Escaping the Darkness (Psalm 32) | Adult Sunday School

Kootenai Church

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I'm glad you're here. What a beautiful sunshiny day today, huh? Wow. That's nice.

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That is nice. It's like playing golf. One hole in one keeps you coming back, and up here, one sunny day keeps you coming back.

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Well, let's begin with a word of prayer. Father, thank you for our time together this morning.

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We delight in gathering here in this place, that in your presence we would open the

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Word together. Father, we pray for your spirit to be our teacher this morning. Help us to be attentive and listen to what he would have to say to us through his

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Word. Father, help us to apply it as it's needed in each and every one of our lives, that we might grow in the likeness of Christ, in whose name we pray.

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Amen. Well, many, many, many years ago, I was an auditor, a bank auditor, and I worked for a major bank in New England at the time, and my responsibilities,

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I was working in the bad loan department of the bank, and one of my responsibilities was to go out and confirm collateral for loans that were in default and in serious danger of liquidation.

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And one particular event still stands out in my mind, there was a multi -million dollar loan that was secured by some coal mining equipment in West Virginia, and my task was to fly to this small town in West Virginia and then enter the mine and to verify that the mining equipment that secured the loan was indeed still there, and it wasn't a shaft mine, it was a seam mine, so it went in over a mile, straight into the side of the mountain.

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And there was like a little miniature railroad car that you lay on, because the seam was only 30 to 36 inches wide, and so you lay on your back on this car, and you're towed in to, you know, a mile into the earth to the head of this mine, and then you get off the car, because the railroad ends, and then you have to crawl on your hands and knees, and when we got off the car, there were some lights, there were occasional lights along the tunnel, and the guy, the gentleman that I was with said, have you ever experienced total darkness before, and I said, no,

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I don't believe I ever have, and he said, check it out, and he turned the lights off, and indeed, you could not see your hand literally in front of your face, it was complete blackness, darkness.

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And then your eyes actually begin to adjust, and you noted that there was a very faint light off in the distance, and that was the very head of the mine shaft, and that's where we had to crawl to, we had to crawl to the light, crawl to the light, and there we found the collateral to indeed confirm that there was something supporting this loan.

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Well, I tell you all of that, because being trapped in sin is kind of like being trapped in a coal mine, when you're trapped in sin, it's kind of like that, and when that happens, there's really only one way out, and that is the way of forgiveness, that is the way of forgiveness.

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And so, this morning, I want to encourage us all that when we find ourselves in that kind of a situation, that we crawl to the light, that we crawl to the light.

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So open your Bibles to Psalm 32, Psalm 32 will be our text this morning, a few preliminaries before we delve in, you'll notice in the superscript that it says the

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Psalm of David, so Psalm 32 is the Psalm of David, and it was written under some unique circumstances in David's life.

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King David, as we know, committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, and then arranged to cover that and her pregnancy with the judicial murder of her husband.

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He then lived in that state of sin and guilt for over a year, and he lived it under the very heavy hand of the condemnation of Yahweh.

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In the midst of his anguish, David did repent, and his repentance is recorded for us in Psalm 51.

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So in Psalm 51, we have David's repentance and the penning of that Psalm, but Psalm 32 was composed sometime after that, sometime after that.

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And here, after David's peace of mind had returned to him following God's forgiveness of his sin, he penned

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Psalm 32. Now, notice it says here, again in the superscription, that it's a masculine, you see, not a masculine.

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And so what does that mean? Well, it's a Hebrew term, and it refers to a contemplative or a teaching psalm, that's what the word signifies, that this is a contemplative psalm or a teaching psalm, an instructive psalm.

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In Psalm 32, it concerns the joy that comes to a man whose sins are forgiven.

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It's about the joy that comes to a man whose sins have been forgiven.

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Now, the form of the psalm, it begins with a period of reflection, a period of reflection, and then it's followed by instruction, and it's instruction by David as to the lessons that he learned from this devastating experience of his own life.

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Furthermore, you'll note in your Bible, the marginal notation, selah, it occurs three times here in this psalm, and this is an interesting, it's a very enigmatic kind of word, and we're not sure exactly what it means.

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It appears to be notation to the musicians, so it appears to be some sort of a notation to the musicians to insert either a pause or a crescendo or perhaps a musical interlude at certain points, and you'll see that it occurs three times after verse four, after verse five, and after verse seven, so these are intentional places where there's a pause in this particular psalm, and the purpose of the pause is to allow the hearers to have time to reflect upon the truth that has just been communicated, so instead of blowing through it, it's designed to hear truth and then have a little, you know, a moment or two to think about, oh, what was that I just heard again, you know, file that thing away, so we see selah.

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Now let's read it, we'll start with that, let's read it, Psalm 32 and beginning in verse one.

