Emmanuel Baptist Church of Nipawin Sermons

Personal ownership is a powerful thing, is it not? We spend much of our lives developing a sense the things we own, and the things we don’t. From a young age even, and we see this in our children, there are very clear lines between what is “mine” and what is “theirs”; however, most children think that just about everything is “mine”. But it goes beyond just knowing what’s “mine” and what is somebody else’s. Indeed, it reflects on how we care for the things that are ours. To use a personal example, one of my favourite things about Danielle is her care and attention to our home. Things are organized, and cared for with diligence and respect, befitting the things that are ours, or more properly, that God has given to us; because we own them. Are there things like that in your life? That you own, and as a result of your ownership, pay special attention to?

I think that this idea extends beyond just material objects, but to values and beliefs as well. From a young age I can recall my father demonstrating care and attention to his old Seiko watch. This taught me to care for the watches that I would one day come to own, but also to value watches as a thing. Perhaps we could extend the analogy to hunting. A father raises his children and takes them hunting on the weekends and they enjoy the time with him. However, there might come a day where the son or daughter takes a personal ownership of hunting. It has changed from something they did with their father to something they now value and enjoy. And this transfer, this process, is an essential part of growing up, and indeed, discovering what it is we value and why we value it, and how we should behave in relationship to it. 

In this first part of our weekend series of “questions Jesus asks” we see Jesus demonstrating this process of the need for personal ownership to his disciples and not just the necessity of it, but the dangers involved if we don’t. Let’s read our passage for this evening and we’ll discover what the Spirit has to say about it.

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. (Matthew 16:13-20)

Historical Context

So any time we approach a text, we must keep at the forefront of our minds the 5Ws so common to good journalists: who, what, why, where, when, and if it applies, how. And in verse 13, we should be prompted to ask what might seem to be a somewhat obvious question, where is Caesarea Philippi, and indeed, why does Matthew see fit to mention it? If you take a look at the back your bibles in the book of maps—one of the little known books of the bible—you’ll find that Caesarea Philippi is one of the northernmost points in the region of Palestine, at the southern slopes, the foot, of mount hermon, near the ancient city of Dan. Caesarea Philippi is a fascinating site because it features, and remains to this day, a cave underneath the initial portion of the mountain, with a cavernous well inside of it—a seemingly unlimited source of water. This made the site desirable for settlement and piqued the spiritual interest of various pagan groups.

Before the 2nd century, the site was probably inhabited by northern Canannintes, and was a distinct site of worship for their abominable pagan god Baal. After the 2nd century, the Greeks claimed the site and called it Paneas, in honour of the god Pan, building a small shrine to worship at the cave. In about the 4th century, Herod the Great built a temple there, and passed the site on to his son, Philip, who built the settlement, Caesarea Philippi, around there. And so you can see in the name, that Caesarea Philippi acknowledged both Caeser Augustus, and also, Philip, the settler and establisher of the city. What is fascinating, is that we see Jesus enter this site with his disciples—a site that has seen its share of religious and spiritual traffic. From the early days of Baal, worship, to the Greek god Pan, and now, the cult of Emperor worship—and it’s here that Jesus has a very fascinating dialogue with his disciples. Let’s tune in to that. 

Who Do People Say That I Am?

We see that it is entering into this area that prompts Jesus’ question of his disciples, v.13 “Who do people say that the son of man is?”. However, this question is by no means prompted only by their entrance into the city of Caesarea Philippi. Rather, this question has been building throughout the whole narrative of Matthew. Earlier in Matthew we see that Jesus has developed quite a following. If you flip back to Matthew 4:23-25, we see, that Jesus “…went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.” As well as numerous other incidents that have invoked the crowds’ “amazement” (7:28-29; 9:8, 26, 3, 33; 13:54; 15:31). We have seen people speculate about who Jesus is, from Herod Antipas in 14:1-2, “At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” To a guarded but hopeful assessment from John the Baptist in Matthew 11, wondering if Jesus is the messiah, or if they should expect someone else.

So this question about the identity of Jesus has been mounting throughout Matthew, and as a result, Matthew 16 represents a hinge point in the narrative, where the identity of Christ will be disclosed, and the course to Jerusalem will be set. So there is really quite an elegant arc in the story here, is there not? The tension builds to the northernmost point on the map, the identity of the Christ is disclosed, and events gain a rapid acceleration as Jesus sets his face to Jerusalem. So then—to Jesus’ question—who do people say that he is?

A Prophet or the Son of a Prophet—Platitudes 

We see that Matthew describes their response as a corporate one: “And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”” And it’s important to note a little bit about their answers here. When Jesus asks who people say the “Son of Man” is, we need to realize this is a title or a designation. It happens to be Jesus’ favourite designation for himself, and ties directly back to the book of Daniel and the messianic expectation contained therein. But obviously, the title needs further clarification—who is this person? And so the disciples, who “mix it up with the crowds” a little more, are in a good place to answer. And so we see them suggest, some say John the Baptist (Herod) and some Elijah. Now in one sense, neither of these answers are surprising—John had close connections with Jesus, and so Jesus might have been thought to be the continuation of John’s prophetic ministry, which worked powerfully throughout the regions of Palestine. Or similarly, Elijah, one of the foremost prophets of old. It was thought that Jesus was a continuation of Elijah’s divinely sanctioned prophetic voice to the community of Israel (possible note on Jeremiah, as well). 

But let’s get to the heart of the matter. All of these designations, are pretty favourable, aren’t they? I mean, to be compared to John the Baptist, or even Elijah! These terms show the reverence and respect that the people who heard of Jesus had for him. Right? “Oh man, he’s a great teacher.” “Oh, Jesus? I have heard he done some incredible miracles.” And I think that what we need to see here, is this isn’t a great deal different from the society that you, and I, find ourselves in today. Do you have experience with that? You hear someone on TV, or in movies talk about Christ and it’s generally pretty favourable. They might even give him honour. He’s a great teacher. He showed a great deal of compassion to the outsiders. Jesus is even set up in opposition to the actions and character of God in the Old Testament, supposedly juxtaposing God’s wrath with Jesus’ love and kindness. But notice, that Jesus requires a personal understanding, a personal ownership of who he is. It isn’t enough to go along with the general values of the crowd, Jesus fixes his eyes on the disciples, and we are his disciples and he asks, “But who do you say that I am?” 

Our Response

And this is where we can’t miss where it is that Jesus is asking this question. Caesarea Philippi had seen its share of influential cults and religious fads pass through. And Jesus brings them to this place and in effect is saying “look at this place. The gods and the cults have come and gone. Do you think I am just like one of these gods?” And friends, our culture is no different. We live in a world of transient saviors. Whether it’s the next prime minister, or the great job that we’ve landed, or the family we worked so hard to build up. And Jesus mandates that his disciples answer the question, and therefore we must answer the question, “but who do you say that I am?” Is Jesus an inspirational figure? Is he a pagan figure that will one day be consigned to the dust-bin of history?

Our temptation is to ride into the Kingdom on someone else’s confession. Someone else’s piety. But Jesus doesn’t make that option available for us. For those of us raised in a Christian home, I know this can be an especially great temptation. Perhaps your mother or father were fantastic Christians; loved and served the Lord. And they tried to teach you the faith and they modeled the life that Christ required. Friends, that’s a fantastic gift, but it won’t unite you to Christ. As they say, God has no grandchildren. We must come to a personal ownership of the identity of Christ. It must become our own, we must, like Peter answer Jesus to his face.

So what is it that Peter says? What are we to emulate? ““You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter confesses that there is none higher than Christ. Now Christ is not a last name, but rather, a title, just as son of man is. For Peter to say that “Jesus is the Christ” is to say that Jesus is the fulfillment and accomplishment of God’s redemption of all mankind. Jesus is the Messiah. Peter’s response is a model for us as it is the exchange of confession and repentance. To say that Christ is Lord, in a place named for the emperor, is to say that worldly powers are not over us, nor are we the final authority, but instead, Jesus is.

It is important to not just leave it at Peter’s statements, however. Take a look at how Jesus responds: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” Jesus blesses Simon for speaking the truth about Jesus amidst cultural and political confusion. And indeed, speaking truthfully about the Lordship of Christ is a praiseworthy and blessed enterprise. But what we need to notice is that Peter didn’t get there by being clever. As Jesus himself tells Peter, “For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” Peter, you didn’t get this by listening to the crowds—you received this insight by paying attention to how God has revealed this to you. Namely, by Jesus miraculous works, prophetic utterances, and love and compassion for those he encountered.

What does this tell us? It tells us that in order to answer correctly the question, “who do you say I am” we must look to the word of God to inform us about who Jesus is. We must seek the Father to reveal it to us. Not listen to the culture, which generally speaking, does not desire the things of God. Not listen to those who we look up to in terms of their faith or their spirituality. In short, nothing shy of the Word and Witness of God the Spirit is sufficient to reveal the truth about God the son. And we must take ownership of our beliefs about Jesus, and we must confess with our lips that he is Lord.

What We Do With What We Own

We spoke earlier concerning what we do with the things we own. Namely, how we treat them. And we concluded that it was reasonable to suggest that we carefully guard the things that we have possession of, be it an object or a belief. And think we see a warning about this following closely on the heels of Peter’s confession. It is significant that Peter is the one to voice the confession of Christ’s divinity, as he is shown so often as boldly leading, and brashly failing. Take a look at what occurs in verse 21 and onwards:

"From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, 'Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.' But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man'" (Matthew 16:21-23).

One can’t help but read these passages and identify with Peter, no? I think we admire his pluck, and his courage—his willingness to step out and be counted as a natural leader of the disciples. Peter’s courage, however, has landed him in some trouble. It would have been unthinkable for a proselyte to rebuke his Rabbi in the way that Peter has done here. And indeed, we can see the obvious gaffe that Peter makes, clearly overstepping the disciple/master relationship. But I think, as careful readers of the text, there is a warning here for us, as well. 

Peter rebukes the Lord for failing to behave in a way that Peter thought the Messiah should. Peter was confident to proclaim the divinity of Christ and testify to his miraculous deeds. But Peter gets carried away and believes he can dictate the terms of Christ’s lordship—not unlike how Jonah tried to prioritize God’s will in destroying Ninevah. What was necessary to complete Peter’s confession of Christ’s lordship, was to act like it. If Christ is Lord, that necessarily means that we are not. So friends, when we say Christ is Lord, we are not simply uttering words, but conforming our lives to the pattern of Jesus’ example—which in this case is suffering for the sake of others. When we take full ownership of the beliefs and values in our lives, we will act in accordance with those beliefs. If we say we value our children, we will treat them respectfully and justly, giving them our time and attention. If we value home-ownership, we will take care of our homes, updating them as we need to and keeping everything in good repair.

And when we answer the question that Jesus asks, “who do you say that I am” our beliefs about him will mould our actions, and the life we live, in a pluralistic and confused culture, one that pays Jesus only a passing lip-service, will testify to our answer. We believe he is the son of God, and we own that belief in a personal, life transforming way. We must look to our lives and ask—if my life was the only word spoken about Jesus, who would it say he was?

So, who do you say Jesus is? As we seek to answer that question, may we reflect lives that reflect the Lordship and beauty of Christ in greater and greater ways, so that we, like Peter, will hear our Lord say, Blessed are you, for my Father in heaven has revealed this to you.”

Personal ownership is a powerful thing, is it not? We spend much of our lives developing a sense the things we own, and the things we don’t. From a young age even, and we see this in our children, there are very clear lines between what is “mine” and what is “theirs”; however, most children think that just about everything is “mine”. But it goes beyond just knowing what’s “mine” and what is somebody else’s. Indeed, it reflects on how we care for the things that are ours. To use a personal example, one of my favourite things about Danielle is her care and attention to our home. Things are organized, and cared for with diligence and respect, befitting the things that are ours, or more properly, that God has given to us; because we own them. Are there things like that in your life? That you own, and as a result of your ownership, pay special attention to?

I think that this idea extends beyond just material objects, but to values and beliefs as well. From a young age I can recall my father demonstrating care and attention to his old Seiko watch. This taught me to care for the watches that I would one day come to own, but also to value watches as a thing. Perhaps we could extend the analogy to hunting. A father raises his children and takes them hunting on the weekends and they enjoy the time with him. However, there might come a day where the son or daughter takes a personal ownership of hunting. It has changed from something they did with their father to something they now value and enjoy. And this transfer, this process, is an essential part of growing up, and indeed, discovering what it is we value and why we value it, and how we should behave in relationship to it. 

In this first part of our weekend series of “questions Jesus asks” we see Jesus demonstrating this process of the need for personal ownership to his disciples and not just the necessity of it, but the dangers involved if we don’t. Let’s read our passage for this evening and we’ll discover what the Spirit has to say about it.

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. (Matthew 16:13-20)

Historical Context

So any time we approach a text, we must keep at the forefront of our minds the 5Ws so common to good journalists: who, what, why, where, when, and if it applies, how. And in verse 13, we should be prompted to ask what might seem to be a somewhat obvious question, where is Caesarea Philippi, and indeed, why does Matthew see fit to mention it? If you take a look at the back your bibles in the book of maps—one of the little known books of the bible—you’ll find that Caesarea Philippi is one of the northernmost points in the region of Palestine, at the southern slopes, the foot, of mount hermon, near the ancient city of Dan. Caesarea Philippi is a fascinating site because it features, and remains to this day, a cave underneath the initial portion of the mountain, with a cavernous well inside of it—a seemingly unlimited source of water. This made the site desirable for settlement and piqued the spiritual interest of various pagan groups.

