The Sinner’s Song – Psalm 32
The Sinner’s Song – Psalm 32
by Pastor Lee Hemen
October 21, 2007 AM
The music known as “the blues” they say was born out of struggle and pain. If that is true, then King David was the one who invented “the blues,” because we discover in his music the struggle he endured and the pain it caused. I believe that is why so many can relate to David’s songs as found in the book of Psalms. They are at their core “the blues.” The Blues emerged here in America with African-American communities from their spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and also the rhymed English and Scots-Irish narrative ballads. The use of “blue notes,” notes sung or played at a lower pitch than those of the major scale, and the prominence of call-and-response repetitive patterns in the music and lyrics are indicative of “the blues.”
David, in this little Psalm of his, teaches us several important things about life’s “blues.” Let’s discover them for ourselves this morning as we read the sinner’s song.
READ: Psalm 32
My buddy and I had one rousing fight. So much so the neighbor lady had to come out and beat us both apart with a broom as we wrestled around in her driveway. Unwilling to admit what my “problem was,” I huffed off home. How could I tell my best friend we were moving? Instead I got angry with him. Usually that’s how sin works. We want to blame others, our parents, circumstances, but never the real reason. As we look at this “blues” Psalm of David’s we find that…
I. This sinner’s song teaches us about our real condition! (vv. 1-4)
1. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God! David would understand this completely. This is why he immediately states that “Blessed is he whose” sins are “forgiven,” “covered,” not counted “against him,” and in “whose spirit is no deceit.” It is clear from the text that an individual can know what they are pardoned from! Sin, and sin is an abhorrent thing to a holy God. The Bible graphically describes for us that God’s “wrath” burns against any kind of sin in a person’s life. If we do not take serious our personal sin and off-handedly think, “I’ll be okay, even though I keep sinning,” the Bible tells us that “The LORD will never be willing to forgive” and “His wrath and zeal will burn against that man.” (Deuteronomy 29:20) Why? Because we dare not take our sin for granted. This is why we are reminded to “Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling.” Because God’s anger at our sin can “flare up in a moment.” (Psalm 2:11 & 12) Notice that when the Psalmist kept quiet about his sin, his “bones wasted away,” he groaned “all day long,” because “day and night” God’s “hand was heavy upon” him and his “strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.” Yet, “blessed” (happy) is the one whose sins are forgiven and covered by God! Where could he find this happiness? This sinner’s song teaches us about our real condition!
EXAMPLE: Hank Williams sang, “Lord I went to the doctor, he took one look. He said the trouble with you ain't in my book. I'll tell you what it is but it ain't good news! You've got an awful bad case of them low down blues.” I understand this kind of feeling, do you? When nothing seems to cure the hurt that ails the human soul. It speaks about our real condition. I remember feeling “lower than an earthworm crawling in the dirt” because of how I had treated my friend. I knew what I did was wrong, but would I admit it? Not on your life! My pride got in the way. And that is usually what keeps us from truly discovering for ourselves our real condition in life. Our problems are not the fault of circumstances or others, no matter how often we hear this excuse from the ungodly world. Our real condition is our sin. Our willingness to never admit we need forgiveness. David struggled with this until he was confronted right where his pride was by Nathan the Prophet. Are you willing to admit your real condition? This sinner’s song teaches us about our real condition!
Yes this song of David’s teaches us about our real condition but as we have seen it also tells us so much more. The shepherd poet is not finished. As we read this psalm we discover that…
II. This sinner’s song teaches us about the restoration we can enjoy! (v. 5)
1. If we confess our sins God is faith and just to forgive us our sin! David realized that no matter how deeply he went into his lifestyle of sin, God would offer forgiveness if he was willing to accept the cleansing God gave. However notice what he writes that was required of him personally, because sin costs, it has a price: He says “Then I acknowledged my sin to You.” Meaning, to God alone he had to confess he was in sin – a sinner. Nothing good was in his life. This is hard for people to do because we all like to think that there is some good in us, maybe not the next guy, but certainly in us! David would sing, “Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 14:3; 53:3) Paul, being a Jew, would echo David and say the very same thing in Romans 3:9-18. In fact he would ask, “Are we any better?” The answer is “NO!” David knew he could not “cover up” his “iniquity” before a holy God. He says, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD!” Not just some, but ALL of them. When he was willing to do that he sang not the blues but a song of joy because God “forgave the guilt of [his] sin!” Nothing is better than a soiled soul that is cleansed! This sinner’s song teaches us about the restoration we can enjoy!
EXAMPLE: Hank Williams continues singing, “I've got the mean old miseries in my soul. I went to the river, but the water's too cold! I've walked the floor 'till I've wore out my shoes! Lord they're killin' me, I mean them low down (d) blues.” Hank wants what every person wants: relief from the “mean old miseries in my soul!” What Hank sought can be freely found. I knew what I needed to do, yet my foolish pride kept me from going and confessing. When I finally drug myself over to my friend’s house, knocked on the door, and openly asked him to forgive me – it was like the weight of the world was lifted off my fourteen-year-old shoulders! This song teaches us about the restoration we can enjoy!
