Restoration From Sin

I’m grateful for this opportunity to be able to share from the Word of God and just praying for God’s continued comfort and peace in the lives of those that are grieving. As I was weeks before when I was meditating, just on what to speak and what to share from the psalm had come to my mind and psalms are interesting and it’s beautiful in the way that the book of Psalms speaks to every feeling that a human being can experience. That no matter what experience that we’re going through there is a psalm for that moment in our life. And so psalms are beautiful in that it not only helps us understand what we’re going through but how can we connect and understand God in the midst of it. So there are psalms that say God is good and God is great and it proclaims the goodness of God and those psalms are what we call psalms of praise that declare the praise of God.

And there are other psalms that say life is tough right now and things are not going my way and things may not be working out and those are what we call psalms of lament. Lamenting or crying out to God out of a broken or hard situation. Billy Graham had a reading challenge that in one month every day he would read either given at one month he would read five psalms and he would read one proverbs and he said that one that the proverbs would help you understand how to deal in your relationship with people and how to live with wisdom and the psalms would help you understand how to know God and draw nearer to Him and understand yourself. And so today I would like to open our bibles to psalms 51 for today. Psalm 51 is what we would call a psalm of lament but more specifically it is what we call a penitential psalm.

It’s one of the seven psalms in the book that it deals with a specific sin or a situation of sin and is asking God for forgiveness and lamenting what has happened. We know the backstory behind this if you read the beginning section of your in psalm 51 it calls out what happened it’s in 2nd Samuel 11-12. We know this backstory and if you don’t know the backstory in a couple of weeks there’s a trip that’s happening that you can actually see it happen. My niece had gone to this play in Branson and recently we were talking about it and my sister was telling me that she skipped out on some of the plays because it’s part of the play because she didn’t want to sit through all of it and so she was telling mama she was telling her mama I didn’t see the whole play what really happened between David and Bathsheba she’s five years old. My sister’s like you didn’t see it she’s like well she didn’t know what to say it’s in the bible right so he said well David took Bathsheba as his wife and she’s like what and he’s like yeah and not only that David killed her husband she’s going crazy she’s like what and finally she’s like but you know what because David confessed and asked for forgiveness for God, God forgave David and her eyes grew wide and I’m not sure if she understood the grace of God or just how much she can get away with anything before asking for forgiveness.

