Psalm 51
Series: One Hit Wonder
Speaker: Sam Low
Date: 29th September 2013
Passage: Psalm 51:1-19
00:00:00 --> 00:00:04 Father God, we thank you for the opportunity this morning to gather and to sit under your word,
00:00:04 --> 00:00:08 and we ask that you would speak to us in such a way that we are different as a result.
00:00:09 --> 00:00:15 Please change our hearts, as David prayed, that we may love you as you deserve. Amen.
00:00:17 --> 00:00:22 What do you do when you know that you've done the wrong thing? What's your first reaction?
00:00:23 --> 00:00:27 I'm going to be a little bit self-indulgent right now, and I want to stick a photo of the cutest
00:00:27 --> 00:00:33 young man in the world up on the screen. I don't get to show him off in the morning very often,
00:00:33 --> 00:00:37 so I thought this was a good opportunity, because over the last 18 months,
00:00:37 --> 00:00:41 my son has taught me a lot about how to react when you do the wrong thing.
00:00:42 --> 00:00:46 He is 18 months old, but it is amazing how many wrong things he can do already.
00:00:47 --> 00:00:51 I say, don't touch this, and he touches it. I say, stop eating possum poo that you find in the backyard,
00:00:51 --> 00:00:56 and he continues to try and eat possum poo that he finds in the backyard. I say, share that toy,
00:00:56 --> 00:01:03 and he pushes the other child away and holds onto it. He has multiple options at his discretion when
00:01:03 --> 00:01:10 he knows he's been caught out doing the wrong thing. His favourite is to act casual. I say,
00:01:11 --> 00:01:16 don't touch the dishwasher, and he stands next to the dishwasher, leaning on it. He's not using his
00:01:16 --> 00:01:20 hands, just, I'm not doing anything wrong, and then he's just waiting for you to turn away so he can
00:01:20 --> 00:01:25 continue pressing buttons. He occasionally goes for the sheepish, where he knows he's in trouble and
00:01:25 --> 00:01:30 kind of comes over and sucks up and looks for a hug or something like that. And every now and then,
00:01:30 --> 00:01:34 he goes for the classic devastated, where he just breaks down in tears and can't believe that he's
00:01:34 --> 00:01:40 done the wrong thing and just wants a hug and so on. And funnily enough, as I've been watching him,
00:01:41 --> 00:01:46 I've realised that I actually do really similar things. Not exactly the same, but an 18-month-old
00:01:46 --> 00:01:54 and a 30-year-old process guilt in really similar fashion. Not so long ago, a little while ago now,
00:01:54 --> 00:01:59 but I remember being caught for speeding. And I don't mean at the point where I was pulled over by
00:01:59 --> 00:02:03 the police and they were filling out a ticket. I'm in the point where I'm driving along at a speed
00:02:03 --> 00:02:08 slightly in excess of the limit, and I see the police car coming the other way. The processes that my brain
00:02:08 --> 00:02:15 go through in that split second are pull over and, you know, face the consequences, turn down the next
00:02:15 --> 00:02:20 street as quick as I can and try and hide, or accelerate and see if I can outrun them. I won't
00:02:20 --> 00:02:25 tell you what I did. But the point is, in that moment where you've done the wrong thing, you do
00:02:25 --> 00:02:31 actually need to make a decision. What do I do now? Do I face the consequences? Do I try and cover it up?
00:02:31 --> 00:02:39 Do I just go blank and cop what's coming? I wonder when it comes to God, what you do when you know you've
00:02:39 --> 00:02:45 let him down. When you know that you've sinned against God, when you know that in his eyes,
00:02:45 --> 00:02:50 what you have done, what you have thought, what you have said is wrong, how do you react?
00:02:51 --> 00:02:58 What's the right response in that moment? Because the Bible is full of examples of good people that
00:02:58 --> 00:03:02 we're supposed to imitate. There's lots of great instructions of what we should do and shouldn't
00:03:02 --> 00:03:08 do, but what about the moment when you fail? There's instructions to how we should speak,
00:03:09 --> 00:03:13 to how we should use our money, all that sort of stuff. There's examples of people to imitate.
00:03:13 --> 00:03:19 But today I want to show you a story from Scripture of one of Israel's greatest kings
00:03:19 --> 00:03:25 stuffing up spectacularly. Ken pointed us to it just a second ago as he introduced the reading.
