Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Psalms 51. Psalms 51. There's nothing more comforting
than to behold the Spirit of God recover one of his own sheep. Sheep that we know struggle with
the body of death that is within. Sheep that admit they know what
they are by nature. And when recovered, they can't
help but express their heart of thanks, appreciation for what
the God of all grace would do for them. This is what they want
to do. They want to be thankful. And they admit that they're not
thankful as they wish they were. They know that the Lord has done
something that is so great and so marvelous that they don't
know how to be thankful. Now, we all know the story of
David and Bathsheba. We know of the affair that took
place. We know how David had Bathsheba's
husband murdered. And then we know something of
the apparent indifference that David had for the better part
of a year. And we know that what he did,
he committed adultery, he had a man murdered, And those acts
are punishable, according to the law, by death. And then he went at least nine
months with an apparent spirit of indifference. But in the midst of the whole
situation, Almighty God was pleased to rescue a vessel of his affection,
not because of anything that he saw in David, but because
the Lord delights to show mercy. Now, that which David did, according
to 2 Samuel 11, 27, displeased the Lord. And Almighty God sent
a prophet to David and confronted him, told him a story about a
man that came into town and saw his friend, and his friend who
obviously was a rich landowner, he had plenty of sheep of his
own, but instead of taking one of his own sheep, he took the
one little lamb that belonged to a poor man And he took that
little lamb and used that to serve his friend. David heard
that and it just infuriated him. And he said, that man right there
deserves to be punished. And Nathan told him, he said, you're the man. confessed, he said, I sinned
against God. God sent his word and blessed
that word to David's heart, and it broke him. The scripture says,
1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sins, we confess our sins to God. You
know, we confess our faults to one another. We can readily tell
one another. I see something of my frailties. I know something of my inability. But listen, we don't need to
be confessing our sins to anyone other than God. Our faults, yes,
to each other. Confess your faults one to another.
But our sins, look, I don't need to hear. I don't want to hear
about your sins. I don't want you to hear about
mine. I don't want to hear about others. I've got enough of my
own. I don't want to know somebody else's sin. Don't tell me. If
there's something that somebody's done that you know about, don't
tell me. I'm just too weak. If we confess our sins, is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So our sins are confessed to
the Lord. But after Nathan came to David
and confronted him, and David told Nathan, he said, I've sinned
against God. Nathan told him what he did.
He told him, he said, you took another man's wife and you murdered
her husband. You might as well have taken
the bow yourself and drew that arrow back and shot Uriah. You murdered him. You put him
where, you did that. And the scripture now in Psalm
51, the very title of it, it says, A psalm of David when Nathan
the prophet came unto him after he had gone into Bathsheba. And here's the psalm that's written. Now, here's the heart of a believer
recovered. One that the Spirit of God has
moved upon and caused him to just be honest. And I want us
to look at these 19 verses. a comment on each one, and let's
listen to what God's people are brought to do in being honest. If we confess our sins, He's
faithful and just to forgive us. He moves us. So David said,
Psalm 51, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness,
according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out
my transgressions." If there's anything that a convicted and
convinced sinner is going to seek after from the Lord, it's
mercy. Pity. Here he asked the Lord,
don't give me what I deserve. Mercy. Don't give me what I know
is right according to the law, just have mercy upon me according
to your steadfast love and kindness. According to your tender mercies,
the compassionate bowels of your pity. Blot out my transgression,
Lord. You promised that you would. In Isaiah 43, 25, the Lord said,
I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgression for my
name's sake and will not remember thy sins. And so David asked,
Lord, have pity on me. Have mercy upon me and would
you erase my rebellion. Would you just
erase it? You know, have you ever said
something, said, I wish I could take that back. I wish I wouldn't
have said that. I wish I wouldn't have done that.
He said, Lord, I'm guilty. I'm guilty. But would you wipe
it away? Would you just erase it? Would
you, you know, would you just hide it? You said, that you would
not remember my sins. Now, you let a man be cast out
from the presence of God. There was a rich man in Lazarus.
The rich man died and lifted up his eyes out of hell. Then
he asked Father Abraham, he asked the Lord. Lazarus had gone to
the bosom of Abraham, gone to heaven. And that rich man said, have Lazarus dip his finger,
cool my tongue. And Father Abraham said, there's
a great gulf between you and here. No crossing over. He said, you remember. I want
you to remember. He'll go through all eternity
remembering. But the Lord said, I'm going
to blot out the transgressions of his people. And he said, I'm
gonna do it for my sake. I'm gonna do it for my, you're
good, but not because of your sake. But for my sake, I will
not remember thy sins anymore. David said, verse two, wash me
throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. He said, I am so filthy Wash
me throughly actually means again and again, repeated. Would you
wash me because of the heinous acts of my wickedness. Wash me throughly that there's
no spot remaining. Wash me again and again and again. Now, you know, the Lord washes
us. Here's how God washes people.