Before the 2nd century, the site was probably inhabited by northern Canannintes, and was a distinct site of worship for their abominable pagan god Baal. After the 2nd century, the Greeks claimed the site and called it Paneas, in honour of the god Pan, building a small shrine to worship at the cave. In about the 4th century, Herod the Great built a temple there, and passed the site on to his son, Philip, who built the settlement, Caesarea Philippi, around there. And so you can see in the name, that Caesarea Philippi acknowledged both Caeser Augustus, and also, Philip, the settler and establisher of the city. What is fascinating, is that we see Jesus enter this site with his disciples—a site that has seen its share of religious and spiritual traffic. From the early days of Baal, worship, to the Greek god Pan, and now, the cult of Emperor worship—and it’s here that Jesus has a very fascinating dialogue with his disciples. Let’s tune in to that. 

Who Do People Say That I Am?

We see that it is entering into this area that prompts Jesus’ question of his disciples, v.13 “Who do people say that the son of man is?”. However, this question is by no means prompted only by their entrance into the city of Caesarea Philippi. Rather, this question has been building throughout the whole narrative of Matthew. Earlier in Matthew we see that Jesus has developed quite a following. If you flip back to Matthew 4:23-25, we see, that Jesus “…went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.” As well as numerous other incidents that have invoked the crowds’ “amazement” (7:28-29; 9:8, 26, 3, 33; 13:54; 15:31). We have seen people speculate about who Jesus is, from Herod Antipas in 14:1-2, “At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” To a guarded but hopeful assessment from John the Baptist in Matthew 11, wondering if Jesus is the messiah, or if they should expect someone else.

So this question about the identity of Jesus has been mounting throughout Matthew, and as a result, Matthew 16 represents a hinge point in the narrative, where the identity of Christ will be disclosed, and the course to Jerusalem will be set. So there is really quite an elegant arc in the story here, is there not? The tension builds to the northernmost point on the map, the identity of the Christ is disclosed, and events gain a rapid acceleration as Jesus sets his face to Jerusalem. So then—to Jesus’ question—who do people say that he is?

A Prophet or the Son of a Prophet—Platitudes 

We see that Matthew describes their response as a corporate one: “And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”” And it’s important to note a little bit about their answers here. When Jesus asks who people say the “Son of Man” is, we need to realize this is a title or a designation. It happens to be Jesus’ favourite designation for himself, and ties directly back to the book of Daniel and the messianic expectation contained therein. But obviously, the title needs further clarification—who is this person? And so the disciples, who “mix it up with the crowds” a little more, are in a good place to answer. And so we see them suggest, some say John the Baptist (Herod) and some Elijah. Now in one sense, neither of these answers are surprising—John had close connections with Jesus, and so Jesus might have been thought to be the continuation of John’s prophetic ministry, which worked powerfully throughout the regions of Palestine. Or similarly, Elijah, one of the foremost prophets of old. It was thought that Jesus was a continuation of Elijah’s divinely sanctioned prophetic voice to the community of Israel (possible note on Jeremiah, as well). 

But let’s get to the heart of the matter. All of these designations, are pretty favourable, aren’t they? I mean, to be compared to John the Baptist, or even Elijah! These terms show the reverence and respect that the people who heard of Jesus had for him. Right? “Oh man, he’s a great teacher.” “Oh, Jesus? I have heard he done some incredible miracles.” And I think that what we need to see here, is this isn’t a great deal different from the society that you, and I, find ourselves in today. Do you have experience with that? You hear someone on TV, or in movies talk about Christ and it’s generally pretty favourable. They might even give him honour. He’s a great teacher. He showed a great deal of compassion to the outsiders. Jesus is even set up in opposition to the actions and character of God in the Old Testament, supposedly juxtaposing God’s wrath with Jesus’ love and kindness. But notice, that Jesus requires a personal understanding, a personal ownership of who he is. It isn’t enough to go along with the general values of the crowd, Jesus fixes his eyes on the disciples, and we are his disciples and he asks, “But who do you say that I am?” 

Our Response

And this is where we can’t miss where it is that Jesus is asking this question. Caesarea Philippi had seen its share of influential cults and religious fads pass through. And Jesus brings them to this place and in effect is saying “look at this place. The gods and the cults have come and gone. Do you think I am just like one of these gods?” And friends, our culture is no different. We live in a world of transient saviors. Whether it’s the next prime minister, or the great job that we’ve landed, or the family we worked so hard to build up. And Jesus mandates that his disciples answer the question, and therefore we must answer the question, “but who do you say that I am?” Is Jesus an inspirational figure? Is he a pagan figure that will one day be consigned to the dust-bin of history?

Our temptation is to ride into the Kingdom on someone else’s confession. Someone else’s piety. But Jesus doesn’t make that option available for us. For those of us raised in a Christian home, I know this can be an especially great temptation. Perhaps your mother or father were fantastic Christians; loved and served the Lord. And they tried to teach you the faith and they modeled the life that Christ required. Friends, that’s a fantastic gift, but it won’t unite you to Christ. As they say, God has no grandchildren. We must come to a personal ownership of the identity of Christ. It must become our own, we must, like Peter answer Jesus to his face.

So what is it that Peter says? What are we to emulate? ““You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter confesses that there is none higher than Christ. Now Christ is not a last name, but rather, a title, just as son of man is. For Peter to say that “Jesus is the Christ” is to say that Jesus is the fulfillment and accomplishment of God’s redemption of all mankind. Jesus is the Messiah. Peter’s response is a model for us as it is the exchange of confession and repentance. To say that Christ is Lord, in a place named for the emperor, is to say that worldly powers are not over us, nor are we the final authority, but instead, Jesus is.

It is important to not just leave it at Peter’s statements, however. Take a look at how Jesus responds: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” Jesus blesses Simon for speaking the truth about Jesus amidst cultural and political confusion. And indeed, speaking truthfully about the Lordship of Christ is a praiseworthy and blessed enterprise. But what we need to notice is that Peter didn’t get there by being clever. As Jesus himself tells Peter, “For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” Peter, you didn’t get this by listening to the crowds—you received this insight by paying attention to how God has revealed this to you. Namely, by Jesus miraculous works, prophetic utterances, and love and compassion for those he encountered.

What does this tell us? It tells us that in order to answer correctly the question, “who do you say I am” we must look to the word of God to inform us about who Jesus is. We must seek the Father to reveal it to us. Not listen to the culture, which generally speaking, does not desire the things of God. Not listen to those who we look up to in terms of their faith or their spirituality. In short, nothing shy of the Word and Witness of God the Spirit is sufficient to reveal the truth about God the son. And we must take ownership of our beliefs about Jesus, and we must confess with our lips that he is Lord.

What We Do With What We Own

We spoke earlier concerning what we do with the things we own. Namely, how we treat them. And we concluded that it was reasonable to suggest that we carefully guard the things that we have possession of, be it an object or a belief. And think we see a warning about this following closely on the heels of Peter’s confession. It is significant that Peter is the one to voice the confession of Christ’s divinity, as he is shown so often as boldly leading, and brashly failing. Take a look at what occurs in verse 21 and onwards:

"From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, 'Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.' But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man'" (Matthew 16:21-23).

One can’t help but read these passages and identify with Peter, no? I think we admire his pluck, and his courage—his willingness to step out and be counted as a natural leader of the disciples. Peter’s courage, however, has landed him in some trouble. It would have been unthinkable for a proselyte to rebuke his Rabbi in the way that Peter has done here. And indeed, we can see the obvious gaffe that Peter makes, clearly overstepping the disciple/master relationship. But I think, as careful readers of the text, there is a warning here for us, as well. 

Peter rebukes the Lord for failing to behave in a way that Peter thought the Messiah should. Peter was confident to proclaim the divinity of Christ and testify to his miraculous deeds. But Peter gets carried away and believes he can dictate the terms of Christ’s lordship—not unlike how Jonah tried to prioritize God’s will in destroying Ninevah. What was necessary to complete Peter’s confession of Christ’s lordship, was to act like it. If Christ is Lord, that necessarily means that we are not. So friends, when we say Christ is Lord, we are not simply uttering words, but conforming our lives to the pattern of Jesus’ example—which in this case is suffering for the sake of others. When we take full ownership of the beliefs and values in our lives, we will act in accordance with those beliefs. If we say we value our children, we will treat them respectfully and justly, giving them our time and attention. If we value home-ownership, we will take care of our homes, updating them as we need to and keeping everything in good repair.

And when we answer the question that Jesus asks, “who do you say that I am” our beliefs about him will mould our actions, and the life we live, in a pluralistic and confused culture, one that pays Jesus only a passing lip-service, will testify to our answer. We believe he is the son of God, and we own that belief in a personal, life transforming way. We must look to our lives and ask—if my life was the only word spoken about Jesus, who would it say he was?

So, who do you say Jesus is? As we seek to answer that question, may we reflect lives that reflect the Lordship and beauty of Christ in greater and greater ways, so that we, like Peter, will hear our Lord say, Blessed are you, for my Father in heaven has revealed this to you.”

Are you happy this morning?

If yes, why? What’s making you happy today? What are the causes for your joy?

Are you unhappy this morning? If so, why? What’s causing your lack of joy? What would it take to make you happy today?

In our series on the Psalms we’ve been talking a lot about emotions. That’s the kind of territory that the Psalms deal with. We’ve heard how one third of the Psalms deal with themes of lament, sadness and sorrow.

But the Psalms don’t just deal with sadness. The Psalms also speak even more about joy—true, real and ultimate joy.

And that’s what our Psalm is about this morning. Psalm 32 is a Psalm about happiness and joy. And it’s laid out to answer three basic questions: “Who are the people who are genuinely happy? How can you know this to be true? And how can you become one of them yourself?”

Now before we hear how Psalm 32 answers those questions, I hope you know that these three questions are ones that people are asking and answering all the time. You’ve been asking these questions your whole life, even if you didn’t know it. And you’re surrounded by competing answers to these questions.

I think about an advertisement for a BBQ I saw yesterday that pictured a group of smiling models gathered around the grill. That advertisement was trying to answer these three questions for us.

Who are the genuinely happy? They are the people who have that BBQ. How can you know this to be true? Just look at the smiles on their faces. And how can you become one of them? You buy the BBQ. And wouldn’t you know, it’s on sale.

So Psalm 32 is not unique in that it tries to answer these three questions. It is profoundly unique in the answers it gives to these three questions. And so let’s dive in and see what it’s saying to us today.

Who Are the Genuinely Happy?

First question: who are the truly happy? And the answer from Psalm 32 is that the truly happy are those whose sins have been forgiven.

And we see that in those first two verses—“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). 

That word “blessed” means “truly happy.” It’s a different Hebrew word from the one we find in passages like Genesis 12:3, when God says to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you.” Or Deuteronomy 28, which speaks about the blessings of the covenant with Israel. Again, that’s a totally different Hebrew word than what we find in  Psalm 32.

Instead of referring to the blessings of children or wealth, this word in Psalm 32 has the more basic meaning of being genuinely happy.

And so the first two verses of Psalm 32 are telling us who the truly happy are. And there’s four statements that fill it in for us. The truly happy are those 1) whose transgression is forgiven, 2) whose sin is covered, 3) against whom the Lord does not count iniquity, and 4) in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Transgression and iniquity and sin all basically mean the same thing. The things we do which are wrong. And so the truly happy are those whose sin has been forgiven. Note that they are not sinless, but their sins have been forgiven.

How Do We Know This to Be True?

The answer to the second question comes in the next section of the Psalm, verses 3-5. Here’s where we are told how we know this to be true.

And what these verses do is describe a time in which David experienced the truth of verses 1-2. A time when he tasted the truth that the happy are the forgiven. And his experience is presented to us as a testimony to validate this truth.

So in the background here is the assumption that David had committed a sin. We’re not told any details about that sin. Some people have guessed it might be his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband. It might be, but it might not be. Psalm 32 supplies no details. It lets us fill in the blank.

And this is important. When we remember that the Psalms were Israel’s songbook, and that this Psalm would have been sung together by the people, then we can assume that David crafted the Psalm in this way so that we can fill our own blanks. 

Each one of God’s people can make these words their own, remembering the many times that we have been in this spot. When we have sinned and tried to hide it. When we have done what Adam did, running and hiding from God’s presence. Trying to keep our sin a secret from God. Trying to pretend it never happened.

And how did that go for David? “…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” (Psalm 32:3–4). 

David sinned and tried to hide his sin and as a result he was absolutely miserable. 

Now there’s some uncertainly here about whether these words about bones wasting away and strength being dried up are describing an actual physical sickness that David experienced, or if they are poetic language for what was going on in his heart, in his spirit.

It could be a fever or something like that, or it could be poetic language for that feeling you get after you’ve done something wrong, how you just feel miserable and it almost sucks the breath out of you.

And both ideas really work. We know, on the one hand, that God sometimes does remove the blessing of physical health when His people are walking in unrepentant sin. 

And this isn’t just an Old Covenant thing, by the way. 1 Corinthians 11 is the passage which speaks about the Lord’s supper, which we’re going to be celebrating later on this morning, and it tells us, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world” (1 Corinthians 11:27–32). 

This is not something we often talk about. This is not something that, to be honest, factors into my thinking very often. Here in the New Covenant, God sometimes uses physical sickness and even death to discipline his people.

Please notice that He’s not punishing them. The goal of this physical discipline is in fact so that they would not be “condemned along with the world” (v. 32).

And that much is certainly true of David’s case. He was suffering—either in his body, or his spirit, or both—not because God had abandoned Him or was being mean to him. Instead, as v. 4 says, “your hand was heavy upon me.” God was doing this. God was after his heart. His goodness and mercy was chasing him down, like we heard last week (Psalm 23:6). God loves His children enough to make them miserable enough to seek His face.

