SERMON SUBJECT: RESPONDING TO THE HEAVY HAND OF GOD

SERMON TEXT: “Thy hand was heavy upon me”(Psalm 32:4)

SERMON THESIS: The repentant sinner can escape the pressure of unconfessed sin and find peace.

INTRODUCTION: In this message, I will attempt to show how guilt harbored in the heart, rather than confessed openly to God is deadly. I will further attempt to show how guilt entrusted to God frees the sinner to experience God’s love and peace. It was the writer of Proverbs who said...

“He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion” (Proverbs 28:13). 

When we sin and do not confess it, as seen in the life of David, we experience what he called “the heavy hand of God,” upon his life. The heavy hand of God upon our lives concerning unconfessed sin is, first...

I. A HAND OF DISTRESS

     We might ask the question, “Does a loving God allow us to be distressed?” According to the Psalmist He does, and He allows it because He loves us. Phrases like, “Through my groaning all day long”(v. 3), and “Day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me,” are indicators that the Psalmist was distressed. Scripture confirms this truth... 

The prophet Samuel has written...

“Now the hand of the LORD was heavy on the Ashdodites, and He ravaged them and smote them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territories” (I Samuel 5:6). 

It was Job who said...

"There is no umpire between us, who may lay his hand upon us both. Let Him remove His rod from me, and let not dread of Him terrify me” (Job 9:33-34). 

Concerning the heavy hand of God, it was the Psalmist who prayed...

“O LORD, rebuke me not in Your wrath, and chasten me not in Your burning anger. For Your arrows have sunk deep into me, and Your hand has pressed down on me. There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; There is no health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities are gone over my head; as a heavy burden they weigh too much for me” (Psalm 38:1-4). 

1. What is the source of distress? In this case it was sin. Listen to the words of the Psalmist, “When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away”(v. 3). Unconfessed sin has a devastating affect on the physical body. Carolyn and I witnessed firsthand, this past week, the affects that sin has on a person’s body... sin not only causes the body to deteriorate, sin affects the mind and spirit as well.

2. Why does God allow a person to be distressed? God is a merciful God, and this is His way of showing mercy. God allows bad things to happen to a person as well as good things to bring them to repentance and healing. He allows pain to bring us to a place of peace. One writer said, “For sin related illnesses, repentance and confession restore the spiritual relationship with God and open the possibility of God’s healing.” This is what happened to me between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one...

This was a stressful period of time in my life. Simply stated, I had drifted back into sin and found myself out of the will and favor of God. I, like the Psalmist, “kept silent about my sin,” and found myself in a miserable condition. I even doubted my salvation and believed that I would go to hell when I died.

My distress worsened in 1966, after being discharged from the Army... started attending church... Carolyn received the gift of eternal life... the pastor set aside a week to pray for me... I thought I was going to have a heart attack... I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was God’s hand that was heavily upon me, and yet, I kept turning from God.

Finally, it was during an evening worship service that I stopped running from God, and ran to God. I went forward during the invitation; fell in my pastor’s arms, confessed my sin, and found God’s forgiveness.

Not only is the heavy hand of God upon His children a hand of distress, it is also...

II. A HAND OF DISCIPLINE

The Psalmist said, “Thy hand was heavy upon me.” God’s hand is heavy upon His children when they are living in sin. The Psalmist not only experienced distress in his life as a result of sin, he was also experiencing God’s discipline. It was the writer of Hebrews who wrote...

^“O LORD, rebuke me not in Your wrath, and chasten me not in Your burning anger. For Your arrows have sunk deep into me, and Your hand has pressed down on me. There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities are gone over my head; as a heavy burden they weigh too much for me”(Hebrews 10:31). 

To take these words of the writer of Hebrews a step further lies the danger of falling out of His hands. In a poem by D.H. Lawrence, he wrote, “It is better to be disciplined that to be left to rot.” The horrible state of the unrepentant sinner is found in Romans...

“For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural...” (Romans 1:26). 

1. Why does God discipline His children? Let’s answer this question with Scripture. The writer of Proverbs said...

^“He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray” (Proverbs 10:17).  

It was for correction that God disciplined the Israelites. It is for our correction that He disciplines us. The writer of Proverbs said...

“The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I shall announce My words to you.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make” (Jeremiah 18:1-4).

Submission to God’s discipline makes us pliable. Like the clay in the hands of the potter, we are the clay in the Father’s hands. Like the potter who applies pressure to the clay in order to make it conform to the particular shape he desires, our Heavenly Father often applies pressure to our lives to conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus. Therefore, the process of making something beautiful of our lives is quite painful. His discipline is always for our good and His glory.

2. What should our response be to the disciplining hand of God? Hear these words from the writer of Hebrews...

“...and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,"MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES" (Hebrews 12:5-6). 

Our response to God’s discipline should be that of submission. The Psalmist, I believe, was submitting to God discipline when he said...

“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 guilt of my sin. Selah” (Psalm 32:5). 

Taking our cue from the Psalmist, it is advisable to submit to God’s discipline as quickly as possible. To remain in a rebellious state once convicted of sin is to incur more severe measures of discipline from the hands of a loving God. As a nation, Israel did not submit and became known as a “stiff-necked” people.

Submission is always the best response. Rebellion is always an option, but not without the consequences it brings.

The Psalmist responded correctly to the “heavy hand of God.” Is God’s Spirit speaking to you about some secret sin in your life? Has He allowed your peace and happiness to be disrupted as a result of some unconfessed sin in your life? If so, will you make the proper response now by submitting, and confessing your sin to Him?

Finally, not only does God allow distress and discipline to come upon His children where unconfessed sin is concerned, there is also...

III. A HAND OF DELIVERANCE

From an exuberant heart, the Psalmist said...

“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!”(Psalm 32:1-2) 

“I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide” (Psalm 32:5). 

From God’s heavy hand of distress and discipline, the Psalmist is delivered by that same hand. Now once again He is free to worship the living God.

1. The heavy hand of God upon His children is His way of delivering them and freeing them to worship Him. Thus we see the Therefore of deliverance...

^“Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found; 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. Selah. I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. 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. Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him. Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones; and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart” (Psalm 32:6-11). 

2. God desires to deliver us from our transgressions, but we must make the proper response. The best response that you or I can make is depicted in the words of this old Hymn: “Have Thine own way Lord! Have Thine own way! Your are the Potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after Thy will–while I am waiting yielded and still.”

CONCLUSION: Will you respond to God’s Spirit now?