00:03:25 --> 00:03:32 David is pretty much the pinnacle of kingship when it comes to Israel. He's as good as it gets. He's a
00:03:32 --> 00:03:39 key figure when it comes to the promises that God has made to his people, but he falls spectacularly.
00:03:39 --> 00:03:45 Now, in the interest of time, I'm going to give you the Sam Lowe paraphrased version of 2 Samuel 11 and 12.
00:03:45 --> 00:03:51 So stick with me. Basically, David has been king for a little while and he's been doing what God
00:03:51 --> 00:03:55 asked him to do. He's been fighting battles and he's been winning battles left, right and center.
00:03:55 --> 00:04:00 And it gets to the point where he has won the big battles and there's just a few little skirmishes on
00:04:00 --> 00:04:04 around the place. So he decides this spring, instead of going off to battle, he's going to sit back in his
00:04:04 --> 00:04:10 palace and take a well-earned rest. Sends the army out, does his own thing and as he is wandering
00:04:10 --> 00:04:16 around on the roof of his palace, probably feeling pretty happy with how his life is going, he spots
00:04:16 --> 00:04:21 something off in the distance, something that's appealing to his eye. Spots an attractive female
00:04:21 --> 00:04:28 taking a bath. Now, rather than maybe appropriately looking the other way, he looks, he's impressed,
00:04:28 --> 00:04:35 he desires and he sends one of his aides to go and find out about this woman. His aid returns with
00:04:35 --> 00:04:42 the sad news that this is Bathsheba. She's the wife of Uriah. Now you would think, end of story,
00:04:42 --> 00:04:49 he looked, he can move on and get on with his life. Unfortunately, his solution is, Uriah's off in
00:04:49 --> 00:04:56 battle, go get her anyway. He's the king, how's she going to say no? He gets Bathsheba, he brings her to
00:04:56 --> 00:05:01 his bed, he sleeps with her, he sends her back to her house, end of story. He's the king. The people
00:05:01 --> 00:05:09 who know about this can keep secrets, he figures it will be fine. But unfortunately, Bathsheba sends
00:05:09 --> 00:05:16 a message to David explaining that she's now pregnant. Problem. Bathsheba's husband is not in town,
00:05:16 --> 00:05:23 how did she get pregnant? Now, this could be the moment of truth where David concedes, confesses,
00:05:23 --> 00:05:32 faces the consequences, but instead he comes up with a plan. He invites Uriah back from the front
00:05:32 --> 00:05:39 line, invites Uriah to the palace, under the ruse that he wants to hear how the battle's going,
00:05:39 --> 00:05:44 and then he sends Uriah home, hoping that he would sleep with his wife. I mean, he's been away,
00:05:44 --> 00:05:49 he's been at battle, he hasn't seen her, surely. You know, it's almost inevitable, and then he can just
00:05:49 --> 00:05:56 pretend that was the night she got pregnant. Uriah has more honour than David does, and refuses to go
00:05:56 --> 00:06:02 into his own home while the rest of his fellow soldiers are still in battle. So instead, he sleeps
00:06:02 --> 00:06:07 on the side of the road at the entrance to the city, and heads back out to battle. So again, moment of
00:06:07 --> 00:06:14 truth. Does David concede now? He's tried to cover it up, it hasn't worked? No, he doesn't. Instead,
00:06:14 --> 00:06:21 David sends instructions out to Uriah's commanders to put him where the fighting is the fiercest,
00:06:22 --> 00:06:27 and then just when it gets really intense, to instruct the soldiers around Uriah to step backwards
00:06:27 --> 00:06:36 so that he's killed. And sure enough, that's what happens. David's solution? Uriah's dead now,
00:06:36 --> 00:06:44 so I guess Bathsheba is available, and she becomes his wife. So did you get that? God's anointed king
00:06:44 --> 00:06:50 commits adultery, then tries to trick her husband into sleeping with her so that he'll think it's
00:06:50 --> 00:06:56 his baby. When that doesn't work, he kills him. It's just so that he won't get found out for
00:06:56 --> 00:07:02 committing adultery in the first place. See how it begins to escalate. David goes to these massive
00:07:02 --> 00:07:07 lengths so that his first mistake isn't found out. But unfortunately, he's digging himself
00:07:07 --> 00:07:14 deeper and deeper. Now it seems like it works on one level. Uriah is dead. Bathsheba is now living
00:07:14 --> 00:07:20 with David, and they will have a child. It looks like they're a family. And all the people who know
00:07:20 --> 00:07:24 what's going on are smart enough to know that you don't tell the king he's done the wrong thing.
