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Psalms 31-32
Psalm 31:1-24
To
the chief Musician, A Psalm of David
“In thee, O LORD,
do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide
me. Pull me out of the net that they
have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength. Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. I have hated them that
regard lying vanities: but I trust in
the LORD. I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou
hast known my soul in adversities; and hast not shut me up into the hand of the
enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large
room. Have mercy upon me, O LORD,
for I am in trouble: mine eye is
consumed with grief, yea, my soul and
my belly. For my life is spent with
grief, and my years with sighing: my
strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed. I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but
especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me. I am forgotten as a dead man out of
mind: I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel
together against me, they devised to take away my life. But I trusted in thee, O LORD,
I said, Thou art my God. My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hands
of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies sake. Let me not be ashamed, O LORD;
for I have called upon thee: let the
wicked be ashamed, and let them be
silent in the grave. Let the lying lips
be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously
against the righteous. Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that
trust in thee before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of
man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a
pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the LORD: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness
in a strong city. For I said in my
haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried
unto thee. O love the LORD,
all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen
your heart, all you that hope in the LORD.”
A Song Of Highs And Lows,
And Ups And Downs
“It
says “To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David” and when we find that at the
head of a Psalm we know for sure that this is one of the songs that were sung
publicly. Scholars are not agreed about
the backdrop for this particular Psalm. Is it when David was being pursued by Absalom? Is it when David is being pursued by
Saul? Is it when David is in
Keilah? Ah, we don’t know any of these
things. It mentions a stronghold, a city, that could be Jerusalem, it could be Mahanaim, it
could be Keilah, it could be Hebron, so no doubt that applies to all of us
then, it’s not specified. And it is a
song of highs and lows, of ups and downs, glory and doom. You know, it’s just very much like us. You ever find yourself like that, on a
rollercoaster in some ways? Ah, doing
great on some days, and the littlest thing takes us way down? So, very much a song that applies to our
lives and our experience. He begins by
crying unto the LORD. He says, “In thee, O LORD,
do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed:” and then he asks, “deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me;” the idea is ‘LORD, hear me, deliver me, hear
me,’ “deliver
me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defense to save me.” (verses 1-2) ‘LORD, be a foundation in my life,
for a house of defense, or a fortress to save me. LORD, be these things,’ he’s asking, “For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me,
and guide me.” (verse 3) “for thy name’s
sake” i.e. ‘for your reputation, I’m king, so it’s your reputation on the line
here, lead me and guide me.’ So,
notice again, all personal, “me” “I” “me” “me” “my”, ah, “deliver me,” “bow
down thine ear to me”, “be thou my strong rock”, “save me”, “lead me”, “guide
me”, “Pull me out of the net that they
have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.” (verse 4) So, David
crying out to the LORD. Again, this is not a Sunday-school song, this is not just something we learn because it’s
nice. This is a time when David is being
pursued by enemies, there’s constant threat to his life, there’s constant
slander, and the human tongue is destroying his reputation through this, and
threatening. And you know, David, you
read these, he had armies pursuing him, he had men
with swords and spears and bows pursuing him. To David this is being poured out of a very deep and real place in
regards to his own life being on the line, ‘So LORD, I put my trust in you,
deliver me, bow down your ear to me, be my strong rock, save me, lead me, guide
me, pull me out of the net that they’ve laid secretly for me, LORD, you’re my strength.’
When Something’s Going On
In Our Lives, And We Don’t Know What The LORD Is Doing, When We Don’t Know
What’s Happening---What Then?
And
then looking back, verse 5, as he
looks back, it gives him encouragement to look forward, to anticipate, he says, “Into thine hand I commit my
spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.” (verse 5) Now,
we’ve heard that before, haven’t we? On the cross, in Luke chapter 23 [Comment: a lot of believers have also said that before going into battle,
especially during the Civil War, on both sides, obviously quoting their
Messiah. This at a time like that is a very serious statement.] So definitely again, the LORD, allowing him to enter into
places here, and then to put the words to the page, much like the experience of our Saviour, in the Spirit of the LORD, “into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.” (verse 5) ‘This is my experience, LORD, you have
redeemed me thus far.’ “I
have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD.”
(verse 6) Jonah will pick up on this in
the belly of the whale. “I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy:” so now, because of God’s faithfulness in his life, he anticipates. Look, when something’s going on in our
lives, and we don’t know what the Lord is doing [I’m there right now], we
always want to fall back on what we do know, we want to fall back on what we do
know when we don’t know what’s happening. And David says, ‘Well I do know, LORD, I’ve committed my spirit to
you, you’ve redeemed me, you’re the God of truth, I’ve had a disregard and a
hatred for those who regard lying vanities, LORD, I trust in you. So LORD, I’m anticipating, because of
all that you’ve done. Whatever this
circumstance is, however difficult it is,’ “I will be glad
and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast
considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;” (verse 7) Isn’t it interesting, “thou hast known my soul in adversities” ‘LORD, you have watched me in the
worst of circumstances, and known the deepest feelings of my being, LORD, you have known my soul in
adversities,’ “and hast not shut me up into
the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my
feet in a large room.” (verse 8) The
idea is “in a large and gracious place, a large and spacious place.”
