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Reading Psalm 38, 39, and 40, where David prays to the Lord for forgiveness, and that the Lord would not let him perish in sin. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Today, we look at three Psalms that have one thing in common. The psalmist asks God for forgiveness. Not looking for justification from the world, but knowing justification only comes through Christ when we understand the text.
You're listening to When We Understand The Text, committed to sound teaching of the word of God. For questions and comments, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. And don't forget our website, wwtt .com.
Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. Well, being Thursday, we do our Old Testament study and lately we've been in the Psalms. So today we're going to look at Psalm 38, 39, and maybe also get to 40. We'll see how far we get here.
Now typically I start off by reading the whole first Psalm and then we go back through it, but I'm going to go ahead and break this up as we go. So Psalm 38 begins right at the top of the Psalm. It says, a Psalm of David for the memorial offering.
We read about the memorial offering in Leviticus 2, when anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it and bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests.
And he shall take from it a handful of the fine flour and oil with all of its frankincense and the priest shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
So this memorial offering was being given out of a person's abundance and they were giving it unto God to be a pleasing aroma. It wasn't for the forgiveness of sins. And as that pertains to this particular Psalm, Psalm 38 is interesting because this is a penitential Psalm and a penitential Psalm is a person confessing their sins before God.
Yet this song would have been sung as they were offering up a memorial offering, not a sin offering. So this is given with the understanding that the person has already made a sin offering, but what has happened as a result of their sin is they've become vulnerable to their enemies.
Their enemies are now overtaking them and they've become oppressed basically. And all of this as a result of as a consequence of the sin they've committed before God. So a person out of their abundance is now giving the memorial offering, asking God to remember them in the midst of their plight, still seeking forgiveness for sins and that the Lord would deliver them from the hands of their enemies.
So let's go through this here. Psalm 38, starting in verse one, Oh Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath for your arrows have sunk into me and your hand has come 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 have gone over my head like a heavy burden. They are too heavy for me.
So a person is feeling the weight of the sin that they've committed before God. And there are these constant reminders. Maybe they feel guilt, maybe they feel depression in some way, but the hand of the Lord is heavy on them.
As it says, there is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation. This is something I've actually had to deal with quite a bit lately. And some of the studies that I've done and the rebuking of false teachers that I've had to do in some recent days, there are some false teachers out there who teach that God is not mad at anybody.
He doesn't get mad at anything. Well, that completely contradicts scripture because Psalm 711 says that God is a righteous judge who feels indignation every day. God is indeed angry at sin in Romans chapters one through about chapter five.
It's talking about the wrath of God being kindled against all the unrighteousness of man and a day is going to come in which he's going to pour out his wrath on all sinful flesh. Second Peter chapter three talking about how the heavens are being stored up with fire, the wrath of God that is going to be poured out in judgment upon all men.
God absolutely hates sin. He is so good and so holy. He is not going to allow sin to go unpunished. In the case of the psalmist here, they're feeling the consequences of the sin that they've done before God and the guilt that is upon them is more than they can bear.
So they're asking for a clear conscience and that God would deliver them from those who oppress them. As we go on here, verse five, my wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness. It's like they can get no peace of mind.
They're constantly reminded of the sin that they've done. I'm utterly bowed down and prostrate all the day. I go about mourning for my sides are filled with burning and there is no soundness in my flesh.
I am feebled and crushed. I grown because of the tumult of my heart. We've become a culture that is obsessed with medication. We've got a pill for absolutely everything. Now, thanks to science and the advancements of medicine, we have obtained some pretty awesome medications that can deal with all kinds of physiological problems.
Even when it comes to depression, a person can fall into such depression that it just throws your whole body out of whack. And we've been able to come up with some medications to help kind of get a person back into a soundness of mind.
But for the majority of cases, I would say it is the majority. The majority of cases, a person doesn't need a pill. What it is that they're experiencing in their mind and in their body is grief over their sin.
And they're trying to mask that grief by taking a medication, by taking one of these many drugs, many pills that we have for all sorts of things. And we have medications for so much stuff. It's commonplace that just about every single commercial break between the TV shows that you're watching or during the shows that you're watching, you're going to see some sort of commercial for some kind of drug, something to help you sleep, something to help you get your thoughts right, something to help with maybe some sort of medical condition that you have.