00:07:25 --> 00:07:33 Otherwise, you end up like Uriah did. So it seems like David's secret is safe. But the problem is,
00:07:33 --> 00:07:39 two people still know what happened. And that problem is the same problem for you and me.
00:07:41 --> 00:07:47 When you sin, and when I sin, we can try and cover it up. We can pretend it didn't happen.
00:07:48 --> 00:07:54 We can pretend that we will deal with it in some way. But it did happen, and there are two people
00:07:54 --> 00:08:01 who will always know that it happened. David still knows what he did. Verse 3 of Psalm 51,
00:08:02 --> 00:08:09 I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. No matter how elaborate the cover-up is,
00:08:09 --> 00:08:14 no matter how convincing it is for everyone else, you will always know what you have done.
00:08:15 --> 00:08:19 You will always be aware of the decisions you've made and the consequences that went with it.
00:08:19 --> 00:08:25 No amount of lying will actually trick yourself into thinking, I shouldn't feel guilty. I haven't
00:08:25 --> 00:08:29 done the wrong thing. I mean, you can see what guilt drove David to do.
00:08:32 --> 00:08:38 When you dishonor God with your actions, it doesn't matter how many other people know about it.
00:08:39 --> 00:08:44 Even the secret sins carry guilt with them, and you know that to be true in your own life.
00:08:44 --> 00:08:50 There are things that you've done that no one else knows about, but you know, and you still carry
00:08:50 --> 00:08:54 that burden, maybe even that fear of what if somebody does find out?
00:08:56 --> 00:09:02 There's no point trying to ignore it or pretend it didn't happen, because that'll just make you trapped
00:09:02 --> 00:09:11 by guilt and fear. Plus, even if you're really good at keeping your secret, even if you can actually
00:09:11 --> 00:09:17 hide it from every other person you know for your whole life, you will still know, and God will
00:09:17 --> 00:09:26 still know. Verse 4 of Psalm 51, against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.
00:09:27 --> 00:09:35 The Bible tells us that God knits us together in our mother's womb, that God numbers the hairs on our
00:09:35 --> 00:09:41 head. God knows us more intimately than we even know ourselves. And to somehow think that we
00:09:41 --> 00:09:47 can trick him into thinking that we're better than we are, to somehow think that we can keep a secret
00:09:47 --> 00:09:56 from him, is not only foolish, it just doesn't work. He knows what we do before we even do it.
00:09:57 --> 00:10:03 He knows our thoughts and our words before they come out. To try and hide our mistakes will not work.
00:10:03 --> 00:10:07 And the end of 2 Samuel chapter 11, which I encourage you to have a look at maybe when you go home,
00:10:07 --> 00:10:14 tells us that the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. I'm fairly confident that
00:10:14 --> 00:10:20 that's the sanitized version of what God was feeling at that particular point. His chosen king,
00:10:20 --> 00:10:25 instead of doing what his chosen king should have done, has just cheated and committed murder to cover
00:10:25 --> 00:10:32 it up. I imagine God was more than displeased. God was angry and rightly angry. God would have been
00:10:32 --> 00:10:42 straight up ticked off with David. And yet you and I do exactly the same thing. God wouldn't have just
00:10:42 --> 00:10:47 been annoyed that David had gone and slept with this woman. God wouldn't have even just been annoyed
00:10:47 --> 00:10:54 that he had then killed her husband. The issue is, as well as doing them, he has the arrogance to
00:10:54 --> 00:11:03 presume that he can hide it from God. He has the ignorance to think that God won't know if he just
00:11:03 --> 00:11:10 keeps it quiet amongst his advisors. And yet you and I do exactly the same thing. Every day we make
00:11:10 --> 00:11:16 decisions that dishonor God. Every day we make choices that mean our needs are more important than
00:11:16 --> 00:11:22 what God wants for us. The way we treat people, the way we talk about people, the way we use our money.
00:11:22 --> 00:11:31 Those are choices that say to God, you're actually not in control. I'm the one who makes decisions here.
00:11:32 --> 00:11:37 And then when the guilt sets in, we do anything but admit that we've done the wrong thing.
