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Psalm 32
[SLIDE – Forgiveness]
Let me tell you about two men,
separated by 500 years.
The first one I met. About 12 months ago
a homeless man came into church and asked to speak with someone. I sat
with him on the sofa just by the front doors and listened to his story.
He told me about a lot of hurt in his life – and a lot of people who he
thought owed him a big apology. At one stage I asked him “Do you feel you
need to ask for God’s forgiveness?” He sat bolt upright and said “No. Of
course not, I’m not a bad person. I’ve never done anyone any harm.” I
pressed him on this and he was adamant – there was nothing he needed to
apologise for, to God or to anyone. Within five minutes of saying this he
revealed to me that he had just gotten out of prison for assaulting a
police officer. And the previous time he was in prison was for throwing a
man through a 2nd story plate glass window. Were it not for the fact that
his victim miraculously survived he would still have been in prison for
murder. None of this made him question whether he had ever ‘done anyone
any harm’. None of it made him think he needed God’s forgiveness.
That’s one extreme. At the other
extreme we can think of Martin Luther, the 15th and 16th century German
pastor and reformer. Luther had entered a monastery as a young man out of
a deep sense that he desperately needed to earn the forgiveness of the
Living God. He wrote later:
“When I was a monk I tried ever so
hard to live up to the strict rules of my order. I used to make a list of
my sins, and I was always on the way to confession, and whatever penances
were enjoined upon me I performed religiously. In spite of it all, my
conscience was always in a fever of doubt. The more I sought to help my
poor stricken conscience the worse it got. The more I paid attention to
the regulations the more I transgressed them.”
These two men seem poles apart. One is completely irreligious, the other
is completely religious. One had lived what the world would call a bad
life yet thought himself good. The other lived what the world would call
a good life, yet thought himself bad. One denies that he needs
forgiveness, the other denies that he could ever know forgiveness. They
seem very different, yet they are both FAR from God.
[SLIDE - Two mistakes]
This morning we will learn that there
are two monumental mistakes we can make when we consider the issue of
God’s forgiveness.
[SLIDE – I don’t need it (Non-religious), I must earn it (Religious)]
One is to think we don’t need it
(that’s the irreligious option). The other is to think we must earn it
(that’s the religious option).
Or to put it in Psalm 32 language –
the two mistakes are:
[SLIDE – no covering, self-covering]
To think I don’t need covering and (on
the other hand) to think I can cover myself.
Did you notice the repetition of that
word ‘covering’ in the reading? In verse 1 we see that there’s a covering
from the LORD which we must have if we’re to be blessed. And then in
verse 5 David says that there’s a self-covering that we must get rid of
if we’re going to be forgiven.
Well let’s explore that contrast a
little more. Let’s read verses 1 and 2:
Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are
covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against
him.
The first thing we should note is that
David doesn’t even contemplate a category of person who ‘never did anyone
any harm.’ There is no such person according to the Bible. We all have
sin. The only question is ‘will my sin be forgiven, will it be covered?’
If it’s not then I am in BIG trouble – because He is Holy and I am
sinful. And sin to a Holy God is like paper to fire – it will be
consumed. My only hope is if, somehow, my sin was covered.
So the non-religious person is wrong.
We are sinners, sin matters – we cannot stand before a Holy God – we need
to be covered.
But the answer is not to turn to
religion. The answer is not to cover myself. Because covering myself is
what David describes in verses 3 and 4. Let’s read verses 3 and 4:
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
sapped as in the heat of summer.
The unhappy state of verses 3 and 4 is
described by David as a way of covering up his iniquity in verse 5. Verse
5 says:
Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my
iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD
"- and you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Do you have David’s picture of
covering in your head? A person (v1) is blessed if the LORD covers their
sin, but when they try to cover their sin themselves (verses 3 and 4),
it’s a mess. What we really need to do is to take our own covering off
(verse 5) and to have the LORD cover us (back to v1).
Now what is this covering all about?
What is David talking about?
Well he has something quite specific
in mind. Do you know the story of the garden of Eden? In Genesis chapter
3 we read about the very first entrance of sin into the world and
wouldn’t you know it – it was followed immediately by the very first
covering. In verse 7 Adam and Eve have just eaten of the forbidden fruit
and then it says:
[SLIDE - Gen 3:7]
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they
were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for
themselves.
