Psalm 51: The Roadmap of Repentance

Scripture Reading

Psalm 32:1–2, 10-11 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit… Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Intro

How do you walk in Repentance?

I think most Christian assume repentance is just feeling really bad about our sin.

That what can tend to happen is a Christian sins and they feel horrible about it.

They resolve to never do it again and say, “I’ve got to do better,” but they never actually take the steps of repentance.

They don’t ever actually take their sin to God and say, “God… will you heal me?”

And so what happens is… without realizing it… by not repenting we turn the Christian life into a life of guilt.

We’re all going to sin!

We’re all going to stumble and fall.

But by limiting repentance to just feeling bad about our sin we actually miss out on the grace… mercy… and forgiveness that God has for us.

Freedom is found in repentance!

When we limit repentance to just “feeling bad” we fall into a life where:

We always feel failures

And God is always disappointed in us.

There’s no grace… there’s do better and try harder.

We never get to taste and see that the Lord is good!

How can we ever know God’s love for us if we always feel like He’s disappointed in us?

But repentance takes our sin to God… it doesn’t just feel bad about it… and in repentance God gives us His mercy and His grace.

Our sin is actually forgiven and instead of walking in guilt questioning God’s love… we can walk in the freedom of that forgiveness and know God’s love.

Know that God is not the boogeyman in the sky.

He’s our Heavenly Father who loves us and forgives all our sin.

But the only way to know that is in the grace of repentance, so how do you do it?

Psalm 51 gives us a roadmap of true repentance.

Of not just feeling bad about sin but knowing and experiencing the grace of God.

And in knowing and experiencing His grace walking in the assurance of His love.

True repentance changes the entire Christian life!

We are going to have five points today walking through Psalm 51 that gives us the roadmap of repentance.

Number 1… Repentance Turns to God Alone

Number 2… Repentance Confesses Sin from the Heart

Number 3… Repentance Pleads to God for Cleansing and Forgiveness

Number 4… Repentance Prays for Renewal and New Grace to Renounce Sin

Number 5… Repentance Throws Ourselves Wholly on God and His Merciful Grace

Let’s start with point number 1…

I. Repentance Turns to God Alone

Psalm 51 starts with the introduction To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Remember… David had committed grievous sin.

He had coveted another man’s wife… committed adultery with her… murdered her husband to take her as his own… and then lied about it to cover it up.

And I say that because in the back of your mind the whole time as we talk about repentance I want you to remember that there is no sin that God will not forgive.

God is merciful and gracious to forgive all our sins in Christ when we repent!

Its not that we are any better than David.

Its that if God gracious enough to forgive David who as King had more of a responsibility to remain faithful to God then surely God will forgive you even for your grievous sins.

God is merciful in our repentance.

David says…

Psalm 51:1–2 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!

Here’s one of the first things we notice… David runs to God for His grace.

He cries out Have mercy on me! and comes as a beggar of grace.

There is no self-justification… there is no self-hope… there’s no looking to ourselves for salvation.

David’s only hope is the Lord.

God is the only one that can forgive His sin.

And David says Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy.

God’s abundant mercy is the same word used for Joseph’s heart going out to His brother who had sinned against him when he sold him into slavery where it says Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep (Genesis 43:30).

According to your abundant mercy is according to your warm compassion.

The same tender… warm compassion God has for all who repent to Him.

And the same tender… warm compassion God has for you because is gracious to forgive.

Notice what David does.

He doesn’t appeal to any good in himself or any good he’s done.

He doesn’t go to God and say, “God forgive me because I’m the King,” or “I’m the man after your Own heart.”

David says according to your steadfast love and according to your abundant mercy.

David’s only hope… His only claim to mercy, grace, and forgiveness is the gracious the character of God.

This is so important because unless you get this you’ll turn grace and repentance on its head.

God forgives us because He is gracious to forgive… not because of our repentance.

Our repentance is not a work that earns God’s grace.

