The Inexpressible Blessing of Repentance
Psalms 32
March 24, 2019
I do realize that it is not common
To look at the concept of repentance in a positive light.
In fact, our culture hates the notion of repentance.
• It almost always comes with a negative connotation.
• People don’t want to hear about it.
• (You’ll never hear Joel Olsteen talk about it)
The topic of repentance doesn’t sell.
That is extremely tragic for a number of reasons.
One reason is because “repent” is undoubtedly the first requirement of the gospel message of salvation.
Even before man is called to believe in Christ,
He is first called to repent of his sin.
John the Baptist:
Matthew 3:1-2 “Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Jesus:
Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Peter:
Acts 2:38 “Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Paul:
Acts 17:30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,”
Repentance is the first requirement that God places on the sinner.
But the world hates it.
Sadly, there are even many who regularly attend church that would groan if you told them that the sermon topic was going to be about repentance.
• Repentance implies humiliation; forcing me to admit I have blown it and fallen short.
• Repentance requires self-denial; it is going to ask me to let go of something my flesh loves.
• Repentance demonstrates weakness and dependence; because I am simply throwing myself at the mercy of another.
People hate it. Sadly, even people in the church can hate it.
Tonight I hope to change your mind about repentance.
• Rather, tonight David hopes to change your mind about repentance.
• Even more so, the Holy Spirit, who wrote this Psalm desires to change your mind about repentance.
Another reason disdain for repentance is so tragic is because: REPENTANCE IS A WORK OF SOVEREIGN GRACE
We remember Jesus words:
John 6:44-45 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. “It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.”
He reminded us that sinners can’t just come to God or Christ any time they choose. In that sense, it’s not up to them.
It must be granted. You know this.
And part of what must be granted is repentance.
You remember the story of Peter being commissioned to go and preach to Cornelius.
• Cornelius believed and was saved and was baptized.
• Peter then found himself in hot water for going to eat with an unclean Gentile.
• After Peter shared the story of Cornelius’ conversion.
Here was the response of the Jews:
Acts 11:18 “When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”
Notice the phrasing?
“granted…repentance”
Or consider Paul’s second letter to Timothy as he seeks to encourage Timothy to deal wisely with rebellious men.
Paul wrote:
2 Timothy 2:24-26 “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”
There again, that “God may grant them repentance”
The important thing to remember and understand is that
• If God doesn’t open the eyes…
• If God doesn’t reveal sin…
• If God doesn’t convict and humble the heart…
THERE WILL BE NO SALVATION
Repentance is a gift from God!
Don’t look at it as a negative thing. Don’t resist it.
Embrace it! Love it! Rejoice in it! Use it!
And that simple message
Is actually also the message of Psalms 32.
David is going to remind us of the Inexpressible Blessing of Repentance.
Just for structural purposes,
I would show you that this Psalm breaks into two parallel parts.
The first five verses are of a testimonial nature.
• David speaks from the heart regarding his own experiences.
• He talks about The Result of Seeking God, The Rebellion of Sin, and The
Relief of Repentance in his own life.
The last six verses are of an encouraging nature to others.
• He again talks about the Result of Seeking God, the Rebellion of Sin, and the
Relief of repentance.
You can see the parallel structure in the song.
We’re going to break it down along those lines tonight.
#1 DAVID’S ANNOUNCEMENT
Psalms 32:1-5
These first 5 verses are really a testimony of David about his life.
• Whereas Psalms 51 (another famous penitent Psalm) is about a specific incident of sin in David’s life,
• This Psalm seems to be more of a general reflection regarding every time David sinned.
It’s just something he has learned
Over the course of his many years walking with God.
And as we noted a moment ago, we can break this point down a little further.
1) THE BLESSING OF JUSTIFICATION (1-2)
You probably are familiar with those verses, especially if you’ve been working through the Romans commentary lately.
Paul quotes them in Romans 4 as he seeks to make his foundational point that justification is by faith alone.
