An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson for August 3, 2025, Psalm 32:1-11, “God’s Forgiveness.” Includes a sample introduction to the lesson, text outline & highlights, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

You could open (or close!) this week’s lesson with this story:

“’Irresistible’ is the very word an Iranian student used when telling (John R.W. Stott) of his conversion to Christ. Brought up to read the Koran, say his prayers and lead a good life, he nevertheless knew that he was separated from God by his sins. When Christian friends brought him to church and encouraged him to read the Bible, he learnt that Jesus Christ had died for his forgiveness. ‘For me the offer was irresistible and heaven-sent,’ he said, and he cried to God to have mercy on him through Christ. Almost immediately ‘the burden of my past life was lifted. I felt as if a huge weight … had gone. With the relief and sense of lightness came incredible joy. At last it had happened. I was free of my past. I knew that God had forgiven me, and I felt clean. I wanted to shout, and tell everybody. It was through the cross that the character of God came clearly into focus for him, and that he found Islam’s missing dimension, ‘the intimate fatherhood of God and the deep assurance of sins forgiven’.”

(John R.W. Stott, The Cross of Christ, p. 42)

Then share how in today’s lesson in Psalm 32, we see how OUR sins too can be forgiven, if we will confess them to the Lord.

ALTERNATE INTRODUCTION (or use elsewhere in the lesson):

Psalm 32 was the favorite of Augustine of Hippo Regis, whom many call “St. Augustine”. Augustine had lived a very sinful, profligate life before he came to Christ as an adult, famously through the tearful prayers of his mother Monica. He wrote of the message of Psalm 32: 

“The beginning of understanding is to know thyself a sinner.” 

You might consider posting this quote for your class as you open the lesson, and ask them to discuss what they think about it. 

(Discussion could include that there is a lot of truth to that.  We really can’t begin to get right with God until we realize that we are sinners. The gospel isn’t really “good news” unless you know the “bad news” first: that you have sinned against God and are headed for hell apart from His mercy. If you don’t realize that, then you feel no need for the forgiveness that is found in Christ.)

So what Augustine said is true: “The beginning of understanding is to know thyself a sinner.”  And Psalm 32 encourages us to admit that we are sinners — but thankfully it doesn’t leave us there; it leads us to the forgiveness that we can find in Christ, if we will confess our sins to Him.

CONTEXT:

We continue our study in Psalms this quarter with Psalm 32. As we have seen, there are a number of “categories” of Psalms, one of which is “Penitential Psalms” in which the writer expresses “penitence” or “repentance” for his sins. Seven Psalms are generally considered “Penitential Psalms”: 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130 & 143. Psalm 32 is one of those penitential Psalms. In it David expresses the blessings of being forgiven by God, but he doesn’t merely do it from a “theoretical” standpoint; he shares his own personal testimony of forgiveness from the Lord: how he first tried to hide his sin, but then found the blessing of God’s forgiveness when he confessed his sin. By following his advice in Psalm 32, we can all know that same blessing of forgiveness too! 

OUTLINE:

I. The Blessing of Forgiveness (:1-2)

II. The Testimony of Forgiveness (:3-5)

III. The Lessons of Forgiveness (:6-11)

TEXT:  Psalm 32:1-11

I. The Blessing of Forgiveness (:1-2)

In the first 2 verses, David just exclaims about the blessings of forgiveness: “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit!” Let’s look at what these verses tell us about the blessing of God’s forgiveness to us:

:1 “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!”

“Blessed” is the Hebrew word “ashere” that Psalm 1 began with: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,” etc. The word “ashere” means “spiritually happy” or “blessed” — it’s the state of being everyone desires.

Now, the world usually thinks: “How blessed is the RICH person” or how blessed is the “famous” person, or the “successful” person in worldly terms, or the “attractive” person, etc.  We feel good when we have these things, or envy those who do. We think THEY are the “blessed” ones.

But the Bible tells us here that the TRULY blessed person is the one who knows their transgressions are forgiven and their sins are covered. THAT is the person who should rejoice! It is easy to be discouraged because of some area of lack financially, or troubles in your job or home.  But if you know that your sins are forgiven, then you have every reason to rejoice.  Everything else you lack in this world is temporary.  (It’s like in Luke 10 when Jesus’ disciples came back from their mission, and they were marveling: “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” But Jesus said don’t rejoice in that, but “rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” (:20) There is nothing more important than that. If you’ve got God’s forgiveness, you’ve got the most important blessing there is, and every reason to rejoice today!  

