Sermon Central
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The Joy Of A Forgiven Heart
Contributed by Ray Ellis on Oct 4, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: Psalm 32 is a clear passage of Scripture dealing with hidden and secret sins that need to be confessed. Five "Cs" are used as an outline for the message.
The Joy of a Forgiven Heart
Psalm 32 sings out the “Joys of a Forgiven Heart.” King David wrote the psalm as an expression of his thankfulness for God’s grace in providing the gift of forgiveness. Both Psalm 32 and 51 reflect on King David moral failure. The background for the Psalm 32 and 51 is found in 2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12.
2 Samuel chapter 1l starts off as if a wonderful story is going to be told – “In the spring at the time when kings go off to way…” But the story quickly turns to lust, deception, and murder.
King David did not go to war. He stayed in Jerusalem. One evening while taking a walk on the roof of his palace, he looked out and saw a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath and lusted after her. As King he could do anything he wanted so he sent for her to come to his palace and slept with her. Bathsheba became pregnant and notified the king. In an attempt to hid his sin of adultery he requested that her husband Uriah come home from battle for a few days. King David wanted the public to think Uriah was the father of the baby.
Uriah a Hittite, a mercenary fighting for Israel, was more faithful and loyal then King David and would not go home but stayed and slept at the palace entrance with some of the king’s servants. He would not sleep with his wife while his commander Joab and his officers were in the thick of battle. The next night when King David got Uriah drunk he still remained faithful. Then King David wrote a letter and had Uriah deliver it to Joab. The letter instructed Joab to lead Uriah to the front lines of the battle and leave him alone so he would die in battle. Uriah was killed in battle and so King David felt justified in taking Bathsheba as his own wife. She gave birth of her son as David’s wife.
2 Samuel 11:27 “…But the Lord was very displeased with what David had done.”
Almost a year had passed before the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to confront David with his sins of lust, deception, and adultery. 2 Samuel 12 Nathan confronts David with his sin and told David that God has blessed his life and anointed him King over Israel. He had wealth and power and God was willing to give him much more. God speaks through Nathan and says (2 Samuel 12:9) “Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah and stolen his wife.”
Psalm 32 is David’s reflection on the grace of God in forgiving his sins.
I. Covering – Psalm 32: 1-2
Psalm 32 begins by rejoicing and declaring the joy of a forgiven heart. “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.” Another translation says: “whose sin is put out of sight.”
A person experiences joy when sin is covered and put out of sight. Joy is much deeper than happiness. Happiness depends on right happenings, but even when things go wrong you can have joy.
Happiness is external - Joy is internal
Happiness is based on chance – Joy is based on choice
Happiness is based on circumstance – Joy is based on
Christ
You experience Joy when your sins are forgiven, covered by the shed blood of Jesus on the Cross, and your sins are put out of sight. You become a new person in Christ. Without that covering there is no inner peace and joy.
Psalm 32:1-2 describes the joy of a forgiven heart and God Covering. Psalm 32: verses 3-11 describe the process of receiving God’s blessing.
II. Conviction - Psalm 32:3-4
King David for almost a year had hidden his sins. He had lived with skeletons in the closet of his heart. Hidden and secret sins result in personal and inner anguish. A guilty heart does not experience inner peace and joy. A person with a guilty heart experiences:
Sleepless nights,
Constant nagging of the heart and soul, and a
Miserable life.
When you are miserable you are irritated by little things and do all you can to make other people miserable.
Hidden and secret sins are some of the marks of a dysfunctional family or a dysfunctional personal life.
King David had all the luxuries of life, but sin took away his joy and inner peace. You may not have committed adultery or murder, but other sins may have blocked God’s blessing.
God has created us with an emptiness of soul that only He can fill. That emptiness is like a black hole in the human soul. You may try to fill the emptiness in every conceivable way. You may throw money in, sex, power, status symbols, but nothing plugs the hole in your soul but GOD.