God forgives us solely on the basis and merits of Christ.

Why is this so important?

Because unless you see that God is gracious and willing to forgive because God is gracious… there will be some temptation that you need to clean yourself up.

That you need to make your repentance good enough for it to work instead of flying to God for His grace.

Only God can forgive our sin and so the only way to properly deal with our sin is to turn to Him.

We can’t wash it ourselves.

We can’t pay it off with our good works.

Only God can blot out our transgressions and wash us thoroughly from our iniquities.

Only God can cleanse us from all our sin.

And the way we turn to God in repentance… the way we cast ourselves on His mercy and His grace with a sure assurance that He will surely forgive us and cleanse us from all sin … is by confessing our sin.

And that’s point number 2…

II. Repentance Confesses Sin from the Heart

Psalm 51:3–6 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 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. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

David holds nothing back.

He doesn’t justify his sin…

He doesn’t minimize his sin…

He deals honestly with his sin.

He calls it out for what it is.

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.

This is so crucial because if you are going to repent of your sin you need to repent of it honestly.

And you need to repent of your sin all the way down.

We can be tempted in repentance to try and minimize our sin.

We try to polish it up and make it out to seem not all that bad.

Its like we are afraid to be honest with God about just how sinful we are.

Why do we do that?

Because we aren’t resting in the perfect righteousness of Christ on the cross.

He’s our justification.

All of our sin is forgiven in Him.

We don’t need to minimize our sin or hide our sin.

Doing so robs us of the true freedom of repentance.

Why Confess?

Have you ever wondered… “Why does God want us to confess our sin?”

He already knows everything.

Does He just want us feeling really bad?

Does He just want us to beat ourselves up?

Does He just want His pound of flesh to prove how bad we feel and make sure we are worthy for His forgiveness?

Not at all… in my opinion… Confession is more about us.

Its more God’s way of getting to our heart.

Humbling Ourselves

First of all… confession is how we humble ourselves before God and acknowledge our sin against Him.

It says God you are worthy of all my life, love, worship, and obedience… and I have fallen short of your glory.

I have not worshiped you or lived for you as I ought.

Confession glorifies God as the Most High, Most Holy God.

Heart Throne

Related to this… Confession puts God back on the throne of our hearts.

The reason we fall into sin is because at some point along the way something else became ultimate in our life.

Some temptation… or pleasure… or desire… even ourselves… became the most important thing in our life and we told God to take a backseat.

We turned to broken cisterns and walked away from the fountain of living waters (Jeremiah 2:13).

Confession says, “God… I stopped living for you and started living for something else.”

My life is yours.

You are my ultimate treasure and the King of all my life.

Killing Sin

Finally… Confession of sin is the first step in putting our sin to death.

Its how we start to actually be honest with ourselves about our sin and see our sin for what it really is.

Every time we sin we’ve lied to ourselves to get there.

We ignored our conscience… grieved the Spirit… and made compromise after compromise after compromise until we’ve finally sunken to a place we were never meant to go (Ephesians 4:30).

Well confession is the first step in turning around and climbing back out.

Its how we drive a stake in the ground in our hearts and our minds that says “This way leads to Death.” (Proverbs 5:5).

Until that comes we’ll deceive ourselves into thinking that our sin and the road we’re on is no big deal.

Unconfessed Sin

This is why unconfessed sin is so dangerous.

When we don’t confess our sins honestly and quickly… we’re allowing sin to go completely unchecked in our life.

By not confessing… all we’re allowing is for our sin to grow and fester as a cancerous mass.

Psalm 32:3–4 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

Sin… Kills us.

It devours us and eats us alive (Genesis 4:7).

Not dealing with sin doesn’t mean you have your sin under control in your life…

It means you’re building the shackles of your own slavery one chain after another.

When we don’t confess our sins… when we keep silent… we trick ourselves into living as if nothing is wrong.

As if our hearts aren’t completely bent out of shape and out of whack.

