My Hiding Place (Part 3 of 3)

In Psalm 32, King David describes the tremendous weight he carried when he tried to cover over his disobedience to hide his sin. The guilt was unbearable.

What did it take to find relief? Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg answers that question and tells us about the forgiveness God provides when we confess our sins. of a picture and a process that is described in Leviticus 16. You may turn to it if you choose, but believe me, we're not about to start studying Leviticus 16.

But this is an important piece of all that we need if we're going to pay attention to what David is saying here. The story in Leviticus 16 is the story of the Day of Atonement, and when you read that, as some of you will go home and do, you discover that the high priest Aaron was, in the course of God's plan, to separate for himself two goats. And one of them was to be sacrificed as an offering for sin, and the second of them was to remain alive. That was the scapegoat, and the scapegoat was then to be presented alive before the Lord and then sent into the desert as a scapegoat. And when you read in Leviticus 16, you discover that what happens is that Aaron, as the high priest, lays his hands on the head of the scapegoat, and as he does so, he confesses the sins of the people. This is actually a symbolic act, and it is a signification of the transference of the sins of the people onto the scapegoat. The scapegoat is then led away out into the lonely spot in the wilderness, and it is never to be seen again. That picture of the scapegoat is then represented and fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. He fulfills both roles—one, dying as a sacrifice of atonement for sin, and also taking our sins, as it were, far and away from us, never to be seen again. So when we come from that picture in the Old Testament into the New, in the Lord Jesus Christ, all the sins of his people are counted to him, and as the people substitute, he suffers the penalty due to their sin, and having paid that price and removed it from them, he then takes it where it is never to be seen again. Now, that Leviticus 16 picture was familiar to David as he writes Psalm 32.

And when David says what he says here concerning the nature of his condition and the wonder of God's provision, it is not in some strange way a fiction, as if somehow or another he was saying these things but not really experiencing them. David's experience of confession and forgiveness is a real and genuine experience. And the joy that he expresses in verse 5 and the release that he discovers is directly tied to what we have already noticed—namely, that when he covered up his sin, when he sought to hide from God, when he covered away all of his dark secrets, then his life spiraled into a complete shambles. First of all, he says, Then I acknowledged my sin to you. Then I acknowledged my sin to you.

When he was hiding, his life was unraveling, the burden was unbearable. But then he comes and acknowledges his sin to God. And the reason is because there is no longer any purpose in him hiding it or cloaking it or dissembling in any way. Secondly, you will notice, he says, And I did not cover up my iniquity. I didn't cover up my iniquity. There was no need for him to cover up his iniquity, because God, as we're about to see, has got it covered.

Happy is the one, the psalm begins, happy is the one whose transgressions are forgiven and whose sin is covered. You see, when a person understands that God has provided the covering and the cleansing and the cure for sin, then it will allow an individual to admit themselves to be a sinner. As long as the sinner thinks that he or she has to fix their predicament and is ashamed of their circumstances, then they will inevitably hide from themselves, hide from God, and hide from one another. But when they realize what God has done in Jesus, then they can come into the open.

And that's exactly what he does. I did not cover up my iniquity. He doesn't have to say, What am I going to say in my defense, or what am I going to offer on my behalf, or what shall I do to secure my acceptance? Because what God says to us is, I've got you covered. After all, we're not telling God something he doesn't know. He knows that we are sinners. To confess our sins to God, I think, has within it not simply the wonder of the discovery of the provision that has been made for us, but it is also to recognize what Peter goes on to say in chapter 4, where he says, Since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body has done with sin, and as a result he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. This, you see, is how you and I know that we are genuine confessors of our sin. Not that we use the phrase, I confess my sins, but that the very confession and openness of our lives before God and the discovery of the provision that he has made for us in his Son is then matched by what Peter goes on to say. The way in which we know that we are genuine about turning from our sin and turning to God is not simply in our verbiage, but it is in our lifestyle. So that the confessed sinner is not a person who runs around saying, I confess, I confess, I confess, but it is the person who by their commitment of life puts behind them their evil human desires and lives no longer for themselves but for God. The Puritans put it perfectly. A hypocrite may leave his sins yet love them. A sanctified man leaves his sins and loathes them.

It's quite a distinction, isn't it? I confessed my sins to you. This is not some superficial phraseology. This is the bearing of the heart, of the soul of David, before God, whom he recognizes, sees into him with, as it were, X-ray eyes. And he says, I am disgusted, I am disgraced, I am unburdened, I am uncovered, and I want to walk away from all of this. And from henceforward, I want to live God exclusively for you.