Charles Spurgeon said: “Do you believe that your sins are forgiven, and that Christ has made a full atonement for them? Then what a joyful Christian you ought to be! How you should live above the common trials and troubles of the world! Since sin is forgiven, can it matter what happens to you now?” – C.H. Spurgeon, Morning & Evening, Day 227, morning)

So the person who knows they are forgiven is truly the “blessed” person! 

Also: note that it doesn’t say the blessed person is the one who didn’t HAVE transgressions and sins; because we ALL do.  If you could only be blessed if you didn’t have any transgressions, then NONE of us would be blessed! But no; it says blessed is the person whose transgressions are FORGIVEN!  You DO have transgressions; I DO have transgressions. We all have transgressions and we will continue to have transgressions as long as we live! But the amazing blessing we have through God’s grace, is that our transgressions are all forgiven and covered through Jesus Christ.  

Now let’s look at the details of what God’s forgiveness MEANS as it is spelled out in the rest of :1-2. There are three expressions that describe God’s forgiveness:

— “Transgression are FORGIVEN”: The Hebrew word here is “nasa”: “lift, carry, take” — carried away!  Our transgressions are carried away!  It’s the picture of the “scapegoat” we talked about when we were in Leviticus 16. Aaron would lay his hands on the scapegoat, confessing all their sins over it, and the scapegoat was driven away into the wilderness. That scapegoat pictured for Israel, and for all of us, how God would away all our sins on a substitute. And of course, this prophesied what He would do for us in the Ultimate Substitute/Scapegoat, Christ: He carried all our sins away.  “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us,” Psalm 103:12 says! Our “transgressions are forgiven;” they are carried away!

— “Sin is COVERED.” 

??? DISCUSSION QUESTION/APPLICATION???
You might share a story, or ask your group to share of times, when they/someone they knew, covered a stain/imperfection. Then make the point, this is what GOD does with our sins.

Of course when we cover stains, etc, they are often still there. When GOD covers them, they are gone! (We’ll talk some more about God “covering” our sins when we confess them to Him, later in :5.)

— “LORD does NOT IMPUTE iniquity”: when something is “imputed” it means it is counted towards you. For example, in the New Testament in Romans 4, it talks about how faith was “reckoned” or “imputed” (KJV) word to Abraham as righteousness. His faith was “counted” as righteousness. 

But here Psalm 32 tells us that our sins are NOT counted towards the person who has experienced God’s forgiveness! 

ILLUSTRATION:

In the 2012 Olympics, U.S. diver David Boudia had some pretty poor scores in his prequalifying round, and he almost didn’t make it to the final. But in the final, all the previous poor scores were thrown out; they didn’t “count against.” He got to start over again in the final round with a clean slate, and as a result, if you remember, he ended up winning the gold medal.

What we as Christians need to grasp is that when we confess our sins to God, this same thing happens to our sins: we get a “clean slate”: our sins are ‘CARRIED AWAY’; our sins are “COVERED”; our sins are NOT COUNTED” against us! Now you can count on it that the devil will still use our sins to trouble our minds.  But as this scripture makes clear, when our sins are brought to the blood of Jesus, they do not exist in the accounting of God!  Our part is to believe that by faith, and to keep on claiming that truth by faith, even when Satan keeps trying to bring it back up and hold it against us. 

ILLUSTRATION/APPLICATION: Rosaria Butterfield Testimony

Rosaria Butterfield was once a liberal, lesbian, college professor in New England. Through the word of God and a pastor and his wife who ministered to her, she was saved. But you can imagine how Satan would try to make her feel guilty for her sins — we all deal with that. But listen to her testimony from her book, Openness Unhindered:

“Once you have sinned, Satan accuses you with the full wrath of God …. And Satan is right in a half-truth kind of way …

But my identity is in the risen Christ … Because my identity is in Christ, like Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress, I have to set the record straight and what fuels my resolve deep and daily repentance to God. To my accuser I say: “You are right about the depths of my sin. You are more right than you know. I am guilty of that and so much more. And you are right that Gods punishment for what I have done is death. But this is what you do not know. You don’t seem to know Romans 6:3–11. Do you know what this passage means? Because of my union with Christ, I was put on trial. I was taken into custody. I spat on and stripped naked. I was thrashed with metal whips by Pontius Pilate. I was tortured. I was crucified. I was castigated to hell. … I am risen from the tomb and resurrected into the light by the power of Jesus Christ himself, who declares to me that there is no condemnation for me any longer, because I am clothed his righteousness by the power of his resurrection, The risen Christ in whom I stand declares to you, Satan, that you no longer have any claim on me. 

I have to have this conversation with Satan every day.”

