"Repentance" - Psalm 51 (part 2)
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According to Dr. Linda Gottlieb, the practice of psychotherapy in the United States is losing its client base. In 11 years the number of patients receiving psychological interventions plummeted by 30 percent. The reasons for this decline are complex, but Dr. Gottlieb focuses on one trend: psychotherapy involves the long, hard work of facing our own issues, but many people today would rather blame others for their problems. In other words, psychotherapists used to see patients who were unhappy and wanted to understand themselves. Now they see more patients who come in "because they wanted someone else or something else to change." As one of Gottlieb's colleagues put it, "I'd see fewer and fewer people coming in and saying, 'I want to change.'"
What is repentance? Simply, A change of mind. Today I wonder as Christians do we desire repentance hoping for change in us or hoping for everything else to change around us. Sure, we know that we did wrong, but deep down inside we think it is because of other people messing with me, from upbringing, culture, and even God for not doing anything about it. It’s chemical issue, I did wrong, but it is because I forgot my medication. As a result, true repentance goes unrevealed. Shane show me how to get rich. It’s never, Shane show me how to be content. Show me how to change my surroundings. Never, Shane how do I change. Show me how to fix my wife and my kids. How do I fix my job situation? Maybe I am part of the problem. Maybe I am the problem.
We as the church, need to repent today. Just take a look at our world, the culture, the core values in the world, ethics, the coming and looming elections, ect. We are not being what we need to be. Let us not be deceived… Before the world can be changed, we need to change. Before the things around us that we want to be changed will change, we need to be changed. What we must realize, is a church that will not repent, is part of the problem and not the solution. We all need to turn from our sins today. Stop looking at the sins of others and look at ourselves, fall to our knees in humility and beg the Lord for mercy. This is our call today. The call of Christ. Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.
David was just rebuked by the Lord through 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 writes…
Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Oh, give me back my joy again;
you have broken me—
now let me rejoice.
Don’t keep looking at my sins.
Remove the stain of my guilt.
Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a loyal spirit within me.
Do not banish me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and make me willing to obey you.
Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Oh, give me back my joy again;
you have broken me—
now let me rejoice.
Don’t keep looking at my sins.
Remove the stain of my guilt.
Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a loyal spirit within me.
Do not banish me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and make me willing to obey you.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the words of our God stand forever.
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. Repentance.
This Psalm teaches us 4 things about repentance. Confession of Sin. Reliance on God’s mercy. Cleansing comes through blood. New Obedience.
1. The Blood
2. Whiter then Snow
3. The Kindness of the Cross
The first thing we will explore is the wonders of the precious blood of Christ. Oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. The second thing we will look into is vivid imagery of what it means that it makes us whiter than snow. Blood makes us white? Finally, we will look at the kindness of God the kindness of the cross, it is His kindness that leads us to repentance.
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 experience even more change in our lives.
I. The Blood
- Cleansing will come through blood.
A. We saw that the Lord is going to have mercy on David. But this is begging an obvious question. How in the world is he supposed to do it? What do I mean? Our God is a righteous judge and David transgressed the law, it is of no consequence, David is to be judged and condemned. And if God is a Holy God than it is of His very nature to hate sin and if David is by his own admission that he is by nature a sinner. We are natural enemies with God. David is doomed? Right?
B. What if a father, who is a judge, is face to face with his son who has broken the law? Sure, the father loves his child as a father and his desire is to show mercy, but he is a judge and has the responsibility to judge those who break the law, even his own children. What does he do? The Lord showed us what He did.
C. The Lord shed blood. The price was paid. That’s what he does. Vs. 7. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
D. Hyssop? It is a spongy type plant that even today grows in Palestine and tends to grow in crevices and on walls. If you to look at the wailing wall today, you will see a plant growing on it… that plant is hyssop. Because of its shape and its texture, the plant was used as a kind of brush. The hyssop was used to sprinkle and brush the blood of the sacrifice on the sinner who was being cleansed. Let’s look closer.