2 Samuel 11 to 12 tells the story of David and Bathsheba that it’s here in the story that there’s a heroic character of David that we love and he comes off a string of victories and after these victories his battle his armies are all fighting a battle somewhere else he is walking on a rooftop sees a beautiful woman named Bathsheba and takes him as his own takes her as his own she becomes pregnant with his child and he trying to cover up his sin in a great and elaborate plan schemes to have her husband killed and in second Samuel 11:14 he writes the very letter that’s to kill Uriah the husband of Bathsheba has Uriah deliver it and he and Uriah is killed in battle and David thinks it’s all over he’s taken Bathsheba as his wife they have the child that is conceived out of wedlock but born in the marriage and David thinks nobody knows but second Samuel 11:17, 11:27 says this but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord that ending is ominous. David seems to have wrapped up every loose end but one and that one loose end who is God Himself has seen everything it is not happy and in second Samuel 12 Nathan the prophet comes and confronts David and says hey what you did is wrong and David in second Samuel 12:13 convicted of his sin asks for forgiveness from God and Nathan says the Lord has put away your sin you shall not die yet the child that was born dies as a consequence of David’s sin and it’s a tragic story of what is happening when David is caught up in the sinful situation and this psalm is birthed out of David’s pain the shame and all the guilt that he feels in that moment and what we see in the psalm of lament throughout the psalm is David praying for forgiveness of sin and the restoration of right relationship with God. Every psalm of lament opens off with what we call an appeal it is so and so in this with verses 1-3 it’s this psalmist is saying to God God hear me God listen to me God look upon me God don’t turn your face away from me God be merciful to me so psalms of lament start with this crying out to God of for Him to listen and intercede and step into the situation and we too are like that when we go through difficult situations when we don’t know if God is nearby is God present we too pray like this God do you see me God do you hear when I call God would you be merciful to me in the midst of my sin and we too start off by praying to God. Psalms 51:1-2 says this have mercy on me O God according to your steadfast love according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin David’s first appeal is for the mercy of God upon his life and he says it’s based on two things the first thing that he says it’s the steadfast love of God and that word hesed that’s used there it’s a beautiful word that could be a messages of its own it’s this word of loyal love of God that from Old Testament time when people have failed the loyal love of God is the one that carries them through it’s God’s loyal love that in the midst of human sins and failures carries them through and David is saying God be merciful to me based on your loyal love that’s never always faithful and the second thing he says is God would you be merciful to me is based on your abundant mercy or your great compassion and this is the word of a father or a mother has a compassion towards his children to their children and is moved with emotion into action David’s appeal to God is to show mercy to him by removing his sin on the basis of God’s steadfast love and great compassion. Lamentations 3:22-23 says the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases His mercies never come to an end they are new every morning great is your faithfulness there’s nothing more faithful than God’s steadfast love and compassion there’s a better chance of the sun not rising tomorrow than God’s mercies and His compassions not being there for His children every morning you and I awake you wake up knowing God’s compassion and His loyal love is fresh it’s not a rollover of what you didn’t use yesterday or what you didn’t need it’s fresh and new like mana that falls from heaven David more than appealing to God based on what he done he says God be merciful to me because of who you are and then he says God be merciful to me but I also need you to remove the sin and he describes it in three ways and it’s beautiful how we sung about all three of those ways today he says first he says God blot out my transgressions this is the idea of a debt that is owed that God I need you to mark it off your debt off your books that I can’t pay this price next he says God wash me from my iniquity it’s this idea of God I feel dirty the stain of sin has come upon me and I need a clean I need you to wash me from that thirdly he says God cleanse me from my sin it’s defilement in the Old Testament when you come in contact with something that’s unclean that thing that makes you unclean spiritually unclean this is internal that sin has defiled me on the inside it has made me unclean God I need you to cleanse me from within blot out my transgressions wash me and cleanse me from my sin the impact of sin in every one of our lives is in this way it’s a debt that we cannot repay it’s a stain that we can’t wash away and it’s an uncleanness that will just not go away from us and we are aware that we are debtors dirty defiled that can’t help ourselves in any way that is the weight that David is resting on when he speaks on the psalm so his appeal is God be merciful to me based on who you are and the appeal moves on from that to lament and confession and he says here that God don’t just be merciful to me but David is lamenting and he’s grieving over sin in itself he’s confessing to God I’ve fallen short and in these few verses that we read here there is a depth of sin that helps us understand what sin truly is.

