Joyful Repentance

SERMON MANUSCRIPT

[Read Psalm 32]

There was a time in my life when I wondered whether I was going to be crushed by the weight of guilt and shame. I’m not going to go into the nitty gritty details of that moment—not because I’m too ashamed to talk about it, but because I don’t want to dump all of my “stuff” on the congregation. I had sinned and nobody knew about it. I was ashamed of what I had done. I felt guilty about how I allowed things to get out of control. It was also a sin that couldn’t be hidden. People were going to know what I had done and I really didn’t want anyone to know what I had done. So, I tried to hide it and cover it up myself. I tried not to talk about it. I tried to keep it a secret as long as I possibly could. But the longer I kept quiet, the longer I tried to cover it up and hide it, the heavier and heavier it weighed on my soul. As David says—my bones wasted away and I felt God’s hand heavy upon me. I worried that I was going to collapse at times. 

This is what David is experiencing in this Psalm. He says, “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah” (Psalm 32:3–4, ESV). The longer David kept silent about the sin in his life, the heavier it got. He says it felt like his strength was dried up—he wasn’t sure he could go on. He says it felt like his bones were wasted away—like they no longer had any strength, he wasn’t sure he could stand anymore. He said that he groaned all day long. I’m not sure if I’ve ever felt so heavy that I groaned all day long, but I have felt so heavy—a weight that sits right about here—that I find myself sighing a lot. There’s so much weight hanging on my soul, that it has to release somehow—and rather than coming out in a groan, it comes out in a sigh.

This is what happens when we try to deal with sin on our own and in our own strength. It will destroy you. 

So, if this is what sin does in our life, how should we respond? I mean, if recognizing the sin in our life can be so heavy and brutal, how should we respond? There are a variety of ways people respond to the crushing weight of sin in their life. 

Some people respond by simply ignoring it. They live by the slogan—ignorance is bliss. As long as I’m not convicted of my sin, as long as I’m not aware of the sin in my life, then I will not be guilty and will not carry such a heavy burden. So, they work very hard to pretend like the problem isn’t there, or they work really hard to drown the problem, using a variety of drugs and alcohol. That’s their solution to the problem.

Others go the opposite direction. They don’t ignore the problem, they try to outwork it. They believe that if they work harder—try harder—they will be able to outwork the guilt and shame they feel. Some try to work hard enough to do enough good things to outweigh the bad things they’ve done. Others try to work hard enough to undo the bad things they’ve done. They work, work, work, work, trying to outwork the sin in their life. That’s how they feel better about it all—at least that’s what they think. 

However, the Heidelberg Catechism takes a much different approach to this problem. It asks the question: “Since no one in this life can obey the Ten Commandments perfectly, why does God want them preached so pointedly?” This question answers both of those strategies. First, God does not want you to ignore the sin and guilt and shame in your life. He actually wants the Ten Commandments preached pointedly. He wants you to be very aware of the sin in your life. He does not want you to ignore it. Second, the catechism reminds us that it is impossible to outwork your sin. You can’t do it. It’s impossible. You will only dig yourself deeper and deeper into the hole you put yourself. If you try to ignore your sin—it will slowly eat at you from the inside. If you try to outwork your sin, it will wear you into the ground.

So, the catechism asks: Why does God want us to be so aware of our sin? Does God want us to feel guilty all the time? Does God want us to  beat ourselves up all the time? No. The catechism says, “First, so that the longer we live the more we may come to know our sinfulness and the more eagerly look to Christ for forgiveness of sins and righteousness. Second, so that we may never stop striving, and never stop praying to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, to be renewed more and more after God’s image, until after this life we reach our goal: perfection.”  God wants us to be very aware of the sin in our life because he wants us to be very aware of the forgiveness and salvation that come from Jesus Christ. He wants us to never stop praying for his grace, forgiveness, and salvation. 

This is what David does in this Psalm. After trying to keep quiet about his sin, trying to ignore it or carry it on his own, feeling the weight of sin pressing down on him, he says, “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”” (Psalm 32:5, ESV). This is our proper response. It should be our immediate response when we recognize any sin in our life. We stop what we’re doing and confess our sins to God. 

What’s interesting is that we don’t naturally do this. David even calls us out and says, “Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.” (Psalm 32:9, ESV). There are a variety of ways to apply this statement, but it definitely applies to confessing our sin to God. Don’t be like a stubborn mule, that needs to feel the heavy hand of God upon you, before you confess your sin to him. Don’t make it necessary for God to grab hold of your lead rope and drag you to the point of repenting of your sin. Just confess it and repent of it right away. 

 Here’s why we can confess and repent of our sin right away: ““I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.” (Psalm 32:5, ESV). God forgave him. There was no wait. There were no stipulations and steps that David needed to take before being forgiven. He sought forgiveness and God forgave him just like that. 

