"Repentance" - Psalm 51 (Part 1)

You set up an appointment with your successful boss to get career advice. If you are not a good employee and have been recklessly embezzling money from the company—and the owner knows it—would you expect him to share career advice with you? The only thing you should expect from him is, "Stop stealing money!" So it is with God. If we are to receive guidance from God, we must repent for any disobedience currently in our lives, because habitual, unrepentant sin will render God silent except for one word: repent.

Ahhh. Repentance. What a glorious word for those who live and move and have their being in Christ. The one thing that is steady, immediate, willing, and hopefully, sincere in the life of a Christian. It is the life of a Christian. The late Billy Graham said of repentance… “The wonderful news is that our Lord is a God of mercy, and He responds to repentance.” However, sometimes this does not bode well for us. For some we do not like to talk repentence because it brings us so much shame to think that we did something wrong. It is admitting that we did something wrong. For many, even Christians, we are not quick to repent. Why? Well we definitely do not like shame. That was apparent in the garden of Eden. We do not like the reality that we have failed in some way shape or form. We do not like the idea that we may not be as good a person as we think we are. It is not good for our self-esteem and so it is detrimental to our self-worth. We do not like admitting that it is not someone else’s fault it is all on us…true repentance is absent of blame. Do we struggle with repentance today? I believe that we do and I don’t think we will ever spend a season in awakening, until we really spend a season in repentance. What and Why repentance. This is what we will explore in our passage today.

David was just rebuked by the Lord by the prophet Nathan; calling him out on his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah. David was shown the gravity of his sin with a parable bringing real conviction in his heart. He was brought to silence in shame and his words were few… “I have sinned against the Lord.” The Lord gave him a kind and merciful gift in His Judgement, His Kindness, and the Grace of Repentance. David with sorrow and peace in his heart, sits down with his lyre and begins to write…

Psalm 51:1-

Psalm 51:1–6 NLT

Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just. For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.

The grass withers, the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever.

- As you can see, the grace of God extends even further from just David. The superscription of this Psalm shows us that this is what David wrote after Nathan rebuked him about his sin with Bathsheba. This psalm now would now be a beautiful picture of true repentance in the heart of one who belongs to the Lord. This is how we should respond when we are face to face with our own sins our own need to repent.

- Yet, I wonder if we really understand the importance of repentance. Some will treat this doctrine as if it were Cinderella in the family of Christian doctrine. Unloved, unwanted, unappreciated. Grace, mercy, love, compassion, kindness; no problem, but it is our temptation to avoid this topic. We don’t see or hear about it much in general, well unless you are a member of Central Baptist, then you hear it every week.

- But why? Is it because I like to make you all feel bad? Or is it because repentance is a necessity for a Christian and vital to our proclamation of the Gospel. Did you know that when Jesus officially began his preaching ministry this is what he proclaimed?

Matthew 4:17 NLT

From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

We can’t ignore repentance. We want to preach the same message that Jesus and the Apostles preached.

- Our beloved 1689 LBC states, As repentance is to be continued through the whole course of our lives, upon the account of the body of death, and the motions thereof, so it is every man's duty to repent of his particular known sins particularly.

- Such is the provision which God hath made through Christ in the covenant of grace for the preservation of believers unto salvation; that although there is no sin so small but it deserves damnation; yet there is no sin so great that it shall bring damnation on them that repent; which makes the constant preaching of repentance necessary.

So we continue… we preach repent for the Kingdom of God is at Hand.

- What is repentance? Simply. A change of mind. Simple, yet so difficult. This Psalm teaches us 4 things about repentance. Confession of Sin. Reliance on God’s mercy. Cleansing comes through blood. New Obedience.

Confession of Sin

Reliance on God’s Mercy

The Kindness of the Cross

The first thing we will look at concerning repentance is the all important first step…actually confession our sins. In other words, actually admitting that we did something wrong. The second thing we will explore concerning repentance is the all-important reliance on the mercy and compassion of God. It is a great comfort to know that when we turn to Him we see that His loving kindness is better than life. Finally, we will look at how the kindness of the Lord leads us to repentance and we see it no better described by the cross of Christ… no better picture of love than that.

Thesis: Though our sin nature and the deceptions of this world continue to lead us to reject repentance, it is the continued compassion and kindness of our Lord that will lead us to repentance; the confession of sin, the reliance on God’s mercy, the blood of Christ, and the filling of the Spirit. To God be the Glory.

I. Confession of Sin

- Recognized his sin and who it really was that he offended.

A. vs. 1-2 discuss David’s real need for forgiveness and need for being made clean. Vs. 3-4 tell us why he needs it. So, we see that David needs forgiveness and cleansing because he recognized his sin. And recognized who it really was that he offended. Very important. Again...Recognized his sin and who it really was that he offended.