I’ve known people who have done something terrible like leave their wife for another woman, and they say “I’ve never been happier.” And if they are telling the truth then they don’t know God. Because God lives His children too much to allow them to experience fullness of joy while they’re in rebellion to Him.

Acknowledgement

So so David turns in verse 5. He turns back to the One who had been pursuing Him.

But notice how David does this. Notice what he doesn’t say. He doesn’t say, “It’s ok God, I’ll never do that again.” He doesn’t offer to punish himself or treat himself harshly in one way or another. He doesn’t go out and do something really good or spiritual to try and make up for it. 

What’s he say 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’” (Psalm 32:5). 

This verse is so remarkable in how unremarkable it is. Because all David did was just be honest. He just told God the truth that they both already knew. He just stopped trying to hide, and he confessed what he did.

There’s no hint here of “I’ll try better.” No bartering of good works to make up for the bad works. And what’s remarkable, given the Old Covenant setting, is that there’s no sacrifice mentioned. No animals being killed. Just simple honesty.

See, this is what verse 2 was talking about when it said “Blessed is the man…in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Psalm 32:2). Verse 5 is just filling that in more. David was not deceitful in his spirit regarding his sin, and instead he acknowledged and confessed it.

“You Forgave Me.”

And what did God do?

How did God respond to this child of his who had sinned against Him and had gone on trying to run and hide for so long?

And one again, before we answer that question, let’s ask: how do others tend to respond when we’ve been in this spot with them?

Think about the home you grew up in. How did you parents act when you had done something wrong and asked them to forgive you? Some of you grew up in homes where your parents were quick forgivers and had no problem forgiving you and bringing you back into fellowship.

But others of you grew up in homes where your parents would hold your failures over your head for hours, or maybe weeks, or maybe even years, and continue to punish you emotionally, repeatedly reminding you of what you did, and how you could never escape from your failures.

I bring this up because, whether we know it or not, our ideas of God are often significantly influenced by the way our parents treated us. Especially our fathers. Which is why your job is so big, dads.

And in contrast to all of that, just listen to verse 5 with fresh ears. “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” (Psalm 32:5). 

That’s it. David confessed, and God just…forgave him. I love how the NLT paraphrases this part of the passage. “And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone” (Psalm 32:5d, NLT).

Where’s the catch here? What did David need to do? What sort of recompense or reparations did he need to make? How did He pay God back for the way he had insulted him and treated him so poorly?

He didn’t. There is no catch here. All David does is admit to what happened—confessing and acknowledging his sin. And he is forgiven, 100%. His guilt is gone.

This is why the Apostle Paul quotes Psalm 32 in the book of Romans when he’s trying to explain how we are justified by faith and not by works. We are counted righteous by God even though we are in fact unrighteous and ungodly people. But through faith, and faith alone—not our good works—God counts us righteous for Jesus’ sake. And as he explains this, Paul quotes from Psalm 32. Listen to this part from Romans 4: 

“Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered’” (Romans 4:4–7). 

That’s what’s going on here in Psalm 32. David is experiencing the righteousness that comes by faith alone. Forgiveness that he doesn’t need to work for. He just confesses, and God forgives him.

What is Forgiveness?

So what does that actually mean? What has actually taken place here? What is forgiveness, as far as Psalm 32 is concerned?

We know from David’s story in 2 Samuel 11 that forgiveness does not mean zero consequences for our sin. There is always fallout when we chose to rebel against God. When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband, there were real and ongoing consequences for that sin.

So this idea of “forgive and forget” isn’t really true. Forgiveness does not mean pretending that the sin never happened in the first place.

But forgiveness meant that the guilt of his sin was removed. David’s fellowship with God was restored. Things were good between the two of them again. In terms of David’s relationship with God, it’s as if the sin never took place.

And this is where the joy comes in. This is why the forgiven are the truly happy. Because the forgiven are the ones who have a restored relationship with God.

And God is the source of all joy.  Like we heard a few weeks ago, in God’s presence there is fullness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).

And sin breaks our fellowship with God. It sends us off running into the trees like Adam, hiding from the source of all joy.

And this is one of the reasons why so many people today are miserable. This is one of the reasons why many Christians are miserable. Not the only reason, but a reason. Unconfessed sin has sent them running from the source of all joy, namely, God.

But God’s goodness and mercy pursues us, and when we turn, when we confess and acknowledge that sin, our faithful, covenant-keeping God is ready to forgive us.

Like the father of the prodigal son, He’s waiting at the door, eyes on the road, running to embrace us at at the first sight of our dirty faces.

And so, the forgiven are happy because the forgiven have a restored fellowship with God, who is the source of all joy.

How Can You Become One of Them?

Now all of that is in answer to that second major question this morning. First, who are the truly happy, and second, how can we know this to be true? The happy are the forgiven, and David’s experience illustrates this for us in living colour, as he experienced the misery of sin and the joy of a restored relationship with God.

Finally, Psalm 32 answers the last question, “how can I become one of these truly happy, forgiven people?” Verses 6 and following answer this question for us: “Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him” (Psalm 32:6–7). 

Let the godly pray to God “at a time when you may be found.” There’s a backhanded warning there in verse 6. Perhaps there is a time when He may not be found.

We learned last year in 1 John that if we never confess our sins, if we go on and on in an unbroken pattern of unrepentant sin, we prove that we are not in fact one of God’s children, that we are not in fact among the godly.

We prove that we are one of God’s children when we repent as soon as we can. And that seems to be David’s message here in verse 6. Yes, God is eager to forgive. So prove that you are God’s child by seeking that forgiveness today.

And when we do that, we will find God ready to protect and save us. That’s the idea behind the rush of great waters and the hiding place in verse 7. God is an able and a ready and an eager saviour. He surrounds us with shouts of deliverance (Psalm 32:7).

So that’s what we should do. And that’s what you should do this morning. Have you sinned recently? Are you trying to hide it or ignore it or pretend it away?

Just stop. Don’t be like a stubborn mule. And if that sounds offensive to you, that’s just verse 9. Don’t fight against God and force him to discipline you even more. Talk to God and seek His forgiveness today.

This is something we need to do regularly and often. And this, by the way, is why many churches throughout history have often included a part in their worship service where the people, together, out loud, confess their sins and ask for God’s mercy. That was just seen as a normal part of what Christians should do when they gather together.

And if you’ve noticed in recent months, our service leaders have often included words in their prayer during the service. They’ve prayed words of confession for our sins and sought God’s forgiveness.

And maybe sometime we’ll experiment with saying that kind of thing out loud together. It might feel strange to us, especially here in Canada where it’s not seen as polite to do that kind of thing. But I’ve heard from people in churches that have begun to reintroduce this practice and they’ve said it’s so freeing to say those kinds of words together, out loud, as a church.

So that’s what we should do. That’s how we become one of the truly happy people. Confess our sin and seek the forgiveness of our eagerly gracious God.

And verses 10 & 11 sum all of this up for us. “Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” (Psalm 32:10–11).  

Be glad! Be happy! Rejoice! Which, as we’ve seen, does not mean achieving sinless perfection. It means we just stop covering up our sin and we confess it freely to God and experience His eager forgiveness.

How Does This Work?

Now there’s one final question we need to ask this morning to really get our heads and hearts around this Psalm. And this one final question is, how does this forgiveness work? How is it even possible? How can God let David get away with his sin like this?

You know that feeling when you hear about that person who is charged with a crime but the judge gives them this piddly little sentence, or even no sentence at all, and you’re thinking “that’s not fair! You can’t just let them get away with that!”

That would not be an incorrect reaction to Psalm 32. You would be on the right track if you read Psalm 32 and thought, “What do you mean, ‘he forgave me’? How can he just do that? It’s not fair!”

You’re right, it’s not fair. And when God just passes over sin like this, it calls His righteousness into question. It calls His justice into question. It could makes one wonder if God really is as great and glorious as He says He is if he just lets people walk all over Him and get away with it.

And so there’s this tension in the storyline of the Bible, a tension that went on for centuries until it was shattered by the sound of a hammer pounding nails through the hands and feet of the sinless lamb of God.

Romans 4:25 tells us that Jesus died as a “propitiation.” And then it says, “This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” 

Here’s what this means: Jesus died as a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of His people. All of His people, from all of time. Whatever sin of David’s is in the background here in Psalm 32, Jesus paid for it on the cross. God’s wrath, stored up for all those years, fell on Him.

And so God could forgive David back in Psalm 32 because He knew that these sins would be paid for by His own son 1,000 years later.

For you and I, it works in the opposite direction. God can forgive our sin today because they already have been paid for by His own Son 2,000 years ago. Like the next verse in Romans 3 says this about Christ’s death: “It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).

And so, we come to the table this morning. The bread and the cup are here to help us remember and proclaim what Jesus did to make Psalm 32 possible. Forgiveness is not free. Grace is not cheap. But the price has been paid in full by our Saviour Jesus Christ.

So come, sinners, gather round the table and confess your sins to your Father and receive His forgiveness this morning as you eat and as you drink.

Are you happy this morning?

If yes, why? What’s making you happy today? What are the causes for your joy?

Are you unhappy this morning? If so, why? What’s causing your lack of joy? What would it take to make you happy today?

In our series on the Psalms we’ve been talking a lot about emotions. That’s the kind of territory that the Psalms deal with. We’ve heard how one third of the Psalms deal with themes of lament, sadness and sorrow.

But the Psalms don’t just deal with sadness. The Psalms also speak even more about joy—true, real and ultimate joy.

And that’s what our Psalm is about this morning. Psalm 32 is a Psalm about happiness and joy. And it’s laid out to answer three basic questions: “Who are the people who are genuinely happy? How can you know this to be true? And how can you become one of them yourself?”

Now before we hear how Psalm 32 answers those questions, I hope you know that these three questions are ones that people are asking and answering all the time. You’ve been asking these questions your whole life, even if you didn’t know it. And you’re surrounded by competing answers to these questions.

I think about an advertisement for a BBQ I saw yesterday that pictured a group of smiling models gathered around the grill. That advertisement was trying to answer these three questions for us.

Who are the genuinely happy? They are the people who have that BBQ. How can you know this to be true? Just look at the smiles on their faces. And how can you become one of them? You buy the BBQ. And wouldn’t you know, it’s on sale.

So Psalm 32 is not unique in that it tries to answer these three questions. It is profoundly unique in the answers it gives to these three questions. And so let’s dive in and see what it’s saying to us today.

Who Are the Genuinely Happy?

First question: who are the truly happy? And the answer from Psalm 32 is that the truly happy are those whose sins have been forgiven.

And we see that in those first two verses—“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). 

That word “blessed” means “truly happy.” It’s a different Hebrew word from the one we find in passages like Genesis 12:3, when God says to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you.” Or Deuteronomy 28, which speaks about the blessings of the covenant with Israel. Again, that’s a totally different Hebrew word than what we find in  Psalm 32.

Instead of referring to the blessings of children or wealth, this word in Psalm 32 has the more basic meaning of being genuinely happy.

And so the first two verses of Psalm 32 are telling us who the truly happy are. And there’s four statements that fill it in for us. The truly happy are those 1) whose transgression is forgiven, 2) whose sin is covered, 3) against whom the Lord does not count iniquity, and 4) in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Transgression and iniquity and sin all basically mean the same thing. The things we do which are wrong. And so the truly happy are those whose sin has been forgiven. Note that they are not sinless, but their sins have been forgiven.

How Do We Know This to Be True?

The answer to the second question comes in the next section of the Psalm, verses 3-5. Here’s where we are told how we know this to be true.

And what these verses do is describe a time in which David experienced the truth of verses 1-2. A time when he tasted the truth that the happy are the forgiven. And his experience is presented to us as a testimony to validate this truth.

So in the background here is the assumption that David had committed a sin. We’re not told any details about that sin. Some people have guessed it might be his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband. It might be, but it might not be. Psalm 32 supplies no details. It lets us fill in the blank.

And this is important. When we remember that the Psalms were Israel’s songbook, and that this Psalm would have been sung together by the people, then we can assume that David crafted the Psalm in this way so that we can fill our own blanks. 

Each one of God’s people can make these words their own, remembering the many times that we have been in this spot. When we have sinned and tried to hide it. When we have done what Adam did, running and hiding from God’s presence. Trying to keep our sin a secret from God. Trying to pretend it never happened.

And how did that go for David? “…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” (Psalm 32:3–4). 

David sinned and tried to hide his sin and as a result he was absolutely miserable. 

Now there’s some uncertainly here about whether these words about bones wasting away and strength being dried up are describing an actual physical sickness that David experienced, or if they are poetic language for what was going on in his heart, in his spirit.

It could be a fever or something like that, or it could be poetic language for that feeling you get after you’ve done something wrong, how you just feel miserable and it almost sucks the breath out of you.

And both ideas really work. We know, on the one hand, that God sometimes does remove the blessing of physical health when His people are walking in unrepentant sin. 

And this isn’t just an Old Covenant thing, by the way. 1 Corinthians 11 is the passage which speaks about the Lord’s supper, which we’re going to be celebrating later on this morning, and it tells us, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world” (1 Corinthians 11:27–32). 

This is not something we often talk about. This is not something that, to be honest, factors into my thinking very often. Here in the New Covenant, God sometimes uses physical sickness and even death to discipline his people.

Please notice that He’s not punishing them. The goal of this physical discipline is in fact so that they would not be “condemned along with the world” (v. 32).

