Word of Salvation – Vol. 35 No. 35 – September 1990

To Be Forgiven Is To Be Blessed

Sermon by Rev. J. P. De Boer on Psalm 32:1, 2

Readings: Psalm 32, Luke 18:9-14

This text is talking about something that most if not all people want: blessing.  Generally speaking, all people want to be blessed.  They may not use the same term but they want what this means.  The word blessed means happiness; when you are blessed you are happy; when you are blessed you are privileged, and you are someone to be envied.  And that's what people want.  They want happiness; they want to be well, and have things going well for them.

The problem is, that so often people look for happiness in the wrong place; and go about finding it in the wrong way.  Some think it exists in having wealth and possessions; they will be happy if they have the best that life has to offer.  Others think it consists in pleasure.  Still others think they will find satisfaction and contentment if they have a cause to support, e.g.  the environment; they pour their time and effort into this so they will find happiness.

Our text contains a very different truth: true blessing is not tied to the things of this earth, but comes from heaven.  And is centred on the finished work of Jesus Christ.  In the words of our text: the blessed man is not the rich man, nor the playboy, nor powerful or influential man.  The blessed man is the forgiven man.

This morning/evening, we will consider this truth, specifically how you come to know and appreciate this true blessedness.  Firstly, we see that you must know the reality of your sin.  Secondly, you must know the reality of your forgiveness.

1.  Know your sin.

Our text makes it clear that David knew the reality of his sin.  Note that he was not just aware of the fact of his sin, but also of its very nature.  He not only knew that he had sinned, He also realised how despicable his sin was.  Look at the different terms he uses: (a) transgression – the basic idea here is that of a broken relationship; in our sin, we have broken away from God.  (b) sin – which means missing the mark; in the words of Romans 3:23 we have all fallen short of the glory of God.  (c) in verse 2, we have the word sin repeated; it could also be translated guilt, or iniquity.

Here we see that sin is like us failing to hit a target, or reach a standard, or failing to obey an authority.  And in each case, the reference point is God: the standard we didn't reach, or the authority we didn't obey, or the target we missed, was God's, specifically His will and His Law.

We also see in our text that the truly blessed man is the one in whose spirit there is no deceit, i.e., one who does not try to play down or hide the sin in his life.  David had done that for a time; His pride would not allow him to confess it.  And during that time of silence, he became very miserable.  We read in verse 3: When I kept silent my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long... verse 4: Day and night your hand was heavy on me, my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

It is only when he saw his sin for what it was and did confess it to the Lord that the burden was lifted from him and he knew that he was blessed.

If we do not understand our sin, we will always be ignorant people.  We may be knowledgeable in the eyes of the world, but we will be fools in God's eyes.  We may be wealthy and successful; we may be popular.  But we will never be blessed.

Of course this is not easy.  This is not something we like to face up to about ourselves.  And David knew that; it took some time before he confessed to the Lord.  As we said, his pride got in the way, as it does with us.  We read that parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.  It is so easy to stand in the shoes of the Pharisee, and be smug and content with ourselves.  Yet it was the tax collector who was truly blessed, because he went home justified, i.e. right in God's eyes.

We don't like to hear that we have broken God's Law.  We tend to excuse ourselves because we haven't committed any big sins.  We're not guilty of the sort of things David got up to, such as his adultery with Bathsheba.  That may be perfectly true.  But have we loved the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind?  Have we lived in a way that is in keeping with our calling as children of the light?

And what about us as husbands; are we working at our marriages? – loving our wives as Christ loved the church, or do we just take them for granted?  As parents, are we failing our children by not upholding our baptism vows, to do all in our power to bring them up in the Lord's ways?  As children are we failing our parents, by speaking rudely to them?

We need to stress these things if we are to understand the true blessing our text speaks of.

One of the great barriers to fully appreciating the Gospel of God's grace is that sin acts like an anaesthetic on our mind.  It dulls our spiritual senses; it makes us comfortable with ourselves, and we tend to believe that we are basically all right with God as we are.  That is why Paul speaks of deceitful desires in Eph.4:22 that have to be done away with; he is reminding us that the sinful desires in our heart present themselves to us all disguised, as if it will be okay to indulge in them – just this once – and all will be well.

