I'd like you to turn to Psalm
51, and when you find it, put your finger there, and then turn
to 2 Samuel 12. Tonight, I'm going to be preaching
from Matthew 5 on the practice of grace. The practice of grace. I've entitled the message for
this morning. The ingredients. Of repentance. The ingredients. Of repentance. Now Psalm 51 is what is known
as David's Psalm of repentance. And in the title in my Bible,
it says to the chief musician of Psalm of David, when Nathan
the prophet came unto him after he had gone into Bathsheba. David had committed a great sin. There are no little sins. And there are great sins. David, when he should have been
out fighting his battles, was on a rooftop and he saw Bathsheba
bathing. And in a horrible abuse of power,
he had her brought to him and committed adultery with her.
This is David. The man after God's own heart.
And she became with child from him. And in order to have this
covered up, he had her husband, Uriah, a fine, loyal man, a servant
of David. He had him murdered in cold blood
to cover up his sin. After committing this horrible
sin, he stayed in an unrepentant and hardened state for over a
year. During this time, the baby was
born and he still stayed in this hardened state and practiced
amazing hypocrisy. Look in 2 Samuel chapter 12,
this is when Nathan comes into him. And the Lord sent Nathan unto
David. Aren't you glad the Lord sends
his word to you? 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
Yulan, 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 and of
his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that was coming
to him. But he took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for
the man that was come to him. And David's anger was greatly
kindled against the man. You see, even when our heart
is hardened toward our own sin, we can see clearly the sin in
others. And David saw exactly what this
man was guilty of. Verse five, and David's anger
was greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan, as
the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely
die. Look how mad he was. Who would
commit such an atrocious crime? 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. Here's David's confession 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. Thou shalt not die. And upon
that occasion, he wrote Psalm 51. Now we can see why David was
so distressed when we consider the enormity of his sin. He committed adultery. Not just
in his heart, but actually he committed cold-blooded murder.
He practiced amazing hypocrisy. And can you see how you would
feel under those circumstances? But beloved, if we, if you and
I don't see ourselves as sinful as David right now, we only demonstrate
profound ignorance of the character of God and profound ignorance
of our own character. The ingredients of repentance. The word repentance means a change
of mind. You think differently. There's
something you think and you don't think it anymore. You think something
that you didn't think. Your mind has been changed. That's what repentance is, a
change of mind. It's a change of mind concerning
God. It's a change of mind concerning
yourself. It's a change of mind concerning
sin. And it's a change of mind concerning
salvation. Now in David's psalm of repentance,
we have three things. We have the acknowledgement of
sin. This is what repentance is. It's the acknowledgement of sin.
And with that acknowledgement of sin, there is an understanding
of sin. And with that understanding of
sin, there is an understanding of the great need that I have
with regard to that sin. Acknowledgement, understanding,
and need. Now David had committed these
horrible crimes and business as usual. He remained in a hardened
and an unrepentant state. Bathsheba had gone through the
full term of her pregnancy and had a child and there was no
acknowledgment of guilt. This is David. This is the man
after God's own heart. Yet there's no acknowledgement
of guilt. Now, can a believer do that way?
Of course they can. David did. You and I can certainly
be that way apart from God's grace. David could clearly see
the sin in others. He wanted that man put to death
who had done that to that man's pet lamb, but he was blind to
his own sin. But now the Lord confronts him
through the prophet Nathan. And he makes this confession
and this acknowledgement of sin. Now in Psalm 51 verse one, he
says, have mercy upon me. Oh God, according to thy loving
kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies,
blot out my transgressions, wash me, throughly or thoroughly from
mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge
my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Now we acknowledge our sin when
we look at it in an honest manner. I love what the songwriter 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. We acknowledge our sin. when
we deal honestly with our sin and we see it in its threefold
character. Now you've noticed that David
used three words with regard to sin. He talked about sin,
he talked about transgression, and he talked about iniquity.
Those three words to describe his sin. Now transgression means
rebellion. My sin. is rebellion against
God. Iniquity means crookedness and
perversity. There is a crookedness and there's
a perversity about my personal sin against God. And sin means
missing the mark. I've missed the mark. That's what's involved in my
sin. And if I don't see it that way, one of two things are true
of me. I'm either blind or I'm lying
to myself. Now that's the case with regard
to my personal sin against God. It's rebellion. It's perversity. And it's missing the mark. Now
look what he says in verse four. He says, against thee, thee only
have I sinned. Now I would think that he sinned
against Bathsheba. I certainly think he sinned against Uriah.
