The Prayer of Restoration

You know, sometimes you pray, and it feels like nothing happens, like, like no one is listening. But there are some prayers based on promises of God from scripture, prayers that when you pray, you can know that God will always answer them. The first prayer is the prayer of salvation. When we tell God we realize we’re a sinner and trust in His finished work on the cross for our salvation.

Today, I want to talk to you about what is perhaps the most difficult prayer you will ever pray. And it's a prayer that can absolutely turn your life around as well. This is a prayer that you pray when you have really messed up, you pray when you have sinned in a really big way, in a way that everybody sees in a way that hurts you and hurts others in a way that makes it feel like your life is falling apart. We call this the restoration prayer. I hope you never have to pray that prayer, but we all know we’re human and we still sin.

You are that man? You are that man? Those were the words that rolled off the lips of the prophet Nathan as he confronted perhaps the most powerful man in the history of Israel, King David. See Nathan had just walked in to David's palace, he walks up to the king and says, King, I have to tell you about a situation. He said there's this rich man who is so wealthy he has so many sheep and can't even count them. And he lives next to this really poor man who has nothing. All he has is this one little sheep and that sheep he loves so much. It's like family to him. And then one day the rich man had guests that came over but instead of taking one of His sheep to kill and feed them, he went over to his poor neighbor and took his one sheep by force slaughtered it and fed it to his guest. Well, King David was so outraged. He's slammed down his fist and he said, as surely as I live, this man deserves to die. And that's when the prophet Nathan stood up pointed at David and said these words we find them in Second Samuel 12:7.

2 Samuel 12:7 NKJV

7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.

Man, what happened? How did we get to this point?

Well, you have to go back just a few months in David's life. David was king of Israel during Israel's Golden Age. God was blessing Israel. God was blessing. David. David was incredibly wealthy. He had a large family. Everyone loved him. David had everything anyone ever could have wanted. Then one day, David put himself in a dangerous situation is he the army was all fighting and David should have been away with his army fighting. But instead he stayed home in the palace for some reason. And he was walking around with nothing to do. Then he was on the roof of his house when he looked down one day and saw a beautiful woman who was bathing on top of her roof in this woman was married. But it didn't matter to David because he was the king.

Go on with story.

Now I want you to hear me, there are no small sins. Every sin, big or small, is significant, and it has consequences. But I think you would agree with me today, that there are some sins that, when we commit them, they have greater consequences. They hurt you and others more, and David had to deal with it in his life, their sins like adultery, a sin that, that ruins a reputation, rips a spouse's heart out, and could destroy a family. Adultery is a sin that has huge, huge consequences, stealing, theft, lying, embezzlement, public dishonesty, you know, when that's found out, it can lead to public humiliation, the loss of a career, it can even lead to prison, substance abuse, you know, it can take over, it can become an addiction, it can hurt you and those around you, you can lose your job, you can lose your health and your future, you can lose the people who mean the most to you. Now, listen, I could go on and on listing these kinds of big sins. And when we do them, especially as followers of Jesus, you know, what we're doing is we're we're pushing God to the side, and we're pursuing our desires is number one, in the moment, no matter who gets hurt, no matter the cost. And the thing is, we don't think that we'll ever get caught. We don't ever think we'll have to pay a price. But the truth is, God sees everything. And that moment comes when you're found out. I call it the Nathan moment.

What happens when as the famous English Pastor Charles Spurgeon put it, what happens when you've sinned gloriously, not just a little sin, but you've rebelled against God and others in a major way, and it feels impossible to bounce back and it doesn't feel like you can ever come back from it. What happens when I sin, an egregious thing, I want to look at that. So if you had your notes, if you look in your notes, I want to look at this what happens when I sin, outrageously? Well, here's the first thing write this down.

There Are Spiritual Consequences

Now, let me be clear, when you sin, outrageously, it does not take away your salvation. You know, he did commit murder, he committed adultery. He did a lot of big ones right there, and he didn't lose his salvation. See what you pray the eternal prayer, the prayer of salvation, nothing can ever separate you from the love of God, you belong to God forever. Remember, you didn't do anything to earn your salvation. So you can't do anything to lose your salvation. But when you sin, even though you don't lose your salvation, it does affect your fellowship with God.