And that much is certainly true of David’s case. He was suffering—either in his body, or his spirit, or both—not because God had abandoned Him or was being mean to him. Instead, as v. 4 says, “your hand was heavy upon me.” God was doing this. God was after his heart. His goodness and mercy was chasing him down, like we heard last week (Psalm 23:6). God loves His children enough to make them miserable enough to seek His face.

I’ve known people who have done something terrible like leave their wife for another woman, and they say “I’ve never been happier.” And if they are telling the truth then they don’t know God. Because God lives His children too much to allow them to experience fullness of joy while they’re in rebellion to Him.

Acknowledgement

So so David turns in verse 5. He turns back to the One who had been pursuing Him.

But notice how David does this. Notice what he doesn’t say. He doesn’t say, “It’s ok God, I’ll never do that again.” He doesn’t offer to punish himself or treat himself harshly in one way or another. He doesn’t go out and do something really good or spiritual to try and make up for it. 

What’s he say 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’” (Psalm 32:5). 

This verse is so remarkable in how unremarkable it is. Because all David did was just be honest. He just told God the truth that they both already knew. He just stopped trying to hide, and he confessed what he did.

There’s no hint here of “I’ll try better.” No bartering of good works to make up for the bad works. And what’s remarkable, given the Old Covenant setting, is that there’s no sacrifice mentioned. No animals being killed. Just simple honesty.

See, this is what verse 2 was talking about when it said “Blessed is the man…in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Psalm 32:2). Verse 5 is just filling that in more. David was not deceitful in his spirit regarding his sin, and instead he acknowledged and confessed it.

“You Forgave Me.”

And what did God do?

How did God respond to this child of his who had sinned against Him and had gone on trying to run and hide for so long?

And one again, before we answer that question, let’s ask: how do others tend to respond when we’ve been in this spot with them?

Think about the home you grew up in. How did you parents act when you had done something wrong and asked them to forgive you? Some of you grew up in homes where your parents were quick forgivers and had no problem forgiving you and bringing you back into fellowship.

But others of you grew up in homes where your parents would hold your failures over your head for hours, or maybe weeks, or maybe even years, and continue to punish you emotionally, repeatedly reminding you of what you did, and how you could never escape from your failures.

I bring this up because, whether we know it or not, our ideas of God are often significantly influenced by the way our parents treated us. Especially our fathers. Which is why your job is so big, dads.

And in contrast to all of that, just listen to verse 5 with fresh ears. “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” (Psalm 32:5). 

That’s it. David confessed, and God just…forgave him. I love how the NLT paraphrases this part of the passage. “And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone” (Psalm 32:5d, NLT).

Where’s the catch here? What did David need to do? What sort of recompense or reparations did he need to make? How did He pay God back for the way he had insulted him and treated him so poorly?

He didn’t. There is no catch here. All David does is admit to what happened—confessing and acknowledging his sin. And he is forgiven, 100%. His guilt is gone.

This is why the Apostle Paul quotes Psalm 32 in the book of Romans when he’s trying to explain how we are justified by faith and not by works. We are counted righteous by God even though we are in fact unrighteous and ungodly people. But through faith, and faith alone—not our good works—God counts us righteous for Jesus’ sake. And as he explains this, Paul quotes from Psalm 32. Listen to this part from Romans 4: 

“Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered’” (Romans 4:4–7). 

That’s what’s going on here in Psalm 32. David is experiencing the righteousness that comes by faith alone. Forgiveness that he doesn’t need to work for. He just confesses, and God forgives him.

What is Forgiveness?

So what does that actually mean? What has actually taken place here? What is forgiveness, as far as Psalm 32 is concerned?

We know from David’s story in 2 Samuel 11 that forgiveness does not mean zero consequences for our sin. There is always fallout when we chose to rebel against God. When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband, there were real and ongoing consequences for that sin.

So this idea of “forgive and forget” isn’t really true. Forgiveness does not mean pretending that the sin never happened in the first place.

But forgiveness meant that the guilt of his sin was removed. David’s fellowship with God was restored. Things were good between the two of them again. In terms of David’s relationship with God, it’s as if the sin never took place.

And this is where the joy comes in. This is why the forgiven are the truly happy. Because the forgiven are the ones who have a restored relationship with God.

And God is the source of all joy.  Like we heard a few weeks ago, in God’s presence there is fullness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).

And sin breaks our fellowship with God. It sends us off running into the trees like Adam, hiding from the source of all joy.

And this is one of the reasons why so many people today are miserable. This is one of the reasons why many Christians are miserable. Not the only reason, but a reason. Unconfessed sin has sent them running from the source of all joy, namely, God.

But God’s goodness and mercy pursues us, and when we turn, when we confess and acknowledge that sin, our faithful, covenant-keeping God is ready to forgive us.

Like the father of the prodigal son, He’s waiting at the door, eyes on the road, running to embrace us at at the first sight of our dirty faces.

And so, the forgiven are happy because the forgiven have a restored fellowship with God, who is the source of all joy.

How Can You Become One of Them?

Now all of that is in answer to that second major question this morning. First, who are the truly happy, and second, how can we know this to be true? The happy are the forgiven, and David’s experience illustrates this for us in living colour, as he experienced the misery of sin and the joy of a restored relationship with God.

Finally, Psalm 32 answers the last question, “how can I become one of these truly happy, forgiven people?” Verses 6 and following answer this question for us: “Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him” (Psalm 32:6–7). 

Let the godly pray to God “at a time when you may be found.” There’s a backhanded warning there in verse 6. Perhaps there is a time when He may not be found.

We learned last year in 1 John that if we never confess our sins, if we go on and on in an unbroken pattern of unrepentant sin, we prove that we are not in fact one of God’s children, that we are not in fact among the godly.

We prove that we are one of God’s children when we repent as soon as we can. And that seems to be David’s message here in verse 6. Yes, God is eager to forgive. So prove that you are God’s child by seeking that forgiveness today.

And when we do that, we will find God ready to protect and save us. That’s the idea behind the rush of great waters and the hiding place in verse 7. God is an able and a ready and an eager saviour. He surrounds us with shouts of deliverance (Psalm 32:7).

So that’s what we should do. And that’s what you should do this morning. Have you sinned recently? Are you trying to hide it or ignore it or pretend it away?

Just stop. Don’t be like a stubborn mule. And if that sounds offensive to you, that’s just verse 9. Don’t fight against God and force him to discipline you even more. Talk to God and seek His forgiveness today.

This is something we need to do regularly and often. And this, by the way, is why many churches throughout history have often included a part in their worship service where the people, together, out loud, confess their sins and ask for God’s mercy. That was just seen as a normal part of what Christians should do when they gather together.

And if you’ve noticed in recent months, our service leaders have often included words in their prayer during the service. They’ve prayed words of confession for our sins and sought God’s forgiveness.

And maybe sometime we’ll experiment with saying that kind of thing out loud together. It might feel strange to us, especially here in Canada where it’s not seen as polite to do that kind of thing. But I’ve heard from people in churches that have begun to reintroduce this practice and they’ve said it’s so freeing to say those kinds of words together, out loud, as a church.

So that’s what we should do. That’s how we become one of the truly happy people. Confess our sin and seek the forgiveness of our eagerly gracious God.

And verses 10 & 11 sum all of this up for us. “Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” (Psalm 32:10–11).  

Be glad! Be happy! Rejoice! Which, as we’ve seen, does not mean achieving sinless perfection. It means we just stop covering up our sin and we confess it freely to God and experience His eager forgiveness.

How Does This Work?

Now there’s one final question we need to ask this morning to really get our heads and hearts around this Psalm. And this one final question is, how does this forgiveness work? How is it even possible? How can God let David get away with his sin like this?

You know that feeling when you hear about that person who is charged with a crime but the judge gives them this piddly little sentence, or even no sentence at all, and you’re thinking “that’s not fair! You can’t just let them get away with that!”

That would not be an incorrect reaction to Psalm 32. You would be on the right track if you read Psalm 32 and thought, “What do you mean, ‘he forgave me’? How can he just do that? It’s not fair!”

You’re right, it’s not fair. And when God just passes over sin like this, it calls His righteousness into question. It calls His justice into question. It could makes one wonder if God really is as great and glorious as He says He is if he just lets people walk all over Him and get away with it.

And so there’s this tension in the storyline of the Bible, a tension that went on for centuries until it was shattered by the sound of a hammer pounding nails through the hands and feet of the sinless lamb of God.

Romans 4:25 tells us that Jesus died as a “propitiation.” And then it says, “This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” 

Here’s what this means: Jesus died as a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of His people. All of His people, from all of time. Whatever sin of David’s is in the background here in Psalm 32, Jesus paid for it on the cross. God’s wrath, stored up for all those years, fell on Him.

And so God could forgive David back in Psalm 32 because He knew that these sins would be paid for by His own son 1,000 years later.

For you and I, it works in the opposite direction. God can forgive our sin today because they already have been paid for by His own Son 2,000 years ago. Like the next verse in Romans 3 says this about Christ’s death: “It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).

And so, we come to the table this morning. The bread and the cup are here to help us remember and proclaim what Jesus did to make Psalm 32 possible. Forgiveness is not free. Grace is not cheap. But the price has been paid in full by our Saviour Jesus Christ.

So come, sinners, gather round the table and confess your sins to your Father and receive His forgiveness this morning as you eat and as you drink.

How old were you when you first memorized Psalm 23?

I was five. My kindergarten class out in Caronport memorized it. And all these years later, the words are still ingrained in my mind in all of their King James glory.

I still really respect my Kindergarten teacher. You try getting a room of give-year-olds to say “maketh” and “leadeth.”

But there’s no doubt that for many of us, Psalm 23 is the best-known Psalm and perhaps one of the best-known parts of Scripture.

Now there’s a few more questions I want to ask: what does Psalm 23 mean to you, today? When’s the last time you’ve pulled it out, so o speak, and have been helped or comforted by it? Is there a chance that the words to this Psalm are so familiar to you, and perhaps so associated with your childhood, that they maybe don’t affect you the way that they should?

It’s worth asking.

Or maybe, despite being familiar with these words, you struggle to understand what they all really mean. I remember someone telling me that they could never figure out why David didn’t want God to be their shepherd. “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.”

And so today, my aim is twofold. I want us to understand Psalm 23, and really get what these familiar words mean, and then I want us to see what these words mean for us today. And my prayer is that we’ll leave here today cherishing these words and loving and putting them to use in our lives more than we ever have before.

The Lord is My Shepherd

So we’re going to start by walking through the Psalm and exploring what it says and what it means. Ad we’ll begin right there in verse 1 with that opening phrase: “The Lord is my shepherd.” And right away, w need to stop and take a few minutes to unpack just how incredible this statement is.

First of all, note the first words. “The Lord.” You can see in your Bibles or the bulletin that “Lord” is small caps. This is translating God’s personal name. Yahweh.

That name is so meaningful. It’s not just a title. This is God’s name. And it’s a name that He revealed to His people in the context of covenant promises. It’s a name that served to remind His people of what He had done and all that He had promised to do, including His promise, given to Moses, to always be with them (Exodus 3:12).

So when David says that “Yahweh is my shepherd,” this statement carries with it so much weight. “Yahweh, whom Abraham called on and who saved Israel from Egypt and who has rescued His people over and over again in fulfillment of His promises—this one is my shepherd.”

And now just think about that word shepherd for a moment. This is such a wonderful word and the meaning is often lost on us in modern times. See, we don’t have many shepherds kicking around today. And when we think about a shepherd, we probably picture someone from a Bible story, wearing a bathrobe and a towel around their heads. And there’s something sort of unique to that picture.

But in ancient Israel, shepherds were not unique. A shepherd was a normal, common job. Like farmers or construction workers or truck drivers.

But beyond being a common job, it was also a humble job. You get that sense when David’s older brothers go to the feast with Samuel, or go off to war with the Philistines, and leave him with the sheep (1 Samuel 16:11, 17:28). His older brothers weren’t saying “pick me, I’ll stay with the sheep!” Being a shepherd was not a prestigious job.

But it was necessary work. In the Middle East, green grass and drinkable water aren’t everywhere. And back then they didn’t have massive pastures where they could just let the sheep graze unattended. The sheep had to be moving all the time from one patch of green grass to the next, from one drinking spot to another. And all the while, being vigilant for the wild animals who are looking for a free lunch of their own.

And there are some animals who can do this on their own. They know how to find fresh food and water and they do an ok job of defending themselves. But not sheep. Sheep were clueless with finding food or water in the Judean wilderness and they had no ability to defend themselves. 

And so sheep were completely dependant upon a shepherd to perform the demanding and humble work of leading them and providing for them and protecting them. And Psalm 23 tells us that God was the shepherd of His people.

It’s a very humbling thing for David to say this. It means that he sees himself as helpless and defenceless—just like a sheep. And it’s an astounding thing to say about God—that He would stoop o the common, humble job of shepherding his people.

But several other Scriptures point to this idea. Psalm 75:52, speaking about the Exodus from Egypt, says, “Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.” Isaiah 40:11 promises, “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”

Those are wonderful words, but Psalm 23 is so special in how personal it is. It does not say, “The Lord is our shepherd.” It says, “The Lord is my shepherd.” David is not speaking for the people here. He is speaking for Himself. Yahweh is his shepherd.

This is not out of place in the shepherding metaphor. A good shepherd doesn’t look out and see only a flock, a big mass of white and black. He sees individual sheep. He knows his sheep by name and knows how to care for them individually.

And so it is with Yahweh. David can say “He is my shepherd. He knows me personally. He is taking care of me.”

Yahweh is His shepherd. And He is a good shepherd. We see this in the second phrase in verse 1: “I shall not want.” In other words, “there’s nothing else that I want. My shepherd has so perfectly taken care of me that I am completely provided for. I have all that I need.” 