All the while sin is enslaving us more and more.

This is why I say you’ve got to guard the borders of your holiness.

That you need to be relentless against all your temptations.

Take every thought captive and make them submit to Christ.

We can’t afford to let any sin go unchecked because every sin always aims to corrupt to the uttermost.

Every sin is ultimately wanting to destroy you and enslave you.

But in confession that we stop building the chains of our own making and we seek the grace and freedom that’s in Jesus.

Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin… [but] if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:34,36).

In confession we stop allowing our sin just to grow and grow.

Confession forces us to make that abrupt turn.

When we confess we are definitely drawing a line in the sand saying, “I’m not in the right.”

“My heart is out of whack.”

“I’m on the wrong road and this way only leads to death.”

Confession is the first step in actually putting sin to death in your life.

It forces you to say that to say this is sin… its wrong… it goes against God…

Its not “no big deal” and to go back to it is to be the dog returning to its own vomit (Proverbs 26:11).

Confession forces you to look at your life and call your sin a sin so that you can’t conveniently ignore that fact the next time temptation comes around.

Honestly and Quickly.

Those two qualities should characterize all the repentance in our life.

Honestly so we stop building the chains of our own making…

And Quickly so we go no further on the road then we’ve already gone.

And this kind of confession…

That humbles ourselves before God.

That puts Him back on the throne of our heart.

And that honestly deals with our sin that we might put it to death needs to be with a genuine heartfelt repentance.

Heart Repentance

David says Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

David doesn’t just go through the motions.

He’s not just saying the words.

Later he’ll even pray Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10).

David’s concern is the heart.

Behold you delight in truth in the inward being.

True repentance grieves over sin from the heart.

What that means is that true repentance is not just saying, “Yeah, I know… i know, I’m sinned.”

There should be a grieving of sin.

A renouncing of sin.

Now this doesn’t mean you’re ballin you eyes out every time or that your always an emotional wreck about how much of a sinner you are.

We are forgiven in Christ.

The Joy of the Lord is our strength.

But we all know the difference between the perfunctory, “Yea, Yea, Yea… I’m sorry.”

And the… God I really don’t want to do that sin again… please forgive me.

True Repentance confesses sin from the heart.

Number 3…

III. Repentance Pleads for God’s Cleansing and Forgiveness

Psalm 51:7–9 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

I want to focus here on the hyssop… because the hyssop points us to the true cleansing and true forgiveness that God ultimately gives us in Christ.

Hyssop was a plant that had bunches of flowers and leaves that could together hold a lot of liquid and it was used in several aspects of Israel’s history and worship.

Passover

At the Passover the blood of the Lamb was spread over the door with Hyssop.

So the Hyssop was part of the ceremony that saved the people from death.

Cleansing Ceremonies

Later in Israel’s history Hyssop was used in certain cleansing ceremonies that would take an unclean person and make them clean (Numbers 19:16-20).

They were cut off… separated from God…

By their uncleanliness they were prevented from drawing near to God and worshiping Him.

But… with the sprinkling of the hyssop… they were invited near.

Lepers

And then most notable was Hyssop’s use in the cleansing of Lepers.

This might be what David has in mind because part of this cleansing ceremony was washing clothes and right after David says Purge me with hyssop he says wash me and I shall be whiter than snow!

Lepers had a miserable existence.

With an incurable, contagious skin disease they were basically cut off from all social and religious life from the people of Israel.

Everywhere they’d go they would have to cry out, “Unclean, unclean!” to warn people to stay back (Leviticus 13:45).

And in Leviticus 14 regarding laws for the cleansing of lepers you would take two birds.

One was killed and the hyssop dipped in its blood and then sprinkled on the Leper to be cleansed.

Then the second bird was dipped in the blood and released to fly away.

The first bird symbolized the punishment of sin and guilt… atonement by the blood.

And the second bird symbolized the complete removal of that sin and guilt… flown away to never be seen again.

