Alright, we're going to stay
tonight in Psalm 51. And the reason I wanted to do
this, I'm going to preach two messages from this Psalm. I'm
going to divide it in two. In 2 Samuel 11, as we're studying
through the life of David, and we're being taught a trust of
the Lord, of the life of David, both as a type of Christ, the
King of Jerusalem, the King of Israel, King of Judah, He's a
type of Christ, but also, David, as an example of a sinner saved
by grace, a true believer with all the faults and the flaws
and the weaknesses that we all have. As we study his life, we've
seen him in 2 Samuel 11 as the fallen king, the fall of a king,
and then in 2 Samuel 12 and those first few verses we saw him as
the restored king, the restoration or the king restored. And tonight
and next Wednesday I want to deal in this psalm with the repentance
of a king. The repentance of a king. Because
here in Psalm 51 we see a great example of the Lord bringing
one of his dear children to repentance. What the Apostle Paul was inspired
by the Holy Spirit in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 to call godly sorrow
over sin. Now there's sorrow over sin and
then there's godly sorrow over sin. And that's what we're going
to talk about, godly sorrow. And I'll show you the difference
if you don't already know. Most of you probably are very
familiar with that. But if you're going to study
the life of David and glean from that life as recorded in the
scripture of what God has for us, One of the greatest things
that you can study, one of the most informative and one of the
most experiential as far as being an example of a believer, is
this issue of David's repentance. David's repentance. I think about
some of the Old Testament saints, and we read about all their flaws,
and the New Testament saints too. We read about their flaws.
their weaknesses and their sins. We certainly read about that
in David's life, not only in just 2 Samuel 11, when he fell
with Bathsheba and killed Uriah and all of that, but even before
then. And sometimes when you study these saints, you could
conclude that by looking at them outwardly, you couldn't see any
difference between them and an unbeliever. In fact, if you came
upon David at a given time in 2 Samuel 11, you'd say, well,
certainly he's not a child of God. Certainly he's not the anointed
of Jehovah. Certainly he's not the sweet
psalmist of Israel. Certainly there's something wrong
here. And yet the Bible tells us, God's
Word tells us, that this man, with all of his sins and his
flaw, was righteous before God. How? He was righteous in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And David sings of that. He sings
of it in this psalm. But you know, one of the greatest
things, one of the most important, vital things that we as believers
can cultivate in our lives, and it's only by the power of the
Spirit now. It's nothing that we have by nature. You see, this
is a gift from God. All grace and all glory is a
gift from God in Christ. But one of the greatest things,
most vital things that we can cultivate in our lives is this
issue of godly sorrow over sin. Repentance. The Bible tells us
about Lot in Sodom. And I imagine if you saw Lot
in Sodom, you wouldn't conclude that he was a believer, that
he was a child of God. Peter records that Lot's righteous
soul was vexed, was troubled. And I don't know, I'm not going
to try to climb into David's mind during the time, this was
about a year between the time that he committed all these sinful
deeds and the prophet Nathan came and pointed to him and said,
you're the man. And I know some people say, well,
David struggled greatly all those years. I don't know about that.
I don't know. But I do know. That if you're
a child of God, whatever state you've fallen into, whatever
has overcome you, at some point in time, your righteous soul,
just like Lot, is going to be vexed. You're going to be brought
to repentance. I'm going to be brought to repentance.
And sometimes that's the only difference you can tell between
a believer and an unbeliever at a given moment. Well, here
is David's righteous soul being vexed, and here it comes to fruition
in godly sorrow that leads to repentance. Here is a man coming
to the throne of grace through his great high priest because
he has a need. His conscience is vexed by his
deeds, his evil deeds, his sins. Now listen to me first on this.
You know, when God the Holy Spirit brings a sinner to see his sinfulness,
and I'm not just talking about people saying, well, I'm not
perfect, or I know I'm a sinner, not just words, but I mean when
God the Holy Spirit really in the new birth convinces us of
sin to show us what we are by nature, and we really haven't
seen the half of that, But to show us how wretched we really
are in the sight of God, and that without Christ that we're
so filthy and contaminated with sin, sin within, sin without.
Sin is not just what we do and what we see, but it's what we
are. David acknowledged that. That we're born in sin. He said,
I was shaped in iniquity, and sin did my mother conceive me.
