psalm?

Well, in terms of your sin,

he'd say, Graham,

there's a need, firstly,

to feel, he says.

Now, if you're taking notes,

you can just scribble these down.

A need to feel it,

which is the sense that he leaves,

you'll see this literally all over,

the psalm as he writes,

though the occasion itself isn't mentioned.

And probably no bad thing in a sense,

given if we knew it for sure

that this came after Bathsheba,

well, we would be saying to a man,

wouldn't we, David,

is it any wonder you were feeling it?

I mean, that was a sin

that ended in the loss of a life

and the child and all the mess

and your family and the shame

that came down in the name of the Lord.

And so surely we'd be looking

from a great height down our noses

and saying in our pride,

listen, surely it's obvious

we're not the same.

We're not the same.

This is a guy who is not in our league.

He did things that disgust me.

His sins are worse than our own.

And so God in his providence,

you see, he just sets the sin to the side.

We don't know.

And now it might well be,

who's to say,

a loss of temper in his marriage.

It might be.

He got up in the morning,

he just blew a gasket with his wife

or a failure to rear his kids

as he ought to have been doing in his home.

Some thoughts that were lustful

or maybe like me,

a loss of passion in his prayers.

Maybe a love in his heart

for all of his money.

As in all of the things

we're seeing all the time

in our own lives.

And because there's this silence,

well, the psalm is now saying

something like this.

Graham, now listen to me.

Is it the case

that you are so close to the Lord

and you're living your life

all the time in his ways

and living in submission

to the work of the Spirit

and you're passionate about big things

like being holy for Jesus,

that sin,

your own sin,

any sin,

is so serious to you

that it leads you

to a brokenness?

Do you feel?

In verse 1, we might say,

you'll see this sets the tone

for the psalm

where he's clear on his standing.

He's worked it all out

in his thoughts

that intellectually

and theologically speaking,

he knows the Lord is offended.

Verse 2 starts to come.

Not only he knows it,

but he feels it.

There are symptoms of a conscience.

I mean, could we say it this morning

as a truism?

I don't know you.

As a truism of this church

and all of our lives,

that we've got more than theology

and a bunch of thoughts

in our minds

because we're so tender

to the Spirit

that we've got a conscience

that feels.

Do you feel it?

He thinks and he feels.

It's in his mind,

but it's also in his heart.

He's been studying the Scriptures

and those same Scriptures

are now shaping his life.

And so clearly he knows

in verse 1,

God is offended.

And now here is an insight

he's saying

into how that truth

made me feel.

That's what he's saying.

Or this is how

the whole experience

of this sinfulness

made me feel.

We could put it in those terms.

Like when you're pursuing it

and from a distance

it looks to you

like it's amazing.

Much the same as the fruit

in the Garden of Eden.

And David is saying to us,

no, no, no.

No, listen to me.

Because sin,

in the first instance,

he says,

it was so draining for me.

Now there are three things here.

This is the first one

we're going to see in our Bibles

in Psalm 38.

And verse 4.

Jesus' yoke,

of course,

being easy.

His burden is light.

And how we're thankful

this morning,

aren't we,

if that's the experience

of our lives.

We're living with

this sense of freedom

and this peace

in his ways.

And sure,

there are all of these rules,

but God,

we know,

has given them to us

for our good.

But David says,

now,

life apart from all of that,

it was draining for me.

And in what sense?

Well,

in this sense,

he rules it all out

in verse 4

for our minds

that he did

whatever it was

that he did

and then he gets up

in the morning,

he was probably

sitting over his Cheerios,

eating his breakfast,

and he was mulling

over the events

or maybe some of the words

that he exchanged.

Maybe it was the day

that he looked

from the roof

from Bathsheba

and Nathan has been

and clearly he knows

it was me

and so does the Lord.

I mean,

he saw it all

from his throne.

That experience,

David is saying,

it was like a burden

too heavy for me.

It's in the fourth verse.