First and foremost in Psalms 51:3 he says this for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me David takes ownership of his sin as his own David starts by acknowledging that his sin is always before him this is throughout the psalms he says the word my is used multiple times it’s my sin my transgressions my iniquity in the Old Testament he didn’t blame someone else like Adam and Eve did he didn’t minimize his sin or explain it away like Saul did he didn’t hide his sin like Achan rather he says this is my sin and it’s always before me and throughout the psalms he this psalm he holds responsibility I have sinned against God I know my transgressions let me give two quick applications here we live in a time where we blame our sins and the brokenness that our decisions cause on everyone but ourselves we live in a world where it’s the fault of the society that people grown up in it’s the upbringing it’s socioeconomic factors it’s because of the pressures they were under that they made those bad decisions it’s their surroundings and while these factors have an influence it does not take the responsibility of sin away from the person some of you may know the name Ethan Couch Ethan Couch was a 16-year-old boy in Burleson Texas who after a night of heavy drinking and alcohol and drugs got behind the wheel with a few friends and took his pickup and had killed four people standing by the side of the road and in the following criminal case against him his defense attorneys pleaded what an invented word called affluenza they said affluent Ethan’s actions was a result of his upbringing where his parents raised him with no real boundaries or respect for others which led him to not value life itself therefore he should not be sent to a jail but to a rehab it’s somebody else’s fault the step our first step in restoration with God is to say God this is my sin I own it David acknowledges own sin not because he not because he couldn’t punt it to someone else but because he realizes that my transgressions this is mine and unless I take ownership of it there’s no way God can show mercy David takes ownership of his sin and he recognizes his sin is against God. Verse 4 says this against you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment yes David murdered an innocent man yes he took Bathsheba as his own wife and David recognizes that sin is first and foremost against God when Nathan the prophet confronts David in second Samuel he says in verse 10 he says you have despised the word of the Lord in verse 9 and 10 he says you have despised the word of the Lord you have despised God to do what is evil in His sight see at the core of every sin is a despising of who God is every sin is against God first because it despises Him that leads in our sin to someone else Joseph when he is tempted in Potiphar’s house by Potiphar’s wife he doesn’t say how can I do this sin against Potiphar he says how can I do this sin against God who sees and knows everything because sin first and foremost says God I despise your wisdom I despise your way I despise your character I despise your wisdom and your sovereignty and your love because I think that my way is better and I think my wisdom is higher therefore God David says God you would be justified if you judge me because I have despised you my sin is against you that’s why David goes to God for mercy first the ownership of sin leads to a right understanding of sin and the judgment of sin in our life God being just and if He’s and righteous has to judge me He has to judge us for our sins and David takes ownership and he confesses his sin but he goes a step further David goes a step further he says in Psalms 51:5 behold I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me but behold you delight truth in the inward being and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart see David’s deeper revelation of sin is not sin is not something that you and I just do or actions but it’s the state of being that you and I were born into David recognizes that sin is not an external thing outside of him but it lives within him it’s not external actions that has caused the problems it is an internal problem that’s led to external actions this is a sickness within and the symptoms are adultery lying and murder it’s a sickness that lies deep within every one of us I was it’s not I was we’re not born good that make bad decisions we are born in sin and make sinful decisions the nature and power of sin lives in every single human being that is born when we hold a baby it’s hard to believe that deep within this child the inner workings of sin has already begun and yet throughout our journey of life we see that power of sin in each and every one of our life that propensity to sin that desire for sin is not something outside of us that’s pulling us but something within us as well and David’s lament here is not just for the sin that he did he says God my inner being within me is sinful I don’t and that’s what Paul says in Romans I don’t understand my actions I want to do what is right but I do the very thing that I hate he’s describing the indwelling of the sinful nature of the flesh that lies within us and there is a confession in this lament because he’s saying God I’m sinful on the inside but it’s that place that you desire what is true in the heart.

David sin is one that he could have justified in his mind he could have rationalized it away he could have explained it away he could have made Uriah believe that something didn’t happen and when he could not David in his own wisdom and this is me thinking it out could have said this Uriah is one of his best warriors and it’s mentioned even in other parts of scriptures that David being a good general of the battle would set his best soldiers in the most difficult of places right and it just so happened that Uriah got killed that David being a good king would take his widowed wife as his own and if day if I was David this is my justification and rationalization but this shows the deceitfulness of sin and how pragmatic sin can be that there are some larger sins and habits of sins that start with small justifications in our life well the lies that you and I tell ourselves David after seeing Bathsheba on the rooftop had a decision he could have moved on and did not make a decision he did not have to inquire about her he didn’t have to send messengers to her he did not have to bring her to him truth in the inward being digs into the motivations of why you and I do what we do it’s not just doing the right thing is doing the right things for the right reasons at times when the Spirit of God convicts us we can rationalize our decisions away it’s that I know this is what I should be doing but this seems more reasonable this seems more sensible this seems more logical thing to do even though I know this is the right things of course I should spend time in prayer but how will all these other things get done I know that what I watch and I listen to is probably not right but how can I really relate with those around me I know this this endless scrolling and browsing is not leading me anywhere right but I just need to learn some things I need to keep be interested in something sin can be so sensible and pragmatic and that’s the deceitful nature of sin God desires truth in the inward being integrity deep within us it’s not my wisdom it’s God’s wisdom it’s not just what we do but it’s within us God wants sin to be removed Susan Wesley writing to her son John Wesley describes sin as this whatever weakens your reason impairs the tenderness of your conscience obscures your sense of God or takes off your relish of spiritual things in short whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind that thing is sin to you however innocent it may be in itself however innocent something may be to us it’s sinful to us if it makes us weaker in our walk with God if it pulls us away from God if it does not detest the things God detests and that understanding of sin that David has here it’s all encompassing that there’s an ownership of sin here there’s an understanding of the nature of sin and there’s an understanding what God wants is not just an outward change but an inward change in me.