When he shows us that God must damn us based on our best efforts
to serve Him. That's how sinful we are. Even
our best is vanity in the sight of God. Even our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags in the sight of God. When the Holy Spirit
really shows us that, then He brings that sinner by God-given
faith to Christ. as his only hope, his only salvation,
his only glory, his only way, his only righteousness, his only
pardon and forgiveness. You see, God the Holy Spirit
doesn't convict us of sin just to leave us in the mire of depravity
and sorrow. His goal is always to bring God's
people to Christ for relief, for peace, for forgiveness, for
salvation. And he brings us to repentance.
And whenever that happens in the new birth, now listen to
it, when that happens in the new birth, that sinner who's
convinced of sin repents for the first time in their life.
You know, you may have, growing up, you may have felt sorry.
You may have felt guilty. You may have turned over a new
leaf or made several thousand New Year's resolutions that you
didn't keep. You may have done all of that.
But I'm telling you, until you've seen the glory of Christ and
our sinfulness in light of His glory and what God requires,
until you were convicted by the Spirit of your sin and brought
to Christ, you had never repented of sin in God's sight. When God
the Holy Spirit brings you there, He gives you a gift. And that
gift is repentance. We talk about faith being a gift,
and it is. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Faith is
the gift of God. Well, so is repentance. Let me
read you some scripture on that issue. Peter speaking of Christ,
whom God hath exalted. with his right hand to be a prince
and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of
sins." Not only is the forgiveness of sins a gift, but the repentance
over sin is a gift. It's a gift of God. Man won't
repent of his own free will, neither will he believe. In Acts
11, verse 18, after the gospel was preached, it said, When they
heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God,
saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance
unto life. It was a gift. A gift. Paul, in writing to Timothy.
Speaking of the servant of the Lord in the ministry of Christ,
he said he must not strive, but be gentle unto all, apt to teach
patience and meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves.
If God, he said, peradventure will give them repentance to
the acknowledging of the truth. It's a gift. What David is doing
here in Psalm 51 is using the gift. And then 2 Peter 3 and
verse 9, that passage that people take out of context, But it says,
the Lord is not slight concerning His promise, as some men count
slightness, but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's talking
about His elect. He's going to bring all His elect
people to repentance. He's not going to leave them
in their sins. He's not going to leave them in their despair.
He's going to bring them to repentance. He's going to bring them to Christ.
That's what He does. And all repentance, now listen
to me, all repentance before we see the glory of Christ and
the glory of His finished work on Calvary, His blood and His
righteousness, all repentance before that time is legal and
natural conscience. Now, I want you to turn to 2
Corinthians chapter 7. I want to show you what I'm talking
about there. There's a difference between legal, natural conscience
sorrow, or repentance, and godly sorrow, the gift of repentance. Second, Corinthians chapter seven. Now, you know, the Corinthian
church had a lot of problems, had a lot of problems. And Paul,
there was division. There was public scandalous sin
that was going unchecked and undealt with and undisciplined.
And Paul wrote him a harsh letter, not trying to just be harsh,
but trying to show him it's kind of like Nathan going to David
saying, you're the man. And that's what Paul was doing
to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians and part of 2. You're the people.
You're the ones who have the problem here. It needs to be
taken care of. And Paul says, I want to make you sorry. But
look at what he says. He says in verse 8 of 2 Corinthians
7, he says, For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do
not repent, though I did repent. And what I believe Paul is expressing
there is You know, it's kind of like, sometimes there's a
time where God's people need to be admonished. But nobody
wants to be the instrument of admonishment, and we always want
to make sure, was I too hard? Was I too, did they see me as
mean? I didn't want that. But Paul
said, I didn't repent, though I did. He said, for I perceive,
verse 8, that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it
were but for a season. Now, I rejoice. Not that you
were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance. Now that
word repentance, you mean it's a change of mind, it's a change
of heart, it's an attitude change. And he says, for you were made
sorry according to God or after a godly manner that you might
receive damage by us in nothing. In other words, it was good for
you, it wasn't damaging to you. You know, a lot of people like
to make people sorry to damage them, to beat them down, to browbeat
them. Paul said, that's not my purpose. I didn't want to make
you sorry to damage. He said, I wanted to make you
sorry after a godly manner. And he says in verse 10, for
godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation. And that means
deliverance there, deliverance from the problem. He's not talking
about eternal salvation. He's writing to believers. And
he says, godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to
be repented of. Do you know there's a repentance
that needs to be repented of? That's that legal repentance.
