There is a sign-up sheet for
the Vacation Bible School to help out with. If you can sign
that and give some help, it begins next week out in the foyer. Verse 1. And it came to pass, after the
year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle,
that David, the king, sent Joab and his servants with him and
all Israel. And they destroyed the children
of Ammon and besieged Rabah, But David tarried still at Jerusalem. When he should have been going
out to battle, he tarried in Jerusalem. And as is always the
case, when we are not doing what we should be doing, we will begin
to do what we should not do. Verse two. And it came to pass
in an evening tide that David arose from off his bed and walked
upon the roof of the king's house. And from the roof, he saw a woman
washing herself. And the woman was very beautiful
to look upon. And David sent and inquired after
the woman, and one said, is not this Bathsheba, the daughter
of Eliam, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite? And David sent messengers
and took her, and she came in unto him, and he lay with her,
for she was purified from her uncleanness, and she returned
unto her house, And the woman conceived and sent and told David
and said, I am with child. From that point, David begins
a very elaborate coverup. He sins for Uriah from off the
battlefield. Uriah had been fighting for David. And he sins for Uriah off the
battlefield. He thought he would go on into
Bathsheba and no one would know that it was the child of David.
But look what kind of man this Uriah was. He'd been sent to
report to David from off the battlefield, verse nine, but
Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants
of his Lord and went not down to his house. And when they had
told David saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David
said unto Uriah, camest thou not from thy journey? Why then
didst thou not go down unto thine house? And Uriah said unto David,
the ark and Israel. And Judah abide in tents. And
my Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord are encamped in the
open fields. Shall I then go into my house
to eat and drink and to lie with my wife? As thou livest and as
thy soul liveth, I'll not do this thing." Now we see what
an honorable man this man was. So David comes up with another
idea. Verse 13, and when David had
called him, he did eat and drink before him and he made him drunk.
He thought, surely he'll do this if I get him intoxicated. And even he went out to lie on
his bed with the servants of his Lord, but went not down to
his house. So what David does at this time,
when none of this works, David plots a premeditated murder. This was not a crime of passion.
You know, in a crime of passion, there's more leniency involved
in the punishment. But this was a pre-meditated,
cold-blooded murder. And this is the man after God's
own heart. This is the sweet psalmist of Israel. The next time you say, Can a
believer do something like that? Watch out. Watch out. A believer can do anything an
unbeliever can do except for the sin against the Holy Spirit.
Now that's true. Be careful. Verse 14. And it came to pass in the morning
that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand
of Uriah. He sends him back to the battlefield
and he wrote in the letter saying, set ye Uriah in the forefront
of the hottest battle and retire ye from him that he may be smitten
and die. And it came to pass when Joab
observed the city that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew
that valiant men were. And the men of the city went
out and fought with Joab. And there fell some of the people
and the servants of David. And Uriah the Hittite died also. He was murdered by David. David
ordered this. Then Joab sent and told David
all the things concerning the war, and charged the messenger,
saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matter of
the war unto the king, and if so be that the king's wrath arise,
and he say unto thee, Wherefore approach ye so nigh unto the
city, when ye did fight? Knew ye not that they would shoot
from the wall? Whose motive Bimelech, the son
of Jerobesheth, did not a woman cast a piece of millstone upon
him from the wall, that he died in Thebes, and went ye nigh to
the wall? Then say thou, thy servant, Uriah
the Hittite is dead also. That's why we went near the wall. We were obeying your command
and many people lost their lives because of you. Verse 22, so the messenger went
and came and showed David all that Joab had sent for And the
messenger said unto David, surely the men prevailed against us
and came out into the field. And we were upon them even under
the entering of the gate and the shooter shot from off the
wall upon by servants. And some of the King's servants
be dead. And thy servant, Uriah the Hittite
is dead also. Then David said unto the messenger,
thus shalt thou say unto Joab, let not this thing displease
thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another. Make
thy battle more strong against the city and overthrow it and
encourage thou him. And when the wife of Uriah heard
that Uriah, her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
And when the morning was passed, evidently it didn't last all
that long, David sent and fetched her to his house and she became
his wife. And Barry, my son, evidently
at least nine months took place, at least nine months. But the
thing that David did displeased the Lord. Now, David evidently went through
at least nine months, perhaps a year, in a very hardened state. He didn't seem to be showing
any remorse or any sorrow for this horrible crime that he committed. Now, what if I committed, I'm
your pastor, what if I committed premeditated murder and did it
in order to get somebody's wife? That's a severe crime, isn't
it? That's what David did. Now he goes through a time of
hardness, but the Lord knows how to break somebody. We just read that. In the walk
in pride, he knoweth how to abase. So he sends Nathan, his prophet,
to David. And remember, this happened some
year after the crime. And the Lord sent Nathan unto
David, And he came unto him and said unto him, there were two
men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. This is chapter
12. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the
poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had
brought 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 was unto him
as a daughter. And there came a traveler unto
the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock of his
own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was coming to him, but
took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was
come to him. He took this poor man's lamb, killed it, and he
served it to eat rather than his own. And David's anger was greatly
kindled against the man and said to Nathan, as the Lord liveth,
the man that hath done this thing shall surely die. In David's state, his hardened
state, he could still easily see the sin of others. As the Lord lives, this man is
going to die. He deserves to die. He could
clearly see the sin in others. That's a mark of a heart and
self-righteous attitude. You can be a critic of others,
but you can't see your own self. Verse six, he shall restore the
lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had
no pity. And Nathan said to David, thou
art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the
hand of Saul. I gave thee thy master's house and thy master's
wives into thy bosom. I gave thee the house of Israel
and of Judah. And if it had been too little, I would moreover
have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou
despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight?
You killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and you've taken
his wife to be thy wife, and you slain him with the sword
of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall
never depart from thine house, because thou hast despised me,
and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus
saith the Lord, because I raise up evil against thee out of thine
own house, I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them
unto thy neighbor. And he shall lie with thy wives in the side
of the sun, for thou didst it secretly. But I will do this
thing before all Israel before the sun. And David said unto
Nathan, I have sinned. against the Lord. Now, David already knew that
he'd sinned against Uriah. He knew that he'd sinned against
Bathsheba, but he did not know until this time, really, that
he'd sinned against the Lord. And this is when true confession
takes place. When you find out your sin is
against the Lord. That's why sin is so evil. It's
against the Lord. And David cries out, I've sinned
against the Lord. And upon that, we have Psalm
51. Would you turn with me there
to Psalm 51? I've entitled this message, A
Psalm of Repentance. Look at the title to this psalm. To the chief musician, A Psalm
of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him after he had gone
in to Bathsheba. If somebody asked me, what is
the scripture that you turn to personally? more than any other
scripture. You know what I'd say? Psalm 51. I have read
this scripture more than any other scripture in my life as
a believer. And I'm brought to it over and
over and over again. Psalm 51. Let's read these first
four verses. David says, Have mercy upon me,
O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according unto 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 transgressions and my sin is ever before me
against Thee. The only have I sinned and done
this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when
you speak and be clear when thou judgest. Now, David speaks of
four things in these four verses, all of which are the same thing.
He talks about my sin. He talks about my transgressions. He talks about my iniquity. And
He talks about this evil. This particular evil. My sin. My sins ever before me. My sinful nature. My transgressions. That's the breaking of God's
holy law. My iniquity. Inequity. The good things we read of the
iniquity of the holy things of the children of Israel. This
evil, this particular evil that I've committed. Now this is what
he is confessing before God. And he says in verse one, have
mercy upon me. Oh God, according to thy loving
kindness, not according to how sorry I am or how I promise I'll
never do it again or I'll get things straightened up. He wouldn't
make a promise like that. He knew himself too well at this
point. He says, have mercy upon me, oh God, according to thy
loving kindness. When he saw the enormity of his
sin, how evil it was and how it was all his fault, he asked
for mercy. Mercy. Now, when I ask for mercy,
I'm asking for mercy right now. When I ask for mercy, I'm confessing
two things. I'm confessing, first of all,
guilty as charged. Guilty as charged. It's all my
fault. I can't plead anything else.
Guilty as charged. And when I ask for mercy, I'm
confessing mercy is in His sovereign hands. If I deserve it, it's
not mercy. It's up to Him to give it. He can withhold it.
Whatever He does is right. When you ask for mercy, you're
confessing I'm guilty as charged. That every mouth may be stopped,
all excuses brought down, and all the world stand guilty before
God. Guilty as charged, mercy is up
to you. The only kind of mercy there
is, is sovereign mercy. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to Thy loving kindness. The Old Testament word for grace. According to the multitude of
Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, Make them
not to be. It's not enough for me to be
forgiven. I need them to be blotted out. Erased. Made to where they're
not. Look what he says in verse 2.
He says, wash me. I'm filthy. Wash me throughly
all the way through. I don't simply want to whitewash
you. I want to be washed all the way through. I want to be
clean on the outside and I want to be clean on the inside. I
don't just want to whitewash you. Wash me throughly from my
iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Now, I looked up every
one of these words when I was trying to prepare this. I looked
at the Hebrew dictionary and the word for cleanse here is
make innocent, make guiltless, make blameless. You see, it's
not enough. And I know this from my own experience.