Acts of the Shepherd

And so, in verses 2 and 3, David describes what his good shepherd does. How is it that David has no needs, that he’s not wanting anything?

First, because his Shepherd makes him lie down in green pastures. What are green pastures if you’re a sheep? Food! Green pastures means that the shepherd has done his work of finding where the good food is and he’s brought the sheep there to enjoy.

Second, He leads him beside still waters. He’s found out the perfect watering hole and has brought him there to drink.

Both of these ideas speak of the way that God has provided for David’s needs. Just like food and water were basic to a sheep’s existence, so God has provided everything that David needs.

And so David says, in the beginning of verse 3, “He restores my soul.” The word “soul” here has the sense of “life.” God so provided for him that his whole life is revived.

Now for a good shepherd to provide for his sheep, he needs to lead them. He needs to guide them from one place to the next and help them find the provision they need. And so David says in verse 3, “He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Yahweh has helped David find and walk in the right paths, the right way of life.

If you’ve read through the book of 1 Samuel, you’ll read all about David’s years of wandering, often in the literal wilderness. Just like a sheep, he couldn’t be in one place for too long. But God was with him as he went from one place to the next. God provided for him. God took really good care of him.

And when David strayed from the path of righteousness, God sent people like Abigail or Nathan to put him back on the path.

God did this for His name’s sake. We’ve already seen how God’s very name, Yahweh, is a reminder of His promise to be with His people and fulfill His promises to them. And God’s reputation is on the line in the way that His people live and conduct themselves.

And so God’s concern for the glory of His own name caused Him to lead David to conduct his life in a righteous way.

Even in the Valley

We also know that David’s life was often difficult, filled with incredible suffering and pain. He was out in the wilderness because there was a bloodthirsty king hunting him down. For years he lived in constant danger, and after it all settled down, his own son came for him.

So how does this image of a cared-for sheep fit with those experiences? Where was his good shepherd when that stuff was going down?

David tells us in verse 4: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

“The valley of the shadow of death” might be referring to an experience where literal death was drawing near and casting its shadow over David’s life. He certainly had his fair share of those experiences.

This Hebrew phrase may also refer to a “valley of deep darkness,” as footnote in your ESV Bibles says. And in this sense, it’s continuing the sheep metaphor. In the Judean landscape, as the shepherd leads his sheep from one place to another, it’s common for them to need to pass through literal dark valleys.

And these are scary places. The sheep can’t see if there are wild animals waiting for them or precipices they could fall into. And so the valley of deep darkness was a place where death was not unlikely.

And yet, even there, even in a place of danger and darkness, David says that he will fear no evil. He is absolutely confident. Why?

Because his Shepherd is with him. “I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” Yahweh is right there with him in that deep, dark valley. And David the sheep draws comfort from the shepherd’s rod and staff.

The rod was a weapon that the shepherd would use to fight off wild animals and predators. And the staff was a crooked stick used to guide the sheep and keep them from straying.

In other words, David does not fear because Yahweh is with him, protecting him and guiding him, helping him to make the right decisions and go the right places and to not fall into evil. David is comforted by the active presence of his shepherd.

God as Host

So that’s the first half of the Psalm, using the metaphor of shepherding to speak about the way that the Lord had cared for David 

Now in the second half of this Psalm, beginning in verse 5, David actually switches metaphors. This used to cause me a lot of confusion as a child, because I didn’t understand what a sheep was doing at a table or holding a cup.

But that’s because David has moved on to a new metaphor. Drawing on ideas that were really familiar to his original readers, in verses 5 and 6 David describes God as a host, who has set a rich table for David and has invited him to feast.

Verse 5 tells us that God has prepared a table before him “in the presence of my enemies.” The idea here is that David has enemies, and they are right there at the feast, but they are powerless to harm him. Perhaps it’s because they’ve been captured in battle, and this is a victory feast. Regardless, Yahweh’s table is a safe place.

Two more phrases in verse 5 describe Yahweh’s hosting activity. First, David says He has “anointed his head with oil” (v. 5). This is not the kind of anointing as when David was anointed as a king. It’s a totally different Hebrew word.

This word refers to the common practice in that era of giving oil to your guests to put on their foreheads. This might seem kind of weird to us, but it’s something that good hosts did. The oil would make their faces shine and their dry skin be moisturized and they’d often add fragrance to the oil to cause them to smell nice. Just remember, nobody wore Old Spice back then.

So this idea of anointing points to Yahweh being a generous host. We see this further when David says at the end of verse 5 that his cup overflows. Hoses provided their guests with wine, and David has so much that his cup is overflowing. Yahweh is not holding anything back.

And Yahweh is not a grudging host. He’s not showing David hospitality just because He needs to or just because He doesn’t want to appear rude. No, as David says in verse 6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” That word for “follow” is often used of an enemy chasing someone to harm them. But here David says that Yahweh’s goodness and mercy are chasing him down. This generous host is eager to show Him steadfast love.

And so, David concludes, “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” The sense of the Hebrew here is that he’s going to come back and live in the house of this generous host for the rest of His days.

In David’s experience, this could be a desire to return to the tabernacle to worship. It could be referring to God’s heavenly dwelling. But either way, David is confident of a bright future because of the generous care of Yahweh, His shepherd and his host.

For You & I

So as we think about the life of David, it’s not hard to see how meaningful and rich these words would have been to him. And as this Psalm would have been picked up and sung by faithful Israelites, their hearts would have been comforted as they used these words to express trust in Yahweh’s tender, covenant-keeping love for them.

What about us today? What do these words mean for you and I at our part of the story?

A lot! For starters, this is our God. Our God has not changed. And in our New Covenant setting, we can appreciate and understand the truths of this Psalm in an even deeper way than David Himself did.

Yahweh as the shepherd of His people has been revealed to us even more clearly by Jesus Christ, who said, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14–15). 

I hope you see something powerful there: when Jesus says he is the good shepherd, He was not inventing a new idea. The people knew this idea that Yahweh was the shepherd of His people. And so when Jesus declares Himself to be the good shepherd, He is stating that He is God.

And just like Psalm 23 tells us, you and I can be confident in our Good Shepherd’s promise to provide for us. Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread (Matthew 6:12). And He promised to answer this prayer. Listen to what Jesus said to us: “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:31–33). 

The Lord is our shepherd, and we shall not want. This is an important promise for us in a season when the economy is not doing so hot. We can and should take comfort this morning in the promise of our Good Shepherd to provide for everything that we truly need.

And we know that sometimes, what He provides is not more money or more stuff, but the supernatural ability to be content with what we have. Thank of Paul’s words in Philippians 4: “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:12–13).

But whether we need money, or food, or clothing, or contentedness, our Good Shepherd knows and He will provide for us as we seek His kingdom first.

Next, think about verse 3. You and I, from our New-Covenant vantage point, know better than anyone else what it means for Yahweh to lead us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Through Christ we have the Holy Spirit Himself dwelling inside of us, leading us to live in a holy way that honours Him.

Think about Galatians 5, which speaks about being “led by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:18), and says, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” And it goes on to talk about the fruit that is borne in our lives as we walk by the Spirit.

These are just different words for what Psalm 23 describes: God, through His Holy Spirit, leading us to walk in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Or what about verse 4? Just like David, you and I can confess that even in the midst of danger and darkness, we need not fear, because He is with us.

Isn’t this what Paul celebrated in Romans 8:35? “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” (Romans 8:35). And then in verse 37: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37–39).

That’s the promise, the same truth that David clung to and the same truth that so many of you in this room have found refuge in. Some of you even right now are walking through valleys of deep darkness. You’ve been touched by the realities of death and pain and loss.

And these words should come to us as a profound comfort: that in the darkness, He is with us. The darkness will not separate us from His love. He is protecting us from Satan and is making sure that we don’t wander away from Him.

Sometimes this takes so much faith to believe, doesn’t it? Because so often, in the darkness, we feel alone. We feel like God is absent.

But we’re just like Shasta on the mountain pass from Archenland into Narnia. Feeling alone and miserable. But all the while being guarded and guided by the invisible Lion who has been with us all along. And if you have no idea what I just said, you need to go read “The Horse and His Boy” by C.S. Lewis. It’s in our library over there.

It’s because our feelings are so fickle that these words are here: to remind us of what is true and what is real. God is with us in the darkness. He does not let Satan touch us one bit apart from His perfect plan. He is guarding our faith and will not let one of His sheep wander away and be lost forever. He is with us.

So don’t trust your feelings. Don’t listen to your inner skeptic. Fight back against the doubt with these razor-sharp promises of God’s word. Even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death you need not fear any evil, for He is with you, protecting you and guiding you.

He is working all things together for your good (Romans 8:28). If He gave up His son for you, He will not hold back anything else that you need (Romans 8:32). And no valley is too dark to separate us from His love. These things are true, and Psalm 23 is given to us to help confirm and strengthen our faith for those times when we need to remember.

Before we close, let’s not forget the final image of the Psalm, of God as a host. Oh, there’s so much there for us today. But let’s remember that while God so often does richly care for us in this life, in Christ we have the promise of a very literal table spread for us in the Age to Come. 

Think of Christ on the night before He died for us, breaking bread and pouring wine, and then telling His disciples, “I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29).

There is a real feast being prepared for us. And while David may have hoped to return to the sanctuary throughout the rest of his life, we have the real hope of dwelling in God’s presence literally forever and ever. 

“They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:4–5). 

So what do we do with all of this? What do we do with the precious words of Psalm 23 and these bucketloads of rich promises?

We believe them. We trust these promises and hold them to be true.

And like we’ve already acknowledged, that may not be a simple thing. Every day, the world and the devil and our own flesh all work against us to make this hard to believe. In our world we’ve got a million perspectives and a million distractions that can make this idea of Yahweh as our shepherd feel distant and unreal.

So take up Psalm 23 and fight back. This is who God is. This is what’s true. This is who He has been and this is who He shall always be.

Memorize this Psalm, if you never have before. Tell it to yourself throughout the day. “The Lord is my shepherd.” Use these words to help you walk by faith and not by sight.

How old were you when you first memorized Psalm 23?

I was five. My kindergarten class out in Caronport memorized it. And all these years later, the words are still ingrained in my mind in all of their King James glory.

I still really respect my Kindergarten teacher. You try getting a room of give-year-olds to say “maketh” and “leadeth.”

But there’s no doubt that for many of us, Psalm 23 is the best-known Psalm and perhaps one of the best-known parts of Scripture.

Now there’s a few more questions I want to ask: what does Psalm 23 mean to you, today? When’s the last time you’ve pulled it out, so o speak, and have been helped or comforted by it? Is there a chance that the words to this Psalm are so familiar to you, and perhaps so associated with your childhood, that they maybe don’t affect you the way that they should?

It’s worth asking.

Or maybe, despite being familiar with these words, you struggle to understand what they all really mean. I remember someone telling me that they could never figure out why David didn’t want God to be their shepherd. “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.”

And so today, my aim is twofold. I want us to understand Psalm 23, and really get what these familiar words mean, and then I want us to see what these words mean for us today. And my prayer is that we’ll leave here today cherishing these words and loving and putting them to use in our lives more than we ever have before.

The Lord is My Shepherd

So we’re going to start by walking through the Psalm and exploring what it says and what it means. Ad we’ll begin right there in verse 1 with that opening phrase: “The Lord is my shepherd.” And right away, w need to stop and take a few minutes to unpack just how incredible this statement is.

First of all, note the first words. “The Lord.” You can see in your Bibles or the bulletin that “Lord” is small caps. This is translating God’s personal name. Yahweh.

That name is so meaningful. It’s not just a title. This is God’s name. And it’s a name that He revealed to His people in the context of covenant promises. It’s a name that served to remind His people of what He had done and all that He had promised to do, including His promise, given to Moses, to always be with them (Exodus 3:12).

So when David says that “Yahweh is my shepherd,” this statement carries with it so much weight. “Yahweh, whom Abraham called on and who saved Israel from Egypt and who has rescued His people over and over again in fulfillment of His promises—this one is my shepherd.”

And now just think about that word shepherd for a moment. This is such a wonderful word and the meaning is often lost on us in modern times. See, we don’t have many shepherds kicking around today. And when we think about a shepherd, we probably picture someone from a Bible story, wearing a bathrobe and a towel around their heads. And there’s something sort of unique to that picture.

But in ancient Israel, shepherds were not unique. A shepherd was a normal, common job. Like farmers or construction workers or truck drivers.

But beyond being a common job, it was also a humble job. You get that sense when David’s older brothers go to the feast with Samuel, or go off to war with the Philistines, and leave him with the sheep (1 Samuel 16:11, 17:28). His older brothers weren’t saying “pick me, I’ll stay with the sheep!” Being a shepherd was not a prestigious job.

But it was necessary work. In the Middle East, green grass and drinkable water aren’t everywhere. And back then they didn’t have massive pastures where they could just let the sheep graze unattended. The sheep had to be moving all the time from one patch of green grass to the next, from one drinking spot to another. And all the while, being vigilant for the wild animals who are looking for a free lunch of their own.

And there are some animals who can do this on their own. They know how to find fresh food and water and they do an ok job of defending themselves. But not sheep. Sheep were clueless with finding food or water in the Judean wilderness and they had no ability to defend themselves. 

And so sheep were completely dependant upon a shepherd to perform the demanding and humble work of leading them and providing for them and protecting them. And Psalm 23 tells us that God was the shepherd of His people.

It’s a very humbling thing for David to say this. It means that he sees himself as helpless and defenceless—just like a sheep. And it’s an astounding thing to say about God—that He would stoop o the common, humble job of shepherding his people.