(Rosaria Butterfield, Openness Unhindered, pp. 40-41)

Many of our class members need to hear this testimony, because Satan is attacking them with the same kind of guilt. They need to know that they can and will need “to have this conversation with Satan every day” like Rosaria Butterfield does. God’s word, in places like Psalm 32, makes it very clear: when we bring our sins to the Lord, they are “carried away,” “covered,” and “not counted against us”! 

Here is this first section we truly see the Blessing of Forgiveness.  

II. The Testimony of Forgiveness (:3-5)

:3 “When I kept silent about my sin, my [b]body wasted away
Through my [c]groaning all day long.

4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My [d]vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. [e]Selah.

5 I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide;

 “I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”;
And You forgave the [f]guilt of my sin. Selah.

So after the opening section in :1-2 on how great God’s forgiveness is, David basically says, “Now here’s my story; here’s what happened to me …”. (I’ve noticed that he does this in a number of Psalms, by the way; watch for this as you read them!) So here in :3-5 he shares his own testimony of forgiveness. Forgiveness isn’t just an “abstract principle” to him; this is something he has gone through himself. 

A. Hiding His Sin

And David said his “story” was one of trying to hide his sin from the LORD. He says in :3 “When I kept silent about my sin ….”

He said he paid the price for it: and he describes in :3-4 the consequences that hiding his sin had on him. (Remember we saw last week in Psalm 38 many of the consequences of sin detailed.)  David said his “bones” wasted away (the physical consequence of sin like we saw in Psalm 38). He said he “groaned” (the word is literally “roared”) all day long In :4 he says: “Day and night Your hand was heavy upon me.” So :3-4 indicate that there were physical consequences, emotional consequences, and spiritual consequences of his sin. 

The scenario David shares here is reminiscent of what Jonah went through when he sinned against God. You can’t get away from God. You can’t hide from Him. You can’t escape being confronted by God with your sins. Jonah found that out; you can get on the fastest ship and try to run to the furthest corner of the world, and God’s hand will still find you out there, and He’ll have them throw you overboard and you’ll end up in the stinking belly of a great fish!  The basic lesson is: you can’t win, trying to hide your sins from God!  

(At the end of :4, we find the Hebrew word “Selah.” Scholars do not know for certain what it means, but many think it means a “pause.” I personally believe it means something like: “Stop and think about it”!  In light of that, you might ask your group:

??? WHY do you think God might have put a “Selah” — to “stop and think about it” — right here???

(Answers might include, that we need to “stop and think about” how hiding our sins from God never works! We need to confess them — like David does in the next section:)

B. Confessing His Sin

So then David says in :5, “I acknowledged my sin to You; and my iniquity I did NOT hide; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD” — and what happened? He says; “You FORGAVE the guilt of my sin.”

NOW THERE IS VERY INTERESTING WORDPLAY HERE, involving that word “cover” or “hide.” 

In :5 David basically says he had been trying to “hide” or cover, his sins. That whole section was about him trying to cover his sins.  

So he says in :5, I did NOT “cover” my sins; but confessed them to God. So as a result, :1 says, he now has the blessing of knowing that GOD has “covered” his sins, as we saw.Interestingly, These two words used in :1 & :5 are the same Hebrew word for “cover”!

So David is saying: WE cannot successfully “cover” our sins; but if we will STOP trying to “cover” them ourselves, then GOD will cover them Himself  — completely. 

A parallel Old Testament passage is from Genesis 3 in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve had sinned. They first tried to hide from God, and then tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. But when God confronted them, :21 says that HE made them garments of animal skins: prefiguring the blood sacrifice that would be necessary to truly cover our sins. 

And of course now in the New Testament era we know that our sins are entirely hidden in Christ and His righteousness, as Colossians 3:2 says, “For you have died, and you are hidden in Christ to God.” When God looks at us, He does not see our sins. He only sees the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ! 

So you might summarize David’s testimony here in Psalm 32:5, something like this:  If you will UNCOVER your sins to God, then God will COVER your sins for you!

(Interestingly enough, we find ANOTHER “Selah” after :5! Again, we need to “stop and think about” how God will forgive us if we will confess our sins to Him!)

III. The Lessons of Forgiveness (:6-11)
:6 “Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You [g]in a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.

7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with [h]songs of deliverance. Selah.

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.

9 Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check,Otherwise they will not come near to you.

10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, But he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him.

11 Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones;
And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.”