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How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

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How blessed is the man to whom Yahweh does not impute iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

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When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.

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For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer.

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I acknowledged my sin to you and my iniquity I did not hide. I said

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I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

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Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found.

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Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him. You are my hiding place.

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You preserve me from trouble. You surround me with the songs of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.

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I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Do not be as the horse or as the mule which has no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, otherwise they will not come near you.

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Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in Yahweh lovingkindness shall surround him.

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Be glad in Yahweh and rejoice, you righteous ones, and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.

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In this psalm David has left for us what

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I'm going to call six signposts. Six signposts.

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And these signposts are left here to guide us through the path of escape from the darkness of the sin and the guilt when we find ourselves far from God.

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We're in the darkness. We need a way out. And David has carefully left for us six successive signposts that if we will follow them it will lead us to the light and out of the darkness.

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Now these signposts can be used and are designed to be used to help us when we ourselves fall, but they are also instructive to help someone else.

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Perhaps a friend or a co -worker or a child or a spouse who has found themselves having tripped and fallen into sin.

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These signposts are there to help them too. And you, if you become kind of conversant with them, you can help them.

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You can help them. I certainly am reminded of Galatians chapter 6 where in verse 1

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Paul says, brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted.

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Bear one another's burdens, thereby fulfill the law of Christ. So the signposts, if you this morning are trapped in darkness, this is for you.

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This is for you. If you are not, it is still for you, that you might learn to use these to help others and someday to help yourself.

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So here they are. The first signpost is this, escape is possible.

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Escape is possible, verses 1 and 2. Now, in order to escape the darkness of sin and guilt, we must first be convinced that escape is even possible.

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We have to be convinced of that, that there is a way out, that we can, we don't have to be here, that God can and He will forgive us.

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We also need to be certain that life lived in the light is better than life lived in the darkness.

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We have to be persuaded of these things. Listen, listen to how

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David, who has escaped, describes a life lived in the light here in verses 1 and 2.

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How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

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How blessed is the man whom Yahweh does not impute iniquity. And in whose spirit there is no deceit.

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Forgiveness brings about a state of blessedness. The idea of extreme happiness, where is the extreme happiness found?

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It is found in those who are forgiven, those who are forgiven. True happiness can only exist when we know our sins are forgiven and that God is at peace with us.

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God Himself is at peace with us. Again, listen to the words of the

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Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 5 and verse 1, where he writes, therefore, having been justified by faith, now he is just in chapters 3 and 4, he's elaborated the whole process of justification.

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Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our

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Lord Jesus Christ. We have peace with God. In other words, God is at peace with us.

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God is at peace with us. Now notice here in verses 1 and 2 that it is

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God who is the one who is active in bringing about the forgiveness. He is the one who forgives our transgressions.

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He's the one who covers our sins. He's the one who imputes not our iniquities.

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And the reason is because sin is first and foremost an offense against Him.

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Think about Psalm 51 and verse 4, against you and you only have I sinned, David wrote. Sin is first and foremost an offense against God.

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And so it's His forgiveness that is essential for our own well -being, both here and now, and clearly for eternity, it's essential.

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Now, Paul quotes this Psalm, actually, in support of his doctrine of justification by faith, and we see it in Romans chapter 4.

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So I'm going to go ahead and turn over there to see how Paul uses the truths here in Romans chapter 4.

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And in the process of doing so, Paul kind of elaborates on the meaning,

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David's meaning in this Psalm. Romans chapter 4, I'm beginning in verse 1.

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What then shall we say that Abraham our forefather according to the flesh has found?

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For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

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For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

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Now, to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.

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But to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.

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Just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom

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God credits righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered.

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Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.

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David's citation of Psalm 32. It is the

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Lord who must forgive. It is the Lord who must forgive. It is the Lord who must cover our sin.

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It is the Lord who is the one who does not impute our transgressions against us, or we would have no hope, or we would have none.

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The basis of that mercy, of course, is the atoning sacrifice of Christ, the atoning sacrifice of Christ.

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Christ died for our sins. He died in our place. And justified now, we are at peace with God, and more importantly,

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God is at peace with us. Go back to Psalm 32.

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How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

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How blessed is the man to whom Yahweh does not impute iniquity, and then notice this, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

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As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, as Christians, we know that God's forgiveness is both possible and essential, and yet, and yet, how often we lie and deceive ourselves into running from the very forgiveness that we know we need.

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Beloved, deceit is dangerous. It is dangerous, and it is dangerous because it attempts to conceal reality.

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It foolishly attempts to conceal reality, yet it can never successfully put away the nagging truth that all is not well, all is not well.

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We can try to fool God. We can try to fool our neighbor with a false piety.

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We can even try to drown out the voice of conscience that is speaking to us, but in the end, there's no evading this truth.