But the sorrow of the world worketh death. That's that legal sorrow.
Now, what's the difference? Well, it goes back to, and I've
told you this a thousand times, you've heard it probably a ten
thousand times before me. It's this, you know, when you
become sorry for your sins, when you feel guilty, when you feel
like you're in despair, where do you seek and find relief? That's the issue. If it's true
godly sorrow over sin, if it's true sorrow after a godly manner
that leads to repentance, you know where you're going to end
up with relief and peace and comfort and assurance? You're
going to end up in Christ and Him alone. You're not going to
find peace anywhere else. But now that sorrow of the world
that worketh death, That's that legal sorrow that's born of fear
of punishment that inspires people to try to establish their own
righteousness before God. You better not miss church or
you'll go to hell. You better not miss giving your
tithe or it will take it out the back of the door in a box.
Now, I'm going to tell you something. If that's the reason you're giving,
that's sorrow of the world that works death. Why do God's people
give? Why do they do it? It's because
we love Christ. It's because of gratitude. It's
because of grace. You take that sorrow, that repentance
that stirs up people to do anything religious, ceremonially, or morally
in order to attain or maintain salvation, that's the sorrow
of the world that works death. But now that sorrow that drives
a sinner to Christ and Him crucified and resurrected for relief, for
salvation, for forgiveness, for pardon, for peace, that's godly
sorrow, overseen. That's true godly repentance.
And that doesn't take place until we see the glory of Christ. If
you want to read a good example of that, read Philippians chapter
3. We won't turn there tonight. Paul said that in light of the
knowledge of Christ, the glorious knowledge of Christ, I count
all things but done, but I may win Him and be found in Him. He knew Christ was his only hope.
The Bible says the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance,
and this goodness is found only in the gospel of peace through
Christ, the gospel of forgiveness. Hebrews 9, verse 14, let me read
this to you, it says, How much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot
to God, purge your conscience from dead works, That's the conscience
that's stirred up to perform dead works aimed at saving or
keeping them saved or recommending them unto God by their works.
Your conscience, when you see the glory of Christ, that conscience
is purged from those dead works to serve the living God. How
do you serve Him? As a willing, loving bond-slave
of Christ. Now that's the difference. Now
over here in Psalm 51, look at it with me. This is what's being
expressed here, this godly sorrow over sin. You see, when God the
Holy Spirit brings us to this initial repentance, you know
what happens then? Then a believer, a true believer,
embarks upon a whole lifetime of repentance. It never stops. It's daily. We repent daily,
don't we? as we cultivate a continual godly
sorrow over our sin. Then again, not to leave us in
despair, not to leave us, as old John Bunyan wrote, in the
slew of despond, but to continually drive us to Christ for peace,
for assurance, for comfort. You say, I'm a sinner, I need
forgiveness. Where are you going to find forgiveness?
The blood of Christ cleanses me from all sin. That's what
David's expressing here. We've got to be in His Word.
That's why you're here tonight. It's not just to gain some knowledge,
though we hope that happens. I hope that the preaching of
the gospel not only tans your hide, but teaches your spirit,
teaches your mind. But it's not meant just so I
can get a head full of knowledge. It's meant to bring me to find
peace and rest. from my sins, from my struggles,
from my warfare, from my oppositions, even if it's me opposing myself,
to find peace in Christ. This is a solace. This is an
oasis in the wilderness, you might say. This is a watering
hole in the dry land. Here's the spring of living water.
And that's what David's doing in this repentance. He's drinking
from the spring of living water. Drinking from Christ. He's feeding
on the bread of life. And that's what it's for. But
it's a continual thing. And here we have a prayer of
repentance from King David, a prayer of forgiveness. And you know,
forgiveness of sin is the real issue. You know, psychologists
and philosophers and even preachers today tell us this. You know
what the message of the day is? Oh, you need to learn to forgive
yourself. You've heard that, haven't you?
Well, my friend, that's not your problem, and it's not my problem.
Oh, I know there are people who don't forgive themselves. That's
not their real problem. What we need to learn is God's
forgiveness. and the rest in his way of forgiveness.
Now, here's David. Here's the anointed of the God
of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel. He'd gained a reputation
as a prophet. He was a man who understood the
deep things of God. He'd established himself as the
long-time spiritual leader of Israel, of his people. Many times
it's said in the scriptures of the Koran that he acted wisely.
And he acted in faith. And then here, toward the end
of his reign, when he was about 55, 56 years old, he was caught
up in his own lust, his own vain, selfish lust. And you know what? He records that sin for us himself
in here in Psalm 51. Now, there's two things here.
And I want you to see in these first few verses that you can
learn from Psalm 51. And then I'll do the rest of
Psalm next Wednesday. You can learn, number one, the
true nature of sin. What sin really is. What it's
really like. What it's really about. It's
not just tasting and touching and handling. It's more than
that. You know, the fundamentalists, they say, taste not, touch not,
handle not. That's worldliness. That's not the true nature of
sin. That doesn't even come close. But what is? And then secondly,
we learn the true nature of God's forgiveness. Let's look at the
true nature of sin. In verse one, the last line of
that verse, after David begs for mercy, after he appeals to
the loving kindness of God and pleads for the tender mercies,
the multitude, he says, blot out my transgressions. You know
what he's saying there? Sin is a high crime against God. It's not just making a mistake,
as they want us to say, oh, I just made a mistake. No, you didn't
make a mistake. You were a rebel who committed treason against
God. Blot out my transgressions. It's
a violation of justice. It's a trespass, you see. It's
a transgression. It deserves death. That's what
sin deserves. The wages of sin is death. The
soul that sinneth, it must die. Why? Because God's mean? No. Why? Because He had a bad day?
No. Why? Because He's thrown a tantrum?
No. Why? Because He's holy. And He's just. And He must punish sin. And He
could no more fail to punish all sin than He could fail to
be God Himself. That's what sin is. Sin is a
debt. It's an account accumulated.
And it must be paid. Let me tell you something. Sin
must be paid for. Again, the only penalty is death. And that's what he's talking
about. Blot out my transgressions. Wipe them out. They need to be
wiped out, he says. They can't be glossed over. They
can't be ignored. Blot them out. They must be blotted
out. And then in verse two, he says, wash me throughly or thoroughly
from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. What he's saying
here is this sin is like an ugly stain. It's like a contamination. It's like a disease, a defilement
upon the soul. It's not something to be joked
about, laughed about here now. It's not just, well, ha, ha,
none of us are perfect. This is like a dreaded, deadly
disease within. It's not just what's outward,
you see. You can see the outward effects
of sin in me, and I can see it in you. But it's more than that,
isn't it? I need to be washed throughly. And then in verse
3, he says, For I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin
as ever before me. Again, sin cannot be ignored.
It cannot be glossed over in anybody, not even in this justified
sinner right here. It must be confessed. You know,
we read there in Hebrews chapter 10 about somebody coming to the
holiest of all by the blood of Jesus with a true heart in full
assurance of faith. You know what that true heart
is? Somebody says, well, it's a sincere heart. It is. But it's
mainly an honest heart. Honest about who I am. Not coming
to God like the Pharisee. Oh, I thank God I'm not like
everybody else. I do all this and I didn't do
that. You see, that's guile. Remember when David said, Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, whose transgressions
are covered, in whom is no guile. What he's talking about is a
sinner who knows his frame, knows his sin, knows that he has nothing
to recommend him unto God, knows that he doesn't deserve the least
of God's favor and cannot earn the least of God's blessing,
that if God gave him what he deserved, he would be forever
condemned. O Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities. But thank God that honesty doesn't
stop there. It goes on to believe the Word
of God. who says, I'll forgive you in
Christ. But we'll get to that in a moment.
You see, this sin must be confessed because it lays heavily on the
conscience of a believer. Now, what's going to cleanse
the conscience? Not the blood of bulls and goats. That can't
do it. Not water baptism. If that does it, then you're
in trouble. Not good works. Not any. The blood of Christ.
