20th September 2026

Experiencing the Psalms 9 – 20/09/26 (Psalms 32 & 51)

Readings:- 2 Samuel12:1-14 & Psalm 51:1-4 & 10-17

Last week, in Psalm 103, we saw the joy that there is in God's forgiveness. The 2 psalms that we’re going to talk about this morning also talk about that, but at the same time they give us a window into the anguish that sin can cause to the person who commits it.

So, before we go any further, at the risk of preaching to the converted, I need to say a few words about what the Bible calls “sin”.  I know that some of us struggle with the concept, and that some non-Christians think that it’s just a ploy to make people feel guilty, when they aren’t, in order to bamboozle them into becoming Christians.

But we need to understand that the Adam and Eve story, whether it’s true or a myth doesn’t matter, is found at the beginning of the Bible quite deliberately, because it shows us something absolutely fundamental. And that is that the one main differences between God and man, although we’re made in his image, is that God is love, and man isn’t.

Instead, he’s inherently self-centred and rebellious. Are you self-centred and rebellious? No, of course not.  -  -  -  -  Well, just occasionally, a teeny-weeny bit perhaps.

And there you have it.

God, though, because he is neither of those things, and because he’s the personification of love, wants a relationship with us anyway. And not just any-old relationship, like the one between you and your next-door neighbour, or the one between you and your best friend, or even the one between you and your spouse and your children, but much, much, deeper and far reaching. So far reaching, in fact, that he reached down to earth from heaven, in the person of his son Jesus, to offer forgiveness, however little or however much there is to forgive.

So that’s why, in one of the most quoted passages of the New Testament, Jesus told a religious leader called Nicodemus that he needed to make a completely fresh start, to put aside that natural self-centredness and rebelliousness, and to be “born again”.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, Jesus told him. 

But although Nicodemus was so highly qualified, he simply didn’t understand.  How can a man be born when he is old? He can’t enter a second time into his mother’s womb …, can he?

And then Jesus patiently and lovingly explains to him that this isn’t something physical, it’s something spiritual. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 

So, that said, let’s talk about our two psalms!

When David's long-standing rival, King Saul, finally died and David was crowned king, he began as a righteous ruler. But power and wealth eventually took their toll on his moral compass.

One day, from the roof of his palace, he watched as Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of his loyal warriors, bathed on her rooftop. In lust, he called her to the palace and slept with her, and she became pregnant.

In an attempt to cover his tracks, he called Uriah back from the war in the hope that he would sleep with his wife and assume that he was the father, but he wouldn’t. So David sent him back to the front, and had him put in the very forefront of the battle so that he would be killed by the enemy.  Problem solved for David, or so he thought.

But God had seen what had happened and sent Nathan the prophet. We’ve just heard their conversation, and how, when he confessed, when he humbled himself, God forgave the sin that had become a wedge between them, and restored him to fellowship.

And so, David, now chastened, recognising his wrong doing, his “sin”, cries out to God in Psalm 51.

As we’ve just heard, first he pleads for God's mercy, he confesses and acknowledges his sin, he realises that he is spiritually bankrupt and recognises that God owes him no favours.  Then he resolves to declare God's grace, offering the sacrifice, not of an animal, but of a contrite heart, and finally praying for Jerusalem's prosperity. It’s a beautiful psalm, and perhaps you’ll read it again later today.

David doesn’t try to hide or minimise his sin. For I know my transgressions, he says, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge. 

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 

So now, sadder but wiser, he begins to contrast his own sinfulness with what God desires, recognising that sin is not so much about our actions as it is about our heart. "Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me …, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. … Restore to me the joy of your salvation."

As I said earlier, contrary to those who cynically perceive Christianity as a guilt-driven religion, God doesn't want us to live with guilt, but to enjoy forgiveness and full fellowship with him. That freedom, and the “joy” that goes with it, is what David was praying for.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, he pleads … renew a steadfast spirit within me … and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

That could be our prayer too.

I wish we had more time because this psalm is just loaded.  But I also want us to look at another of David’s psalm, Psalm 32, that might well have been written following this same incident.  

But what’s interesting about this one is that it takes a different tack

Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Wow!
Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit."

When we do things that we know are wrong, we sometimes try to rationalise and minimize them as just being "weaknesses" and "mistakes." But David calls them “transgressions” which doesn’t just mean wrong-doing, it means "rebellion” or “revolt," implying a deliberate act that by definition rejects God's authority. Adam and Eve all over again.

And he’s upset. He’s disappointed in himself.  When I kept silent, he says, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. We know all about our strength being sapped in the heat of summer, don’t we.

But just listen to this. Blessed is the man ... in whose spirit is no deceit. In other words, the man who’s calling a spade a spade, who’s being honest with himself and with God. 

And then it dawns on him:-

Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him. Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!

Isn’t this just what I was talking about earlier? Isn’t it awesome that God has given us a way out? We can put the deceit to one side, we can be honest with ourselves and with God, and come to him confessing what we’ve done or omitted to do, knowing that when we do, he will forgive us.

A few centuries later, Isaiah wrote: Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon." (Isaiah 55:6-7) And this is precisely what David did.

So, to conclude, let me say that there is no secular substitute for forgiveness. Yes, we can forgive each other, of course we can, but that’s not even half way there. Only Christianity gives us the opportunity to get right with God. Why? Because no matter how good or bad we are, GOD LOVES US. It’s just the sin he hates.

Prayer

O Lord, each one of us here this morning has struggled with temptation. Each one of us here this morning has sinned in one way or another.
Teach us how to recognise and then confess our sins before you.
Teach us a broken and contrite heart, a humble spirit.
Help us to walk before you in humility and find your love, and the protection of your presence around us.

In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.