It’s actually more than that. A little later in the Psalm we read this about God: “You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.” (Psalm 32:7, ESV). This isn’t just talking about loud shouting, it’s actually talking about shouting for joy. It’s a picture that God’s not reluctantly forgiving our sin when we come to him in confession and repentance. Rather, he is eagerly awaiting our confession and repentance. And when we come to him, he is joyfully ready—joyfully excited and eager—to forgive us and deliver us from our sins. 

This is actually the reason why we shouldn’t be hesitant to come to God in confession—why we shouldn’t be afraid to come to God in confession. Why would we? What are we afraid of? Why are we hesitant? God is joyfully ready and eager to forgive your sin, when you come to him in faith, confess your sin and repent. 

Why in the world would you hold on to it, when holding onto it means that you will continually be weighed down and crushed and weary? Why would you try to ignore it, allowing it to slowly eat away at you from the inside? Why would you try to outwork your sin, exhausting yourself and wearing yourself out, attempting the impossible? God is ready and waiting—eagerly to forgive you! Confess and Repent. 

That’s why David begins the Psalm this way: “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” (Psalm 32:1–2, ESV). Those who are able to live their lives with this level of freedom are blessed. Since Jesus Christ has lived and died and rose again from the dead for the forgiveness of our sins. Since he is eagerly waiting for us to come to him in confession and repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We are blessed in such a powerful way. 

Those who do not know Jesus Christ do not know this freedom and blessing. They have no place to go with their guilt and shame. They have to try to ignore it or try to cover it up or try to outwork it on their own—all of them are impossible tasks. That’s why David says, “Many are the sorrows of the wicked…” (Psalm 32:10, ESV). They are filled with sorrow because they have all of this sin and shame and guilt bearing down on them and they have no place to go with it. That’s such a sorrowful, difficult place to be. 

Rather, those who know Jesus Christ, and have put their faith and trust in him for the forgiveness of their sins, David says: “Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” (Psalm 32:11, ESV). We can rejoice. We can shout for joy. We can live with joy and peace and freedom BECAUSE we have a Savior who is both willing and ready to forgive us when we confess our sins to him. It’s such a beautiful, powerful truth. 

I’m belaboring the point, because I don’t think many people see the act of confessing and repenting of our sin as a joyful thing. Of course, we should not take it lightly. Of course, we should not be flippant about our sin. However, we also shouldn’t approach confession and repentance as dreadful things—things that we dread doing, things we would rather ignore. Rather, I want us to see the beauty and power of having a God who is ready and willing to joyfully take the burden and guilt and shame from us, cast it as far as the east is from the west, and send us back out into the world with freedom. Knowing that, should create and stir up joy in us. It should cause us to be quick and eager to repent. 

Here's what this looks like in everyday life. As many people know, I do all of the work on our family’s vehicles—and we have a lot of vehicles. When I was younger, I actually wanted to be a mechanic and I enjoy working on motors when I have the time and money for it. However, when you have this many vehicles to take care of, you don’t have much time nor much money—which means working on vehicles becomes much more stressful. That stress increases when something goes wrong—when you twist off a bolt, or break something. In those moments, as the stress builds up, some words typically come out of my mouth—words that should not be coming out of the mouth of a believer. There was a period of my life when this would happen, and I would spend the rest of the time working on my vehicle angry AND feeling guilty that I still haven’t learned how to control my tongue. Eventually, I realized that was not the way Christians are to handle situations like that. Rather, the moment I recognize that I said something I shouldn’t have said, I stop everything that I’m doing, come to God in prayer, and confess my sin. I say, “Lord, I’m sorry that I did that again. I wish I didn’t do it at all. Please forgive me. Please work in my heart so that these things happen less and less. Help me.” Then, I get back to work. I’m free—I don’t have to dwell on it anymore—because I know that he has forgiven me and cleansed me. It’s such a beautiful thing. 

This is also why we try to have a time of Confession, Repentance, and Pardon in every worship service. It’s a beautiful thing that should cause us to praise and worship God. Typically—like this morning—we even have a song of response right away after the time of Confession, Repentance, and Pardon. It’s there because the proper response is to praise and thank God for the beautiful gift of forgiveness and freedom from sin that he offers us. 

This should also be more than something we do once a week. This is the natural rhythm of the Christian life. The Christian life is one repetitive pattern of messing up, confessing and repenting of our sin, receiving forgiveness, and then being empowered by the Holy Spirit to continue living the Christian life. This pattern should be happening regularly throughout the day. 

It should become almost as natural as breathing. And the more natural it becomes—the more joyful it becomes. The more natural it becomes, the more we realize the truth of how David begins this Psalm: “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” (Psalm 32:1–2, ESV). And the more natural it becomes, the more we will begin to rejoice and praise our God and learn the truth of how David ends the Psalm: “Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” (Psalm 32:11, ESV).