Ash Wednesday (2024)

Psalm 51:1-13

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, tonight we begin the season of Lent, a season of penitential reflection as we journey with Jesus Christ our Lord and make the ascent to Jerusalem. Where the Son of God, the promised offspring of Eve that would crush the serpents head, the Offspring of Abraham, of Isaac, of David, the child that was born to the Virgin Mary, our Messiah, Our God, and our Lord goes forth to die for us.

In our Lenten Series we will be looking at the Psalms of Ascent in the weeks ahead, a collection of psalms that were used as people ascended to Jerusalem and were used at the temple steps. For all of the Scriptures pointed to Jesus and what He would do for us. So to start that off tonight we will look at Psalm 51, a beautiful psalm of confession and asking God for mercy especially as we ponder our sins.

This Psalm comes at a particular dark part of David’s life, when he had sinned against the Lord grievously. The prophet Nathan had just told him that for his sins of Adultery, and Murder, that his son would die, for he had utterly spurned the Lord. So David spends the next 7 days in fasting and prayer. So this Psalm is one that the Church has used for the confession of sins. For when David was confronted by the Prophet, he didn’t deny but confessed that He had sinned against the Lord, and for that reason the Lord spared David’s life.

You might think that my sins are not like David’s, I haven’t stolen another man’s wife, I have not written a man’s death sentence and put it in his hand, to carry back to his executioner, and he never realized it because he trusted you. The problem wasn’t that David had sinned against Uriah, no we learn in the Psalm that all sin is ultimately against God himself.

Whenever we violate and transgress the commandments, it isn’t just how much it affects our neighbors, but our sin shows that we despise and reject the Lord. That is why Sin is Evil. For what has God done for us? He has given clothing and shoes, food and drink, life, breath, house, home, wife children, land animals and all I have, my reason and all my senses. Our Father takes care of them, for He is the one that has numbered our days. The Word Good, and God are related because we are to expect good from God, and how do we repay him? With evil.

We look at the commandments and weigh their importance based upon how they affect our neighbor. Who we can see in the flesh, and that is why many have no issue naming and remembering the latter half of the commandments, but the ones that pertain to God whom we do not see go forgotten and neglected.

Those first 3 are there to remind us who is most important. Yet we find reasons to break them, not considering that when we do so we spurn and reject the Lord. So you may not have committed sins like David’s stealing a man’s wife and murdering him, but how often have you honored the sabbath day with that same level of commitment, and to not misuse the name of the Lord that you do not curse, swear, use satanic arts or deceive by his name. That’s why we are dust and to dust we shall return. For it is not our sins against man that bring condemnation, but our sins are against the Holy and Righteous God.

These are the transgressions that we are to know and the sin that is ever before us. It is why God is justified to condemn us as poor miserable sinners. Do not deny this, and do not flee from this, no matter how terrifying your sins might be, rather confess your sins, and cry out with David, have mercy on me O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions and wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

For God does not deserve the death of the wicked, and the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, He will not despise. Do not appeal to God on the basis of your own goodness or merits, for God will not be fooled, he knows every thoughtless and idle word that has cross your lips, and he sees your heart. Rather rely solely upon the work of Jesus who was crucified for your sins. For Jesus, the Son of David, is going to Jerusalem to deliver you from God’s wrath.

For even though David sinned, God showed Him mercy, and He did not forget his promise to David, to Abraham, to Adam and Eve. For all mankind has fallen short of the glory of God, and was in need of salvation. God out of His mercy and steadfast love, did not withhold from us the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. Who was born into this world, so that by His blood we might be cleansed of our sins.

The Lord answered David’s prayer and plea for the washing and renew the Holy Spirit and “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,  whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,  so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Tt 3:5–7.

It was not hyssop that God used, but the Cross, to sprinkle you not with water mixed with the ashes of a heifer, but Jesus used His own blood and water that flowed from his side was used to blot out your iniquities, as you were washed you in the waters of Baptism where the death of Jesus made you whiter than snow. God also gave to you the Holy Spirit when you were baptized, that you might have the joy. Because you will not die for your sins, Jesus has already died for you. This is the joy of our salvation. For Christ has hidden our sins in His tomb and by doing so, saved us.

This my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, is what we want to teach transgressors, that sinners might repent and return to the Lord and find Joy in Jesus. Most people are blind to their sins and think they can get away with anything, as David did after murdering Uriah. We need to be shown what sin is, that our spirits might be broken, and made contrite, but then the Gospel is needed to heal, and restore them to the grace of God. That is what Lent is all about as we draw closer to Good Friday. May you take to heart the Word of David, and tonight as you wash away that reminder that you are dust and to dust you shall return, remember when the sign of the Cross was made upon your forehead, and your heart on the day that you were baptized, and be of good cheer. For God heard the Son of David crying out for you, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. In Jesus name. Amen.