I did. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Niver. I'm going to be speaking this
morning from the 51st Psalm. It's what's known as David's
Psalm of Repentance. In the title of the psalm, we
read to the chief musician, a Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet
came unto him after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Now this is
David's Psalm of Repentance, and I've entitled this message,
the ingredients of repentance. David had committed a great sin. There are no little sins and
there are great sins. He had seen Bathsheba bathing
upon the rooftop when he should have been out with his armies.
He was guilty of a horrible abuse of power when he called her in
and committed adultery with her, and she became pregnant with
his child. And he had her husband murdered
to cover it all up. And he stayed in an unrepentant,
hardened state for well over a year. Bathsheba had gone through
the full term of her pregnancy, and they had had a child. And
he practiced amazing hypocrisy when Nathan, God sent Nathan
to him to confront him. Now I'd like to read what Nathan
had to say to David in 2 Samuel chapter 12. This is after the
Lord sent Nathan the prophet to David after he'd committed
this sin and remained in this hardened state. 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. 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 as
was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveler unto
the rich man, and he spared to take of his flock and of his
own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but
took the poor man's lamb." How horrible. And dressed it
for the man that was come to him. David heard this, 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. Oh, he could clearly see the
evil and the wickedness of this man. There wasn't any doubt about
it. He even wanted him to be killed. Verse 6, And 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. You're the one that I have described. And we read in verse 13 of this
same chapter, And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against
the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The
Lord also hath put away thy sin. Thou shalt not die, And upon
that occasion, David went out and wrote the 51st Psalm, this
psalm of repentance. Now we can see why David was
so distressed when we consider the enormity of his sin, adultery,
murder, hypocrisy, and abuse of power. How would you feel
if you were guilty of those very crimes that David was guilty
of? My dear friend, if we do not see ourselves right now as
bad as David, we demonstrate profound ignorance of the character
of God and we present and we show profound ignorance of our
own character. If we don't see ourselves right
now, present tense, as bad as David was. I've entitled this
message, as I've already said, The Ingredients of Repentance. Repentance means a change of
mind. You do not think the way you
formerly Believe something. Your mind has been changed. You
changed your mind. You used to think something,
and you don't think it anymore. You used to not believe something,
and now you believe it. Repentance, a change of mind.
Now, repentance is a change of mind regarding God. It's a change
of mind regarding self. It's a change of mind regarding
sin. And it's a change of mind regarding
salvation. Now when someone repents there
is an acknowledgment of sin. Where this acknowledgement of
sin is, there's an understanding of what that sin is. And when
there's an understanding of what my sin is, there's also an understanding
of what I need to be done for me with regard to my sin. And
all three of those things are seen in David's Psalm of Repentance. Now, in Psalm 51, verse one,
he said, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving
kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies,
blot out my transgression, wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions. There's the acknowledgement of
sin. He'd gone a year in a hardened state and never acknowledged
his sin, but now he says, I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin
is ever before me. Now, David had committed these
horrible crimes and business as usual. Bathsheba had gone
through the full term of her pregnancy. and there had been
no acknowledgment of his guilt. David had not faced the facts
with regard to his sin. He lied to himself. He remained in a hardened and
unrepentant state. He could clearly see the sin
in others. He demonstrated that by his response to Nathan when
Nathan told him about the rich man that took the poor man's
little lamb. He clearly saw the sin in others
but he did not see it in himself. He was blind to his own sin and
the Lord confronts him and he acknowledges his sin. Now we acknowledge our sin. when
we look on it in an honest manner, when we're honest before God
with regard to our sin. The songwriter put it this way,
the hymn writer, he said, just and holy is thy name, I am all
unrighteousness, false and full of sin I am, Thou art full of
truth and grace. Now he acknowledges his sin. And when we acknowledge our sin,
we see it in its threefold character. Now you'll notice in this verse
as I read, there are three words that are used, sin, transgression,
and iniquity. Transgression, it means rebellion. Rebellion. Crossing the line. Rebellion. David said there was
rebellion in my sin. Iniquity. That means perversity. Crookedness. There was a crookedness
and a perversity in my sin. Sin is missing the mark. I miss the mark of what I ought
to do. There's a confession of what
your sin actually is. And if I don't see it that way,
I'm either blind or I'm lying to myself. The iniquity of my
sin, the transgression of my sin, it's rebellion, it's crooked,
it's missing the mark. And when I acknowledge my sin,
I see that my sin is against God. Look what he says in verse
four, against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil
in thy sight. that thou mightest be justified
when you speak, and be clear when you judge. When I truly
acknowledge my sin, I see that my sin is against God." Now somebody
says, well, didn't he sin against Bathsheba? Certainly. He certainly
sinned against Uriah. He had him murdered. But when
all you see is that your sin is against man, you'll feel remorse. but it will not be true repentance.