Its Propitiation and Expiation… judgment on sin and the removal of our sin from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

Sacrificial System

On top of all this… hyssop was used to sprinkle the blood from atoning sacrifices in the temple.

Summary

So what do we see in the Hyssop?

Salvation from death… Exodus… Redemption.

Cleansing.

Lepers… propitiation… expiation.

And Sacrifices of the Temple.

Fulfillment in Jesus

All things fulfilled in Christ who on the cross, said “I thirst.”

And A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit (John 19:28-30).

In Jesus we are redeemed from slavery and saved from death as the True Passover Lamb.

He’s our cleansing.

He’s our atonement.

He’s the Propitiation that satisfies the wrath of God and our Expiation that removes guilt as a bird in the heavens never to be seen again.

And He is our once for all perfect sacrifice.

In Christ we are washed white as snow and God hides his face from our sins and blots out all our iniquities.

Repentance pleads for God’s cleansing and forgiveness resting solely on God’s grace in Christ.

Number 4…

IV. Repentance Prays for Renewal and New Grace to Fully Renounce Sin

Psalm 51:10–12 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Repentance isn’t just turning from sin… Its turning to God.

We don’t just pray for God to forgive us our sins so that we can still have them.

We pray that God would forgive us our sins and give us the grace of renewal to free us from those sins!

This is what I mean when I talk about that half-hearted repentance.

Repentance that doesn’t… at least want to turn away from sin even with doubts and fears of actually being able to do so… is no repentance at all.

Repentance isn’t just about praying for forgiveness… its about praying for sanctification.

Holy Spirit?

Now when David prays Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

That’s not saying we can ultimately sin so bad that God forsakes us and we lose our salvation.

We are forgiven… safe… secure… in Christ.

David could be praying, “God don’t give me what I deserve.”

Or remembering how the Spirit was taken from Saul, David is praying that God would not take away his anointing.

However… this Psalm was written as a corporate prayer, so I think what David is saying is in the context of verses 10 and 12.

Essentially that God would not forsake him… not cast him off but forgive him and give him the sanctification he so desperately desires.

Renew

David prays create in me a clean heart…

That’s the same word for create in Genesis 1:1 where In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

In repentance, we are praying for a miracle of God’s grace.

His work… His power… His cleansing.

And renew a right spirit within me can also be translated as renew a steadfast… firm… enduring… strong… resilient… spirit with in me.

What David is focusing on is the inner purification and the inner strength of the heart… the New Man.

He says, Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Willing spirit is a ready and willing spirit.

David is praying for a new positive delight in God’s will (cf. Psalm 40:8).

In other words, what David is praying for is for God to forgive him… renew him… change his hearts and desires… and strengthen him to renounce his sin and carry out God’s will.

Hardest Thing to Pray

Now I have to say… this is probably the hardest thing to pray when it comes to repentance…

For this renewal and God’s grace to put this sin to death in our life.

Because if we were really honest with ourselves… we don’t really want God to take away our sin… we just want him to forgive it.

That’s that half-hearted repentance.

True repentance is all the way down… its all or nothing.

These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me (Isaiah 29:13).

So here’s the thing… confess that too.

This revolutionized repentance in my life.

God forgive me… and change me… but if I’m really honest I don’t hate my sin enough and I don’t really want to give it up.

I know a part of me still loves it… still wants it… so God will you forgive me and change me there too!

Create in me a clean heart!

I believe! Help my unbelief! (Mark 9:23-25).

Its like we think God doesn’t already know our heart in the first place so we’re not honest with Him and we’re not honest with ourselves and we crush our repentance.

You can be honest with God.

He’s the God who forgives.

The whole point of confession is to cast yourself wholeheartedly on God’s grace.

That’s freedom!

That’s forgiveness!

You’re not gaining anything by holding onto your sin.

There’s nothing for you there.

When you’ve been given living water how can you be satisfied with dry sand?!

So Repentance:

Renounces Sin.

