Psalm 32 -The Blessings of Forgiveness, Protection, and Guidance
This Psalm is simply titled, A Psalm of David. A Contemplation. The Hebrew word for Contemplation (maskil) might be better understood as instruction (Boice). This is the first of twelve psalms with this title. It is full of instruction and contemplation and worthy of meditation, as indicated by the frequent repetition of Selah, three times in only eleven verses.
The Psalm itself does not tell us the specific occasion in David's life which prompted this song. In Psalm 51 - which was clearly written after David's sin with Bathsheba and against Uriah - David promised to "teach transgressors Your ways" (Psalm 51:13), and this Psalm may be the fulfillment of that vow. John Trapp said that Psalm 32 and 51 are "tuned together."
"It is a Psalm of penitence, but it is also the song of a ransomed soul rejoicing in the wonders of the grace of God. Sin is dealt with; sorrow is comforted; ignorance is instructed." (G. Campbell Morgan)
"This was Saint Augustine's favorite psalm. Augustine had it inscribed on the wall next to his bed before he died in order to meditate on it better." (James Montgomery Boice)
A. The great blessing of sin forgiven.
1. (Ps. 32:1-2) The blessing of forgiven sin described.
1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
a. Blessed his he whose transgression is forgiven: David spoke of the great blessing there is for the man or woman who knows the forgiveness of God. Their sin is no longer exposed; it is covered.
i. "The word blessed is in the plural, oh, the blessednesses! the double joys, the bundles of happiness, the mountains of delight!" (Spurgeon)
ii. Psalm 1 tells the way to be blessed: don't walk in the counsel of the ungodly, don't stand in the path of sinners, but delight in God's word - thinking deeply on it all the time. Yet if one has failed to do this and fallen into sin, Psalm 32 shows another way to be blessed - to make full confession and repentance of sin.
iii. David had great opportunity to know this blessedness in his own life. This great man of God - a man after God's heart - nevertheless had some significant seasons sin and what may be called backsliding or spiritual decline. Notable among these were David's time at Ziklag (1 Samuel 27, 29-30) and David's sin regarding Bathsheba and Uriah (2 Samuel 11). In each occasion David came to confession, repentance, and forgiveness.
iv. Therefore, David knew what it was like to be a guilty sinner. He knew the seriousness of sin and how good it is to be truly forgiven. He knew - as Paul would later state in Romans 4:6-8 the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. If David were judged on works alone, the righteous God must condemn him; nevertheless he knew by experience blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
v. "Sin is an odious thing, the devil's drivel or vomit, the corruption of a dead soul, the filthiness of flesh and spirit. Get a cover for it, therefore." (Trapp)
b. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity: David spoke of real forgiveness by the declaration of God, not merely the quieting of a noisy conscience or an imagined peace with God. This was a standing with God declared and given, not earned.
i. In these first two verses, David used three words to describe sin.
· The idea behind transgression is crossing a line, defying authority
· The idea behind sin is falling short of or missing a mark
· The idea behind iniquity is of crookedness and distortion
ii. In the first two verses, David used three terms to describe what God does to put away sin.
· The idea behind forgiven is the lifting of a burden or a debt
· The idea behind covered is that of sacrificial blood covering sin
· The idea behind does not impute is bookkeeping; it does not count against
iii. "The psalmist declares that the forgiveness of sin, of whatever kind - whether against God or man, whether great or small, whether conscientious or inadvertent, or whether by omission or commission - is to be found in God." (VanGemeren)
c. And in whose spirit there is no deceit: The prior life of sin and double-living was done for David, the repentant and forgiven sinner. The forgiven life needs no more deceit to cover one's ways.
i. "You must all have noticed in David's case that after he had fallen into his foul sin with Bathsheba he ceased to exhibit that transparent truth-speaking character which had charmed us so much before." (Spurgeon)
ii. "The lesson from the whole is this: be honest. Sinner, may God make you honest. Do not deceive yourself. Make a clean breast of it before God. Have an honest religion, or have none at all. Have a religion of the heart, or else have none. Put aside the mere vestment and garment of piety, and let your soul be right within. Be honest." (Spurgeon)
2. (Ps. 32:3-4) The agony of unconfessed, hidden sin.