But several other Scriptures point to this idea. Psalm 75:52, speaking about the Exodus from Egypt, says, “Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.” Isaiah 40:11 promises, “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”

Those are wonderful words, but Psalm 23 is so special in how personal it is. It does not say, “The Lord is our shepherd.” It says, “The Lord is my shepherd.” David is not speaking for the people here. He is speaking for Himself. Yahweh is his shepherd.

This is not out of place in the shepherding metaphor. A good shepherd doesn’t look out and see only a flock, a big mass of white and black. He sees individual sheep. He knows his sheep by name and knows how to care for them individually.

And so it is with Yahweh. David can say “He is my shepherd. He knows me personally. He is taking care of me.”

Yahweh is His shepherd. And He is a good shepherd. We see this in the second phrase in verse 1: “I shall not want.” In other words, “there’s nothing else that I want. My shepherd has so perfectly taken care of me that I am completely provided for. I have all that I need.” 

Acts of the Shepherd

And so, in verses 2 and 3, David describes what his good shepherd does. How is it that David has no needs, that he’s not wanting anything?

First, because his Shepherd makes him lie down in green pastures. What are green pastures if you’re a sheep? Food! Green pastures means that the shepherd has done his work of finding where the good food is and he’s brought the sheep there to enjoy.

Second, He leads him beside still waters. He’s found out the perfect watering hole and has brought him there to drink.

Both of these ideas speak of the way that God has provided for David’s needs. Just like food and water were basic to a sheep’s existence, so God has provided everything that David needs.

And so David says, in the beginning of verse 3, “He restores my soul.” The word “soul” here has the sense of “life.” God so provided for him that his whole life is revived.

Now for a good shepherd to provide for his sheep, he needs to lead them. He needs to guide them from one place to the next and help them find the provision they need. And so David says in verse 3, “He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Yahweh has helped David find and walk in the right paths, the right way of life.

If you’ve read through the book of 1 Samuel, you’ll read all about David’s years of wandering, often in the literal wilderness. Just like a sheep, he couldn’t be in one place for too long. But God was with him as he went from one place to the next. God provided for him. God took really good care of him.

And when David strayed from the path of righteousness, God sent people like Abigail or Nathan to put him back on the path.

God did this for His name’s sake. We’ve already seen how God’s very name, Yahweh, is a reminder of His promise to be with His people and fulfill His promises to them. And God’s reputation is on the line in the way that His people live and conduct themselves.

And so God’s concern for the glory of His own name caused Him to lead David to conduct his life in a righteous way.

Even in the Valley

We also know that David’s life was often difficult, filled with incredible suffering and pain. He was out in the wilderness because there was a bloodthirsty king hunting him down. For years he lived in constant danger, and after it all settled down, his own son came for him.

So how does this image of a cared-for sheep fit with those experiences? Where was his good shepherd when that stuff was going down?

David tells us in verse 4: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

“The valley of the shadow of death” might be referring to an experience where literal death was drawing near and casting its shadow over David’s life. He certainly had his fair share of those experiences.

This Hebrew phrase may also refer to a “valley of deep darkness,” as footnote in your ESV Bibles says. And in this sense, it’s continuing the sheep metaphor. In the Judean landscape, as the shepherd leads his sheep from one place to another, it’s common for them to need to pass through literal dark valleys.

And these are scary places. The sheep can’t see if there are wild animals waiting for them or precipices they could fall into. And so the valley of deep darkness was a place where death was not unlikely.

And yet, even there, even in a place of danger and darkness, David says that he will fear no evil. He is absolutely confident. Why?

Because his Shepherd is with him. “I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” Yahweh is right there with him in that deep, dark valley. And David the sheep draws comfort from the shepherd’s rod and staff.

The rod was a weapon that the shepherd would use to fight off wild animals and predators. And the staff was a crooked stick used to guide the sheep and keep them from straying.

In other words, David does not fear because Yahweh is with him, protecting him and guiding him, helping him to make the right decisions and go the right places and to not fall into evil. David is comforted by the active presence of his shepherd.

God as Host

So that’s the first half of the Psalm, using the metaphor of shepherding to speak about the way that the Lord had cared for David 

Now in the second half of this Psalm, beginning in verse 5, David actually switches metaphors. This used to cause me a lot of confusion as a child, because I didn’t understand what a sheep was doing at a table or holding a cup.

But that’s because David has moved on to a new metaphor. Drawing on ideas that were really familiar to his original readers, in verses 5 and 6 David describes God as a host, who has set a rich table for David and has invited him to feast.

Verse 5 tells us that God has prepared a table before him “in the presence of my enemies.” The idea here is that David has enemies, and they are right there at the feast, but they are powerless to harm him. Perhaps it’s because they’ve been captured in battle, and this is a victory feast. Regardless, Yahweh’s table is a safe place.

Two more phrases in verse 5 describe Yahweh’s hosting activity. First, David says He has “anointed his head with oil” (v. 5). This is not the kind of anointing as when David was anointed as a king. It’s a totally different Hebrew word.

This word refers to the common practice in that era of giving oil to your guests to put on their foreheads. This might seem kind of weird to us, but it’s something that good hosts did. The oil would make their faces shine and their dry skin be moisturized and they’d often add fragrance to the oil to cause them to smell nice. Just remember, nobody wore Old Spice back then.

So this idea of anointing points to Yahweh being a generous host. We see this further when David says at the end of verse 5 that his cup overflows. Hoses provided their guests with wine, and David has so much that his cup is overflowing. Yahweh is not holding anything back.

And Yahweh is not a grudging host. He’s not showing David hospitality just because He needs to or just because He doesn’t want to appear rude. No, as David says in verse 6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” That word for “follow” is often used of an enemy chasing someone to harm them. But here David says that Yahweh’s goodness and mercy are chasing him down. This generous host is eager to show Him steadfast love.

And so, David concludes, “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” The sense of the Hebrew here is that he’s going to come back and live in the house of this generous host for the rest of His days.

In David’s experience, this could be a desire to return to the tabernacle to worship. It could be referring to God’s heavenly dwelling. But either way, David is confident of a bright future because of the generous care of Yahweh, His shepherd and his host.

For You & I

So as we think about the life of David, it’s not hard to see how meaningful and rich these words would have been to him. And as this Psalm would have been picked up and sung by faithful Israelites, their hearts would have been comforted as they used these words to express trust in Yahweh’s tender, covenant-keeping love for them.

What about us today? What do these words mean for you and I at our part of the story?

A lot! For starters, this is our God. Our God has not changed. And in our New Covenant setting, we can appreciate and understand the truths of this Psalm in an even deeper way than David Himself did.

Yahweh as the shepherd of His people has been revealed to us even more clearly by Jesus Christ, who said, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14–15). 

I hope you see something powerful there: when Jesus says he is the good shepherd, He was not inventing a new idea. The people knew this idea that Yahweh was the shepherd of His people. And so when Jesus declares Himself to be the good shepherd, He is stating that He is God.

And just like Psalm 23 tells us, you and I can be confident in our Good Shepherd’s promise to provide for us. Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread (Matthew 6:12). And He promised to answer this prayer. Listen to what Jesus said to us: “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:31–33). 

The Lord is our shepherd, and we shall not want. This is an important promise for us in a season when the economy is not doing so hot. We can and should take comfort this morning in the promise of our Good Shepherd to provide for everything that we truly need.

And we know that sometimes, what He provides is not more money or more stuff, but the supernatural ability to be content with what we have. Thank of Paul’s words in Philippians 4: “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:12–13).

But whether we need money, or food, or clothing, or contentedness, our Good Shepherd knows and He will provide for us as we seek His kingdom first.

Next, think about verse 3. You and I, from our New-Covenant vantage point, know better than anyone else what it means for Yahweh to lead us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Through Christ we have the Holy Spirit Himself dwelling inside of us, leading us to live in a holy way that honours Him.

Think about Galatians 5, which speaks about being “led by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:18), and says, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” And it goes on to talk about the fruit that is borne in our lives as we walk by the Spirit.

These are just different words for what Psalm 23 describes: God, through His Holy Spirit, leading us to walk in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Or what about verse 4? Just like David, you and I can confess that even in the midst of danger and darkness, we need not fear, because He is with us.

Isn’t this what Paul celebrated in Romans 8:35? “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” (Romans 8:35). And then in verse 37: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37–39).

That’s the promise, the same truth that David clung to and the same truth that so many of you in this room have found refuge in. Some of you even right now are walking through valleys of deep darkness. You’ve been touched by the realities of death and pain and loss.

And these words should come to us as a profound comfort: that in the darkness, He is with us. The darkness will not separate us from His love. He is protecting us from Satan and is making sure that we don’t wander away from Him.

Sometimes this takes so much faith to believe, doesn’t it? Because so often, in the darkness, we feel alone. We feel like God is absent.

But we’re just like Shasta on the mountain pass from Archenland into Narnia. Feeling alone and miserable. But all the while being guarded and guided by the invisible Lion who has been with us all along. And if you have no idea what I just said, you need to go read “The Horse and His Boy” by C.S. Lewis. It’s in our library over there.

It’s because our feelings are so fickle that these words are here: to remind us of what is true and what is real. God is with us in the darkness. He does not let Satan touch us one bit apart from His perfect plan. He is guarding our faith and will not let one of His sheep wander away and be lost forever. He is with us.

So don’t trust your feelings. Don’t listen to your inner skeptic. Fight back against the doubt with these razor-sharp promises of God’s word. Even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death you need not fear any evil, for He is with you, protecting you and guiding you.

He is working all things together for your good (Romans 8:28). If He gave up His son for you, He will not hold back anything else that you need (Romans 8:32). And no valley is too dark to separate us from His love. These things are true, and Psalm 23 is given to us to help confirm and strengthen our faith for those times when we need to remember.

Before we close, let’s not forget the final image of the Psalm, of God as a host. Oh, there’s so much there for us today. But let’s remember that while God so often does richly care for us in this life, in Christ we have the promise of a very literal table spread for us in the Age to Come. 

Think of Christ on the night before He died for us, breaking bread and pouring wine, and then telling His disciples, “I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29).

There is a real feast being prepared for us. And while David may have hoped to return to the sanctuary throughout the rest of his life, we have the real hope of dwelling in God’s presence literally forever and ever. 

“They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:4–5). 

So what do we do with all of this? What do we do with the precious words of Psalm 23 and these bucketloads of rich promises?

We believe them. We trust these promises and hold them to be true.

And like we’ve already acknowledged, that may not be a simple thing. Every day, the world and the devil and our own flesh all work against us to make this hard to believe. In our world we’ve got a million perspectives and a million distractions that can make this idea of Yahweh as our shepherd feel distant and unreal.

So take up Psalm 23 and fight back. This is who God is. This is what’s true. This is who He has been and this is who He shall always be.

Memorize this Psalm, if you never have before. Tell it to yourself throughout the day. “The Lord is my shepherd.” Use these words to help you walk by faith and not by sight.

We’ve been studying the Psalms for the past three weeks, and one of the important things we’ve seen is how the Psalms really map out the territory of God’s relationship with His people. And the Psalms give a voice, a language, to God’s people in that relationship. They show us, often by example, how to pray and talk to God in the midst of the full gamut of life experiences.

And so we spent the first couple of weeks exploring lament, a theme we’ll return to again. And then last week, Psalm 16 showed us how an Israelite should express their faith in God in regards to the promise of the land he had given them.

Today, Psalm 19 brings us to another important stop in terms of our relationship with God, as this Psalm deals with the way that God has revealed Himself to us and the way that God communicates with us.

See, we use this language of a relationship with God, and we all know that relationships require communication. And so we know that we communicate with God by prayer. That’s a big theme in the Psalms, as most of the Psalms themselves are prayers.

But what about God’s communication with us? What does it look like, what form does it take? How do we hear from Him? Why is it important for us to listen? What are the effects on our life when we listen to Him instead of ignoring Him?

Psalm 19, a Psalm of David, answers these questions and more as it celebrates God’s revelation of Himself to us.

The Heavens Declare

Now you probably noticed as we read through Psalm 19 that it’s divided into two fairly well-defined sections. There’s a first half, and then a pretty clean break leading into the second half. And what we should understand is that these two sections of this Psalm are speaking to the two primary ways that God communicates with His people.

And so this first section, verses 1-6, celebrates the way that God communicates to us through creation. The world that God has created. And especially the sky.

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).

The heavens—the sky—is declaring God’s glory and proclaiming his handiwork.

Now right away, maybe you’re thinking, “Hey, I thought you said this Psalm talked about the way God communicates with us. But this verse doesn’t say anything about God communicating with us. It’s talking about the heavens and the sky declaring and proclaiming things to us.

But in turn, I would ask, who made the heavens to declare God’s glory? Who designed the sky so that it would proclaim God’s handiwork?

God did. God made them for this job. God is communicating to us about Himself through this world that He has made.

Now there are all kinds of implications of this truth, but just personally, I find this so helpful. I don’t know about you, but I am not always aware of the the glory of God. It’s so sad to actually say it, but I often forget how big and how wonderful God is. My heart gets easily crowded out with smaller and lesser things and I find I need to be reminded, over and over, about how great and glorious God is.

And sometimes I’ve thought, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I had someone to just follow me around constantly telling me, ‘God is great. God is big and glorious. Don’t forget how powerful and capable and faithful your God is.’”

Psalm 19 tells us that we do have such a thing and it’s called the sky. Just look up. Take in the billowing clouds, the blazing colours of sunrise and sunset, and then at night, the billion galaxies speaking to us about a God so great and so powerful and so glorious as to make all of this.