And notice here, he says, I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin
is ever before thee. And then he says, against thee
and thee only have I sinned. You see, David doesn't blame
God for his sin. He didn't say, God, you made
me do it, or he doesn't say, God, you're sovereign, therefore
I couldn't help it. He didn't blame others. He didn't
blame Bathsheba. He didn't blame Uriah. He didn't
blame anybody. He said, I'm the problem. I'm the problem. And we are. You see, sin, he
said, look at verse 4, against thee and thee only have I sinned
and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified
when thou speakest, and clear, be clear when thou judgest. All
sin is ultimately against God. Because it has to do with God's
creation. It has to do with God's commandments,
what the whole law summed up, love God supremely, love your
neighbor as yourself. All sin can fall under one of
those two categories, and it's ultimately all against God. And
David recognized that. And then look at verse 5. Behold,
I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. David recognized that sin is the result of a fallen human
nature. born in sin. It's not, listen,
I'm a sinner by choice, and you are too. Not because at one day
we made a choice, but because by nature we were born in sin. Fallen, sinful, human nature. This was a problem I was born
into. I'm a child of Adam by nature. Children of wrath even
as in others. Now if we're saved, If we're
children of God, if we're justified, we've always been in Christ,
in the sight of God. But by nature, as we were born
into this world, we're by nature children of wrath, even as others.
Dead in trespasses and sin. David's saying, this is not a
problem that began when I became 13 or 14 or 15. This was a problem
I came forth from the womb, speaking lies. You know what he means
by that. He just simply means that he's
born in Adam, a fallen, depraved sinner. I've heard people say,
well, you know, when a baby cries, he's telling a lie. That's crazy.
I don't get involved in all that junk. Just read the scripture,
you know. Listen, as much as I love my
little grandson, this is his case right here. Behold, I was
chafing in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive. I know
His only hope for salvation now and forever is Christ and the
power of God unto salvation. That's so. It's the result of
being born in sin. And then look at verse 6. He
says, Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts and in the
hidden part. Thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Sin's a heart problem. God doesn't desire you to clean
up the outside of the cup and leave the inside just a rotting
grave. You see, religion can clean up
the outside of the cup. Christ said of the Pharisees,
they do indeed appear righteous unto men. But he also said, except
your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and the Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom
of heaven. He said, these people draw nigh to me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me. David says, you desire truth
in the inward parts, in the hidden part, the secret part, to make
me know wisdom. You see, what you can't see in
my mind and in my heart is to my motives. What drives me? Sin's a heart problem. It's not
just outward acts. That's why Paul said, if the
law hadn't said, thou shalt not covet, I would not know sin.
And if the Holy Spirit had not come and shown him that sin reaches
to the heart, that the law of God condemns sins, not just in
action, but in thought, in attitude. You ever had a bad attitude?
In God's sight, that's enough to condemn a whole world. That's
right. The thought of murder, the thought
of adultery, lust, what does that make us? It makes us sinners,
inwardly. That's the nature of sin. Now,
we could go on and on with it, but let's go next to the true
nature of God's forgiveness. This is what the godly repentance,
godly sorrow ultimately leads to. In verse 1, David begs God. He says, have mercy upon me,
O God, Jehovah. the God of the covenant. According
to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies, blot out my transgression. He begs God for covenant mercies,
for covenant compassion. He begs God for the covenant
love and kindness, loving kindness, that only the God of all grace
can and will show. It shows that God's love and
mercy is not a response here. It's not a response to us, but
it's the product of His purpose and His counsel before the foundation
of the world. God loves us with an everlasting
love. There was never a time, listen
to me, if God ever loved you, if God ever loves you, there's
never a time that you can point to and say, well, back then He
didn't love me. And this is the kind of love
that David's appealing to here. It's the covenant love of the
God who delights to show mercy. And it's not a response. Herein
is love. Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be the propitiation, the satisfaction, the reconciliation
for our sins. David knew that he deserved and
earned no forgiveness from God. He didn't deserve it, didn't
earn it. He knew that God had no obligation to forgive him
based on anything in him or anything from him. He knew forgiveness was a matter
of God's free, sovereign love towards sinners. That's what
this means, this word loving-kindness. It's the covenant love and kindness
of God in Christ. And he said, according unto the
multitude of thy mercies, David knew that God does forgive, and
that abundantly. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Look over at Psalm 103. Listen
to this. You'll like this. Psalm 103. And look at verse
10. Another Psalm of David. Psalm
103 and verse 10. He says, He hath not dealt with
us after our sins. Now, you notice there in that
Psalm, it doesn't say God did not deal with our sins. He did
deal with our sins. Sin must be punished. But it
says He hath not dealt with us after our sins. Well, who did
He deal with for our sins? His beloved Son, who laid down
His life for the sheep. who was made sin for us, Christ
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. And he said, Nor rewarded us according to our
iniquities. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. That
means trust Him, worship Him, love Him, reverence and respect
Him, and serve Him. And he says, as far as the east
is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions
from us. How far is that? That's infinity.
