Songs of Summer 2 | Revelation

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin to you, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah... You are my hiding place; you shall preserve me from trouble; you shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah... Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart. (Psalm 32)

How happy is the one whose sin has been lifted, carried away, and remembered no more.

A Bishop's Mercy

It is a spectacular scene at the opening of the musical adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. Jean Valjean, under the hospitality of a bishop, is so overcome by the weight of sin in his heart that in the night he ransacks the house, steals the silver, and runs away. The next scene, the police drag him before the bishop: "We caught him red-handed. He had the nerve to say you gave it to him."

The bishop turns and looks at Valjean, chained there, and says, "That's right. But my friend, you left so early. Surely something slipped your mind. You forgot I gave you these also." He takes two silver candle holders and places them into Valjean's bag, and tells the constable to let him go. Then he turns again to Valjean: "But remember this, my brother. See in this some higher plan. You must use this precious silver to become an honest man. By the witness of the martyrs, by the passion and the blood, God has raised you out of darkness; I have bought your soul for God." Immediately after, Valjean kneels before the altar, confessing to God in contrition—because he had just experienced the blessedness of forgiveness.

The Algorithm of Blessing

This is now the second time in our study of the Psalms that we encounter what I have called an algorithm, or an equation, of blessing. We first saw it in Psalm 1: "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly... but his delight is in the law of the Lord." In Bible terms, these equations are called beatitudes. You probably first heard that word in reference to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5: "Blessed are the poor in spirit... Blessed are the meek... Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness."

A beatitude is a condition for blessing, an equation unto blessing. The word blessed could also be translated happy. This is an equation unto happiness—which is significant, because our own founding documents call for the pursuit of happiness. We have been endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But it is not only our nation. Blaise Pascal, the French philosopher, wrote, "All men seek happiness." So I assume all of you are pursuers and seekers of happiness.

If you are a seeker of happiness, then you and I need to take careful note of the times in Scripture where we read these algorithms for blessing. Whatever follows "blessed is the" produces happiness. In Psalm 2:12, "Blessed are all those who put their trust in him." Psalm 34:8, "Blessed is the man who trusts in him." Psalm 40:4, "Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust." Do you think he is trying to hammer something home? Psalm 128:1, "Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord." And here, Psalm 32:1, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven."

No Lasting Happiness Without Forgiveness

Another way of saying it: oh, how happy is the person who has been pardoned. The prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon, wrote, "Pardoning mercy is of all things in the world most to be prized, for it is the only and sure way to happiness." This is our first point: there is no lasting happiness without forgiveness.

It is true that you can experience moments of pleasure that bring the feeling of happiness, but all such things are fleeting. Talk to those who have won championships, gotten the great promotion, made the big deal, or won the lottery—ask them about the joy, and you will find it goes away very quickly. Many of you have experienced the fleeting nature of the pleasures of this world. Hebrews calls them "the passing pleasures of sin." Yes, there are pleasures of sin—but they are passing.

The word forgiveness means to lift up, to take up, and to carry away—never to be remembered again. The picture is clear: transgression and sin are like a heavy burden to carry. Who has experienced the heavy burden of sin? All of us, in some way, shape, or form.

The Trinity of Wickedness

David mentions here what I call the trinity of wickedness: iniquity, transgression, and sin. He names all three again in verse 5. These words are not used casually; David chose them on purpose. Generally, all three communicate something against God's nature and character. But there is specific difference among them—like saying a twin engine, a turboprop, a biplane. They are all airplanes, but they are not the same.

Sin is simply missing the mark. The term came from a Latin word meaning "to be guilty," and in medieval times it was associated with archery—if you missed the target, you were a sinner. Sin can be unintentional, like hiking around North County, coming around a corner, and a man with a gun says, "You're on private property." You say, "I didn't know. I'm sorry." It was a trespass, unintentional, but contrary to God's nature. Paul says in Romans 3, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Transgression is different—it is willful. You have seen the sign that says "private property, do not cross," and you say, "Forget them, I'm going to do what I want." David calls this "presumptuous sin" in Psalm 19:13. Spurgeon, preaching on June 7th, 1857, said, "All sins are great sins, but yet some sins are greater than others... There are some transgressions which have a deeper shade of blackness, a more double scarlet-dyed hue of criminality than others. Such are presumptuous transgressions"—where you know the line and intentionally cross it.