So what is the answer to all this and that’s where verses 7-9 goes it’s the removal of sin is what David starts by petitioning to God he says we read in verses 1-2 David said my sin has left me feeling unclean and he says God would you purge me with hyssop and that this is a plant that was used in ceremonial cleansing where they’ll dip this plant in blood or water and sprinkle it upon people or places or things to declare it clean his iniquity in verse 1 has made him dirty he’s saying God would you wash me that I’ll be whiter than snow his transgressions and iniquity have made up a debt that he cannot pay but he says God don’t look at that would you blot out all of those from your iniquity God remove all the sin from my life remove the effects of sin from my life and how I feel it deep within my bones and he’s asking God would you forgive me but David doesn’t stop there he’s just not saying God I want to be forgiven he goes on he says I want to be restored to right relationship with you verse 8 says let me hear joy and gladness and the verses that we all know really well create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with the willing spirit here is the man who God says this is a man after my own heart and he says God I need a new clean heart I can’t change my heart I can’t overcome the desires that are within me I need a new heart with pure motivations with right joy with right affection that’s fixed on you that loves what you love that hates what you hate that pursues the things that you love God I may be after your heart but I need a clean heart within me give me a clean heart and then he prays for nearness he’s saying God bring me near don’t cast me away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me God I want to be in your presence David has experienced a joy that is in God’s presence and he’s saying God that joy that you said at your right hand or pleasures forevermore in your presence is the fullness of joy I want to be in your presence and he’s saying God I don’t have a willing spirit but would you give me a willing spirit to obey what you want me to obey relationship with God all these things a clean heart nearness to God the Holy Spirit of God within him the joy of salvation an obedient spirit God is saying God David is saying God would you bring me back into relationship with you.

What is the answer for the deep problem of sin and temptation in my life and yours it is relationship with God David understood that his problem and sin cannot be resolved by self-determination and willpower saying I’m not going to do that again or sincere desires or self-help foremost it’s turning to God turning to Him and a nearness of Him to Him we all get in cycles of sin because we think that we will find the cure to that sin somewhere somewhere else we think that by making ourselves clean that enough time of doing the right things and not doing the wrong things enough time of not sinning will help us make us right to come back to God that’s self-righteousness and we get caught up in the cycle because we can’t fix ourselves but we feel too guilty to turn back to the only person that can fix us because the only ultimate cure for every sin can only be found in close relationship with Jesus that’s why the song says I need thee every hour stay thou nearby temptations lose their power when thou art nigh what is the answer to this deep problem of sin temptation it’s relationship with Jesus and this psalm doesn’t just end on a sad note it ends with the vow of praise in verses 13-16 David says I will teach transgressors your ways God if you do this for me sinners will return to you my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness and my mouth would declare your praise God what you desire in verse 16 he says this for you will not delight in sacrifice or I would give it or you will not be pleased with the burnt offerings but the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart O God you will not despise David if God had asked him David sacrifice all the animals that you have and your sin will be atoned for David would not have batted an eye he would sacrifice every animal that he had but David realized that the sacrifice of animals and burnt offerings could not atone fully for the sin that he had done he’s saying God help me offer the right sacrifice to you which is a broken and contrite heart that in Jesus in when the gospels Jesus tells the story of a tax collector and a parable and a pharisee that wants to that goes to pray in the temple and the tax collector says God forgive me but the pharisee stands afar off and he says God I am not like this tax collector he appeals to God on the basis of what he has done but the tax collector simply says God be merciful to me as a sinner the tax collector like David realized is broken and contrite and realizes that his justification for sin comes from not himself but from God alone and his right sacrifice before God is his broken and contrite heart.