It does break the plan that God had for your life in Isaiah 59 to look at these strong words.

Isaiah 59:2 NKJV

2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.

It says, it's your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins. He is turned away and will not listen anymore. He won't listen when you pray. In other words, when you sin, that sin stands between you and God, it means that you don't feel God's peace, His presence and His power in your life as you once did it. means when you go to God and you need direction, you don't hear His voice. When you pray, it feels like your prayers aren't going any higher than the ceiling. When you sin, their spiritual consequences, and your relationship with God is broken. But that's not all.

There Are Physical, Financial, Relational, and Emotional Consequences

Now understand this, and this is big. God created the world so that there are natural consequences. When you don't live according to His plan. When you don't listen to him. There are natural consequences, not like he's intentionally throwing consequences on you. They're natural consequences that are going to come into your life when you don't live according to God's will. In fact, I call it the law of sowing and reaping you reap what you sow, in Galatians 6:7-8, it lays this out.

Galatians 6:7–8 NKJV

7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

it's very clear, whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction. Whoever says to please the spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

So when you sow fraud, you reap bankruptcy and even jail. When you sow pornography, you reap messed up relationships. When you sow lying, you reap shame and tattered relationships. When you sow an affair, you reap having your children hate your guts. When you sow drugs and alcohol, you reap an addiction, and even bad health. You get the picture you reap what you sow. And God cannot be mocked. You don't get away with it. There are devastating consequences when you sin, outrageously. But listen, even though there are consequences. There are no dead ends with God. God provides a way for radical forgiveness.

God Provides a Way For Radical Forgiveness

Listen, even when your sins are consequential, even when others won't forgive you, even when you were shamed, or humiliated. God still loves you more than you could ever imagine. And he will forgive you completely. And he can create a future of hope and purpose.

Look at this promise from the Bible from Acts chapter three, beginning in verse 19. Look at what it says.

Acts 3:19–20 NKJV

19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,

You know, listen, other religions, they say, if you sin, outrageously, you got to earn your way back to God, you got to make up for what you did wrong with enough good you got to even the scales, so you send really bad he's got to do a lot of good things to make up for what you did. If you want to be right with God, if you want to be justified.

That's not what Christianity says though. Christianity says you can be made right with God right now, you can be restored to a right relationship with God, and you can have a future that has hope. When you pray the restoration prayer and receive God's forgiveness, no matter what it is that you've done. Now, the physical, financial, relational, and emotional consequences that come with it. Those may not be wiped away. But you are restored to a right relationship with God. You are forgiven by God. And listen, God promises that He will never abandon you, no matter what you've done.

Let today be a day that gives you hope. And that gives you a new direction. David prayed his restoration prayer. And we find David's prayer in Psalm 51. And we're going to we're going to use this passage today as our guide for how to pray the restoration prayers from Psalm chapter 51.

Psalm 51:1–12 NKJV

1 Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. 4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. 6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. 9 Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

So how do you and I experience the restoration prayer in our own lives? Well, let's look. Let's look at that right now. To experience the power of the restoration prayer. There are several steps that need to be a part of your prayer and a part of the restoration process. And so in your notes, here's the first step to experience the power of the restoration prayer.

How to Experience the Power of the Restoration Prayer

Return to God in Humility

Now, this may be the most difficult part of the restoration prayer because returning to God in humility means admitting that I was wrong all along. And God's ways are right, it means admitting that I can't fix this on my own, that I need God. You know, David began his restoration prayer, by returning to God in humility. Look how he began his prayer. Going back to Psalm 51, beginning of verse one. David says,

Psalm 51:1 NKJV

1 Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.

Psalm 51:5 NKJV

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.