Admitting our sin has become difficult in our day and age for several reasons: 1) We have a false idea that because we have learned “God is love,” that He winks or will excuse our sinful condition. And, 2) we have a hard time grasping that God never condones sin: “For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate… iniquity.” (Isaiah 61:8) David knew that while he still walked this earth he needed to get his life right with God. In fact…
III. This sinner’s song teaches us about where we can go when we do sin! (vv. 6-11)
1. Our help comes from the Lord! Thank God He has not left us on our own! He has provided for us a way we can come to Him when we do sin. David sang: “Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found!” A time will come when we can no longer pray for forgiveness, but that is not today! Even if “mighty waters rise,” they will not reach the ones whose “hiding place” is in the Lord. God will “protect” us and “surround” us with “songs of deliverance!” God literally sings the blues for us when we go to Him with our sin! When we are open and honest with Him, He provides a place where we can go to find forgiveness. Stop being stubborn “like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding,” David would tell us. David sings, that “Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD’S unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in Him.” There is no sin known to man that God cannot forgive if you are willing to come to Him. “Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!” Jesus tells us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29) And that “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” (John 6:37) This sinner’s song teaches us about where we can go when we do sin!
EXAMPLE: Hank Williams finishes his song by declaring, “Lord I never knew a man could feel so bad! I never knew livin' could be so sad! All I do is set and cry, Lord I'd have to get better, before I could die.” WOW! How depressing is that? Hank does not give an answer to his “blues” problem, but the Bible gives us the answer for our sin problem: Jesus Christ. As great as I felt when I went and asked my buddy to forgive me, the greatest burden of my life was lifted from me when I asked God to forgive my sins through Jesus Christ! If you look closely at this “blues” psalm of David’s you too will discover that this song teaches us about where we can go when we do sin. Have you come to Christ for forgiveness?
Conclusion:
David’s “blues” reflect our own discordant lives and we soon discovered several things from his sinner’s song:
1) This sinner’s song teaches us about our real condition. 2) This sinner’s song teaches us about the restoration we can enjoy. And, 3) this sinner’s song teaches us about where we can go when we do sin. No one needs to sing the sinner’s blues anymore!
by Pastor Lee Hemen
October 21, 2007 AM
The music known as “the blues” they say was born out of struggle and pain. If that is true, then King David was the one who invented “the blues,” because we discover in his music the struggle he endured and the pain it caused. I believe that is why so many can relate to David’s songs as found in the book of Psalms. They are at their core “the blues.” The Blues emerged here in America with African-American communities from their spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and also the rhymed English and Scots-Irish narrative ballads. The use of “blue notes,” notes sung or played at a lower pitch than those of the major scale, and the prominence of call-and-response repetitive patterns in the music and lyrics are indicative of “the blues.”
David, in this little Psalm of his, teaches us several important things about life’s “blues.” Let’s discover them for ourselves this morning as we read the sinner’s song.
READ: Psalm 32
My buddy and I had one rousing fight. So much so the neighbor lady had to come out and beat us both apart with a broom as we wrestled around in her driveway. Unwilling to admit what my “problem was,” I huffed off home. How could I tell my best friend we were moving? Instead I got angry with him. Usually that’s how sin works. We want to blame others, our parents, circumstances, but never the real reason. As we look at this “blues” Psalm of David’s we find that…
I. This sinner’s song teaches us about our real condition! (vv. 1-4)
1. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God! David would understand this completely. This is why he immediately states that “Blessed is he whose” sins are “forgiven,” “covered,” not counted “against him,” and in “whose spirit is no deceit.” It is clear from the text that an individual can know what they are pardoned from! Sin, and sin is an abhorrent thing to a holy God. The Bible graphically describes for us that God’s “wrath” burns against any kind of sin in a person’s life. If we do not take serious our personal sin and off-handedly think, “I’ll be okay, even though I keep sinning,” the Bible tells us that “The LORD will never be willing to forgive” and “His wrath and zeal will burn against that man.” (Deuteronomy 29:20) Why? Because we dare not take our sin for granted. This is why we are reminded to “Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling.” Because God’s anger at our sin can “flare up in a moment.” (Psalm 2:11 & 12) Notice that when the Psalmist kept quiet about his sin, his “bones wasted away,” he groaned “all day long,” because “day and night” God’s “hand was heavy upon” him and his “strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.” Yet, “blessed” (happy) is the one whose sins are forgiven and covered by God! Where could he find this happiness? This sinner’s song teaches us about our real condition!