Suddenly sin made them feel shame, and
shame made them cover up. They wanted something to hide or to distract
from or to makes up for the sin underneath.
And we do this ourselves. Every day.
We have all sorts of strategies for masking and atoning for the nastiness
within us. Most often we think we can cover up by being a good person who
never does anyone any harm.
It’s fascinating to note that in Islam
they also have a story of Adam and Eve in the garden. However in the
Muslim version, Allah tells the couple to clothe themselves in good
deeds. From the beginning, in Islam, humanity is told to cover their sin
with their own good deeds. This sets Islam off on its familiar trajectory
of a performance-based religion.
But it’s not just Islam is it? This
belief that we can cover our own sins is like the air we breathe – it’s
everywhere. The understanding of anyone today with even the slightest
religious bent is that for me to stand before a Holy God, I must cover my
sins. I cover them with my good deeds, with my love for my family and the
community and I cover them by doing religion.
If that is how you think, and I know that
there are dozens of people in this room who think this, then let me say
to you with the complete authority of Scripture that you are trusting in
a lie. Your good deeds, your way of life, your religious observances are
not able to shield you from a Holy God. In Isaiah 64 verse 6 the prophet
considers those who trust in their goodness to cover them, he says: “All
our ‘righteous’ acts are like filthy rags.” They cover nothing.
If you know the story of the garden of
Eden you’ll know that the LORD God was not happy with Adam and Eve’s
man-made covering. Instead the LORD makes a covering Himself. Genesis
3:21 says:
[SLIDE – Gen 3:21]
The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and
clothed them.
The LORD asks Adam and Eve to renounce
their man-made coverings and instead He kills an animal and sheds its
blood. And out of that sacrifice, He covers Adam and Eve. Here in the
garden we have modelled to us the fact that sin demands the shedding of
blood. Yet the LORD is gracious and does not shed their blood – He
sacrifices a substitute. And by that sacrifice – Adam and Eve are
covered.
This first animal sacrifice, just like
all the ones to follow it in the Old Testament, points intentionally
forwards to the cross of Christ. There the LORD Jesus is Himself
sacrificed in our place. Jesus is called the Lamb of God and His blood is
shed for our sin, and by His sacrifice we are covered.
In Psalm 32, David has an
Adam-and-Eve-like experience. He too has sin and so in verses 3 and 4 he
hides and tries to cover himself. Yet David finds his own covering
totally inadequate and in verse 5 he lays aside his man-made covering, in
favour of the LORD’s covering. He stands, as it were, naked before the
LORD – confessing who he really is.
Have you ever done that? Have you ever
confessed before the LORD your self-centred, faithless, prayerless,
loveless heart? Have you done it, without pleading mitigating
circumstances, without trying to hide or cover the real ugliness? Have
you ever stood uncovered before the LORD God confessing your shame and
putting yourself entirely at His disposal?
There is a part of us that wants to do
that, and there is a part of us that’s terrified to do that. It’s summed
up well by Matt Damon in the film ‘The Talented Mr Ripley.’ Here Tom
Ripley, played by Damon, has murdered someone. Yet his friend doesn’t
know this and they begin to discuss what it would be like to be a
murderer. Tom Ripley has some fascinating things to say about our
coverings and how we long to be free of them…
[VIDEO: The Talented Mr Ripley]
You want to toss someone the key and
say open up and step inside, but you can’t because it’s dark and there
are demons and if anyone saw how ugly it is… They couldn’t handle it –
they’d run, or they’d judge you or they’d hurt you. How can we trust our
real selves to anyone – let alone to the Living God whose eyes are too
pure to even look upon evil.
Yet David does it. He acknowledges his
sin (v5), he confesses his transgressions and the LORD forgave the guilt
of his sin.
David finds exactly what Matt Damon
was looking for. David found a Lover who was able to see him to the
bottom and yet to love him to the stars. David found Someone who could
fling open the doors and let the light in.
How was David able to do this? How did
he bare his soul to the LORD like this? Why was he not afraid that the
LORD would destroy him for his sin?
Well a clue is in the word ‘forgive’.
The word for forgive both in verse 1 and verse 5 is a very special word
in Hebrew. The normal meaning of this word is simply ‘to carry’ or ‘to
bear the weight.’ Literally verse 5 reads “You carried the guilt of my
sin” or “You bore the weight of the guilt of my sin.” Now that’s an
interesting image.
