The text this evening is our last scripture reading, Psalm 32. And our theme this evening, to a thinking man, is the most profound theme that I could set before him. To a thinking individual, this is the most profound thing he could hear. For in the natural light that is left to man teaches him, as the scriptures clearly evidence, that there is a creator God. By the light of reason, natural light, he can discern as much. He can discern things like the laws of non-contradiction. He can make deductions. But by nature, he cannot learn this theme. The natural man, not only is this the most profound thing we can take up this evening, but to a thinking man, to one who himself and what he needs. This is a friend, this is a theme. This is a theme that can only be grasped only grasped as the Spirit of God works upon him, makes him new, so that he can then exercise faith to believe this theme. Friend, our theme this evening is not just an abstract idea. The entirety of the psalm is the experience of this theme. This is not a system of ideas merely. This most profound, most necessary, most gracious theme is something that the psalmist knew himself. Friend, our prayer this evening should be that we would be instructed to know this more and more. We should feel ourselves at God's mercy to know it, and we should seek his help to know it as well. The Psalm begins with blessing. Blessed, he says, is the man. But if you were to look at that, that single line and compare it with the line that begins the Psalter in Psalm 1, you'd notice that in the Hebrew, they're identical. Friend, what you have here is not just that this man has possessed some good thing, but that this man possesses the greatest and the highest good. In fact, our metrical Psalter quite rightfully translates the first Psalm thus, that man hath perfect blessedness." There the translator sought to capture what is there in the Hebrew, that the blessedness described here is as it were blessedness in the abstract. He has a fullness of blessing. He has the greatest and the highest of goods. Then in these first two verses, the psalmist proceeds to describe what this blessedness consists. And then as we've said already, verses three and five show us that this blessing, it was not nearly an idea. This is not a theoretical review of blessedness. This is something that the psalmist experienced himself, that he knew himself in his life. And so in verses three to five, we have his experience recorded for us. And then as you look to verses six to 11, we move from the psalmist's experience to our exhortation. And then the psalmist closes, of course, with that. This is something that belongs not only to him, it's something that belongs to all of the godly. And friend, this blessedness is the remission of sins. That's our great profound and necessary theme this evening, the remission of sins. And the way the psalm communicates this to us, it's not again through a kind of abstract analysis of ethereal themes. It is this theme, the remission of sins as the psalmist himself knew it, as particularly applied to his case in time. This is not just the idea, friend, of remission of sins and of justification, it is, it is the experience, the consequence of those truths in the life of God's people. And friend, what you and I notice here is that as the psalmist obtains, as he experiences this, he also says that this is not just for himself. He says, for this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee. It's something that belongs, says the psalmist, to all of those who belong to God. This is a theme that is not to remain in the abstract. That's worth repeating, friend. The forgiveness of God, the remission of sins is not merely to be an idea. The psalmist shows us that it is to be that to which the people of God are exercised. They know it. In this psalm then you have a man who does know this, who has the assurance of sense that he has in fact been pardoned. So we're not looking here at the child of God who doesn't have assurance of his pardon, though such children exist, Isaiah 50 in verse 10. No, this is the experience of one who was pardoned and who knew it. But as you look at that superscription, friend, I want you to notice that while that is the case, this is a psalm of instruction. It's not merely description. We're not merely told what the psalmist experienced. This is instruction for how you and I may know this selfsame blessing. It is a mashkil. It is something for our learning. And again, we ought to be seeking God's grace to be good students here. Friend, as we take the psalm in its entirety, we learn that then the godly learn the wisdom and blessing of repentance. And I want us to see that theme as we contemplate the psalm together under three headings. I want us to see that the psalmist learns this first of all, as he contemplates covering. And there you have it in the first two verses. There you read that the blessedness of which the psalmist writes consists of this, that his transgression is forgiven, that his sin is covered. And I want, friend, just for a moment to meditate on the verbs that are used there. First of all, he says that these transgressions are forgiven. Now, ordinarily in the scriptures, it's striking, when you and I talk about forgiveness, it's usually salah. That's the Hebrew word that you and I would find. That's not the word that's used in our text. The