David’s Down In A Low Valley In Life
And
then he does reflect on the fact, that there is in this life, suffering,
sorrow, difficulty. “Have mercy upon me, O LORD,
for I am in trouble: mine eye is
consumed with grief, yea, my soul and
my belly.” (verse 9) Now he’s
cried to the LORD and asked the LORD to keep him, to guide him, ‘that
you’re my strong rock,’ he said to the LORD ‘because of who you’ve been I
trust this is who you will be.’ And now he says, “Have mercy upon
me, O LORD,
for I am in trouble: mine eye is
consumed with grief, yea, my soul and
my belly.” He’s not specific whether he’s ill, or
whether it’s taking such a toll on his life, fleeing. If this is during the years of Absalom he’s
older, he had to cross over Jordan to go Mahanaim, he had to flee, his life was in jeopardy (cf. 2nd Samuel
17). He says, “For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity,
and my bones are consumed.” (verse 10). And of course, if he was fleeing from
Absalom, he would be remembering that in his sin with Bathsheba, Nathan had
told him, “The sword shall not depart from your house.” And that may be very heavy on him at this
point in time, he says “For my life is
spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are
consumed.” (verse 10) “I was
a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a
fear to mine acquaintance: they that did
see me without fled from me.” (verse 11) So he talks about, as he’s conscious of
his own nature, his own failing, you know ‘I’ve
blown it, I’ve crossed the line that’s obvious to others,’ and he said, ‘Not
only has it had this affect on my own life,’ he says, ‘sadly,
it’s had a huge affect upon those also that are around me.’ He says ‘Not only mine enemies,’ he said, ‘and
I’ve been a reproach among them, but especially’ he says, ‘among
my neighbours, I’ve affected those around me,’ “and a fear to mine
acquaintance” ‘those closest to me are
afraid, they look on me, ‘What has he done, what’s happened to him?’ “they that did
see me without fled from me.” (verse 11c) ‘I was being avoided, people turned
away.’ “I am forgotten as a dead man
out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.
(verse 12) broken to shivers, he had said some incredible things, now he’s down in
the valley. “For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me,
they devised to take away my life.” (verse 13) Now again, if it’s in the days of Absalom,
and he’s realizing, he’s revisiting in his mind his iniquity, God has forgiven
him, his sin has been cleansed away, and yet he knows the consequences for his
sin have not been removed, they’re playing out in his life. He knows because God has said to him that he
is cleansed, that he is restored, that God sees his sin and his iniquity no
longer, yet it doesn’t mean that people don’t see it, and people don’t talk
about it. You know, when our repentance
is real and genuine, we’ve sinned and we’ve done something foolish, we’ve done
something public, you know, before the Lord our sin can be completely blotted
out. And when our repentance is genuine,
that’s true. But it doesn’t stop the
mouths of human beings that are around us, who aren’t in that place where he
says ‘LORD, you’ve known my soul in these
difficult places.’ Where people look on the
outward appearance, they don’t know, and they don’t make the right
judgment. He says “For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me,
they devised to take away my life.” (verse 13)
“My Times Are In Thy Hand”
Now
he moves into the emotion involved in all this hope and despair. He says, “But
I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God. My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hands of mine enemies,
and from them that persecute me.” (verses 14-15) Anyone whose been close to death in illness
or in their life being threatened or on the battlefield, anybody whose come to
that place where they have faced their own mortality [even by just growing old
and seeing life slip by them, seeing their hopes and dreams slip by them], and
it’s sometimes, it’s not even in the circumstance, or the following month, sometimes
there’s a depression that comes, like after open-heart surgery, just,
sometimes in this life, James Dobson says, somewhere our membrane is
ruptured. And when we really genuinely
come to that place where we face our own mortality, we realize what the
Scripture means when it says our next breath is in his hand. When finally the only way to get peace is to
sit back and say ‘Lord, my times are in your hand, my times are in your hand. There’s something bigger than just all of the
stuff I’m planning here.’ “My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hands of mine enemies,
and from them that persecute me. Make
thy face to shine upon thy servant: save
me for thy mercies’ sake.” (verses 15-16) ‘LORD, let me be a trophy of your
grace and your mercy.’ “Let
me not be ashamed, O LORD;
for I have called upon thee: let the
wicked be ashamed, and let them be
silent in the grave. Let the lying lips
be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously
against the righteous.” (verses 17-18) And David had known that from both sides.
What The LORD Did For David, Does For Us
When We Sit Back And Trust Him
And
now he praises the LORD, there’s a triumph, even in
these most difficult things. “Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou
hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!” (verses 19) You
know, Psalm 31 is an interesting contrast to Psalm 32, because Psalm 31 seems
to a great degree, these trials and experiences have come upon David, and he’s
able to identify in them, the wicked wrong motivations, those who are defiant
of God and of his righteousness, and he’s able to have that in his conception,
and as the Holy Spirit moves him to write. In the next Psalm, he’s keenly aware of what had taken place was all his
own fault. And then he instructs on what
to deal in regards to that, how to deal with that. So, he says here, verse 19, “Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up
for them that fear thee; which thou
hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!” you know,
in front of other people, who cares, if this is what I believe. “Thou
shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion
from the strife of tongues.” (20) i.e. pavilion, in a hiding place. Wouldn’t you like to find that pavilion? Man, there’s days I’d like to find that
pavilion, hopefully there’s no signal there and your other phone doesn’t go off
beside the strife of tongues. “Blessed be the LORD: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness
in a strong city.” (verse 21) again, Mahanaim, Jerusalem,
we’re not sure, or just a picture for us.