B. Sure we need to be sorry for what we have done. And we really have to be sorry for what we have done. Let me break it down simply: We know we are sorry because, if we could do it again, differently, we would. Being sorry means, we wished it hadn’t happened. If we don’t care that it happened, we aren’t sorry. The implication is that if the situation arose again, we would make a different choice. The question is, how many times have we said we were sorry only to repeat the behavior? This is more like we wish we were sorry, but we’re not. We want what we want, when we want, how we want, without consequences. We want what we want, when we want, how we want, without getting caught.

C. David recognized that he was rightly liable for what he had done and knows that he truly deserves any punishment and condemnation that is coming to him. There is no way of justifying it. He would not dare justify it. No way is he going to believe that he does not deserve what was coming. He knew it was right. He did not deserve any pardon. He believed it.

D. We have trouble with this in the church today. Interestingly, it is because we maybe do not really understand what it is to sin and… here it is… and if it really is a sin. Check this out.

E. First of all, sin is understood as pesha a transgression or rebellion in verses 1 and 3. This is understood as crossing a boundary or breaking a rule. Here is a line that you cannot cross, don’t cross it. Now are we transgressors? All we gotta do to find out is think clearly, honestly, and deeply on the 10 commandments.

F. Secondly, sin is not just transgressions, but iniquity. V.2. Awon. We understand this to be corruption. David is saying, yes, Lord not only did I break your commands, but I am also corrupt and depraved. In verse 5 we will see that David recognized that he was born a sinner. From the moment of conception, he was corrupt with sin.

G. Finally, Chatta-ah. v.2 Simply translated sin. Understood to fall short or to miss the mark. We are not the people the Lord had intended us to be. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

H. Put them all together when we confess our sins today...Admit that we have done wrong and that we actually did violate the law of God. This is what we do when we do our confession and assurance every Sunday. We confess how we have actually transgressed the law of God. This is why I sometimes mention some of the 10 commandments. David shows this when he said against you and you only did I sin against. This is not to take away from what he did against Bathsheba and Uriah. But David is making clear that all sin is ultimately against God and we cannot avoid seeing it that way.

I. It’s like sometimes, a sin is committed in our world today, we say, yes it was wrong, but all is ok, everyone is consenting no one was seriously hurt so all is ok. But no it is not! Is God ok with it? Did we forget about God? Did we forget that the Lord was witness to all that happened as well? Sure there was an offense against a person but it was first and foremost offense against God whose law you transgressed.

- In the 10 Commandments… commands 5 to 10 are commands for us not to sin against other people. So if you sin against a person, you are breaking one of God’s laws. It is first and foremost a sin against God. We offended the living God. That is why David said, you are right and just in making any judgement you deem fit. True repentance consists of saying that we have personally insulted and offended the true and living God. I have broken His law.

J. Sin also is the corruption of our nature. David said that he was born a sinner. This is an important scripture concerning our doctrine of original sin. It was true since the moment he was conceived. Side note… David saw that he was a person from the moment he was conceived. The moment of conception. He saw himself as a person, from the moment he was conceived. The scriptures shed truth on the whole abortion debate. From conception we are the image of God. From conception we are accountable.

K. He is saying here that our condition as humans is corrupt in sin. It is our condition, after the fall of man in the garden. It is not that we are now more prone to sin, it is who we are. It is not that we simply committed a sin, David recognized that it is his nature to sin. Sinful passions and desires were with us since the time of conception. We see it early with babies and children. Extra-biblical truth of original sin. We don’t teach them to be sinners. It does not have to be learned. It’s natural. We have to teach them to be good.

- There is no one righteous no not one. Sons of disobedience. By nature children of wrath.

L. David is giving us a real truth here. RC Sproul states, “We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners.”

M. This is why salvation is so radical. Why we need transformation. Why we needed a new heart. Sin is in our blood, in our DNA. That is why we needed more than a surface cleaning, more than moral reformation, more than good advice, more than spiritual goals and guidance. We need divine transformation and new life. Nothing else would do it. We were dead in sin… dead people do not walk in the right direction. Dead people cannot have faith. We needed to become a whole new creation. We needed to be born again to see the kingdom of God. We must know how serious sin affects us, the gospel is not about making good people better, it is about making dead people live.

N. And because of our failure to recognize the nature and reality of sin, we as a modern church culture continue to ignore it. It is not a popular subject preached from the pulpit today. It is also why we do hear gospel presentations giving good advice that will try to make good people better. David recognizes it. Why don’t we? Why won’t we?