from their sin. Revelation 1, 4, and 5 said,
John to the seven churches which are in Asia, from him which is
and which was and which is to come and from the seven spirits
which are before his throne and from Jesus Christ who is the
faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the
prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood. So here's what we know. We're
washed clean from the debt of our sins, the guilt of our sins. We are, we're washed by one sacrifice
for sin. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. But you remember when the Lord
washed his disciples' feet. And Peter said, Lord, you're
washing my feet? No. He said, you'll never wash
my feet. And he said, Peter, if I don't
wash your feet, you don't have any part with me. He said, well,
wash my head, my hands, whatever. He said, no, he that's washed
is washed. You're washed. But there's a
daily cleansing that we need. We're defiled. Sin is present
with us. And we need to be washed. And
the Lord washes. We're washed by the same blood
daily as we were the first time. But we need to be cleansed, washed
through the Word. We hear this Word and there's
a marvelous washing that's taking place. The Lord is teaching us.
of our continual cleansing. We can't do this. But the Lord,
David said, wash me throughly, wash me again, and again, and
again. I feel that presence, the doubts,
and the unfaithfulness, and the questionings. Lord, wash me again. Wash me again. For I acknowledge
my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. He didn't
make any allowances for his guilt. He wasn't just a victim of circumstance. You know, my environment, the
people around me caught me in a bad moment. It wasn't my fault. He said, I'm guilty. I just want to be honest with
you. I'm not concealing my sin. I'm guilty. I did it. I own it. I recognize it and I confess
that my sin is constantly pressing upon me. It's ever on my mind. It's ever before me. It took
God's power to show Him, to convict Him. That's the convicting grace
of God. God brings His people to be honest
with Him. Coming right back, if we confess
our sins, He's got to make me to know it. Man by nature just
doesn't think he's that bad. He makes excuses. He said, I
acknowledge my transgression. That acknowledge right there
means I know it. I acknowledge it. I know it to
be so. Against thee, thee only, have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest."
It wasn't that David admitted that he had wronged other human
beings. He wronged Bathsheba, he wronged
her husband, he wronged people. He caused some hurt. But just like that prodigal,
he saw his sin to be ultimately leveled against God. He did do
it to others around him. but he violated God's law. Sin is a transgression of God's
law. He failed to love the Lord his
God with all of his heart, mind, and soul. He failed to love his
neighbor as himself. He said, I've done this against
you, against thee and thee only. And he admitted that he had dared
to commit such aggravation of rebellion while the eye of God
was upon him. God was watching him. God saw
him. God saw him the night he looked
at Bathsheba. God heard him when he told his
soldier, Captain Ebb, he said, you put your eye... God heard
that. David admitted, I acknowledge
that you're right and I'm wrong. and I deserve all that your law
declares me to deserve. I deserve that. Any judgment
that you pass upon me is right. Any sentence that I receive from
you is not beyond the measure that I know justly to be." Then
he confessed that he knew that his sin and his lax attitude
toward that sin It wasn't something that he just found out. He said, this wasn't something
that just came upon me and all of a sudden I just slipped. He
said, verse 5, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity. And in sin
did my mother conceive me. He said, I've had this problem.
As soon as I was conceived. When soul and body was united,
sin was there. sinful creature from the beginning.
Because no creature, no man, no woman born in Adam is free
from sin's pollution. Romans 5.12, Wherefore, as by
one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned. So he said, I was made this way. I've always been like this. Verse
6, Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts and in the
hidden part. Thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Now here, David confesses a marvelous
thing. He said, I know what man was
created to be. This is the way God made man.
He made him upright. And he said, I know that this
is the way. He said, behold, thou desires
truth in the inward parts. When God made Adam, God didn't
make him a sinful creature, created him upright. But he said, Lord,
I know your will. for your people. I know that
for your people thou desirest truth in the inward parts and
in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. I know
Lord it's by your grace and your will and your purpose that there's
anything concerning me that would be acceptable to you and it's
that I be found in Christ and Christ be formed in me. Lord, you made man stable, faithful. Lord, it was my fault, my sin. We, the sheep of God, are born
just like all men. We're wretched sinners, depraved
and without God, but it's the good pleasure of God. It's the
good will of Almighty God to have His people to be holy and
without blame before him in love, accepted in the beloved. That's God's will, that's God's
purpose, that's what he's saying. Behold, thou desirest truth in
the inward parts, in the hidden part, hidden from man, that thou
shalt make me to know wisdom. Then he says in verse seven,
purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall
be whiter than snow, In Exodus 12, I'll read this or you can
turn there, Exodus 12. The scripture on the night that
the Lord was gonna pass over his people in Egypt. The scripture says, Exodus 12,
21, 22. Then Moses called for all the
elders of Israel and said unto them, draw out and take you a
lamb according to your families and kill the Passover and you
shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that's
in the basin and strike the lentil in the two side posts with the
blood that is in the basin and none of you shall go out of the
door of his house until the morning." Why? Because God was going to
pass through Egypt that night and Almighty God was going to
kill the firstborn of everything. Men, animals, everything. He
said, but now you put the blood on the side post lintel. And
he said, when I pass through, when I see the blood, I'm going
to pass over you. You take that blood, you kill
that lamb, picture of his blessed son, Blood that was shed without
the shedding of blood, there's no remission, no forgiveness
of sin, without the shedding of His blood, not bulls and goats,
but His blood. Precious blood, faithful blood,
holy blood. And you take that hyssop, you
dip it in the basin, you collect that blood, and you put it on
the door post, put it over, and get inside, you get behind the
blood. Don't you get outside. You stay there. When I come through,
I see the blood. I see that that sets forth the
faithfulness and the sacrifice of my son, the one in whom I'm
well pleased. And when I see the blood on your
door, I tell you, I'll pass over you. David said, Lord, purge
me with hyssop and I'll be clean. Wash me, and
I shall be whiter than snow. Lord, you put the blood. You
purge me. I can't put it on me. Lord, you
put it. Lord, don't let me bear the blame. I'm guilty. I admit it. I confess it. I'm
asking you to have pity on me. I'm not in a bargaining position.