I mean this from the depths of my heart. It's not enough for
my sin to be forgiven. I need it to not be. I need to
stand before God just. I need to stand before God holy.
I need to stand before God without sin. It's not enough just to
have it forgiven, but it's still underneath. No, it's got to not
be. That's what the Bible calls justification. Make me to be
without sin. Make me to be blameless. Now,
how can that be? I mean, you look what David did.
Premeditated, cold-blooded murder in order to get a man's wife
and bring him into her own house. What horrible evil! How can he
be not guilty? That can only be understood in
light of the Gospel. My evil sin became Christ's. And He was punished. and His
perfect righteousness becomes mine, so that I really am not
guilty. Now, is that the gospel? He says in verse 3, 4, I acknowledge my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me." Now here we have the confession
of sin. To confess my sin is to take sides with God against
myself. I'm on the Lord's side. Whatever He says to me is right.
You take sides with God against yourself. If He condemns me,
I'm condemned. He's right. I acknowledge my
transgressions and my sin is ever before me. At no time can
I say I've not sinned. Verse 4, "...against thee." Thee only
have I sinned. Now, here's where true conviction
of sin comes. You find out the reason you're
sinning so bad is because it's against the Lord. Remember the prodigal? When he
goes back to the Father, he says, I'll rise and say to my Father,
I sinned against heaven and in thy sight. and am no longer worthy
to be called thy son. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. And this is the confession
of sin. Don't you love that scripture
I just read at the beginning of this service? If we confess. Lord, give me the grace to confess.
If we confess our sin, if we take sides with God against ourselves,
He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. He says in verse four, against
thee and 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. Now, when somebody confesses
their sin, and you listen real carefully, When somebody confesses
their sin, they say whatever God does is right. If he condemns me, he's right. If he passes me by and lets me
go to hell, he's right. He's just. Now whenever I hear
people complain about the fairness of God. How could it be fair
for Him to elect some and pass by others? How could it be fair
for Christ to only die for the elect and not die for everybody?
How can it be fair for God the Holy Spirit to only give life
to the elect and He doesn't even attempt to give life to anybody
else? How could that be fair? Whenever I hear that objection,
I know this, here we have somebody that doesn't really believe they're
sinners. You see, if you really believe, if you really believe
in your heart that you're a sinner before God, you will not charge
God with injustice. You'll say, he's clear when he
judges me. He's right when he judges me. The only thing that
causes somebody to question God's fairness is when they really
don't believe that they're guilty. Do you really want God to be
fair with you? What would God do if He gave
you what you got coming? What would He do to me if He
gave me what I got coming? He'd send me to hell right now.
I'm talking about for the sins of this morning too. I'm not
talking about the way I was years ago. I'm talking about right
now. He said that you might be justified
when you speak and be clear when you judge. David says, behold,
verse five, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive
me. David said, I've always been
this way, bad to the bone. I was born that way. This is
original sin. I was born with an evil nature. You ever notice how you don't
have to teach your kids to lie? Comes natural, doesn't it? It comes
natural. You think somebody would have
to learn that by example, but they don't, do they? It comes
natural. You know that scripture says
that we could go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies? Somebody says, well, could they
speak lies at that time? And I always wondered about that. And then
I remember hearing Bruce Crabtree say, yeah, they do. A baby begins
lying right off the bat. One starts crying and screaming,
trying to get you to do something, to respond to them. I guess that's
what it means. But David said, I was born this way. I was born
this way, born evil. Verse six, behold, thou desires
truth in the inward parts. And in the hidden part thou shalt
make me to know wisdom. Now this is honesty before God.
This is what God desires. Only someone with the hidden
man, the new man, can be honest before God and know wisdom. But
he knows God doesn't just want me cleaned up on the outside.
He looks into the heart. Thou desires truth in the inward
part. And in the hidden part thou shalt
make me to know wisdom. For the rest of this psalm, he
makes several requests, and I can get a hold of these. He says
in verse 7, Purge me with hyssop, and I'll be clean. Now, hyssop
was the branch that was used to dip in the blood, remember,
of the paschal lamb and put it over the house where the blood
was. And here's what David is saying.