Then in :6-11, David concludes Psalm 32 by giving us some “lessons” from his testimony. It’s like he’s saying: “Here’s what I’ve learned from all this.”  In fact, although Psalm 32 is classified as a “Penitential Psalm” (and I think rightly so); it is also called a “Maskil” in the introduction — most scholars believe that “maskil” means “wisdom Psalm” — perhaps because of the “wisdom lesson” that David gives here at the end of Psalm 32. He’s saying: LEARN from my experience.  

Otto von Bismark of Germany once wrote: “Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others.” 

David’s saying, be really wise. Learn some lessons from my experience here.  What are the lessons he wants us to learn? I see at least four here at the end of Psalm 32 in :6-11:

1. :6 “Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found.”   He says the first lesson is: Don’t wait. Don’t put off confessing your sins to God like I did. Seek Him NOW. Seek Him “while He may be found.”  

There is a real warning here. There is a kind of person who says, “I will go ahead and sin, and then I’ll get right with God some time before I die.” That is foolish, and presumptuous. You may never get that opportunity. 

??? DISCUSSION QUESTION???

To help drive this point home, you could ask your group:

“Have you ever seen something at a store and you thought, ‘I will come back later and get that?’” — but it was gone/sold out when you came back? 

(I did that with a dress for Cheryl just the other day. I was amazed how quickly they sold out! You/your group can share your stories)

Of course, it’s of no lasting consequence if we miss out on a dress or some other item at a store. But missing out on the forgiveness God offers us is eternally tragic!  David says an important lesson is to seek God’s forgiveness NOW, “in a time when He may be found.” II Corinthians 6:2b says “Behold, now is ‘the acceptable time,’ behold, now is ‘the day of salvation.’”

Seek God’s forgiveness NOW. Don’t “presume” that you will be able to do it later.

2. Then he says in 6b-7 that because he DID confess his sin to the Lord, God protected and blessed him: “surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance.”  David said, all these blessings of God’s protection and salvation are mine, because I DID confess my sins to God — in time. He says, learn from me and do the same. 

3.  Then in :8 and following he gives another one of his “lessons” from this experience:   “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel You with My eye upon you.Then he says in :9, “Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, otherwise they will not come to you.”

In other words, David’s saying another lesson is: DON’T LIVE LIKE AN ANIMAL. Although animals have  many good qualities, and many of us have been blessed by their faithfulness and labor, there are some ways in which we are not to be like them.  Psalm 32:9 admonishes: “Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding …”.  The word for “understanding” here in Psalm 32:9 is the Hebrew “bin”, which means to “discern.”  According to Brown-Driver-Briggs, a related Arabic word means to “separate” or “distinguish.”  Animals, though possessing many good qualities which are a blessing to man, are very limited in their understanding and in their decision-making process.

The problem with many people in our age (and every ungodly age) is that they do not distinguish right from wrong any more than these undiscerning animals do. The godless worldview that is prevalent in so many places today feeds into that: they DO consider man to be just another “animal.” They believe we have evolved from animals, and that we ARE in fact animals. And people today are following that out philosophy, by ACTING like animals! We see it acted out right before our very eyes, all the time. People seek after pleasure, without thought for its morality, or long-term consequences. As Philippians 3:19 says; “Their god is their belly” — whatever feels good, they do. They don’t think about the long-term effects of what they are doing; they don’t learn important life lessons.

God created us for more than that. Genesis says that He made us “in His image”. Included in this is the ability to “separate”, to distinguish, to discern — to determine that although some things may be pleasurable, they are not “right.”  We have the ability to think through the consequences of our actions, and we are able to postpone instant gratification for a longer-term good. God made us with higher mental and moral sensibilities than the animals. In Psalm 32:9 He encourages us to act like it.

So David says here: DON’T be like an animal; DON’T be stubborn. You were made in the image of God, and have the ability to listen, and learn. So LEARN from this testimony and its lesson, which is to repent of your sins, and seek God’s forgiveness NOW, while you can.  

4. And then David closes with a final lesson, contrasting the righteous and the wicked:  “Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness (“chesed,” that almost untranslatable Hebrew word which means God’s undeserved love, kindness, grace) shall surround him. Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones, and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.”  

As David taught us in the early part of Psalm 32, unlike the wicked, His people really CAN rejoice today — no matter what our other circumstances are — because we know we have the greatest blessing of all: the blessing of God’s forgiveness.  It’s like the great old hymn says: 

“My sin O the bliss of this glorious thought;

My sin not in part but the whole;

Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more;

Praise the Lord; Praise the Lord, O my soul.”  

The message of Psalm 32 is “Blessed” is the person who can sing that song, and really mean it, because they know that their sins are indeed forgiven, covered, and not imputed to us, through  Christ.  

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