Psalm 32

The Psalter is one of the pinnacles of the Old Testament.

So when we read the Psalter, it's like seeing different photos of the majestic picture of God's glory.

The majestic collage of God's glory.

So Psalm 1 and 2 is a singular song in the Hebrew.

It serves as an introduction to the Psalter, an interpretive lens on how we read the rest of the Psalms.

Psalm 1 depicts this ideal man, this representative.

And Psalm 2 puts a face to the ideal man, applying Psalm 1 to Psalm 2.

So read verse 1 with me.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.

The word blessed is the man, the word for man there, Adam, is in the singular and portrays a representative.

It could be interpreted the blessed man or the blessings of the man.

So Psalm 1 can be understood as that way.

The blessed man in Psalm 1 thinks on God's word day and night, as we read in verse 2.

He thinks it in such a way that it affects his thoughts, his affections, and his actions, so that they would be in line with God's.

This man knows God, and he will stand in the congregation of the righteous.

Now the second man in Psalm 1 is the wicked man who turns away from God and revels in his own counsel.

Those who do not heed his counsel, scorn.

Those who do not heed the counsel of the wicked, he scorns and scoffs at.

This man will be like the chaff that gets blown away.

And he will not know God, and he will fall on the day of judgment and perish.

The blessed man of Psalm 1 is revealed as the righteous king of Psalm 2, as we go into Psalm 2.

The righteous king takes counsel with Yahweh himself.

The wicked of Psalm 1 are identified as the wicked rulers of Psalm 2.

The wicked rulers take counsel together, and they scoff at the blessed man.

Therefore, there is a warning to the wicked kings that they should not take counsel together and scoff the authority of the righteous king.

And the warning is that if they do not submit to them, they will be crushed.

Read Psalm 2.12 with me.

Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way.

For his wrath is quickly kindled.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

In Psalm 1.2, we see the blessed man of Psalm 1 as the messianic king of Psalm 2.

The audience of Psalm 1 who are listening and reading and seeing this are being warned that unless they take refuge in the messianic king,

they will be crushed like the wicked rulers of Psalm 2.

And we see his point further in Psalm 3.8.

It says,

Salvation belongs to the Lord.

Your blessing be on your people.

Do you see the connection that blessed the man of Psalm 1 as the royal son?

And that all who take refuge in him are blessed and will be blessed.

And then in Psalm 3, it says that salvation belongs to the Lord.

Blessing be on your people.

Those who are finding refuge in the son.

So, as we come to the Psalm 32, this understanding of Psalm 1 and 2 sets up an interpretive paradigm, a way for us to understand the rest of the Psalms.

This understanding of Psalm 1 and 2 shows that those who submit to the blessed king find forgiveness, refuge, comfort, loving kindness, faithfulness, and eternal life.

But those who do not submit to the righteous king will receive justice, the righteousness of God, recompense, cursing, and everlasting sorrow.

With this understanding, turn with me to Psalm 32.

Before we begin the Psalm, I'd like to introduce it briefly by discussing a central theme of verses 1-5.

David is describing his experience of wrestling with guilt and unrepentant sin.

He explicitly describes the effect that this has on the state of his heart and how that is affecting his physical condition.

While he loved God and desired him deeply, he wrestled with sin in this body of death.

He was lured by lust.

He was murdered.

He murdered a man.

He committed adultery.

When his children sinned, he had been passive.

He got angry.

He manipulated circumstances in his favor.

He is one who has experienced the consequences of his sin, as we see through the narrative.

David was familiar with the grief of his own sin.

What about you today?

Are there sins you've committed that you feel the weight of upon your shoulders?

Are there things that you are shameful for?

I'm not sure if any one of you that are in here today are currently experiencing shame or guilt,

or experiencing regarding things you've done in the past.

But Psalm 32 is a passage of scripture that is like a wonderful salve for our soul,

and rich food for the needy.