Listen, at some point, when you've missed that big time before you can be restored, you must return to God and acknowledge that you should have been with God all along. Admit that you're a sinner in need of God's love and mercy. You know, sometimes we hesitate to return to God and return home to God. Because whenever you've sinned grievously, let's just be honest, there's a lot of shame. There's a lot of fear, there's a lot of regret that's tied to that. And Satan will tell you is you can't go home to God. Now, you messed up too big, it's too late. You've blown it. God won't accept you. But I want you to know that that's a lie. With Jesus, there is always hope with Jesus, there is always the promise of restoration no matter what you did. And so just do what this next verse tells you to do. Let's fact let's read this out loud together. First Peter, chapter five, verse six,

1 Peter 5:6 NKJV

6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

. So the first step to experiencing the power of the restoration prayer is to return to God in humility.

Now, here's the next step

Confess My Sin

Acknowledge your sin. Agree with God that it was wrong. Look at David's prayer going back to Psalm 51. He does this and in Psalm 51 verse three, look at how he repents.

Psalm 51:3–4 NKJV

3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. 4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.

Psalm 51:9 NKJV

9 Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities.

Listen, if you want to be restored to a right relationship with God, admit your sin and thank God for His forgiveness. Stop justifying your sin. Stop blaming others, own it. Own your sin and then trust God to forgive you. You know, when you do that, God has a promise for you. We find it our next verse First John, one nine.

1 John 1:9 NKJV

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

You know that the restoration prayer means that when you confess and turn away from your sins, in God's eyes, all is forgiven, all is wiped away, and you are made absolutely new. Now, there's still consequences. God won’t make everything hunky-dory. You know, we talked about this, there are consequences that come with that rebellion, but you're restored to a right relationship with God. And that's the starting place for restoration. But that doesn't mean you're going to be able to fix all of the hurt that you might have left in your wake. And that's why we have the next step to experiencing the power of the restoration. And here it is.

Repair Relationships With Those I Hurt (as much as possible)

Now, I'm not gonna lie. This step is not easy. You know, the restoration prayer isn't an easy prayer being restored after you've fallen isn't easy, you've sinned, grievously a lot of damage is done. And so your responsibility then, is to do everything in your power to make it right. In Romans chapter 12, verse eight, it says this,

Romans 12:18 NKJV

18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

that means Do everything you can to make things right, do everything you can to live at peace with anyone you have hurt. That's all you can do. And I want you to understand, that's all that God asks you to do. Admit your sin to the person that you hurt, and tell them you were wrong. Ask for forgiveness, ask for a chance to regain and earn their trust. But know this, even though God forgives, every time, hurt people often don't. And they may never trust you again. And they may be justified in their decision to never trust you again. And you may have to walk away from that and live with that brokenness.

When you sin grievously, people get hurt. And you can't always restore those relationships to what they were before. You can restore your relationship with God, but not always with people. But God says, at least take responsibility and try to do your part. But when you sin, outrageously and when you really mess up, you can't make it through the restoration prayer without this next step. And here it is.

Receive Strength From God to Face the Consequences of My Sin

Now, as you can tell and as many of you have already experienced firsthand when you mess up in a big way that others know about, that hurts others that hurts you. It's hard. It's not easy. In fact, the restoration process may be the most difficult process you ever go through in life. But I want you to remember, this series is about prayers, that God always answers that he promises to answer. So admit that you're not strong enough to handle all the consequences that are coming at you with your sin, and rely on God's strength. To get you through all that's coming at you.

I want you to look at this next verse. And I want us to read this verse. But here's what I want you to notice Psalm 46. One, these are the words of David David is praying this prayer when he's really struggling, he's dealing with consequences of sin.

Psalm 46:1 NKJV

1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of struggle. You know what that means. That means when the blowback is coming at you, and you're in the middle of the storm that you caused because of your sin, and maybe others are glad you're suffering, because they think you deserve it. Even when you don't have any friends. You can take refuge in God. He'll be your shelter when you're overwhelmed by the shame in the fear of what's going to happen to you. God says, Come to me, come to me, and I will get you through the trouble. Let me tell you something, when you sin grievously, you're not going to be able to deal with the consequences. Without God, yes, you sinned against Him, but He loves you, and He will never leave you so you can lean into him, you can rely on him in his strength.

