Amen. Let's turn this evening to the Psalm 32. We're in Psalm 32. We welcome you. Thank you for making the effort to join with us tonight. We really do appreciate it and I trust that the Lord will bless you even for your attendance at the place of prayer. So we'll read the Psalm 32 together and let's hear the word of God. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord impurities not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me, my moisture is turned into drought, into the drought of summer, Selah. I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin, Selah. For this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee, in a time when thou mayest be found, Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Sela, I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye, be not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. many sorrows shall be to the wicked but he that trusteth in the lord mercy shall compass him about be glad in the lord and rejoice ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart amen and god will bless the reading of his precious word who and what are the people of god if i was to ask that question to the general public i'm sure the responses would be varied and surprising and even if i was to ask that question who and what are the people of god If I was asked that question in the church, I'm sure the replies would also be surprising and again varied. As you make your way through Psalm 32, you come to find that God's people are viewed or seen through different lenses. and in different ways. It appears that the psalmist gives photos or little snapshots or little portraits of what a child of God, what the people of God and who the people of God actually are. And I want us to then look at these different ways in which we come to find the people of God described before we get to prayer. I say in the first instance God's people are seen in this chapter as a blessed people. God's people are a blessed people. This truth is a truth that is often repeated in the scriptures of truth. God's people are a blessed people. I believe that the repeated occurrence of this truth in the word of God is for a number of reasons. We need to be reminded by God in his word that we are a blessed people because first of all we are prone to think otherwise. We at times are prone to think Otherwise this might be simply down to the matter of our unbelief We simply don't believe what god says about us in his word It might be because of our frequent failures as christians Which often causes us to think that we're not a blessed people Another reason is because the accuser of the brethren That old slanderer the devil satan himself would have us to believe that we're not a blessed people wouldn't have us to enter into the joy of what it is to be a blessed people not only that but we have a tendency to believe that the ungodly rather than the godly are the ones who are blessed for they're the ones who prosper in the world they are the ones who seem to be advancing those are the ones who have no bands in their sorrows they have no problems they seem to have no difficulties where the people of god they're often downtrodden persecuted mournful and sorrowing and so we have a tendency to believe that we're not the blessed people but rather that the ungodly are the blessed people or at times our personal circumstances would suggest otherwise. Blessed? Sure, my world's falling apart. My health is failing. My business is floundering. My children are breaking my heart. My marriage is in crisis. My future is uncertain. My job is under review, and you're telling me that I am blessed? Catch yourself on, you would say. Well, folks, I'm not telling you that you're blessed. Rather, tonight, I'm simply informing you what God says about you in His Word. You are a blessed individual. And if you question that, if you doubt that, then let me remind you just of a number of scriptures before we go any further, where God's people are spoken of in terms of being a blessed people. Psalm 2 verse 12, kiss the son, lest he be angry and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they. that put their trust in him. Now you've put your trust in the Lord. You've come to faith in Christ. You're a trusting, a believing individual. Well, God says that you are a blessed person. Blessed are all they, are all they, not the majority of them, not some kind of higher portion off them not those who who as it were seem to be going on well with the lord but blessed are all they that put their trust in him sam 3 verse 8 salvation belongeth unto the lord thy blessing is upon thy people sela thy blessing the blessing of god is upon thy people. Psalm 40 verse 4, Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust and respecteth not the pride, nor such as turn aside to lie. Psalm 112 verse 1, Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. And then into the New Testament in Galatians 3 and the verses 7 through to 9, we read, Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed, so that they which be of faith are blessed. with faithful Abraham. Blessed with Abraham is who we are. Ephesians 1 verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father for Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Think of all of those Beatitudes that our Savior spoke when commencing his sermon on the Mount All of those profound statements, they begin with that word blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessed are the merciful, and so on and so forth. They are the blessed people. Well, here in Psalm 32 verse 1 and 2, David describes God's people in this way, You know, too often we think that all of the blessedness of being a Christian is up ahead for us. In other words, The blessedness for the child of God is reserved for us when we leave this world behind and we enter into the joy of our Lord. Now while there is much blessedness up ahead for every child of God, there is nevertheless blessedness to be had in the here and now. We are blessed now. and we can enjoy that blessing. Thomas Watson, the Puritan, he put it like this, the saints are blessed not only when they arrive in heaven, but also while they are travelers to glory. They are blessed before they are crowned. While we may be reproached and maligned, my while we may be mocked and scorned my we may be persecuted and mistreated by the ungodly in this world yet we are a blessed people blessed by god we might be bruised but we're still blessed a blessed people now there are many ways in which we are presently blessed Oh yes, we'll be blessed when we see the King in all of his beauty. We'll be blessed when we find ourselves leaving this old world of sin and sorrow and sickness and heartache and disappointment behind. What a blessing it'll be when we find ourselves in heaven. But we're blessed tonight, the 1st of May 2024. We are blessed tonight. We are blessed because we are enriched with heavenly blessings. I've already quoted that verse in Ephesians 1 verse 3, but let me read it again. And I would encourage you to read on down that chapter in Ephesians 1 and reacquaint yourself with the blessings that are ours presently in Jesus Christ. We are chosen in Christ. Before the foundation of the world, we are the elect of God, verse 4. We are adopted children by Jesus Christ, verse 5. We are accepted in the beloved, verse 6. We have redemption through His blood, verse 7. We know the forgiveness of sins, verse 7-2. These are blessings that are presently ours. We're not waiting to be chosen, we have already been chosen. We're not waiting to be adopted. Now are we the sons of God. Now are we the children of God. We're not waiting to be accepted and beloved. But tonight I find myself accepted in Christ and my redemption. Well, Christ has secured that by his death and all of his redemptive work. Thank God has been outworked and in my life. And I have known the forgiveness of my sins, my sins, which are many are gone, forgiven. No longer on my account and therefore we are blessed. We are blessed because we are enriched with heavenly blessing. We are blessed because we are in covenant union with Jesus Christ. He says, I will be their God. Happy is that people or blessed is that people whose God is the Lord. Psalm 144 and the verse 15. This is the crowning blessing. To have God as our God. To have the Lord as our God. You know, it is impossible to imagine that God should be our God and we would not be blessed. But we are blessed. We are in union with God. We are in union with Him. And we are blessed because we are guaranteed heaven. at the end of life's journey, as those who are now sons and daughters of God. Thank God we'll go to our Father's house when the earthly sojourn has ended. Blessed are all those that have already a title to heaven itself. And here in Psalm 32, the psalmist reminds us that the saints are already blessed because their transgressions are forgiven, their sins are covered, and therefore their iniquities will not be imputed or charged or reckoned to them again. In other words, the debt book of sin has been cleared and the believer is treated by God as if they had never been a sinner because their sins have been forgiven, their sins have been covered, and now they are clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ the Redeemer. The forgiven one is now no longer under the control of Satan. And that's why they're blessed. The forgiven one is no longer under the curse, and that's why they're now blessed. The forgiven one is no longer under the condemnation of the law, and that's why they are blessed. Happy is the condition of every forgiven saint, for they're now at peace with God. They're on a new footing, a new standing with God. They are now accepted by God as Christ has accepted. And thus the people of God are a blessed people. Child of God, you're a blessed individual tonight. Your sins have been forgiven. your transgressions have been forgiven your sin has been covered the burden of sin no longer is upon you and tonight this evening you're a child of the king one day the protestant reformer martin luther was asked which of all the Psalms were the best. Luther replied, Psalm I, Paul and I. When his friends pressed to know which Psalms these might be, he said, the Psalm 32, the 51st, Psalm 130, and Psalm 143. For they all teach, he said, that the forgiveness of our sins comes without the law and without works to the man who believes, and therefore I call them, Pauline Psalms. The Pauline Psalms to know that our sins are forgiven. Who are the people of God? They are a blessed people. They're a blessed people. Secondly, God's people are not only a blessed people, but they are an afflicted people. They are an afflicted people. Now our afflictions can come from outside ourselves or from within. from with outside ourselves or from within. And it appears in this psalm that the psalmist is experiencing self-affliction, and it's all because of his sin. Look there in the verse 3 and 4. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer, I believe that David's affliction was because of unconfessed sin in his life. While the Christian is forgiven, they are not yet made perfect. We have not reached a state, and we will never reach a state, the side of heaven in which we will never sin again. Why? Because we live in a body of flesh in a fallen world that can and does sadly succumb to sin's temptations at times. When we fail to confess those sins as believers, then the affliction that David speaks of in verse 3 and 4 is experienced by us. Let me add this, that David's dryness and misery were actually a good thing. A good thing you say? Yes, because they demonstrated that in fact he was a son of God and that the covenant God would not allow him to remain comfortable in habitual or unconfessed sin. In other words, God troubled his child because of his sin. It was a sign of sonship when he was troubled about his sin. when he went mourning because of his sin. You see, the person who feels no misery, no dryness in such a state has a far greater concern for time and eternity than they can imagine. The child of God is afflicted because of their sin. Their sin afflicts them. Their own Christlikeness afflicts them. Their worldliness afflicts them. Maybe tonight you're afflicted because of unconfessed sin. Why would you remain in that state as a child of God? Some believe that, well, because I sinned today or I sinned in the past week, I need to do a little bit of penance. I need to mourn a few days over my sin. as it were, lose the joy of my salvation. I need to afflict my soul, and there's no doubt that you do need to mourn, and there's no doubt that you would need to afflict your soul. But listen, to simply try and appease God by doing a little bit of penance and going and mourning for a few days, such thinking is Romanish. God would have you to confess your sin immediately. God would have you to repent of your sin immediately, because no amount of mourning on your part will see to the forgiveness and the relief from such affliction. Rather, there needs to be a confession of sin, and the blood that cleansed you at the first will cleanse you again. And so, afflicted saint, to Christ draw near. The Savior's gracious promise here. What is that promise? The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Here's David, afflicted over his sin, because the child of God is often afflicted over their sin. over their sin, this old nature, this old man that rears its head now and again, and thereby the child of God is afflicted because of it. The child of God knows what it is to sorrow and to mourn over their sin, and rightly so. Read those words there in Isaiah 54 verse 11. And oft times that's who the people of God are. They are an afflicted people. An afflicted people. But moving on very quickly, God's people are to be a repenting people. That's one of the marks of the one who's been genuinely converted. They're not only afflicted, they're not only convicted about their sin as a Christian, but they go on to repent of that sin. While the Christian can fall into the mire and into the dirt of sin, they never want to wallow in it. The pig wallows in the mire and the muck, because that's his nature, but the sheep will not. The sheep will do its best to get out of the quagmire, out of the puddle, out of the muck, out of the dirt, because the nature of the land, the nature of the sheep is to get away from that, which would soil its body, but not the pig. That's its nature. Well, child of God, we are his sheep. therefore, we do not wallow in our sin. We don't wallow in the mire of sin, but rather We escape it, and we seek at the earliest opportunity to be lifted out of it. And so David, yes, he confesses that he's afflicted because of his own sin. But then he goes on to say in verse 5, I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgave us the iniquity of my sin. You know, some Christians get the idea that they did all their repenting the night that they got saved. They did all their repenting from sin the night that they got saved, but such people, they knew not their own hearts. Thus, sinning daily in thought and in word, and indeed, the Christian life is a life that is to be marked by continual repentance. Remember those 95 feces that Martin Luther kneeled to the door? Wittenberg Castle Church there, those many years ago, the 31st of October, 1517. Well, the very first declaration on those 95 theses, those declarations against the teachings of Rome, it read as follows, when our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, repent, Matthew 4, 17, he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance. The reason why Luther wrote that very thesis and that first thesis was because he was appalled by what he was seeing among his people in Wittenberg. They were boldly waving around letters of indulgence. Letters of forgiveness of sins. They were claiming that they had been forgiven because they had bought some indulgence from some Romanish priest while all the time they were continuing in their awful sins. Martin Luther called it out. The child of God is to be a repenting one. That's to be one of their marks. Luther believed that a genuine Christian would repent of their sins daily, and they would seek those sins to their mortification. You see, the true Christian commences, the true Christian continues, and