It's a passage that provides relief from this massive burden of guilt and helps rid our stains of sin.

So today, in Psalm 32, we will see the godly should be the happiest of people

because they have been forgiven and received the blessings of forgiveness.

We will also see that the one who is unrepentant, bearing his guilt,

should heed the lesson of the psalm, do not be a mule.

We'll see this through four points.

The first point we'll see this through is point number one, the happy state of the forgiven.

Second point, the divine blessings of the forgiven.

The third point, do not be a mule.

Seek God in prayer.

And the fourth point, sorrow for the wicked and joy for the righteous.

Now I'll repeat these points again.

Point number one, the happy state of the forgiven.

Point number two, the divine blessings of the forgiven.

Point number three, do not be a mule.

Seek God in prayer.

And point number four, sorrow for the wicked and joy for the righteous.

Read Psalm 32 with me.

A masculine of David, blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

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

and whose spirit there is no deceit.

For when I kept quiet, 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 acknowledge my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity.

I said I'll confess my transgression to the Lord,

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Selah.

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.

Selah.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.

I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Be not like the horse or a mule without understanding.

You must be curved with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.

Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.

Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

Psalm 32 offers a remark under the heading.

It does not have a verse number.

So if you look into the text, you see the heading says,

Blessed are the forgiven.

Under it, there is a phrase that has no number one.

It's a masculine of David.

This is what we call the superscription.

It does not appear in every psalm, but when it does, it helps us understand the context of the psalm.

Oftentimes, this will give you an understanding of what the meaning of the psalm is.

So often this provides an author, an event, a genre.

The heading of the psalm is not in the Hebrew-inspired.

The superscription is in the Hebrew, and it is inspired.

So it's wise for us to see what it says and to understand how that influences the text.

Here it is a genre.

We see that's a masculine of David.

A masculine is a word in the Hebrew that means to instruct or to consider.

So this psalm is a piece of poetic wisdom.

It helps provide us understanding and wisdom in our relationship with God.

So with this in mind, let us learn from God's eternal word in Psalm 32 and apply it to our hearts.

Number one, the happy state of the forgiven.

As we begin to explore Psalm 32, keep in mind that Psalm 1 and 2 are lens by which we see the psalms.

So in this passage, the blessed are those who find refuge in the royal son for his forgiveness.

This makes us, so as we see that, we'll see that the blessed are those who find refuge in the son for his forgiveness, his protection, and his instruction.

The wicked are those who do not heed the counsel of the Lord and follow the way of the mule, the way of the foolish.

So Psalm 31, 2.

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

The one whose experience forgiven is blessed in the text.

We will come back to what it means to be blessed after we survey this text.

But let's talk about why they are blessed.

Here we see that they are blessed because they are forgiven.

So it makes me ask, what does it mean to be forgiven?

And the way that I've found helpful to break this down is, what is one forgiven from?

And what does it mean to be forgiven?

So we're going to survey that in two points.

What is one forgiven from in the text?

And what does it mean to be forgiven?

So in the text, there's this blessed individual who's forgiven from their transgressions.

To transgress is one who has decisively rebelled against the authority of God.

Their trespass is against God who created the heavens and the earth.

He is the creator and we are the creatures.

He has every right to establish what is right and what is wrong.

When one transgresses, they reject his authority.

So this person in Psalm 32 is forgiven from the countless times they have rejected God's authority over them

and decided their understanding, their counsel, their feelings are superior to God.

The text also says that their sin is covered.

Sin is missing the mark.

You're aiming at a target and the mark that's missed is what God has commanded.

But sin is also disobedience against God when they do not do what God has said.

But sin is more than that.

Sin is not just one disobedience.

It's a condition.

Before one is saved and experiences the healing salve of forgiveness,

they have a heart issue.

A sin issue in which they delight in their sin and transgressions against God.

In fact, they hate God before they are saved.

This heart condition of one before they are forgiven

is one of the wicked who will not stand in the judgment of God.