Iniquity is deeper still. Not only have you transgressed; now, after doing so, you have premeditated to continue in unrepentance. It is the decision a person makes after crossing the line and being shown that they crossed it, when they say, "I'm not leaving. I refuse to repent." That is iniquity.

How Could David Know This?

It makes you wonder: how could the sweet psalmist of Israel, the man after God's own heart, anointed by God to be king, through whom God promised the Messiah would come—how could this man, who meditated on the Scriptures day and night, ever experience being released from the burden of iniquity, a willful standing in unrepentant sin?

He wasn't where he should have been. He knew where to be. He knew when Bathsheba would come out on her rooftop and bathe. He knew who she was, that she was married to one of his top generals. He knew, as he called for her while her husband was away at war, that he was doing wickedly. He knew when she told him she was pregnant that the sin would be known unless he covered it up. He summoned Uriah from the front lines, tried to entice him to go home to his wife, but Uriah had too much integrity. So David premeditated a plan to have him killed. He knew he was committing murder, though through a proxy. He thought he had covered it perfectly, bringing the poor pregnant widow into his house—what a wonderful king. But the last word of 2 Samuel 11 says, "But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord." That, I believe, is a significant understatement.

God Sees and Knows All Sin

Here is point two: God sees and knows all sin. The cover-up may have worked in David's kingdom, but sin cannot be concealed from God. When there is a cover-up, when there is iniquity you refuse to confess, it has an effect. You may think nobody knows, but God knows. And you know. And the discerning know also.

For nearly a year David kept it silent. "When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all day long." The New Living Translation renders it, "my body wasted away." The anxiety of a guilt-ridden conscience manifests itself physically. Doctors have written about this in scientific journals. People come in with GI problems, migraines, heart palpitations, and doctors treat the symptoms—but a guilty conscience cannot be fixed with aspirin.

The Drought of Summer

Why the weight? Verse 4: "For day and night your hand was heavy upon me." Point three: God's mercy will not allow you to live easily without repentance. His hand was heavy "so that my vitality was turned to the drought of summer."

Look back at Psalm 1. The blessed man "shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither... The ungodly are not so. They are like the chaff which the wind drives away." The author of Psalm 1, who knew the blessedness of being planted by rivers of living water, had somehow—through sin, transgression, and iniquity—been uprooted from his place of blessing and planted in a dry and weary land where there is no water. The hot wind of summer caused him to wither. David was no longer the righteous tree planted by sustaining rivers; he was drought-ridden and battered by hot winds, because he had moved from the place of blessing to the place of the curse.

Notice the little word that closes verses 3 and 4: Selah. It is a meditative pause. David is saying, "Think about it." How casually we come before God and sing songs. We sing, "My heart's one desire is to be holy, set apart to you," and the words come out of my mouth while I think, "Do I really mean that?" A.W. Tozer said, "Christians don't tell lies; they only sing them in church." We sing, "Take my life, all of it, Lord," without thinking. So David throws out this pause and says, "Think about it."

He wants you to ask: what am I experiencing today? Am I planted by the rivers of living water, bearing fruit and not withering? Or is it a dry place where God feels distant? If you are in the dry and weary land, you must ask whether you are there because of sin. Isaiah said it 2,800 years ago: "My hand is not shortened that I cannot reach out to you... but your sin has separated you from me." Come honestly before God and ask, "Is there anything in my heart keeping me from you?"

Confession Is the Key

If the answer is yes—some burdensome weight of sin—then what? Verse 5: "I acknowledged my sin to you, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah." Think about it. Don't pass over it casually. This is personal experience; Psalm 32 is a corollary to Psalm 51, David's repentance.

Point four: confession is the key, and repentance the doorway to forgiveness. Notice it is not religious activity or observance. I guarantee that during his time of unrepentance David still went up to the temple and offered sacrifices. I guarantee that in his mind he kept saying, "God, I'm sorry." But there was no joy of salvation—just dry rot, no vitality, no life.

Point five: true forgiveness can only be given by God. Using synonymous parallelism, a device of Hebrew poetry, David proclaims that open acknowledgment and verbal confession of iniquity, transgression, and sin are essential. Why? Because it is against God that we have sinned. In Psalm 51:4, after Nathan exposed his sin, David says, "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done this evil in your sight."