00:11:38 --> 00:11:45 That doesn't even enter our minds. We go for the play casual and just pretend we weren't doing the
00:11:45 --> 00:11:52 wrong thing. We flat out deny it. Or if we're really feeling guilty, we try and cover it up by doing
00:11:52 --> 00:11:57 lots of good things to balance it out. But God knows. You know.
00:12:00 --> 00:12:06 In our story, David doesn't get away with it. God sends Nathan, a prophet, to confront him. Nathan
00:12:06 --> 00:12:13 tells an elaborate story. And sure enough, David realizes just how disgusting his sin is before God.
00:12:13 --> 00:12:19 He realizes how he cannot hide it from God anymore and he has to face up to God. And from that point,
00:12:19 --> 00:12:26 when David realizes that he can't run. When God gets the sin and puts it right in front of David's face
00:12:26 --> 00:12:31 and says, there's nothing you can do to get away from this, from that point, he writes this psalm to God.
00:12:32 --> 00:12:37 He pours out his heart. And this psalm is a gift to us because I think it shows us
00:12:37 --> 00:12:43 what God wants from us when it comes to making mistakes, when it comes to our sin.
00:12:43 --> 00:12:49 Make sure you've got Psalm 51 in front of you. And I want to show you four steps that you need to
00:12:49 --> 00:12:54 go through when God confronts you with parts of your life that don't honor him.
00:12:55 --> 00:12:58 The first step is you need to face your guilt.
00:13:00 --> 00:13:06 You need to acknowledge that you have sinned. You need to recognize that you have done what is wrong.
00:13:06 --> 00:13:11 Because no matter what else is going on around you, no matter how great people tell you you are,
00:13:11 --> 00:13:17 no matter how great you tell yourself that you are, before God, you have failed.
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 Against God, you have sinned, just like David said.
00:13:23 --> 00:13:27 Verse 4, against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.
00:13:28 --> 00:13:31 So God is right in his verdict and he is justified when he judges.
00:13:31 --> 00:13:34 Even if you're struggling with a personal sin.
00:13:35 --> 00:13:39 Even if your issue is in your mind and nobody else hears about it.
00:13:39 --> 00:13:44 If your issue is that you look at somebody as annoying and frustrating and not worth the effort
00:13:44 --> 00:13:49 and not important and not valuable, God still knows.
00:13:51 --> 00:13:55 And we need to have the humility to say, God, I am doing what is wrong.
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 To say, God, I have sinned. I know I have sinned.
00:13:59 --> 00:14:01 And I carry the guilt of that.
00:14:01 --> 00:14:05 You will never escape guilt by pretending that you're better than you are.
00:14:07 --> 00:14:12 One John in the New Testament reminds us, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves.
00:14:12 --> 00:14:14 And we just perpetuate the cycle, like David.
00:14:15 --> 00:14:18 We say, God's, you know, he does it no best, I know best, and I've got no sin.
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 We make God out to be a liar by pretending that we are good,
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 when in reality, we are wicked.
00:14:25 --> 00:14:34 So the first step, you must admit your guilt, just like David did, eventually, when he was confronted by Nathan.
00:14:35 --> 00:14:39 David fell before God and he poured out his guilty heart in confession.
00:14:41 --> 00:14:42 Here's the challenge, though, for you.
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 You may not have a Nathan come and tell you.
00:14:44 --> 00:14:50 God may not provide a prophet to point to the things in your life that are inadequate,
00:14:51 --> 00:14:55 that are rebellious, that are wicked, but he has provided his word.
00:14:56 --> 00:15:02 When you open it and the Bible points to something in you that is not where it needs to be,
00:15:02 --> 00:15:03 how do you respond?
00:15:04 --> 00:15:06 Do you try and play it casual?
00:15:06 --> 00:15:13 Or do you acknowledge your guilt and your sin before God?
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 Second thing David does, he acknowledges God.
00:15:18 --> 00:15:19 Look at verse 1.
00:15:19 --> 00:15:25 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion.
00:15:25 --> 00:15:30 Blot out my transgressions, wash away all my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
00:15:30 --> 00:15:37 For I know my transgression, and my sin is always before me against you, and you only have I sinned.
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 He appeals to God.
00:15:40 --> 00:15:42 Now, his sin affected people.
00:15:43 --> 00:15:47 His sin affected Bathsheba because he pulled her out of a marriage.
00:15:48 --> 00:15:51 His sin affected Uriah because he ended his life.