And the word “confess” in verse 5 is
also very interesting. It carries the sense of ‘handing over’ or even
‘palming off.’ So David palms off his sin and the LORD carries it.
Perhaps David has in mind Leviticus 16 where we see a very important
confession going on.
Every year on the Day of Atonement
there was an elaborate, multi-media presentation of what would happen
when Jesus the Messiah would come as the Sacrifice of God. On this day a
goat is selected as a scapegoat and sin is confessed over it. This is
what it says:
[SLIDE – Leviticus 16]
The high priest shall bring forward the scape goat. (and remember
this goat is representing Jesus here). The high priest is to lay both
hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness
and rebellion of the Israelites - all their sins - and put them on the
goat's head. He shall send the goat away into the desert in the care of a
man appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins
to a solitary place; and the man shall release it in the desert.
(Leviticus 16:20-22)
To confess is to hand your sins over
to another, so that the Other bears the weight. Here, this goat is just a
small picture of what Jesus did as the Sacrifice of God.
If you want a true picture of what
happened at the cross imagine this:
Imagine the Temple in Jerusalem.
Imagine in the Most Holy Place of the Temple – there LORD Almighty sits
on His throne. Imagine that He orders all the priests and all the
sacrifices out of the Temple. They leave and He comes down off His
throne, in His strength He approaches the altar of sacrifice and lays
down. At this point all the people come in to lay their hands on His head
and confess their sin over Him. Then, carrying the sins of the whole
world, the LORD God Almighty is slain.
That is what happened at the cross.
The LORD God Almighty was slain as a sacrificial Lamb.
Nothing you could ever do could deal
with your sin. You could only keep silent about it. You could only try to
distract from it. You can never undo it. Time does not pay for your sins,
tears do not pay for your sins. The LORD Jesus pays.
But will you take advantage? Will you,
as it were, lay your hands on His head, knowing who He is, and will you
confess to Him who you really are? Will you give Him your sins and take
His covering.
[SLIDE – The Right Way etc]
Let’s read the first five verses again,
this time let’s read it with the understanding we now have:
(v1) Blessed is the one whose transgressions are CARRIED/ ARE
BORNE BY THE LORD, whose sins are COVERED BY THE LORD.
Blessed is the one whose sin the LORD does not count against him, BUT INSTEAD
HE COUNTS IT AGAINST HIMSELF, and in whose spirit there is no deceit
(ONLY LIARS THINK THEY HAVE NO SIN).
(v3) 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 sapped as in the heat of summer.
THEN I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity. I
said “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD (I WILL CONFESS THEM
OVER HIS HEAD) and You BORE the guilt of my sin.
These are stunning verses. And they
mean that the irreligious person must be wrong – sin is serious – the
LORD was slain, sin is SO serious. Yet the religious person is also wrong
– forgiveness is offered freely. I don’t make the sacrifices – the LORD
has already done it. Christ is offered to me, right now. The Lamb of God
is FREE, free to anyone. You can be covered in a second.
David’s advice is that we take up this
offer immediately: verse 6,
6 Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to You while You may be
found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach Him.
7 You are my hiding place; You will protect me from trouble and surround
me with songs of deliverance.
David urges a response from his
reader. There are mighty waters that WILL rise – these waters are always
linked to judgement in the Bible. David says – pray now, while the LORD
may be found. Tomorrow is promised to no-one – today is the day of
salvation offered in the Bible.
If you have felt the LORD speaking to
you, if you have felt His hand heavy upon you this morning you mustn’t
leave before you have prayed to Him this kind of prayer. Talk to me after
the service, talk to Simon or to Amy we would love to help you find this
unfailing love that the LORD offers.
In verse 10 David pleads again:
Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD's unfailing love
surrounds the one who trusts in Him.
David says: Think of the LORD’s
unfailing love. Only this will enable you to do what Matt Damon can’t do
in the Talented My Ripley. We must be assured of the LORD’s unfailing love
or we will never fling open our basement doors and let Him in. So think
of the unfailing love of Jesus. He LOVES even His enemies. He LOVES even
those people who were crucifying Him. He LOVED you before you ever had a
second thought for Him. He DIED for you. He chose godforsaken hell rather
than face losing you. He will never leave you. He will never be
unfaithful to you, no matter how unfaithful you are to Him. He will never
forsake you. He will never fail you. He will share with you His joy, His
righteousness, His peace, His whole creation. Think of the LORD’s
unfailing love. Will you trust Him? There are dozens of people in this
room who need to do that. Will you abandon yourself to Jesus and His
unfailing love?
