Sermon 1 - A Psalm of Instruction
by Thomas Manton (edited)
1 Blessed is he whose wickedness is forgiven,
and whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man, unto whom the Lord imputeth
not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
The Book of Psalms Chapter 32 Verses 1-2
The title of this Psalm is, A Psalm of instruction, so called, because David was willing to shew the way to happiness from his own experience. And surely no lesson is so needful to be learned as this. We all would be happy. The good and bad, that so seldom agree in anything, yet agree in this, a desire to be happy. Now happy we cannot be but in God, who is the only immutable, eternal and all-sufficient God, which satisfies and fills up all the capacities and desires of our souls. And we are debarred from access to him by sin, which hath made a breach and separation between him and us and till that be taken away, there can be no converse and sin can only be taken away by God's pardon upon Christ's satisfaction. God's pardon is clearly asserted by my text, but Christ's satisfaction must be supplied out of other scriptures. As that 2 Corinthians 5:19 God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. Where the apostle clearly shews, that not imputing transgressions is the effect of God's grace in Christ. And we do no wrong to this text to take it in here, for the apostle citing this scripture, Romans 4:6-7 tell us that David describes the blessedness of the man unto whom the Lord imputes righteousness without works, when he saith, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
In the words you have;
1. An emphatical setting forth of a great and blessed privilege, that is, pardon of sin.
2. A description of the persons, who shall enjoy it, namely, such, in whose spirit there is no guile.
The privilege is that I shall confine my thoughts to. It is set forth in three expressions, forgiving, transgression, covering of sin and not imputing iniquity. The manner of speech is warm and vehement, it is repeated over again, blessed is the man.
I shall shew what these three expressions import, why the prophet doth use such vehemence in setting forth this privilege.
1. Whose transgression is forgiven, or who is eased of his transgression. Where sin is compared to a burden too heavy for us to bear, as also it is in other scriptures, Matthew 11:28 Come to me all ye that are weary and heavy laden.
2. Whose sin is covered, alluding to the covering of filth, or the removing of that which is offensive out of sight.
3. The third expression is, to whom the Lord imputes no sin, that is, doth not put sin to their account. Where sin is compared to a debt, as it is also in the Lord's prayer, Matthew 6:12 Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Thus is the act set forth.
The object of pardon is set forth under divers expressions, iniquity, transgression and sin. When God proclaims his name, the same words are used, Exodus 24:7 - Taking away iniquity, transgression and sin.
We have seen the meaning of the expression. But why doth the man of God use such vehemence of inculcation, blessed is the man, and again, blessed is the man Partly with respect to his own case. David knew how sweet it was to have sin pardoned, he had felt the bitterness of sin in his own soul, to the drying up of his blood and therefore he doth express his sense of pardon in the most lively terms and partly with respect to those for whose use this instruction was written, that they might not look upon it as a light and trivial thing, but be thoroughly apprehensive of the worth of so great a privilege. Blessed, happy, thrice happy, they who have obtained pardon of their sins and justification by Jesus Christ. That it is a great step towards, yea, a considerable part of our blessedness, to obtain the pardon of our sins by Christ Jesus.
Additional reading on which to meditate on the above sermon - The Epistle to the Hebrews Chapter 10
