DAVID WAS AN ISRAELITE

DAVID WAS AN ISRAELITE!

Psalm 32

1 How joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! 2 How joyful is the man the Lord does not charge with sin and in whose spirit is no deceit! 3 When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night Your hand was heavy on me; my strength was drained as in the summer’s heat. Selah 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not conceal my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You took away the guilt of my sin. Selah 6 Therefore let everyone who is faithful pray to You at a time that You may be found. When great floodwaters come, they will not reach him. 7 You are my hiding place; You protect me from trouble. You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance. Selah 8 I will instruct you and show you the way to go; with My eye on you, I will give counsel. 9 Do not be like a horse or mule, without understanding, that must be controlled with bit and bridle or else it will not come near you. 10 Many pains come to the wicked, but the one who trusts in the Lord will have faithful love surrounding him. 11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones; shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

In verses 1 and 2, David describes the joy of forgiveness, how blessed it is.

In verses 3 and 4, he describes the misery of life, when he tried to hide (conceal) his sin.

In verse 5, he then speaks of the ‘change’ in how he dealt with his sin; no longer concealing it, he acknowledged and confessed the sins and the guilt was taken away.

In verse 6, he encourages all to follow this example of dealing with their sin…namely confess it and pray for God’s forgiveness…………..but why?

Because David was an Israelite!

What does that (i.e., David being an Israelite), have to do with how David dealt with his sin, and with his advice to others?

David, being an Israelite, was ALREADY in a covenant relationship with God. David was NOT an alien, he was an Israelite! So also today, those who are ALREADY in a covenant relationship with God, are to acknowledge their sin, repent, and pray for forgiveness.

But what of an alien? Could a non-Israelite do as David did, for his sin? Could a Canaanite, Assyrian, or Babylonian sinner, do as David did? No, for they had never been a part of the covenant made at Mt. Sinai. That covenant was with the nation of Israel thru the seed of Abraham, thru Isaac and Jacob ONLY. Notice:

Exodus 19:5 — “Now then, if YOU will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then YOU shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine…”.

NOTE: This generation died in the wilderness, because of their sins. Their children inherited the ‘promised’ land of Canaan, and Moses spoke these words to the 2^nd generation in Deut. 5:1-3, “And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and observe to do them. Jehovah our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Jehovah made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.”

Malachi 4:4 — “Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded HIM in Horeb for all ISRAEL.”

But HOW DID ONE BECOME AN ISRAELITE? How did one ENTER the covenant relationship?

One became an Israelite by a birth, underwent circumcision and was taught the Law of Moses; NOT by confession and prayer. Those instructions (confession & prayer), were for one already IN that covenant relationship! 

David WAS an Israelite; NOT an alien!

The prophet Jeremiah spoke of a new covenant God would make with man through His Son. This ‘house of Israel’ would be those who comprise the church, which Jesus built (Matt. 16:18).

Jer. 31:31-34 – “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, NOT LIKE the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

We see the change in how one would enter into this NEW covenant from this language. Whereas, under the OLD covenant, one was BORN, then TAUGHT the Law, under the NEW covenant, you would be TAUGHT FIRST, THEN BORN. (John 6:43-45 – “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me’.”)

Today, how does an ALIEN enter into a covenant relationship with God today? By confession of sin and prayer? NO, rather by being BORN (John 3:3, 5, 7) “...unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God... unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God...Ye MUST be born again.”

AFTER one is in this new covenant relationship, he then can confess his sin, and be cleansed of his guilt, as David spoke of in this psalm.  But could an alien sinner, NOT YET in covenant relationship, do as one who IS in a covenant relationship with God for his sin? No more than a non-Israelite could do as David.

David continued in Psalm 32, showing this distinction between one IN covenant relationship with God as opposed to one NOT IN covenant relationship:

6 Therefore let EVERYONE WHO IS FAITHFUL PRAY to You at a time that You may be found. When great floodwaters come, they will not reach HIM. (THIS IS NOT TRUE OF AN UN-FAITHFUL PERSON)

7 You are my hiding place; You protect me from trouble. You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance. Selah
(WHY SO? BECAUSE DAVID WAS AN ISRAELITE!)