3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up[a] as by the heat of summer. Selah
a. When I kept silent, my bones grew old: The now-forgiven David remembered his spiritual and mental state when he kept his sin hidden and was silent instead of confessing and repenting. The stress of a double life and unconfessed sin made him feel old, oppressed, and dry and wasting away.
i. "'I kept silence, 'not merely I was silent, 'I kept silence, 'resolutely, perseveringly; I kept it notwithstanding all the remembrance of my past mercies, notwithstanding my reproaches of conscience, and my anguish of heart." (Evans, cited in Spurgeon)
ii. "If David's symptoms are exception, his stubbornness is common enough." (Kidner)
b. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me: No doubt David was slow to acknowledge this, yet in looking back he understood that his misery was directly connected to the oppression of unresolved sin and rebellion against God.
i. "God's hand is very helpful when it uplifts, but it is awful when it presses down: better a world on the shoulder, like Atlas, than God's hand on the heart, like David." (Spurgeon)
ii. David seemed to ache under the result of his sin (guilt and the lack of true fellowship with God) more than the sin itself. Ideally we are all terribly grieved by sin itself, but there is something to be said for confession and humility for the sake of the result of our sins.
c. My vitality was turned into the drought of summer: David's dryness and misery was actually a good thing. It demonstrated that he was in fact a son of God and that the covenant God would not allow him to remain comfortable in habitual or unconfessed sin. One who feels no misery or dryness in such a state has far greater concerns for time and eternity.
i. "The pain of a blow upon an ulcerated part, however exquisite, is well compensated for, if, by promoting a discharge, it effect a cure." (Horne)
ii. This work of the Holy Spirit, convicting the man or woman of God of their sin and hardness of heart, is an essential mark of those who truly belong to God. The consideration of this work is so important that David gave the pause for meditative consideration, Selah. "The Selah indicates a swell or prolongation of the accompaniment, to emphasise this terrible picture of a soul gnawing itself." (Maclaren)
3. (Ps. 32:5) The goodness of confession and forgiveness.
5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
a. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden: David's first problem was the sin he committed - in this context, probably the immorality with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband to cover the immorality. David's second problem was the double life he lived to hide those sins. It was only as David was ready to repent and end the second problem that God would graciously forgive the first problem.
b. I will confess my transgressions to the Lord: Forgiveness was ready and waiting for David as he agreed with God about the nature and guilt of his sin. Restoration was ready, but the confession of sin was the path to it.
i. Before the communion service in the English Prayer Book the minister is instructed to give this invitation: "Come to me or to some other discreet and learned minister of God's Word, and open his grief; that by the ministry of God's holy Word he may receive the benefit of absolution." There can be great value to opening one's grief.
ii. Real, deep, genuine confession of sin has been a feature of every genuine awakening or revival in the past 250 years. But it isn't anything new, as demonstrated by the revival in Ephesus recorded in Acts 19:17-20. It says, many who believed came confessing and telling their deeds. This was Christians getting right with God, and open confession was part of it.
iii. "Ah! but there are too many who make confession, having no broken hearts, no streaming eyes, no flowing tears, no humbled spirits. Know ye this, that ten thousand confessions, if they are made by hardened hearts, if they do not spring from really contrite spirits shall he only additions to your guilt as they are mockeries before the Most High." (Spurgeon)
c. And You forgave the iniquity of my sin: David's confession of sin did not earn forgiveness of his sins, but it did receive it. Fellowship with God was restored. David confessed and experienced this forgiveness immediately, just as the prodigal son confessed and was immediately forgiven. There was no probation, no wait-and-see period.
i. "Were angels to descend from heaven, to comfort the dejected spirit of a sinner, they could say nothing more effectual for the purpose, than what is said I the verse of our Psalm." (Horne)
ii. Adam Clarke on the Selah in Psalm 32:5: "This is all true; I know it; I felt it; I feel it."
B. Blessings for the pardoned: protection and guidance.
1. (Ps. 32:6-7) The blessing of God's protection.
6 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.
7 You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah
a. For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You: Knowing that God is so great in forgiving mercy gives the godly a greater reason to seek God in the confidence that He may be found, and therefore ready to connect with His servant.
i. "Coming where it does, its call for a teachable spirit drives home the lesson of verses 1-5 in a positive form. If forgiveness is good, fellowship is better." (Kidner)
b. Surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near him: David knew what it was to be overwhelmed and mired in the guilt and misery of sin - and that God could deliver in that crisis and others.
c. You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance: Setting one term upon another, David gloried in the protection he now felt as one in fellowship with God and under His care.
