Whiter than Snow - Psalm 51

Introduction:

Good morning. I want to add another welcome to you who are here in person and those watching online.

Today we jump back into our Summer in the Psalms. Psalms is a massive book so we are picking and choosing a few passages to cover during the summer months. Psalms was the songbook of the early church. As we read through the various passages you will notice that they are filled with feeling and deep thoughts on the Lord. The book was designed by God as a way for His followers to express their thoughts and deep feelings and also to shape our thinking and feeling to make us people who think biblically and feel biblically. These are two of the chief benefits of us spending time regularly in the book of Psalms in our personal devotions. Psalms gives us direction and example in how to feel in times of joy, frustration, celebration, sorrow, and in times of deep regret over our sin. It is to this last point that we will focus our attention today as we stop off in Psalm 51. Go ahead and turn in your Bibles or devices over there and save your place because we are going to camp out there.

Many of you had the opportunity to meet Kurt Anderson who was my youth pastor growing up. There’s a great story from when his son, John Jeffery was young. One day as Kurt’s wife, Cindy, was at work she got a call from their babysitter. The sitter tells Cindy that John Jeffery is disobeying in some way and being uncooperative. Now all Cindy can hear in the background is John Jeffery sobbing saying, “I’m sorry... I didn’t do it!” Now that’s funny to us because we see the obvious, that he did it but he doesn’t want to get in trouble so to cover all of his bases he is apologizing and denying his guilt. We laugh about that because it’s kind of funny.

What is so dangerous is that many times you and I do the same thing to God. We say we’re sorry but we try to weasel our way out of the consequences or having to own up to the depth of the sin that we are guilty of. We don’t want to just say we were wrong and sinned and not make some sort of excuse or throw blame around somewhere else. This morning, we are going to look at the some characteristics of repentance inside Psalm 51 as David is crying out to God in brokenness for his sin.

Read Psalm 51

Psalm 51 ESV

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. 1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken 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 right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; 19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

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Say, “This is the Word of the Lord. Let’s pray and ask God to help us understand and apply it to our lives.”

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Pray

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I. David appeals to God.

This is obviously an intense Psalm but what is going on here? What is this a response to? This chapter comes out of one of the darkest times in the life of King David of Israel. Let’s recap the sins that David is confessing here. This may be the first time you’ve ever heard this story or it may be very familiar to you. Either way, there was heavy stuff that David had gotten involved in. We need to recognize that this hero of the faith was guilty of deep, dark sins against God. Let’s look back at it.

The whole story can be found in 2 Samuel 11 and 12 and I would encourage you to read through it in detail later at home. It was spring and that was the time when kings would go out to battle but David decided to send his men and stay behind. He was out walking one day and saw this gal, Bathsheba bathing. He liked her and had here brought to him and had sex with her. This was a bad deal since they were not married to one another and in fact, she was married to a guy named Uriah, who happened to be one of David’s faithful soldiers who was out fighting for him.

So we have David who isn’t where he should have been, seeing what he shouldn’t see, and doing what he shouldn’t be doing. But wait, there’s more! It gets deeper. Bathsheba lets King Dave know that she’s come up pregnant. So David devises this plan to have her hubby come home and boom, they can make it look like the baby is his. Well, there’s more to it but the plan doesn’t work. In fact, he tries more than once but Uriah is a good guy and won’t enjoy the comforts of home and hearth while his brothers in arms are out fighting the war. So finally David sends Uriah back with a note telling the commander to put him at the place where the fighting is the fiercest and then pull back so that Uriah will be killed. This happens and then David marries Bathsheba.

WHOA!

So now, we have David, the King, the one who was anointed, the man after God’s own heart, guilty of adultery and murder… And oh yeah, the punishment in Israel for this type of sin is death.

The situation gets bigger because David, I imagine thinks he’s gotten away with this ruse. But God sends the prophet Nathan to confront David and he starts by telling him a story.