Now verses 2-4 tell us that the sky never stops talking, 24/7, and that there is nobody on earth who doesn’t have access to this communication.

But I think that you and I, living here in the land of living skies, might have a slight advantage when it comes to hearing what the skies are telling us. When my family moved out here from Ottawa we were stunned with the sky—sunsets that wrap 360° around you, or being able to stand in one spot on a summer day and see three or four or five weather systems in different parts of the sky moving all around you.

And then moving up to Nipawin away from the city lights, I’ve been amazed again at the night sky and how many stars we can see, and then you throw northern lights in the mix, and it’s safe to say that you and I, living in this town, have front-row seats to the glory of God on display in the skies. And day after day, night after night, in a language that all people in all parts of the world can understand, we are being preached to, shouted at even, by the sky. It’s reminding us over and over about how great and glorious our God is.

Like a Bridgegroom

It’s interesting to note the end of verse 4 and see how David zeroes in on one aspect of the heavens, which is the sun. 

You and I can perhaps take the sun for granted. It’s just there. We have electric lights which means that we’re not as dependant upon the sun as people in the ancient world were. We’re less likely to feel thankful for its brightness after a long, dark night the way that they would have.

But to them, the sun was everything. Just think about that opening scene on the Lion King, when the sun rises and the whole world wakes up to a song. The sun was so important that it was often worshipped as a god by the nations surrounding Israel.

And so this section just masterfully celebrates the sun and its wonderful brightness while pointing us back to the God who made it. God has made a place for the sun in the sky. He put it there. It’s His handiwork. And so, having established that, verse 5 can go on to celebrate its light and the way that it brings joy and life to this world. The rising of the sun is compared to a “bridegroom leaving his chamber” (v. 5) Like a newlywed man leaving his honeymoon suite. Literally beaming. (Notice how God is not as embarrassed about that kind of language as we sometimes are.)

These words celebrate the glory of the sun, but they also tell us that this glory is just a witness to the greater glory that made it. God is revealing Himself to us through this world that He has made.

Theologians have often referred to this as “general revelation.” It’s the revelation about God that we can see just by looking around us. Romans 1:20 puts it this way: “… his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made…” 

That’s what the heavens are telling us, and we should listen up.

The Law of the Lord

But we should also pause and think about how much this world, for all of its non-stop communication, doesn’t tell us. It does tell us about a creator who is glorious and has eternal power and who deserves our honour and thanks.

But it doesn’t tell us what His name is. It doesn’t don’t tell us he difference between right and wrong. It doesn’t tell us what to do with our guilty conscience. It doesn’t tell us how to get to know this Creator any better or how to seek forgiveness and redemption from our sin.

For all of that, we need more than just general revelation. We need special revelation. We need God Himself to communicate to us with language, with words, in a direct and propositional and personal way.

And the wonder is that God has communicated this way with us. And it’s this direct, special revelation that David celebrates in the second half of the Psalm. 

After celebrating the heavens and the sun, David goes on to say, in verse 7, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether” (Psalm 19:7–9).

In these three verses, David uses six different phrases to describe God’s special revelation to His people. Law, testimony, precepts, commandment, fear, and rules.

And it might seem like these six words are talking about six different things, but in reality these are all synonyms—six different words all describing the same thing.  And what they are describing is God’s revelation to Israel through Moses. The Mosaic covenant. It’s what we have preserved today in the first five books of the Bible, what we might call the Torah or the Pentateuch. We know this because five out of six of these words are used in the Pentateuch to refer to itself. These were familiar words describing God’s revelation to Israel through Moses.

And David’s point in Psalm 19 is that for as wonderful as the general revelation in nature is, God’s special revelation through Moses was so much better. Just look at what David says about God’s word in verses 7-9. He says that it is perfect, it is sure, it is right, it is pure, it is clean, is endures forever, it is true, and it is righteous altogether.

Do you get the picture here? Do you think David has any problems with God’s word? Does he see any imperfections? Anything he thinks God could have improved on? Of course not.

David could not have said anything more to communicate the absolute perfection of God’s revelation.

Let’s ask another question. What else in the universe fits this description that David gives? What else can we think of that is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, everlasting, true, and altogether righteous?

God. God is like that.

And so when God—the perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, eternal, true, and altogether righteous one—when He speaks, when He reveals Himself with words, His word is like Him. And that’s what David celebrates in these verses.

Finally, David tells us what this special revelation from God does for His people. We know that the sun brings heat and light and makes things grow. But what does the light of God’s word do as it shines on us?

“The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul” (Psalm 19:7a). When the souls of God’s people are tired and sluggish, His word revives them.

“The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7b). God’s word is the source of wisdom, teaching God’s people the truth and making the simple wise.

“The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart” (Psalm 19:8a). God’s revelation brings joy and delight to the hearts of God’s people.

“The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psalm 19:8b). Having our eyes being enlightened or bright means that we’re active and alert. Just think of that phrase, “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.” Forget about the tail thing, but the idea is that God’s word gives us vitality and energy.

What the sun does to this physical world, God’s word does to our souls. It is the source of life and joy and growth. And therefore, it is supremely valuable. 

Like verse 10 says, “More to be desired are they then gold, even much fine gold” (Psalm 19:10a). These are amazing words, spoken in a covenant when God’s word promised wealth to those who would obey. And David recognizes this, as he says in verse 11: “Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward” (Psalm 19:11).

But first David establishes that God’s word isn’t just a means to an end. It’s not just a ticket for getting what you want. God’s word is far more valuable than the gold which you might get when you obey it. It is the real treasure.

And this sense of personal delight in God’s word comes through in the rest of verse 10: “…sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10b).

God’s people don’t just understand the value of His word with their minds. They feel it in their hearts. They have tasted the goodness of His word and it is sweet to their souls. 

Living and Active

Now where David goes next, in verses 12 and following, is really important, and to understand what he’s saying we’ll need to remember the first half of the Psalm and how it wrapped up.

Verse 6 spoke about the sun, and said that “Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat” (Psalm 19:6). The sun’s heat penetrates to every nook and cranny of the surface of the earth. It’s virtually impossible to hide from it. Think especially of what these words would have meant to people living in the Middle East, where the pounding heat of the sun is felt a lot stronger and far more often than it is for us here in Saskatchewan.

And David uses this same word, “hidden,” in verse 12 to describe the effect that God’s instruction has on his heart. After surveying the goodness of God’s word to Israel, he writes, “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression” (Psalm 19:12–13). 

This is the language of a man who has felt himself standing exposed before the penetrating light of God’s word. Just like the sun to the earth, God’s word has shown him that there are nooks and crannies to his soul that he himself isn’t even fully aware of. David knows himself to be exposed before the penetrating view of God through His word.

And so David’s only response is to beg for mercy and ask for help. “Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins” (Psalm 19:12b-13a).

This is how God’s people were to respond to His instruction. Not like the Pharisees, using the law as a weapon to beat down other people and puff themselves up. No, a proper understanding of God’s law led to humility and a deep awareness of their need for God’s mercy.

And God’s word, shining like the sun, has done its work in David’s heart. He knows he needs a redeemer. He knows he can’t please God on his own. He knows he is in deep need of God’s gracious help in his heart. And so he concludes by praying, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).

Application

So there is Psalm 19: God’s general revelation to us in nature and His special revelation to us in His word.

And the application for us this morning is really quite simple: Psalm 19 calls us to listen to God’s revelation and respond to it the way that David did. 

1) It starts with creation, even specifically with the heavens above. What does it look like for us to really listen to what creation is saying about God?

For starters, just like in David’s say, we need to reject much of the messaging coming to us from the rest of the world. 

In David’s day, they were told by those around them that the sun was not made by their God. The sun had its own origin story. The heavens were declaring their own glory, not the glory of God.

Today, it’s not that different, is it? We’re also told that the sun and moon and stars were not created by our God. Nature has its own origin story and it’s not what we read in Scripture. And the heavens are not declaring the glory of anything, because science has explained that all away.

Psalm 19 calls us to remember the true story. To remember that the heavens were created by God for the purpose of declaring His glory. To understand that science—real science—doesn’t explain God away but rather explains how God chose to set things up. And Psalm 19 calls us to cultivate a deep appreciation and sense of wonder in this creation that God has made us apart of.

Parents, teach your kids to look up at the big, colourful sky and say “wow!” Don’t let them go through life distracted by the lesser glory of device screens. Turn off the DVD player in the minivan and tell your kids to look out the window and be stunned at what their God has made. As you slather sunscreen on them this summer talk to them about how awesome the sun is and how much it tells us about our Creator. Let them stay up during the meteor shower this summer and teach them to hear what the heavens are declaring.

There’s so much more about this that we could say, but hopefully that’s a start to point us in the right direction. Let’s, all of us, really listen to what the heavens are declaring.

2) Second, let’s really listen to what God’s word is declaring. And as we think about this side of things, I actually have three specific points I want to make for us.

a) First, Psalm 19 shows us how to appreciate all of Scripture. And here’s what I mean: these words that David uses in Psalm 19—law, precept, testimony—all point to the Torah, the instruction God gave through Moses which we have in the first five books of the Bible.

But we need to remember, at that point, that this was all that they had. David doesn’t have all 66 books of the Bible before him, and so he’s not singling out one part of God’s word as being more special than the rest. He’s just talking about the one part of God’s word that they actually had at that point.

And we should understand that we can apply these same words to the rest of God’s word. We can look at all 66 books and say “this came from God, and it is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, everlasting, true, and altogether righteous. More valuable than gold, sweeter than honey.”

Hebrews 1:1 points us in this direction when it says “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets” (Hebrews 1:1). All of the Bible is God’s word, and so Psalm 19’s words applies to it all.

So so we should hear what Psalm 19 is saying about Scripture, and ask ourselves: do we love God’s word this way? Do we treasure it like David did? Is God’s word more valuable to you than wealth? Sweeter to you than honey?

Here at EBC we are Evangelical Christians, and more specifically than that, we are Baptists—a “people of the book”—who have insisted, throughout history, that God’s word is more important than human tradition.

But even as Baptists, we’re never immune to the temptation of establishing our own traditions which we hold to without ever examining them in the light of Scripture. We’re never immune to the danger of getting so comfortable with the Bible that we take it for granted, and start to confuse our own opinions and preferences with God’s Holy word.

It can happen so quick. I just came away from an intensive one-week class on church history, and I’m reminded again and again of how easily churches slip, and how vigilant we must be to let God’s word, and nothing else, define us.

So Psalm 19 calls us to step away from the little lightbulbs that we so often satisfy ourselves with and to step outside into the blazing sun of God’s word, letting it examine and search us out.

Hebrews 4:12-13 tells us that “…the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

So these words, together with Psalm 19, call us to humble, open-hearted allegiance to God’s word. They call us to study the Bible so that it can study us. They call us to search the Scriptures so that they can search us and shape us and cause us to walk in faithfulness.

b) Now having said that, Psalm 19 also does tell us about the importance of the first five books of the Bible. Just look what God’s law did to David’s heart. And yes, the whole Bible does this for us. But we can’t forget that the law of Moses continues to play an important role in showing us the righteousness of God and revealing our sin and reminding us how much we need God’s grace.

The next time you’re feeling pretty good about yourself, just read Deuteronomy 6:5: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” And very quickly you’ll be brought face-to-face with how sinful and weak you actually are, and how much you need a saviour to rescue you and forgive you.

And yet we know, better than David, who that Saviour is. Hebrews 1, which starts by saying, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,” goes on to say, “but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Hebrews 1:1–2).

When we call God “our rock and our redeemer,” we know, even better than David, what that means. We know about Jesus who took on flesh and fulfilled the law perfectly and died in our place to satisfy God’s justice and pay for every single one of our sins. We know about His resurrection and His Holy Spirit who has come to live inside of us and help us fulfill the righteous requirement of the law as He causes us to walk in love for God and each other.

So let Psalm 19 lead you to an open Bible and a bloody cross and an empty grave and to the wonderfully, supernaturally normal Spirit-empowered life that is ours to live at our place in the story.

And so we’re going to end this morning the way that Psalm 19 ends: by humbling ourselves before the blazing light of God’s truth and asking Him to have His way in our heart. David said, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14). And we’re going to say, “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.” May we be yours, O Lord, and nothing else.

We’ve been studying the Psalms for the past three weeks, and one of the important things we’ve seen is how the Psalms really map out the territory of God’s relationship with His people. And the Psalms give a voice, a language, to God’s people in that relationship. They show us, often by example, how to pray and talk to God in the midst of the full gamut of life experiences.

And so we spent the first couple of weeks exploring lament, a theme we’ll return to again. And then last week, Psalm 16 showed us how an Israelite should express their faith in God in regards to the promise of the land he had given them.

Today, Psalm 19 brings us to another important stop in terms of our relationship with God, as this Psalm deals with the way that God has revealed Himself to us and the way that God communicates with us.

See, we use this language of a relationship with God, and we all know that relationships require communication. And so we know that we communicate with God by prayer. That’s a big theme in the Psalms, as most of the Psalms themselves are prayers.

But what about God’s communication with us? What does it look like, what form does it take? How do we hear from Him? Why is it important for us to listen? What are the effects on our life when we listen to Him instead of ignoring Him?

Psalm 19, a Psalm of David, answers these questions and more as it celebrates God’s revelation of Himself to us.

The Heavens Declare

Now you probably noticed as we read through Psalm 19 that it’s divided into two fairly well-defined sections. There’s a first half, and then a pretty clean break leading into the second half. And what we should understand is that these two sections of this Psalm are speaking to the two primary ways that God communicates with His people.