Lord, take away my blame, and I'll be white, I'll be clean,
I'll be, you know. The scripture says, Isaiah, Isaiah
1, verse 18. Come now, let us reason together,
saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be
white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall
be as Lord, only you can take the blood of Christ and wash
me white. White as snow. You know, you
think about blood, putting on and being white. Natural man
says, that don't make sense to me. I tell you what though, to
a believer, he said, this is what God says. Lord, you wash
me. in the blood of Christ, and I'm
going to be clean. Verse 8, Psalm 51. Make me to
hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken
may rejoice. David, no doubt, he grew up hearing
the scriptures. This is the sweet psalmist of
Israel. The man after God's own heart. And he'd heard the Gospel read.
He'd heard the Scriptures read. And the Lord had set him apart. You know like this boy. You mean
that young, that ruddy one out there in the field? Yeah, that's
the one. That's right. This is God's anointed. This
is God's chosen king. This was a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he'd heard it. He'd heard
the Scriptures before. Sin and rebellion had interrupted
that fellowship, that sensitivity to God. And now, I want to hear
it, I want to hear it, I want to hear it heartily. Make me
to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken
may rejoice. You know, you take somebody,
a believer, that has stumbled and fallen, and the Lord's revealed
it to them. And again, those made honest
before God, they're not going to justify themselves. He knows,
and the rebel knows. They know. And you're thinking,
who am I kidding? I'm not kidding anybody. Can
you imagine the brokenness and the desire? Oh, can I come back? Can I come back and hear again? Lord, would you allow me to hear
again? Make me to hear joy and gladness.
the bones that you've broken, the weight of sin, the weight
of my guilt, the weight of your exposing me, it's just, it's
crushed me. And I deserve to be crushed.
I deserve I deserve to be put out. I know that. But Lord, would
you let me hear of your forgiveness? Can I just breathe? Can I just
hear the joyful sound of forgiveness? Would you make me to hear joy? Would you cause me to be able
to rejoice again? You've shown me what I am. Let
me hear. Hide thy face from my sins and
blot out all mine iniquity. Lord, I know you saw it. I know
your omniscience. I did this in sight of him who
is of pure eyes than to behold iniquity. And he's praying, Lord,
don't mark it to my account. Lord, hide thy face from my sins. Lord, if you marked iniquity,
Lord, who could stand? I'm asking you Lord, to erase
and cancel and destroy all of my sins. He said, well, he just
asked that in verse 2. I know. I know, I'm just asking
again. Have you ever done that? Praying,
you know, Lord, have you ever prayed this? Lord, forgive me.
Somebody said, well, you've asked that before, I know. But I need
to ask it again. I just, you know, create, verse
10, in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within
me. You know, a man left to himself
goes nowhere but downward. Unrestrained lust in David, according
to his confession, led to adultery, which led to murder, and then
led to rejection and isolation for God. But sovereign mercy
drew David to cry that which only a believer will cry. He says, Lord, create in me. Only God can create. Only God can make something out
of nothing. He created the heavens and the
earth. He spoke of things that appear were not made out of things
which are. He just, Lord, create in me a
clean heart and renew a right, a constant spirit in me. You said, well, I know, Doesn't
a believer already have a clean heart and a right spirit? A believer
is the only one that's going to ask God to do something that
God's already done. Here again, the world says, well,
that doesn't make sense to me. Well, that's alright. But I can
tell you this. A believer is the one that says,
Lord, please forgive me. And the Lord's forgiven him.
Lord, create in me a clean heart. We're so aware of our stumblings
and our failings that we're constantly asking the Lord, which He's already
been pleased to do. Cast me not away from thy presence,
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me, Cast me not away. Now, a believer knows this. The
Lord has already promised. In the last day, there's going
to be many that's going to say unto him, Lord, Lord, we prophesied
in your name, cast out devils in your name, we've done many
wonderful works in your name. And he said, I never knew you.
Depart from me. You that work iniquity. I know there's going to be Many
that the Lord's going to cast out. And David's asking, he said,
don't cast me away. Don't take your Holy Spirit.