After Paul introduces Abraham as one
who had righteousness credited to him apart from works,
He then moves on to his next Old Testament example, and that is David:
Romans 4:6-8 “just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED. “BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.”
According to Paul,
David is here talking about the blessing of justification by faith alone.
Namely that David would be able to recognize the futility of his works before God, but could still (apart from works) enjoy the blessing of forgiveness.
Indeed, that is what David speaks of.
HE SPEAKS OF RECEIVING THAT WHICH HE DID NOT EARN.
And if you want to understand the blessing of repentance
Then you first need to understand the result of repentance.
You need to understand what it produces.
And the answer is: FORGIVENESS
In these verses David not only talks about the blessing of being forgiven,
But also the reality that forgiveness SPANS ALL SIN.
Notice the 3 different words David uses to describe his sin.
(1) “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,”
• “transgression” had to do with transgressing the covenant, or violating the Law. It spoke of blatant rebellion.
It dealt with a person who knew what to do
And defiantly chose to do the opposite.
(1b) “Whose sin is covered”
• “sin” has to do with failure. It is just a falling shortness. It is a missing of the mark. Not being as good as you should be.
It is a person who simply is not holy like God is holy.
(2) “How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity”
• “iniquity” speaks of perversion. One who does vile and perverse things. Things that ought not to be done. Things that offend the very nature of God.
But David mentions all 3 types here under the blessing of being forgiven.
• His “transgression is forgiven”
• His “sin is covered”
• His “iniquity” is not imputed to him.
Incidentally that word brings great imagery to our minds
Of the atonement of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Of course reminding us that in order for our iniquity
To not be imputed to us, it had to be imputed to someone.
Here we not only bask in the glory of not having to pay for our sin,
But we also break in humility at the thought that Christ did.
But ultimately the blessing of these verses is that
Despite our rebellion, despite our failure, & despite our perversion
There is an avenue by which we can be forgiven.
Our “transgression” (rebellion) can be “forgiven”
Our “sin” (failure) can be “covered” (someone else will pick up the slack)
Our “iniquity” (perversion) will not be credited to us.
There really is no other way to describe this happening for us
Than the way David does in saying, “How blessed”
It is nothing short of a blessing to know
That there is an avenue by which we can have this amazing justification
In spite of what we are.
The next obvious question would be: WHAT IS THAT AVENUE?
• How do I become a forgiven transgressor?
• How do I become a covered sinner?
• How do I become a justified person of iniquity?
Well the answer to that question is: REPENTANCE
Now, we also already noted,
That this is the point where most people want to jump off the train.
They quit listening, they slam the door,
They don’t want to hear any more about this vile and painful thing called repentance.
David understands that mindset.
• So now he sets out to change your mind.
• And again he does so by recounting his own personal story.
The Blessing of Justification
2) THE WOES OF REBELLION (3-4)
• So you aren’t interested in repentance…
• So you don’t want to humble yourself before God and admit your failure…
• So you don’t want to part with what your flesh loves…
Well let David say here, “I didn’t want to either.”
I also “kept silent about my sin”
• I read God’s Law…
• I heard God’s prophet…
• My conscience was offended…
But I just decided to ignore it.
• I didn’t want repent.
• I didn’t want to feel the shame.
• I didn’t want to lose the fleshly things I loved.
But let me tell you how that worked out for me.
(3-4) “When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer.”
Obviously there David speaks in poetic language,
But I’m guessing I don’t have to explain that feeling to you.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that
You know exactly what David is talking about.
It’s called CONVICTION and it is painful.
And it is relentless, and it can suck the joy right out of life.
David explains it other places as well.
Psalms 38:2-8 “For Your arrows have sunk deep into me, And Your hand has pressed down on me. There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; There is no health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities are gone over my head; As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me. My wounds grow foul and fester Because of my folly. I am bent over and greatly bowed down; I go mourning all day long. For my loins are filled with burning, And there is no soundness in my flesh. I am benumbed and badly crushed; I groan because of the agitation of my heart.”