Please turn to Hebrews 3:13.  [read it]  This verse speaks of sin's deceitfulness.  The point being that sin hardens us, and fogs our minds to the truths of God's Word.  Or it paralyses our mind so that our reason and conscience cannot get a word in edgeways.

We need God's grace, and the open eyes of faith to know the reality of our sin.  And to believe that it is a truly serious thing in God's sight.  We need to pray that God would make us humble and teachable on this.  David had the very humbling experience of knowing the heaviness of God's hand on him.  Although we may not wish to experience it as he did, one thing is clear.  Through this hardship, God opened the door for him to know how truly blessed he was.

We may not have that same experience.  But we must know that the way of true blessing is the way of properly understanding our sin.  Our Heidelberg Catechism is written with the same truth in mind (Q&A 2): in order to live and die in the joy of knowing that we belong to Christ, we must know how great our sins and misery are.

2.  Know God's forgiveness.

Our text makes it clear, however, that David knew more than the reality of his own sin, and the heaviness of God's hand on him.  He also knew that his sin had been dealt with.

Look at our text: (a) his transgressions were forgiven, i.e. (lit.) they were lifted up, taken away, removed from him as far as the east is from the west; no longer could they condemn him and ruin his relationship with God.  (b) he also says his sins were covered, i.e. as God saw him, it was as though they had never taken place; they were covered over.  (c) also, they were not counted against him; they were not reckoned to his account; as God saw him he was perfectly holy and perfectly righteous, as if he had never sinned.

How could he say this, and be so confident about it?  Because he confessed his sin to the Lord (verse 5), and in that received the assurance of his forgiveness.  We find the same in the New Testament: 1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  In other words, for sin to be forgiven it is necessary that we recognise it for what it is – in God's eyes, and also confess it.  If we do that, God himself assures us that we will be forgiven.

Of course we must be careful here: we can make it sound as if our confession is the basis/ground of our salvation.  And the only reason we know that our sins are forgiven is because we have confessed them.  But that would make our confession a work we have to do in order to earn our salvation, and would turn the Gospel on its head.  What we must maintain is that the work of Christ Jesus on the cross is the only ground and foundation for our salvation.

That is the truth the Lord's Supper pictures for us: our transgressions are forgiven, our sins are covered and not charged to our account, because of the sacrifice and death of Christ on the cross of Calvary.  And for no other reason!

But in order for us to know that blessing, we must confess our sins.  This blessing/happiness is not, something that is automatic.  We could compare it with faith: we are not saved because we have faith; we saved because Christ died and rose for us, but we need faith in order to be connected to His saving work.  So too with confession.  We are not saved because of it, but we need it if we are to be saved.

Having made confession of our sin we may know ourselves as truly blessed people; truly happy people.  We may not be rich people, or important and influential people.  In fact we may even be sick and sorrowful, but we can still be blessed people.  Because true spiritual blessing is not tied to the things of this world; you won't find it here on earth, among the things that men value most.  It comes from heaven: it is a gift of God's grace, and is centred upon Christ and His finished work.  That is why Paul says in Eph.1:3 ... we have been blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus.

When we are in Christ, i.e. united to Him by faith, we are truly blessed; we can know true happiness.  Why?  Because God Himself assures us that our sins have been forgiven; that we have been made forever right with God, and that we have been granted salvation.  Our past, present and future sins have been taken from us as far as the east is from the west.

It is important to see this.  In the world in which we live, people tend to measure happiness by worldly standards.  Happiness is having plenty of money, or being successful in business; or enjoying all the pleasures of life.  But for us, the people of Christ, happiness is measured in a totally different way.  It is centred on Christ, and consists of being at peace with God because our sins have been dealt with once and for all time.  It consists of knowing God as our Father, who loves us and cares for us; who watches over us so that not a hair falls from our head without it being His will.

Here we see again that basic difference between the children of God, and the children of the world.  Between the believers and the unbelievers.  We see again that we are only pilgrims and strangers on this earth, passing through on our way to a better place.  We see again that basic difference in perspective between us and them.  True blessing, true happiness is linked to Christ and consists in knowing two things: the reality of our sin, and the reality of our forgiveness as we confess our sin.

All men want to be blessed, but not all men understand it properly, nor do they seek it in the right place.  Today, let us know again that it is not the rich, powerful, pleasure seeking person who is blessed.  But the one who knows his sins are forgiven and covered, who knows he is loved.

AMEN