the true Christian concludes their life of faith here on earth with repentance. It's important to notice that this daily repenting and this life of repentance was not invented by Martin Luther, but rather it's in the Lord's prayer, the disciples' prayer. What did Christ teach his disciples to pray? And forgive us our debts, or forgive us our sins. Daily, daily repenting. Now, this does not mean that we have to dig up former sins. It doesn't mean that we have to be resaved every time we sin. No, no, no. Rather, as the sin nature remains in us, we will naturally sin every day, and that will require daily repentance on our part. We must forsake our sin whenever we are aware of it my repentance is not to secure my salvation my repentance is to secure my fellowship of god to enjoy my fellowship of god it's not to secure my salvation again jeremy walker he said this we must not imagine that In order to remain justified, we must keep repenting of our sins. As if every time we sin or think of a sin not confessed and repented of, we lose our justification. He said justification is a once and for all act or declaration by Almighty God. The God-given faith that receives and rests in Christ being the sole instrument of this justification. It is true that we are once and once for all justified. Nevertheless, the work of repentance in a believer's life does not end with his justification. It is also part of his sanctification. whereby we daily die on to sin and live more and more on to God and on to righteousness. I wonder are there sins that you need to repent of, that I need to repent of, sins of pride, Sins of jealousy, sins of envy, sins of bitterness, sins of malice, sins of gossip, sins of deceit, sins of unforgiveness. Oh, let us humble ourselves and repent of whatever the Spirit of God puts His finger upon in our lives. God's people. Who are God's people? They're a repenting people. That's who they are. They're repenting people, God's people. Fourthly, are a praying people. Verse 6. this shall everyone that is godly pray on to thee in a time when thou mayest be found surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh on to him the true christian is one who is often found at the throne of grace and prayer it is the place that the christian naturally gravitates to and that's why it's concerning concerning to a minister and those who profess to know god never are exercised or never engaged in the exercise of prayer, whether that is privately or publicly. It's a natural place where we go, the place of prayer, privately and publicly. Thomas Morton Moore said, if our religion does not teach us to pray, it is a religion good for nothing. Spurgeon said, a prayerless soul is a Christless soul. On another occasion, he said, the habit of private prayer and the constant practice of heart communion with God are the surest indicators of the work of the Holy Spirit upon the soul. A.W. Pink commented, a prayerless Christian is a contradiction in terms, while Thomas Boston was much more frank in his words. Thomas Boston, he said, a prayerless person is a graceless person. in a state of wrath, in the gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity. No sooner he said, is Paul converted, but behold, he prayeth. The spirit of grace is the spirit of supplication. The spirit makes us to cry, Abba, Father. Having quoted what others have said, don't you be thinking to yourself, well, if I don't pray publicly, Or if I don't pray audibly, then I'm not a Christian. You're not to think that. However, the person who never thinks of engaging in prayer, even with a few stumbling words, alone with God, alone in your home, the person who never thinks of even doing that is a person who needs to ask the question, why have I no desire to pray? Why have I no desire to pray? You see, godly Christians are praying people. It says that in verse 6. Everyone that is godly, we're told, prays in a time when God may be found. And in our praying, we are to incorporate confession of sin, for that's the context in which we find the verse 6. He says, for this, for what? For the forgiveness of iniquity. For the forgiveness of the iniquity of my sin. For this, for this shall everyone that is godly pray. There we have a child of God. The godly need to pray for the forgiveness of their sin. forgiveness of their sin and so there is to be confession of sin as we come to pray confession of sin is part of prayer and we've already mentioned that in the disciples prayer and forgive us our sins as we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us God's people who are they what are they If you're to, as it were, do a photo fit, if you were to, as it were, assemble a Christian, and you were to draw in various parts of what a Christian ought to be, if you're trying to, as it were, sketch out what a Christian is, this would be one of the things that you would put in, as it were, into the mix. God's people are a praying people. That's who they are. That's who they are naturally. Fifthly, God's people and I have few minutes to throw in these last three points so i'll try and do it in approximately three minutes don't be starting the clock now okay god's people number five they're a believing people verse seven thou art my hiding place thou shalt preserve me from trouble thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance Those terms art and shalt indicate to us that David was a man of faith. He believed his God. He believed in his