It's this image,

we could say,

if this makes sense to us,

of what happens

in gyms.

Maybe some of you

young lads

are pumping iron

in the evenings

and there's this weakling

in the corner,

which was probably me,

and he's over there

lifting weights

for what,

the first time

in five years

and he's so conscious

of others

so he's piling the discs

onto the bar

and then he goes

for the lift

and he takes the bar

in his hands

and his knees

are going sideways

and both of his eyes

have popped out

and much the same

as he says up the page

in verse 2

where the hand

of the Lord,

he says,

it's come down

upon me.

You see what he's

saying there?

Which is different

from the hand

of a mother,

say,

who guides.

Like, say,

after the service

and there's danger

from cars

and so out comes

the mother's hand

and she leads

and she guides.

That's a great experience.

Or maybe

an arm on the shoulder

from your friend.

You've been living

your own nightmare

and there's this arm.

What is it saying?

Well, probably it's saying,

hey, I'm here for you.

We can pray about this.

And to a man

we would all say,

that's a great experience.

Or even the hand

that comes out

on a Sunday

because this is

your first time

in this church

and there's a steward

at the door

and he greets you

and he looks you

in the eye

and he welcomes you.

It's great to see you.

And again,

we would all be saying,

that's an amazing experience.

But right here

in this text,

God's disciplining hand

is in view.

And down it comes

from his throne.

Look at verse 8.

I am crushed,

he says.

It's like a weight.

My God is against me.

My sin is exposed.

I've offended the Lord.

Oh, my guilt

is so terribly heavy

and wearisome to me.

That's what he's saying.

Number two,

he says,

it's gross.

My experience

that I thought

would be the best

of all thrills,

it turned out

in the end

to be massively draining

and really gross.

Given the image

he leaves in verse 5

of a wound.

It may be much

the same thing

as the one

I've got this morning

tingling away

on the back of my leg.

For I too

was playing football

last Tuesday

and someone

kicked me good and hard.

You could call it

a lack of respect

for the pastor

and he just came

right through me

and this wound

has been weeping

and it's been scabbing

and so on.

And so what David

is saying, you see,

is probably something

like this.

That this sin

in my life

and all of this guilt,

this shame

that I'm experiencing,

when you compare it

to God's sweet ways,

oh,

it was loathsome

to me.

That's what that means.

Number three,

he says,

it was depressing

and constant.

This experience

of guilt

was draining.

It was gross.

Here in the sixth verse,

it was depressing

and it was constant.

For I'm bowed down,

he says,

and brought low

all the time,

all of the time,

morning,

mealtimes,

times with the Father,

especially in the evening

when he was away

in his bed,

times with friends,

the journey to work,

even here on a Sunday,

and all the while,

it's just in there.

I'm not in step

with the Father.

I know this just

is not his will

for my life.

And not by the way

that this is the way

that it always is

in our lives.

You know these Christians

who are always dejected

and they're miserable

and they're glum

and they're negative

and I mean,

you speak to them

and it's like

the Schumer gene

has been taken out

and so we never have

Cayleys

and we can never

tell any jokes

and we can never

let our hair down

and come to think of it,

how could we?

Because we're always

crying into our coffees.

That's not what this is,

but do you ever

mourn?

Like, ever.

Do you feel it?

Have you a conscience

that speaks to you?

Are we finding

that the longer

we're walking with Jesus

we're more tolerant

or possibly less tolerant

men of our wandering eyes?

Or your words

and your sentences

that are harsh,

your tones,

and maybe the whole

of the day

you've just been

letting fly at your wife.

And to you,

this is normal.

There's no sense

of conviction.

David would say to you,

you need to know

that's not right.

Something is wrong.

This is Spurgeon.

He says this to us.

I wish I could write

this stuff,

but I can't.

He says this to us.

Beware of light thoughts

of sin,

he says.

I think this is a paraphrase

of what he said.