word that's used in our text here is nasah. That is to bear, to carry. In this case, to bear away, and it carries with it the idea of a burden. Thus, blessed is the man whose transgressions are born away. Elsewhere in the scriptures, this word is translated thus in the authorized. It's the idea that's given to us in the law. The goat shall bear upon him all the iniquities into a land not inhabited and he shall let the goat, that's the priest shall let the goat go into the wilderness. Iniquities are born away. It's the same idea in our text. But then look at the other verb, that of covering. He says here, the sin is covered. And the sense there, of course, is that it is hidden. It is concealed. And so it's actually translated in verse five, the very same Hebrew word is used there when the psalmist speaks of being hidden. He did not hide his sins. Well, in this case, he says the Lord had covered or hid his sins. And then you notice this. Finally, the Lord does not impute. He does not impute. iniquity to the man who's blessed in the text. And what you find here, friend, throughout the Hebrew text is that that word is often used as a word of accounting. It's the word to communicate debt. If somebody has counted something, it is because, well, friend, somebody has found the numerical figure of their debt. Here, the psalmist says the blessed man has no sins counted against him. And all of this, he says, belongs to the man who has the highest and the greatest good. Beloved, what you find in this text, as you look just at these first two verses, then blessedness, according to the scriptures, consists in sins remission. And friend, I want you to notice that this is indubitable. This is something that you and I should see from the text itself, but I want to meditate on that just further with you, to see it a bit more ourselves. Note again, the verbs that are used in these two verses. That of forgiveness, or bearing away, that of covering, and that of counting. All of that presupposes something about sin, first of all, doesn't it? The idea of carrying something away or bearing something in the scriptures is that of burden. Then, friend, when you think of that which is covered in the scriptures, again, covering belongs to that which is shameful. And then finally, of course, when you and I think of counting, as we've already said, scripturally speaking, that primarily has in view the idea of debt. And the psalmist here sees sin in all three of those several relations, namely as a burden, as something that is shameful and as something that incurs debt. But then note, friend, what he says about remission. Incomplete, in fullness, the Lord God bears away the burden, covers completely the shame, utterly cancels the debt. Friend, what you and I see in this text is the completeness of remission. Friend, there's no other way, no higher way, friend, that I think we could even imagine remission of sin being communicated to us. Do you feel the crushing weight of sin that is its evil as it is in the present and also the evil that it brings with it in the future? Do you feel its crushing burden upon conscience? Psalm says, the Lord bears that away. Friend, do you feel something of the shame of sin? Do you feel something of its almost indelible stain? Here we're told that it is covered and hidden by the Lord. Do you feel, friends, something of the incalculable debt that sin brings? The Lord God says here that he does not count it against his people. Friend, note how the psalmist is careful to show us the completeness of the remission of sins. Think of sin in any of its characters or qualities. Think of it in any of its consequences or effects. And friend, in its fullness, we're told sin is dealt with. This man indeed is blessed. He possesses the highest and the greatest good because beloved, This is the only ground. This is the only ground for man's happiness in this life or in the life to come, that his sins are completely dealt with by the living God. Friend, with this, with this truth, the most afflicting providences, friend, feel not so much as destruction, but as surgery. A wound meant to cure, not to kill. With this truth, friend, the greatest of afflictions feel like the fatherly correction of one who loves and who cares for his own. But friend, without this truth, the greatest riches, the greatest kingdoms given to you seem only and can only feel like snares to only further. Seal your condemnation. The greatest comforts only, friend, bring with it the grief that they will one day part and bring you into everlasting misery. The man indeed is truly blessed who has this. Friend, I want you to notice that the psalmist, he sees this clearly. In his calculus, friend, sin is a burden. Sin is a shameful thing. Sin is something that incurs debt. And he says, having that dealt with, the man is blessed. Beloved, I want you to notice here that it is the burden of sin and not the fear of hell. It is the burden of sin and not the fear of hell that is principally the psalmist's concern. And therein, he says, is blessedness to be found when remission is given. And so there you have the covering, first of all. But I want you to notice something of the psalmist's experience. I want you to notice the contrition described here in the text. In verses 3 to 5, you notice that there the psalmist is related to us, but I want you to notice in verse 3, in our