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CHAPTER NINETEEN

Blessed Through the Gospel of Forgiveness

Psalm 32:1-2 (KJV)

1
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2
Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit
there is no guile.
We're blessed through and by the gospel. The gospel is what we preach. The gospel is the Good News that
Christ died for the forgiveness of our sins. It's the Good News that God robed himself in flesh in the person of
his Son, Jesus, died for the remission of our sin and the sin of the world, and was raised on the third day for
our justification so that our faith can be counted as righteousness. He also ascended into heaven and is now
sitting on the right hand of God the Father until He comes again to judge both the living and the dead. Until
that day, He is with us in the person of the Holy Spirit. That's the gospel. And we are blessed by the gospel
through the power of God's forgiveness.

A Gospel Psalm
I find Psalm 32 to be a most interesting psalm in that it is a gospel psalm. It is a doctrine psalm. Not many
of the 150 psalms give the gospel or have any doctrine connection. David is the author and beside his name is
the Hebrew word Maschil. That is a Hebrew word that means instruction; so, this psalm is a psalm of
instruction. It instructs us how we're blessed through and by the gospel. This psalm teaches us about the
doctrine of sin, the doctrine of repentance, and the doctrine of forgiveness. This psalm instructs us how we are
blessed through forgiveness and what ought to be our appropriate response.
Notice it opens on a high note and closes on a high note. It opens with two Beatitudes. It says, "Blessed is
he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." A second Beatitude follows, "Blessed is the man
unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." Then it closes in verse 11 by
saying, "Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy." In other words, if we have
experienced what David has experienced in the forgiveness of our sins, we ought to be glad about it and
rejoice and shout for joy. This is a marvelous instruction God has given us.
Repentance is necessary for forgiveness. If there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness. We are blessed
by forgiveness itself. If we are not blessed in any other way, we are blessed because of God's forgiveness. We
ought to be glad enough about it to shout for joy.

The Psalmist and His Experience

What makes this psalm powerful is that it was written from the experience of its author, David. Most
biblical scholars feel that David wrote this after his experience with the prophet Nathan that led him to repent
of his sins with Bathsheba and Uriah.
Many of us resemble David. As I mentioned before, David is on record as the greatest sinner and the
greatest saint of the Old Testament. That's an interesting combination. Although little David played his harp
and although little David killed big Goliath, he grew up to become King David and took advantage of his
kingship by having an adulterous affair with Bathsheba. Even though I told this story before in a previous
chapter, I must tell it again so that you understand the power of God's forgiveness. Bathsheba was married to
Uriah, a captain of David's army. She was a Hittite married to a Hittite, Uriah, from the Hamitic tribe. David
committed adultery with her and tried to cover it up by sending Uriah to the front line of battle where he
would be killed. David was an adulterer and a murderer.
David tried to hide his sin, but God would not let him go. Aren't we glad that sometimes God won't let us
go? We may try to hide, but God's so good He just won't let us go. David said, "Thy hand was heavy upon
me."
God sent the prophet Nathan to David to tell David a story of an ewe little lamb (2 Samuel 12). There was a
rich man who had many lambs and a poor man who had only one little ewe lamb. This only lamb was like a
child in his house. The lamb ate with them and slept by the bed with them. A traveler came to the rich man
and rather than getting a lamb from his many, the rich man took the poor man's little lamb and slaughtered it
for the traveler. David heard the story, pulled out his sword, and said, "Where is he? This man should die."
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Nathan pointed his hand to David and said, "David, thou art the man" (2 Samuel 12:7 — KJV). In other
words, Nathan said, "David, that's what you did when you took Uriah's wife into your own chamber." David
confessed and repented and said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord" (2 Samuel 12:13 — KJV).
Nathan said unto David, "The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shall not die" (2 Samuel 12:13 — KJV).
To die means to go to hell. It's appointed once for every man to die. Nathan said, "The Lord has put away
your sin, David; thou shall not go to hell."

An Interpretation
Sometime later, David wrote Psalm 32: "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all day long. For day and night thy hand was
heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of the summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sins unto
thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou
forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.... Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou
shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah." Selah means to stop, look, and listen. It's a musical
rest. At times we have music played and then it says, "Stop." Selah says, "He has taken, has hidden my sins;
He has covered my sins." Selah. In other words, just stop and resonate here a bit. David said, "Let me stop,
look back, and think about the goodness of the Lord." In other words, "Let me park here and just give some
praise." It's a musical rest, but it's a time to rejoice. Let me just look back over my shoulders. When I look
back over my life and I think things over, I can truly say that I've been blessed. I have a testimony. Selah
means stop, park, and look at the goodness of God; look from where He's brought us.
David says he's blessed because his transgressions are forgiven. His sin is covered and the Lord imputeth
not his iniquity. The biblical concept of sin is revealed from three perspectives. One is that sin is noted by the
word, "transgression." Transgression means breaking away from God's law; rebellion. The second is the
meaning of the word "sin." The Hebrew word for sin means error or missing the mark. The third is "iniquity."
It has a different meaning. It means pervert or depravity with the whole idea of a burden of guilt.

Guilty by Resemblance
David says he's guilty of all three. We resemble David because some of us, like David, are guilty. We need
to stop and park here a while. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. "If we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar,
and his word is not in us" (1 John 1:8-10 — KJV). We may not have murdered anybody, but if we hate our
brother, according to Jesus, we are murderers (Matthew 5:21-22). We may not have committed adultery with
Bathsheba, but if we have ever looked on another with lust, we have committed adultery in our hearts
(Matthew 5:28). If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But, thank God, "If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, and to cleanse us of from all
unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9 — KJV).