EXAMPLE: Hank Williams sang, “Lord I went to the doctor, he took one look. He said the trouble with you ain't in my book. I'll tell you what it is but it ain't good news! You've got an awful bad case of them low down blues.” I understand this kind of feeling, do you? When nothing seems to cure the hurt that ails the human soul. It speaks about our real condition. I remember feeling “lower than an earthworm crawling in the dirt” because of how I had treated my friend. I knew what I did was wrong, but would I admit it? Not on your life! My pride got in the way. And that is usually what keeps us from truly discovering for ourselves our real condition in life. Our problems are not the fault of circumstances or others, no matter how often we hear this excuse from the ungodly world. Our real condition is our sin. Our willingness to never admit we need forgiveness. David struggled with this until he was confronted right where his pride was by Nathan the Prophet. Are you willing to admit your real condition? This sinner’s song teaches us about our real condition!
Yes this song of David’s teaches us about our real condition but as we have seen it also tells us so much more. The shepherd poet is not finished. As we read this psalm we discover that…
II. This sinner’s song teaches us about the restoration we can enjoy! (v. 5)
1. If we confess our sins God is faith and just to forgive us our sin! David realized that no matter how deeply he went into his lifestyle of sin, God would offer forgiveness if he was willing to accept the cleansing God gave. However notice what he writes that was required of him personally, because sin costs, it has a price: He says “Then I acknowledged my sin to You.” Meaning, to God alone he had to confess he was in sin – a sinner. Nothing good was in his life. This is hard for people to do because we all like to think that there is some good in us, maybe not the next guy, but certainly in us! David would sing, “Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 14:3; 53:3) Paul, being a Jew, would echo David and say the very same thing in Romans 3:9-18. In fact he would ask, “Are we any better?” The answer is “NO!” David knew he could not “cover up” his “iniquity” before a holy God. He says, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD!” Not just some, but ALL of them. When he was willing to do that he sang not the blues but a song of joy because God “forgave the guilt of [his] sin!” Nothing is better than a soiled soul that is cleansed! This sinner’s song teaches us about the restoration we can enjoy!
EXAMPLE: Hank Williams continues singing, “I've got the mean old miseries in my soul. I went to the river, but the water's too cold! I've walked the floor 'till I've wore out my shoes! Lord they're killin' me, I mean them low down (d) blues.” Hank wants what every person wants: relief from the “mean old miseries in my soul!” What Hank sought can be freely found. I knew what I needed to do, yet my foolish pride kept me from going and confessing. When I finally drug myself over to my friend’s house, knocked on the door, and openly asked him to forgive me – it was like the weight of the world was lifted off my fourteen-year-old shoulders! This song teaches us about the restoration we can enjoy!
Admitting our sin has become difficult in our day and age for several reasons: 1) We have a false idea that because we have learned “God is love,” that He winks or will excuse our sinful condition. And, 2) we have a hard time grasping that God never condones sin: “For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate… iniquity.” (Isaiah 61:8) David knew that while he still walked this earth he needed to get his life right with God. In fact…
III. This sinner’s song teaches us about where we can go when we do sin! (vv. 6-11)
1. Our help comes from the Lord! Thank God He has not left us on our own! He has provided for us a way we can come to Him when we do sin. David sang: “Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found!” A time will come when we can no longer pray for forgiveness, but that is not today! Even if “mighty waters rise,” they will not reach the ones whose “hiding place” is in the Lord. God will “protect” us and “surround” us with “songs of deliverance!” God literally sings the blues for us when we go to Him with our sin! When we are open and honest with Him, He provides a place where we can go to find forgiveness. Stop being stubborn “like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding,” David would tell us. David sings, that “Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD’S unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in Him.” There is no sin known to man that God cannot forgive if you are willing to come to Him. “Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!” Jesus tells us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29) And that “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” (John 6:37) This sinner’s song teaches us about where we can go when we do sin!
EXAMPLE: Hank Williams finishes his song by declaring, “Lord I never knew a man could feel so bad! I never knew livin' could be so sad! All I do is set and cry, Lord I'd have to get better, before I could die.” WOW! How depressing is that? Hank does not give an answer to his “blues” problem, but the Bible gives us the answer for our sin problem: Jesus Christ. As great as I felt when I went and asked my buddy to forgive me, the greatest burden of my life was lifted from me when I asked God to forgive my sins through Jesus Christ! If you look closely at this “blues” psalm of David’s you too will discover that this song teaches us about where we can go when we do sin. Have you come to Christ for forgiveness?
Conclusion:
David’s “blues” reflect our own discordant lives and we soon discovered several things from his sinner’s song:
1) This sinner’s song teaches us about our real condition. 2) This sinner’s song teaches us about the restoration we can enjoy. And, 3) this sinner’s song teaches us about where we can go when we do sin. No one needs to sing the sinner’s blues anymore!
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