Psalms 39:10 “Remove Your plague from me; Because of the opposition of Your hand I am perishing.”
If you’re familiar with Romans 7, This is the mentality that Paul explains as he laments the futility of seeking to obey the Law in your own strength.
He was a man convicted, but a man unable to do anything about it.
Never able to do the good he wanted to do, and literally broken over it.
Until he finally said:
Romans 7:24 “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”
This is the type of feeling David had.
He speaks of the pitiful condition of being aware that
You are under God’s displeasure.
It is not a pleasant place to be.
• You put your head on your pillow and you know that you are a sinner…
• You wake up in the morning and you feel God’s displeasure…
• Every time you read the Bible…
• Every sermon you hear…
• And at times even in the most unlikely places…
You are reminded again of how you have offended God,
And how He is not willing to allow you to remain in your present condition
And look, this can be a reality for SAVED people as well as LOST people.
I’ve even said many times to people that I’ve endured far more periods of conviction after I was saved than I ever did before.
• We can be talking here about that initial conviction which is meant to draw a
sinner to Christ…
• Or we can be talking about the conviction God places upon a believer as He
works to sanctify Him into the image of Christ…
And the main point that David is making is that
If you resist to give God what He wants, you won’t like it.
It is a heavy, painful, draining misery that God can put upon you.
So, you can hate the thought of repentance,
BUT LET ME ASK YOU: Do you prefer to just live under conviction?
Well David said, I made that mistake once.
I didn’t want to repent, I wanted to keep my sin,
And the conviction was miserable.
And I could stop the sermon right now, and open up the floor for testimonies and hear person after person in here recount a moment just like that in their lives.
That wrestling match with God,
And no one in here who has gone through it would say it was pleasant.
Rebellion against God is not a happy place to be.
The Blessing of Justification
The Woes of Rebellion
3) THE RELIEF OF REPENTANCE (5)
And here David tells you what he finally did.
“I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgression to the LORD”
There you see all 3 categories of the sin mentioned again.
My “sin” (failures) I owned up to.
• I blew it, me, myself. It was my mistake.
My “iniquity” (shameful perversion) “I did not hide”.
• I quit denying it, I owned up to it.
My “transgression” I confessed.
• My rebellion and insubordination I confessed to God.
That is called CONFESSION and it is a reality of repentance.
We confess our sins and we turn from them.
• David took the hard step.
• David did what many are unwilling to do.
• He came clean about who he was, what he was, and what he’d done.
• He quit arguing with God and finally submitted to Him.
• He walked the painful road of confession.
AND WHAT HAPPENED?
“And You forgave the guilt of my sin.”
WOW!
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
I can’t tell you the number of times I have quoted that verse to God
And begged for its reality in my life.
2 Corinthians 7:8-10 “For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it — for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while – I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
Did you catch what Paul said about repentance?
He called “repentance without regret”
And this is fascinating.
• David said, there was a time when I refused repentance and tried to keep
silent about my sin, and God’s hand upon me made life miserable.
• And when I finally decided to yield to the pressure and confess my sin before
God, I found forgiveness.
And Paul would add: AND THERE WAS NO REGRET
At this point I could stop for testimonies again and ask those of you who know about that wrestling struggle with God and how miserable it is. I could now ask you, “After you repented, did you regret it?”
And to a man you’d all say “No”.
In fact most people say something like, “I don’t know why I fought so long.”
It’s so true.
Repentance is not a negative things, it is a blessing.
Can I tell you something else I notice about this verse?
How easy it is to get this forgiveness.
You know the church lived for years in the Dark Ages,
• Where you had the Roman Catholic Church and their Latin translation of the Bible which translated the word for repentance with a Latin word that meant “Do Penance”
• And so Catholicism adopted a system whereby a person must put themselves through various forms of suffering to earn their forgiveness.