translations, it simply begins with the word when, but in the Hebrew, the preposition there is chi, and the sentence there is that but. But he says, when I kept silence. In other words, there's something of a distinction between what he's described in verse two and what he experienced in verse three. In verse two, he describes the ground of all happiness. In verse three, he describes his contrary experience, his heaviness. His experiences described for us thus, his bones waxed old. The word waxed old there is the idea of being worn down to nothing. He roared. The word throughout the scriptures is primarily related to the beasts that cry in the field. And why? Because the Lord's hand was heavy upon him. The word heavy there is actually the word for burden. Now friend, as you look at this, what you find is a man whose experience is exactly the opposite of what you would expect of one who is so blessed in verses one and two. One who is underweight, who is being worn down as it were to nothing, who is crying out like a beast. But friend, he doesn't remain there. As you've noticed in verse five, he continues to describe. He says, my iniquity have I not hid. Now, this is where you and I need to remember the language that we introduced in the first point. It's the same word that is used, friend, of what the Lord does not do. The psalmist says, I have not hid or I have not covered my sin. Notice this, he describes release. Having not hid his sins, thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. In this case, iniquity is the idea of guilt. And friend, I want you to notice again, the word forgave there is not the word salah, it is nasah. He bore away, he bore away the guilt of my sin. Beloved, what you see in this then in the psalmist experience is that the godly feel and they seek release from sin's burden. And as you look at this text, friend, there needn't be a particular physical affliction that the psalmist faces. There might have been, we just don't know. The language certainly suits one who is under the pangs of conscience. And we ought to remember that certainly, friend, to the psalmist, Those pangs were just as real as was all of the physical afflictions he elsewhere describes. Friend, I want you to notice that this is a man who is spiritual. This is a man who feels the weight of sin itself. The ungodly, says Zephaniah, the unjust, they know no shame. And whatever shame the ungodly are capable of, it's only a sorrow of the world that worketh death. as the apostle says in 2 Corinthians. But this man, friend, he does feel shame. He feels the stain and the weight of sin. But more crucially, friend, you recognize that this is also a man who possesses repentance. Repentance unto salvation. Not the sorrow of the world that worketh death, but repentance unto salvation. And beloved, that presupposes this is a man of faith. This is a man not only conscious of his sin, but a man who flees to the promise. He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Friend, this is not a man who just feels the crushing weight or burden of sin, this is a man who knows. And in fact, he must know according to Hebrews 11, that there are promises. of forgiveness to those who come to God in faith through the Lord Jesus Christ. Friend, if you want to feel the pains of contrition, that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's right for you and I to pray to be humbled and humbled are right by our sin, but it's wrong to stop there. It's wrong to stop there. Friend, there's a sense of a law work that continues for the unregenerate in hell. The law work you and I should be praying for is one that goes with the hand of faith. Contrition that really does lead us to lay hold of the promise of forgiveness. Endeavor faith, beloved, seek by God's grace to grow in that and you too will grow in contrition. But the point I want to drive home from here is this. that in this text you see one friend who is contrite, but yet going to a God and praying for forgiveness. If there were no promises in scripture for sinners, for forgiveness, this would be presumption. And so friend, here you see contrition as it takes to it the promises of the gospel. Believing, as profound and as surprising as it is, believing that God does. He does completely remit the sins of his people. Then finally, friend, as we leave this text this evening, I want you to notice the counsel, the counsel that is given to us. Again, as we note there, the psalmist says that this is what all of the godly shall pray. In other words, friend, this is something that David recognizes belongs generally to the people of God. Friend, what I have noticed as I've worked through this altar these last several months, is that the most profound weight the psalmist places upon promises are not those promises that were unique to David. But those most profound promises that the psalmist hangs his life upon are those promises that belong generally to the people of God. Those promises that are held out to you this evening in the preaching of the gospel. Because friend David knew that those were the greatest, the most substantial blessings that the people of God know. Well, you notice friend, as you look in verses eight and nine, is that then the Lord speaks. He says that he will instruct, friend, he will guide, His hand will be upon his people to lead them. And what you notice is that this is