D. Hyssop? It is a spongy type plant that even today grows in Palestine and tends to grow in crevices and on walls. If you to look at the wailing wall today, you will see a plant growing on it… that plant is hyssop. Because of its shape and its texture, the plant was used as a kind of brush. The hyssop was used to sprinkle and brush the blood of the sacrifice on the sinner who was being cleansed. Let’s look closer.
And the Lord said to Moses, “The following instructions are for those seeking ceremonial purification from a skin disease. Those who have been healed must be brought to the priest, who will examine them at a place outside the camp. If the priest finds that someone has been healed of a serious skin disease, he will perform a purification ceremony, using two live birds that are ceremonially clean, a stick of cedar, some scarlet yarn, and a hyssop branch. The priest will order that one bird be slaughtered over a clay pot filled with fresh water. He will take the live bird, the cedar stick, the scarlet yarn, and the hyssop branch, and dip them into the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water. The priest will then sprinkle the blood of the dead bird seven times on the person being purified of the skin disease. When the priest has purified the person, he will release the live bird in the open field to fly away.
Leviticus
F. This is the ritual for the cleansing of a leper who was healed (which is a picture of us in our sins; unclean and in need of cleaning for final purification) The first thing is that the first bird was sacrificed, and its blood was mixed with pure water in a clay pot. The hyssop plant was dipped in it and the blood was sprinkled on the person. Then blood with pure water was sprinkled on the other bird and set free.
G. This is a picture of how the blood of Christ cleanses us.
For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
Never a need to make a sacrifice again.
And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
H. And our sins have flown away it has been taken away from us like a bird.
He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
I. What can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh the beauty of being covered by the blood of Jesus.
- On November 26, 2008, a gang of terrorists stormed the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai, India. After the carnage had left 200 people dead, a reporter interviewed a guest who had been at the hotel for dinner that night. The guest described how he and his friends were eating dinner when they heard gunshots. Someone grabbed him and pulled him under the table. The assassins came striding through the restaurant, shooting at will, until everyone (or so they thought) had been killed. Miraculously, this man survived. When the interviewer asked the guest how he lived when everyone else at his table had been killed, he replied, "I suppose because I was covered in someone else's blood, and they took me for dead."
L. We like lepers are in need of purification. And of course, we find it in Christ who is willing.
Large crowds followed Jesus as he came down the mountainside. 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.”
Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared.
M. I am telling you today, he is willing. If you want it, you got. Do you believe it? Oh to be covered with the blood of Christ.
II. Whiter than Snow
- Blood actually makes us whiter then snow?
A. All of this has happened for us in Christ. And when the Lord truly cleanses us David show us how thorough it is. David said that if the Lord purifies him then he knows that he will be whiter than snow. Whiter than snow! Have you ever been to the snow-capped rocky-mountains after a snow storm and a bright sunny day? It is so bright white that it will actually hurt your eyes it is so brilliant white. Its not white… it brilliant white. You gotta wear shades.
B. The blood of Christ which is the cleansing of the Lord.
“Come now, let’s settle this,”
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
I will make them as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson,
I will make them as white as wool.
C. Not just white, not white as snow, but whiter than snow. All the way
But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
D. This is what David shows us in his repentance. Hear these words with all of its truth. See the picture in all of its brilliance. This is a picture of confession of sin, the mercy of God, and the more than thorough cleansing of the blood sprinkled with the hyssop that makes us a lot more white then snow. It is so white that we cannot comprehend it.
E. All of this truth and words of encouragement here in the heart and from the lips of David is extraordinary. Why? Do we realize that this is coming from one who just committed adultery and murder? Some of you may think that you cannot be forgiven for your sins because it is too great of a sin and too horrid a sin, but what David did are sins that even unbelievers think it’s horrible.
F. I am sure that there are great sins even in this room. Many that would cause others to shudder. I’m sure we all have lied, blasphemed God, slandered, committed idolatry, stolen, coveted, dishonored our parents, committed adultery actual or when you lusted in your heart, and even murder actual or in your heart when you hated another person.
G. This is the beauty of David’s repentance. And the beauty as to why this is incredible. And why you should be comforted today. David approaches the Lord this way with repentance, because he believes the Lord is this way.
