Psalm 6

Introduction

For those of you who are visiting with us, just to let you know, we have kind of a nebulous arrangement at the 9 o’clock hour. We say we’ll sing songs up until somewhere between 9.20 and 9:25, and so I never know when the last song will be. I just tend to come up toward the front toward around 9:25, and if there’s another song, so be it, and that’s fine. Because we certainly love to come before our God and to go offer him praise and to think of the wonderful things that he has done. I’m about to be turning in your Bibles this morning to the book of Psalms, and we’ll be looking at the sixth Psalm, the psalm that our brother Fix read for us a little earlier today.

We’ll be looking at Psalm 6 for our lesson this morning. And for those who are visiting with us, and it seems like we’ve got half of North Alabama with us, and we’re certainly glad that you came. What we’re doing at the 9 o’clock hour is we’re looking at one of the psalms that we’ve read during our weekly Bible reading. And this past week we’ve read Psalm 5, we’ve read Psalm 6, we read Psalm 115. Certainly, each and every one of those psalms is valuable. They teach us and tell us different things. But I chose for our lesson this morning the sixth psalm. The psalm is not said as to when it occurred or what state in David’s life this occurred. What we know from the Psalm is that there is remorse and lament over sin, but also over the fact that he is being oppressed by enemies.

And so, because of that, what we can tell from just reading the Psalm, it may be that Psalm 6 fits within the general time frame of Psalm 3. And if you go back to Psalm 3, there you read that this is a Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son. And this idea of there being sin, and also there being enemies, fits within that time period. If you’re familiar with the story of Absalom, and it really goes back to 2 Samuel 13, where there, because of David’s multiple marriages, and so there are half brothers and half sisters. And there was a brother of Absalom named Ammon, who desired his sister, his half sister. And because of the sin that he committed with her, Absalom was furious.

The sister was Absalom’s full sister, and he is furious. What we read from the text, though, is that while David is angry, he does nothing for two years. Well, Absalom takes it within his hand to murder Ammon. And so Absalom will flee for three years to the king of Gershon. But he is ultimately recalled by David, as David’s commander, Joab has persuaded David to recall Absalom. And so Absalom comes back to Jerusalem, but for two years, David will not see him. Until finally, at the end of that two years, Absalom’s had enough. So he begins the plot as to how he can take over the kingdom. And of course, as you’re familiar with the story, David will have to flee from Jerusalem because Absalom has persuaded so many to follow him.

And so this idea of sin, and in this case, the sin on David’s part would have been his failure to execute justice. His failure to uphold righteousness in the kingdom, as his son has violated even one of David’s own daughters. And because of that, this great injustice, and now more injustices are taught are piled on top of that, that David has had to flee for his kingdom’s sake and even for his own life’s sake. So all I want to look at this morning is that this is one of the psalms of penitence, if you will. There are seven psalms in the book of Psalms that are viewed as Psalms of penitence. And the sixth Psalm is the first of those Psalms. The others, if you’re curious, are Psalm 32, Psalm 38, Psalm 51, which is familiar to many of us, Psalm 102, Psalm 130, and Psalm 143.

1. God Has a Right to Rebuke and Chasten

But this is the first of those penitence psalms. And what we see here is the penitence of the godly. Well, we think of the penitence of the godly, and of course, if you’re godly, well, you wouldn’t need to be penitent. Well, of course, the godly do sin, as even our brother led us in prayer this morning. We recognize that we fall short. It is not our aim to transgress against God. It’s not our aim to be enemies of God, and yet we find sin in our lives. Certainly David is not the exception. David found sin in his life, even though he is a man after God’s own heart. But what we see here is very key if we are to be penitent before God. What we can learn first from this Psalm is that the penitent, the godly, they recognize that God, first of all, has a right to rebuke and chasten.

The Psalm begins in Psalm 6 in verses 1 and 2. O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor chasten me in your wrath. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am pining away. Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are dismayed, and my soul is greatly dismayed. But you, O Lord, how long? He is pleading with the Lord that the Lord would not rebuke him in his anger. That the Lord would not chasten me in his wrath. But you’ll recognize here that the psalmist, that David does not question God’s right to do that. He is not accusing God of rebuking him or chastening him for no reason. He is simply pleading with God that he would not continue to do this and that he would not do so in his anger and in his wrath.

