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 2nd 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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