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If the world forgives, it generally vouchsafes a kind of stinging forgiveness which perpetuates the smart of the crime. It is at no pains to "cover" the sin. We can say of one thus forgiven, "He is tolerated: tie has a new chance given him," but scarcely — "he is blessed." This psalm, on the contrary, while it is one of the saddest, is at the same time one of the most joyful of the inspired lyrics. It is no less the record of a bitter, penitential sorrow, than the expression of a heart full of praise. It comes to us to-day to tell us that the worst sinner, forgiven by God, is a happy man.

I. THE BLESSEDNESS OF FORGIVENESS. When a shipwrecked sailor has been rescued from death, and is sitting warm and dry by the fire, his first thought, his first utterance is one of congratulation. "How fortunate I am to have escaped. How thankful I am to those who saved my life." After this feeling has found vent, he will go on to tell the story of his shipwreck and of his rescue. Hence nothing could be more natural than the ordering of this psalm. David is a rescued man; and thanks. giving, and congratulation on his present security come to his lips, before he tells the story of his moral shipwreck.

1. His sin is taken away.

2. His sins are covered or hidden, and that from God; not from men. However men may comment or rail, it matters little while God says "I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins."

3. He is treated as innocent. The Lord does not impute nor lay the iniquity to his charge.

II. THE RESULT OF HIS ATTEMPTS TO COVER HIS SIN. Perhaps he sought to still that secret voice which was urging him to lay bare his sin, by plunging into the business of state, or into the pleasures of his court; but all in vain. "When I kept silence my bones waxed old." The very seat of strength was invaded. His body suffered from the terrors of remorse. What an image is this that follows — the pressure of a strong hand, hampering all free activity. No joy in work or in study any more. The healthy competitions of business, the free play of social converse, the sweet interchanges of the household, all repressed and devitalized by this painful consciousness of guilt. What ails the man who was but lately so sparkling, so magnetic, so enthusiastic? "Day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me," etc.

III. THE REMEDY WHICH HE FOUND. Confession. "Well," you say, "if God knows all about my sin, why should I confess it?" God knows what you want in prayer before you ask Him, and yet you will not get it if you do not ask Him. He has conditioned forgiveness upon confession, just as He has conditioned finding upon seeking. Confession implies —

1. Viewing your sin in the same light in which God views it.

2. Renunciation.

IV. THE RESULT OF ITS APPLICATION. He first sums up the result in a single sentence: "Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." He has a whole catalogue of joyful consequences of his confession to present to us; but he is careful to make it perfectly clear at the outset that all these consequences are linked with forgiveness. And now what a sudden change reveals itself. The tone of the last few verses has been like the sigh of the wind through the dry valleys. Now we begin to hear the running of streams. The abject penitent, moaning day and night under God's heavy band, is transformed into a joyful singer of praises; a prophet, with a fresh lesson of God's goodness kindling on his lips.

V. A PRACTICAL LESSON FOR OUR INSTRUCTION. Christ bade Peter make use of his own terrible sifting to strengthen his brethren. David anticipates the lesson; and these words of his have been the text-book of penitent souls from his time to the present. "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shall go;" this way of repentance and confession in which I have walked. Be not obstinate in refusing to walk therein. Heed my experience, ye who feel the pressure of God's hand, whose moisture is turned into the drought of summer.

(M. R. Vincent, D. D.)

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KJV: {A Psalm of David, Maschil.} Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

WEB: Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered.