If you take your Bibles now and
turn with me to Psalm 51, Psalm 51. We're going to be looking
at this, this prayer of David here in its entirety. I'm going to read the first three
verses here of this Psalm. Let's read this title as well,
because we're gonna need to see this. A Psalm of David, when
Nathan the prophet came unto him after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Scripture says, David crying,
have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according
to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgression
and my sin is ever before me. I've entitled this message, A
Believer's prayer for sin, conviction, and confession. A believer's sin, a believer's
conviction, and a believer's confession because that's what
we have here before us. We have, first of all, the sin
of David. the sin of David who had gone
in to Bathsheba. Then we have the conviction of
David which was done when Nathan the prophet preached to him the
gospel. He was convicted of his sin and
after he was convicted we have here now written for us his confession. His confession before God. And so I want us to see, first
of all, the occasion of his sin. Let's go back and see this. If
you'll go back to 2 Samuel chapter 11, hold your place here, but
go to 2 Samuel chapter 11. And we're going to see this occasion
that happened concerning the sin of David. Now, as we read those words just
a second ago, have mercy upon me, O God. Have mercy upon me. In that prayer of David, truly
every believer in Christ, every believer in Christ has entered
into that grief, that sorrow, and that confession, prayer of
David. We can truly enter in because
we have all sinned against God. All of God's saints confess the
truth that in my flesh, in my old nature, there dwelleth no
good thing. Therefore, our confession is
simply this, we are saved by the grace of God alone. through
the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ alone. We know this, that there is no
value in us. There is no righteousness in
us. There is no sacrifice we can make to please God except
that sacrifice which has already been made, Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Now listen, believer, every day
you and I struggle with this matter of sin. We struggle against
the old man of sin. Evil thoughts, evil motives,
evil plans, evil passions constantly come into our heart, constantly
are bombarding us daily in our minds and tempting us in our
flesh. We are at war. Make no mistake,
we are at war. We are at war with the world,
with the enemy of Satan and our flesh. And this is David's experience
as well as ours. This is every believer. Now listen,
if you don't struggle with the flesh, let me tell you what's
wrong. You don't have any life. You don't have a new nature.
If there's no struggle with sin, it's because there's no life
in you. The apostles struggled with sin. Oh, wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The flesh
lusted against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh
and these two are what? Contrary one to another so that
you cannot do what you want to. The flesh cannot do what it wants
to and the new man cannot do what he wants to. It's a struggle,
a battle raging. And this is seen in David's life
here. Go to that 2 Samuel 11 and let's read this concerning
the sin of David. And it came to pass after the
year was expired and the time when kings go forth to battle
that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel
and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Ravah.
Listen to this, but David. tarried still at Jerusalem. It was time to go to war. It
was time for the king to go to war, but he sent men to war and
he himself stayed. David was unfaithful in the execution
of his duty as king. He tarried still at Jerusalem. Now listen, this was a time of
great prosperity for David and his kingdom. Matter of fact,
this war was so far away. It was not even at the gates
of Jerusalem. It was so far away, he sent his
men out there to do battle, but David stayed in the peace and
safety of his own kingdom instead of engaging the enemies of God
in battle. And so then we see the beginning
of David's failure is first is unfaithfulness. unfaithfulness,
believer in Christ, listen, we are not to sleep, but fight. We are not to sleep or to rest
from our struggle against this flesh. The battle rages daily
and we must stand fast and not give any opportunity for sin
to enter in. In 1 Thessalonians chapter five,
The apostle Paul talks about this. First Thessalonians chapter
five and verse four. He says, but you, brethren, are
not children of darkness, that that day, the day of coming to
Christ should not take you as a thief. You are all the children
of life, the children of the day and not of the night and
of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as
do others. Let us watch and be sober. For they that are asleep sleep
in the night, and they that are drunken are drunken in the night.