You math teachers, you know what that's talking about. That means
it doesn't. East is east, and west is west, and never the twain
shall meet. Another passage in the book of
Micah. Let me just read this to you.
The prophet Micah, chapter 7, verse 18 and 19. Listen to what
Micah, the prophet, says here. Who is a god like unto thee that
pardoneth iniquity, passeth by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage, that's his covenant people, he retaineth not his
anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again,
he will have compassion upon us, he will subdue our iniquities,
and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. He cast all our sins into the
depths of the sea. And somebody said, I don't remember
who it was, and he puts up a sign and says, no fishing. Don't go fishing for my sins. And I won't go fishing for yours.
Look back at Psalm 51. Look at verse 4. He says, Against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil on thy side,
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear
when thou judgest. Again, David shows here that
he knew that he didn't deserve God's love or God's mercy. He
said God's just when he judges. God judges according to truth.
His judgments are always according to truth. When God damns a sinner
for his sins, he's just and he's right and he's true. Let God
be true in every man a liar. But here's what David knew here.
He knew that God is holy and just. And though he's a God who
forgives sin and delights to show mercy, he cannot forgive
sin or show mercy apart from his justice being satisfied.
He says, you must be clear when you judge, oh, Lord. When God saves a sinner, he must
be just. He must be both a righteous judge
as well as a loving father. Remember, he asked God to blot
out his transgressions. How's God going to blot them
out? He's going to lay them to the account of His beloved Son.
He's going to charge them to Christ. And that's real. That's no legal fiction. Christ
became responsible for our sins. And the books, as far as I'm
concerned, and we'll use figurative language to help our little old
finite minds understand this, alright? The books, as far as
I'm concerned, were wiped clean. because my sins were charged."
No debt. No debt to Bill Parker. No debt
to any of you all who trust Christ. And Christ came in time, and
on that cross, what did He do? He paid the debt in full. David
knew that that had to happen. Listen, when he damns a sinner,
he must be clear. And that means he's cleared of
all wrongdoing, of all injustice, and of all unfairness. You cannot
charge God with injustice and unfairness. But now when he saves
a sinner and brings a sinner into communion with him, he's
got to be clear there too. He said, wash me and clean me,
cleanse me. How does he do that? By the blood
of Christ. Just to satisfy. The blood shed. And that's our hope. And how
are we forgiven of all our sins? The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin. Behold the Lamb of God that bears
away the sin of the world. And that's proven here. Look
at verse 7. He says, Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean.
Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. I want you to turn
to Exodus 12. Purge me with hyssop. Where did
that come from? Where did David get that kind
of language? You know, hyssop was a plant, and they took the hyssop plant
and they made a brush out of it. It says here in Exodus chapter 12,
look at verse 21. This is when God gave Moses instructions
concerning the Passover. He was to get the lamb, they
were to slay the lamb, the lamb of the first year without spot
and without blemish. You know all that. In verse 21
it says, 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 is in the basin, and strike
the lintel in the two sideposts with the blood that is in the
basin. And none of you shall go out at the door of his house
until the morning. For the Lord will pass through
to smite the Egyptians, and when he sift the blood upon the lintel
and on the two sideposts, the Lord will pass over the door,
and will not suffer or allow the destroyer to come in unto
your houses to smite you." Took that hyssop, that brush made
out of that plant, dipped it in that lamb's blood, and put
it over the doorpost and the lintel. That's what David's talking
about. That's what he's referring to
here. He's saying, Lord, be merciful. Lord, show me your loving kindness. Lord, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly. How's it
going to be done? With the blood applied by the
Spirit. That's what he's talking about.