David’s Greatest Fear Was Not His Enemies
And
he says this in verse 22, “For I said in
my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried
unto thee.” You ever say anything in
your haste? We do that, you know. I did it once in ’76 [laughter]. You know, as we go through life, I think there’s more times that we regret saying something, than we
regret not saying something. I mean,
there are times, aren’t there, when we think ‘We should have said something.’ But that doesn’t register much on
the scale. [Usually I’m thinking, as I look back, ‘I wish I hadn’t said that,’ or ‘I
shouldn’t have said that,’ or ‘I
shoulda kept my mouth shut!’] Most
of the time it’s ‘I can’t believe I said
that!’ And once it’s out you can’t
real it back. He says “I said in my haste, I am cut off from
before thine eyes” ‘He doesn’t even see me, he doesn’t know
what’s going on in my life, I’m cut off before your eyes. Oh I’m glad I started this Psalm, I trust in
you to deliver me, bow down your ear, be my strong rock, save me, lead me,
guide me, pull me out of this mess,’ and he says in the middle of it,
and he said, and it’s hard for me to relate to that, having a little trouble,
I’m joking, “For I said in my haste,” you don’t love me anymore,’ “I am cut
off from before thine eyes:” (verse 22a) and hey look, what he’s being
honest about here is his greatest fear was not of his enemy. His greatest fear was being abandoned by the
God that he loved and served and trusted. He realized, he’s experienced enough on the battlefield, from the time
he was a kid he was killing a bear and a lion, and a giant, leading the armies
of Israel, all that God has done, he’s honest enough, ‘I shot my mouth off, LORD forgive me, I said what I
shouldn’t have said, and what I said is ‘You’ve forgotten about me, you aren’t
even watching out over me, I’m cut off before your eyes.’ But
he is at least admitting, ‘that was the thing that really troubled me,
I’ve been surrounded with enemies, LORD, I know you can deal with
them, but it’s much more frightening to me to think that I’ve been abandoned by
you than anything that man can do to me.’ “nevertheless thou
heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. O love the LORD,
all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.” (verses 22b-23) “all ye his saints” that’s us. “the proud doer” i.e. those who are serving the Lord,
proud of what they’re doing. “Be of good courage” the exhortation at
the end. “he shall strengthen your heart” our
hearts need that quite often, don’t they? “Be of good courage, and he shall
strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.” (verse 24) Where’s our hope when we’re in those bad and
terrible struggling days?
Psalm 32:1-11
A Psalm of David,
Maschil
“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in
whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old
through my roaring all the day long. For
day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto
the LORD;
and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. For this shall every one
that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they
shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve
me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must
be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but
he that trusteth in the LORD,
mercy shall compass him about. Be glad
in the LORD,
and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for
joy, all ye that are upright in
heart.”
Introduction To Psalm 32,
A Penitential Psalm
Now, Psalm 32. It says “A Psalm of David,
Maschil”. This is one of the seven penitential Psalms
where there’s penitence, or repentance. There’s seven penitential Psalms, Psalm 6, 38, Psalm 51, Psalm 102, 130
and 143. And it is the first of 13
Maschil Psalms. Maschil means
“instruction.” Some scholars struggle ‘Well did it have a specific musical
inference?’ But everybody’s agreed,
this is one of the 13 songs that Israel sang that were specifically for
instruction, it was a sermon and a song. So there were lessons that were to be learned from this, as this song
was recorded. Ah, Hebrew tradition has,
and still has, this Psalm is song the last day of the Feast of Atonement, when
Israel looks to God for his complete forgiveness in the Feast of Atonement
[it’s called “the Day of Atonement” because it’s a fast day when nobody ate any
food or drink[, Yom Kippur, this song was sung on the last day of that feast
[this Holy Day was only one day long, but the fall Holy Day season went from
the Feast of Trumpets to the end of the Feast of Tabernacles, with the Day of
Atonement coming 3 days before the Feast of Tabernacles started. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/E-Mails/June%2014/FallHolyDays-short.htm and/or http://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Holydayshadows.htm] It is written in response to Psalm 51, where
David confesses his sin and he takes us through the confrontation of Nathan the
Prophet, his sin with Bathsheba, and in verses
12 and 13 (of Psalm 51) he says, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation,” he’s pleading with the LORD, “and uphold me with thy free Spirit, then will I teach transgressors
thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee.” So this song, 32, was written after Psalm
51, and it is one of the Psalms where he says, ‘LORD, if you restore me, be
gracious to me, then I will teach sinners your way.’ So this is a lesson for us. It’s filled with instruction, and it tells us
what to stay away from, what not to get involved in, if we do get involved in
it what we need to do to get out of it. What we can expect in the process. It was one of the 13 songs of instruction through the Old Testament, in
the House of Israel. And the picture
here, look, as we go through this, is of God’s chastening. David talks about that, the hard days because
of his sin. It is never, and it is not
here, a picture of a judge passing a sentence of punishment on a criminal. That’s not what this is. It is not the picture of a judge passing
sentence of punishment on a criminal. If
this evening you are in sin, if this evening you’re in a place where you’ve
committed some horrendous sin and your heart is broken and you’re still trying
to get back on your feet, understand as we go through this, this is not the
voice of a judge whose pronouncing punishment on a criminal. This is a voice of a father who is dealing
with the rebellion of a child that he loves, until he brings his will into a
place of surrender. Paul tells us, or
whoever wrote Hebrews tells us, that our God in heaven, he chastens the son
that he loves. And the chastening of the
Lord it says, for the present, it’s not peaceful, it’s not an enjoyable thing,
but it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. So, this is filled with the care of God as we
head into this Psalm, and we hear what the LORD is saying. David begins by blessing the LORD in regards to his error, and
he ends with a blessing for the LORD. This is what he says, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there
is no guile. When I kept silence, my
bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand
was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned
into the drought of summer. Selah.” (verses 1-4) ‘Selah, i.e. think about that for awhile.’ There’s three “Selah’s” here. Then he says in verse 5, what he did in this terrible circumstance, “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine
iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will
confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the
iniquity of my sin. Selah.” ‘Think about that for awhile.’ Then he says, “For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when
thou mayest be found: surely in the
floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me
about with songs of deliverance. Selah.”