But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate
of faith and love, and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
For, this is the reason you should not sleep. This is the reason
you should be sober. This is the reason you should
put on faith and love and hope. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath. Isn't that something? I'm not
appointed to wrath. God said, no, there is therefore
now no condemnation of those who are in Christ. You're not
appointed to wrath, but to obtain salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ,
who died for us that whether we wake or sleep. Now, listen,
isn't that wonderful? Even believers sleep, those 10
virgins, remember, all of them slept. So whether you wake or
sleep, listen to this, We should live together with Him. That's
His will, His purpose. Believer, therefore, seeing this,
let us put on this breastplate of hope and faith and love and
salvation that God has not appointed. This should move us to wake. This should move us to understand
we are children of light and not of darkness. Be sober. Why
does it say be sober? Because if you're sober, you're
in your right mind. You're drunk, you're not in your
right mind. Be sober, considering your enemies
are all about you. Consider. Keep Christ in view
always. Therefore, we must walk in the
light of this gospel and be sober concerning the weakness of our
flesh and find all our hope and faith and salvation in Jesus
Christ, because God hasn't appointed you to wrath. He's appointed
you to life and salvation. Now listen, how many times, believer,
has this gospel become wearisome to you? I mean, you've heard
this how many times? How many times have I... I'm
not saying anything new, friends. This is not new. You've heard
this thousands of times. And at times, the flesh becomes
weary and weak. You go to work, you spend your
week in waves after waves of trouble overflow you, but instead
of being right and sober in your thoughts, we become stupid. We
become ignorant. We become foolish instead of
wise. You should be wise, but we become
foolish. We hearing the gospel and worshiping
the gospel and prayers to God, what should they be to you? They
should be refreshing, shouldn't they? Should the gospel not be
refreshing? speaks about cleansing, washing, forgiveness, mercy,
grace, love, heaven, life. Those are things that should
refresh you. But if we become weary, these
things weary us in the old man. We become weary. Instead of walking
by faith and love in Christ, we set our eyes on the things
of the world, on the lust of our flesh. That's what David
did. David set his eyes on what David wanted. David wanted some
rest. And so what did he do? He sent
somebody else to war and he sat back. He was unfaithful, unfaithful
in his duty. And David has said before us
as an example, that even the mightiest servant of God is not
exempt from sin. Now that should make you and
I sober. that the man after God's own
heart, the best of God's men, are prone to any and every sin,
save blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. We're prone to every sin. And
instead of being vigil to the battle, instead of standing fast,
he tarried. How many times have we fell down
this slippery slope of self-confidence? Come on. who's been confident
in themselves and failed the same way in unfaithfulness. Which
one of us is not? We all have. In order to give
occasion to the flesh, we try to even use grace as an excuse. All right, I won't even say you,
me. Does that make you feel better?
Because that's just true of me. If you're honest, I know it's
you, but I'm just going to say it's me because that's true of
me. I am. I know that to be true. We've
used liberty. That's why the Scripture says,
Brethren, use not your liberty as an occasion to the flesh.
Why? Because you're prone to it. We're
prone to it. You say, well, God will forgive
me. Yeah. And God forgave David too. The
consequence was not worth the sin. Have you found that to be true?
The consequences of sin are never worth the pleasure of sin. You
think David's rest was worth all that he suffered? No, never
is. And so sin, then what? If we
sin, what must we do? We try to hide it, cover it with
another sin. Sin only begets sin. And to hide
sin, we must cover it with another and another until we find ourselves
alone and without Christ. We find ourselves in the middle
of a barren wasteland and everything around us is destroyed. Why?
Because of our sin. Where does it begin? It begins
with unfaithfulness. Unfaithfulness to serve and believe
and trust God. Second of all, a little back
to your text, let's see what else David did concerning his
sin. Look at, Verse two, and it came
to pass, and eventide David rose up from his bed and walked upon
the roof of the king's house. And from the roof, he saw a woman
bathing herself. And the woman was very beautiful
to look upon. I want you to focus in on that
word saw, because it's very specific. It didn't mean he glanced. This
means he fixed his eyes and looked intently upon her. The word means
enjoying gazing. That's what it means. He enjoyed
looking at her. She was beautiful and he enjoyed
it. He had been unfaithful. And if
he had been faithful, he never would have saw her. Isn't that
right? If he hadn't been there, he never would have saw her.
