Psalm 32 - A Really Big Confessional Booth

Podcast Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

Hello, and welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today, we are in Psalm 32. And this is a Psalm of David, and the inscription for this Psalm says that it is a masqueal.

It is a contemplation. It's one of 12 Psalms that bears that particular title. There are 12 Psalms labeled a masqueal or a contemplation.

This was something that you thought about over and over and over again. It has the specific word, which I don't know if I've mentioned on here before, the word sala, that is to pause, to stop, to reflect, to think on that a little bit.

It has three times in just 11 verses. And so we're going to jump right into the passage and look at this amazing psalm. It says this, How joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

How joyful is a person whom Yahweh does not charge with iniquity and in whose spirit is no deceit. He says, When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long, for day and night your hand was heavy on me.

My strength was drained as in the summer's heat. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not conceal my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh, and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

Therefore, let everyone who is faithful pray to you immediately. When great flood waters come, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place.

You protect me from trouble. You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance. I will instruct you and show you the way to go.

With my eye on you, I will give counsel. Do not be like a horse or mule without understanding that must be controlled with bit and bridle, or else it will not come near you.

Many pains come to the wicked, but the one who trusts in Yahweh will have faithful love surrounding him. Be glad in Yahweh and rejoice, you righteous ones. Shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

Man, what a great set of verses. This is, I've seen it phrased in some specific places as kind of the mirror Psalm of Psalm 51.

So Psalm 51 is written after David's incredible sin that he committed against Bathsheba, against Uriah, against a number of people.

And in that Psalm he goes, God, I need you to forgive me because who I am inside right now is completely corrupted, destroyed by sin, and I need you. And Psalm 32 is on the other side of that, that now David says, I have been forgiven.

I asked for God to make me new, and he has. And now in the place of my sorrow and sackcloth and ashes and all the things that accompanied sorrow in David's life, he says, now I am joyful. And he doesn't say I'm joyful because I've been perfect.

He says, I'm joyful because my transgression has been forgiven. My sin has been covered. God does not charge me with iniquity.

And he says, now in my spirit, in my inner person, the real me, not just maybe my outside, but who I am on the inside is right with God. There's no deceit. I'm not trying to pull a fast one on the Lord anymore.

He says, I'm being real. Verses three through five, he says, when I kept silent, when I held in my sin, he says, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.

Hidden sin carries with it not just spiritual damage, it carries with it physical damage. And you can read about this in some other places, in the Book of Proverbs, among some other locations.

There are real consequences to our physical selves when we persist in sin. It might be that the guilt that we carry begins to, you know, when I have stress, obviously stress isn't in and of itself sin by any means.

But when I'm stressed, I carry that kind of in my lower back. And I can always know, oh man, you know, it's been a rough couple days. I can kind of feel some of that stress in my back.

And I kind of see David expressing some of this, that maybe through guilt there might be that physical pain. It might be emotional pain that you are just kind of at your wits end with it. You're like, I don't know if I could cry anymore.

It might be mental anguish that, you know, here as with David where he's covering up sins, he's like, man, when are people going to find out? When are they going to learn about what I've done?

And just that mental kind of torment that's there, it really causes difficulties.

But when we bring our sins before God, when we're real and honest with him and with his people, and we say, I have not been in the right, then God expresses, if you come and you confess your sins, you're not going to find condemnation, you're going

to find forgiveness. I think 1 John 1, 9, just a wonderful verse. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

I think even of what James says in James 5, that when we come and we confess our sins to one another, we find healing in those moments.

And it's not just in our souls, it's just our relationships are bettered by the fact that we're able to humble ourselves, to not pretend like we have everything together, but we go to God, we go to people and we say, I am not perfect, I know I'm not

perfect, and I need your help in overcoming this thing. And when we do that, we can find this same joy that David here does. After he says in verse 5, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh. He says, you forgave the guilt of my sin.

He says, not just did you forgive my sin, but you also forgave the guilt that I'm not carrying with me anymore, the shame of what's been done. I'm able to lay that before God and say, God, I can't carry the immense weight of this anymore.

I'm giving it over to you. And I'm thankful that God not only saves us from our sin, but he can conquer the guilt of sin through the fact that because we have full forgiveness in Christ, we are free from condemnation.

There's no one, as Paul would say in Romans 8, that can lay anything to the charge of God's elect. There's no one that, you know, we've talked often about Satan and his role as accuser. He can't bring anything before God that we've already confessed.

The accuser says, Oh, don't you realize that he's done this? And he goes, Yeah, he told me about it. And I paid the cost for it.

And that crime justice has been met out in full on Christ. And what a wonderful truth that is. I love verses 6 and 7.

