"Confession"

Introduction: If there was any Psalm that I think every Christian and every church should be ready to speak on their own lips, its this one. Yet in our culture today, confession of our sin and our wrongdoings is not popular. We live in a culture where its often not our fault, where personal responsibility is thrown out the window. It has creeped into the culture of our churches as well. If we were to be honest with ourselves, how often have dedicated time in worship services to confession and repentance over our sin? I’m convicted, since I know I’m supposed to lead in that very thing.

To many think they are ok. We often think “at least I’m not as bad as Joe up there a few rows behind me.” “OH, that sin wasn’t that bad. I was just trying to show concern about that person, not gossip about them.” Or we are too ashamed. “I can’t admit I’ve sinned. What will others think of me? What about God? I can’t talk to him about this. I’ve failed him. He’s got to be tired of me messing up.” But here, I want you to see a guy who royally messed up, and yes, his sin is bad, but we would do well to think about not the degree of sin, but rather, all sin being an affront to a holy God, even that little lie, that little smart comment back at your parents, that little piece of gossip you shared, that lingering look at a woman or a man that wasn’t your spouse.”

So may this text today stir us to see the need for confession of our sin, on a personal and corporate level.

CTS: With broken and contrite hearts, let us confess our sins and rest in the forgiveness provided by Jesus.

The Confrontation of God’s Word: 2 Samuel 12

The background to this Psalm is heartbreaking, yet indicative of the human soul. It is hard to imagine that a someone described as “a man after God’s own heart” would be capable of such sin seen in 2 Samuel 11, but it is there. David, enjoying his successes, ignoring his call as king and sending Joab in his place to battle, faces his greatest battle, against the temptation to sin. He sees Bathsheba that is not his wife, bathing on the rooftop. His desire for her overtakes him, and gets his servants to bring her to him. David sleeps with her, and in turn, she becomes pregnant. The story doesn’t stop there, for he tries to hide his sin by manipulating the situation to have Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, to come home and be with his wife so that the timing of child’s birth would coincide with Uriah being intimate with his wife. Uriah refuses to, since he has men under his care who are at battle and are not able to be home with their own wives. Eventually, David plots and executes the death of Uriah by sending him out onto the dangerous front lines and he is killed in battle.

The sins of David are on display. Some say it was only adultery, but we must also think about David the king’s power in that day. You don’t refuse the king, and whether Bathsheba came willingly or not, we know that it would have been unwise for her to say no regardless. Murdering to hide the adultery is added on top of that. What we see is, well, very clearly, that David is a very flawed and sinful human being. David is not the hero of the Bible we want to emulate, but rather, a sinner in need of forgiveness. This Psalm reveals the heart of David in the midst of the confrontation he received.

Nathan in chapter 12 confronts David. He was sent by the LORD to do so. He came using a story to reveal to David the reality of his sin. In his anger, David wants to kill this rich man that has taken advantage of the poor man. Yet Nathan points the finger at David and says, “You are the man!” He then begins to reveal to David God’s Word, that he betrayed his anointing, and most importantly, despised the word of the Lord.

David was confronted with the word of God. This is the basis of where sin is revealed in us. God is the standard bearer of holiness. His law, His word, is the standard by which we live. The word of the Lord confronts us, and the question is, what do we do when it confronts us? Here are things we need to think about when the Word of God confronts us:

When the Bible confronts us about our sin, do we ignore it, excuse it, or do we accept its declaration of our sin and do something about it? The Bible is not just about head knowledge, but heart change.

Will we obey the Bible in its call to repentance, or will we set it aside and ignore it in our own daily lives or when we hear it preached?

Despite whether or not we change, the truth remains the same. This is God’s Word. You can choose to let it address your sin and change, or ignore it. But ignoring it doesn’t make you any less accountable to it.

So what do we do? We do what David does in this Psalm. We confess our sin to the one whom we sinned against!

How do we confess our sin? Let’s look at one of the clearest examples in Scripture of what a prayer of confession looks like. We can then with greater biblical clarity know how to confess and repent of our sins as individuals and corporately as God’s people.

I. Appeal (1-2)

Who can forgive sin?

First, we see that David makes his appeal. Whom does he make his appeal to? He makes it to God, who is the one one who can forgive sins.

In Is 43:25, we see who clearly forgives sin.

Isaiah 43:25 ESV

25 “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

In Mark 2:7, the question is asked of Jesus after he states that someone’s sins are forgiven. The religious leaders were furious, well, because they understood that God alone forgive sins. They just didn’t believe Jesus was God. But the truth is retained in that question.

With this understanding, which was foundational to the faith of the Old Testament saints and also for us today, David prays. We then should also pray very clearly towards the only one who can forgive sins. The appeal is made to God.

