Good For Me, Good For You
Psalm 32:1-11
Its not easy for us to admit our sins is it?
Its like the guy who went into the Hallmark store and asked the clerk
“Do you have a card that stops short of saying I’m sorry yet vaguely hints of some wrongdoing?”
Many of us do this with God when we’re not specific about our sins
We might tip our hat to our frailty but rarely fall down on our knees in real repentance before Him
Two elderly southern women were sitting together in the front pew listening to a fiery preacher
He was banging the pulpit and the ladies were cheering him on
When he condemned the sin of stealing the two church ladies cried out loudly “AMEN BROTHER”
When he condemned the sin of lust they yelled again
“PREACH IT, PREACH IT!”
And when he spoke out against lying the jumped to their feet and screamed “RIGHT ON, BROTHER! TELL IT LIKE IT IS…AMEN!”
But when the preacher-man condemned the sin of gossip the two got very quiet
One lady turned to the other and said
“Well, he’s done quit preachin’. Now he’s just meddlin’”
What sin shuts you up this morning?
Its easy for us to get upset with those who sin differently than we do
But its much tougher when the Holy Spirit starts meddlin’ in our lives
Psalm 32 is a very interesting psalm
It describes the experiences of a person passing from sorrows of conviction into the joys of salvation
This psalm has been classified by the early church as one of 7 penitential psalms
Among these 7 Psalms 32 and 51 stand out as confessional giants
As historically related to the life of David, and especially connected with the Bathsheba soap opera episode
Psalm 51 would have proceeded Psalm 32
David is really showing us here in Psalm 32 life’s most important lessons about sin, confession and forgiveness
He takes two avenues of approach
Remembering these lessons and Relaying these lessons
In our first half of Psalm 32 we read about and remember those lessons learned
Or we could call it “Good for me”
READ 1-5
The theme for Psalm 32 is forgiveness brings true joy
I. First Avenue - Remembering These Lessons
A. Lessons about results (1-2)
In these first two verses we see David examining the results of this forgiveness
What are those results?
The person who is forgiven is blessed
We are blessed in so many ways
And to be blessed of God is such an amazing concept
We often overlook how important and monumental it is
One of the old fashioned traditions that probably isn’t practiced much today is the act of asking for your future father-in-laws blessing to marry his daughter
Tell story of asking Alan for his blessing
We seek other people’s blessings and we need to seek even more the blessing of God
You know is something is said once in the Bible it is important
If twice, then you really need to take note
Repetition in the Bible reinforces a message and draws special attention
How blessed is he, how blessed is the man
This emphasizes how wonderful this blessing is
And as we talk about the blessing of forgiveness
We also examine the severity of sin
Note how David speaks of our sin in a three-fold manner
David calls sin: transgressions
Transgressions carry connotations of revolt, rebellion, rejection of God’s authority, rebellion against God’s Law
It is to trespass, it is a willing rebellion against God and His standard
David also calls sin: sin
The term sin is the principle, the basic term used in the Bible and is used for our failure to live up to God’s standard
It is the breach of God’s Law
The failure that all men are guilty of
Missing the mark. All have sinned, we all miss the mark
One of the arguments that people use to try and prove that you can lose your salvation is the fact that we continue to sin
If you can’t lose it when you sin, then you have nothing to lose when you sin, they say
There is a story about a former prizefighter that had been converted and thought God had called him to preach
The only problem was, while he thought he had the gift of preaching, nobody else had the gift of listening
So he couldn’t get a church
He got a little pulpit, found a street corner and preached to passersby in Chicago
He had two-or-three hangers on, friends that liked him
Two-or-three that hated him
And he had one man, a professed atheist who said
“I don’t believe any of the Bible”
These two would get into arguments
One day the preacher was ready for him
He said to the atheist
Listen if I can prove to you just one verse in the Bible is true will you apologize to me?
This so called atheist said “Yes I indeed would”
With that the former prizefighter reached out and took the man by the nose and twisted it so severely that blood ran down both nostrils
And then with a smile on his face he read Proverbs 30:33
The churning of milk produces butter, and wringing the nose produces blood
Then he said I want you to apologize to me because I proved to you at least one verse in the Bible is true
Just as surely as the churning of milk brings forth butter and just as surely as the wringing of the nose brings forth blood
We are all surely bound to sin
Whether you are saved or whether you are lost
David committed a horrible, heinous , hurtful sin
Yet he was a child of God
What we see is if a person is bound to sin, he is bound to suffer
He will not lose his salvation, but suffering follows sin as night follows day.