But what does he say? Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. I see my sin is against God. Now, as long as my sin's against
men and only against men, I'm gonna feel remorse. You know,
every one of us feel remorse over our sin. I wish I didn't
do this because look at the problems it's brought me. Look at the
problems it's brought others. I regret it. I feel remorse.
Everybody feels remorse over their sin against men and their
personal sin. Everybody in the world feels
remorse, but nobody feels repentance. Nobody experiences repentance,
this change of mind until they see their sin is against God. What the particles say, I've
sinned against heaven and in thy sight. and am no more worthy
to be called thy son, make me as one of thy hired servants. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight." Look in verse four.
He acknowledged his transgressions. He saw sin for what it was and
its perversity and rebellion. He saw his sin was against God. And then he says 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. Now at this time, David says,
my sin is my fault. It's all my fault. And you're justified in any judgment
you bring against me. And you're absolutely clear when
you judge because all my sin is all my fault. And whatever you do with me is
right. When men argue with the fairness
of sovereign grace, Now what do I mean by sovereign grace?
Grace that's sovereign. God is sovereign in the dispensation
of his grace. According to the scriptures,
listen real carefully. According to the scriptures, God chose
who would be saved before time began and saved they must be
because God chose them. He didn't choose everybody. He
chose the elect, those he elected before time began. Christ came
and lived for the elect and died for the elect and accomplished
their salvation. He didn't die for all men without
exception. He died for the elect. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. God, the Holy Spirit comes and gives them life. That's called sovereign grace.
Now man's response is that's not fair. How could it be fair
for God to choose some and not choose everybody? How could it
be fair for Christ to die for some and not die for everybody?
How could it be fair for God, the Holy Spirit, to call some
and give life to some and not give life to everybody? How could
that be fair? Now, if that's my response to
God's sovereign grace. All I prove by that is I've never
seen myself as guilty before God the way David did. That's
it. David knew that if God elected
everybody but him, David knew that if Christ died for everybody
but him, David knew that if God the Holy Spirit called everybody
but him and he let him sin, go to hell, David would have to
say, just, righteous, and holy is thy name. Now that's the believer's
response to grace. You're clear when you speak.
You're justified when you judge. See, there's two kinds of people
in this world. Those who sit in judgment of God and those
who justify. Those who criticize him, those
who judge him for what he does, those who disagree with him,
those who think this is not right, this is not fair, those who judge
him. I think of what Paul, when he
said, nay, but who are you, old man, to reply against God? Who
are you to sit in judgment on God? But that's what we have.
We have men who just judge God, and we have men who justify God,
who say whatever he does is right. acknowledged God's justice. And David saw, as every believer
sees when they repent, the reason behind their actions. Now, David
says, why did I do this? I did it. There's no question
about it. But why? How could I do such a horrible
thing? Because it is a horrible thing. How can you and I do the
horrible things we do? What's behind that? Look what
he says in verse five. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin my mother did conceive me. David said, I was born bad. I was born with an evil nature. You may not have understood how
you got this nature, but you know you got it. You know it. You don't become a sinner when
you sin. You sin because you're a sinner. You were born. I was born with
an evil nature. And if I don't see that it's
because I'm blind. or being dishonest. That's why
David said, my sin is ever before me. Did you notice how he said
that in verse three? For I acknowledge my transgressions
and my sin is ever before me. I might try to get it to where
I can't see it, but it always comes back up. There it is. My
sin, my iniquity, my transgression is ever before me. Now this is the acknowledgement
of sin. This is the first ingredient
of true repentance. I acknowledge, I acknowledge
my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Now, when
you acknowledge your sin, you have some understanding of sin. When you acknowledge it, Now,
if you don't understand it, you'll never acknowledge it because
you can't acknowledge what you don't understand, what you haven't
experienced, what you don't really believe before God. But when
you have some understanding of sin, that's when you acknowledge
it. Now, look what David says in verse one of Psalm 51. Here's what happens when we have
an understanding of sin. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to how sorry I am. According to how I promise I'll
never do it again. According to how I promise I'm
going to straighten up and fly right and turn over a new leaf
and start acting better. He doesn't say anything like
that, does he? He says, have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy loving kindness. I can't find a reason in me as
to why you'd have mercy. But according unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. When I understand
sin, I understand that God's reason for mercy is not found
in me. It can only be found in Him. And I understand that I'm filthy
and I need to be washed and cleansed. He says in verse two, wash me. I'm filthy. Wash me from my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin. He says in verse three, for I
acknowledge my transgressions and my sin. It's ever before
me. I can't get rid of it. I can't
do anything about it. I can't make it disappear. I
can't make it go away. It's ever before me. I can't
do anything about it. Now that's what I do when I truly
repent of my sin before God and when I practice repentance before
God, I understand my sin. It's ever before me and there's