2 Samuel 12:1–9 ESV

1 And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” 5 Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, 6 and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” 7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

A. The thing that came between David’s sin and his confession was the Word of God.

God sends a message through Nathan. God is pointing out David’s sin. If you go back and look at it again, David is upset about the injustice done in Nathan’s story and very quickly he is exposed as the one who had committed heinous sin. And to see how David responded to being called out in his sin, we flip back over our Psalm. David is broken over his sin and we see this beautiful and gut wretching capture of what his repentance and heart change looked like.

B. David admits the reality of his sin and the one he sinned against.

- David calls his sin out as sin. He doesn’t try to soften the blow and throw excuses or blame around. He accepts the blame himself.

- He recognizes that his sin was against God and God alone. When we sin, we sin against God. Sin comes against God. I don’t think many of you are as concerned about that as you should be.

- David calls his actions evil. (How many of us would do the same with our sin?)

- V. 5 - total depravity -understands the nature and predicament/condition of man

- I’m the worst sinner I know. I think I’ve reached the depths of it and then ... there’s more...

The difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow over sin is this:

Worldly sorrow is sad because you got caught.

Godly sorrow is sorrowful because you have sinned against a holy God.

2 Corinthians 7:8–11 ESV

8 For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. 9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. 10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 11 For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.

II. David requests cleansing from his sin from the only one capable of it.

V. 7

- David knows that there is no possible way that he, himself can atone for his sin.

- He realized and affirms that he is sinful from birth. V. 5

- He continually here recognizes and affirms that God is the only one who can bring the cleansing that he so desperately needs and wants.

His only hope is in the covenant love of God and God’s compassion towards him.

- David knows the character of God because he was close to him. So many people run from God in sin and don’t realize the truth of His character because they have not been close to him.

- Blot out... like in a register... v. 1 and 9

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III. David expresses his desire to be restored.

- v. 8 - the broken bones rejoice... David wants to rejoice even in being broken by God. He knows God can bring joy and healing and forgiveness.

- God broke them

- v. 10 David knows sin comes from a sinful heart and knows that he needs to be cleansed at the heart level (not a head thing only)

- v. 12 - the joy of his salvation

- only God can restore

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IV. David confirms his availability to be used by God and for God.

V. 13 The forgiven want to be used to see God reach others.

A forgiven person not serving God in some way would seem to be a foreign concept to David.

V. 15 - the response to being forgiven ... the response to the truth of the Gospel, the life and forgiveness and righteousness we have in Christ ... the response is worship

- this praise comes from God

- v 16 right heart first — leads to right actions

- we aren’t talking about having good religious rituals... that’s not what God is primarily looking for.

- Francis Chan quote:

“If God cared only about religious activities, then the Pharisees would have been heroes of the faith.” - Francis Chan

God wants a heart that knows its place and is surrendered to God’s will.

The only way this happens is through the Gospel.

GOSPEL PRESENTATION - Jesus’ substitutionary sacrifice on the cross and resurrection.

Not: I messed up, I better hide from dad. It’s, instead: I messed up, I better call dad.

(Story about getting in the wreck with Tim and Jay?)

How will we respond to our sin?

(Conclusion and Response Invitation)

***Invite Stevie to get ready

David repented of his sin.

Changed the way he thought about sin.

Change the way he acted toward his sin.

Wasn’t merely an intellectual acknowledgement.

I would call you to the same thing as Jesus did. Repent and believe. Believe the good news... that you can be forgiven and made clean. Given a clean heart.

URGENCY: The end of life is coming and it’s nearer today than it was yesterday.

Make the most of your life. Not an emotional decision... but you don’t know when life is going to end and what story will be left. I want mine to be the gospel. We must trust the gospel and it WILL change our hearts and guide us to repentance.

Not try harder. Rely on, lean hard into Jesus.

We’re so dedicated to looking right, to looking good in others eyes... We should be transparent and just own up to the sin that is in us... Then the gospel works its power and we see our lives changed, our church changed, and our community changed. My great fear is that we don’t really, truly believe that it can happen with us. Do you?

Pray.

The main idea: your sin is against God and only God can make you clean, restore you, and use you to tell others the gospel.