But when he was there, he saw her. He gazed upon her. Luther said this, you can't stop
the birds from flocking, but you can stop them from nesting.
You see, David, even though unfaithful, had opportunity here to look
away, but instead he chose not to. Unfaithfulness to Christ, our
King, and not being vigilant, sober-minded, will always lead
to temptation. And notice this, David didn't
stop there. He sent and inquired after the woman and said, this
one said, she's Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of
Uriah the Hittite. Well, that should have been a
big sign right there. No, she's a married woman. No, but no, it didn't stop there. What's the next thing? He sent
messengers and what? Took her. And she came in to him and he
lay with her, for she was purified from her uncleanness, she returned
to her house. You know what we do when we have
the opportunity of sin and we toy with it? Listen to me, it
will always consume you. You'll never be able, why do
you think Joseph ran from Potiphar's wife? Why? Because he knew himself,
he knew his flesh. We all have this in our flesh. David used a lot of human reasoning
here to get it in. Matt ain't gonna hurt nothing
to have her over. Right? No big deal. This sin began with unfaithfulness,
a look, and it ended in the taking of a man's wife to fulfill David's
lust. And eventually, listen to this,
eventually this sin ended with the murder of Uriah, the death
of three of David's sons and the overthrow of his kingdom
and constant war in Israel. This sin. How many thousands
of people died as a result of this sin? Friends, sin has consequences.
And just because you're a believer in Christ does not mean we escape
the consequences of our sin. You're a fool if you think that. Why do you think we have so many
warnings in scripture? we should be wise and sober.
Believer, let us seek to escape the weariness of our flesh. Let
us be sober and faithful in the service of God, in faith in Christ. Let us be faithful and vigil
in the spiritual warfare. How is that? Looking only and
always to Christ. Looking and living by faith in
Christ. Now, friends, listen, if we are
looking by faith to Christ, you won't do this. Now listen, if you say I'm looking
by faith to Christ and do this, you're not. You're using grace
as an excuse to sin. That's all you're doing. You see, our weapons, friends,
are not carnal. The lost religion of the world,
they have weapons they use to keep them from sin, don't they?
What is it? Law. That's the weapon of carnal
choice is the law. Don't do this. Stop doing this. This is a law. And if you do
this, you're going to get this. Listen, no amount of threatening
is ever going to stop anyone from sin. Not even to the point and threat
of death will stop a man from sin. You see, believers, our
weapons are not carnal. Our weapons are spiritual. Our weapons are spiritual. The law can only excite the lust. You know that? I've told you
this example before. You see a child, you put a wet
paint sign Do not touch. What is the first inclination
of our nature? To touch. Because I never would
have thought to touch, had the law said, don't touch. But immediately
when you say, don't do this, the mind begins to wonder, why
can't I do that? And it begins to excite the flesh
and not quell it. For us to be able to conquer
our sin nature, we must have a new heart. That's necessary.
Listen, you'll never overcome sin unless you have a new nature.
Never. Our sin nature, we must have
a new nature. And this new heart that is not
carnal after works or law, but is moved and kept by the spirit
of God and the power of God. The power of God. keeps God's
people. What is it? The love of Christ
constraineth us. Isn't that right? Isn't this
what keeps us? It's not the law. This is our
weapon against sin. It is love, not our love, but
His love. His love, His sacrifice, His
offering, His death, His burial, His resurrection, His glorification,
His deity. His majesty, His sovereignty. That's keeps us, this is what
should keep us from sin. Now listen, I understand this,
even when you don't sin, we get this, we still have sin, isn't
that right? We're not saying we're sinless
by keeping ourselves from open sin. Even in my most holy state,
I am altogether vanity. Man at his best state is what?
Altogether vanity. When we have done what we're
supposed to do, what can we say? We are just unprofitable servants.
Sin is mixed with all I do. Even this preaching this morning,
even your worship this morning, we confess it is still full of
sin and not worthy to be accepted by God. Our hope is not in our
worship or in our keeping, it is in Christ. That's our hope. That's our salvation. It's only
by looking to the obedience of Christ that we may cast down
the strongholds of sin. I'll read this to you in 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter
10. The apostle says, for we walk
in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. In other words, we
don't use carnal weapons. in our warfare, for our weapons
of this warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds, casting down imagination, and
every high thought that exalted itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringeth into captivity every thought to what? the obedience
of Christ. You see every, that whole idea
of thought is to bring your whole person into this one thing, the
obedience of Christ. There's my hope and confidence.
That's how sin is pulled down. That's how the veil of separation
was torn down. It was by the obedience of Christ. That's my warfare. That's my
weapon. To bring every thought of the imagination into captivity. the obedience of Christ. By faith,
we observe the obedience of Christ who has imputed his righteousness,
his holiness to us, because he bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. The reproaches of them that reproach
thee have fallen on me. Have you believed on Christ alone? Has all your acceptance with
God Then I'll tell you this, you and I should be sober minded
concerning sin. Though sin is still in us, yet
the scriptures are clear, let not sin reign in your mortal
body. Let not sin reign in your mortal
body. And we all know this by experience. Though it is not the desire of
our hearts to fall, we do. We know what it is to fall into
sin. We know what it is to be unfaithful. We know what it is to be like
David. Is there anybody here that doesn't
know this? Anybody that doesn't experience this? Every believer
does. David's sin is a picture of all
our sin. It begins with unfaithfulness.
And then we begin to look, we begin to stare, we begin to toy
with our sin until it consumes us. What is our weapon? Christ is your weapon. The obedience
of Christ, the love of Christ constrains you. Now then, David's
conviction. David's conviction is the next
thing. Look at 2 Samuel 12. Go to 2 Samuel 12. And in this verse here, we see
this man, Nathan, sent of God. And Nathan in verses two through
verse four, he gives a story. This is a beautiful story. Listen
to it. He's talking to David and he
said, David, a rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the
poor man, he had nothing except this one little land. which he
had brought up and nourished up, and it grew up together with
him and with his children. It did eat of his own meat and
drank of his own cup and lay in his bosom. And it was unto
him as a daughter." How precious is that? Isn't that, that's just
beautiful. You see this old, this poor man,
he's got nothing but this little lamb and he's nourishing, he
loves it. But this rich man, listen to
what happened. There came a traveler to the
rich man. and he spared not to take of his own flock. He had
so many, but he didn't do that. He didn't dress his flock for
the wayfaring man, but he took the poor man's lamb and dressed
it, killed it, and laid it out for the other man to eat. And
David's anger was kindled greatly against the man and said to Nathan,
as the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely
die. And he shall restore the Lamb
fourfold, because he did this thing, because he had no pity." You know what sin that goes quickly
unpunished brings? Self-righteousness. Listen to
David's indignation about this. That man should die! That man,
he took that man's lamb. David was a shepherd. He knew
what that was like to love lambs. And he knew that man's feelings.
He knew his heart. What he was talking about was
not a lamb. He's talking about a man's wife. He said that woman
was his everything. And you took it and consumed
it upon your own lust. He said, David, thou art the
man. Thou art the man. Oh, the sorrow that must have
pierced David's heart. David had spent two years free
from all guilt concerning this. And listen, it only took one
word from a man of God And the arrows of God's conviction
pierced his soul. The sorrow of our hearts when
the truth of sin is exposed. When it's hidden, all we thought
was hidden, all we thought wouldn't come back on us, Have you not found this maxim
to be true? Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
You not found that to be true? As regards to our sin, is that
not true? It is for the believer. Yet, I'll tell you this, David
was given hope. Even in the midst of his conviction,
look what Nathan said. In verse 13, David said, unto Nathan, I have sinned against
the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, here's
his hope, the Lord hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. Believers consider that our God
is faithful to forgive us our sins. When God's arrows of conviction
pierce your soul, and they will, because this is what God does
to every believer. He always, listen to this, He
always exposes our sin. The lost man, he can hide his
sin all the days of his life. Nobody would ever know, but whatever
we do, believer, God will expose us. He will expose our sin to
our hearts. If not the whole world, to our
hearts He will. But here's your hope. Whosoever
confesses his sin. You believer, if we confess our
sin, guess what? He is faithful and just to forgive
us. Isn't that what happened here?
Isn't that what happened? David was convicted of his sin. David felt the sorrow of his
sin. David felt the guilt of his sin. And then he said, what?
I have sinned. And you know what God said? I have already put away your
sin. Now listen, you that have sinned,
God says, I have already put it away. How did he do that? He took it
and he put it in his own son and crucified it on Calvary Street. That's where
our sin went. And lastly, I want you to see
David's confession of sin. It's going to take some time.
The confession of David's sin. And now I'm going to go back
to your text. The confession of David's sin is recorded for
us here. It's recorded for us. Now I've
got quickly, I need seven things. Seven precepts concerning seven
pillars of the prayer of confession are given to us here. Listen,
I want to speak to you. Listen to me. If you sin, if
you sin and God has pierced your heart and you confess it, here
is a pillar, a pattern of confession that every believer must have. Every believer must have this.
And you'll see this to be true of your confessions and of my
confessions. Here's the first thing. Sincerity. True confession must be sincere. In other words, it must be honest.
Listen to David's honesty. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to what? Thy loving kindness. Here's some
honesty. The only hope for me is mercy.
Here's some sincerity for you. Only God's loving kindness can
give me mercy. According to multitudes of thy
tender mercy. What does he want? Blot out my
transgression. Now, what did David own? My transgression. And this is the rest of it. He
said, wash me throughly from what? Mine iniquity. cleanse
me from my sin. I acknowledge my transgression
and my sin is ever before me. Do you not see the sincerity
in this? David is owning the worst. He's owning God to have
the best and himself, he owns the worst. I can go and show
you several scriptures of men who confess to be sinners, who
were never forgiven. Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Moses,
I have sinned. You know what he was missing?
Sincerity. He was only confessing that because
Egypt was on fire. The scripture says Esau repented
and sought it carefully with tears. What? Not forgiveness. What did he seek? He wanted the
inheritance. Balaam wanted money. He said,
I have sinned. Balaam said that. You can say I have sinned, but
there's no true ownership of sin that's not sincere. You're
not being honest. Saul had an insincere prayer.
You remember when he went to told, God told him, you go kill
all those Amalekites, Malekites. And Saul comes back and Samuel
meets him. He said, I have done the will
of God. I was obedient unto God. Samuel said, why do I hear sheep? Oh, oh, well, the people. I obeyed God, but the people,
it's their fault. And so you hear men say this.
Well, I know I did this, but it's really not my fault. You
see, the woman you gave me, isn't that what our father said? It's
your fault, God. Well, God, if you had just kept
me, then I wouldn't have sinned. How many people say that? No, true sin owns it. They don't
blame their husband. They don't blame their wife.
They don't blame their friends. They don't blame their family.
David didn't blame Bathsheba for bathing. David didn't blame
Joab for not bringing him out there. David said, my sin, my
sin, my sin, my sin. It's mine. It's all mine. If
I have anything, it's sin. That's sincerity. It's honesty. It's the truth. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing." Sincerity. Friends, if you're going to find
forgiveness, you must be sincere. It's got to be honest. Secondly, David's prayer was
sensible. He was made sensible about something. What? His need of mercy. What did he say? Have what? The
first thing he asked for. Did he say, God, restore my family? Is that what he said? God helped my brothers not to
look at me as a sinner. See, he wasn't concerned about
his pride or how he looked or how he appeared before other
men. He didn't care. He needed one thing, mercy from
God. That's what he needed. True prayer
and confession owns the truth. I need free mercy. I have nothing
to pay. That's what true prayer confession
is. It owns this, that I need God's
mercy. Now we know that the guilt of
the believer has been truly removed. Isn't that what I just said?
Nathan said to him, David, God has already poured away your
sin. Then why is David asking for mercy? If God has already removed my
sin, removed my guilt, and he has. He's already done that in
Christ, believer, for us. He has removed our guilt by the
blood of Christ. We have been justified before
God himself, yet still something happens to a believer when he
sins. He feels guilt. He feels the guilt. He owns the
guilt. It's not pretend. I'm not pretending
to be guilty. I am guilty. Even though God has removed my
guilt, my conscience condemns me. And the only way we can have
any peace is God to reveal mercy. He reveals to us His mercy. Show
me your mercy. Have mercy on me. according to
not my works, but according to thy loving kindness. Have mercy. David was sensible about his
nature. Look at this in verse five. Behold,
I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive
me. Listen, my sin began at the womb. He sensible about his nature. Are you sensible about your nature
when you pray and confess before God? Yes, we must be sensible.
Otherwise, we might be looking at something in our life to earn
mercy. David said, I don't have anything
from the womb to earn your mercy. I'm sensible of that. David was
sensible of God's justice. Look at verse six. Behold, thou
desires truth in the inward parts. What does he know? David knows
this. If I'm gonna be found before God, I need to be holy. I need
to be holy. He was sensible about God's holiness. And he was sensible that only
God could give him wisdom to see this mercy. Look at the last
part of verse six. And in the hidden part, thou
shalt make me to know wisdom. You see, I'm going to know something
about mercy only when you reveal it to me. Isn't that right? And David was sensible to see
he must appeal to the blood of Jesus Christ. Look at this in
verse seven. Purge me with hyssop and I shall
be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. What is that hyssop? That's important.
Hyssop was that plant that they dipped in the blood that they
put on the doorpost and the lentil of the paschal lamb. They dipped
that brush in there and they painted the door on the top and
on the sides with the blood. What does David understand? What
is he sensible of? I need blood. Without the shedding
of blood is what? No remission. I can confess all
I want to. I can be honest all I want to.
But without this, there's no mercy. Without the blood of Jesus
Christ, you pay attention. God will never hear you. God
will never be for you. God will never love you apart
from the blood of Jesus Christ. You know, if you're outside of
Christ, God doesn't hear you. Not with any form of mercy, he
don't. Now, I'll tell you, out of his own kindness, he does
good things to evil men. He gives good gifts to evil men.
I'll tell you this, he don't love you. You'll never know anything
of the love of God without the blood of the Son of God. You'll
never be forgiven a part. David understood that. You and
I, believer, we understand this. Is that not right? Are we not
sensible of this? Because any prayer without this
is not not a prayer at all. It's not true confession. Believer,
herein is the mercy of God to wash and purge our sins and conscience
from dead works. It is even the blood of Christ
alone. It is by the loving kindness of God through his blood, he
cleanses our conscience. Listen, I like this. My sin was
already put away a long time ago. That sin that we're so guilty
over, that sin that we lament over so much was already dealt
with in judgment. But yet I will never have a moment's
peace until I know that blood's for me. Who's gonna show you that? Who's
going to make you sensible of that? Why aren't men desirous
of this? Why aren't they sensible of their
nature and sensible of their need of this blood? It's because
God not revealed it to them. Why are you sensible? Have you
ever asked that question? Who maketh thee to differ from
another? Or what hast thou that thou hast
not received? And if you received it, why in
the world are you not acting like it? We should always be
humble. This should humble us. Oh, the
folly of trying to quit sin. Have you ever tried to quit sin?
Go ahead, raise your hand. I don't see you on the camera.
You can raise it out there. It's all right. You ever tried really
hard? I'm just not doing that no more. When you do that, who are you
looking to? Whose strength are you confiding
in? You are saying this, that I am
no more that evil person I was before. I'm better now. No, David
was sensible of his old nature that it wasn't going to get any
better. And where did he look? He looked to the blood. He looked
to Christ. and he kept faith in Christ. He was sensible. Let us be sensible
of God's grace. Sensible that our sin can only
be washed and cleansed by the blood. And David was sensible
of his need of restoration. Look at this. He says in verse
eight, make me to hear joy and gladness. That the bones which thou hast
broken may rejoice. Listen, hide thy face from my
sins and blot out mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O
God. Renew a right sphere within me. Cast me not away from thy
presence. Where is joy and peace found?
