I've entitled the message for
tonight, What Can Be Done About My Sin? What can be done about my sin? I'm not asking the question,
what can I do about my sin? If you were carefully paying
attention to that Psalm I just read, all David was doing was
asking the Lord to do something about his sin. He wasn't talking
about what he was going to do, how he was going to change, what
he promised to never do again. He was asking the Lord to do
something about his sin. That's what that Psalm is all
about. What can be done about my sin? I cannot do anything about my
sin. I can't change the facts of the
past regarding my sin. I might forgive them, but that
doesn't mean they're not still there. I can't change my history
and I really can't make any promises with regard to the future concerning
my sin. It's very unwise to say, I promise
to never do that again. Very unwise. Every promise you've
made like that to the Lord, you've broken. You know, even when I confess certain sins
before the Lord in prayer, deep down, I know I'll commit those
sins again. And that's a very sobering and
a very true thought. I cannot do anything about my
sin What can, what must be done about my sin? Psalm 51 answers
that question. Now, Psalm 51 is my favorite
Psalm. I don't know if this is incriminating
or not, but it's my go-to Psalm. I have read this Psalm, I don't
know how many times, I preached from it 11 times in 30-some years,
and tonight's going to be the 12th. And it's the first time
I preached on it since 2012, though. But look at the title
of this psalm, and these titles are inspired. This is not man-made. These were a part of the original
inspiration. And note the title of this psalm.
to the chief musician, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet
came in unto him after he had gone into Bathsheba. Now that
is the setting of this psalm. Turn with me for a moment to
2 Samuel 11. Verse one. And it came to pass after the
year was expired, at 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 Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. Now, David should have been out.
He should have been directing this. But he wasn't. Maybe he'd grown tired of the
responsibility, tired of the battle, and he failed to do what
he should be doing. You ever been there? He failed
to do what he should be doing. And look in verse two. And it
came to pass, in an even 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." Now, you know the rest of the story,
I suppose. I'll give it to you if you don't.
But with a horrible abuse of power, David had his men bring
this woman to him. He lay with her. He impregnated
her. And she came back with the message
and he tried to cover his tracks. He tried to have Uriah come in
from the battle. Uriah was such a faithful man.
And he had Uriah come in from the battle to find out how it
was going. And he just assumed she would,
or he would go in to Bathsheba and he would have his tracks
covered and Uriah would think the child was his. But Uriah
was such a faithful, noble man that he said, I'm not going to
go into my home while the men of Israel are out in tents battling. He wouldn't do it. So David tried
something else. He said, well, I'll intoxicate
him and then he'll come in and he still would not do it. I will
not go into my home while my comrades, my brethren are out
in the fields battling for Israel. I'm not gonna do it. So David
comes up with this plan, and it's heartbreaking. He writes
a letter to Joab, and he says, I want you to take this to Joab
when you go back. And he knew that Uriah was such
a faithful man that he wouldn't open the letter. And you know
what the letter was? His own death warrant. He was
to be executed. In that letter, David, premeditated,
cold blooded murder in order to cover up his own tracks. He
said, you take Uriah into the hottest part of the battle, pull
back and let him be murdered. And that is precisely what he
did. How hard hearted, how cruel,
how evil. The man after God's own heart
doesn't seem to be acting much like the man after God's own
heart here, does he? Now, after this took place, let's
pick up reading in verse 18. This is after Uriah the Hittite
died. Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning
the war and charged the messenger saying, when you've made an end
of telling the matter of the war to the king, And if so be
that the king's wrath arise and he say, wherefore approach ye
so nigh into the city when you did fight? Knew you not that
they would shoot from the wall? Who smote Abimelech the son of
Jerubbeth? Did not a woman cast a piece
of millstone upon him from the wall that they died in Thebes?
And why were ye near the wall? Then say thou, thy servant Uriah
the Hittite is dead. That's why we went to the wall,
so he could be killed according to your orders. Now look at David's
hypocrisy. So the messenger went and came
and showed David all that Joab had sent him for. And the messenger
said unto David, surely the men prevailed against us and came
out unto us in the field. And we were upon them even under
the entering of the gate. and the shooter shot from off
the wall upon thy servants, and some of thy king's servants be
dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also, the one
you wanted killed. 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. I don't think Bathsheba knew
about any of this. I don't think he told her what
he had done, but she finds out. And when the wife of Uriah the
Hittite heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned
for her husband. And when the morning was past,
David sent and fetched her to his house and she became his
wife and bear him a son. But the thing that David had
done displeased the Lord. course. Now, David stays in this
state for quite some time. Bathsheba had gone through the
full term of her pregnancy and had the son and we don't know
how much time after that had passed until the Lord sent Nathan
the prophet to David. Remember this Psalm 51 was written
when Nathan came to David. Now let's read what took place.
