Psalm 32:1-5,
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. 3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. 4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. 5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
“Blessed” is not a word that is normally coupled with the words “transgression” and “sin.” While sin promises all its practioners pure pleasure, the reality is that in the end it brings only guilt, shame, and destruction. So how is it then that the psalmist David declares with complete confidence that though we have sinned there is the possibility for blessedness? The answer can be found as we delve into this wonderful passage of Scripture
After declaring in the beginning of this psalm the truth that there is real blessedness that flows from our being forgiven, David describes how he suffered as a result of his sin before he received forgiveness from God. The world that God created for man to live in is much different than what exists today. The problem was not a fault in what God made, but in the choice that the first man, Adam, made. Up until Adam sinned the world was full of life, beauty, perfection, joy, and fellowship with God. The realities of death, sorrow, pain, destruction, ugliness, and separation came into the world on the heels of Adam’s sin. While we may want to ignore it or even outright deny it, the truth is that sin has a very destructive effect upon all of us. David felt this weight of sin and did something about it.
Now in verse five David describes how he obtained forgiveness from God. It is the very same way that every one of us must follow if we too are to experience the blessedness that David enjoyed. We find that David proclaimed three important things about what men must do with their sin in order to truly be forgiven.
Acknowledge Your Sin
First, David says that we must acknowledge our sin unto God. In other words we must claim ownership of it by admitting that it rightfully is “my sin.” Many of us have heard that the hardest word for people to say is “sorry,” but I suggest to you that what is even more difficult to say than “sorry” is to say, “I was wrong.” We all know that most people can readily utter a meaningless “sorry.” “Sorry you misunderstood me.” “Sorry things turned out as they did.” Many times when we are absolutely backed into a corner concerning our guiltiness, and we feel compelled to utter that dreaded admission “I was wrong” we dull its meaning by adding a “but” onto it. That little contrasting conjunction “but” is added to excuse our behavior keeping us from taking full ownership of our wrong. It is meant to shift full responsibility of our acts away from ourselves and place it either onto another person or some uncontrollable circumstances. Without acknowledging to God that our sins are indeed ours and without excuse, we cannot receive His forgiveness and the blessedness that God’s forgiveness brings.
Do Not Try To Hide Your Sin
Secondly, the Holy Spirit through David tells us that we must not hide our sin. Adam and Eve tried to hide the fact of their disobedience to God’s command by hiding themselves from God when He came to fellowship with them in the cool of the evening just as He had each day since creating them. We have done the same thing since when we were small children. Do you remember hiding from your parents when they called your name in that tone and resonance that indicated they knew something about your recent activities? Ever make a quick turn after speeding passed a police officer? Criminals do not normally stand around a crime scene, and neither do we want to be around when our wrongs are sure to be discovered. Some of us try to hide our wrongs using a different approach. We think that if we do some “good” it will make up for our bad. However, if we are to have blessedness from God we cannot hide our sin.
Confess Your Sin
Finally, the Bible says that we must confess our sin to God. The idea behind the New Testament usage of confess/confession is to say the same thing. There is a difference between a profession and a confession. Anyone can easily profess anything regardless of the facts, but a confession to be a confession must be aligned with the truth of a thing. A man may profess the earth to be flat, square or some other thing, but he can only confess that it is a sphere. What have you told God about your sin? It is good that a person says that is my sin. It is good that we do not try to cover up or hide our sin trying to convince others that it really is not as bad as it appears. But we must go beyond those steps and utter with our lips a confession of our sin to God saying the same thing about it that God Himself would say.
My friends, it is when David did these things that he found what he could not have otherwise–God’s forgiveness and its peace and blessedness. Notice the great changes that David says took place in verses one and two. He went from owning his sin to not having it his any longer. David also did not hide his sin by his own efforts or make up for them by doing some “good” works, but allowed God to cover his sin completely and forever under the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The last thing we make note of is that David also was not deceived in his spirit in all of this. There are too many people who are deceived about having forgiveness because they have listened to men rather than following God’s way as revealed in His Word, the Bible. Some men like to assure congregations of absolution of sin based on a religious tradition that has nothing to do with what God has said in the Scriptures. Only those who do it God’s way can be assured that their sins are truly forgiven. How about you? I trust that if you have never received God’s forgiveness for your sin that you will come to Him confessing your sin and believing that His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross in your place that you might be forgiven and have peace and blessing from God.
Romans 5:1, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Golden Hills Baptist Church of Lead, South Dakota 