· God Himself was his hiding place, a secure shelter. A good hiding place has strength, height, is not easily seen, and is reliable. In more modern phrasing we might say that Jesus is our safe-room or panic-room.
· David found security surrounded by God's own songs of deliverance, sung in the joy and confidence of victory.
i. The idea of God as our hiding place is also associated with the idea of finding shelter in the house of the Lord, in His own presence. This is indicated by the use of the same Hebrew phrasing in two earlier Psalms.
· For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle (Psalm 27:5)
· You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence (Psalm 31:20)
ii. "Observe that the same man who in the fourth verse was oppressed by the presence of God, here finds a shelter in him. See what honest confession and full forgiveness will do!" (Spurgeon)
2. (Ps. 32:8-9) God appeals to His people to pay attention and gain understanding.
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
9 Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.
a. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye: Here David prophetically spoke in God's voice unto His people. Through this, God promised to instruct, teach, and guide His people.
b. I will guide you with My eye: The idea is of on who waits upon another so attentively that a mere look at the eye indicates the will. A butler waiting upon his master at dinner can illustrate this; the master need only look at the saltshaker and the butler understands that he wants it. God promised that for those who diligently seek and focus on God, He will also guide.
i. This is a great blessing that comes from being forgiven and having fellowship restored. In David's season of guilt and misery he did not (so to speak) look upon God for the guidance of His eye, and therefore could not receive it. When fellowship was restored, the blessing of such close relationship could be enjoyed again.
ii. Many modern translators put the sense as merely God watching over the believer, which is true. Yet since the context in the following lines regards guidance and responsiveness to the Lord, it's fair to render the lines as the King James and New King James versions do.
c. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding: The horse and the mule are used as examples of animals that are not easily guided. They need the bit and bridle and sometimes, rigorous training before they are useful to the master.
i. "The horse and the mule are turned with difficulty; they must be constrained with bit and bridle. Do not be like them; do not oblige your Maker to have continual recourse to afflictions, trials, and severe dispensations of providence, to keep you in the way, or to recover you after you have gone out of it." (Clarke)
d. Else they will not come near you: David understood this to describe his condition in his season of unconfessed sin - he was like a dumb animal that could only be guided through pain or severity. God allowed the Amalekites to devastate David and his men (1 Samuel 30). God sent Nathan to speak sharply to David in his sin (2 Samuel 12).
i. Like a dumb animal, David would not come near to God until these terrible experiences. God speaks to us through David's experience and says, "Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding."
3. (Ps. 32:10-11) The blessings of mercy and joy.
10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.
11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
a. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him: David understood what it was to live (at least for a season) as the wicked, and the sorrows that came with it. The repentant David then had a renewed experience of the mercy of God surrounding him.
b. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice: This Psalm gives repeated and compelling reasons for the believer to be glad, to rejoice, to shout for joy. The Psalm appropriately ends with a call for God's people to remember and respond to those reasons.
· Remember the blessedness of forgiveness
· Remember the release of guilt and double-living
· Remember the protection God gives His people
· Remember the guidance of the Lord
Psalm 32: The Blessings Of Forgiveness
The bailiff leads you--charged with murder--into the courtroom. The jury files in after days of deliberations. The courtroom falls silent as the judge calls the court to order. He asks, "Mr. Foreman, do you have a verdict?" Your heart is pounding and your mouth is dry as you watch him rise. The rest of your life depends upon his words. "Your honor, the jury finds the defendant not guilty."
Not guilty! A flood of relief sweeps over you and tears of joy well up in your eyes. Not guilty! It's as if a heavy weight has dropped from your shoulders! The bailiff unlocks your handcuffs and you hear the judge declare, "You are free to go." Freedom from condemnation! Life suddenly takes on new meaning. You are free from confinement, free from the constant pressure of the charges against you, free to begin a new life, because you have been released from those charges. Can you imagine how that would feel?
I hope so! Every believer ought to know. David knew how it felt! Whether Psalm 32 stemmed from David's sin with Bathsheba or from some other incident, it shows that he knew how it felt to have God as his condemning judge. But he also knew the joy and relief of experiencing God's forgiveness. He instructs us (title, "maskil," a psalm of instruction) so that we can know the blessings of God's forgiveness.