Are you sensible of where it's found? Because if you're not,
you're not going to ever find it. It's only found through Christ
in God. That's it. He needed to be restored. Restore me, verse 12, restore
me unto me the joy of thy salvation. He desired restoration sincerely. He was sensible of his need of
it. When you sin, what brings you joy? What restores this joy? Is it not the word? It's the
gospel. The gospel make me, listen, David
said to make me what? hear. I tell you, sometimes when we
sin, our tears even drown out the gospel. But when God gives you grace
enough to stop crying, make me to hear. Restore that, set that
bone again. That you broke. You broke it!
Please, Make me whole that I can enjoy your presence. And so David
had a sincere prayer. David had a sensible prayer and
David had a prayer of affection. Our prayer must be affectionate.
It must have love. What did David want? He wanted
God. He wanted fellowship with God. Isn't that what's broken? Isn't
that what's missing when we sin? When we sin, it separates us
from God. Now listen, I know this. Believer,
there is nothing that shall ever separate you from the love of
God's in Christ Jesus. You got it? Now what Paul said,
right? Nothing shall separate us from
the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Here's another thing. Nothing will separate you from
your union with Christ Jesus. Because we were put in union
before our sin, weren't we? But listen to this, when sin
comes, what do you feel? Separated. Now what the scripture
said, our sin hath separated us. Now when you are convicted
of sin, what is your utmost desire? fellowship with God. That's what's
broken. And it's an affectionate desire.
David's crying, restore that joy by restoring your presence. Restore your presence. A prayer,
it must have desire. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we, you got that, we, should be called the sons of
God. Sinners should be called the sons of God. Oh, in this
affection, consider, consider what love God, don't consider
your love for him. There's no affection in your
love for him. All the affection is in his love
for you. All my soul, the hymn writer
said, consider this great thought. What wondrous works God hath
wrought, his works from all eternity. Pay attention to this. My God
has done them all for me. Redeemed by blood, preserved
by power, until that great appointed hour when God in mercy came to
me and gave me life and set me free. Prayer must have affection. Listen, an affection and faith
go hand in hand. Don't they love and faith go
hand in hand? Faith working by what? Love. Why am I going to God anyway?
Because of faith. Why am I so affectionate for
His fellowship? It's because I believe that it's
only through Christ I can be restored to God. Do you believe
that? Unless you don't believe that,
no wonder you're miserable. My affection is to be restored.
How can I be restored? Only by Jesus Christ. only by Jesus Christ. So it's
sincere prayer. It is a sensible prayer, sensible
of his person, sensible of his needs, sensible of his need of
blood. And it's an affectionate prayer, desires for the fellowship
and restoration of the joy, desires to hear the gospel again, affectionate,
moved by faith. And the fourth thing is this,
David's prayer was for Christ's sake. Isn't this the grounds for all
our prayers? What right do you have to come
to God and ask this? What right do you and me who
have sinned against God, what right, no matter how sincere
we are, no matter how affectionate we are, no matter how sensible we are,
Without this, you will not be heard. No matter how affected,
how the manner of your prayer is important, we just went over
it. What's the grounds? What's the grounds of David's
prayer? David's prayer was based solely
on the blood of Jesus Christ. Purge me with hyssop. This is
the grounds by which I may come, by the Paschal Lamb of God. Believer, when we pray in Jesus'
name, it's not an incantation. I am expounding unto God the
grounds for my approach. I want you to answer my prayer,
not based on any merit in me, but all the merit that he has
earned as my surety. Therefore, the scripture says,
you who are in Christ, come to the throne of grace, how? Boldly. Boldly. Be instant in prayer. You know what that means? Come
now. Anytime, anywhere, any place,
no matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, come
boldly and ask everything in the name and through the blood
of Christ and listen, you will get everything that's good for
you. You'll get everything that's
good for you. That's not always what you think is good for you,
isn't it? All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them are the called according
to his purpose. Everyone who's in Christ and comes boldly by
Christ. Jesus said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man comes to God except by me. So you going
in, when you are convicted of sin and you're seeking mercy
and you're sincere, how, what's the grounds? Is your sincerity
the grounds? Is your, how guilty you feel? Is that the grounds you're coming
on? You're not gonna be heard. You can never feel guilty enough.
