"Forgive All My Sins" Sermon: Pslam 25

“Forgive All My Sins”
[Psalm 25]
March 1, 2009 Second Reformed Church

This first Sunday in Lent, we are turning to a Psalm that David wrote later in life. We know it was written later in life, because he reflects on the “sins of [his] youth,” so David is looking back on his past sins. At the same time he bemoans his misery, he calls on God for mercy, reminding God of Who God is and what His Character proves.

In the first verse of the Psalm, verses one to three, and we remember that the Psalms were sung, David cries out to God that his soul was downcast, but it is lifted up because the Lord is trustworthy. David admits that looking at himself and the condition he has brought upon himself, he fell into despair, but then he was lifted out of that despair by remembering Who God is and what He has promised. One thing that God has promised is that, in the end, those who wait upon the Lord will not be put to shame.

As we live our lives, we are faced with temptations from the world, the flesh, and the devil. All around us, people are sinning and inviting us to join in, our own flesh is leading us to follow after our own favorite sinful pleasures, and the devil, himself, has sent his demons to lead us away from the path of righteousness that God has set before us. And we know that we have sinned – we have failed God and not been obedient – and if we do not lift our eyes off our ourselves, our souls will be downcast – we will lose hope and despair – rightly so. But David gives us the example that the Christian should follow: we ought to turn from ourselves to the Face of God, as He has revealed Himself in the Scripture, and be lifted up by what we find there – because of Who God is and what He has done.

Have you found that to be true? Have you looked at your past sins and regretted what you have done? Have you found the only way to be lifted up again is to turn to God and think on Who He is and what He has done?

In the second verse, verses four and five, David confesses that God is the Only Salvation and those who have found their salvation in God ought to wait on Him – meditate on Him – all the day long. When believers make waiting on God their life, God leads them in Truth and teaches them and guides them in the way that they should go.

Let us understand that David is not saying that we should all stay in our homes and spend all our waking hours studying the Scripture. He is not saying that we should all go into monasteries and spend our lives meditating on the Word of God until we die. No, what David is saying is that God and His Ways should be before us at all times. Yes, we are to spend time reading and studying the Scripture, both individually and in groups, but we are also to go out and live our lives before the world with the things that God has taught us in our minds and hearts, being practiced and witnessed in all that we do. He is also saying that those who come to know the Glory of God in salvation want more –we ought to find ourselves being drawn away from the worthless pursuits of the world and being drawn to know God and His Word better.

Do you want to know Him better? Do you want to know Him more? Has some of the bright things of the world grown dim as you have considered the Glory of God?

In the next verse, verses six and seven, David reminds God of what he has learned of God’s Character. David reminds God that God’s Mercy and Steadfast Love are eternal characteristics of God – that before the creation of the Creation, God is Merciful and full of Steadfast Love. These are not new characteristics that came into being in response to humanity, but God has always been Merciful and full of Steadfast Love, even before any of us existed. So David asks God, not based on any merit David had earned, even as the one known as “the man after God’s Own Heart,” but based on the Eternal Mercy and Steadfast Love of God – and the Goodness of God, David asks that his youthful sins and transgressions be forgiven.

God’s Love and Mercy exist from before the foundation of the world – they are part of his Eternal Character. As we understand that we are sinners in need of forgiveness, there is nothing in ourselves that we can fall back on to justify God forgiving us. We cannot look at our good works and ask God to forgive us based on them, because we can never do enough to cover all the sin that we have committed. Sin against the Holy God requires eternal punishment for the debt to be satisfied – none of us can give that and survive. Our only hope is to turn to God and ask that He would forgive us for His Sake, based on Who He is Alone – the Only One Who can merit forgiving us is God. That is why God had to come to earth, live, suffer, and die a criminal’s death – there was no other way any of us could be forgive by God, unless God took our place to merit His Own Forgiveness and satisfy His Justice. So, let us humble ourselves and fall before God, asking Him to forgive our sins.

Have you given up trying to earn God’s forgiveness? Have you recognized that God is too holy to accept any work of your hands as enough? Have you received with joy forgiveness through God the Savior – the Only One Who can and will forgive?

In the fourth verse, David continues to reflect on the Character of God, in verses eight through ten. God is Good, in a way that no human has ever been good – He is the Highest Good. God is Upright – there is no deceit, no shadow of turning, with God – He is Pure Truth and Honesty. And because He is Good and Upright, He is Teacher to sinners who follow His Way. He is Guide to those who humble themselves and seek to follow His Ways. And those who keep the covenant with God and are faithful to His Testimonies are led by God in paths of steadfast love and faithfulness.

We see that it is both God Who forgives and God Who keeps His people faithful to His Covenant and His Testimonies. We are born dead and we are reborn weak, saved by the Savior, but still, in this life, unable to perfectly keep everything that God has put before us – we continue to grow at the feet of our God – we continue to fall more deeply in Love with our God as He matures us and makes us more faithful to Him.

Do you love our God more today then you did when He first called you to receive His Salvation? Do you desire to be closer to Him, more faithful, more intimately knowing of Him? Our hearts wax and wane, but we ought to be able to see progress through our Savior’s Work in us.

The crescendo of humility is found in fifth verse, verse eleven of the Psalm, “For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.” David pulls out the “big guns” – the Name of God – and asks that his pardon be for the sake of the Lord’s Name. David recognizes the weight of his sin, but rather than turning to his merit, rather than making a “deal” with God, rather then just reminding God of His Mercy and Steadfast Love, David now asks, for the sake of God’s Name, to be forgiven.