But listen to the side effects. What are the side effects? Usually, the side effects are going to lead to some kind of you going crazy. I mean, we've got drugs that are supposed to help you with depression.
One of the side effects is may cause thoughts of suicide. That's pretty serious. But again, the majority of cases in which a person thinks that they need a drug in order to get their mind right, the likelihood is they're in sin.
And what they really need to do is get right with God. And you do that by confessing your sins. And Christ has said that he will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. First John one nine.
If we are faithful to ask forgiveness for our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, that doesn't mean that if you just get on your knees and fold your hands and close your eyes and pray and say, God, I've done this, this and this.
Forgive me. Doesn't mean you're going to wake right up and feel instantly better. Some people might, but that's no guarantee. It might actually be weeks, months. And you could be going through a kind of depression that maybe you just never get over.
There is no guarantee for us in scripture that we're going to live happy go lucky days for the rest of our lives when we come to Christ. In fact, we see people throughout the scriptures who are filled with sorrow.
Jesus himself is described in the book of Isaiah as a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. You've got Jeremiah, who was referred to as the weeping prophet. And even the Apostle Paul, who related to Jeremiah on a certain level, he talks in second Corinthians about the constant pressure, the anxiety that he felt day by day for all the churches where he spread the gospel.
He would pray for them daily that they would not fall away from their confession of faith, but that they would hold steadfast and that God would deliver them up and they would continue in the path of righteousness.
For those who seek righteousness, there is a soundness of mind that we have been promised by our father in heaven. Doesn't mean that we won't struggle in this world, but we will know and we can know with certainty, according to what the scriptures say, that our sins are forgiven in Christ, not based on anything that you have done, but because of what Christ has done for you dying on the cross for your sins and rising again from the grave so that all who believe in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.
Your sins are forgiven. You are justified before God. He has clothed you in his righteousness. And that comes with a hope that we have, a hope that is not based on things that we see, but rather things that are unseen, a hope that is based on the word of God, the promises that are given to us here in scripture.
And if we hope in Christ, there is nothing that man can do to take us away from that confidence that we have in our Lord. The apostle Paul says in Romans chapter eight, that I am confident of this very thing.
Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So in struggling with depression, one of the things we might need to look at is whether or not you've got sin, you must confess before God for those who cling to sin and hold on to it.
Well, according to what David says here, the Lord's hand is going to be heavy upon you. You will never find any peace or relaxation as long as you continue in that sin and not confess it before God. I know what this is like.
I've been through this before. And so may we be introspective enough. May the Lord grant us clarity to be able to examine our hearts, testing ourselves before God and confessing our sins where needed.
We go on to verse nine. Oh, Lord, my longing is before you. My sighing is not hidden from you. My heart throbs. My strength fails me. The light of my eyes, it also has gone from me. My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague and my nearest kin stand far off.
Those who seek my life lay their snares. Those who seek my hurt speak of ruin and meditate treachery all the day long. So again, those adversaries that David has, since he's the one who's writing the psalm or anybody who would be singing this song during the memorial offering, they have become vulnerable to their enemies.
It is one of the consequences of their sin, and they are asking for deliverance. But I am like a deaf man. I do not hear like a mute man who does not open his mouth. I have become like a man who does not hear and in whose mouth are no rebukes.
But for you, oh, Lord, do I wait? It is you, oh, Lord, my God, who will answer. For I said, only let them not rejoice over me who boast against me when my foot slips. For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever before me.
I confess my iniquity. I am sorry for my sin. But my foes are vigorous. They are mighty, and many are those who hate me wrongfully. Those who render me evil for good accuse me because I follow after good.
Do not forsake me, oh, Lord. Oh, my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, oh, Lord, my salvation. Let's go to Psalm 39, to the choir master, to Jejuthun, a psalm of David. Jejuthun was one of the music leaders that David had appointed.
This, like Psalm 38, is also going to be a psalm that is asking the Lord for deliverance, but from a little bit different approach than Psalm 38. So Psalm 39, starting in verse 1, I said, I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue.
