Psalm 32 from South Woods Baptist Church on Vimeo.

This past Tuesday, Apple unveiled their next phone, the Apple X (10). Though I didn’t watch the Keynote, a few articles I read about it intrigued me. One in particular was entitled, “At the Apple Keynote, Selling us a Better Vision of Ourselves.”[1] The author began by describing the augmented reality provided by the new iPhone. In short, you’ve not seen the sky until you’ve seen it with our camera. They promise: things will look better.

But that’s not the only promise: you’ll feel better, too. The author wrote, “A promo video for the Apple Watch as a fitness tool was so heartwarming and inspirational I think the Apple Watch might be running for president.”

And there’s yet more Apple will deliver. Hear from the architect himself, Tim Cook. He said Tuesday, “Apple Retail has always been about more than selling. It’s about learning, inspiring, and connecting with people.” In fact, they’ve started calling their stores “Town Squares” in an effort to help users connect with other people. In summation: things will look better, you’ll feel better, and we’ll set up a space for you to make some friends.

And the author of this NYT article knew the allure was a lure. He wrote, “Another year from now, I’ll set another reminder to watch another Apple event, believing somewhere deep down that with one more upgrade, I might be perfected.”

One of my friends, Jason Hood, commented, “The phone became fresh, and dwelt among us.” There are implied promises attached to all kinds of products, many of which seem to correspond with, or contribute to, human happiness. Our Psalm makes the same promises.

1. The Forgiveness of God (v.1-5)

Like Psalm 1, and the Sermon on the Mount, this Psalm begins with an assertion concerning blessing. As we noted in the sermon on Psalm 1, there is actually another Hebrew term most often translated blessed. Because of this, many believe a better translation of this first word––here and Psalm 1––would actually be “happy.”[2]

However, the first thing we’re going to note is that while the Psalmist is making a claim about happiness, he also assumes the presence of that which threatens happiness: sin.

In this Psalm, David uses a number of word sets of 3’s.

A. 3 Words for Sin

The first set is 3 different words describing humanity’s broken relationship with God. The first word, “transgression,” infers the idea of an act where one crosses a line. There’s a moral boundary the man or woman steps across. It’s an act of rebellion.[3]

The second word in v. 1, “sin,”––the most general of the terms––is less about crossing a line but rather concerns turning from the right path. It’s often been described as missing the mark.[4] It’s not the moral line you knew not to cross; instead it’s a bull’s-eye you fail to hit.

The third word––in verse 2––is iniquity. This is the warped human nature.[5] It’s a distortion of the will of God by His image–bearers.[6]

We’ll see those same three terms in verse 5 in a moment, but they ought not be bifurcated too sharply as if we’re plagued by sin but not by transgression. The Psalmist is merely using the three terms to describe from somewhat different angles the plight of humanity and the breadth of their rebellion against the Lord. If you don’t recall crossing a line, surely you don’t think you’ve always hit the mark.

Growing up, I often heard that angle––missing the mark––used with arrow illustrations. Maybe that’s helpful to you. But this week I heard Alistair Begg talk about shooting a basketball in reference to it.

Because I’m more Steve Kerr than Legolas, this grabbed my attention. I used to play ball all the time. In fact, I was nearly as tall as I am today back in 5th grade. So, I had something of an advantage. I still play on occasion, especially over here at the Germantown Center. However, since so much of your shot is muscle memory, basketball is not exactly like riding a bike. My wrist has forgotten a good bit.

Now, it’s one thing to mi[...]