Sin Committed and Sin Concealed

David treats sin in a very special way. He walks us through stages of his sin. First, he says, "I did it." If he
were forgiven, forgiveness implies that it had to be done. Sin was committed. Then, David concealed his sin.
David said, "I kept silent." I wonder how long David would have kept silent if God had not sent the prophet
Nathan to him? Aren't we glad that God will not take his hand off us? I wonder how long many of us would
have kept silent if God had not sent someone with a word for us?
God loves us so much that when we sin, He's not going to take His hand off of us. An unsaved person can
sin and really get away with it, as far as his conscience goes. But if we know the Lord and have ever
experienced His grace, when we sin, God is so good to us that He's not going to let us get away with it. He's
going to send us an opportunity to repent. Aren't we glad that He, instead of man, is our judge? I'll take Judge
Jesus over Judge Judy any day. Aren't we glad Judge Judy or any other human judge is not on the throne?

Sin's Burden
David said he was walking around with this heavy burden on him. It's a burden of guilt that causes us to
know we are wrong. This burden of guilt is like a rock on our shoulders. It's bending us over. We become
bent over in our hearts and in our souls because of sin's burden of guilt.
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Sin Confessed
David said we ought to do as he did. This is an instruction. David said, "I acknowledged my sin unto thee,
and my iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the
iniquity of my sin. Selah" (Psalm 32:5). God's hand of mercy is upon somebody today. We, like David, need
to talk to God about it.

Sin Forgiven
The final way we view sin is as sin forgiven. The forgiveness is greater than the sin. We mentioned three
concepts of sin: transgression, breaking away; missing the mark, the error; and the pervasiveness of guilt. The
forgiveness is strong enough to overcome sin, any and all concepts of sin.

Views of Forgiveness
There are several views of forgiveness. One of the views of forgiveness is "lifted off, let go." Forgiveness
means to lift off and let go. When we lift off something and let go of something, we are set free. If we have a
burden, it's lifted off and we are let go, which means we are set free. A second view of forgiveness means
"covered." Not only is it lifted off and let go of, but it's also covered as if a lid or a veil was put over it. It is
put out of sight. The third view is "cancellation." Not only does He lift it off and cover our sin, but He also
erases it. He cancels it out like it never happened. That's why we say, "greater is he that is in you, than he that
is in the world" (1 John 4:4 — KJV). There may be much sin, but God has enough forgiveness and enough
grace for all the sin in the world. He lifted it. He covered it. He erased it. He put it away, never to rise again.
We all are ex-convicts. That may be a hard word for us, but everybody is an ex-con. Ex-cons can hardly get
a job in our society. If a serial killer is released and moved into our neighborhood, we want to know about it.
If a serial rapist who has been released is living next door to us, we want to know about it. But guess what?
God erases our records. We're all ex-cons, but we can move anywhere we want to move. There will never be
any record in heaven of our sin. It's been lifted off, it's been let go, it's been covered, it's been canceled, it's
been erased, it's been put in the sea of forgetfulness, never to rise again.

Our Stubbornness
God says our problem is that some of us are like mules. "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way
which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no
understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee" (Psalm 32:8-9
— KJV). God humbles us by saying, "Don't be like a horse or a mule with no understanding, whose mouth
must be held with a bit and a bridle." Some of us are so stubborn that God has to put a bit and bridle in our
mouths to keep us from hurting ourselves and others. God says in verse 8, "I will guide thee with mine eye."
He said that a person is blessed by forgiveness, and He will guide us by His eye.

God's Loving Guidance

Would we rather have God guide us with a strap around our heads and a bit in our mouths, or by His loving
eye? The mule has to be guided by a harness and a bit. The sparrow is guided with the tender eye. The
question is, "Are we going to be a mule or a sparrow?" If we are like the sparrow, we can sing the song, "I
sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm blessed. I've been pardoned and I've been set free. I've been
forgiven. I've been blessed and forgiven. I've been blessed by the gospel." We are indeed blessed through the
gospel of forgiveness.

Summary
We are blessed through a gospel that has a provision for forgiveness of our sin no matter how great our sins
may be. Psalm 32 is an unusual psalm in that it represents the gospel from the psalmist's experiential
perspective. The backdrop of Psalm 32 gives us a springboard into identifying with the psalms' author, David.
Many believers resemble David. In many ways, David's experience of "sin committed and sin forgiven" is our
experience.
Sin is viewed in five stages: 1) sin committed; 2) sin concealed; 3) sin's heavy burden; 4) sin confessed;
and 5) sin forgiven. The biblical concept of sin is revealed from three perspectives: 1) transgression, which
means to stray away from; 2) sin, which means to miss the mark; and 3) iniquity, which carries with it the
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burden of guilt. We are blessed because the strength of forgiveness is greater than any sin. Forgiveness also
has three views, namely: 1) lifted off and let go; 2) cover up; and 3) erased or canceled.
God stands ready to bless us through forgiveness. We have the choice of being stubborn like a mule that
needs a bit in its mouth to be guided by, or like a sparrow that is guided by the loving eye of God. The loving
eye of God, through His Word, tells us that if we repent and confess our sins we will be blessed through the
gospel of forgiveness.