second Samuel 12:20 the first son that David and Bathsheba have dies because of his sins but it says in there David arose and he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped and I’d like to think that this psalm is birthed out of that moment of worship what keeps you and I from the power of sin and helps us overcome the sin being in the presence of God worshiping Him being near to God helps us overcome that sin first Samuel 12:13 when David says Nathan the prophet tells David the Lord has put away your sin and you shall not die how is such a great sin put away that if a five-year-old can look at the story and say how can God forgive someone like this and we can look at the story and look at our own lives and say how could God forgive someone like me how is a new clean heart created how are my affections changed how can a right relationship with God be made right because in this tragic story there is another the story doesn’t end the story goes on that there’s a son born to Bathsheba and David named Solomon through whose lineage even in Matthew 1 you’ll read that Jesus Christ has come through God is able to put away the sin of David because down the road years later the punishment of all sins are placed on Jesus Christ that in His moment of suffering when He cries out to His Father though He feels abandoned and forsaken and the weight and punishment 10 billion times over than what David was feeling in the moment is placed on Jesus Christ so that He can wash and cleanse by His precious blood and rising up He declares your sins and not my sins are blotted out we’re not cast away but we’re invited in salvation is given joy is restored sins are forgiven His Spirit is given to us and a new heart is created so that we may sing the praises teach others His way and offer the right sacrifices to God isn’t it amazing that God is able to take this tragic situation this tragedy that has happened in the sinful situation and transform it to use it for His glory.

This past week I heard this quote by Dr. William Hall that said this tragedy is not redeemed by explanation but by transformation there are things that happen in your life in my life where there is no explanation for David he knew that his sin had led him to this dark spot but there are situations that you and I go through that we don’t have the answers we can’t explain away why things happen the way that it does words of people will fall short that’s why explanation cannot redeem tragedy but only transformation that God can work all things together for our good and His glory that even in the most tragic situations of our life that God can transform it and use it in a beautiful and amazing way to show His glory that even when we face death itself and no words can explain away the pains that we feel that our hope is not an explanation but in transformation that one day because of Jesus we too will stand with joy in the presence of God because you’ve been washed you’ve been cleansed and your ledger has been wiped clean not cast away but brought near to the presence of God with the fullness of joy to declare the praises of the one who took our sins away brought into right relationship with God that is David’s hope that’s how what the psalms looks forward to and that is our hope even in a week like this that when words fall short and explanations will fall short that we believe in the transformation that will come how are we restored from sin how do we overcome sin it is being restored to Jesus in right relationship with the Lord.

There’s an old song that says one sat along alone beside the highway begging his eyes were blind the light he could not see he clutched his rags and shivered in the shadows that then Jesus came and bade his darkness flee when Jesus comes the tempter’s power is broken when Jesus comes the tears are wiped away He takes the gloom and fills the life with glory for all is changed when Jesus comes to stay so men today have found their Savior able they could not conquer passion lust and sin their broken hearts and had left them sad and lonely then Jesus came and dwelt Himself within that is our hope not that you and I can make things right not you and I can do anything that when we stand before the God the reason why we’re not cast away is because of what Jesus did for us that we get to walk in relationship with Lord on this side of eternity confess our sins and ask for forgiveness because of what He has done and if you have not believed in the Savior that invitation is open for all of us to be made right to have joy to have the Spirit of God placed in us and right relationship restored the psalm is not just a psalm of brokenness it’s a psalm that says God Lord is a psalm that says I acknowledge my sins and beyond my sins I need the forgiveness of sins but I also need right relationship with you that’s our hope that when we walk in relationship with God the Lord on this side of eternity there will be a day that we get to stand with Him forever washed cleansed and our ledger wiped clean.

Let’s pray Lord Jesus we just thank you God for your Word we thank you for the psalm that reminds us that even though the power of sin is greater that your grace and your mercy and your compassion toward us are greater that even in the depths of our sin in the midst of our tragedies that we face we believe in the transformation transformative power of the Holy Spirit that can change us and ultimately we’ll believe in the transformation that when we see you that we will be changed all sin removed all sin cast away brought near to the precious presence of God not by what we have done but Jesus what you have done for us by your precious blood on that cross Lord we thank you God fill our hearts with the joy of your salvation God Lord the pleasures that are in your presence God give us clean hearts God and God God give us clean hands God to serve you and live for you we love you we praise you Jesus name we pray.