I will guard my mouth with a muzzle so long as the wicked are in my presence. I was mute and silent. I held my peace to no avail, and my distress grew worse. My heart became hot within me as I mused the fire burned.
Then I spoke with my tongue. Oh, Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting I am. Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath. Surely a man goes about as a shadow. Surely for nothing they are in turmoil. Man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather. And now, oh, Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is in you. Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the scorn of the fool. I am mute. I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it. Remove your stroke from me. I am spent by the hostility of your hand.
When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him. Surely all mankind is a mere breath. Say La. Hear my prayer, oh, Lord, and give ear to my cry. Hold not your peace at my tears, for I am a sojourner with you, a guest like all my fathers.
Look away from me, that I may smile again before I depart and am no more. Now at the portion here that the psalmist says, look away from me. It's saying in regards to the depression that the psalmist feels as a result of their sin.
The eyes that God is looking upon him with are those eyes that pierce to the very inner portion of the soul and seek out the sin and convict for those sins that remain unconfessed. So when David is saying, look away from me, it's take those eyes that are judgment upon me.
And rather, what David is asking for is to be delivered. That was back in verse eight. Deliver me from all my transgressions and that God would look upon him with mercy rather than with scorn. We go next to Psalm 40 verse one.
I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction out of the miry bog and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. It is necessary for us to have a reverent fear of God. Yes, we are friends of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, but we must not forget that he is God, the creator of all things, and the judge who sits enthroned above the entire universe.
There is a reverent fear that we must have concerning our Lord, who is a righteous judge. But we have nothing to fear of judgment when it comes to standing before God. For in Christ Jesus, our sins have been taken away.
Now, if you have sinned and you have unconfessed sin, then there should be a sense of fear upon you, a fear of judgment coming before God, but not of final judgment. If you know that in confessing before Christ, your sins will be forgiven and he will clothe you in his righteousness, in which case there is nothing to fear.
As John wrote, there is no fear in love, for perfect love casts out fear. Fear has to do with punishment, and before God we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ. We go on here in verse 4, blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie.
Sometimes we might be tempted to chase after our flesh and then to look for vindication for the sin that we've committed, we go to the world because we're going to find other people in the world who are sinning just as we have sinned, and maybe if I find other people doing the sin that I just did, then I won't feel so guilty about it.
But in doing so, we turn our back on God, as it says in James, you foolish person, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? So we are blessed when we make the Lord our trust.
We may know that our God, our Father in heaven is going to discipline us for the sin that we have committed, but it's because he loves us that he disciplines us, according to what we read in Hebrews 12 and Revelation 3, if you want to follow up with that later.
Verse 5, you have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us, none can compare with you, I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear, burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
Then I said, behold, I have come, in the scroll of the book it is written of me, I delight to do your will, O my God, your law is written within my heart. I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation, behold, I have not restrained my lips as you know, O Lord, I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart, I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation, I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.
As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me, your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me, for evils have encompassed me beyond number, my iniquities have overtaken me and I cannot see, they are more than the hairs of my head, my heart fails me.
Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me, O Lord, make haste to help me, let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether who seek to snatch away my life, let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt, let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, aha, aha.
But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you, may those who love your salvation say continually, great is the Lord, as for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me, you are my help and my deliverer, do not delay, O my God.
So the end of this psalm really speaks of a person who turns to God, though he knows that he has sinned against God, yet he comes back to the Lord and says, great is the Lord, for the Lord is merciful and the Lord forgives.
And David is humble enough to acknowledge here in verse 17, I am poor and needy. I've already mentioned Revelation three to you, it is there that the church of Laodicea thought they didn't really need God because they were rich in all these other things.
What do I need God for? We're doing fine. We can do this on our own. And Jesus says to them, you say, I am rich, I have prospered and I need nothing. But you don't realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked.
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see those whom I love, I reprove and discipline.
So be zealous and repent. Do not turn to the world looking for your justification for you will perish with the world if you do so. Turn to Christ and he will forgive you and he will make you new. Amen.
Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text. Pastor Gabe is the author of the book, 40 of the Most Popular Bible Verses and What They Really Mean. Available in paperback or for your Kindle, found at our website at www .utt .com.
Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's Word, When We Understand the Text.