So with that said, one is forgiven from their transgressions.

What does it mean to be forgiven?

The Hebrew root here for forgiven in the text is to lift or carry.

To forgive someone from their transgressions,

for their transgressions to be lifted and carried away.

We see this language used throughout Scripture

and it gives us an understanding of the liberating and precious doctrine of forgiveness.

Bear with me while I belabor this point for a second.

In Leviticus, when one would sin,

they would bear the weight of their sin.

As if having it on their back.

Instead of their sin being carried, they're carrying it.

Therefore, when one sins, they have to deal with it.

And to deal with it, they would have to go and sacrifice a female goat.

And they would bring this female goat before the priest.

They would put their hand on the head and kill the goat.

And then the priest would take it and make propitiation for that individual.

But this act was like an act of transferring one's sin,

one's iniquity to this goat.

And then it would provide forgiveness.

In Leviticus 16, on the National Festival Day of Atonement,

people of Israel would gather before the priest and they would bring two goats.

And the priest would take one goat and offer it as a sin offering before God and make propitiation.

Then the priest would take the other goat, this goat called the scapegoat.

And he would confess over it all the iniquities of the people,

all their transgressions, all their sins.

And this scapegoat we sent away from the camp,

bearing the weight of iniquity and sins,

and it would be no more.

These practices were important for the people of Israel to seek forgiveness.

When they sinned, they looked to God by faith in the sacrifices.

And the prophets made clear that sacrifices themselves do not save.

There is no works that will save us.

But it is the faith itself is what is accounted to them as righteous,

as we see in Genesis 15.

For the audience of this psalm,

they would understand that salvation belongs to the Lord.

And for them to be saved would be for them to sacrifice

and by faith look to God and look to his promises.

So after David passed away,

during the reign of King Uzziah,

Isaiah began his prophetic ministry.

He began prophesying and ministering to the people.

Isaiah picks up on the language of Leviticus

and the imagery we see in Leviticus in Isaiah 53.

And he applies this to the servant of the Lord.

So if you will, take your copy of God's Word

and turn with me to Isaiah 53.

Actually, I want to remind you,

when they would bring the animal,

the idea was you're taking your iniquity and your sin

and you're putting it on the scapegoat

and the scapegoat would go into the wilderness.

So now we have the same language used in Isaiah 53,

prophesying of the Messiah who would come.

Starting in verse 4, we see,

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.

He was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities.

Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.

And with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way.

And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

So as the goats would bear the sins of the people,

this servant of the Lord will come one day,

in this context,

and bear the weight and iniquities and sins of God's people.

So the later Jews have this to look forward to.

They're looking to this blessed king who they can find refuge in.

And they're looking to this servant

who would bear the weight of all their sins and iniquities.

And this bearing, this weight that would be bore,

would not be a constant sacrifice they'd have to bring.

It would not be an annual day of atonement

that they would have to bring two goats,

one to be killed as a sin offering,

one to be sent away as a scapegoat.

This one will do one work

in which all sin will be forgiven for those who believe.

So as we read Isaiah 53 and Psalm 32,

we see a greater and grander picture.

As they had faith in God's promises to come,

we have faith in the God-man who came.

Jesus Christ is the servant of the Lord,

prophesied in Isaiah 53.

He is the blessed son of Psalm 2.

He is the son of Abraham and the son of David,

of Matthew 1.

He is the Lamb of God who bore the weight

of the sins of the world,

and the Lion of Judah who will make a quick end to his enemies.

He is the Alpha and the Omega,

the beginning and the end.

And it is in him that the Hebrew believers

and us today place our faith.

But just like the Hebrew believers of Psalm 32,

we are in the same boat.

We have sinned.

And when we sin,

we bear the weight of our sin.

If you are here today

and you do not believe in Jesus Christ,

know that you are bearing the weight of your sin.

There is a record of debt over you for all the wrongs you have committed.

