Psalm 32

Transcript

Rob McFarlane: 0:58

Today we're going to be studying Psalm 32. It's a very helpful psalm. We see guidance regarding our past, our present, and our future in Psalm 32. I think this is extremely helpful because many people live with a regret or shame or guilt for the past. And this prevents them from living the life God intends in the present. Others live with a fear of the future, an uncertainty or insecurity of what the future holds. And this also causes us to worry and be anxious and not live as God intends us to live in the present. But I've got good news for you. Today, as we study this psalm, we'll be looking at how God intends us to live regarding the past, how he intends us to live regarding our future, and how we can live for him in our present. So, number one, live free from the past. Let's look at Psalm 32, verse 1 and 2, and verse 5. It says, Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. And then let's go to verse 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. First, I want you to notice the word blessed at the beginning of verse 1 and verse 2. It is blessed to live a life, knowing that your sin, transgression, and iniquity from the past is dealt with. Now those three words, sin, transgression, and iniquity, refer to three different things. They all have the same effect in our lives in that they take away the life that God intends us to live and in fact separate us from God Himself. But they are not the same thing. Sin can also be translated to fall short. The word transgression can be translated rebellion, and the word iniquity can be translated corruption. Now there are things in our past that we wanted to do right, but we fell short. God can forgive us of those things. There are other things in the past where we've rebelled against God, we've transgressed, we've broken his laws. We can also walk in forgiveness for those things. And there are things where just the corrupt human nature, where we've wanted to say something kind or be helpful to someone else, but pride or self-centeredness has got in the way. God wants us to live free from all of these things. How can we be free? Well, the Bible teaches us in verse 5 of Psalm 32 that we need to take responsibility and repent before God. Let's read verse 5 again. It says, 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. I want you to notice in this psalm, he confessed his sin to the Lord. First and foremost, we need to recognize that sin is an affront against God and that we need to ask him for forgiveness. We need to confess our sin to him. In Genesis chapter 39, where Joseph was tempted by Mrs. Potipha, he said, How can I do this thing and sin against God? In Psalm 51, when David was caught in his sin with Bathsheba and covering the murder of her husband, he said to the Lord, Against you and you only have I sinned. And we need to understand that first and foremost, sin is an affront against God, and we need to ask him for forgiveness. We may have the opportunity to take responsibility before others that we've hurt or done wrong to, perhaps those we've let down in life, or those who've suffered consequences because of our actions or attitudes. But there are times we don't have that opportunity. Let's look at what happens if we try and cover our sin or hide our sin from God. Well, Psalm 32, verse 3 and 4 teaches us. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me, my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. You know, if we try and hide our sin, it takes away the vitality and the joy of life. But if we bring it before God and we confess it to Him, He forgives us and He sets us free, and we can live as He intends us to live. Years ago, when I was a teenager, I was very rude to a particular shopkeeper. And sometime later, when I was spending time in prayer, I felt the Lord convict me of what happened that day. When I had the opportunity to travel back to that city years and years ago, I uh I went to that shop to apologize to the shopkeeper. And when I arrived and asked for him by name, I realized and heard the news that he had passed away. My opportunity to take responsibility before him was passed. But I could go to God and ask God for forgiveness, and when I did, the guilt and the shame of my actions and attitudes as a teenager were lifted off my shoulders. You might not have the opportunity to go back and make right with somebody else, but you can come before God and ask Him to forgive you, and you can receive forgiveness and release from God. God is a good God and He wants us to live this blessed life. He wants us to be free from guilt, fear, and shame from the past. He wants us to live in freedom today because our past is forgiven. Number two, we can live with faith for the future. Let's look at Psalm 32 and verse 8, where we see how God wants to guide us. He says, I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. I love that. God wants to lead us and He wants to guide us. And He wants to do this with His eye upon us. He wants to lead us along the right pathway for our lives. Listen to how the Passion Translation puts this verse. I hear the Lord saying, I will stay close to you, instructing and guiding you along the pathway for your life. I will advise you along the way and lead you forth with my eyes as your guide. Now that speaks to me about being in close proximity with God. We need to be close to God for Him to lead us and guide us with His eye. He doesn't just say, get off there and make your way and find your way. He says, No, I want to be with you. I want to lead you and I want to guide you along the pathway for your life. You know, we don't know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future. And for him to lead us and guide us, we need to be easily led. Let's look at Psalm 32 verse 9. Here it tells us be easily led, don't be stubborn like a mule. Do not be like a horse or a mule without understanding, which must be curbed with a bit and a bridle, or it will not stay near you. Listen to how the Passion