Verse one. And the Lord sent Nathan unto
David and eats it for dinner with this
stranger. And David is angry. Verse six, and he shall restore
the lamb for a foal because he did this thing because he had
no pity. And Nathan said to David, thou
art the man. You're the one I've just described. This is you. And Nathan said some more things
to him about what's going to happen because of this. And David
said unto Nathan, in verse 13, and David said unto Nathan, I've
sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, the
Lord also hath put away thy sin. And then he composes this 51st
Psalm. And in this Psalm, we find out
what can be done by the Lord about our sin. Now understand,
David's not talking about anything. I'm never gonna do that again.
I'm never gonna get myself in a situation like that again.
No, all he's doing in this Psalm is asking the Lord to do something
regarding his sin. Now turn back to Psalm 51. Have mercy upon me, oh God. And you know when you're gonna
ask for mercy, when your sin is all your fault. Guilty, I can't blame anybody
but myself. It is all my fault. When you see your sin is all
your fault and you deserve to be cast off, you deserve to be
judged by God. If God elected everybody but
you but passed you by, If Christ died for everybody but you, but
passed you by, if God the Holy Spirit gave life to everybody
but you and passed you by, you know just and holy is his name. People hear the gospel and question
the fairness of it. Oh, if you're ever a sinner,
you know the thing that's fair is hell. And that's when you're
going to ask for mercy, not before then, but that's when you're
gonna ask for mercy. when David saw that he was that
man. That was a description of him.
Have mercy upon me. That's what I need. I need the
Lord to have mercy upon me. Oh God, according to thy loving
kindness, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out
my transgressions. I need mercy and I need to have
my transgressions blotted out, erased, made not to be. That's something to ask the Lord
to do for you. Blot out my transgressions, make
it to where they're not. delete my transgressions. You
ever get on your computer and delete something? Think about
it is anything that we delete, it's out there in cyberspace
somewhere and it's liable to come back. How many people have
been incriminated? But when he deletes sins, they're gone. They're no more. As a matter
of fact, he repeats this in the ninth verse. This is something
that ought to often be repeated by us, blot out my sins. blot
them out. And that's what the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ has done. The blood of Christ actually
blots out sin. It obliterates it where it is
removed and there's no sin left. That's what the blood of Christ
does. Isn't that wonderful? It blots out sin so that you
have no sin. And it's not out there somewhere
where it can come back and get you. It's gone. It's put away.
Hebrews 10, 14 says, for by one offering, he hath perfected forever. them that are sanctified. Now
that's what I need to be done about my sins. I need the Lord
to erase them, to blot them out to where they are no more. And
that's not something that you can't ask for because that's
what the blood of Christ has done. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Let's go on reading verse two.
Wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Wash me. Who needs a bath? Filthy
people. Wash me, cleanse me from my iniquity. Well, what's the difference between
washed and being cleansed? He uses two different words,
but I think this is glorious. That word cleanse, that he says,
wash me from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin, that word cleanse
is the same word that the high priest used to declare somebody
clean. You remember when the leper would
go into the high priest? If he was covered up completely
with leprosy, he was declared by the leper. I need him to declare
me cleansed. It's one thing for me to say
I'm cleansed. It's another thing for him to declare it. Because
if he declares it, it really is. Wash me. I need washed. Cleanse me from my sin. Verses three through five is
his confession of sin. And for I acknowledge my transgressions.
And my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Why? That you might be justified when
you speak and be clear when you judge. Now, what David is saying
is any judgment you level against me is right. It's righteous. And that's how someone feels
when they're confessing their sin and they're wanting God to
do something about their sin. They know if you condemn me and
pass me by, just and holy and right and true is your name. That's what David was confessing.