The very notion that God has the right to punish is tied up in the very nature of God. As Israel entered into their covenant with God, and even in Exodus 19, before they received the Ten Commandments, and they have sworn that all that he has said we will do. And then in Exodus the 24th chapter, as Israel now has the law, at least a portion of the law read out to them, and sacrifices are made as they formally enter into their covenant with God, they twice on that occasion swear that we will obey all that God has commanded. And implied in that is that they recognize when we disobey him, he has a right to punish us. And then when Moses, of course, in Exodus chapter 32, and he smashes the Ten Commandments or the two tablets because of Israel’s sin there with the golden calf.

And he’s going to go back up on the mountain to receive more tablets. And he asked to see the Lord, to behold him. And the Lord said, You cannot see my face, but I will pass before you.

Who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin, yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. Here you have tied up in this passage the very essential attributes of who God is. Is he a loving God? Absolutely. Is he a God who will forgive definitely? But he is also a God who is righteous and just. And because he is a God who is righteous and just, he will execute righteousness and justice. And so when David is pleading with the Lord, he is not pleading from the standpoint of, why are you doing this to me, God? I have no you have no right to do this. He recognizes that inherit in God is the right to punish.

In fact, in other passages, the chastisement of the Lord is viewed as something that maybe we should even desire on occasion. But the righteous want to be corrected. The righteous, when they transgress against the will of God, they recognize that God chastens us for our own good. In the 94th Psalm and verse 12, Blessed is the man whom you chasten, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law. Jeremiah would say, I’m sorry, before I get to Jeremiah, Proverbs 3 and verses 11 and 12, David’s son would say, My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord or loathe his reproof. For whom the Lord loves, he reproves, even as a father corrects his son in whom he delights. And then Jeremiah in Jeremiah 10 and verse 24, Correct me, O Lord, but with justice, not with your anger, or you will bring me to nothing.

There’s this understanding that the Lord can punish. He has the right to punish. And David recognizes I am being punished for what I have done. I’ll just have a side here to say that it does not mean in this standpoint that every time something bad happens in our life that we ought to automatically equate that with God as punishing us for some reason. But David, in this circumstance, in this situation, can recognize that Absalom’s rebellion as a direct link to David’s own failure. And so he can view this and rightfully so as a punishment even from God. Because I failed to do what was right in the eyes of God. This is now what has happened to me. And David recognizes I could die. The end of my kingdom could come.

Say, oh Lord, do not punish me in your anger. He recognizes God’s right. The penitent, the godly. If we don’t recognize that God has a right to punish us, then we’re not going to be penitent. We’ll be embittered. You know people that have become embittered against God. How dare he punish me for something so trivial as I have done in my life? God gives him the right. And the constant criticism against God, now it has taken not just a scientific standpoint, if you will, but a moral standpoint, those who object to the very notion of there being a God. The very idea that an eternal creator could in fact punish us for all eternity because of trivial sins here on the earth. That is speaking of those who are embittered against God.

Who fail to recognize that God, because of who he is, has a right to punish, has a right to rebuke and to chasten. But you see, the godly, they recognize that right. What they do is they plead for mercy. They rest assured that God, who is loving kindness, has loving kindness, who is gracious, that he will not punish them to the end.

2. David Recognizes the Real Horror of Sin

Not only that, but within the psalm, you also see that David recognizes the real horror of sin. Sin is not viewed in horrific way often in our society. It has to be some terrible tragedy for sin to get a bad name. The murder of someone or the murder of mass people, the rape of someone, the rape of many. Injustice, gross injustice. And so then sin is called what it is, but the things which you and I may partake in. Sexual immorality, hatred within our hearts. Those things are not often viewed in the way that God views them. David here, though, comes to a recognition of just how horrific sin is. First of all, you might say that he recognizes just for how horrific sin is because what it is literally doing to him, the punishment that he’s receiving from God.

Again, we’ve already read in verse 2 and verse 3. But note how he describes his physical condition. Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are dismayed. My soul is greatly dismayed, he says further in verse 3. And you, O Lord, how long. The Lord is not with him. And because of this absence of the presence of the Lord, this has affected David’s entire being. The bones in this case would recognize or would emphasize the fact that David’s whole being, his literal body, is dismayed. But it’s not just his body, it is his soul as well. And so he continues on in verses 6 and 7. I am weary with my sighing. Every night I make my bed swim. I dissolve my couch with my tears. My eye has wasted away with grief.