And then here's the final step to experiencing the power of the restoration prayer,

Reprioritize My Relationship With God and Maintain My Integrity Moving Forward

What leads to a follower of Jesus a committed Christian to them sinning outrageously? What leads a godly woman to walking out on her marriage for a fling? What leads a good man to trading his reputation in his career for a few measly bucks? You know, most of the time, to be honest, it starts with something really small, almost imperceptible, on the outside. It begins with taking my relationship with God for granted, not making it a priority. Yeah, I used to spend time reading the Bible every morning. But now there's just so much going on. I don't really do that anymore. I used to go to church every week, it was a priority. Now. Yeah, I make it when I can. You know, I used to be in a small group all the time. But I just really don't have time for it anymore. And slowly, almost imperceptibly. You begin to relegate God, to the back seat of your life. You put other things in front of Jesus money, your family, your career, your desires, your lust. And when the critical moment comes, for you to make the right decision, the life-saving decision. You have removed God so far from the center of your life, that you can no longer hear His voice. You can't feel his power. And because of that, you make a wrong decision. You make a dumb decision. That's what happened to David.

David didn't just make a mistake that day. But David had put God in the back seat in his life, on all the small things. He put God in the back seat on the small things and it led to a big fall. But after his sin, David was so desperate to be restored to a right relationship with God. Get David was so desperate that he wouldn't compromise his integrity again, that he prayed these words is a part of his restoration prayer. This is our memory verse.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Psalm 51, beginning of verse 10.

Psalm 51:10–12 NKJV

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

You. See, David, David didn't just pray to be restored. David said, God, this can't happen again. I can't make this kind of mistake again. I can't fall away from you like this. I can't sin outrageously like this. Oh god. Create a clean heart within me take this dirty heart that's with me, get rid of it, and give me a clean heart. God, renew a loyal spirit in me so that I don't stray from you. Again. You see this big sin that's in your life right now. It didn't just appear out of nowhere. It begins little by little, it begins with small compromises around the edges of your life. So now you need to rebuild your relationship with God, just as you lost it, you need to rebuild it little by little, you need to rebuild your integrity, piece by piece and begin to rebuild your relationship with God in the morning, with your daily quiet time. Commit to pray and read the Bible each morning. Start with Psalm 51. You know, take this passage that that's there in your notes make that your passage that you're going to read and study and pray through every day this week, then surround yourself with God's people. Oftentimes, what leads someone to sinning outrageously? They’ve surrounded themselves with all the wrong people. They don't have God's people in their life. So here's my encouragement to you to get involved in the life of the church. Make sure you never miss church. Make that a non-negotiable for you. Make church your most important appointment every week. See, when you pray the restoration prayer, like David, you will immediately be restored to a right relationship with God. It's a promise, it's, it's a prayer that God always answers. But this prayer also begins a longer process of restoration in your life. God begins to heal your brokenness, God begins to make you stronger, so that you're going to be able to face all the consequences that come with your sin. And it's going to this process is also going to make you better, so that you don't fall again.

I want to end the message today by praying the restoration prayer with you. If you have sinned, outrageously, or maybe not so outrageously, but you're living with the consequences of your sin right now. I want you to pray this prayer with all of your heart, this prayers for you and you need it right now. And it listen, if you pray this prayer, God will answer it, He will restore you to a right relationship with Him. He will strengthen you to face whatever is coming at you right now. And even if right now you aren't living in the shadow of a big sin, I want you to pray this prayer with me as well. One and want you to pray it as a reminder of God's love and mercy for you. That also wants you to pray this prayer is a reminder of why it's so important to stay close to God and not to stray from him. And so it's there in your notes. I'm gonna put it up on the screen as well. It's the restoration prayer. It's our closing prayer. So wherever you are, I want you to read this prayer out loud. And as we read it, let this be your prayer to God right now. Let's read it together. Are you ready? Go.

Dear God, I really messed up. I don't make any excuses. I rebelled against you and sinned. I am sorry. I believe you are a loving God. And so I asked you to forgive me of this sin and restore my relationship with you. Create in me a clean heart and make me willing to obey you so I don't do this again. Please walk with me and give me the strength to endure the consequences of my sin and repair over time. What I have broken. I want to live for you and be closer to you. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

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