True repentance is when you see that your sin is against God. Against thee, David said, and
thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. The prodigal,
when he returned to his father, he said, I'll arise and say to
my father, I've sinned against heaven and in thy sight. He saw
his sin was against God, I'm no more worthy to be called thy
son. And David saw that his sin was
all his fault. Look what he says in verse 4.
Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when you speak. and be clear when you judge. My sin is all my fault and God
would be justified, David said, and clear in sending me to hell
and not giving me any mercy at all if he just left me to myself
and let me be judged for my sin. Whatever he does is right because
my sin is my fault and whatever God does is right. The gospel. Men, when they hear the gospel
of God's sovereign grace, I've seen this so much, and by sovereign
grace, I'm talking about that message that says that God is
sovereign in salvation. Not man. God is sovereign in
salvation. If I'm saved, it's because he
saved me. Salvation is of the Lord. If I'm saved, it's because
God elected me before time began to be saved. If I'm saved, it's
because Jesus Christ the Lord paid for my sins and gave me
His righteousness. If I'm saved, it's because God
the Holy Spirit gave me life. He regenerated me. He birthed
me from above and gave me the grace to see my sin and to see
my need of Christ and my need of the Lord. And that's God's
work. If I'm left to myself, I will
not be saved. Now, men hear that message and
they say, well, how could that be fair? How could it be fair
for God to elect some and not elect everybody? How could it
be fair for Christ to only die for the elect and not die for
everybody? How could it be fair for God
the Holy Spirit to only call the elect and not call everybody?
Now if that's my response to sovereign grace, that's not fair. I prove by that I do not really
see my guilt before God, because if I really saw my guilt before
God and my sin before God, and if I really saw that sin was
all my fault, I would really believe that if God saved everybody
but me, if Christ died for everybody but me, if God the Holy Spirit
called everybody but me, just and holy is His name. He's clear and right in whatever
He does with me. Now, that's what happens when
someone truly acknowledges their sin before God. They justify
God in all that He does. Now, there are two kinds of people
in this world. They're those who sit in judgment of God and
those who justify Him in whatever He does. Oh, may I be one who
justifies God. He said, whatever you do, you're
clear when you speak and you're justified when you judge. Now,
when David acknowledged his guilt, let's take it even further, he
understood the reason behind his sin. He says in verse 5,
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. David said, I was born bad. I was born evil. When I left my mother's womb,
a sinner came out. I was born evil. Now you may not have yet understood
how you got this evil nature, but you know you have it. If
you acknowledge your sin before God, you know you have an evil
nature. And you don't become a sinner
when you sin. You sin because you're already
a sinner. David said, behold, I was shapen
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Now, everybody
that's born into this world is born with Adam's fallen nature,
Adam's sinful nature. And David saw this with regard
to himself, and that's why he said, my sin is ever before me.
He understood something about the sinfulness of His nature.
Now this is what happens when we acknowledge sin. We face the
facts with regard to our sin. We don't try to hide it. We acknowledge
it. And we see it in its moral perversity
and its rebellion. We see that God is just in whatever
He does. And we see that the reason behind
our sin is a sinful nature. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity
and sin did my mother conceive me. Now, when you acknowledge
your sin like this, it's because all of a sudden you have some
understanding of sin. God has given you this understanding. If you repent before God, if
you acknowledge your sin like this, it's because the Lord has
taught you. You wouldn't do this unless He enabled you to do it. And now you have some understanding
of sin. David understood his sin when
he said, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness.