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There's no evading it. Now, the deceitfulness of sin is not just a

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Christian problem, right? Not just a Christian problem. It affects all people. It affects all people.

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You know, have you ever noticed that people will readily acknowledge, or at least the vast majority will readily acknowledge that they need forgiveness?

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They'll acknowledge that, but the deceit comes most often because they'll say,

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I need forgiveness, but they never seek it. They never seek it. Or they do, they convince themselves that, well, yeah, maybe

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I need it in some general vague sense, but sin itself, my sin, is not that big a deal that I've got to deal with it.

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Or perhaps they try to offset it through their own self -effort.

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But the Word of God is very clear, isn't it? The wages of sin is death.

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The wages of sin is death. Separation from God, removal from His presence, and the joy that is to be found there, that is the wages of sin.

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But escape is possible, it is possible. And we know it's possible because the same verse that says the wages of sin is death also says, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our

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Lord. Escape is possible.

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And that's our first signpost. That's our first signpost. Secondly, guilt is wretched.

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Guilt is wretched, verses three and four. Now, again, as we've said, the typical response to sin is to try to cover it up and hope that somehow it and our guilt go away.

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We come by this, one might say, honestly, in the sense that if we go back to Genesis chapter three, that's indeed what we find.

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In verses seven and eight, right at the very beginning, where it says, then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

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They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the

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Lord God among the trees of the garden. First impulse, hide, cover it up, flee, but God won't let his children wallow in the mud.

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God will not allow his children to wallow in the mud. And the reason is, is because we are no longer pigs, but people.

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We're no longer pigs, but people. And our habitat has changed.

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Where do you expect to find a pig? In the mud. You do not expect to find people there.

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Why? Our habitat has changed. Now, we can still slip and fall in to the muck, for sure, but we will not find comfort living there.

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We will not be comfortable living there. David tried it for a year.

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He tried it for a year. The conscience screaming at him and him saying, shut up, finally, finally

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God brought him to repentance, didn't he? And he did so through the word of the prophet

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Nathan. You are the man, you are the man, and he was broken.

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Sometime later, as we've said, he's now reflecting back on that experience. And David is recalling the tremendous burden of guilt that had nearly consumed him as the hand of Yahweh weighed heavy upon his conscience.

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Verse three, when I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.

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For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer.

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It was as if David's very life was shriveling up like an unwatered plant in the blistering heat of the

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Palestinian sun. How different than Psalm 1.

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And verse three, where the righteous man be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and his leaf does not wither, and in whatever he does, he prospers.

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How different. Selah. Beloved, there's nothing worse in this life than an awakened conscience coupled with an unbroken heart.

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There's nothing worse than an awakened conscience coupled with an unbroken heart.

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We should view the torments of conscience, the painful consequences of sin, as God's good gift to us as his children.

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It is his good gift. Why? Because it draws us back.

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It draws us back and it enables us to escape the darkness.

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Escape is possible. Guilt is wretched. Third, confession is essential.

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Confession is essential. And verse five, I acknowledged my sin to you and my iniquity

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I did not hide. I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

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This is an amazing truth, an absolutely amazing truth. And the truth is this, that the only way out of the misery of sin is to both humbly and voluntarily condemn yourself before God, to confess, to say the same thing about that God would say of your sin, you take it upon your own lips.

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You condemn yourself. That's the way out. You have to abandon your defenses.

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You have to give up your rationalizations. You have to reject your justifications and you have to stop minimizing the seriousness of your transgression.

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And it's at this point, it is at this point in utter helplessness that God rescues us and forgives our sin.

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He meets us there. He meets us there. This is the consistent message of Scripture.

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Proverbs chapter 28 and verse 13, he who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.

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Luke chapter 15 verses 20 and 21. So he got up and came to his father.

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This is the prodigal son. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him.

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And he ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, father,

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I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

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And what did the father do? With arms wide open, he welcomed his son home.

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Or Luke 18 verses 13 and 14. But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast saying,

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God be merciful to me, the sinner. Jesus said,

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I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.

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Or 1 John chapter 1 and verses 8 and 9. If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

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If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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Confession is the one and only way out of the darkness.

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Selah. Number four,

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God is near. God is near.

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Verses 6 and 7. Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found, he says.

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What was true of David is true of everyone. Notice, that's what he says. Let everyone who is godly pray.

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His confession was accompanied by a calling out to God in faith to save him. And so need we, right?

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We're not to be slow in appropriating this gift of grace. Why? Because the time of forgiveness is now.

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The prophet Isaiah writes in Isaiah 55 and verses 6 and 7. He says, seek the Lord while he may be found.

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Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.

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And let him return to the Lord and he will have compassion on him and to our

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God. For he will abundantly. God is near.

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He is close at hand. He is like the prodigal father, not standing on the sidelines tapping his toe with crossed arms.

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He is near. You know, I think one of the greatest obstacles to confession is the fear that we have of what will happen when our sin is made known.

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I think that's a huge obstacle. We are afraid of what might happen should our sin become known.

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And David addresses that fear here, and he uses the picture of rapidly rising floodwaters, the kind that fill up a wadi and threaten to wash everything away.

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When we are most vulnerable in our sin, God is not far off, and it is he who will preserve us.

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He will not cast us out, but he will enliven us with songs of deliverance to soothe the troubled waters.

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Isn't that what it says? Surely in a flood of great waters you will not reach him, but you are my hiding place.

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You preserve me from trouble. You surround me with songs of deliverance. God is near.

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He is near to us. Let me speak to you this morning.

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If you are trapped in darkness, if that's where you find yourself this morning, let me speak directly to you.

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If you are that one, cry out for help. Cry out for help.

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Selah. Beloved escape is possible.

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Guilt is wretched. Confession is essential.

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God is near. Fifth, resistance is foolish.

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Resistance is foolish. Verses 8 through 10. I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go.

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I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 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.

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Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord's loving kindness shall surround him.

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Now, these may be the direct words of God. There's no quotation marks in the text.

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These may be the words of Yahweh. Or they may be the reflective instruction of David himself.

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That's how I understand it. That's how I understand it. So if it is

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David, then it is the fulfillment of his promise in Psalm 51 .13.

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Do you remember that? Where he says, verse 12, restore to me the joy of your salvation, sustain me with a willing spirit, verse 13, then

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I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will be converted to you. My life will be a teaching illustration,

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David is saying. So I think it is.

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I think it is. I think it's David's use here of his own failures and God's merciful forgiveness of him in the instruction of other sinners, turn to God.

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But whether it is David's instruction or Yahweh's direct words, the result would be the same. And that's this, that it's foolish to resist the

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Lord. It is foolish to resist the Lord. Notice the contrast here.

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The contrast is between the willing obedience and wisdom of a man who is caught in sin and turns to God for relief and the need to forcibly control an irrational animal in order to bring them to heal.

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Is that what he says? Do not be as the horse, verse 9, or the mule who has no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, otherwise they will not come near you.

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In other words, don't act like a brute. We could say in another way that really what is being contrasted here is the path of wisdom and the path of folly, the path of wisdom and the path of folly.

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And here it's interesting, the path of folly is not so much that we sin as it is that we continue in that sin and suffer for it when relief lies close at hand.

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That's the folly. The folly is not so much that we sin, but it is that when we sin, we attempt to cover it up or run away from it or just live in it rather than turning to the giver of life for relief.

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That's the folly. That's the path of the fool. That's one who needs a bit in their mouth or a bridle over their snout to turn them around.

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God is calling on His children to walk the road of prompt repentance.

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That's what He's calling for. He's calling on us to walk the road of prompt repentance.

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It's foolish to resist. It's foolish to think otherwise.

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And that leads us to verse 11 in the sixth and final signpost.

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Joy is certain. Joy is certain.

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Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones, and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.

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David closes the psalm, and as he does so, he calls upon the righteous ones, in other words, those who are upright in heart, in other words, those who have walked the road of confession and repentance and experience the life -giving joy of forgiveness.

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That's who he's talking to. And he says, break forth in praise.

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Break forth in praise. Not a hanging of the head in shame. Break forth in praise.

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Why? Because your sin has been forgiven. It has been forgiven.

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Break forth in praise. Beloved, it is as natural as breathing for a child of God who knows his

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Father's forgiveness, just as natural as a child who breathes, to break forth in joy at being forgiven.

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The great John Calvin writes, and I quote, wherever faith is lively, this holy rejoicing will follow.

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I like that. Wherever faith is lively, this joyful rejoicing will follow.

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In this psalm,

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David has shown us a very clear path, hasn't he? He's given us the path, and he has marked it with six signposts that lead us out of darkness.

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Escape is possible. Guilt is wretched. Confession is essential.

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God is near. Resistance is foolish. And finally, joy is certain.

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So the next time, the next time we fall into sin, and there will be a next time, may we follow the path and escape the darkness.

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Let's pray. Our great

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God, our merciful God, our heavenly Father, who out of your deep and abundant love for us, sent forth your

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Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who took upon himself perfect humanity, who walked among us, as it were, who lived our life for us, and then who willingly died in our place.

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Now, Father, we can rejoice. We can sing songs of praise, because none of this depends on us, or if it did, none of us would have a hope.

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But you have accomplished all. Christ has paid it all. May you help us not to lose sight of that reality, and may you put a new song in our heart and upon our lips, even now, together this morning, for the glory of Christ, our great

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Savior and King. Yes.

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Yes, the mining equipment was there, but it was in serious question. And yes, the thought did occur to me, whatever the thing, the thought did cross my mind.