(verses 6-7) Think about that. And then the LORD speaks in the first person as
David is writing, the LORD overwhelmed him, and the LORD says, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt
go: I will guide thee with mine
eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with the bit and bridle, lest they come near
unto thee.” we’ll talk about that, “Many
sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD,
mercy shall compass him about. Be glad
in the LORD,
and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for
joy, all ye that are upright in
heart.” (verses 8-11)
Four Words Describe The Evil David Had Entered Into
He
begins this Psalm with a description of the blessed man, and he talks about the
problems, he uses four words to describe the evil that he himself had entered
into. And he says “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” “transgression,”
there’s our first word. “whose sin” there’s our second word, “Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity,” and “in whose spirit there is no guile.” David in his experience said, ‘Hey look, transgression, this is what
happens, transgression means ‘to step across the line.’ You know, you see in the old cowboy movies
they draw a line in the dirt, ‘You want
to be on my side, step across there.’ Transgression is stepping across a known line. “Sin” is from the old Hebrew phrase, and it
found its way into English, it means “to miss the mark,” you don’t measure up
to the standard that’s marked out for you. “Iniquity” is a word that means “to be twisted” or “warped” or “bent,”
and it speaks about our sinful nature, there’s something wrong with us, if you
haven’t noticed, we’re twisted, we’re warped, we’re bent. Watch the news, and you think ‘How can people commit some of the sins that
we see in the world we live in?’ There’s an iniquity, there’s a twistedness, a
brokenness, there’s something warped. And he says, the last word he uses is “guile,”
which means to be deliberately deceptive, to be deliberately hypocritical. What he’s saying here is ‘Look, I transgressed, I had the
Torah, I had God’s Word, and I knew it said Thou shalt not commit
adultery. I knew it said Thou shalt not
murder, I knew it said Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife. I knew what it said, God drew the line in the
sand and said Don’t step across it, and I stepped
across it.’ That’s
transgression. And he said ‘Stepping
across that line in my transgression,’ he said, ‘is my sin, that’s the place
where I didn’t measure up, I missed the mark. That happened because of my iniquity, because my nature is twisted and
warped and bent, and in all of that I lied, I kept it covered for a year, I had
Uriah put to death, there was guile involved in all of it.’ So look, basic instruction comes
here. If God tells you something, you
don’t have to ask anymore questions. If
he says “Thou shalt not commit
adultery,” you don’t have to say ‘Can
I commit a little adultery?’ Once
God draws the line, then there’s no more
questions. If you don’t believe that
now, you will. If you’re his son or his
daughter, you will, no rocket science, don’t kill, don’t commit murder. And by the way, it’s not
Thou shalt not kill, God’s called many warriors to the battlefield, and he did
in the Old Testament also, it’s “Thou
shalt do no murder” that’s what it’s talking about, premeditated
manslaughter, to commit murder. And he’s
warning, because, look, any one of us, except for God’s grace, there go I, I
have that traitor that lives within, and there’s an iniquitous part of all of
our nature that’s twisted (cf. Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 7). We’re told in Romans not to let sin reign in
our mortal bodies. Because
we have a propensity to do those things. And when we do, we’d rather cover it up, we’d rather keep it hidden,
it’s guile, we’d rather be deceptive. I mean, who wants to just
bring that into the open once you’ve blown it? You know, Charles Spurgeon said “The time between a sin committed and
the repentance is the indication of the condition of the person’s heart.” He said, “God won’t let his children sin
successfully” Charles Spurgeon said. He
said, “But when you sin, the time between when you do sin, and when your
repentance and confession takes place, that distance is a barometer of the
condition of your heart.” David went for
a year. And guys, David was over 50-years-old
when he fell with Bathsheba. He was no
spring chicken [but she was a young woman, probably in her early
twenties]. But this is what he’s saying, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” (verse 1) Transgression can be forgiven. Here it means “to be sent away.” “whose sin is covered.” taken out of
sight. Look, if you’re in sin, don’t try
to cover your own sin, it’s not saying ‘Blessed is the sinner who covers [up] his
own sin.’ It’s taking about ‘Blessed
is the one whose sin is covered by the LORD.’ David was in a position, where heaven looking
down, saw no sin. He was forgiven. It didn’t mean that people around him didn’t
see it. Absalom saw it, Amnon saw it,
Tamar saw it, Joab never got over it, those around
him. But once his repentance was real,
heaven didn’t see it anymore, it was covered. “Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in
whose spirit there is no guile.” (verse 2) Now we have an accounting word, ‘doesn’t
put to the man’s column in his credits, iniquity.’ Doesn’t put it
there. “and in whose spirit there is no guile.” (verse 2b) he’s not a guy, you know, you get around a
guy, you think ‘This guy’s slimy, you
just can’t trust this guy.’ You
know, you can feel somebody, you have a baloney-meter God gives us all, a
baloney-meter, we know when we get around that
person. So he gives us these four words.