The blessings of forgiveness should impel us to confess our sins. This psalm flows out of the great anguish of David's heart as he groaned under the load of his guilt. It teaches us that
1. To know the blessings of forgiveness, we need to feel the burden of guilt.
Whatever happened to guilt? I fear that it has become a forgotten emotion in our day. Rather than feel guilty when we sin, we psychologize the reasons for our actions. Recently a nationally-known pastor resigned, explaining to his congregation, "Along the way I have stepped over the line of acceptable behavior with some members of the congregation." He added that "he tried on his own to face unspecified childhood issues and had been involved in years of denial and faulty coping techniques" (Los Angeles Times [2/22/93], p. B1).
You'll notice that David does not say, "How blessed is he whose unspecified childhood issues are forgiven and whose denial and faulty coping techniques are covered. How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute stepping over the line of acceptable behavior." David knew that he had sinned and he felt deeply the guilt of his wrong actions. His guilt was making him feel physically ill (32:3-4; see Ps. 38:2-8).
A good case of guilt is a healthy thing when we have sinned. As I heard Garrison Keillor say, "Guilt is a gift that keeps on giving." Those who appreciate most the gift of God's forgiveness are those who have felt most deeply the guilt of their sins. The great British preacher of a century ago, Charles Spurgeon, went through five years as a child of feeling intense guilt before he was saved. He goes on for a whole chapter in his autobiography describing the agony of those years. Here is a brief excerpt:
When but young in years, I felt with much sorrow the evil of sin. My bones waxed old with my roaring all the day long. Day and night God's hand was heavy upon me. I hungered for deliverance, for my soul fainted within me. I feared lest the very skies should fall upon me, and crush my guilty soul. God's law had laid hold upon me, and was showing me my sins. If I slept at night, I dreamed of the bottomless pit, and when I awoke, I seemed to feel the misery I had dreamed. Up to God's house I went; my song was but a sigh. To my chamber I retired, and there, with tears and groans, I offered up my prayer, without a hope and without a refuge, for God's law was flogging me with its ten-thonged whip, and then rubbing me with brine afterwards, so that I did shake and quiver with pain and anguish, and my soul chose strangling rather than life, for I was exceeding sorrowful. (C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography [Banner of Truth], 1:58.)
Today we'd probably take such a boy to a counselor to find out what was wrong with him! But God was preparing a man to preach the wonders of His grace. Until we feel the burden of guilt, we can't truly exclaim with David, "How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!" The burden of our guilt should drive us to seek the blessings of forgiveness. Maybe some here this morning are tormented by guilt. Perhaps no one else knows about your sin, and although you are trying to put up a good front, deep down inside you are troubled. Don't shrug it off or explain it away. Let it drive you to the cross where you'll know God's boundless mercy!
2. The blessings of God's forgiveness are great.
Psalm 32 begins just as Psalm 1 does with a plural which might be rendered: "Oh the happinesses ...." The Living Bible puts it: "What happiness for those whose guilt has been forgiven! What joys when sins are covered over! What relief for those who have confessed their sins and God has cleared their record."
There are many blessings or happinesses for the person who experiences God's forgiveness. Here are four:
A. The blessing of a clean conscience (32:1 2).
David uses four Hebrew words for sin and three words for forgiveness which help us understand what it means to have a clean conscience before God.
Words for sin:
(1) "Transgression" = Rebellion, refusing to submit to rightful authority. God has ordained certain limits for human behavior for our good and the good of society. When we go against those limits, we transgress; we refuse to be subject to God's rightful authority in our lives.
(2) "Sin" = To miss the mark. While transgression looks at the violation of a known law, sin looks at a coming short of that aim which God intended for us to reach.
(3) "Iniquity" (NIV, "sin") = from a word meaning bent or twisted. It has the nuance of perverting that which is right, of erring from the way. Any time you have done something crooked you have committed iniquity.
(4) "Deceit" = deliberate cover up, falsehood, hypocrisy. Trying to present a false front so that you look good even when you know you're not.
Those words for sin condemn us all as guilty before God. But David's words for forgiveness show us what it means to have a clean conscience before God.
Words for forgiveness:
(1) "Forgiven" = To bear, carry off, or take away a burden. Our sin is a burden which God Himself bears or takes away. You are all familiar with the term "scapegoat." A scapegoat takes the blame and everyone else goes free. The term comes from the Hebrew sacrificial system. The high priest would select a goat, lay his hands on its head and confess the sins of the people, thereby, in ceremonial fashion, putting their sins on the goat. The animal was then sent into the wilderness as a picture of how God carried their sins away from Himself.