H. Why would he ask for mercy if he did not believe that the Lord was merciful? Why would he ask for all of this cleansing if he believed that it was not a possibility for him to receive it from the Lord? This is what the Lord desires for us to know about him. David writes in ...
He revealed his character to Moses
and his deeds to the people of Israel.
The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
I. David also believed in another very important thing. There is something truly more powerful than the incredible power of sin. It is the power of grace.
God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.
More Abundant!!
J. David showed this in his repentance. Even after such horrible sins. God gives us grace. We may think that we understand the magnitude of grace. But we have no idea. In the end, what was the score? More. So much more to grace and David saw it. Like Charles Spurgeon said… there is more to come.
K. A large sum of money was given to Rowland Hill to dispense to a poor pastor. Thinking that the amount was too much to send all at once, Hill forwarded just a portion along with a note that said simply, “More to follow.” In a few days the man received another envelope containing the same amount and with the same message, “More to follow.” At regular intervals, there came a third, and a fourth. In fact, they continued, along with those cheering words, until the entire sum had been received.
C. H. Spurgeon used this story to illustrate that the good things we receive from God always come with the same prospect of more to follow. He said:
“When God forgives our sins, there’s more forgiveness to follow. He justifies us in the righteousness of Christ, but there’s more to follow. He adopts us into His family, but there’s more to follow. He prepares us for heaven, but there’s more to follow. He gives us grace, but there’s more to follow. He helps us to old age, but there’s still more to follow.”
Spurgeon concluded, “Even when we arrive in the world to come, there will still be more to follow.”
L. Do we believe that the forgiveness of the Lord will not run out?
III. Kindness of the Cross
- His kindness lead to repentance
A. I’m sure today we all can think of sins we have done in the distant past or just last week. I’m sure there are things that we need to repent of today. Will we actually confess our sins to the Father and rest on his mercy today? Christian today, will we recognize that our whole life is now a life of repentance.
B. Many of us today can be reminded of David’s adultery and murder and we go quickly to ourselves. We look at the things we have done and we feel condemnation. In unbelief we do not believe there is forgiveness for us. We may feel like a leper. We feel the full weight of our guilt and uncleanliness. Many of us will do two things… we will either become so hardened to the Lord that we walk away from his forgiveness in anger. How can he be so unfair to us? Desire change around us. Its not my fault Ia was born this way. Change everybody and accept me. Lord accept me for who I am. Or we will become hopeless and we will walk away from Him in despair believing that we are so far gone that it is too late for us to be saved. No one could love me because of what I have done. I don’t need change. I can’t change. I am a loss.
C. Both do not believe in the character of the Lord. Unbelief that he is compassionate and forgiving… he is slow to anger and abounding in love. And truly able to cleanse and make us righteous. It is Unbelief that he is not able to clean us is the cause. He is not able to make us whiter than snow. Today you heard the truth. From the scriptures, from the man after the heart of God.
D. As a leper, we go to the Lord and we ask him to make us clean if He is willing. I am here today to say that He is willing. He is willing and able. This is the Gospel of Jesus. This is the good news. The good news is that He is willing to make us clean and we know that when he does we will be so clean that we will be more white than the whitest of white. Whiter than snow. Is he really willing?
For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
E. Yes, so much so that he bore the cross and carried the weight of the world on his shoulders becoming sin who knew no sin. He bore the cross and despised the shame He would feel. This is the Gospel of Jesus. Jesus is willing to heal us. Jesus died for our sins and he was buried and he was raised…
F. All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. All who asks will be saved. Ask seek and knock and salvation will be there for us. Salvation belongs to the Lord and the kingdom of God is here. Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
G. The promise to heal us is there for us today. There is forgiveness, there is mercy, there is hope, there is peace, there is life and life more abundantly, there is the creation of a clean heart, the renewing of a right spirit, and restoration of the joy of our salvation.
H. This is the Gospel of Jesus. Call on the name of the Lord today and you will be clean.
I. This is the beauty of repentance. It is the grace of repentance. It is His kindness that leads us to repentance.