What will God do for the FAITHFUL?                                                                                                                                                          8 I will instruct you and show you the way to go; with My eye on you, I will give counsel.

But what of an UN-FAITHFUL PERSON?

9 Do not be like a horse or mule, without understanding, that must be controlled with bit and bridle or else IT (i.e., understanding) WILL NOT COME NEAR YOU.

10 Many pains come to the wicked, but the one who trusts in the Lord will have faithful love surrounding him.

11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones; shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

David WAS an Israelite! 

Today, a saved person is one who has undergone a circumcision of the heart, as Jeremiah foretold. He is an Israelite ‘inwardly’. 

Rom. 3:28-29 – For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.

 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.

All Jews in the book of Acts, beginning with the ‘about 3,000’ in chapter 2, were physical Israelites. They were under the OLD covenant, but not as yet Israelites ‘inwardly’. Now that the prophecy of Jeremiah had been fulfilled, they needed to become a Jew ‘inwardly’ to enter the NEW covenant.  Remember, they would be ‘taught’ how to do so (John 6:43-45). This teaching came when the gospel was preached. The terms of the NEW covenant were explained, i.e., the new birth.

However, as yet, these physical Jews/Israelites were ‘aliens’ to the NEW covenant. Did the apostle Peter tell them to confess their sins and pray? No, he told them to be ‘born anew’.  He told them to “Repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins” (Acts 2:38). Then “they that ‘gladly received’ Peter’s words WERE baptized” (v. 41).

If you desire to be saved today, as an alien, you must do as they did. THIS is how you enter into covenant relationship with God through Christ. He (Christ) is the mediator of the NEW covenant (1 Tim. 2:5 — “…there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…” – cf. Heb. 8:6; 9:15; 12:24). 

After you are IN covenant relationship with God through this new birth, when sin is committed, you are to acknowledge (not conceal) your sin, and pray for forgiveness.

There is an example of an individual in Acts 8 who was an alien, (i.e., separated from God because of his sin); he then was ‘born anew’ (Acts 8:13 – “Simon himself believed; and after being baptized…”), thereby entering into covenant relationship with God, under the NEW covenant terms in the gospel. 

However, this same person, (now a Jew ‘INWARDLY’) committed sin again. But now, because he was a Jew ‘inwardly’, and IN covenant relationship, he was NOT told to be ‘born anew’, but to acknowledge his sin and pray for forgiveness.  Why so? BECAUSE HE WAS NOW AN ISRAELITE ‘INWARDLY’! 

Notice what was preached to him, regarding how to deal with his sin in Acts 8:18-22 –

18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,

19 saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!

21 You have no part or portion in this matter, FOR YOUR HEART IS NOT RIGHT BEFORE GOD.

22 Therefore REPENT OF THIS WICKEDNESS OF YOURS, AND PRAY THE LORD THAT, IF POSSIBLE, THE INTENTION OF YOUR HEART MAY BE FORGIVEN YOU.

ALIEN, or ISRAELITE? Does it make a difference? David was an Israelite. His words in Psalm 32 did not apply to an alien.

Jesus told Nicodemus (a physical Jew/Israelite) that he MUST be born again (John 3). He told other physical Jews/Israelites that they must be taught how, in order for them to come to Him (John 6). They would be taught ‘how’, when the gospel was preached to them, as was done in Acts 2. 

Once one has entered into covenant relationship, he then has the right to call upon, and address God as his “HEAVENLY FATHER”. However, “God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.” (John 9:31).

This was the significance of David being an Israelite.

If you were told to confess your sin and pray for forgiveness, were you already IN a covenant relationship, or were you told to confess your sin and pray to ENTER that covenant relationship? Your salvation depends on it!

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