Do you know what would NOT be a blessing?
• Having to suffer countless years in purgatory to earn forgiveness.
• Having to endure severe treatment of the body to earn forgiveness.
• Having to pay enormous amounts of money…
• Having to recite endless prayers…
• Having to climb a set of stairs on your knees…
If that is how forgiveness was earned then I’d agree,
It would not be something we could call a blessing.
But look at what David had to do to be forgiven.
• “I acknowledged my sin to You”
• “my iniquity I did not hide”
• “I will confess my transgressions”
“And You forgave the guilt of my sin.”
How easy is that!
How many criminals standing in a courthouse ready to go to prison would not readily take this deal in order to not go to prison?
“All I’m asking you to do is confess what you did, and don’t do it again and you can walk out of here a free man.”
Criminals by the thousands would take that deal.
Don’t tell me repentance is not a blessing.
That all God is asking you to do is humble yourself, own up to your sin, confess it before Him, and ask His forgiveness…that’s all!
Look, if you don’t have a relationship with Jesus,
And you’ve been resisting submitting your life to Him
Because you don’t want to own up to what you are
And confess your failure to Him.
What would you rather have?
A 25 year prison term to pay your debt?
It is nothing short of mercy that repentance is all God asks for.
It is an inexpressible blessing!
And David recounts that in his life.
David’s Announcement
#2 DAVID’S ADVICE
Psalms 32:6-11
Now, as we said earlier, we can see the same basic headings here
As David now takes what he learned and encourages you and me.
And let me just give you David’s advice as straightforward as I can.
1) SEEK GOD (6-7)
Here the simple admonition is to “pray” to God when He can be found.
Another way to put it, would be
Pray to God when He’s reaching out to you.
Isaiah used the same terminology.
Isaiah 55:6-7 “Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.”
It’s the same implication there as it is here.
• That God has made Himself known.
• But that revelation of Him has brought with it the pain of conviction.
• You don’t stand in the presence of the holy without smelling the stench of sin.
And what happens far too often with people at that moment is
That instead of seeking to draw near to God,
They seek to get away from Him.
• Quit going to church…
• Quit reading the Bible…
• Quit listening to the preacher…
(Because all I get when I do is conviction)
And David says, DON’T DO THAT!
Instead, draw near to Him.
God is near, He’s dealing with you, He’s exposing you
DON’T RUN FROM IT.
John 3:20-21 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
If God has opened your eyes to your sin,
Now is the time to run toward Him, not away.
WHY?
Because “Surely in a flood of great waters (judgment) they will not reach him.”
The reason God is exposing your sin
Is because He is saving you from judgment.
David knows it.
(7) “You are my hiding place; You have preserved me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance.”
That is David saying that drawing near to God
Instead of running from Him was the best move I ever made.
• He was saving me from “trouble” (sin and judgment)
• He was delivering me from the real danger.
So, David’s first piece of advice when you face the conviction of God is don’t view God like He’s some holy monster to avoid.
Someone will say, “Yes, but He might expose me.”
True, but that is a good thing.
See, it’s all about your view of God and sin.
Which of the two do you think to be the enemy?
Which of the two do you think to be the protection?
David is telling you that your sin is not your friend, but God is.
So draw near to Him.
Seek God (don’t avoid Him)
2) DON’T BE STUBBORN (8-9)
Here David says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”
I’m going to watch you close and tell you how to walk.
And here it is:
“Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, otherwise they will not come near to you.”
What is he getting at?
Well, in your life there will undoubtedly come a time
When God will confront your sin.
And inevitably His message will be something like, “Stop doing that.”
DO NOT look back at Him and say, “Make me.”
Just ask Nebuchadnezzar…He can.
I find it humorous here that the horse is used as an analogy.
• My dad was a horse trader, and he’d come in several nights a week with horses from a horse sale, and the next day it was our job to go out and get on those horses just to see what they were.
• Many times you’d get on a horse with a “Make me” mentality.