Good works and happy attitude and forgetfulness will not save you.

Romans 6.23 says,

For the wages of sin is death.

This death is not just an end of life,

but an everlasting pain and suffering in hell.

Therefore,

as the Hebrews would look to the royal son and serve the Lord,

today,

while you can look,

look to Jesus Christ.

Romans 5.8 says,

God shows his love for us

and that while we're sinned,

Christ died for us.

Christ has taken every sin,

every treacherous trespass,

the load of iniquity,

which we should be bearing,

and bore it before the wrath of God.

He is the high priest and the scapegoat,

the Lamb of God,

who took away our sins.

Therefore,

today,

turn from your sins

and believe in Jesus Christ.

Romans 6.23 says

that the gift of God is eternal life.

For those who have been saved and forgiven,

there is something that awaits them,

something beautiful,

something wonderful,

an eternal inheritance

of everlasting joy

awaits those who have been forgiven,

those who find refuge

in the Messianic King.

Turn back with me to Psalm 32, please.

Great.

Let's read verses 1 and 2 together.

A masculine of David,

blessed is the one

whose transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man

against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,

and whose spirit there is no deceit.

So in Psalm 1 and 2,

we see this blessed man is blessed

because they have no transgressions

held against them.

Their transgressions have been cast

as far as the east is

from the west

and is no more.

They've been cast away and are gone.

This verse goes on to explain

two other ways

in which our sin has been dealt with.

In verse 1,

we see that our sin has been covered.

Sin brings shame and exposes us.

Jesus has bore our sin

and he has covered it

through his sacrifice.

Here, the person is blessed

because their sin

is covered in Christ.

The third way we see

that sin is discussed

is that the blessed man

will have no iniquity

accounted against him.

This word,

iniquity accounted against him,

is an accounting term.

As if you're taking an account

for everything that's ever happened.

So all the sins

that you've once done

no longer is accounted against you

if you find refuge

in the Son

and in Christ Jesus.

The record of debt is gone.

So now let's go back

to the word blessed.

So in the Hebrew scriptures,

the word blessing

is used an abundant amount of times.

Genesis is used 76 times.

In Deuteronomy,

it's used 40 times.

In the Psalms,

it's used 76 times.

The first word

is in the idea of giving

and receiving blessing.

And the second word

is usually used

in the state of being blessed.

It's a state of receiving

this blessing

and being blessed.

The word is also translated

to mean happiness.

So this person

who has been saved

by the gospel of Jesus Christ

and does not bear

the weight of sin

should be

the happiest person alive.

They have nothing

to worry about

in their eternal destiny

because God has covered

their sin for them.

Their iniquities have been bore

and their transgression

is no more.

So therefore,

we should rejoice today

in our Lord Jesus Christ

in his life, death,

and resurrection

because truly,

as saints of Christ,

we are in a happy place.

We have a happy state.

Point number two,

the divine blessings

of the forgiven.

As we move on

to verses three and four,

we'll see the divine blessings

David has experienced

from God.

The first blessing

we see in Psalm 32

is the blessing

of divine forgiveness.

Verses three through four say,

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.

Say law.

Prior to repenting of sin,

sin weighed him down.

David felt the weight

of his conviction

and he describes this weight

as his bones wasting away.

He describes this as groaning

all the day long.

His condition is that

he is grieved deeply

and miserable over sin.

Therefore,

does David

just stop thinking about it?

Does he,

does he,

in a sense,

just not tell anybody?

That,

that's not what brought him

healing in this text.

What brought him healing

is verses,

verse five.

I acknowledge my sin to you

and I did not cover

my iniquity.

I said,

I'll confess my transgression

to the Lord

and he forgave

the iniquity of my sin.

Say law.

For the believer,

we have this beautiful truth

that should cause our hearts

to leap with joy.

Should cause the spring

of gladness

when we think

that the sin

that we committed yesterday,

maybe the sin you committed

this morning,

if you seek forgiveness from,

has been forgiven.