00:15:51 --> 00:15:56 His sin affected the people that he dragged into his sordid web to go and fetch this woman for him.
00:15:56 --> 00:15:59 To the people that he insisted had to carry his lie.
00:15:59 --> 00:16:05 But his main port of call when he confesses is God.
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 His emphasis is God.
00:16:09 --> 00:16:11 Against you and you only have I sinned.
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 He knows that it's God's laws that he's broken.
00:16:14 --> 00:16:16 Now, it's not that he hasn't hurt these people.
00:16:16 --> 00:16:18 It's not that that's not an issue.
00:16:18 --> 00:16:21 But it's that God is the main issue.
00:16:21 --> 00:16:24 To break relationship with his creator.
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 To sin against the one to whom he is accountable.
00:16:29 --> 00:16:35 And he knows that it is God alone who he has rejected that can forgive him.
00:16:36 --> 00:16:39 God is the only one who can deal with what he has done.
00:16:40 --> 00:16:45 When we sin, it's much, much easier to try and address the effects of sin in our life.
00:16:45 --> 00:16:50 If I was to start gossiping about somebody.
00:16:50 --> 00:16:54 Start spreading rumors about that person and eventually it came out.
00:16:54 --> 00:16:58 It's easier for me to go to that person and try and fix the issue that everyone can see.
00:16:59 --> 00:17:07 But you've got to understand that by undermining that person, by devaluing that person, what I've done is I've dishonored God.
00:17:07 --> 00:17:10 It's God's law that I've broken.
00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 It doesn't mean that this relationship doesn't matter.
00:17:12 --> 00:17:17 But so often we deal with sin only at the level of its effects.
00:17:18 --> 00:17:23 But sin fundamentally is a break in my relationship with God.
00:17:24 --> 00:17:26 Sin is an issue between creator and creation.
00:17:26 --> 00:17:30 And the effects of it are real and painful.
00:17:31 --> 00:17:35 But what sin does is break the relationship with God.
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 And so the only one who can fix that is God.
00:17:40 --> 00:17:46 You must come before him confessing your sin and acknowledging his right to judge you.
00:17:48 --> 00:17:50 Confession shouldn't sound like,
00:17:50 --> 00:17:54 Dear God, I've done something wrong, but you have to forgive me because that's what you're like.
00:17:54 --> 00:17:55 That's not David's prayer.
00:17:55 --> 00:17:58 He does request forgiveness.
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 He does desire mercy.
00:18:00 --> 00:18:03 But he says, God, please have mercy because you are so loving.
00:18:05 --> 00:18:08 Even though I don't deserve it, please have mercy.
00:18:09 --> 00:18:12 When you sin and reject God, he's the one you need to acknowledge.
00:18:12 --> 00:18:18 He's the one you need to seek for forgiveness because his desire is to give you good things.
00:18:18 --> 00:18:21 And it's him alone who can forgive you.
00:18:21 --> 00:18:24 If I was to step forward and punch Chris in the face,
00:18:24 --> 00:18:27 It's not much good for me to then wander across and ask Wendy to forgive me.
00:18:29 --> 00:18:31 Sin is between you and God.
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 The effects will be broader.
00:18:34 --> 00:18:38 But the only person who can forgive you for breaking God's law is God.
00:18:38 --> 00:18:46 Your first port of call when you are confronted with sin in your life must be to go to the one who can forgive you.
00:18:46 --> 00:18:48 To the one who you are accountable to.
00:18:49 --> 00:18:51 The third thing David does is he repents.
00:18:52 --> 00:18:52 Verse 7.
00:18:52 --> 00:18:55 Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean.
00:18:56 --> 00:18:57 Wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
00:18:58 --> 00:18:59 Let me hear joy and gladness.
00:18:59 --> 00:19:01 Let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
00:19:02 --> 00:19:05 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
00:19:05 --> 00:19:07 And key couple of verses here.
00:19:07 --> 00:19:09 Create in me a pure heart, O God.
00:19:09 --> 00:19:11 Renew a steadfast spirit within me.
00:19:12 --> 00:19:15 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
00:19:16 --> 00:19:18 Restore to me the joy of your salvation.
00:19:18 --> 00:19:21 And grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.
00:19:22 --> 00:19:25 David doesn't come back to God at this point and go, look, I'm really sorry.
00:19:26 --> 00:19:28 And you know, reality is it's probably going to happen again.