For at the time we're saved,

the conscience is usually

so tender,

and many of us

are scared of,

even the slightest

of our sins,

a holy timidity,

lest we should ever offend

the great God

of our lives.

But time,

he says,

brings change.

And where once

we were scared

by the sin of our hearts,

we can get to a point

of being completely unmoved,

like the ear,

he says,

of a soldier

in which the cannon

has been booming.

But then gradually

through time,

he rarely picks up

on that sound.

That's a great statement.

Now also,

as David says,

number two,

it just might be,

it might be

that we suffer.

It might well be,

it's both,

he's saying,

that we feel it

and we suffer.

For,

because of your wrath,

there's no health.

In verse three,

now what is he saying to us?

My bones are lacking

a soundness

because of all of my sin.

My back is filled,

in verse seven,

with pains.

My heart pounds,

the tenth verse.

The light has gone out

from my eyes.

My pain,

in verse 17,

he says,

it's ever before me.

Now we know,

John's a good teacher,

so he'll have told you this,

we know in our Bibles

that illness and disease

are not always a result

of our wanderings

and our sins.

We would know that.

I mean,

we're getting a sneeze

or maybe something

that's worse.

What are we saying?

That if we're sneezing

in church this morning,

oh,

he's been guilty of something,

he's done something

in his home.

A little cough in the corner,

he seems to have a rash

on his arm.

He's been up to no good.

He's been sinning.

That's not what this is.

No one was sinless

like Jesus,

but no one suffered

like him.

Job,

another,

a man who was righteous

as it says,

few men in our world

ever suffered

like him.

And then even Jesus

and the blind man

and John 9,

who sinned,

was it him or his parents?

It was neither of them.

And so clearly,

we just can't always say

that a dose of sickness

means sin.

But here's the point.

It might be.

Which is probably

one of those thoughts

that doesn't easily sit,

does it,

with our minds.

We don't like that.

Paul's letter to Corinth,

for instance,

some of you have got sick,

he says.

Some of you,

some of you,

he said,

even have died,

and all because

they were messing around

with the bread

and the wine.

A lacking of a love

for Jesus,

a reverence,

a sense of reverence

and worship

and an honor

for the Lord.

And so suddenly,

there was this discipline

in the form of sickness

and even death,

which is one of those texts

we can hardly even believe

it's in here.

I picked this up

a few months back

from Kevin DeYoung,

and he picked it up

from James Montgomery Boyce.

This is good for us.

Four questions to ask

his boys

in a season

when there's a sickness

that's come.

Now listen to this.

Number one,

have I sinned

and wandered away

from what I ought

to be doing,

and is this setback

God's loving way

of drawing me back

to the fold?

Now, again,

that's a good question.

Although,

as we were saying

at the start,

not in the sense

of tying ourselves

up in knots

and, you know,

what on earth

did I do?

I've broken my arm.

Graham was saying

on Sunday,

this is a punishment

from the Father.

It's not that,

but rather more

in the sense

of keeping a check,

a good check,

on your soul.

Is there anything?

Maybe there's not.

In which case,

that's okay.

Move on.

Number two,

is God using

this illness

to deal with

rough edges in me

in order that in time

a Christ-like character

might come?

Again,

a great question.

Three,

is God using

my suffering

as a kind of a stage

in which

his wisdom

and his grace

and his name

might be praised?

It might be.

Four,

is this season

a time for me

to finally prove

that I love him

for who he is

and not the gifts

that he gives

and not even

the wonderful,

amazing gift

of my health?

That's a test.

David says in this psalm,

and aren't we grateful

that he is so raw

and honest with us here

that our Father in Heaven

brings discipline

into our lives.

And often when we're off,

we're just off

and we're away

in the world

and there's sin

and he's Father

and so he picks up

on these dangers

and so suddenly

he comes

and sometimes

even into our bodies,

even our bonds

with other people

as he says

in verse 11,

relationships.