That's the expression of genuine confession. So it is that the Christian life is a life of daily faith and a life of daily repentance—turning to God in all of the wonder of his love and turning from our sin in all the awareness of his badness. What David says here is descriptive of a radical, transforming break with all that had brought him down into the ignominy of his wasted, unraveling life. And this is a description of our part in the transformation that grace brings. Then he goes, from what his part has been, to tell us what God's part has been. I acknowledged my sin to you and didn't cover up my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord, and you forgive my sin. Leave verse 6 aside for the moment. Go back to the end of verse 5 and look at the three things that he says of God. I acknowledged, I didn't cover up, I confessed my transgressions, and you forgave the guilt of my sin. That's what God does. He forgives the guilt of our sin. In the wonder of his love, in light of the scapegoat passage in Leviticus 16, God sends Christ into the world to do for sinful men and women what we cannot do for ourselves. In the wonder of his love, Jesus comes, and in his perfect life he keeps God's law, and in his sacrificial death he bears the punishment for our sins. But you see, this again is not a fiction. If it is a fiction to you, it's because it's a fiction.

If it's a reality to you, you will know it as a reality. Because he doesn't simply justify us and put us in a right position with the Father. He also indwells us by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit assures us of these things and enables us to cry out, even in our lostness and in our brokenness.

You're my Father, and I cry out to you. That's the reality of it. If you have to convince yourself of its truth, it may be because you have never come to Christ in genuine confession and in repentance and laid down the arms of your rebellion. You have merely made a mental assent to intellectual information provided for you by people who said, If you do this and think that and do that, then this will be true. And you did this and this and this, and nothing's true.

Why? Because the work of transformation, such as David experienced here, is a work which only God does. And when God does it, in the lives of those whom he changes, we know we may be troubled, we may be doubting, we may be restless, we may be discouraged in days, but in our heart of hearts, when the music plays and the words are before us, we say, This is an amazing truth.

It is an amazing truth. And it is, you see, what relieves our burdens and sets us free—sets us free from trying to do it on our own, sets us free from trying to tell everybody how fantastic we are, sets us free from trying to go around and change everybody and everything. The hypocrite, the Pharisee, points the finger, lambasts them, kicks them. The repentant sinner says, That was me, or that might be me, were it not for what you, O God, have done. You forgave the guilt of my sin.

Verse 7. You are my hiding place. Where am I gonna live when I get home?

That was the country-western song, wasn't it? Where am I gonna live when I get home? Where am I gonna run? O sinner man, where you gonna run to?

All on that day. You run to the rocks, they're not gonna hide you. Run to the hills, not gonna hide you. Only one place we can hide.

And see, this is the wonderful juxtaposition of these metaphors, isn't it? Here's David covering up like crazy until he realizes that he is uncovered, then he can come clean and rejoice in the fact that he's been covered. Here is David hiding away from until he realizes that what he needs to do is hide in. Are you hiding in Christ tonight? Do you hide in him?

Rock of ages cleft from me, let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy riven side which flowed be of sin the double cure. Cleanse me from its guilt, justified and set in a right standing with God. Cleanse me from its guilt and power. The ongoing battle with sin in my life. How am I going to keep it up?

How am I going to make progress, especially when I'm so tempted and so easily distracted? Well, he not only cleanses me from its guilt, but he goes on cleansing me from its power. The third thing we're told—and I'll just point it out to you.

In fact, you will notice there is a past, present, and future element to this, isn't there? You forgave past tense at the end of verse 5. You are, verse 7a, my hiding place, and 7b, future tense, you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Where is our protection? In God. Where is our deliverance? In God.

And you've got this wonderful picture. You know when you used to watch Robin Hood? Maybe you didn't. Or Sir Lancelot. Or King Arthur.

In the old black and white days. And when the queen moved, she got on that big horse, like, sitting on the top of a chest of drawers on top of a horse. Looked very, very precarious. And she didn't go to her on her journey on her own, but then all of the soldiers on horseback came all around her and surrounded her. And then once they were all in position—in positions of protection—then the journey was commenced. And sometimes on a difficult day, you and I perhaps need to remind ourselves that he gives his angels charge over us to keep us in all of our ways—the protection that God provides as he surrounds his children. It's a wonderful reminder as well of the corporate nature of what it means to be in Christ, that it's not some individualistic journey. We're not flying solo to heaven.

We're flying in formation, if you like. And the whole idea of being surrounded with songs of deliverance—where are you surrounded with songs of deliverance? The psalmist says, Psalm 122, we began with, I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of the LORD. My feet are standing in Jerusalem, in the gates of Jerusalem.

It's one of the psalms of ascent. And what he's saying is, when I go to the place of worship, then I experience all of the benefits of the deliverance that God provides for me. That's part of what being at Parkside tonight is all about—to be surrounded by songs of deliverance.

Some of us have got things that we need to be delivered from. We can sing to ourselves. But it is such an encouragement to sing of my Redeemer and his wondrous love to me. On the cross he paid my pardon, paid the debt, set me free. This is a quote from Mattia again. I found it in an obscure passage, and this is one of his little wonderful sentences.