It's just such a cool thought. He says, Therefore, let everyone who is faithful pray to you immediately. At a time of finding, he says, right now is the time when God invites you to come to him, to bring your sins, to bring your failures.

So bring them to God right now. Don't wait for it. Bring them immediately.

And then he says this, When great flood waters come, they will not reach him. And then he says, You are my hiding place. You protect me from trouble.

I think we're intended here to think about the story of Noah. That's kind of one of the biggest stories in all of Scripture about the great flood waters.

And here, God is viewed, and we could think to the New Testament, Jesus is viewed as our ark, that we hide in him, and we are safe, that when judgment comes to eradicate evil, when it takes care of all that is wrong with this world, we are safe.

Not because we are righteous, not because we built up a safe place for ourselves, but because God is our ark. He is our safe refuge, that he keeps us from judgment. We know that Noah wasn't perfect.

We know that his sons weren't perfect. It wasn't that they were so righteous, that they merited God's favor. Instead, what we read in the Book of Genesis is that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

It wasn't that Noah earned his place with God, he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. I have heard it phrased sometimes.

I don't know if this is what the author of Genesis had in mind when he used that phrase, but if you're going to find something in God's eyes, it means that you're looking at his eyes.

It says Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, that he was looking to the Lord. I think of the song, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

Here, David says, you can find safety, you can find a refuge from God's justice, from when he brings through nations to judge nations, when he comes through and he brings evil rulers to punish a nation, and you can read much about that in the major

and minor prophets. He says, how do you experience deliverance? How do you experience deliverance at the end of your life when you come before God and there is a judgment that is going to take place? How do you find safety?

It's by turning to God. It's by going to the judge and saying, here's all of my crimes. And instead of saying, okay, now you're going to be punished for all of your crimes, he says, great, I've paid for all of it.

Come to God, confess your sins, confess your sins to one another.

I was just reading a book earlier today that referenced Galatians 6 where it says, brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in a fault, you that are spiritual, restore such a person in a spirit of humility, considering yourself so that you also

are not tempted. And God has given not just himself as a resource that we can go to and find forgiveness and find healing, but we can go to other people.

We can go to, specifically, we can go to those in our local church and that we can find that joy that I'm a pastor. You can come to me. I'm not going to say, oh, great.

All right. Well, thank you for confessing your sin. And now we're going to kick you out of everything.

No, it's as we confess our sins that we find God's faithfulness and his justice to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us. And God works through his body. He works through his spirit.

He works through his word. But he also works through his body, and he intends for his body to play a role in the healing of people. I want to encourage you to avail yourself of that wonderful resource.

I love the end of verse seven where he says, you surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance. God is shouting for joy. He is singing over you.

That word joyful shouts in there. I'm going to take a very quick peek at the original language for that one. I'm going to look here, pull that up.

In verse seven. Yeah, it's the word Ron. It's a ringing cry.

It's a shout. It's a cry of joy. Oh, this is actually the one time that it's used in the Old Testament, that God surrounds you with songs of deliverance.

God's singing about you. He is excited about what he is doing in your life. He's excited that you are his child, that you are returning to him.

And that's a wonderful thought.

There, I think it's somewhat unclear whether or not verses 8 and 9 are meant to be said from the lens of God, or if it's then David instructing another person when he says, I will instruct you and show you the way to go.

With my eye on you, I will give you counsel. Do not be like a horse or mule without understanding, that must be controlled with bit and bridle or else it will not come near you.

I think it's so incredible that God promises instruction to us, that he will give us counsel. And it's not just counsel without care of us. He says in verse number 8, he says, with my eye on you, I will give you counsel.

The King James would phrase this, I will guide you with my eye. And I think it's incredible that God sees you, he sees where you are, and he will give you counsel from where you actually are in your life.

Then he ends it, my many pains come to the wicked, but the one who trusts in Yahweh will have faithful love, that chesed, that covenant love, that faithfulness, that promise keeping love will surround you if you trust in God.

So he says, be glad in Yahweh and rejoice, you righteous ones. Shout for joy, all you upright in heart. I think it's so incredible there.

He calls righteous, upright, earlier faithful ones, those not that are perfect, not that have the cleanest track record, but those that turn to God. Hope that would be an encouragement to you today. Psalm 33 is tomorrow.

I will probably link in the show notes in the description mark. I will link. I preached a sermon on Psalm 33 maybe a year or two ago, and it was a great time of study.

So I'll try and keep the actual portion of Tabernacle Talk a little bit more on the brief side, not 23 minutes like Psalm 31 was. But we'll include that. So if you want a full treatment of Psalm 33, it will all be there for you.

Thanks for tuning in today, and hope that God's Word would be an encouragement to you. Thank you.