00:19:28 --> 00:19:30 There's a lot of beautiful women who bathe around my palace.
00:19:31 --> 00:19:32 And I like to walk around up there.
00:19:33 --> 00:19:35 But if you can forgive me, that would be helpful so I'm not feeling bad.
00:19:36 --> 00:19:38 And then we'll deal with the next one when it comes up.
00:19:39 --> 00:19:39 It's not his prayer.
00:19:40 --> 00:19:43 His prayer is, God, I'm sorry.
00:19:44 --> 00:19:47 Please take away the bits in me that make me do these things.
00:19:47 --> 00:19:50 Take away the desire in me that leads me into these situations
00:19:50 --> 00:19:54 where I choose things that are less than what you've designed for me.
00:19:55 --> 00:19:57 He wants to be changed.
00:19:58 --> 00:20:00 Repentance is so much more than just sorry.
00:20:01 --> 00:20:02 He says, Father, fix me.
00:20:03 --> 00:20:05 Don't let me end up in this same situation.
00:20:05 --> 00:20:07 Don't let me fall into this same sin.
00:20:08 --> 00:20:09 Fix me.
00:20:09 --> 00:20:14 It's not just a matter of admitting that you've done the wrong thing
00:20:14 --> 00:20:16 and feeling sorry for yourself.
00:20:16 --> 00:20:20 It's about admitting it and then turning away from the things in your life
00:20:20 --> 00:20:22 that led you down that path in the first place.
00:20:23 --> 00:20:26 Sin is you wandering away from God and his will.
00:20:26 --> 00:20:29 Repentance is saying sorry, begging for forgiveness,
00:20:29 --> 00:20:33 and then running back to the God whose strength will sustain you,
00:20:34 --> 00:20:38 who will give you the strength to make better choices,
00:20:38 --> 00:20:40 to resist temptation.
00:20:40 --> 00:20:41 It's there in the end of verse 12.
00:20:41 --> 00:20:44 Grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.
00:20:45 --> 00:20:49 God, give me the strength to actually fulfill my desires,
00:20:50 --> 00:20:53 to actually obey you, to follow you as you deserve.
00:20:53 --> 00:20:55 He confesses his sin.
00:20:55 --> 00:20:56 He acknowledges God.
00:20:57 --> 00:20:57 He repents.
00:20:58 --> 00:21:02 And lastly, verse 13, he trusts in God's forgiveness.
00:21:04 --> 00:21:06 Then I will teach transgressors your ways
00:21:06 --> 00:21:09 so that sinners will turn back to you.
00:21:10 --> 00:21:14 So confident in his forgiveness is David that he says,
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16 when it happens, I'm just going to start telling people.
00:21:17 --> 00:21:18 Because I'm ready for it.
00:21:18 --> 00:21:20 I'm going to be an example of your incredible love.
00:21:20 --> 00:21:22 God's design for you isn't that you spend your life
00:21:22 --> 00:21:23 feeling guilty.
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 You will spend your life making mistakes.
00:21:27 --> 00:21:30 Until Jesus comes back, that is the sad reality
00:21:30 --> 00:21:32 for all who try and follow Jesus.
00:21:32 --> 00:21:34 But God's desire is not that you walk around
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 with this weight of guilt on your shoulders.
00:21:37 --> 00:21:39 He does not, when we come to him with something to be forgiven,
00:21:39 --> 00:21:41 go, thank you, you're forgiven,
00:21:41 --> 00:21:44 and then I'm going to remind you about it next time you come back.
00:21:44 --> 00:21:46 You said you weren't going to do this anymore, but remember?
00:21:48 --> 00:21:51 The Bible promises that as far as the east is from the west,
00:21:51 --> 00:21:55 so far has God removed our sins from us.
00:21:56 --> 00:21:58 When you go to him and confess your sin,
00:21:58 --> 00:22:00 Scripture promises us in 1 John 1 again,
00:22:01 --> 00:22:03 he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins
00:22:03 --> 00:22:07 and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
00:22:08 --> 00:22:12 God sent Jesus to die on a cross so that we could be forgiven.
00:22:12 --> 00:22:18 And if we confess, his death and his resurrection are sufficient
00:22:18 --> 00:22:21 for us to be completely clean.
00:22:22 --> 00:22:25 No matter what you've done, no matter how bad you think it is,
00:22:26 --> 00:22:30 the blood of Jesus is more than enough to deal with your guilt.