What is David asking? What does it mean when we talk about bearing the Name of God? It means that we are known as God’s people and that we desire and ought to be reflecting God’s Glory back to Him. People ought to see something of the Glory of God in us and be directed and drawn to God, Himself. So, David is asking that God would glorify Himself by forgiving David and make it known that David was forgiven only for the sake of God’s Glory.

Isn’t that the Gospel? That humans sinned and are now born dead in sin, unable to help, much less save ourselves, so God Glorified Himself by coming to earth in the Person of Jesus Christ, lived, died, rose, and ascended back to the Right Hand of the Father, having defeated sin and death and having won a people for Himself God Glorified Himself through Jesus Christ by pardoning our guilt through His Perfect Work of Salvation, so we are now forgiven Glorious Gospel – fulfillment of David’s request

Have you received the Gift of Salvation from Jesus? It is the Only Way God can and will forgive you. You can only be forgiven if God glorifies Himself by saving You – by Himself, on His Own, for His Name’s Sake. Do you believe Him?

David continues in the next verse, verses twelve through fifteen, by describing the relationship he has with the Lord God as one who has been forgiven for his sins for the Name’s Sake of the Lord: the one who fears the Lord – the one who is in awe before God, humbly waiting on Him, learning from Him, will be led by the Lord in the way that he should go. He will be kept safe and prosper in the Hand and the Will of the Almighty. He will know the Lord and His Word; He will be intimately entwined in the Covenant Promises of God. However, that does not mean that everyone the Lord saves will be “healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

The picture that David draws in this verse is of the person of God being like a bird: we are given wings to fly, and we are called to keep our eyes on God – on His Ways. As we do that, we know Him better and learn from Him. But, as we do that, we are not looking at the things around us or below us, and the world, the flesh, and the devil are seeking to catch us in their nets. And since we are not yet perfect, our feet do get caught in nets of sin, and we need to call on the forgiveness of the Lord for His Name’s Sake again. But notice: David tells us that if our eyes are on the Lord, if we are seeking His Ways, if we are not seeking after sin, if we turn to Him for help and hope, “he will pluck [our] feet out of the net.” There is sin and suffering in this world after our salvation and before Jesus returns, but, if our response is to once again train our eyes on God, He will forgive us, He will remove our feet from the net and restore us to Him.

Are your feet stuck this morning? Turn to Jesus and ask Him to forgive you. Look to Jesus for the way out of sin. Ask Him to release you from the trap you have flown into. He loves to glorify Himself through our salvation and He will not lose one person that has been given to Him. So, turn to Jesus.

In the final verse of this Psalm, we see that even though David has been forgiven for his sins – and we see that he asks again to be forgiven for all of his sins – because we will continue to sin until Jesus returns – though we ought find ourselves sinning less as time goes by – David acknowledges that there are consequences to sin. David was lonely and afflicted. He was troubled and distressed. His foes were hunting him down, and they hated him. David understood that even though he was forgiven for his sin, he would suffer some of the consequences of his sin. Still, he confesses that his refuge is in God, and he asks that he would maintain his integrity and righteousness, and that God would preserve him through these things, as David waited on the Lord, and, if God was willing, that he would be delivered from some of the sufferings that had befallen him for his sin.

It is a hard lesson to learn that just because we are forgiven does not mean that we will not suffer at least some of the consequences of our sin. Because David was a man of bloodshed, God would not allow David to build the temple, nor would God allow David to end his reign in peace. Instead, David saw the sword come up among his sons as they battled for the throne. Still, David was forgiven for his sin. And David’s response was the right one – no matter what he had to endure, his trust, his hope, his refuge was ever in God.

All those who believe in the Savior are forgiven for all their sins, but we still experience suffering for sin. Do you trust God? Do you believe, despite whatever happens on this earth, that He is the Only Hope – the Only Refuge? Do you believe that when this life is through you will be perfected and restored, never able to sin again, but forever before the God you have believed in – living and loving in His Glory?

David ends his Psalm connecting his forgiveness and salvation to that of the whole Israel of God: “Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.” In this context, we should understand David to be referring not to the nation of Israel, but to the Israel of God – all those who believe in the Savior. He is asking that God will save them from all their sins. David asked that God would save you and me – that He would forgive all my sins and all your sins. David is referring to the communion of the saints.

The communion of the saints, which we confess belief in every week, means that we are equally members of Christ’s Body, the Church – all those throughout time and space who confess faith in God’s Savior. It also means, as David was praying for in this Psalm, that we are to be actively seeking the salvation of all those God has given to Jesus.

The Church is bigger than this sanctuary – this building. Do you pray for the salvation of God’s people? Do you look forward to the day when we will all be together in the Kingdom?

As we meet with Jesus and He ministers to us by His Grace through the bread and the cup, let us renew our commitment to see the whole Church being brought into the Kingdom, and let us reaffirm our belief that all our sins are forgiven only for the sake of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for the witness of David in this Psalm, that You are our Savior, and that You save us for Your Sake, by Yourself, and for Your Glory. Draw us closer to You. Make Yourself evermore our great desire. Mature us. And make our live lives of trusting in You and Your Promises and looking forward to the full indwelling of Your Kingdom. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.