nothing that I can do about it. I understand that sin is against
God. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that you might be
justified when you speak and clear when you judge. When you
repent, you know that whatever God does is just, right, holy,
and true. You justify God in all that he
does. You take sides with God against
yourself. That's what repentance is. You take sides with God against
yourself and you say, whatever God says is right. Whatever God
does is right. And when you understand sin,
you understand this. Behold, I was shaped in verse
five in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. I understand
that I was born with an evil nature. Now, the only way you
can understand that is if God reveals it to you. And if he
does a work of grace in your heart, but if he does a work
of grace in your heart, you're going to understand this thing
of total depravity. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity
and in sin did my mother conceive me. Verse six, behold, thou desires
truth on the inside. in the inward
parts and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. You understand that the problem
is on the inside and you understand your need of revelation. You
need him to make you to know wisdom. You understand that when
you understand sin. He says in verse seven, purge
me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be
whiter than snow I'm unclean and I need to be purged. I need
my sin to be purged away and I need to be cleansed. He says
in verse 8, make me to hear joy. You know, when you understand
sin, you understand you can't hear. You can't even hear the gospel.
You can hear it audibly, but you can't hear it in your heart.
You can't hear it spiritually. You can't hear it powerfully.
unless God gives you ears to hear. You can't even hear the
gospel. And you say, make me to hear.
I can't hear. Make me to hear joy and gladness
that the bones which thou has broken. may rejoice. Verse nine,
he said, hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities. I understand there's nothing
that I can do to remove it. So I ask the Lord, Lord, don't
look at him. Hide your face from him. Blot
him out. Erase him so there are no more. That's the only thing that can
give me any hope is if there are no more. Now you understand
that when you understand sin, this is what you're asking for.
Lord, don't look at my sin. Don't look at it. Don't see it.
Blot it out. Make it to where it's no more.
You have this understanding. Look what David says in verse
10. He says, Create in me a clean heart, O God. and renew a right
spirit within me, I understand I have an unclean heart that
I cannot change. And I know the only hope I have
is for God to create in me a heart that was not there before. Lord,
create in me this clean heart. Mine's filthy and I need a new
one and renew a right or a stable or a constant spirit within me.
I'm so unstable because of my sin. Unstable, ready to explode. Give me this right spirit. Verse 11. This is what you understand
when you understand something about sin. You say, cast me not
away from thy presence. I deserve to be cast away, and
I understand that if I don't have His presence, I don't have
anything. I must have His presence. The worst thing that could happen
to me is for me to be left to myself. That's what I fear more
than anything else, for the Lord to just withdraw Himself from
me and leave me to myself. So cast me not away from Thy
presence. I know I deserve it. Please don't
do it, and don't take your Holy Spirit from me. I realize that
it's over for me if I don't have your Holy Spirit to give me faith,
to give me repentance. Cast me not away. Verse 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. You know, when we know anything
about salvation, we know it's His salvation, don't we? Thy
salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. Restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. And notice it says that with
thy is in italics. Uphold me with a willing spirit. I understand that I need to be
made willing. And I say, Lord, make me willing. Make me both to will and to do
thy good pleasure. I understand my need of him actually
making me to be willing. That's how bad I need him. I
can't even be willing unless he makes me willing. I face that
and I say, Lord, uphold me with this willing spirit, willing
to be saved by you in a way that gives you all the glory. Verse 13. Then will I teach transgressors
thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. When you
do these things for me, I'll teach thy ways, not my ways,
but thy ways. Then he says in verse 14, deliver
me from blood guiltiness. My sin deserves my blood. It deserves death. It deserves
eternal death. Deliver me from blood guiltiness,
O God, thou God of my salvation. And my tongue shall sing aloud
of thy righteousness. I need your righteousness to
deliver me. That's the only way I can be delivered from blood
guiltiness. And you deliver me from it, I'll be singing of thy
righteousness. Thy righteousness is the only righteousness in
salvation. Now, somebody says, I can see where David felt this
way. I mean, look what he did. I mean, murdered. Have you, when's
the last time you physically murdered somebody? He committed
adultery. I can see where he felt that
way. My dear friends, you and I feel the same way. Same way. If you know anything
about your heart, if you know anything about what's inside
of you, If you've had true repentance regarding God and your sin, you'll
feel this way about yourself. And this Psalm 51 will not be
something that's needed when you commit some kind of great
sin. It's where you live. It's where you live. Deliver
me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and
my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. Verse 15,
O Lord, here's what you understand. Lord, open thou my lips. I'm
not even qualified to say anything. My words are unclean. You open my lips so that it's
you causing me to say these things. O Lord, open thou my lips and
my mouth shall show forth thy praise. for that desirous not sacrifice. You know, David was a very wealthy
man and he could, he could bring all the sacrifices money could
imagine. He could have had thousands of
sacrifices and thousands, and he could have had everything.