Listen to this. When truth gets into a creed or a hymnbook, it becomes the confident possession of the whole church. When truth gets into a creed or a hymnbook, it becomes the confident possession of the whole church. As a church sings, so a church will live. And it is this, you see, which allows us then to rejoice despite our struggles and our setbacks.

Because there are struggles and setbacks. J. C. Ryle, who was converted as a young man, wrote an amazing book called Holiness. He wrote other things. And in a passage on assurance, in a book that he wrote, he says this, Many appear to forget that we are saved and justified as sinners and only as sinners, and that we can never attain to anything higher. Redeemed sinners, justified sinners, and renewed sinners, doubtless we must be, but sinners, sinners, sinners, always sinners to the very last. They do not seem to comprehend that there is a wide difference between our justification and our sanctification.

Our justification is a perfect, finished work at a mix of no degrees. Our sanctification is imperfect and incomplete, and will be to the last hour of our life. So you see, when we are all discombobulated, and when we are aware of our foibles and our failings and our discouragements and our doubts, the antidote to that is not to try and pull our socks up or to tighten our belts a little more. The antidote to that is to look away to the wonder of what Jesus has done. And that's why I have often said to you, A good hymnbook will get us through our darkest days, because we are surrounded with songs of deliveries. Well, I skip verse 6, and I'll just point it out to you. We must stop.

I went from 5 to 7 and purposefully to come back to 6 to the therefore. Therefore, he says, let everyone who's godly pray to you. And the word there is Hasid. Hasid.

You'll recognize that if you live in Cleveland for any length of time. What does it sound like? It sounds like Hasidic, doesn't it? Hasidic Jewish community.

That is exactly right. That is the word. Those upon whom the favor of God rests. The similar word in verse 11, Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous. The word there is Yassar. You recognize Yassar as a name for a man and also as an indication of a title for the people of God. And what he is saying here is this—that this experience that I have known is the experience that all the godly know.

Let everyone who's godly pray to you. When? While you may be found.

When is that? Now and always. Surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him. Do you think Wesley had that in mind when he wrote, Jesus, lover of my soul?

Absolutely he did. Remember his lines? While the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high, hide me, O my Savior, hide, till the storms of life are past?

Where do you think Wesley got that? Psalm 32 and verse 6. Let everyone who is godly pray to you. While you may be found, surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.

Why? Because God will be to you what he is to me. You are my hiding place. And I haven't found a refuge from you, but I'm glad I've found a refuge in you. Let us pray together. Just a moment as we reflect on all of these many words and ask God to bring to our own minds and recollection the things that are necessary for us. Some of us have come burdened this evening and tempted to try and muscle through to another Monday, and God says, Lay your burden down, cast your cares upon me.

Some of us in our rebellion refuse to acknowledge our sin, and we're trying to hide from God. And God brings us out into the searching gaze of his Word, in order that he might bring us into the safety of his Son. And now, into your care and keeping, we commend ourselves, gracious Lord and King, to bow before you is to rise. And so we pray that as we lie to rest this night, that you will watch over us, and that as we awaken to a new morning, that we might rise to sing your praise. We commend each other into your care and your keeping. May your grace and mercy and peace rest on each one, now and forevermore. Amen. There is overwhelming relief that comes as we confess our sin to God and experience his forgiveness.

You're listening to Alistair Begg, and this is Truth for Life. We were reminded today of the amazing gift of God's forgiveness, the transformation that only he can bring. All of this is because of the sacrifice that Jesus has made for us on the cross. The weeks that lead up to Easter are the perfect time for us to focus on this extraordinary reality. That's why we want to recommend an Easter devotional today called An Ocean of Grace. This is a book of daily readings that explore all that Christ's death and resurrection accomplished. Each day's devotion is written by a well-known figure from history, including names you know, people like Charles Spurgeon or John Bunyan, Martin Luther, and the original language has been updated for easy reading. You can request your copy of An Ocean of Grace when you donate today.

Simply tap the image on the mobile app or visit us online at truthforlife.org slash donate or call us at 888-588-7884. Now, if you started thinking ahead to summer vacation plans, you might want to consider vacationing with Alistair. He's going to be the guest speaker on a seven-day cruise to Alaska. Departs out of Seattle on August 28th. The cruise will feature stops in Juneau, in Sitka, in Ketchikan, and will provide close-up views of the Hubbard Glacier, the Tongass National Forest, and the snow-capped mountains that line the coast. Alistair will be teaching from God's word throughout the journey, so learn more and reserve your tickets when you go online to deeperfaithcruise.com or call 855-565-5519. Now, that's a different number than we normally give, so I'm going to repeat it once more. To inquire about the Alaskan cruise with Alistair, call 855-565-5519 or go to deeperfaithcruise.com. I'm Bob Lapine. Join us tomorrow as we discover how God wants to direct our future with a message titled, I Will Instruct You. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.