And you do not have

to be miserable over it.

You do not have to be

in shame over this sin

because Jesus has covered it

for you.

But,

the opposite truth

is still there.

If you do not believe

in Jesus,

you do not know Jesus,

this weight of sin

is still upon you

and you will be held

accountable for it.

We see that this blessing

is followed up by a command

in Psalm 32, 6.

It says,

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.

The command is following

the confession of David

and then beseeching

the audience of the song.

It's saying,

Brothers and sisters,

do not conceal

your iniquity.

Do not cover up your sin.

Do not forget about it,

but bring it to the Lord

in prayer.

And if you're here

struggling today

with sin and shame,

bring the Lord in prayer

and grab a brother

and a sister

and ask them to help you

wrestle through

the struggle together.

But look at the statements

used in this text.

It helps us understand it better.

It says,

Let everyone who is godly

offer prayer.

So,

the godly in this text

offer prayer to God,

but it's also a command

to unbelievers

that they have an opportunity

to offer prayer to God.

They have an opportunity

to repent of their sins

now

as it is today.

And look at the imagery here.

The command has a clear

picture to it.

The reference says,

Seek him

while he may be found.

Into many waters

is a clear reference

to the flood.

And what happened

in the flood?

God was going to judge sin.

And he gave his promises

to Noah

to build the ark.

And those who entered the ark

were saved

from their sin.

And saved

from the wrath of God.

And those who were not

in the ark,

the wrath of God

was poured out

and the waters crushed

the people.

So here we see

this clear picture

that God hates sin

and he will punish it.

This command

to seek God in prayer

is an invitation

to sinners

to get on the ark

while they can.

To get in the ark

before the doors

are closed

and the floodwaters

come pouring down.

Therefore,

the application

is very clear.

If you are not

a follower of Christ,

now is your chance

to become one.

Now is your chance

to get on the ark

by the blood

of Jesus Christ

and save yourselves.

The next blessing

we see,

second blessing

of Psalm 32

is the blessing

of divine protection.

Psalm 32, 7

says,

You are a hiding place

for me.

You preserve me

from trouble.

You surround me

with shouts

of deliverance.

Selah.

The godly did not

just receive

the forgiveness

of sins,

but the protection

from God.

The refuge

of the messianic king

is not a shack

on the side of the road,

but an impregnable

fortress.

As Francis made clear

last week,

our security

on this earth

is not from

our vocation,

our riches,

our possessions,

or what we do,

but it's from God

and his gifts

to us.

God is the one

who is the Jehovah-Jireh.

He is the one

who has purposely

provided for all

our needs.

So when things

get hard,

we do not have

to be afraid

of the trials

that come our way,

but we,

like Habakkuk,

could come to the Lord.

Habakkuk 3 says,

Though the fig tree

should not blossom,

nor the fruit

be on the vines,

the produce

of the olive fail,

and the fields

yield no fruit.

The flock

shall be cut off

from the fold,

and there be no herds

in the stall.

Yet I will rejoice

in the Lord.

So his rejoicing

is in all my possessions.

The food I'm growing,

the animals I have

for security,

everything is gone.

I have no security.

I'm wide open,

and the only thing

I have right now,

the Lord,

is to trust in you.

And listen to the rest

of the verse.

I will take joy

in God

of my salvation.

God,

the Lord,

is my strength.

He makes my feet

like the deers.

He makes me

tread on the high places.

So we see

that the blessings

that we receive

from God

are his divine forgiveness,

his divine protection.

The third blessing

is his divine direction.

In verse 8,

God now takes

the pen from David

and shares his instruction.

It says,

I will instruct you

and teach you

in the way you should go.

I will counsel you

with my eye upon you.

There are only two ways

one can go,

as we've seen

from Psalm 1 and 2.

There is the way

of the wicked,

and there is the way

of the righteous.