I can't find a reason in me as to why you would have mercy.
Have mercy according to thy lovingkindness. He said, blot out my iniquities
and my transgressions. Blot them out. There's nothing
I can do to remove them. I need you to blot them out because
there's nothing I can do to cause them to not be. He says in verse
2, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from
my sin. I understand I'm filthy. Filthy by my sin and I need to
be cleaned and cleansed and I can't cleanse myself There's not one
thing I can do to cleanse myself. He says in verse 3 I acknowledge
my transgressions and my sin is ever before me It's always
there and I can't get rid of it. He understood that his sin
was against God He understood that he was born a sinner. He
says in verse 6 behold thou desires truth in the inward parts My
problem is on the inside, and that's where I need truth. My
problem is on the inside. The stuff that happens on the
outside is because of what is going on on the inside. And I
know that you desire truth in the inward part, and in the hidden
part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. I need him to make me
to know. I can't even know wisdom. I can't
even know the truth unless he is pleased to make himself know.
He says in verse 7, Purge me with hyssop. Now, hyssop was
what was used to dip into the blood and put over the door for
the paschal lamb. You would take a branch of hyssop,
dip it in the blood, and put it over the lintel of the door.
David says, purge me with hyssop. Cleanse me. That word purge means
make me not guilty. make me guiltless and blameless.
And that's what the blood of Christ does. Do you remember
what God said regarding the blood of the Paschal Lamb? If you're
in a house with the blood over the door, God said, when I see
the blood, I will pass over you. David knew his only hope was
the blood of the Paschal Lamb cleansing him. So he says, purge
me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be
whiter than snow." See, he knows there's nothing he can do to
make himself clean, but he's asking the Lord to do it through
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 8, make me to
hear joy. Make me, I can't even hear unless
you give me the grace to hear. Make me to hear joy and gladness. Enable me to hear your gospel.
Enable me to hear it as the good news, not just as something I
agree with or don't agree with, but something that is good news
to me. It comes as joy and gladness to know that my sin has been
put away. Make me to hear joy and gladness
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. He says in
verse 9, hide thy face from my sins. and blot out all mine iniquities. Oh, David says, I don't want
you to see my sin. I want it to be something that's
not there. And the only way God can not see them is if they're
put away and washed away and they're no longer. He said, hide
thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities, erase
them, cause them to be rubbed out, cause them to wither no
more. And beloved, that's what the
blood of Christ does. Sin is the transgression of the
law. That's what sin is. Sin is what
David did. But in him, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, is no sin. If I'm in Christ, if Christ died
for me, that means all my sins were blotted out. They were erased
out. They're purged. And that's what David is asking
for. He says, my sin, it's ever before me. Oh, don't let it be
before you. Hide your face from my sins and blot out my iniquities
through the blood of your son. He says in verse 10, Create in
me a clean heart, oh God. You see, my heart is evil. My heart is filthy. My heart
is no good and there's no point in me trying to change it. It's
beyond repair. Here's what I need you to do.
I need you to create in me a clean heart. one that was not there
before. It's the mighty work of God.
I need you to put something there that was not there before, a
clean heart that loves you, that trusts you, that hates sin, that
rests in thy Son. Create in me this clean heart,
O God, and renew a right spirit within me, or a steadfast spirit,
One that's stable as opposed to unstable. I'm so unstable. Oh, renew a right spirit within
me. And then he said in verse 11,
cast me not away from thy presence. David felt as if he deserved
to be cast away from the very presence of God. And he knew
that he must have his presence. The worst thing that could ever
happen to me is for me to be left to myself. for God to remove
his hand from me and leave me alone." So he says, don't do
that Lord, don't cast me away from your presence and don't
take your Holy Spirit from me. David knew he needed God the
Holy Spirit. I need the Holy Spirit to enable
me to believe. I need the Holy Spirit to enable
me to repent. I need the Holy Spirit to enable me to love.