Well in verse 11 David addresses those
who have taken the lessons of the Psalm to heart. He addresses the
righteous – those who have taken Jesus’ righteousness for themselves. He
tells them to rejoice, to be glad and to sing.
For Christians here, this is our
challenge. We are commanded to rejoice in the LORD. And we are to do it
even, and especially, in the context of our sin. That’s the hardest thing
isn’t it? How do you respond in the Christian life when you’ve really
messed things up? What’s your reaction when you’ve fallen into sin?
Do you do the self-covering of verses
3 and 4? Do you keep silent? Do you put off praying to God, thinking you
are too sinful to come into His presence? Here’s the issue: Do you try to
clean yourself up before you come to Jesus, or do you come to Jesus for
the bath? Psalm 32 urges us to pray, to confess, to lay our sins on Jesus
immediately and without delay. May it be the practise of all of us to
regularly confess to Jesus in full assurance that He HAS BORNE our sin.
Well let me finish with one last
illustration. We have spoken of the difference between religion and
Jesus’ free forgiveness. The difference between the self-coverers and
those covered by Jesus’ sacrifice. No-one has explained this difference
better than CS Lewis in his book “The Great Divorce.”
This is a parable Lewis wrote about a
bus-load of people from hell who are Ghosts. They come to the outskirts
of heaven and the people from heaven come out to try to convince the
Ghosts from hell to come in. (Now this is not what CS Lewis thinks the
afterlife is like – it’s just an artistic device).
Here in this conversation a ghost from
hell recognizes a person from heaven who Lewis calls the Bright Man who
he knew in life. Here’s how the conversation runs:
GHOST: Look at me now (says the ghost, slapping its chest – but
the slap made no sound). I’ve gone straight all my life. I don’t say I
have no faults, far from it. But I done my best all my life see. I done
my best by everyone – that’s the sort of chap I was. I never asked for
anything that wasn’t mine by rights. If I wanted a drink, I paid for it,
see. And if I took my wages, I done my job see. That’s the sort of man I
was.
BRIGHT MAN – It would be much better (said the Bright man) if you
wouldn’t talk like that. You’re never going to get there like that.
GHOST: What are you talking about. (says the Ghost) I’m not going
on, I’m not arguing. I’m just asking for nothing but my rights. I just
want to have my rights. Same as you see
BRIGHT MAN: Oh no, (said the Bright man) It’s not as bad as that.
I never got my rights and you won’t get your rights either. You’ll get
something so much better
GHOST: That’s just what I mean (says the Ghost). I haven’t got my
rights. I’ve always done my best and I’ve never done anything wrong. And
here’s the thing. Well, if you don’t mind my saying so – here’s the thing
I wonder about. Why should I be put down there below a bloody murderer
like you. What’s a murderer doing up there? And what is a sort like me
doing down there?
BRIGHT MAN: Well (the Bright man says) I don’t know where you’ll
be put, just be happy and come.
GHOST: What do you keep on arguing for (says the Ghost) I only
want my rights. I’m not asking for anyone’s bleeding charity.
BRIGHT MAN – Oh then do (said the Bright man) – at once. Ask for the
bleeding charity. Everything is here for the asking and absolutely
nothing can be bought
GHOST: That may be alright for you (said the Ghost) if they choose
to let a bloody murderer in just because he makes a poor mouth at the
last minute, that’s their look-out. I don’t want charity though. I’m a
decent man, and if I had my rights I’d have been there long ago and you
can tell them I said so.
(The Ghost was almost happy now that it could, in a sense,
threaten)
GHOST: That’s what I’ll do (said the Ghost) – I’ll go home. I didn’t
come here to be treated like a dog. I’ll go home. Damn and blast the
whole pack of you.
And, still grumbling but whimpering a little bit as it picked its
way over the sharp grasses – it left.
If you have never done it: take
the bleeding charity. Today. Take it. Christians remember the
bleeding charity and rejoice. Let’s all bow our heads for prayer
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