It has become old because of all my adversaries. Yes, there’s this idea that his adversaries are against him, his adversaries are punishing him, but David is crying on his couch every night because of his own grief. Because he recognizes God is not with me. And why is it that God is not with him? It’s because of his transgression. It’s because he is being rebuked and chastened. I’ll not speak for you, I’ll speak for me. If I had a notion toward sin more in line with verses six and seven, I’ll tell you.

If sin affected me in this way, that I recognize that because of my sin, my God is not with me. And I cried on my couch every night. And my couch was wet with my tears. David recognized this in his life. My God’s not with me. How long, O Lord? How long will you be removed from me? Here is my penitence. Here is my sorrow. Here is my grief. Here is what I do every night. Here is how this has affected my soul and my body. And so comes the real horror of sin. The real horror of sin is not the fact that David had adversaries. The real horror of sin is not the fact that David spent his nights in grief. The real horror of sin is the fact that the Lord was not with him.

And so, as he says in verses 4 and 5, he’s pleading with the Lord, return, O Lord, rescue my soul, save me because of your loving kindness. For there is no mention of you in death. And Sheol, who will give you thanks. Your translation may read, and it will be a better reading, perhaps in verse 5 of the beginning. There is no remembrance of you in death. The idea of remembrance or mention in the Psalms and also the prophets is the idea of this praise of God that goes forth from us in this life. When we remember his loving kindness, when we remember his mercy, his justice, when we praise God for these things, that’s what the psalmist is speaking of here in Psalm 6 and verse 5.

There is no mention of you, there is no remembrance of you in death. The idea that in death we are not praising you anymore as we can here on the earth. Of course, there’s this idea in verse 5 of Sheol, and it’s a complicated concept, perhaps, that we don’t fully understand just how much David and the others of the Old Testament knew about the afterlife. The idea of Sheol being that there is where the soul goes when there is death and it is absent from God. But there are other passages, for instance, Psalm 139 and verse 8, that speak of God being there, even in Sheol. If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there. But the idea of Sheol and death here seems to be the concept that if I go on, then my relationship with my God has changed.

That while I’m here in this life, I have the opportunity to praise him. I have the opportunity to worship him and to serve him. But as the psalmist says in Psalm 115 and verse 17, the dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any who go down into silence. And perhaps maybe David is even thinking of the wicked, or those who are separated from God when they die. And therefore they are no longer in God’s presence. But that’s not even necessary to understand the purpose of what David is saying here. The real horror for sin in David’s mind. The real horror of the punishment that he is currently undergoing, and if it were to result in his death would be that even as now the Lord, you’re not with me, O Lord, how long?

If this was to culminate in his death, then he’d again be absent from the Lord. Because of sin. He would no longer be able to remember the Lord. He would no longer be able to praise the Lord as he could now. And that’s his prayer. Even in the Old Testament, the righteous did not fear death from the standpoint of eternal punishment. We know of Abraham, and it says of even the patriarchs that when they died, they went with their fathers, if you will.

David’s looking not from the death of a righteous man. He’s looking at what if my punishment culminates in my death? What if God is not with me even when I die? What then? What remembrance can I give to God? How can I give thanks to him in Sheol? That’s the horror of sin. The separation from God now and the separation of God from God that can continue throughout eternity. And so there is the recognition throughout. The Lord is his only hope. Cries out, Be gracious to me, O Lord, Brian pining away. Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are dismayed. My soul is greatly dismayed. How long, O Lord. Return, O Lord. Rescue my soul. Save me because of your loving kindness. Whereas it is the right of God to rebuke and chasten.

3. The Psalm Concludes With Assurance

It does not mean that his graciousness cannot be sought. Because that is who God is. He is a God who punishes the iniquity of sinners. But is he also the God who forgives? David recognizes that. He may have been removed from his presence. But the godly long for his return. And the godly will seek his return. And so the psalm concludes then with assurance. The last stanza of the Psalm, verses 8 through 10. Depart from me, all you who do iniquity. For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping, for the Lord has heard my supplication, the Lord receives my prayer. And my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed. They’ll turn back. They will suddenly be ashamed. This is spoken from the standpoint of one who is still in the midst of this trial.

This is still the one who has been crying all night. This is still the one whose enemies are afflicting him. But because of his great assurance in who God is, and the recognition of that as he is pouring his soul out to God, and he is longing for the Lord to return to him. There is this assurance in his mind that this will happen, and so he speaks as if it has already happened. The first line in verse 8 is perhaps significant, and you may recognize it.

That is spoken with the idea of kingly authority. That’s spoken as David is recognizing this.