I need the Holy Spirit for all things, the Spirit of Christ.
So he says, don't take your Holy Spirit from me. In verse 12,
he says, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. What a joyous thing it is to
hear God say to your heart, I am thy salvation. David had lost
that. David had been in an unrepentant
state. Now David says, restore, bring back to me the joy. Oh,
the scripture speaks of the joy and the peace of believing. The
kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, Christ's
righteousness, peace, the peace that comes from being found in
Him and joy in the Holy Ghost. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. And then he says, and uphold
me. with thy free spirit." Now, in the King James Version, if
you're looking, you'll notice the with thy is in italics. That
means the translators put it there, but it wasn't in the original.
That's why I love the King James Version. It's honest. If it's
putting something that's not in the original, it always puts
it in italics, so you can know that. And this could just as
easily be translated, uphold me with a free spirit. Cause me to have a willing spirit. I'll fall if you don't cause
me to be willing." That's what David said, make me willing both
Do thy good pleasure. It's God that worketh in you
both to will and to do his good pleasure. Lord, work in me both
to will and to do thy good pleasure. Lord, make me willing. You know,
anybody that's a believer knows the very notion of free will
is ridiculous. Oh, I need him to cause me to
be willing. And then David says, then will
I teach transgressors thy ways, not my ways, but thy ways, and
sinners shall be converted unto thee. He says in verse 14, deliver
me. from blood guiltiness, O God,
thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of
thy righteousness. Blood guiltiness, sin that deserves
death, murdering the Son of God, that's
blood guiltiness. And everybody is guilty of that. I might not have been there,
but in Adam, I did it. Deliver me from blood guiltiness. I need delivered from that. Oh
God, thou God of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud
of thy righteousness. Oh, if you deliver me from blood
guiltiness, how your righteousness is exalted because that blood
guiltiness was punished in your son. Your righteousness is seen
in the cross, and His righteousness is given to me. And I'll sing
aloud of Thy righteousness, not human righteousness, not man's
righteousness, but I'll sing aloud of Thy righteousness. Verse 15, O Lord, open thou my
lips, and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise. I realize that
my praise is no good, and I need Him to open my lips so I can
show forth true praise to Him. For thou desirest not sacrifice,
David says, else would I give it. David was a wealthy man.
He had plenty of money and he could have offered many, many
sacrifices, animal sacrifices, in obedience to the Old Testament
law. But he knew that that's not what satisfied God. Those
were given just to picture something. He knew those actually gave no
satisfaction to God. For thou desirest not sacrifice,
else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt
offering. The sacrifices of God, that which God accepts, the sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise. A broken heart. Now, what good's
a broken heart? What is a broken heart? God says
He won't despise it. What do we do with things that
are broken? We throw them away. They're no good. A broken heart before God
is a heart that is beyond repair, broken, crushed to shivers. A contrite spirit is collapsed
mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, but the scripture says the sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, broken
over sin. O God, thou wilt not despise. Then David says, Do good in thy
good pleasure unto Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Now here's what I need. I need
God to do His good pleasure. I need Him to be pleased to deliver
me. I need him to save me as an act
of his almighty will. I need him to will my salvation. I understand exactly what that
leper meant when he came into the Lord's presence and he said,
Lord, if you will, You can make me clean. He understood that
he couldn't make himself clean. He understood that the Lord could
make him clean. And he understood he was totally
dependent upon the will of the Lord, not his only will, his
own will. He wouldn't have dared said,
Lord, I will that you make me clean. He said, Lord, if you
will, oh, let it be your pleasure to make me clean. And everyone
who says that, Everyone who comes in to the Lord's presence just
like that leper did just like David did he says I will be thou
clean. Oh may God give us grace to acknowledge
our sin, to understand our sin, and understand our need with
regard to our sin as it's seen in Psalm 51. Now we have this
message on DVD or CD. If you call the church or write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Kniper, praying
that God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's
our prayer. To request a copy of the sermon you have just heard,
send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
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