Translation puts this verse. So don't make it difficult. Don't be stubborn when I take you where you've not been before. Don't make me tug you and pull you along. Just come with me. I love that. I love the fact that God wants to lead us and guide us. And he says, be easily led. You know, a wise person learns from instruction. A fool only learns by consequences. Let's be people who are wise. It's wisdom to learn from instruction. It's wisdom to learn from the word of God and the teaching that we hear and also the counsel that we receive from wise people in our lives. A fool rejects that and only learns through the school of hard knocks, by consequences, by tripping up and falling. Let's be those that God can lead through His word and His instruction in our lives. Let's not be those that can only be moved along by the knocks of life, the circumstances and the difficulties that perhaps lead us to our knees. We need to be those who are easily led so that we can walk into the future that God has for us with faith and confidence. God wants us to face the future in faith. Number three, we need to live in relationship with God in the present. We're now going to look at Psalm 32, verse 6 and 7, and verse 10 and 11. We'll see how we can live for God in the present. These verses give us four keys for life. Let's look at verse 6. We see in verse 6 that we should pray and seek God while he can be found. It says, 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. God wants us to spend time in prayer with him. Remember that prayer is talking and listening to God. It's spending time in relationship with him, asking him to lead us and guide us, listening to him for his instructions, and allowing him to speak to us through his word. Pray with an open Bible, with an open notebook. Ask him to speak to you through his word. Number two, the second key to living for God in the present is to worship, to spend time in God's presence, and to surround yourself with an atmosphere of worship. Psalm 32, verse 7 says, You are a hiding place for me. You preserve me from trouble, you surround me with shouts of deliverance. You know, God has a hiding place for us, and when trouble comes, he wants us to go into his presence, to spend time in worship with him. I personally find that when I'm going through a difficult or challenging time, that listening to worship music and singing along and reflecting on the words of worship songs helps me to be able to live with a positive and a victorious attitude. God wants us to be worshipers. In fact, he says he's seeking those who will worship him in spirit and in truth. The Bible tells us that praise and worship silences the enemy. And if you're struggling with thoughts in your mind or difficult choices or decisions, start to spend time in worship and you'll find that as you lift him up and you glorify him, the things that challenge you will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and his grace. Psalm 32 verse 10 tells us the third key to living as God intends us to live in the present, and that's to trust in God's steadfast love. Verse 10 says, Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. We can trust in God's steadfast love. His love is steadfast, immovable, unchanging. There's nothing that you have done in your past that prevents him from loving you today. There's nothing that you could do in the future that'll separate you from God's love for you in Christ Jesus. But in our response to his love, we want to live a life of trust. We want to put our trust in him. We can trust in his steadfast love. It is a sure foundation upon which we can build our lives. And the fourth key to living as God intends us to live today is to rejoice. Let's read Psalm 32, verse 11. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, you upright in heart. We need to live a life of rejoicing, and I think we can do this by counting our blessings. You know, when you pause and you reflect on all God has done for you, you have much reason for rejoicing. I think there's two things that we can do that will help us live a life of rejoicing to count our blessings. Number one is every time you eat, make sure you pray over your food and thank God for his provision in your life. We can't live without eating. We can't survive without eating. And by praying over our food, we're acknowledging that he is the source of our lives. The second thing we can do to rejoice is to have photographs maybe on your phone or uh print them out and have them around your home, and uh and to see those photographs of your loved ones and those who have an influence in your life. And as you see those photographs, to pray for those people and thank God for them and those experiences that you've had that remind you of his blessing in your life. So today we've seen from Psalm 32 that God wants us to live free from the past with faith for the future and in relationship with Him in the present. As we pray, I want to encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit what he wants you to do as a result of what you've heard in today's sermon. Let's bow our heads and pray. Father God, thank you. That you who have begun a good work in us will bring it to completion. Holy Spirit, speak to us and show us what you want us to do as a result of what we've heard. Thank you that you want us to live free from the past. That we can acknowledge our sin to you, our mistakes, our regrets. We can bring our shame to you, and you can forgive us, and we can walk free. Thank you that we can face the future with confidence and faith because you promise to lead us and guide us. Help us to be easily led, not to be stubborn or difficult, to be wise and not foolish. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you want us to live today in relationship with you through prayer and worship. You want us to live today as those who trust in your steadfast love, and you want us to count our blessings and rejoice. Help us to do that today and in the week ahead. We ask these things in Jesus' precious name. Amen.