He says in verse five, behold, I was shapen in iniquity and
sin did my mother conceive me. David understood, I was born
bad. I was born evil. I was born a sinner, the wicked
are estranged from the womb, David said. They go about as
soon as they be born, speaking lies. David knew that about himself. He understood that he was born
bad. Verse six, behold, thou desires
truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part. Thou shalt
make me to know wisdom. I don't have any doubt. I don't
know whether I've seen it this way before, but I don't have
any doubt that he's talking about the new man, the new nature,
the inner man. You delight, is what the word
desires. It's not like he wants it to
happen. You delight in truth in the inner parts. I need you
to give me truth in the inner part. That's what I need. I need
to, in the hidden part, the hidden man of the heart, that which
nobody else sees but you see, I need you to cause me to know,
make me to know wisdom. He's talking about what needs
to be done on the inside. I need truth on the inner part. It won't
be there unless you do it. And I need to be made to know
wisdom. You know, it's only the new man,
really, that understands the gospel. That which God has implanted
in the new birth. That's what understands. The
old man doesn't understand. But I need you to do something
on the inside. Verse 7, purge me with hyssop. and I shall be clean. Wash me
and I shall be whiter than snow. Purge me with hyssop." Now you
know what hyssop is. Hyssop was the branch that was dipped into
the basin with the blood of the paschal lamb and applied to the
door. And you know what I need the
Lord to do? I need him to apply the blood of his son to me. I
can't apply it to myself. I need him to apply the blood
over my door. And I need him to say, when I
see the blood, I will pass over you. That's what I'm asking the
Lord to do about my sin. Purge me with hyssop. Cause the
blood of thy son to be applied to me. You're the only one that
can do it. And then see me in the son. Pass over me in mercy. And how I love that verse. When
I see the blood, who had to see it? God did. What was he looking
for? Blood. When I see the blood,
I will pass over you. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. I need to be washed so that I'm
whiter than snow." And what that's talking about is that fine linen,
clean and white, being washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So I'm whiter than the snow. Don't you love to look
at the whiteness of the snow when it's first falling, when
you get up in the morning, how white and glistening it is? That's
what I need. I need to be washed by your blood. These are the, who are these
that are arrayed in fine linen? These are they that wash their
robes white in the blood of the Lamb. I need to be washed. Verse eight, make me to hear
joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. You see, I can't hear the gospel
unless you give me ears to hear. Make me to hear. Enable me to
hear. I won't hear, I'll remain as
hard-hearted as ever, unless you make me to hear joy and lightness,
that the bones that thou hast broken may rejoice. Give me ears
to hear. Verse nine, look what he's asking
the Lord to do about his sins. Remember, that's the subject.
What can be done about my sins? Hide thy face from my sins. Don't
look upon them, don't see them. Justification. If you're justified
when God sees you, he doesn't see sin because there's none
there. Hide thy face from my sin. And
he repeats this request again, blot out all my iniquities. Create verse 10. Creating me. A clean heart. Oh, God. My heart is filthy, and I can't
make it clean. And the only way I can have a
clean heart, and the clean heart he's speaking of, is the pure
heart that the Lord speaks of in the Beatitudes. Blessed are
the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Now I can't come up
with this clean, pure heart. I can't produce it. You're going
to have to create it in me. You're going to have to do something
for me. The same act of it's a greater act of creation than
the creation of the universe, because there's no sin working
against it, Matt. Oh, how I need him to give me
a. Creating me a clean heart, oh, God, and renew a right, a
steadfast I'm so unstable, a constant spirit within me. That's what
I need you to do for me about my sin. And cast me not away
from thy presence. David felt like he should be
cast off. He understood why he would be
cast off. And he said, don't do it. I've
got to have the Lord's presence. The worst thing that can happen
to me is for him to leave me to myself. Worst thing. Nothing could be worse than that.
Cast me not away from your presence. And take not thy Holy Spirit
from me. I've grieved the Spirit, I've
quenched the Spirit by my sin, but please, don't take your Holy
Spirit from me. Now remember, somebody says,
well, doesn't David realize that if you're regenerated, the Holy
Spirit will never come and God's elect will persevere all the
way to the end? Sure he realized, that'd be something
about the way he felt. He's talking about what he was experiencing
at that time. And he said, don't take your,
Holy Spirit from me, don't cast me away. Verse 12, restore unto
me the joy of thy salvation. I don't want to manufacture a
false sense of joy. Restore to me the joy of thy
salvation. I don't want to have anything
to do with a joyless religion, do you? Oh, the joy and the peace
of believing. And I don't want to try to manufacture
some kind of joy. I've had people try to convince
me, oh, I've got joy in my life. Well, why are you telling me
about it? Restore to me the joy of thy
salvation. I don't want a joyless religion. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Look at this next statement.
Uphold me with thy free spirit. This is what I need to be done.
What that means, and a better way of translating that really
would be make me willing. Uphold me with a willing, free
spirit. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling, for it's God that works in you, both to
will and to do. His good pleasure, Lord, work
in me both to will and to do. Thy good pleasure make me willing.
Verse 13, then, when all these things are done, then will I
teach transgressors thy ways. I'll tell them about what you
do with regard to sin and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
Verse 14, deliver me from blood guiltiness. Now, what that's
a reference to, two things. Deliver me from the shedding
of blood of Uriah. Oh, don't you know that that
smote his heart? I murdered this special man to cover up my own
sin and I implicated others in being involved in that murder.