And so this first section, verses 1-6, celebrates the way that God communicates to us through creation. The world that God has created. And especially the sky.

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).

The heavens—the sky—is declaring God’s glory and proclaiming his handiwork.

Now right away, maybe you’re thinking, “Hey, I thought you said this Psalm talked about the way God communicates with us. But this verse doesn’t say anything about God communicating with us. It’s talking about the heavens and the sky declaring and proclaiming things to us.

But in turn, I would ask, who made the heavens to declare God’s glory? Who designed the sky so that it would proclaim God’s handiwork?

God did. God made them for this job. God is communicating to us about Himself through this world that He has made.

Now there are all kinds of implications of this truth, but just personally, I find this so helpful. I don’t know about you, but I am not always aware of the the glory of God. It’s so sad to actually say it, but I often forget how big and how wonderful God is. My heart gets easily crowded out with smaller and lesser things and I find I need to be reminded, over and over, about how great and glorious God is.

And sometimes I’ve thought, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I had someone to just follow me around constantly telling me, ‘God is great. God is big and glorious. Don’t forget how powerful and capable and faithful your God is.’”

Psalm 19 tells us that we do have such a thing and it’s called the sky. Just look up. Take in the billowing clouds, the blazing colours of sunrise and sunset, and then at night, the billion galaxies speaking to us about a God so great and so powerful and so glorious as to make all of this.

Now verses 2-4 tell us that the sky never stops talking, 24/7, and that there is nobody on earth who doesn’t have access to this communication.

But I think that you and I, living here in the land of living skies, might have a slight advantage when it comes to hearing what the skies are telling us. When my family moved out here from Ottawa we were stunned with the sky—sunsets that wrap 360° around you, or being able to stand in one spot on a summer day and see three or four or five weather systems in different parts of the sky moving all around you.

And then moving up to Nipawin away from the city lights, I’ve been amazed again at the night sky and how many stars we can see, and then you throw northern lights in the mix, and it’s safe to say that you and I, living in this town, have front-row seats to the glory of God on display in the skies. And day after day, night after night, in a language that all people in all parts of the world can understand, we are being preached to, shouted at even, by the sky. It’s reminding us over and over about how great and glorious our God is.

Like a Bridgegroom

It’s interesting to note the end of verse 4 and see how David zeroes in on one aspect of the heavens, which is the sun. 

You and I can perhaps take the sun for granted. It’s just there. We have electric lights which means that we’re not as dependant upon the sun as people in the ancient world were. We’re less likely to feel thankful for its brightness after a long, dark night the way that they would have.

But to them, the sun was everything. Just think about that opening scene on the Lion King, when the sun rises and the whole world wakes up to a song. The sun was so important that it was often worshipped as a god by the nations surrounding Israel.

And so this section just masterfully celebrates the sun and its wonderful brightness while pointing us back to the God who made it. God has made a place for the sun in the sky. He put it there. It’s His handiwork. And so, having established that, verse 5 can go on to celebrate its light and the way that it brings joy and life to this world. The rising of the sun is compared to a “bridegroom leaving his chamber” (v. 5) Like a newlywed man leaving his honeymoon suite. Literally beaming. (Notice how God is not as embarrassed about that kind of language as we sometimes are.)

These words celebrate the glory of the sun, but they also tell us that this glory is just a witness to the greater glory that made it. God is revealing Himself to us through this world that He has made.

Theologians have often referred to this as “general revelation.” It’s the revelation about God that we can see just by looking around us. Romans 1:20 puts it this way: “… his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made…” 

That’s what the heavens are telling us, and we should listen up.

The Law of the Lord

But we should also pause and think about how much this world, for all of its non-stop communication, doesn’t tell us. It does tell us about a creator who is glorious and has eternal power and who deserves our honour and thanks.

But it doesn’t tell us what His name is. It doesn’t don’t tell us he difference between right and wrong. It doesn’t tell us what to do with our guilty conscience. It doesn’t tell us how to get to know this Creator any better or how to seek forgiveness and redemption from our sin.

For all of that, we need more than just general revelation. We need special revelation. We need God Himself to communicate to us with language, with words, in a direct and propositional and personal way.

And the wonder is that God has communicated this way with us. And it’s this direct, special revelation that David celebrates in the second half of the Psalm. 

After celebrating the heavens and the sun, David goes on to say, in verse 7, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether” (Psalm 19:7–9).

In these three verses, David uses six different phrases to describe God’s special revelation to His people. Law, testimony, precepts, commandment, fear, and rules.

And it might seem like these six words are talking about six different things, but in reality these are all synonyms—six different words all describing the same thing.  And what they are describing is God’s revelation to Israel through Moses. The Mosaic covenant. It’s what we have preserved today in the first five books of the Bible, what we might call the Torah or the Pentateuch. We know this because five out of six of these words are used in the Pentateuch to refer to itself. These were familiar words describing God’s revelation to Israel through Moses.

And David’s point in Psalm 19 is that for as wonderful as the general revelation in nature is, God’s special revelation through Moses was so much better. Just look at what David says about God’s word in verses 7-9. He says that it is perfect, it is sure, it is right, it is pure, it is clean, is endures forever, it is true, and it is righteous altogether.

Do you get the picture here? Do you think David has any problems with God’s word? Does he see any imperfections? Anything he thinks God could have improved on? Of course not.

David could not have said anything more to communicate the absolute perfection of God’s revelation.

Let’s ask another question. What else in the universe fits this description that David gives? What else can we think of that is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, everlasting, true, and altogether righteous?

God. God is like that.

And so when God—the perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, eternal, true, and altogether righteous one—when He speaks, when He reveals Himself with words, His word is like Him. And that’s what David celebrates in these verses.

Finally, David tells us what this special revelation from God does for His people. We know that the sun brings heat and light and makes things grow. But what does the light of God’s word do as it shines on us?

“The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul” (Psalm 19:7a). When the souls of God’s people are tired and sluggish, His word revives them.

“The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7b). God’s word is the source of wisdom, teaching God’s people the truth and making the simple wise.

“The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart” (Psalm 19:8a). God’s revelation brings joy and delight to the hearts of God’s people.

“The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psalm 19:8b). Having our eyes being enlightened or bright means that we’re active and alert. Just think of that phrase, “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.” Forget about the tail thing, but the idea is that God’s word gives us vitality and energy.

What the sun does to this physical world, God’s word does to our souls. It is the source of life and joy and growth. And therefore, it is supremely valuable. 

Like verse 10 says, “More to be desired are they then gold, even much fine gold” (Psalm 19:10a). These are amazing words, spoken in a covenant when God’s word promised wealth to those who would obey. And David recognizes this, as he says in verse 11: “Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward” (Psalm 19:11).

But first David establishes that God’s word isn’t just a means to an end. It’s not just a ticket for getting what you want. God’s word is far more valuable than the gold which you might get when you obey it. It is the real treasure.

And this sense of personal delight in God’s word comes through in the rest of verse 10: “…sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10b).

God’s people don’t just understand the value of His word with their minds. They feel it in their hearts. They have tasted the goodness of His word and it is sweet to their souls. 

Living and Active

Now where David goes next, in verses 12 and following, is really important, and to understand what he’s saying we’ll need to remember the first half of the Psalm and how it wrapped up.

Verse 6 spoke about the sun, and said that “Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat” (Psalm 19:6). The sun’s heat penetrates to every nook and cranny of the surface of the earth. It’s virtually impossible to hide from it. Think especially of what these words would have meant to people living in the Middle East, where the pounding heat of the sun is felt a lot stronger and far more often than it is for us here in Saskatchewan.

And David uses this same word, “hidden,” in verse 12 to describe the effect that God’s instruction has on his heart. After surveying the goodness of God’s word to Israel, he writes, “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression” (Psalm 19:12–13). 

This is the language of a man who has felt himself standing exposed before the penetrating light of God’s word. Just like the sun to the earth, God’s word has shown him that there are nooks and crannies to his soul that he himself isn’t even fully aware of. David knows himself to be exposed before the penetrating view of God through His word.

And so David’s only response is to beg for mercy and ask for help. “Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins” (Psalm 19:12b-13a).

This is how God’s people were to respond to His instruction. Not like the Pharisees, using the law as a weapon to beat down other people and puff themselves up. No, a proper understanding of God’s law led to humility and a deep awareness of their need for God’s mercy.

And God’s word, shining like the sun, has done its work in David’s heart. He knows he needs a redeemer. He knows he can’t please God on his own. He knows he is in deep need of God’s gracious help in his heart. And so he concludes by praying, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).

Application

So there is Psalm 19: God’s general revelation to us in nature and His special revelation to us in His word.

And the application for us this morning is really quite simple: Psalm 19 calls us to listen to God’s revelation and respond to it the way that David did. 

1) It starts with creation, even specifically with the heavens above. What does it look like for us to really listen to what creation is saying about God?

For starters, just like in David’s say, we need to reject much of the messaging coming to us from the rest of the world. 

In David’s day, they were told by those around them that the sun was not made by their God. The sun had its own origin story. The heavens were declaring their own glory, not the glory of God.

Today, it’s not that different, is it? We’re also told that the sun and moon and stars were not created by our God. Nature has its own origin story and it’s not what we read in Scripture. And the heavens are not declaring the glory of anything, because science has explained that all away.

Psalm 19 calls us to remember the true story. To remember that the heavens were created by God for the purpose of declaring His glory. To understand that science—real science—doesn’t explain God away but rather explains how God chose to set things up. And Psalm 19 calls us to cultivate a deep appreciation and sense of wonder in this creation that God has made us apart of.

Parents, teach your kids to look up at the big, colourful sky and say “wow!” Don’t let them go through life distracted by the lesser glory of device screens. Turn off the DVD player in the minivan and tell your kids to look out the window and be stunned at what their God has made. As you slather sunscreen on them this summer talk to them about how awesome the sun is and how much it tells us about our Creator. Let them stay up during the meteor shower this summer and teach them to hear what the heavens are declaring.

There’s so much more about this that we could say, but hopefully that’s a start to point us in the right direction. Let’s, all of us, really listen to what the heavens are declaring.

2) Second, let’s really listen to what God’s word is declaring. And as we think about this side of things, I actually have three specific points I want to make for us.

a) First, Psalm 19 shows us how to appreciate all of Scripture. And here’s what I mean: these words that David uses in Psalm 19—law, precept, testimony—all point to the Torah, the instruction God gave through Moses which we have in the first five books of the Bible.

But we need to remember, at that point, that this was all that they had. David doesn’t have all 66 books of the Bible before him, and so he’s not singling out one part of God’s word as being more special than the rest. He’s just talking about the one part of God’s word that they actually had at that point.

And we should understand that we can apply these same words to the rest of God’s word. We can look at all 66 books and say “this came from God, and it is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, everlasting, true, and altogether righteous. More valuable than gold, sweeter than honey.”

Hebrews 1:1 points us in this direction when it says “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets” (Hebrews 1:1). All of the Bible is God’s word, and so Psalm 19’s words applies to it all.

So so we should hear what Psalm 19 is saying about Scripture, and ask ourselves: do we love God’s word this way? Do we treasure it like David did? Is God’s word more valuable to you than wealth? Sweeter to you than honey?

Here at EBC we are Evangelical Christians, and more specifically than that, we are Baptists—a “people of the book”—who have insisted, throughout history, that God’s word is more important than human tradition.

But even as Baptists, we’re never immune to the temptation of establishing our own traditions which we hold to without ever examining them in the light of Scripture. We’re never immune to the danger of getting so comfortable with the Bible that we take it for granted, and start to confuse our own opinions and preferences with God’s Holy word.

It can happen so quick. I just came away from an intensive one-week class on church history, and I’m reminded again and again of how easily churches slip, and how vigilant we must be to let God’s word, and nothing else, define us.

So Psalm 19 calls us to step away from the little lightbulbs that we so often satisfy ourselves with and to step outside into the blazing sun of God’s word, letting it examine and search us out.

Hebrews 4:12-13 tells us that “…the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

So these words, together with Psalm 19, call us to humble, open-hearted allegiance to God’s word. They call us to study the Bible so that it can study us. They call us to search the Scriptures so that they can search us and shape us and cause us to walk in faithfulness.

b) Now having said that, Psalm 19 also does tell us about the importance of the first five books of the Bible. Just look what God’s law did to David’s heart. And yes, the whole Bible does this for us. But we can’t forget that the law of Moses continues to play an important role in showing us the righteousness of God and revealing our sin and reminding us how much we need God’s grace.

The next time you’re feeling pretty good about yourself, just read Deuteronomy 6:5: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” And very quickly you’ll be brought face-to-face with how sinful and weak you actually are, and how much you need a saviour to rescue you and forgive you.

And yet we know, better than David, who that Saviour is. Hebrews 1, which starts by saying, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,” goes on to say, “but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Hebrews 1:1–2).

When we call God “our rock and our redeemer,” we know, even better than David, what that means. We know about Jesus who took on flesh and fulfilled the law perfectly and died in our place to satisfy God’s justice and pay for every single one of our sins. We know about His resurrection and His Holy Spirit who has come to live inside of us and help us fulfill the righteous requirement of the law as He causes us to walk in love for God and each other.

So let Psalm 19 lead you to an open Bible and a bloody cross and an empty grave and to the wonderfully, supernaturally normal Spirit-empowered life that is ours to live at our place in the story.

And so we’re going to end this morning the way that Psalm 19 ends: by humbling ourselves before the blazing light of God’s truth and asking Him to have His way in our heart. David said, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14). And we’re going to say, “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.” May we be yours, O Lord, and nothing else.