“When I Kept Silence, My Bones Waxed Old”---This
Is The Way You End Up When You Sin And Hide It
Then
he gives us these three words relative to being pardoned, forgiveness, our sins
being covered, the LORD not imputing our sin to us, and he puts that
first. Then he tells us his
experience. Here it is, he says, “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old
through my roaring all the day long. For
day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.” (verses 3-4) Look, he says ‘These were the effects. I kept silent.’ So he tried to keep it covered up for a
year. You can’t keep it covered up,
because your God is the uncoverer. And
he, you know, slowly brought it into the light. I’ve seen it, he does it. And it
trickles out. Joab knew, Ahithophel knew
who was Bathsheba’s grandfather. He was furious, he
had been David’s best counselor, turned against him. It had trickled out. And of course then finally Nathan coming and
challenging David, after a year. He had
committed adultery, had committed murder. In the Law of Moses, you commit adultery, what do you do? You get a lawyer? Not in the Law of Moses, you don’t have to
get a lawyer, in the Law of Moses if your spouse commits adultery, they get
stoned to death. It’s way simpler. So there’s not all this confusion. Adultery was a capital crime. Look, I’m glad we’re under the new covenant,
don’t get me wrong. Because Jesus says
the truth is, if you lust after a woman in your heart, you’ve already committed
adultery. I’m glad we’re already in the
new covenant. [What is that new
covenant? See, http://www.unityinchrist.com/newcovenant/TheNEWCOVENANT.htm] But you think of
the destruction, the broken homes, the broken marriages that’s brought to our
culture. We see a whole generation
living in broken homes. And the
statistics for those who are incarcerated in prison, that are there for murder,
that are there for drugs, that are there for rape, the one constant that they
have that outweighs all other constants, is no father in the home. It outweighs every other thing, when you take
all of the data on all of those men in prison. The one thing that outweighs all other things, in fact in regards to
their commonality, the thing they have in common, is no father in the
home. And the LORD, you know, he says in Malachi,
‘What I want in a marriage is a godly seed,’ it’s an institution. So, this was a different culture here. He says he had committed adultery, and he had
committed murder, and he says in Psalm 51, ‘Sacrifice and offering thou hast
not desired,’ there was no sacrifice for adultery, it was a capital
crime, you were put to death. There was
no sacrifice for murder, you were put to death. He said, ‘sacrifice and offering, that’s not what you asked for, but a broken
and a contrite spirit you will not despise.’ In fact, he says in Psalm 51, after his sin,
you remember, he says, ‘LORD, create in me a clean heart.’ You guys aware of that? And it’s the word “bara.” “In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth.” It means
“to create something from nothing.” We
live in a culture that is medicating, and doing all of these things, and
counseling. You can’t take what needs to
change in somebody, and put it under the banner of your education, and think
through behavior modification you’re going to set somebody free or give them
new life. David says ‘create
in me, from nothing God,’ because you know, he says here, he talks
about his iniquity, he talks about his guile, he talks about his sin and
transgression. There when he’s
repenting, first he says ‘Create in me, create a brand new heart that
I’ve never had, and put back into me again, LORD.’ How wonderful that we can go to God and ask
for that. No sacrifices for these sins,
so he says, and this is a warning, he says ‘Look, you get involved in this kind of sin,
listen to what I’m saying, he said, I kept silent, I was trying to cover it up,
I didn’t want it to come out in the open, but the truth is, my bones were
waxing old, I had boiling bone-marrow, I couldn’t get away from it. It was going on inside.’ And he said, “through my roaring all the day long.” (verse 3b) You
think David was in his house going ‘ROAR!’, you know,
roaring all the day long? No, no, he
says that roaring was going on inside, you know, ‘I’m trying to cover this up, I’m
keeping it quiet, inside I’m screaming, I’m eaten up with conviction, it’s
killing me. I know what I did was wrong,
I committed adultery, I committed murder, this Living God is aware of this,
I’ve gotten myself into this situation,’ and he said, ‘I
was aging, it was taking away my life, my bones,’ he says, ‘were
waxing old, as I was roaring all the day long.’ And he says, “For day and
night thy hand was heavy upon me: my
mourning is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.” (verse 4) The reason he was roaring, the reason all
of this is taking a toll, he says ‘The only way I can describe it, 24/7, LORD, your hand was heavy upon me,
there was a heaviness, I could not get away from it. I can get away from the eyes of men,’ in Psalm 51 he says, ‘Before thee, and thee only have I sinned and done this great
evil in thy sight.’ He’s saying ‘LORD, I couldn’t get away, it was
heavy, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it was crushing, it was internal, people
didn’t see it, they knew what was going on on the outside, it was killing
me.’ And he says, “my moisture is
turned into the drought of summer. Selah.” i.e.
“my vitality is turned into the drought of summer.” Here’s what he says, Look,
this is where you’re going to end up. Sin is never worth it, sin makes a mess. David, Maschil, this is a Psalm of instruction, what he’s saying is, ‘This
is where you end up, this is the way it is.’ You get yourself into that kind of a mess, and you try to remain in a neutral place, try to keep
it quiet, it’s not worth it, it’ll destroy you, it eats you up from the
inside.