O. In addition, more and more sins that really are pretty clear in the scriptures are being challenged. Those are not sins. We see homosexuality as a sin in the scriptures, but it is not considered a sin in our general society today. Abortion is not a sin, divorce is not a sin, and we are finding out that even bearing false witness against your neighbor is not a sin. Even some theft is ok. All unfortunate, but not sinful. Maybe we live in an unjust society? So we stop preaching repentance because we don’t want to make people feel bad?

P. Central Baptist… Family. We have a great deal of issues and hurdles today. Sin is becoming less popular to discuss in the church and it’s increasingly more popular to re-evaluate if so called sins are really sins. Will you help me today? Will You stand with me when those around us fall? Will you help me bring light into a darkened world?

Q. Our continued moral digression in our society is the reason why, I believe, that true repentance is sometimes difficult to determine. Is it really because we are sorry for what we did or are we sorry because we got caught. And it is not just because of the increasing secularization of our secular society do we struggle with repentance, it is also because we are all corrupted in sin. In the end, we wish we were sorry, but we’re not. We want what we want, when we want, how we want, without consequences. We want what we want, when we want, how we want, without getting caught.

R. Again, the real problem is not the sin merely, but the sinner. It is a great problem in our lives and some of us in the church and many of our most influential, continue to be silent on this subject.

II. Reliance on God’s Mercy

- Repentance does flow from the mercy of God.

A. It is a very important principle. Repentance does flow from the mercy of God. It is important because I believe that the reason people do not like repentance is because they do not believe this. When we declare repent, do people get upset? Did Jesus and John the Baptist rile people up with it? Sure.

B. It is that way because we believe that repentance comes from our own doing, not the mercy of God. We don’t or won’t repent even though we know that we should. That is why we get upset. We think it has to do with our own efforts. We think we can. But, we can’t and won’t because we think it’s on our own and when we can’t we get mad. It is because repentance comes from the mercy of the Lord!

C. Some may even disagree with me on this. Of course we can do it Shane, this is why he gave us the law. Some will say these laws are here because he knows we can keep it. He would not have given us these laws if he knew we could not follow them. Not true.

- These laws are not based on what we can or can’t do, they are a reflection of his character. He based the laws on His nature not ours. It is not on what we can do, but what is righteous and good. Why would a holy and righteous God give a standard of righteousness that not righteous? If we think this, repentance becomes even more difficult and many will become angry with God for how could he condemn me for something he already knows I cannot do?

D. Martin Luther before his eyes were open to the truth of the Gospel, struggled with that very thing. Luther was riding a horse and was almost hit by lightning and he cried out St. Catherine save me. Then Luther joined a monastery because he was greatly troubled with his sin. He was terrified and guilt ridden. And he did everything he could do in his power to bring himself peace from his guilt. Every good work he could think of… it was pathological. He drove his superiors crazy. His confessions with the priests would last hours and after he left, he would realize that he forgot something and he would hurry back to add it. His mentor said to him once, martin martin, just love God. Love God? I hate him.

E. David realized, just like Martin Luther realized later, that his repentance comes from the mercy of God. That is why the first thing he asks is for mercy. Have mercy on me.

III. The Kindness of the Cross

- His kindness leads us to repentance.

A. Many of us today do now realize the need and necessity of repentance before the Lord. We recognized our sin and our utter corruption in our hearts. Today, I am not asking you to do better. I’m not even asking for a moral reformation in you today. I am asking for us to repent.

B. We know we did wrong. We know that we have sinned and sinned against the Lord with personal insult and offense. Crossing the line as a transgressor. We know that before when we said we repented, we know or now know that we did not. We were only sorry that we got caught. We wish we were sorry, but we’re not. We want what we want without consequences. We want what we want without getting caught.

C. We need to repent. Yes, we need to repent today. Right now. I pray that sorrow for our sins will penetrate us today. That the Holy Spirit will convict us of our self-centeredness and unloving behavior to Christ and our neighbor.

D. But we must repent understanding that it is on the basis of mercy that we do. We go to God in sorrowful humility asking for his mercy knowing that without it we have no hope at all. Today, right where you are, ask the Lord for mercy. Like David said, have mercy on me oh God; hopeful because of His unfailing love. We have hope today.

E. The Lord was merciful and gracious to us and will continue to be. This is the gospel. We find it all in Christ and in Christ alone. Because of the Lord’s mercy He sent His Son into this world to seek and save the lost and to be a sin offering for us. David asked to be purified, to be washed clean, and to have his stain blotted out and it is what Christ provided with his shed blood on the cross.

F. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures. The saying is trustworthy…

G. All who call upon the name. If you confess with your mouth and believe in your…

H. It is in God’s merciful hands today.

Matthew 8:2 NLT

Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”

I. FYI… It is His will to make his people clean today.