the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin. When we sin,
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
God sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. That's what that
Lamb typifies. You see, now listen to me. Many
will tell you that forgiveness comes at the cost of repentance. Have you ever heard that? I heard
a whole message on that one time. on TV. Preachers saying that
forgiveness comes at the cost of repentance. Not so. Forgiveness comes at the cost
of the blood of the Lamb. And you know what comes out of
that? What comes out of that is repentance. The fruit of forgiveness. You see David was already forgiven.
before Nathan ever come to it. Did you know that? Nathan said,
well, the Lord hath forgiven thee, the Lord hath put away
thy sin. That didn't start when Nathan
said, that didn't start when David said, I sinned against
the Lord. It had already started, started
back in eternity when Christ was set up to be his surety.
Well, here's the fruit of it. Let me conclude with this. He
said back there in verse two, wash me thoroughly from mine
iniquity, cleanse me from my sin. And there in verse five,
you remember, he said, I was shaping iniquity and sin did
my mother conceive me. Verse six, he said, sin's a heart
problem. My inward parts, he said, and
in the hidden part, thou shalt make me to know wisdom. You know,
in verse eight, look here, he says in verse eight, make me
to hear joy and gladness. Now I've heard Nathan say, you're
the man. Now I want to hear joy and gladness. And he says, and
the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. What is that? There
wasn't a literal bone on David broken as a result of this. He
didn't have a broken arm or a broken leg. What bones is he talking
about? He's talking about the bones of his soul, the bones
of his conscience, the bones of his heart, the bones of his
mind. He's talking about conviction. You're the man, David. You're
responsible. You've sinned against God. And
he says, Make that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
And then verse 10, he says, verse 9, Hide thy face from my sins
and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right or a constant spirit within me. What's he talking
about? Well, much of that language is
indicative of the new birth. The new birth. Regeneration. The washing of regeneration,
what Titus called it. The purged conscience. You see,
we must be saved from the penalty of sin. Christ accomplished that
by his death on the cross on behalf of God's chosen. He died
for our sins. He was made sin that we might
be made righteous. He was our substitute and our
representative. He took away sin's penalty forever
and ever as our surety. And so complete was the work
of Christ on the cross for his people that because of it, God
looks upon every one of his redeemed as forgiven and justified before
him. But we also must be saved from
the power of sin. And all whom Christ saved from
the penalty of sin on the cross, he does in time save or deliver
from the power of sin. The Holy Spirit delivers them.
Now, when we say we are saved from the power of sin, we don't
mean we are saved from the power of sinning. David wasn't saved
from that power. He would have never done what
he did. We are still sinners. Listen. It contaminates everything
we do, everything we think. It's a warfare. But to be saved
from the power of sin means being delivered from the power of sin
in ourselves. Not from sinning, but in the
new birth we're delivered in several ways. For example, let
me just give you these. Sin once deceived us and kept
us under its deception in darkness, but now sin has no more power
to deceive us. We see the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. Sin once overpowered us in that
it kept our wills in total bondage and kept us in unbelief. It kept
us from faith in Christ and true repentance, but now it can't
do that. Because, you see, we've overcome the power of sin, not
by our power, but by the power of the Spirit in the new birth
who gave us faith and brought us to repentance. Sin once kept
us from seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
but now, Now He cannot keep us from seeing that glory and resting
in Him as our only hope. Sin once kept us in the bondage
of legalism, bringing forth fruit unto death, trying to establish
a righteousness of our own. But now, now we're delivered
from that. And we see the glory of God's
grace in Christ and the forgiveness that He has for every one of
His people, freely given through the blood and righteousness of
Christ. And now by the power of His Spirit, we bring forth
fruit unto God. Sin once kept us under the bondage
of a condemned conscience, but now after the new birth, our
conscience is purged from those dead works to serve the living
God, purged by the blood of Christ. And then sin once kept us from
any desire to worship God, to love God, to serve the true and
living God, But now we have that desire. By the power of the Spirit,
we have a desire to keep our eyes on Christ, to keep coming
to Him. We have that desire to worship
Him, and to serve Him, and to feed upon His Word, and to love
Him. David said, I'll be satisfied
when I awake with Thy lightness. And that's when we'll be satisfied
too, by the power of God.