God Is Swifter To Forgive Than We Are To Confess
This
is his answer, this is his instruction. What do we do? If you’re in that
place, how do we handle this? He says,
this is what he did, “I acknowledged my
sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto
the LORD;
and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.” (verse 5) Now he’s going to use “my sin,” “my
iniquity,” “my transgression,” and “my iniquity,” all the words from the first
verse and second verse, he’s going to use them again, and he’s going to own
them now. Look, “I acknowledged my sin”, it wasn’t Bathsheba’s sin, it
wasn’t anybody else’s sin, it was “my
sin, I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity”, it
wasn’t anybody else’s problem, the problem was “I’m
twisted.” ‘It was my iniquity,’ “have I
not hid” ‘LORD I’ve brought it out before
you.’ “I
said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD;” ‘I’ve stepped across the line, I did it, it
wasn’t somebody else’s fault.’ We love to blame other people. And he says when I did that, “and thou forgavest the iniquity of my
sin. Selah.” (verse 5c) i.e. ‘he forgave the iniquity, the
twistedness of my sin, think about that’ he says. This is what he’s saying, he’s saying, ‘God
is swifter to forgive than we are to confess.’ He said, ‘It
took me a year, and finally I got exposed by Nathan, and all that time I was
dying inside, and I finally spit it out, I finally brought it out into the
light, I finally confessed,’ and he says, ‘When I did it, he forgave me, he
delivered me, he was swifter to forgive than I was to confess. Think about that, Selah’ he says,
think about that. Listen, his son will
write this, and I believe he heard it from his father, Solomon will write, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper. But whoso confesseth” notice “and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” He who covers his sin shall not
prosper. But the man or woman who
confesses and then forsakes them, is going to prosper, is going to be
blessed. So here he says ‘I
did, I acknowledged my sin to thee, LORD, my iniquity have I not hid,’ “I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD;” ‘and LORD, you forgave me, even the
twistedness of my sin.’ That’s how he can say in verses 1 and 2, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not inquity, and in whose spirit there
is no guile.” He says ‘It’s because I confessed,
because I broke down, because I brought it before the LORD, and all of that then was dealt
with, was all put where it should be.’
“Thou Art My Hiding Place, Thou Shalt Preserve Me From Trouble
And
he says this, “For this shall every one
that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they
shall not come nigh unto him.” (verse 6) You know, the godly man, the godly woman,
ends up breaking, coming to the Lord, putting things where they should be, “shall every one that is godly pray unto
thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.” He draws a picture of these floods of great
waters, “they shall not come nigh unto
him” the destruction that came in the Flood, judgment, God is not going to
do that to those who draw near. He says ‘LORD, I have security,’ “Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt
preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of
deliverance. Selah.” (verse 7) ‘you’re my hiding place, the place I go and
find peace, LORD, you’re the one that’s going
to preserve me, you’re going to surround me,’ “thou
shalt compass me with songs of deliverance” and he’s a song-writer, “Selah” he says again, LORD, you’re going to do these
things, as all of this is brought before you.’ It doesn’t say that there weren’t any
consequences, he just says ‘LORD, you’re the one, you’re the
one whose my deliverer, you’re my hiding place, you’re the one who preserves
me, you’re the one that surrounds me,’ because in truth, David was never the king, after
his sin, that he was before. He was
never the father afterwards that he was before. He was a greater song-writer in the long run. He wrote some of the sweetest Psalms of God’s
grace and forgiveness because of his failing and falling. But he was impotent to stand up to sin after
that, in his own family. When Amnon took
his half-sister Tamar, and forced himself on her, she
was Absalom’s full sister, what could David say? ‘You
can’t do that’ ? Well he had taken another man’s wife, had
taken Bathsheba, it crippled him, he couldn’t face it, he couldn’t deal with it
in his own house. And then when Absalom
found out that Amnon his half-brother had forced himself and raped his sister,
then Absalom set up a scene where then he could murder his half-brother
Amnon. And David couldn’t deal with
Absalom because David had murdered Uriah [Bathsheba’s husband]. And then Absalom, of course then starts a
rebellion and takes the kingdom over. Now David had heard from Nathan, ‘Your sins are forgiven, God’s done that for you, David. But the
sword is not going to depart from your house, and your own wives are going to
be shamed out on the open.’ And
David is keenly aware of that, he is keenly aware to say ‘LORD, you’re my deliverance, not
circumstances, you LORD, you’re the one who protects
me, you’re the one who surrounds me, I find my solace
in you. Selah.’