The sacrificial system pointed ahead to Jesus Christ. He was the perfect and final scapegoat for sins. He bore our sins away once for all, so that when we put our trust in what Jesus did on the cross, our sins are gone.
(2) "Covered" = Out of sight. God puts our sins out of His sight, which means He will never bring up our sins as a matter of judgment between Him and us. If we're in Christ, our sins are covered by His blood!
(3) "Not counted" ("impute," NASB) = Not charged to our account. This is the verb used of God's dealings with Abraham: "Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned (credited) it to him as righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). As Paul argues, this is the righteousness which comes from faith alone, not from works (Rom. 4:5 8).
It's as if I had run up a million dollar charge account bill at a department store and I didn't have $10 to my name. There is no way I can pay the debt. But the store informs me that the charge number on my card actually charged the debt to another man's account, and that he was a multi millionaire and was willing to pay it on my behalf. That's what God has done for us in Christ. We owed an unpayable debt for our sin. But Christ paid it on the cross. When we trust in what He did, God credits our account paid in full and even adds the righteousness of Christ to our account!
Martin Luther said, "Sin has but two places where it may be; either it may be with you, so that it lies upon your neck, or upon Christ, the Lamb of God. If now it lies upon your neck, you are lost; if, however, it lies upon Christ, you are free and will be saved." If your sin is upon Christ, you enjoy the blessing of a clean conscience.
B. The blessing of having God as your refuge (32:6 7).
The same man who in verse 4 complained that he was oppressed by God's hand here declares God to be his hiding place. Whereas before he feared God as his judge, now he takes refuge in Him as his protector who surrounds him with songs of deliverance. The flood of great waters (32:6) refers to God's judgment. The man who has experienced God's forgiveness need not fear the flood of God's judgment. What a blessing that, instead of having to run from God, now we can run to God and know we are safe!
The story is told of a wagon train crossing the prairie, which came over a hill and was terrified to see a prairie fire racing in their direction. It seemed as if they would be engulfed by the flames. But the leader quickly rode to the rear of the caravan and lit the dry grass behind them on fire. The same winds blowing the flames toward them fanned this fire away from them. Within minutes they all moved to the burned-off area. As the heat and smoke became more intense, a little girl cried out, "Are you sure we're safe?" "Oh, yes," said the wagonmaster, "we're safe because we're standing where the fire has already been." If Christ has taken the fire of God's judgment, then we're safe if we take refuge in Him.
C. The blessing of God's instruction (32:8 9).
Some understand 32:8 9 to be David instructing his readers (see Ps. 51:13; title of Ps. 32, "maskil"). I prefer to take these verses as God speaking (because of the promise that His eye will be on us). Either way, we have the promise of God's instruction as one of the benefits of His forgiveness.
These verses are saying that God will teach and guide the person who is sensitive to Him. If we confess our sins and grow in sensitivity to His Word, He will direct us in His ways. We're not to be stubborn or self willed, like a horse or mule, so that God has to put a bit and bridle on us to direct us. Rather, we are to be sensitive to His Spirit and His Word, developing a tender conscience. God will use those means to direct the forgiven sinner into paths of righteousness.
Is your conscience growing more tender toward the Lord? We're not pardoned to go our own way, but rather to go God's way. The person who understands forgiveness by God's grace won't continue in sin, but will grow more sensitive to the ways of the God who has freely pardoned him.
D. The blessing of God's joy (32:10-11).
David ends the psalm by contrasting the wicked, who have many sorrows, with the righteous, who are surrounded by the Lord's unfailing love. The righteous are not those who never sin, but rather those "upright in heart" because they have confessed their sins. The thought of God's mercy to sinners who don't deserve it causes David to break forth with joy (32:11). The Judge of the Universe has pounded His gavel and proclaimed, "Not guilty!" You're free from the weight of your sins, free from condemnation, because Christ has paid the penalty! There is no greater joy than that of knowing that your sins are totally forgiven.
John Calvin sums it up: "David here teaches us that the happiness of men consists only in the forgiveness of sins, for nothing can be more terrible than to have God for our enemy; nor can he be gracious to us in any other way than by pardoning our transgressions" (Commentary on the Psalms [Associated Publishers & Authors, Inc.], p. 362).