You can never love enough. You can never be sincere enough.
David comes on that blood. That's my grounds for coming
to you. That's the grounds of true prayer.
Fifthly, David prays by the power of the Holy Spirit. By the power
of the Holy Spirit. All men know they have sinned,
but only God can break a heart of stone and expose it. Remember what the scripture says
concerning the Holy Spirit. He convinces men of what? What's
the first thing? Huh? Sin. Are you convinced of sin? David
was convinced of sin, wasn't he? He said this, I acknowledge
my transgression and my sin as ever before. Who taught him that? was the Holy Spirit. Who taught
you that? Why is it you are praying for
mercy and other men are not? Because God has showed you your
sin. But not only does He show you
your sin, He shows you Christ. David comes on the grounds of
the blood of Jesus Christ. We come on the grounds of the
blood. Who showed you that? The Holy Spirit has one office
and that is to testify of Jesus Christ. He testifies of him. I like, remember the disciples
on the road to Emmaus? Those disciples, Jesus was walking
with them and talking with them for how long? I don't know, he
must've been a while, because he went through, expounded in
all the scriptures. Now listen, I've been here long,
but I tell you this, he ain't been here near as long as he
had, and it wasn't until he opened their eyes that they would see
this. Why is it you're now praying
for conviction of sin? It's the power of the Spirit
of God that shows you these things. And the last thing is David's
prayer was one of submission. In verse 13, he says, then will
I teach transgressors thy way, and sinners shall be converted
unto thee. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of
my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. Lord, open thou my lips, and
my mouth shall show forth thy praise. Thou desirest not sacrifice,
else I would give it. Thou delightest not in burnt
offerings. Sacrifices of God are broken, spirit and a broken
and contrite heart that will not despise. Isn't this what
the spirit teaches us? David said, look, you teach me
and what am I going to do? I'm going to teach them. I'm
going to tell them I want to be like Nathan. I want to be
your witness and testify of you. And what is his witness? You
don't desire anything of me. Isn't that right? David is submissive to this.
You don't want anything from me. You don't desire my sacrifices
else I'd give it. What are you willing to give
believer to God? Everything. What does he want? Nothing. Nothing. What does he want? He wants this
broken and contrite spirit. Now listen, pay attention. That's
not your broken and contrite spirit. Who else was broken over sin
more than him? He was. He was submissive to God. He said, Father, if it'd be possible,
let this cup pass from me. Why? Because that's what only
a holy man would ever say. Nevertheless. Thy will be done. He had it broken. So broken,
the scripture says he sweat as it were, great drops of blood.
You ever done that? Over sin? No. I'm accepted not by my sacrifice.
I'm submissive to this. When I'm broken, when God breaks
me, when God breaks you, you'll be submissive to this. My hope
is not in anything I can offer. It's in what Christ offers. And listen to this, do good in
thy good pleasure unto Zion. What do we pray for? In submission,
we pray this, thy will be done. And what is his will? Do good. Build the wall of Jerusalem,
he said. In other words, build your church. Build your church. Do good, restore me, forgive
me. Oh, believer, have you sinned?
It's a rhetorical question. I know you have. Your sin may
not be as great as mine, but we still must be convicted of
our sins. And when convicted, we must confess. We confess in sincerity, I'm
a sinner and nothing at all. We confess insensibleness. Jesus Christ is my all in all. We confess with great affection
and love to God, not that we loved him, but that he loved
us. We confess that the grounds is
Jesus Christ. We confess that we learn anything
is by the Holy Spirit and by the grace of God. This is where
every confessing sinner comes. Total submission to the will
of God. I'll tell you this, God's will
for David was painful. When we sin, his will for us
may be painful. But did God bring David through? Yes. And this is our hope. He will bring us through as well. And all in the end was better
for David, wasn't it? And so it is with us. I pray
that God would teach us this.