God. He believed that God would be his hiding place and that he would preserve him from all of his troubles. And oh that God would make his people people of great faith again. Believing people. Believing people. we would take God at his word and trust him come what may as Charles Wesley put it in his hymn faith mighty faith the promise sees and looks to that alone last set of possibilities and cries it shall be done David was a believing individual a man of faith are we men and women of faith do we believe God do we believe God They're a believing people. Number six, they are a teachable people. God's people are a teachable people. Verse eight and nine. lest they come near unto thee. Are you instructable? Are you teachable? Are you guideable as a Christian? Or are you set in your ways, doing your own thing, not wanting to be changed, not wanting to be instructed? God's servant preaches, he deals with a matter in your life, a sin in your life, but you're unwilling to bend, you're unwilling to yield, you're unwilling to submit, You're just like the mule. You're just like the horse that needs the bit and the bridle put in in order to steer you in the right direction. God would have you to be guided just like the shepherd goes before the sheep and simply follows after the master. We are his sheep and we follow him. We follow the shepherd. We shouldn't be having to be put into restraints, forced as it were, Oh, we shouldn't be like Balaam. Oh, Balaam, whenever he got on that horse that day, he didn't see the angel of the Lord with the sword drawn. And so he pushed on, pushed on, wanting to do his own thing. And many of God's people like that want just to do their own thing. They will not do the will of God. They find their own will more pleasing to the flesh. They leave the good and acceptable and perfect will of God to the side. As a Christian, and as Christians, we'll always be under God's instruction. We never get to the place in our lives where we believe that we've received all the instruction that we need, such as arrogance, such as untrue. We're always learning, always growing in our knowledge of God. Oh, that God would give us a teachable spirit. What are God's people? Who are God's people? They're teachable. They're teachable. Number seven, the last point. God's people, well, God's people are a happy people. They're a happy people. Verse seven. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye righteous, and shout for joy, O ye that are upright in heart. David encourages his readership here to cheer up, cheer up, Child of God, cheer up. Cheer up. Don't be leaving the house of God tonight with a morbid face. There's neighbors looking on. There's a family to go home to. And you're going to go home mourning? And you're going to go home sad and discouraged? Oh, child of God, you should be a happy child of God, a happy believer. You ask, well, how do you do that when all that's happening around us is happening around us well? Notice what David says, be glad in the Lord. Be glad in your circumstances. Be glad in the Lord. And that's repeated over and over again in scripture. He is the source of our joy. Habakkuk. And 3, verse 18, yet will I rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. Paul says, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord, child of God. Rejoice in Him. Be glad in the Lord. Be glad in what He has done for you. And what has He done for you? Well, you've just read a psalm. You've just read a psalm in which there is details with regard to what God has done for his people. David has listed the things that God has done for us in which we can be glad. We have been forgiven. Our sins have been covered. Our iniquities have been put away. God has heard our prayer. He has been our refuge, our hiding place. He has instructed me. He has guided me. You'll find sufficient material in Psalm 32 to to help you to rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord, child of God. Enough here to gladden your heart and to gladden your soul even this evening. There's no doubt that God's people are an afflicted people. No doubt that God's people are a repenting people. But they're also a blessed people. and they're a praying people, and they're a believing people, and they're a teachable people, and they are a happy people. I want to be that kind of Christian. Do you? I trust you do. God's people, the people of God, how glad we are of them. How glad that we are one of them. May God encourage our hearts as we dwell upon and meditate upon these truths tonight for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Our loving Father, we do rejoice this evening in the fact that we are the people of God. For the children of the Lord have a right to shout and sing. For the way is growing bright and their soul is on the wing. We're going by and by to the palace of the King. Glory to God. Hallelujah. We rejoice, Lord, that we are thy people. We are the sheep of thy pasture. O Lord, speak to our hearts about our sin. O God, deal with our hearts, we pray. Help us to be a repenting people, a teachable people. Help us, Lord, we pray, to be a believing people. Help us to be a trusting people. Help us, Lord, to be a happy people. Oh, help us, Lord, to be the people, Lord, that you intended us to be. May we live in the victory of Calvary, and may we live in light of the fact that this is as bad as it gets. Heaven is up ahead. Rejoice, our souls. We pray these prayers in Jesus' name.