Now we might say, "Wait, David, you sinned against Bathsheba, against Uriah, against the nation." All true. He broke every one of the Ten Commandments—he coveted, committed adultery, bore false witness, murdered, dishonored his calling. Were he not king, he would have been put to death. Yet only God can finally forgive sin. God revealed to Moses that He is "the one who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin."

Only God in Christ Can Forgive

In Luke 5, Jesus is teaching in a packed room when four men lower a paralyzed friend through the roof. Jesus looks at the man and says, "Son, your sins are forgiven." The Pharisees think, "What a blasphemer—only God can forgive sins." Jesus says, "Which is easier to say: your sins are forgiven, or rise, take up your bed and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sin—rise, take up your bed and walk." The man gets up and walks out.

Only God in Christ Jesus can forgive and pardon sinners. He covers and clears away their sin, and instead of imputing sin to their account, He imputes righteousness. This is exactly what Paul teaches in Romans 4, citing Psalm 32 and Abraham, who was credited righteousness instead of his sin. Oh, the happiness of not having sin on your account, because God in Christ forgives and pardons sinners.

David's Public Confession

When David finally confessed, he did it very publicly. Look at the heading of Psalm 51: "To the chief musician. A psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba." If that is not public, open confession of sin, I don't know what is. He wrote a song and sent it to the chief musician of the Levites.

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your lovingkindness... blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions... Against you, you only, have I sinned... Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me... Restore unto me the joy of your salvation. (Psalm 51)

Remember, when Nathan said, "You are the man," David had a choice. He had already shown he would kill to cover his sin; he could have said, "You're done, Nathan. How dare you." Instead, when the reality of his sinfulness came home, he said, "Against you and you only have I sinned." Confession is the key and repentance the doorway to forgiveness.

A Hiding Place and Songs of Deliverance

David's application follows in verses 6 and 7: "For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to you in a time when you may be found... You are my hiding place; you shall preserve me from trouble; you shall surround me with songs of deliverance." At the end of verse 5 he proclaimed that God forgave him, lifting the burden and casting it as far as the east is from the west. How can the omniscient God no longer remember our sin? He has made a choice to no longer account it to us.

The New Living Translation renders verse 6, "Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time, that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment." There is only one way not to drown in those floodwaters: to call out to the Lord and experience His pardoning forgiveness. And the NIV renders verse 7, "You are my hiding place. You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance."

Don't Be Like the Mule

In verses 8 and 9 the voice changes. Now God speaks to David: "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle."

How does God lead us in the paths of righteousness? Through His word. Psalm 119:105, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Psalm 119:133, "Direct my steps by your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me." And in the New Testament, 2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."

But don't be like the stubborn mule. For many months David was like a mule who refused to experience God's forgiveness and grace because he walked in unrepentant wickedness. Point six: don't let stubborn pride keep you from repentance, confession, and forgiveness.

Shout for Joy

Instead, the last verse: "Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart." How can you be happy and rejoice? How can you be counted righteous and upright in heart? "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, the one to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity." That blessing is available to any and all who call upon the Lord.

Closing Prayer

God, I thank you that in Christ, in your Son, there is pardon and forgiveness. Jesus, you who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be your righteousness, clothed in it, covered by it, so that our sinfulness is remembered no more. When you look at us in Christ, all you see is His righteousness. We thank you for your forgiving grace, given not by religious observance or activity but by faith, confession, and repentance—for we are told that if we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

You may be in a place today where you have been experiencing not the rivers of living water but the dry wind, the heat of iniquity. God is calling you to turn to Him—to turn from your iniquity, confess your sin, and He will carry it away because of what Jesus did on the cross. The Apostle Paul tells us that whoever confesses with the mouth and believes in the heart that Christ rose from the dead shall be saved. If you want to do that now, pray with me:

Dear Lord, I recognize and acknowledge my sin—that it is against you, against your perfect nature, that I have sinned. I pray that you would pardon me, not because of my works, but because of the work Jesus did on the cross. Jesus, come into my life, cleanse me of sin, and help me to turn and follow you by faith. In Jesus' name, Amen.