That word purge means cancel, disannul, expiate, make to be
gone. Purge me with hyssop and I'll
be clean. Now here's what I want. Here's
what I want for myself. I want to be in the house with
the blood over the door. That's what he's saying. Oh,
may I be purged by the blood of that paschal lamb. God said,
when I see the blood, I will pass over you. I want to be in
that place where he sees the blood, don't you? Purge me with
hyssop and I'll be clean. The blood of Christ actually
makes the sinner clean before God. Purge me with hyssop and
I shall be clean. Wash me and I'll be whiter than
the snow. That's what His blood does. It
makes the most unclean person, even somebody as bad as David.
You know who's just as bad as David? Me and you. Me and you. I hope we really believe that.
Purge me with hyssop, I'll be clean. Wash me and I'll be whiter
than snow. Verse 8. He says, Make me to
hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken
may rejoice. Make me to hear. You know, I cannot hear the gospel
unless He gives me hearing ears. I can't hear with joy, I can't
hear with gladness, I can't hear unless He enables me to hear.
What a blessing it is to be able to hear the gospel and the power
of the Holy Spirit where you hear and you believe and you
know it's the Word of God. And how miserable it is when
you hear and it's not doing anything for you. You know something's
wrong with your heart and it just bounces off and you're You
don't get anything out of it. I tell you, when that happens,
it scares you, doesn't it? And you say, Lord, make me to hear. Give me
the grace to hear the joy and gladness of the gospel that the
bones that thou hast broken may rejoice. Verse 9, he says, hide
thy face from my sins so that you don't see them. I want it to where you don't
see it because they're blotted out. He asked again, blot out.
Blot out my iniquities. Make them to whither not. That's
what I want. Blot them out through the blood
of thy dear Son. He says in verse 10, Create in
me a clean heart, O God. My heart is filthy. I can't change
it. It won't do you or me or it won't
do me any good for you to work on this old heart. Give me a new one. One that was
not there before. You see, the new birth is a creative
act of God. He puts something there that
was not there. Create! Oh, that's the only God
can create. We talk about creative people.
There's no such thing. Only God creates. Create in me this clean
heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. My spirit's
wrong. It's wrong. Renew a right spirit within me.
Verse 11, he says, cast me not away from Thy presence and take
not Thy Holy Spirit from me. You see why He would, but you
sure don't want Him to. The worst thing that could happen
to me is for me to be left to myself, for Him to cast me away
from His presence, and I'm just left alone. And David, you know,
we were reading in Bible study where David, even as an old man,
says, cast me not off in old age. That's a, Lord, we always
have some awareness of the fact that we deserve to be cast away.
in and of ourselves. And that's why we always pray,
Lord, don't cast me away. I can't be left to myself. Cast
me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit
from me. I know the only way I'll believe is if I have the
Holy Spirit. The only way I'll repent is if I have the Holy
Spirit. The only way I can worship is if I have the Holy Spirit.
So don't withdraw your Spirit from me. He says in verse 12,
restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. I guess David felt like there
was one time where he had some joy, true joy in the Lord. And he says, I've lost it. What
is the joy of thy salvation? Romans 14, 17 tells us the kingdom
of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness. Righteousness and peace and joy
in the Holy Ghost. Righteousness. The righteousness
of Jesus Christ is mine. That gives me peace. To know that His perfect obedience
is my righteousness before God. Peace. You know what else it
does? It gives me joy. Restore to me the joy. You see,
when you lose the joy of your salvation, you're looking within.
You're looking at yourself. You're looking at your whatever. But there's joy in looking away
to self and looking to Christ. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation, the salvation of which you're the author, the salvation
of which you're the cause, the subject, that you're the salvation
itself. And uphold me with thy free spirit. If you don't uphold me, I'm going
to fall. And then he says in verse 13, then, When you do these
things for me, then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners
shall be converted to thee. Now David's saying, I'll be telling
other sinners about it. You know, gospel preaching is
this. I think this is the best definition I know of of gospel
preaching. Gospel preaching is one beggar telling another where
he got bread. That's what this is all about. It's one beggar. telling another beggar, well,
he got this free bread, the free grace of God in Christ Jesus.
That's what we're doing. He said, you do these things
for me, sinners should be converted to thee. Verse 14, he says, deliver
me from blood guiltiness. Oh God, thou God of my salvation. Now what is blood guiltiness?
Blood guiltiness is sin that deserves death. Sin that deserves hell. Now, he says, deliver me from
blood guiltiness. And that's my sin. Blood guiltiness.
