The Blessing of Confessing Psalm 32:1–5

Today we’re going to talk about the blessing of confessing, based on today’s appointed psalm, Psalm 32:1-5.

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Have you ever made a mess out of something? The biggest mess in our lives in sin. All life’s problems relate to it. That doesn’t mean that every time we have a problem it’s a sin, or that in all our troubles God is punishing us for our sin.  But sinning, going against God, is what brought trouble to the world in the first place.

In our Old Testament we see the origin of sin in the world. Sin had already entered the supernatural realm before it entered into the physical world.

God created the angels as his holy servants. By the time Adam and Eve fell into sin, the devil and the fallen angels had already turned against God and squandered their holiness, and with it their happiness.

In their hatred, they turned their anger toward God’s physical creation, especially humanity. The devil, in the form of a snake, tempted Eve with the same temptation he fell for, wanting to be God and have His power, rather than being happy to be a dearly loved servant or child of God.

Sadly, Adam and Eve took the bait, and the consequences were devastating, for them and for us.

Ever since, sin has been trouble number 1 in the world; the devil has been enemy number 1; and death problem number 1. They only way to take care of those problems is to take care of sin itself.

God knew that from the beginning, and so he promised Adam and Eve that their descendant, the Messiah, would crush the devil, defeat death, cover their sin.

Jesus did just that. As our epistle says, Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. In other words, their sin will be covered, forgiven. Jesus is the one man who has done this.

This leads us back to our 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 130 says, If You, O Lord, kept a record of iniquity, O Lord, who could stand. But with You, there is forgiveness.

For Christ’s sake, God erases our sins, rather than keeping track of them to use against us at a later date. With God’s forgiveness we’re innocent of all charges against us in the court of His eternal law. Being innocent, there’s no punishment for us. But God goes beyond not punishing us, and gives us blessings instead.

Verses 3 and 4. 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.

David’s sin, and his constant hiding of his sin, was taking a heavy toll on him; it was causing him to fall into a sort of grief or depression; and his energy was zapped, as can happen when people are very stressed or depressed.

David compares it to the extreme heat of summer and dehydration, that takes away your strength.

Hiding our sin, or treasuring our sin, or any of the ways we keep sin safe inside of us, just zaps our life from us, and our energy to live for God, and enjoy His blessings.

The remedy is in verse 5. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Honesty is the best policy. Finally, David saw there was only one thing that could restore him to health: to come clean, admit the truth, and depend on God’s mercy.

He did it, and it worked. He was a new man. We all need to be renewed, so God gives us blessing of confessing our sins, and receiving His grace for a new life.

In Divine Service 1, we say the words of this Psalm in our confession, I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

In Divine Service 2, we say a slight paraphrase of the words of 1 John 1:8-9: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Both make the same point: to be healthy and have a clear conscience, we need to truly confess our sins, and as we do, God is true to forgive our sins.

In Confirmation Class a few weeks ago, we were studying Confession and Absolution in the Office of the Keys, and we watched an animated video which illustrates this, called Jimmie and the White Lie.

In the video, Jimmie is playing baseball with his friends and throws a wild fast ball right through the window of his neighbor’s house. The kids, including Jimmie, all scatter. I remember smashing a window playing ball when I was a kid.

Well, at supper that night, Jimmie’s parents told them that their neighbor, Mr. Crankshaw, had called about a broken window, and they wondered if Jimmie knew anything about it. Using his Charlie Brown voice, he said “No, mom and dad.”

Throughout the night and the next day, Jimmie was followed around by this big white blob, his white lie. And it kept getting bigger and bigger and harder and harder hide from his parents.

Finally, he couldn’t take it any more so he came clean and confessed to his parents. They forgave him, and poof, the big white blob went away!

Then, they all went to Mr. Crankshaw, who forgave him too, and they even became friends, and Jimmie helped him organize his collection of baseball cards.

It’s a nice little video, and it does a good job in a fun way of illustrating the problem with not being honest and just confessing our sin; and it shows, in contrast, the blessing of confessing, and especially, hearing that we’re forgiven.

Sin is a burden no one can bear. When Adam and Eve sinned, God knew they couldn’t bear it and live, so he promised to send His Son to bear it for them.

Each of us has a mountain of sin to bear; all together, for all people, it’s mountain range of sin that’s greater than we can imagine, but Jesus carried it all to the cross, and took it on his shoulders, and suffered and died for it all.

He did that for us because he knew we couldn’t bear the burden of even a single sin; a single sin is all it takes to break God’s law, and suffer His wrath. But as the Son of God, He could bear it all.

Not a single sin was left uncovered by Christ. It might be the sin in your life that bothers you the most, that you find hard to forget, or the sin in your life that bothers you the least, that you’ve long forgotten about. Jesus has you covered for them all.

Sometimes we’re very sorry for our sins; sometimes we’re not as sorry as we should be. Not being as sorry as we should be is yet another sin.

And in the end, considering how horrible sin is, considering all the evil that’s come from it over the ages, how could we ever be sorry enough?

We can only believe; we can only repent; even repent of our lack of repentance; repent, believe and know that Jesus has it all covered. There’s no burden left for us to carry, regarding our forgiveness and salvation.

Regarding our lives on the earth, we still sometimes have to deal with the consequences of our sins, or the sins of others, and the problems they’ve caused in our lives, but Jesus helps us with that burden, too.

He gives us the courage to face our mistakes, and the strength to try to make things right with the people we’ve hurt, like he helped Jimmie make things right with Mr. Crankshaw.

After having sinned against others, and confessing and receiving forgiveness, God can now help us to become a blessing to them. It’s amazing how God can turn things around like that.

Having been so greatly blessed, let us be a blessing to others, forgiving them, loving them, helping them, and above all, sharing the message of forgiveness in the gospel with them.

The Blessing of Confessing. What a wonderful blessing it is.

Blessed are the ones whose transgressions are forgiven, that’s you, and me, and all God’s people, whose sins are covered, for among the many blessings that come from God’s forgiveness, they also have His peace, which passes understanding, and guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.