Let us take the instruction

and follow the way

of the blessed son

of Psalm 2

and find refuge in him

and learn from him.

Let us follow the way

and let us be those

who are forgiven

and meditate on the Lord

day and night.

Those who know

and have experienced

the living God.

The divine blessing

of Psalm 32

finishes with a lesson.

So we talked about

the happy state

of the forgiven,

the blessings of the forgiven,

and now we're at point 3.

Do not be a mule.

Seek God.

The command of verse 9

is a negative way

of saying the command

of verse 6.

The first command

possibly commanded

the people

to seek God in prayer.

Verse 9 says,

Be not like a horse

or a mule

without understanding,

which must be curbed

with bit and bridle,

bit and bridle,

or it will not stay near you.

Here are the pictures

of a farm.

You have the animals

that the farm person

would come and call,

and they would come

and come to the farm

be put in.

But there's the one

or two animals

that don't come

when they're called.

We see the horse

and the mule

as the example here.

And instead of them

being called and coming,

the person goes

and puts a bit

in his mouth

and has to drag him

or get him over

to the farm

to get him in there.

And what it's saying is,

don't be like the donkey.

Don't be foolish.

But seek God now

while he is found.

Seek him in prayer.

Be like the sheep

who listen to the voice

of the good shepherd

who seeks to lead

his people

by still waters.

Do not remain

in the valley of death.

Do not let sin consume you,

but seek the living God

while he is found.

He is a good shepherd

and king

who is kind

and will lead our souls

to still waters.

Truly in Jesus,

there is rest

for the forgiven.

So, point three,

do not be a meal.

Finally, point four,

sorrow for the wicked

and joy for the righteous.

As David finishes sharing

the blessings

and the lesson,

he summarizes

the result of their lives.

Verses 10 and 11 say,

Many are the sorrows

of the wicked,

but steadfast love

surrounds the one

who trusts in the Lord.

Be glad in the Lord

and rejoice,

O righteous,

and shout for joy,

all you,

upright in heart.

Those who do not turn to God

and remain in their sin

will continue to follow

the way of the wicked.

They will remain meal-like

and they will receive

great sorrow.

And this sorrow is so great

that it's not momentary,

it's an everlasting sorrow.

The result of the wicked

is that they will experience

the wrath of God

and they will be crushed

on the day of judgment.

The righteous are not so.

The righteous have received

divine forgiveness,

divine protection,

and divine direction.

They have been forgiven

and will not be condemned

for their trespasses.

They have been,

and because of that,

their transgressions,

their sins,

their iniquities

are no more.

According to verse 10,

they are surrounded

with steadfast love.

They have placed their faith

in the sin-bearing

servant king of God

and they will find

refuge in him.

In conclusion,

Christian,

we have so much

to rejoice in.

Christians should be

the happiest of people.

We have so many reasons

for joy that we have

God's divine forgiveness,

divine protection,

divine direction

in our lives.

Not only have we placed

our faith in the Lamb,

Jesus Christ,

in the Jesus Christ,

the Lamb of God,

and the resurrected king,

but we are now co-heirs

with Jesus

and we'll receive

a heavenly inheritance

and we will be

welcomed into heaven

receiving this everlasting

joy as co-heirs

with Christ.

So we're forgiven now

and we have a beautiful

future that awaits us.

So application,

go to God,

seek his face,

and repent of

any sins you may have.

Second application is

rejoice.

Consider how you spend

your mornings,

your family time,

your time in your marriage.

Are you cultivating

these times

that you're rejoiced in?

Are you cultivating

your heart religious affection

for you,

for your spouse,

for your family,

for your church?

And then in preparation

for the gatherings,

are we preparing for joy?

Because going to church,

singing songs together,

and hearing God

in his word

should be an act of joy.

It should fill us

with complete joy

in these moments.

So let us be

a joyful people

who have experienced God

and praise him

as he so duly deserves.

Pray with me.