And when that happens, I will say, Depart from me, all you who do iniquity. Where you know that from? Matthew 7. As he says in verse 21, beginning, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. He who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? And in your name cast out demons, and your name perform many miracles. And now I’ll declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Why could Jesus say that? Why could Jesus say that even to those who in some ways were doing his will, and yet they were not giving themselves fully to him?

How can he say that? Because he too exercised kingly authority. He could say, Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness or iniquity, because he is king. And so going back to the psalmist, David sees the end. He sees, I will be king, because the Lord will be with me. And I will be able to say to those who are doing iniquity, depart from me. For the Lord has heard. Says that twice. The Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication. The Lord receives my prayer. Again, this is spoken of something that has happened and has already happened and will happen, continue to happen. The Lord has heard, he has heard, he receives my prayer. There’s assurance. The godly, those who love the Lord, the godly, those who long for the presence of the Lord, and they recognize that because of sin, the Lord is no longer with me.

4. A Final Contrast: The Enemies

They can go to God in prayer, and they can know that God will hear, God will heal, God will be with them. But then there’s a contrast, a final contrast in verse 10. All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed. They shall turn back.

They’ll be ashamed. But contrast the enemies with David himself. David recognizes that he was rebuked and chastised by the Lord, and so he could pray to the Lord, do not rebuke me, nor chasten me in your wrath. But that does not seem to be the case with the enemies. The enemies will simply be dismayed, the idea of the enemies falling. And why is that? Because the enemies do not love the Lord. They love the Lord, they would not have set themselves up against the Lord’s King, His anointed one. But you see, the enemies do not love the Lord. What hope is there for them? What hope is there for those who do not love the Lord, who would not recognize that the Lord has the right to rebuke and chasten, who do not long for the presence of the Lord.

They’re not crying in the night. They’re not in anguish and praying for the Lord to return to them. No, they are enemies of his.

Conclusion

Those who love the Lord recognize, yes, we sin and we long for his presence. He has the right to chasten me. He has the right to punish me. But I long for his to return to me. And they can have assurance that, yes, the Lord will hear. The Lord will receive. The Lord will forgive. But those who would have no love for the Lord, well, first of all, because they have no love for the Lord, they will not seek the Lord. They may endure some kind of affliction in this life. And if they ever had a notion that it came from God, they’ll only be embittered toward Him. The lesson for us. How do I respond to my sin? Will I be as the enemies of David?

And just continue and persist, never looking above, never looking to the one who I need in my life. What hope is there for me?

But if I’m speaking to a room full, and I think that I am, of good and honest hearts, then there’s no shame in admitting that, yes, we do transgress. Yes, we do fall short. Yes, he has the right to rebuke and chasten. Yes, my sin is horrific for what it has done for me in my relationship with God. But I can go to him again. He will receive.

And that is the assurance that he gives the godly. We’re about to dismiss to our classes. Before we do that, let us go to our great God and our Father in prayer. Oh Lord, we come to you as those who have sinned. Lord, we recognize that we fall short and that we are not perfect. And Lord, we confess that you are within your right as our God and our Creator to punish, to rebuke, and to chasten. Father, we would only pray that if we experience that kind of rebuke and chastening in our lives, that it would correct us. That would help us to see our error, Father. That would help us to see the value of having a relationship with you. And so, Lord, for any of us who are away from you, we would ask, return, O Lord.

Rescue our souls. Save us, Lord, because of your loving kindness. Father, do not separate us from you. But Lord, we would pray that we would be with you for all eternity. Lord, help us to recognize just how terrible sin is, and may we have the heart of even your servant David, that when there is sin in our lives, Father, we would grieve over that sin. We would recognize that you do not deserve such behavior from us, for you are a loving God. You are a God who has given us all that we could ever need or want. And so, Father, we pray to you this morning with assurance. We pray to you, Father, with the assurance that you hear and that you receive. We pray to you, Father, with the assurance that your Son now reigns as King.

And the very King who will say to those who are evil, who do not love you to depart, is the very same King who will say to us one day, enter in, thou good and faithful servant. We praise you, Father, we love you. We pray that you would receive our prayer even this day. It’s in your Son’s name that we pray. Amen. Well, now to be dismissed to our classes. For those who are visiting with us, we have classes for all ages. Up through the fourth grade, you would simply send your kids down that main hall. But if they’re in uh grades five through high school, we have classes for them in a building right outside, and there will be people to help you in whatever you need.