Then The LORD Speaks: God Is Way More Interested In Guiding Us In Regards To Our Character
Verses 8-11, “I
will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must
be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but
he that trusteth in the LORD,
mercy shall compass him about. Be glad
in the LORD,
and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for
joy, all ye that are upright in
heart.” Then the LORD speaks, he says this, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the
way which thou shalt go:” Listen, this isn’t the LORD saying, ‘I knew you’d be back, blow everything, I give you all this, I gave you
the kingdom, you already had like six or seven wives,’ the LORD had said in the
Torah “thou shalt not multiply wives to thyself,” he probably figured
he was only adding. Certainly Solomon
multiplied, 700 wives and 300 concubines, and some of David’s wives were from
Saul’s harem, which was the sign of the kingdom passing and so forth, the
dynasty passing. But he said ‘I’ve
given you the house of your master, the wives of your master, how much more
would I have given you David if you’d have just asked me, and you did this?’ He committed adultery, he committed
murder. ‘David, you’re forgiven, but here
are the consequences, and this is how they’re going to run out.’ God was gracious enough to tell him of
that. I’m glad that our sins and our
transgressions were paid for on the cross 2,000 years ago, and we don’t have to
pay for them, because someone else has paid for them. Yes, God allows for consequences in our lives
sometimes, to instruct us, but he [Jesus] received the penalty for the life
that we lived, and we have received the reward for the life that he lived. That’s the transaction that was made. ‘He who knew no sin was made sin, that you
and I might be made the very righteousness of God,’ I’m so thankful for
that. David says here’s how the LORD speaks to me, ‘After
I blew it, after I messed up, he didn’t say ‘Hey man, just get outa here,’ and
just blow me off and say ‘I don’t want to talk to you, I’m trying to write a
great story in the Old Testament and you mess the whole thing up.’ God said to him in his repentance, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the
way which thou shalt go:” he’s promising guidance, “I will guide thee with mine eye.” (verse 8) Listen, do we want to know? But when we get into sin, we don’t want to
know. That’s how we get into sin. When we get into it, we don’t care what the
Word says, we transgress, we cross the line, we mess
up. You know, as we come back, are we
genuinely broken enough to say ‘Lord, ok,
you can instruct me, you can guide me, you can teach me.’ He’s willing, he’s willing to say that to us. And
look, we want guidance for our career, don’t we? Do we want guidance for our character? God’s way more interested in guiding us in
regards to our character than he is in regards to our careers. You know, it’s funny, because I hear people
say ‘Hey, you know, if you take care of
your character, God will take care of your reputation.’ Of course, until they blow it, then all they
worry about is their reputation. That’s
what’s at stake. David was worried about
his reputation, he tried to cover, he was a king, he didn’t want anybody to hear. Now he’s
broken enough, he says in ‘my repentance,’ it was genuine, he said ‘LORD, you’re the one that’s going
to surround me with songs of deliverance, LORD, you’re the one that’s going
to be merciful to me,’ and he said, ‘The LORD spoke to me,’ and David is saying in this
Maschil, ‘God will say to you also in your repentance, ‘I will instruct thee.’ Are we willing to receive it? “and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.” He probably said to David now, ‘What
does ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’ mean now?’ Obedience 101. ‘What does Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s
wife mean?’ ‘What does thou shalt not
kill mean?’ God said, ‘Alright,
I’ll instruct you, I’ll teach you, I’ll lead you in the way that you should
go,’ look, l will guide thee
with mine eye.” What does that
mean? (Scholars are all disagreed about
it.) We know this for sure, if someone’s
going to guide you with their eye, you have to be close enough to them for that
to happen, not on the other side of the ball-field. Kathy and I will sometimes be somewhere, and
she can guide me with her eye, she’ll just go ‘it’s time to go, let’s get out of here.’ How many times, your kids are ready to do
something, and they’ll just stop, they understand “the look.” It’s interesting, A.E. Wilder-Smith before he
died, in one of his studies he said, “They’ve
discovered that the human eye is not just a receptor, where it receives long
and short radio waves, it’s also a transmitter, and a huge part of your
relationship with somebody you’ve known for a long time, is they can give you
‘the look.’” You know, Kathy will say
to me ‘You want to go to the Mall, and I
say ‘Ya’ and she goes, she’s broken the code, she knows…’ The LORD says, ‘David, I’ll instruct you,’ he says to you and I, ‘I’ll lead you, I’ll teach you the way you
should go, I’d to do it like this, I’d like to be close enough to you where I
could just guide you with my eye, I’m willing to do that.’ His warning is this, “be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no
understanding: whose mouth must be held
in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.” (verse 9) King James says “lest they come near unto thee” the
Hebrew indicates “or they will not come near unto you” unless it must be in a
bit or a bridle, so the idea is, ‘Don’t be like a beast in their
stubbornness, you know, if you’re going to guide them you need a bit or a
bridle to get them to cooperate, to bring them close to yourself.’ So he says to us, if we blow it, you know, if
your kid does something wrong at home, you don’t tell him, ‘Hey, kid, change your last name and pack your suitcase, get outa
here.’ You know, you chasten them,
this is the story of a heavenly Father chastening, not a judge passing a
sentence of punishment on a criminal. And after David’s sin, the LORD says, ‘You know what, I’ll guide
you. I’ll instruct you in the way that
you should go. I want to guide you with
my eye, I want to be close enough to you that I can
let that happen. Don’t be like a mule,
that’s how you were, that’s how you got into this. Don’t be like a donkey, don’t be like a beast
where I’ve gotta put a bit or bridle on, because I will if I need to, I’ll put
a bit or a bridle in your mouth. I’ll
put Nathan in your life. If I need to do
that, I’ll do that to make you be close to me. I’ll get you back, the easy way or the hard way.’ So there’s promise of guidance, and
then there’s a warning, ‘I’ll guide you, I’ll lead you, I want to in
the most gentle and personal way guide you with my eye. But don’t be as a beast of burden, don’t be stubborn, because if I need to, even as with an animal with a bit and
bridle, you can draw them near, I can do that.’
A Contrast Between The
Wicked And Those Who Trust The LORD
And
he contrasts verse 10 the wicked and
those who trust the LORD, “Many sorrows shall be to the
wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD,
mercy shall compass him about.” Here’s the end of the song,
simple, not rocket science. “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked:” in contrast to sorrow, “but he that trusteth in the LORD,
mercy shall compass him about.” Many sorrows verses mercy surrounding those
who trust the LORD, he puts contrast there. And then he says, he ends as he began, “Be glad in the LORD,
and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for
joy, all ye that are upright in
heart.” (verse 11) Look, are
you completely broken down tonight because of some sin in your life? Or are you someone here tonight whose roaring
inside, the moisture of your life has dried up, God’s hand is heavy upon
you? God won’t let his children sin
successfully because he loves them. You
ever notice that? When I got saved, one
of the things I noticed in my early years, I couldn’t get away with anything
anymore. Everything I did I got
busted. Before I was saved I was a good
sinner, I was good at it. I got away
with all kinds of things. I got saved,
then you try to do something, you get busted, because you have a Father in
heaven now, who sees it all, it’s before his eye, ‘before thee only have I done
this great evil in thy sight,’ he sees it all. But because he loves us, he says, ‘Look,
I’ll lead you, I’ll guide you, I’ll teach you, I’m a forgiver, I’m a restorer,
I’m a redeemer, I’m a reconciler, I’d love you to be close enough to me that I
can just say, ‘Hey Joe, go over there [with a look].’ But if you’re going to be stubborn, like the
mule, like the donkey, there’s a bit and a bridle with your name on it, I’ll
get you close to me. Because the wicked,
they have many sorrows,’ and it isn’t the Lord saying, ‘No doubt that’s what I want for your life.’ ‘I want you to understand that the man that
trusts me, mercy will surround him, surround him.’ ‘So be glad,’ he can say to the most broken of us, ‘in the LORD, rejoice ye righteous, and
even this, shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.’ He would have us shout for joy…must be a bunch
of charismatics, shouting for joy.
