Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19960623.htm

PSALMS: DIARIES OF GODLY OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Psalm Thirty-Two: Learning To Repent As SOON As Is Possible
(Psalm 32:1-11)
  1. Introduction
    1. We often use 1 John 1:9 as the admonition to follow to find God's forgiveness and experiential restoration to fellowship for the believer. It is important that the believer bounce back into fellowship with the Lord following his lapse into acts of sin.
    2. However, time is of the essence when it comes to repentance, and Psalm Thirty-Two illustrates that truth:
  2. Learning To Repent As SOON As Is Possible, Psalm 32:1-11.
    1. David expressed the great blessing that belongs to the believer whose sin is forgiven, Psalm 32:1-2a.
    2. However, this blessing comes only when one is very candid with the Lord and does not try to deceive the Lord in any way, Psalm 32:2b.
    3. To explain this need for honesty before God regarding the handling of sin, David explains a very painful experience he underwent as he delayed repenting of a personal sin on an occasion:
      1. Verse 3 begins with the Hebrew conjunction ke translated "For," Kittel, ed., Biblia Hebraica, p. 1000.
      2. Thus, verse 3 explains what David meant by his final statement in verse 2 of being blessed by not deceiving the Lord.
      3. Verses 3 and 4 are his description of what blessing David lacked when he stalled in some way from really being candid with the Lord in confessing his sin (as follows):
        1. When David kept silent from confessing his sin, his figurative bones (representing his emotions, cf. Jeremiah 20:9; 23:9) wasted away through his roaring cry of distress all day long, v. 3! In other words, David was an emotional wreck while undergoing conviction from sin and not repenting!
        2. This conviction was painful because GOD was at work disciplining David by way of allowing his emotions to be so stressed out, and that for at least a 24 hour period of time, Ps. 32:4a.
        3. In the end, David felt weak as the strain on his emotions drained his physical energies, Ps. 32:4b.
    4. However, when David confessed his sin (32:5a), God fully forgave the perverseness of his sin, 5b. In other words, the sin itself besides David's wayardness in being reluctant to confess it to the point where God dealt with him in conviction for at least a 24 hour period of time--BOTH were forgiven!
    5. Accordingly, David urged that the godly repent while God was still open to forgive lest, upon waiting too long, they get crushed in His judgment, Ps. 32:6:
      1. The matter of seeking God's forgiveness before the flood of waters reaches him probably alludes to the Noahic flood where Noah's generation stalled repenting for 120 years until it was so late that the flood of waters reached them and drowned them, cf. 1 Peter 3:19-20 with Genesis 6:3!
      2. Thus, David urges others to repent and to do so before divine capital punishment arrives, cf. 1 Jn. 5:16!
    6. In summary, David uses the remainder of Psalm 32 to instruct his hearers or readers on repenting ASAP!
      1. Verse 8 is David's announcement that he is going to give a valuable, important instruction to us!
      2. That instruction is that we not be like a stubborn horse or mule that has to feel the discomfort of a bridle in its mouth before it moves back into close proximity to its owner, Ps. 32:9. In other words, when God urges us to repent, w e had better do it as soon as is possible lest God have to use the painful bridle of emotional and physical discomfort to get us back in line, see Ps. 32:3-4!
      3. However, the man who trusts in the Lord and repents finds that God will not give him the woes of discipline, but surround him to protect him from such discipline, Ps. 32:10.
      4. In fact, those who get right with God will be glad and rejoice, quite the opposite of David's experience in Psalm 32:3-4, Ps. 32:11!
Lesson: It is to our own advantage to confess our sins as soon as we realize that we have sinned, for any delay brings incredible emotional and physical discomfort from God's convicting work, not to speak of a ticking time bomb for potentially leth al divine punishment if we don't repent SOON!

Application: The element of TIME in fellowship with God OR out of fellowship with God has great effects on our emotional and physical welfare, not to speak of our spiritual welfare! We must learn to respond QUICKLY to sin in our lives to minimize personal losses and to maximize our welfare!