I got Joab and I got people involved in my sin. Would you deliver
me from blood guiltiness? But you know, I think it means
even more than that. Deliver me from the sin of the crucifixion
of thy son. Deliver me from that horrible,
wicked thing I did to your son. Deliver me from blood guiltiness,
O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud
of thy righteousness. You see, you understand God is
righteous, and the only way He can forgive your sins is in a
way that honors His righteousness, and that's exactly what the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ did. And when we praise God, we're
singing aloud of His righteousness. Verse 15, O Lord, open thou my
lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. My praise will
not be genuine or sincere or from the heart, unless you open
my mouth. And I want to praise you as I
ought. I love that song. When I see
thee as thou art, I'll praise thee as I ought. Till then I
would thy love proclaim with every fleeting breath. Then he
says in verse 16, for thy desire is not sacrifice. You know, the
blood of a bull or a goat never did anything. All those thousands
of sacrifices, those hundreds of thousands of sacrifices over
the centuries, they never put away one sin. Now, why did God
do that? To let us know about the one
who would put away sin. Now, God never got satisfaction
out of a bunch of animal sacrifices. For thou desirest not sacrifice,
else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt
offerings. The sacrifices of God. Now notice
this real carefully. It doesn't say sacrifices which
God will accept. It says the sacrifices of God. that which comes from him. You
know, everything God requires of you, he provides for you.
He requires a broken heart. You know what? He gives it. The
sacrifices of God that come from him are a broken spirit, a broken
and a contrite heart. Oh God, thou will not despise. Now what does broken mean? It don't work. It's unable to work. It is broken. What do you do
with the stuff that's broken? Throw it away. It's no good. It doesn't work. You keep broken
clocks? No, you throw them away. Now,
the one thing that's at its best state when broken is the heart. A broken heart, oh God, thou
wilt not despise. Somebody that comes into his
presence with a broken heart, can't work, no good. Broken, crushed, shivered to
pieces, it's no good. That heart God will not despise. You see, he's the one who broke
it, and he's the one who's pleased with this broken heart and contrite
spirit. To him that worketh not, to him that's broken, Same thing. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Verse 18, do good in thy good
pleasure unto Zion. Now, whenever you see Zion, that's
another word for Jerusalem. It represents God's people. And
I need him to do good in his good pleasure to Zion and to
me. I'm just a little part of that
Zion. Every believer's in Zion, but I need for him to do good
according to his good pleasure. In other words, his sovereign
will, I need him to will to do good to me simply because he
wills it. I need that. And that's what I ask him to
do. Lord, do good to me according to thy good pleasure. Simply
will my salvation. Give commandment concerning my
salvation as an act of your sovereign will. Do good in thy good pleasure
and design. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
I need him to build walls around me, walls of grace, walls of
his protection, walls of his providence, walls of his mercy
and love. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
He's the one that's gotta build the walls. Any walls I build,
they're gonna come tumbling down real quick, but if he builds
them, oh, how safe we are. Verse 19, then. Then, after you've
done good, after you've built the walls, after you've provided
this broken heart, after you've put away sin, after you've done
all those things, then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices
of righteousness. With burnt offering and whole
burnt offerings, then shall they offer book upon thine altar. I need him to be with the I need
him to be pleased with the sacrifice of Christ and therefore pleased
with me. Now that is what I need to be
done with regard to my sin. I need the Lord to do these things.
And you go back and read this psalm again and you look at these
19 or 20 things that David actually asked the Lord to do for him. What a precious psalm and it's
more glorious. I tell you what, I tell you what
is glorious is when your sin is inglorious and hateful and
vile. And I think of how David must
have felt. Now, here's the deal. While. I have not outwardly. Physically committed murder. I have not physically committed
adultery. I'm guilty of both those things
just as much as David was. And I have tried to cover my
sin. I have abused God's grace. I have abused great privilege. I have implicated others in my
sin, just like David did. And I will tell you, that's such
a severe... Can you imagine how you felt if you had committed
this cold-blooded, premeditated murder of sexual sin, cover up,
trying to bring other people into your sin, becoming so hard-hearted
about it, then all of a sudden you find out through that story
that Nathan told David, thou art the man. You know, really, we ought to
be in Psalm 51 all the time. All the time. What can be done
about my sin? Well, Psalm 51 tells us, and
what we're getting ready to do now tells us. We're going to
observe the Lord's table together, and it's about the broken body
and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. What did he accomplish? We're celebrating when we do
this. Don't look down and think, oh, well, think that if you want.
But think of what he accomplished. He made it to where you're seeing
it. He made it to where if you're
a believer, you're not even going to remember what it's like to
be a sinner. When you're in glory, you won't even remember what
it's like to be a sinner. What a blessed thought. Who should
take the Lord's table? Anyone who believes the gospel.
That's the only requirement, believing the gospel. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for this
psalm. Lord, how we thank you that you've
recorded these things in your word so plainly. And honestly, Lord, what can
you do but be honest? You're God, you can't lie. And
Lord, you expose us through exposing these men from the scripture. And we're thankful for the honesty
of the scripture. And Lord, we ask that you would
do for us what David asked you to do for him. Now bless this
Time, as we observe Thy table, enable us to do this in remembrance
of Thee. Bless us for Christ's sake, in
His name we pray.