Those are some of the blessings of experiencing God's forgiveness: we have a clear conscience before God, we have God as our refuge, we have His instruction, and we have great joy in Him. But how do we experience those blessings of His forgiveness?
3. The great blessings of God's forgiveness are experienced as we confess our sins.
The turning point in this psalm is verse 5, where David confesses his sin, and verse 6 where he exhorts his readers to pray to God while He may be found. This implies that there is a window of opportunity for repentance, when God is appealing to our conscience. If we refuse to turn to the Lord, we may be hardened beyond remedy (Prov. 29:1). Please note that David confesses his sins directly to the Lord (32:5), not to a priest; not even to the ones he had wronged at this point. Sin is first and foremost against the Lord, and so we must confess it to Him. What does it mean to confess sin?
A. To confess means to acknowledge our sin to God.
The Hebrew word and the Greek word used to translate it in the LXX both have the idea of telling forth or acknowledging openly one's sins. If we uncover our sins before God, He covers them from His judgment. The New Testament word used in 1 John 1:9 has the nuance of agreeing together with God. Acknowledging our sin means:
(1) We call sin "sin." We don't explain it away as "faulty coping techniques due to a dysfunctional family background." We don't excuse it "weakness" or "just human nature." We say, "Lord, I sinned." The sooner we confess, the sooner we experience God's blessing. So we should confess then as soon as we do them.
(2) We see sin as serious. The closer you get to the Lord, and thus see sin from His perspective, the more serious you will see it. My sin put my Savior on the cross. And sin always causes damage: to the name of Christ; to others in His body; and, to me. Sin always erects barriers between us and God, and between fellow human beings. Thus we must take sin seriously. Confession must not be flippant!
(3) We see confessed sin as forgiven. "You forgave the guilt of my sin" (32:5b). No sin is too great to be forgiven. If I have truly confessed my sin and still feel guilty, it is not the Lord, but the accuser of the brethren who is troubling me (Rev. 12:10-11). The blood of the Lamb fully satisfied the demands of God's righteousness. We must rest in the promise of God, that He is faithful and just to forgive all our sins when we confess them to Him.
B. To confess means to accept responsibility for our sin.
Sin deceives us; confession means that we remove deceit (32:2b). We stop the cover up attempt. We are open and honest about it before God. Accepting responsibility means being willing to forsake the sin in His strength. "He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion" (Prov. 28:13). It's a sham to confess sin if you have no intention or willingness to forsake it. You may not feel like forsaking it, and you may need to confess that fact. You may need biblical counsel to know how to forsake it. But you haven't truly confessed if you aren't seeking to put the sin away from your life.
Accepting responsibility for sin also means confessing to others you have wronged. David doesn't deal with this aspect here, but it is a part of the biblical teaching on the subject which cannot be ignored. If you have sinned against someone else, first confess it to God, but then go to the person and confess your sin to them and seek their forgiveness. That way your conscience is clear before God and man. You may need to make restitution if your wrong has deprived another person.
Thus, the great blessings of God's forgiveness are experienced as we confess our sins. Confession involves acknowledging our sin to God and accepting responsibility for it.
Conclusion
The forgiveness and freedom from guilt which Christ offers changes lives. I heard Ron Blanc, now a pastor in Phoenix, tell how he was called to visit a 14-year-old boy who was in a catatonic state in the psychiatric ward of a hospital. The boy was lying on his bed as stiff as a board. Nothing had helped. The nurse, thinking Ron to be a doctor, said, "I think the boy is suffering from too much religion." (Ron let her get both feet in her mouth and then told her he was the boy's pastor.) He went in and began to talk and the boy finally began to open up. He was under a pile of guilt.
Ron shared the forgiveness Christ offers. Before he could invite the boy to pray, the boy began to pray on his own. Ron bowed his head. The boy asked Jesus to come into his life and forgive his sins. When he finished praying, Ron looked up to find the boy sitting on the edge of the bed, freely swinging his legs. Ron asked, "What's this?" The boy exclaimed, "I'm free, man! Jesus has forgiven me!" They walked out to a little patio area to chat some more. Ron got great delight in watching the surprised expressions on the nurses faces as they saw the boy moving around.
You can be free from guilt before God today and every day! There is no greater blessing than that of having your transgressions forgiven, your sins covered, and your iniquities not counted against you by the Lord. That blessing is available to you right now if you will confess your sins.