The law prescribed he, he had the funds for it, but look what
he says. Thou desirous not sacrifice else would I give it. Thou delight
us not in a burnt offering. just the physical burning of
animals. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. Oh God, thou will not despise. What is a broken heart? It's a heart that's beyond repair. Broken to shivers. No good. What do you do with things that
are broken? You throw them away. They're
useless. A broken heart and a contrite
spirit collapsed mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. A contrite,
collapsed spirit. O God, thou wilt not despise,
wilt not disesteem. Why? Because he delights in mercy. Do good in thy good pleasure
unto Zion, verse 18. Build thou 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. Now in true repentance, the first
ingredient is an acknowledgement of my sin. Facing the facts,
being honest before God with regard to my sin. And secondly, when there's this
acknowledgement of sin, there is a true understanding of what
sin is. And when there's a true understanding
of what sin is, There is an understanding of what it is that I need. Now, this is the third ingredient
in true repentance. This is what I need. Back to verse one. In light of my sin, here is what
I need. Have mercy. upon me, oh God. And that's what I need. Have
mercy upon me, oh God. According to thy loving kindness,
according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out
my transgression. I need mercy. I don't need God
to give me what I deserve. I know where that'll lead. I
need mercy. And the only time I ever really
ask for mercy is when I'm confessing that all my sin is all my fault. And what I need is mercy. And then he says in verse one,
blot out my transgressions. I need my sins removed. That's what the word means, erased.
blotted out so they're not there anymore. That's what I need.
I need the Lord himself to blot out and remove and make my sin
to be gone. And the only way it'll be gone
is if he blots it out. He says in verse two, wash me
all the way through from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. This sin that's ever before me,
I need washed, I need cleansed. Now, this word cleanse. It means
make me blameless and innocent. That's what I need. I need to
be made blameless and innocent. Now, how can that be? We'll look
down in verse seven for just a second. It says, purge me with
hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. Now, you know, hyssop is the
branch that was used to dip into the blood of the Passover lamb.
Purge me with hyssop. But that word purge, I don't
think I knew this until I prepared this message. That word purge,
purge me with hyssop, is the same word Judah used in Genesis
chapter 43 verse 9 when he said to his father, send the lad with
me and we will arise and go and I will be surety for him of my
hand. Shalt thou require of him if
I bring him not to thee and set him before thee, let me bear
the blame forever. That word bear the blame is the
same word as purged. Oh Lord, bear the blame of my
sin so I won't have to. That's what he's asking. I'm
not saying that my sin should just be put under the cover.
Oh Lord, as my great saving substitute, bear the blame of my sin so that
it might be purged and cleansed and washed away. He says in verse six, behold,
Thou desires truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part
thou shall make me to know wisdom, the wisdom of how God can save
me. I need revelation. I need him to make me to know
right now. That's exactly what I need. I
need him to make me to know wisdom. The wisdom of how God can be
just and justify the ungodly. Christ, the very wisdom of God. I need Him to make me know this
true wisdom. I don't want to just give assent
to some facts. I want to truly know wisdom. And the only way I'll know wisdom
is for Him to make me to know wisdom. He says in verse 7, Purge
me with His and I shall be clean. Wash me. This is what I need.