I deserve to be sent to hell. Deliver me from blood guiltiness,
O God, Thou God of my salvation. And my tongue shall sing aloud
of what? You see how this just keeps coming
up in this song? Thy righteousness. I tell you what, the only way
I can be delivered from blood guiltiness is if my blood guiltiness,
my sin became His, and His perfect righteousness becomes mine. But
in Him delivering me from blood guiltiness, my tongue is going
to sing aloud of His righteousness. Oh, that's all. That's all I'm
going to have to say. You believe that, don't you? He says in verse 15, O Lord,
open thou my lips, And my mouth shall show forth thy praise."
Lord, I can't even speak. I can't even praise you unless
you enable me to. But if you do it, my mouth will
show forth thy praise. Verse 16, for, thou desirest
not sacrifice, You know, in the Old Testament,
they understood that those lambs and goats and bullocks that were
slain never put away any sin. He understood that. He understood
those only pointed to that one coming who would put away sin.
He said, Thou delightest not in sacrifice, else would I give
it. Thou delightest not in burnt offerings. Verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite, smitten
heart. Oh God, thou wilt not despise. Broken. A broken heart. What is a broken heart? When something's broken, what
does that mean? It means it doesn't work. What do you do when you, what
if I knock this glass over and broke it? You know what that
would mean? That would mean it could not
do what it's supposed to do. It couldn't hold water. What
do you do with a broken glass? Do you try to glue it back together?
No. You throw it away. That's what you do with broken
things. They're no good. They can't work. Broken baseball bat,
broken arm, broken, broken, broken. What do you do with broken things?
They're no good. But do you know the one thing
that it's at its best state when it's broken? Is the heart. That's the best state you can
be in. To have your heart broken. Broken
of all hopes of self-salvation. All hopes of anything. You're
broke. You're bankrupt. You can't do
anything. You're helpless. You're hopeless. in and of yourself. That is the
heart, that broken heart, broken over any ability to do anything
but sin. That's all I am. That is the
heart that God won't despise. He said, to this man will I look.
Even to him that's poor, doesn't have anything. And to the contrite
spirit, and trembles at my word. That's a broken heart. The Lord
always responds to a broken heart. If your heart's not broken, the
Lord's not going to respond to you. But he responds to a broken heart.
When I thought of that, I thought of the Lord Jesus on his way
to Jerusalem. He knows he's going to the cross.
The Scripture says He'd set His face like a flint. His face was
set toward Jerusalem. This is why He came. He came
to die. And there He is going through
Jericho and outside of Jericho on His way to the cross. He knew
that within just a few days, He'd be put to death. He was
going for His great end. The time has come. The hour has
come. He's marching toward Jerusalem.
And the Scripture says as He's going to Jerusalem, something
will happen that it says, Jesus stood. Still. Now, why did he stand still? There were all kinds of people
hollering as they were saying, Hosanna to the son of David. They were
saying all kinds of things about him. He just kept going. People
said, Jesus this, Jesus that. He kept going. He kept going.
He's on his way to Jerusalem. But Jesus stood still. Why did he stand still? Because he heard this cry, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy upon me. And Jesus stood still. He heard that cry. And if that is your cry, he hears
now. Jesus stood still. You see, the sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. Oh God, thou
will not despise this broken heart, broken of all hopes of
self-salvation in the hands of a sovereign God. Have mercy. O LORD, have mercy upon me. Now David says in verse 18, Do
good in thy good pleasure unto Zion. Do you know all believers
are sovereign gracers? Do good in thy good pleasure
according to thy good will. All believers are sovereign gracers.
God's goodness is His grace to sinners And it's according to
His good pleasure. Do good in thy good pleasure
and design. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Walls are for protection. I need
walls to protect me from temptation because I know if I'm tempted,
I know what's going to happen. Don't let me be tempted. Walls
are for protection. Walls are to keep in. Just keep
me in. I need walls of grace to keep
sin away from me and to keep me in. Build thou the walls of
Jerusalem. Don't you want walls built around
you? I want the walls of His grace surrounding me from every
aspect. Verse 19, then. When you do good pleasure, when
you build the walls of Jerusalem, then shalt thou be pleased with
the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole
burnt offering. Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. True repentance understands that
what God is pleased with is what he does. When he does his good
pleasure, he's pleased. And salvation is him doing his
good pleasure. Now, I was thinking about this
sin that David committed. Do you believe that you would
do this apart from His grace? It's a great evil, isn't it?
It's a great evil. He actually committed this sin. But one of the many glorious
things about the Lord is the Lord brings good out of evil. What good came out of this sin?
Psalm 51. If it wasn't for this, Psalm
51 would have never been written. But how I thank my God for Psalm
51, this psalm of repentance. May the Lord enable us to read
this psalm and make it our prayer every day. Let's pray.