Sin, we all do it
Third David calls sin: iniquity in verse 2
This term denotes crooked behavior, perversion
This term is also a collective noun which means
That it denotes the sum of ones past misdeeds against God and man
You and I are not just guilty of sinning once or on occasion against God
We’ve got quite a track record
But these verses are about results
The results are forgiveness
Transgression, our rebellion against God are forgiven
God is a forgiver, and that blesses us greatly
Also our sin, our falling short of the mark is covered
The opposite of something being covered is exposed
When a person goes to God and truly repents of their sins and seeks forgiveness
Their sins are covered
God no longer sees a vile sinner but a forgiven child who belongs to Him
The third result it says, whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity
That means the Lord does not count it against him
God does not bring to remembrance the sins we have confessed and repented of
When God forgives He truly forgives
Not setting them aside to throw against us on another occasion
The wonderful results of forgiveness
Secondly we see
B. Lessons about resistance (3-4)
Failure to confess and repent of our sins is a common problem
Sadly for us the result is pain
In these two verses there are vivid descriptions of the physical effects of an unrepentant state
My body wasted away, my bones waxed old, my roaring, or groaning lasted all day
Your hand was heavy all day and night
My strength was sapped as in the heat of summer
Sin in your life without repentance can actually make your body sick
Its like David is saying God you are squeezing the life out of me
That is one way we can know we are saved
A test as to whether you are saved or not is if you can sin and just ignore it, forget it
If you are a child of God the Holy Spirit will not let you ignore it, or forget it
He will put His finger on the sore spot and push
Just like David said, thy hand was heavy upon me
Your sin is there, either is your conscious mind, or perhaps worse in your subconscious mind
You may kick it out the front door
But it will run around the house and come in the basement window
It may show up as an irritable temper, an inability to concentrate, sleepless nights, lack of joy, or as a physical ailment
Sin sickens the body
An illustration of this
Mother calls that dinner is ready
Mom ,dad, brother and sister sit down to this wonderful meal that mom has fixed
Everything is fine until brother asks Dad can I use the car tonight?
And sister says, no you can’t use the car tonight
You used the car last night, its my night to use the car
And brother says to sister You shut up I wasn’t talking to you I was talking to Dad
And dad says Don’t use the words shut up, we don’t speak that way in our house
And then brother says well she started it
Dad then shouts listen you kids I said shut up
And mother says you just told them not to say shut up
Dad then tells mom You shut up
And then brother and sister and father and mother are, just like that, in an argument
Dinner is getting cold, finally they eat a few bites
Everybody gets up and goes off somewhere
And about 30 minutes later somebody says
Has anybody seen the Pepto-Bismol?
What has happened?
Our bodies have reacted to our hearts, our minds, our spirits
Sin sickens the body
This is the lesson we learn about resistance to confession and repentance
But we then learn
B. Lessons about Responses
What is confession?
To confess our sin is to agree with God
Acknowledging that He is right to declare what we have done as sinful
And that we are wrong to desire or to do it
It is to affirm our intention of abandoning that sin in order to follow Him more faithfully
Confession of sin, not covering up our iniquity
Leads only to forgiveness and lack of guilt
The believer should never condone or attempt to excuse his sin
There are only two things that should be done about sin
Confess it and forsake it
David confessed his sin and experienced the Lord’s forgiveness
In doing this the believer is restored to full fellowship with God
The second avenue David takes us down is
II. Second Avenue - Relaying these lessons (6-11)
We as believers have a job to do
And that job is to relay these lessons to others
Good for me, good for you
A. Lessons about responses (6-7)
In these verses David is showing how we can relay the lessons about responses to others
He says that everyone who is godly pray to God while God may be found
We need to call upon God while we still have a chance
Once you have passed on it is too late
Remember the story of Lazarus and the rich man
Once the rich man had passed away and lifted his eyes up in hell, being in torment
He asked for just a small amount of relief
Just a drop of water on his tongue
He lived a life of luxury on earth
But now he dies an eternal death in torment
Your response to God must be during a time when He mayest be found
You must respond before it is to late
You cannot put off your decision
The grace of God is available now
How will you respond?
You must confess
For once you respond to His call we see that God becomes your hiding place
God Himself becomes our refuge and hiding place
Hidden from the strife and from the day of His wrath
Against all ungodliness
Your life is hid with Christ in God
Just like our sins are covered by His grace
So shall we be covered by His protection
B. Lessons about resistance (8-9)
In verses 8-9 God is telling us not to resist Him
He will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go
He says He will council you and watch over you
God describes some people as being like horses or mules
That have to be controlled by bits and bridles
Rather than letting God guide them step by step
They stubbornly leave God only one option
God longs to guide you with love an wisdom rather than punishment
He offers to teach you the best way to go
Accept the advice written in God’s Word and don’t let your stubbornness keep you from following and obeying God
If you resist God’s love, and His calling to come to Jesus
You will without a doubt be heading down the wrong path
Resistance lessons learned from verses 3-4 show us that it leads not only to spiritual but also physical problems
Resistance of God and His salvation leads to an eternity in Hell!
Finally we see
C. Lessons about results (10-11)
Many sorrows shall be to the wicked
Think about as a Christian all of the hard times you may have gone through
Think about the pain you may have felt
The sadness, the anger
Then think about how much worse it would have been to go through those things without the comforter by your side
Without the comforting hand of God
Things of this world would be unbearable
That is what the life of an unsaved person is like
Romans 2:9 says “There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil
Those that do evil are those who sin against God without confession, no repentance, no forgiveness
That is the unsaved person
Many are the sorrows of the wicked
BUT!, “he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about”
In other words “but the Lord’s unfailing love (His mercy) surrounds the man who trusts in Him”
The result of putting your trust in Him is you receive His complete, unfailing, unconditional love
To comfort you in those hard times
And then you can sing the song of verse 11
Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous. And shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart”
The ultimate result of giving your heart to Jesus is what the theme of this Psalm says
Forgiveness brings true joy
God wants to forgive sinners
Forgiveness has always been part of His loving nature
Romans 4:7-8 quotes from this Psalm and shows that we can have this joyous experience of forgiveness through faith in Christ
Rejoice in the Lord and be glad
The joy of forgiveness
Have you experienced that joy?
Do you know Jesus as your Savior?
You can be saved right now
And can experience that joy
You Christians
Have you experienced that joy lately?
Do you have unconfessed sin?
Bring it to God today