And I shall be whiter than snow. He's referring to the Passover.
Remember when the Lord said, when I see the blood, I will
pass over you. David said, that's what I need.
I need you to see the blood and to pass over me in mercy and
grace. He says in verse eight, Here's
what I need. I need you to make me to hear. Isn't it awful when you hear
the gospel and you know you're not hearing? The gospel is being
preached and your heart is remaining dead and unmoved and you can't
hear and you know you can't hear and you cry, Lord, make me to
hear. I can't even hear the gospel
unless you make me to hear. Make me to hear joy and gladness. that the bones which thou has
broken may rejoice. Verse nine, here's what I need.
I need you to hide your face from my sins and blot out, erase
all my iniquities. I need him to not see my sin.
I need him to actually see me as without sin. And that's what
justification is, isn't it? Justified. without sin. That's what I need. I need him
to blot out my iniquities, to hide thy face. Verse 10, here's
what I need him to do. I need for him to create in me
a clean heart. And I need him to renew this
right, this steadfast spirit within me. I need him not to
cast, I need for him to not cast me away from his presence. And I need Him to not take His
Holy Spirit from me, because if He does cast me away from
His presence, if He takes His Spirit from me, it's over for
me. I need. I need Him in verse 12 to restore
unto me the joy of His salvation. And I need Him to uphold me,
to give me this willing spirit. That's when I'll have to preach
transgressors His ways. Verse 13, and sinners shall be
converted to Thee. Here's what I need. I need Him
to deliver me, to save me, deliver me from blood guiltiness. Sin
that deserves death, O God, Thou God of my salvation, and my tongue
shall sing aloud. of thy righteousness." I'll be
talking about thy righteousness as being the only righteousness.
And the only reason that I'm delivered from blood guiltiness
is because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ being given to
me and being my righteousness. Verse 15, here's what I need.
Oh Lord, open now my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy
praise. For thou desire's not sacrifice, else I'd give it. Thou delight us not in burnt
offering, the sacrifices of God. Here's what I need. I need a
broken spirit. I can't break my spirit, only
he can. I want this broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. Oh God, thou will not despise. That's what I need. I need, in
verse 18, for him to do good in his good pleasure unto Zion.
I need for him to build the walls of Jerusalem. In other words,
I need his good pleasure to be done. That's what I need. David said whatsoever the Lord
pleased that did he. I need the Lord to do his good
pleasure for me. Now, his good pleasure. I think
of so many different scriptures that talks about the pleasure
of the Lord. It pleased the Lord. Samuel said to make you his people. I needed to please the Lord to
make me one of his people. I need that. Scripture says it pleased the
Lord to bruise Him, to crush Him. I need Him to do that for
me. I need Christ to be my substitute
that the Lord was pleased to bruise Him instead of me. It pleased the Lord by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. The foolishness of what's
going on right now. Lord, be pleased to save me. Let me be one of those whom you
saved. I think of what David said in
Psalm 40. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. Lord, make it your good pleasure
to deliver me. When it pleased God, Paul said,
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal His Son in me. This is what I need. I need God
to be pleased to reveal His Son in me. It isn't enough for Him
to reveal His Son to me, because if that's all He does, I'll forget.
I'll leave. I need His Son revealed in me. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Do good in thy good pleasure
and design. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
with burnt offering and whole burnt offerings. When you do
your good pleasure, that's when you'll be pleased. Then shall
they offer bullocks upon thine altar. He's pleased with what
he has done. Lord, do this for me and be pleased
with me. Now, when someone truly repents,
and remember, repentance is not a one time act. If I'm a believer,
I stay in an act of repentance. It's the other side of faith.
You know, when you have a coin, you have two sides. Well, faith
and repentance, where you have one, you have the other, and
it's continual. When God grants me this repentance,
there's an acknowledgement before God of my sin. There's an understanding of my
sin. And there is an understanding
of what needs to be done for me because of my sin. And that's
all seen in Psalm 51. Need. Let me leave you with this
thought. In Luke 9, verse 11, we read,
he healed them that had need of healing. I need healing. Lord, you said in your word that
you healed those who had need of healing. I'm one of them. Heal me. Let's pray.