In Closing
Ah,
great picture this evening, look, Psalm 31, there are highs and lows, that we experience in life, the rollercoaster, things
going on around us, there’s gossip, there’s slander, there’s enemies, there’s
difficulties. And David is telling us, ‘This
is what you do…now I’ve found my way through this, when things were good, when
things were bad, even when they were life-threatening, I knew my times where in
his hand, that I appealed to him, and he was there, I spoke foolishly, and I
spoke too quickly, thinking he had just forgotten me, but then I realized, ‘No
he’s there, and I said that wrongly, and God was gracious.’ That circumstance is all around
us. Then David says in Psalm 32, ‘Well
here’s the song of instruction for those of you who got yourselves smack dab in
the middle of the mess you’re in, and there ain’t anybody else to blame, this
is what you need to do, when you can finally say ‘This is my transgression, this is my iniquity, this is my stuff, it ain’t
anybody else’s. Because maybe this other
person wasn’t what they should have been, maybe this person provoked me,’ that’s a big one for me, I get angry sometimes, once a decade. And I’m quick to say ‘They provoked me. If they
hadn’t provoked me, it never would have happened, it’s their fault.’ No, no, David said, ‘No, it’s me, it’s my
transgression, it’s my guile, it’s my twisted nature, it’s my sin.’ And he said, ‘When I did those things,’ he said, ‘the LORD forgave me,’ he says, ‘he cleansed me, he set me free.’ So he goes on to exhort, ‘LORD, you’ll find your way in him,
LORD you’re my strength, you’re my tower, you’re the one who surrounds me, you’re
the one who delivers,’ and then the LORD breaks in and says, ‘You know, I will guide you, I
will instruct you, I’ll show you the way you should go, and I want to guide you
with my eye. Don’t be a stubborn mule,
because I’ll still win, I’ll still win, this is going to go my way anyhow, in
the long run. Be careful, because the
wicked are in the midst of sorrow, and I don’t want that for your life. But the man or woman that trusts in me, mercy
surrounds them, surrounds them. Live
there, rejoice, sing his praises, and shout out loud.’ So maybe some of you came in here crying
tonight, can shout with the song we’re going to sing now, as we do this. I would encourage you, as we sing this last
song, whatever it is, get your heart before him, no one’s ever loved us the way
he loves us. And you can’t judge him
according to human love, there’s no comparison, his love is a divine love, it’s
a holy love, and he is able to say what no human could ever say, ‘Ya,
you’ve blown it, ya, you’ve messed up, ya you’ve done it all wrong, but I
forgive you, if you come to me, I’ll receive you, I’ll restore you, I’ll renew
you, I’ll lead, I’ll guide you, you’ll be my own, and instead of crying and
whining you can shout for joy.’ Do we believe that? Do we believe
that? See, when a Christian sins, they
think, ‘I’ve gone beyond God’s grace,
I’ve sinned against Light. Unbelievers, they don’t know, I knew better,
I should never have done this.’ And sometimes the enemy is there,
just heaping condemnation on us. He is
swifter to forgive than we are to confess. He is swifter to forgive than we are to confess, he knows when a heart is
genuine. And I encourage you this
evening, wherever you are, anything you’ve ever done to him, sitting here
thinking he can’t forgive, he can’t renew, he can’t restore, let’s stand, let’s
sing his praises, let’s shout for joy, bring your hearts before him
afresh. ‘Lord, I know you’ve overheard,
Lord, and we’re so thankful Lord we can look into these ancient songs,
Lord. And sometimes we wonder what these
sounded like, being sung in Hebrew, Lord, with thousands of worshippers and the
priests, and no doubt hundreds of harps and timbrels, and the meter of these
songs, the framing of them, Lord, with the mode of them Lord, the melody of
them we wonder. But this evening, Lord,
we sing the songs we do know, Lord. We
lift up our voices and our hearts to you, Lord. And we ask that this might be a sacrifice of praise before you, like in
the Tabernacle and Temple of old when, even when David would gather and sing
your praise, Lord. Let this song this
evening raise before you Lord, hear our hearts, Lord. And Lord we pray for those broken among us,
Lord, those who may have spoken untimely, and said ‘You’re done with me, you never want anything to do with me again,’ we pray this evening you would prove them wrong once more, Lord, that your love
would overwhelm them as we lift our hearts and our voices, that you would move
Father across this room by your Holy Spirit, that your angels would stand guard
around us, and your Spirit would move freely Lord, and your Word, Lord, would
be real to us in this moment, we pray Father, in Jesus name, and for his glory,
amen.’ ”
"[connective expository sermon of Psalms 31 and 32, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]"
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