• My dad’s phrase was, “Looks like he needs his attention got”
That meant that horse was about to go into the 10×30 loading shoot
And get Cowboy’d on pretty severely until that horse was clear of one thing:
THE RIDER IS IN CHARGE.
David’s advice would be, “Don’t make God put you in the loading shoot. Don’t fight Him, just give in, because God knows how to win.”
There are so many illustrations of this in Scripture
Where people rebelled against God and it didn’t end well.
Our Sunday School class has been studying Jeremiah, and I think this has been a pretty obvious theme in that book. Defying God is not a good decision.
Another chapter I’ve always appreciated on this is found in Isaiah 28.
You can see the rebellion of the people in:
Isaiah 28:9-10 “To whom would He teach knowledge, And to whom would He interpret the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just taken from the breast? “For He says, ‘Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.'”
And after warning them that this rebellious attitude will get them nowhere, the chapter ends with a parable of sorts.
Isaiah 28:23-29 “Give ear and hear my voice, Listen and hear my words. Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed? Does he continually turn and harrow the ground? Does he not level its surface And sow dill and scatter cummin And plant wheat in rows, Barley in its place and rye within its area? For his God instructs and teaches him properly. For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, Nor is the cartwheel driven over cummin; But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a club. Grain for bread is crushed, Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever. Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually damage it, He does not thresh it longer. This also comes from the LORD of hosts, Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.”
It’s a farming analogy.
• Like a farmer, sometimes God has to plow, but He doesn’t want to do it forever, don’t make Him.
Or then we see the harvest.
• Some seed is soft and is merely beaten out with a rod.
• Other seeds are hard and must be crushed with a threshing sledge.
THE POINT?
Don’t be a tuff nut to crack!
It’s not worth it, don’t make Him crush you.
Do you really want to force God to put a bit in your mouth and yank your head around?
Don’t be stubborn.
When God confronts you and demands repentance, do it!
Seek God (even if it exposes you)
Don’t Be Stubborn (you won’t win)
3) REJOICE IN RIGHTEOUSNESS (10-11)
This is the after effect of having submitted to God.
You get the peace and rejoicing of righteousness.
It is an important statement David makes:
“Many are the sorrows of the wicked”
Look, don’t believe what they show you on TV.
• According to television the happiest a man can be is while sleeping with
different women and drinking beer.
• It’s a lie.
• And if you try to pursue sin or conceal sin or hang on to sin, you won’t like it.
But if you’ll just repent,
You’ll find the forgiveness and justification of God
And there you’ll find true joy.
“But he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him. Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones; And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.”
It’s a simple formula here.
• Live in sin, live in sorrow.
• Repent of sin, Rejoice in righteousness
That’s what David says here.
Repentance is not a negative thing, it is a blessing!
In fact, I’ll say it like this:
The only people who hate repentance are the people who love sin.
But if you love God and you desire righteousness
Don’t shy away from repentance,
It is a gracious and wonderful gift from God.
And tonight, we’re just going to close with
Our standard time of sitting and silence before the Lord.
But let me encourage you here tonight.
• Has there been a wrestling matching going on between you and God?
• Have you felt His hand heavy upon you?
• Has He been asking something of you that you have thus far not wanted to give?
Tonight I just want you to understand
What a blessing is found on the other side of repentance.
Wouldn’t it be something to be able to lay your head on your pillow tonight in peace instead of in sorrow?
So tonight when we have our response time,
I would just ask you to confess that to God. Repent to Him.
Ask Him for forgiveness.
• It may even be that you need to come to this altar so that your pride doesn’t
stand in the way.
• It may even be that you need to make a public decision before the church so
that you can’t back out of decisions made in secret.
I don’t know what it will look like for you.
All I’m saying is, repent,
And feel the blessing of having your transgressions forgiven,
Your sin covered, and your iniquity no longer imputed to you.
And it all occurs through the inexpressible blessing of repentance.