And Depends on God’s Grace for Renewal.

Its not a white-knuckling your holiness.

Its saying, “God I can’t save myself… You’re my only hope!”

Its throwing yourself wholly on the merciful Grace of God.

And that’s point number 5…

V. Repentance Throws Ourselves Wholly on God and His Merciful Grace

Psalm 51:13–17 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.

NEW SLIDE

For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Here again… David is dealing with his sin from the heart.

You will not delight in sacrifice or I would give it.

You will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

But in verses 18 and 19 it says God will delight in right sacrifices… in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings.

So the idea here is that God is not interested in hypocritical worship.

He’s not interested in any of our sacrifices… any of our worship… if He doesn’t have our heart.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.

And here’s the good news… a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

This is where I really wanted to land.

If you leave here with nothing else today… leave here with this.

God is gracious to forgive all your sin.

When you confess… when you bring your sin to God from the heart…

He will never cast you out.

He will never say… “I don’t know… that’s pretty bad.”

He will never say, “Again!? I’ve forgiven this a thousand times… how many more times do you expect me to forgive?”

“Why can’t you get your act together?”

“Why can’t you fix this?”

“I’m done… come back to me when you’ve got this figured out.”

That’s that God of condemnation and guilt that we talked about earlier.

But what does David say?

A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

God will always forgive.

Confession and repentance is not about God getting His pound of flesh.

Its about magnifying the glory and the grace of God.

Peter said, “How many times do I have to forgive?” and Jesus said, “70 times 7.”

As many times someone sins against you and repents.

Do we think God has a lesser standard?

No! Forgive one another as God in Christ has forgiven you?

If we are to forgive 70 times 7 times how much more will God forgive who is the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious abounding and steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin?

All the things David prayed for in Psalm 51.

God is gracious to forgive.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That’s the promise of Psalm 51!

He is faithful… He will always forgive.

And He is just… He is right to forgive because all our sin was paid for in Christ.

Just two verses earlier the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).

What I want you to see about confession and repentance is not just the how and the nuts and bolts of how to do it.

What I want you to see is the grace of God in it.

The grace of God for you! when you repent.

The grace of God for you when you fly to Him and cry out, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions” (Psalm 51:1).

Conclusion

Freedom and forgiveness only comes with repentance.

When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

Without repentance we will never be able to put our sin to death and we will drown in our guilt always feeling like God is disappointed in us.

But in repentance we experience the grace and mercy of God.

His forgiveness and His love because God is gracious to forgive.

David prayed Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow begging God to cleanse him of the leprosy of His sin (Psalm 51:7).

And God forgave David but will God forgive you?

Will God really forgive me?

Will He really make me clean?

Will He really cleanse me from the inside out?

Jesus and Leprosy

There was once a leper that came to Jesus.

Luke says he was full of leprosy (Luke 5:12-13).

And he fell on his face and begged Jesus, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

You can heal me… you can save me!

I’m full of this unclean leprosy, cut off from God and his people… but I know you can take it all away!

That’s all of us in our sin.

Will God forgive?

And will God forgive us again and again and again?

“Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

What will Jesus say?

Mark tells us, “Moved with pity, [Jesus] stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean (Mark 1:41-42).

Jesus’ words to the Leper are Jesus’ words to you every time you repent.

I will… be clean.

I’ve already paid for that sin… and I’ve already paid for every sin… with my own precious blood.

The very same blood now covers you and makes you whiter than snow and delivers you from bloodguiltiness and death.

God is gracious to forgive all our sin in the once for all perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

And the only way to enjoy that forgiveness… to savor it… to taste and see that the Lord is good! is to follow the Roadmap of repentance.

Turn to God.

Confess your sin.

Plead for God’s cleansing and forgiveness.

Pray for Renewal in renouncing your sin.

And throw yourself on the merciful grace of God who is… Psalm 86:5… good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon Him.

Let’s Pray