00:22:31 --> 00:22:33 More than enough to wash the stains in your life
00:22:33 --> 00:22:36 and the power of his resurrection is more than enough
00:22:36 --> 00:22:38 to free you and redeem you,
00:22:38 --> 00:22:42 to take you from being one under the judgment of God
00:22:42 --> 00:22:45 to being a precious, treasured possession.
00:22:47 --> 00:22:49 And today God is saying to you,
00:22:49 --> 00:22:50 no matter what you've done,
00:22:51 --> 00:22:53 if you would just admit it,
00:22:54 --> 00:22:55 if you would acknowledge God,
00:22:57 --> 00:23:00 if you would repent and commit your life to him,
00:23:01 --> 00:23:02 he will forgive you.
00:23:02 --> 00:23:07 I love this psalm because David goes from at the beginning
00:23:07 --> 00:23:09 being in a place of incredible darkness,
00:23:10 --> 00:23:11 begging for God's mercy,
00:23:12 --> 00:23:15 to finishing up praying for the strength to stay pure
00:23:15 --> 00:23:18 and finally rejoicing in the forgiveness
00:23:18 --> 00:23:20 that he knows God will give him.
00:23:21 --> 00:23:24 So confident is he in God's power and mercy
00:23:24 --> 00:23:27 and he doesn't even know about Jesus and the cross yet.
00:23:27 --> 00:23:32 So confident is he in the merciful character of his God
00:23:32 --> 00:23:36 that he can pray and leave this guilt with God
00:23:36 --> 00:23:37 knowing that it is dealt with
00:23:37 --> 00:23:39 and he doesn't even know about Jesus yet.
00:23:42 --> 00:23:45 Jesus is the incredible answer to this prayer in Psalm 51.
00:23:47 --> 00:23:50 David prays for forgiveness and cleansing
00:23:50 --> 00:23:53 and in the blood of Jesus he gets both.
00:23:54 --> 00:23:57 David prays for a willing spirit to sustain him
00:23:57 --> 00:23:59 and in the sending of the Holy Spirit
00:23:59 --> 00:24:03 he receives the power to follow and obey his God.
00:24:05 --> 00:24:09 Today Greg and Clarice did something really significant up the front
00:24:09 --> 00:24:12 and I don't know if you've realised this
00:24:12 --> 00:24:16 but baptism is amazingly similar to Psalm 51.
00:24:18 --> 00:24:23 Baptism is not primarily about what Greg and Clarice had to say.
00:24:23 --> 00:24:27 That's a big part of it.
00:24:27 --> 00:24:29 They expressed a desire to be washed.
00:24:30 --> 00:24:32 They expressed a desire to follow God.
00:24:33 --> 00:24:35 But the answer to Psalm 51 and the answer
00:24:35 --> 00:24:38 to the prayers and words that were said here is Jesus.
00:24:40 --> 00:24:42 Their desire to be forgiven,
00:24:42 --> 00:24:45 their desire to turn to Christ is only possible
00:24:45 --> 00:24:46 because of the blood of Jesus.
00:24:46 --> 00:24:50 Their ability to stand true till their life's end
00:24:50 --> 00:24:52 is only possible because of the power
00:24:52 --> 00:24:54 of Jesus' Holy Spirit in them
00:24:54 --> 00:24:57 as a result of the forgiveness that has been won on the cross
00:24:57 --> 00:25:00 and in Jesus' death and resurrection.
00:25:01 --> 00:25:03 David prayed this prayer confidently
00:25:03 --> 00:25:06 and Greg and Clarice,
00:25:06 --> 00:25:09 you can speak these words today confident
00:25:09 --> 00:25:11 because God has answered
00:25:11 --> 00:25:13 in Jesus' death and resurrection.
00:25:16 --> 00:25:18 And for those of us sitting in this room
00:25:18 --> 00:25:19 who maybe aren't at a point
00:25:19 --> 00:25:20 where we have made a commitment
00:25:20 --> 00:25:22 like what Greg and Clarice did today,
00:25:23 --> 00:25:24 God's word is this.
00:25:25 --> 00:25:27 Stop carrying your guilt.
00:25:27 --> 00:25:31 Confess your sin
00:25:31 --> 00:25:35 and find joy and forgiveness in Jesus.
00:25:37 --> 00:25:37 Amen.