And so maybe,

you know,

there are some of us

sitting here in church

as we speak

and a hardness

in recent years

has come all the way

into our hearts

and we're far

from the Lord Jesus

and we're wandering away.

We've long since

forsaken all of his teachings

and his rules

and yet here is this psalm

that comes right out

of the lips

of David the sinner.

God isn't mocked.

And painful

and serious suffering

from the throne

might be known

and all in the shape

of a discipline

from the Father

who loves you.

He loves you

because he really,

really cares.

And so this is a man

who felt contrition

over his sin.

Surely he was also a man

who ended up suffering

due to his sin.

Thirdly,

and we see this,

he clearly responded

well to his sin

which is obviously

the climax

that David is building to

as he writes

and probably the ending

if we were being honest

that we're glad

is in this psalm.

I mean,

how would we feel

if we just wandered off

now with our tails

between our legs

to our homes?

And so,

if it is the case

that there is sin

or there will be

maybe next week

or into next month

or next year,

whenever it is,

well then,

here's three prayers

that we can pray

at that time

as we finish.

Prayer number one,

this is the first one,

it was me,

which is the statement

that he makes

at the end of verse 3,

isn't it?

I have no soundness

in my bones

because of what?

Because of my parents?

No,

not my parents.

He doesn't say that.

Okay then,

I have no soundness

in my bones,

Lord,

because of all

of my genes.

He doesn't say that.

Or because

there were pressures

coming at me

from every corner

of my campus,

my school,

my office,

wherever it is,

it isn't in here.

No,

I have no soundness

in my bones,

he says,

because of all

of my sin.

That's a good prayer.

It was me,

Lord.

No verbal gymnastics.

There's no fancy,

vague-sounding formulas.

My life,

my sin,

my rebellion,

my shame.

It was me.

Prayer number two,

I'm sorry,

the 18th verse.

It was me.

I'm sorry.

I confess to you.

I'm sure in my mind,

Lord,

you must be offended.

I'm coming to you.

This word here for sin,

just to quickly comment

on it in the passing,

this is a word

that refers to

our natures

being bent

out of shape,

twisted,

iniquitous,

a perverseness.

It's that sense,

like,

when you career

into a lamppost

on your bike

in a dark night

and so you walk

to your house,

you bring the sorry bike

into the garage,

you switch on the lights,

you can see the whole thing

is twisted.

The frame,

the spokes,

all of it,

it's iniquitous,

it's twisted,

and not quite in the shape

it was intended to be.

David's just saying here,

that's me in this text,

I'm sorry,

Lord,

I'm not what I ought to be.

Thirdly,

I need you,

which is clearly

the conclusion

that he gets to

at the end.

It was me.

I'm sorry,

Lord,

what I really need

is you.

Come close to me.

Don't forsake me.

Lord,

I'm needing your help here.

This is not good.

I need you,

not on Monday

or Tuesday

or next week,

but quickly,

as he says,

even now in these,

right now in these moments,

come,

Lord,

forgive me.

Give me the grace

that I need.

Wash me again

so that I might be clean.

I want to walk with you.

I want to obey you.

I want to honor you.

Be close to you.

I want to live my life

always,

Father,

for the praise

of your name alone.

You can pray that prayer.

If we confess our sins,

says John,

he is faithful.

He's a good God

and he is just

and he will forgive us

all our sins

and cleanse us

from literally

every last remnant

of unrighteousness

so that,

just like David,

we can experience

his grace

and live our lives

for him

again.

This is the 38th Psalm.

Well,

just pray briefly

and then you can come,

John.

Father,

we praise you

for the Psalms.

We thank you,

more importantly,

for your fatherly love.

Thank you that you are for us,

that you are with us.

Thank you that your love

remains even when we stray.

We pray that you would be good

to us today

and you would draw us

closer to you

than we have ever been

and may we give

everything

that we have

back to the King of Kings

and the Lord of Lords

that from this point on

you might have our best.

And we pray this

in Jesus' good name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.