precisely what the superscription told us the psalm was about, isn't it? This is a psalm of instruction. And here the Lord tells us precisely that is what I will do. I will instruct you in the way that you should go. And friend, as you then note this, positively while he tells us that he will teach us in the way that he will guide us with his eye, that is he will take care over us and guard our steps. He then negatively tells us, friend, what we are to do. In other words, what we are not to do. He tells us we are not to be as the horse or the mule. Now, the language there, of course, is that of a stubborn beast. But friend, I want you to notice that these are both beasts of burden. These are both beasts of burden. Those that are intended to be laden with weight. carrying a load. Friend, it's striking, isn't it, given what you and I have seen already from the first several lines and even the psalmist's experience in the verses that followed, where the issue of burden and bearing is central to the psalmist's concern. Blessedness consists in the Lord bearing away transgression The Lord bore away the guilt of the psalmist's sin. And now the Lord says, do not be like those beasts of burden that require the bit and the bridle to bring to go to their owner. In this case, to the God that bears away the load. Do not be like the stubborn mule or the horse and refuse to come to the one who bears away the burden. And then finally, friend, you notice that this instruction, of course, ends in exhortation. He says to be glad. To the righteous, he says, be glad. But who are the righteous? They are those that trust. In the preceding verse, you see that, friend, that they are, yes, being sanctified. And so there is, of course, that work of drawing them more and more into holiness, but that's not, friend, wherein the righteousness fundamentally consists in this sense. Friend, these are those who are righteous and made righteous before God by faith. They are those who trust in divine mercy. This is not sinless perfection. This is not meritorious perfection. Friend, this is a man who acknowledges that the only way that he is righteous before God is through imputation. And yes, those who are imputed righteous are made righteous through sanctification. But friend, the ground of all, of this joy so described, is that the Lord God, he bears away the burden of sin. He covers its shame. He erases its debt. And it's the Lord himself who does it all. Those who are burdened, Those who are uncovered in their shame, those who are sorrowful, the Lord bears away their load. He covers their iniquity and he causes them to rejoice. Friend, I want us to close just with this thought. That in this psalm, friend, you and I do have the most profound truth that nature could never reveal. that there is forgiveness to be found with the living God. And the psalmist goes even, friend, just beyond that, Maxim, to tell us something further, doesn't he? That the way in which our God remits sin, he does so in toto. He does so completely. If you're dealing with its crushing load, the Lord bears it away. It's ugliness and it's stain and it's shame he covers. It's debt and it's indelible mark against your name he erases. And beloved, David knew this by faith. It was not written in the stars. There was no serific voice that broke through the heavens that cried, you are forgiven. No friend, all that the psalmist does is he takes himself back to the word of God and he sees there that there is forgiveness to be found with God for those who turn to him, seeking his face through the Lord Jesus Christ. He rests there. Beloved, that's what's available to you this evening. This was available to you now. However great the shame, however great the weight and the burden of any particular sin, however deep and exacting its cost upon you, Solomon says, while God may be found, it is offered to you. And friend, the way that this exhortation ends to you and to me is, you and I were to be like beasts of burden that go to the God who unburdens and not be like the horse and the mule that kicks against the owner. And your way of life and my way of life is to be one of constant, of constant returning to the Lord. Seeking, friend, more and more the joy of the salvation that is found in Christ, defined by experience what the psalmist has found. This most profound, most necessary, most gracious truth is not a theory, friend. It's not an abstract, ethereal idea. It's something that really, really happens to the people of God now. I said I had one thought, I'll add one more. The psalmist here tells us that the Lord will compass him about with songs of deliverance. The word song there is translated elsewhere as the word cry. It carries with it the idea of proclamation. If I note what then the psalmist is saying, It is the Lord who cries, delivered, delivered. And how does the Lord proclaim this? How does he cry this over his people? How did he do so for David? It was not through an audible voice, friend, it was through word and sacrament. But for David, friend, when he heard the preaching of the word of God, when he sat under the ordinances of the gospel, For David, it was the voice of the Lord saying, delivered, released, delivered. And our prayer should be that we would receive the ordinances, that we would hear the word in such a way ourselves. May the Lord lead us to do so for his name's sake. Amen.