This goes directly against any other idea or theological position that someone else can declare that your sins are forgiven. You do not need to go to a pastor and asks him to forgive you of your sins. You do not need to go to a priest and asks for your sins to be forgiven. Why? Because they cannot forgive sins. Sure, we forgive people ourselves on a personal level, but to truly cleanse and remove the guilt of sin upon us is only possible by God alone, for He is the standard bearer.

Why does God forgive sin?

David roots his prayer in the character of God. This is the description that is given of God from the beginning, when God’s people were delivered from Egypt and were made his own people of his own possession. Israel was supposed to remember this. David does, and he prays with these verses in mind. He knows whom to appeal to because God has revealed himself as the one who can truly blot out his transgressions, wash him from iniquity and sin.

Exodus 34:6–7 ESV

6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Application: Do you know that God the only one who can forgive sin, and that God also desires to forgive sin? When we are confronted with our sin, it should cause great conviction, and even to some extent, guilt and shame. But as it does, we do what David does here and call upon God to forgive us. Because of Jesus, God’s forgiveness is available. This should cause us to address God first and foremost, knowing His character. Yes, God is to be feared and our sin should cause great distress upon us because we have transgressed a holy God, but He is not a Father who is clenching his fists at all times, waiting for us to mess up, but rather, a Father who waits with open arms to hear the voice of his children ask for forgiveness, and offer if freely. He has abundant mercy. He is slow to anger. He forgives. Do you run to God first when you sin, or do you hide or look elsewhere to get rid of your guilt and shame? Or maybe you think that you are too far gone, that your sins are too many and too unspeakable for God to forgive. The Scriptures make it clear that this is not the case! Just think about what David is doing here, in context of what he has just done!

II. Acknowledgment (3-6)

With that appeal comes the next part of what it means to confess. We must acknowledge that what we have done is sin. This four verse part of this psalm shows how we acknowledge our sin.

We must recognize that we have sinned (3) The sin that was revealed by Nathan, the word of the LORD, has caused him to see with clarity what his sin is. This is the work of the Holy Spirit through his revelation to us, primarily through the Word and through our sanctified conscience as well as God’s people. Some have wondered if they are really children of God is they continue to sin, that if they struggle with the flesh, that they wonder if they are really saved. First, let me encourage you this morning, if you have trusted in Jesus alone for your salvation, and you are convicted of your sin when you do so, that is sign that you truly know Him. Those that do not know Christ have no sense of conviction upon themselves when they do sin.

Second, when we do sin, we must acknowledge that it is sin. We make no excuses. We declare without any hesitation that we have broken God’s standard.

We must recognize whom our sin is primarily against (4a) What David is establishing is that he sin is against God first and foremost. He is the one who has set the standard himself, therefore, we have sinned against his holy law, his righteous standard. This doesn’t mean he didn’t sin against Bathsheba, against Uriah, and against his own nation. He is not ignoring the devastating consequences of such sin. Rather, he knows that it is God alone that declares his sexual sin and murder as wrong. It is part of his acknowledgment before the LORD in prayer that he has sinned against God. That is crucial to our understanding of it and part of the process of our confession.

We must know that God is completely just to judge our sin (4b) The second part of verse four is clearly stating that because of God’s character, completely holy and righteous, unlike us, that he is the perfect judge. Whatever he does in his judgment is blameless. We cannot say “God, that’s not fair!” when we face the discipline for our sin. No, we should say “whatever the discipline I receive, you are right and good, and I will learn from it to sin no more.”

We must remember that we were born in sin (5-6) David rightly understands that because of original sin (that means that we are born with the desire to sin and rebel against God because of the sin of Adam). Even as followers of Jesus Christ, we must know that we will continue to struggle against the flesh. Remember, that in verse 6 the standard of God is a life that delights in truth and that our hearts show his wisdom. Yet every human being does not fulfill this. Even as Christians, we give in to falsehood ourselves and do not live wisely like Jesus. Even though we are regenerated, we still must fight against the flesh. Paul makes these verses very clear, even in his own life:

Romans 7:18–25 ESV

18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Application: Some might say that Paul is referring to his life before knowing Christ. I don’t think the context can support that. Within every human being is the desire for sin. Yet is is in Jesus, the perfect God-man who did not sin, we look to. We acknowledge our own sin, and then in turn, recognize Jesus who did not sin and trust in Him. As believers, we wage war against sin, and we do that through constant acknowledgment when the Word of God confronts us, when our sanctified conscience pricks us, and when the conviction is strong upon us. We must call out sin as it is in our own lives and in the life of the congregation, and confess it to the Lord.

Are we heeding the Scriptures? Do we agree with the Scriptures? Are we allowing the Spirit to speak through them to show us how to live? Are we asking God to reveal to us our sin and are we then agreeing with him that it is sin and acknowledge it before him?

III. Restoration (7-9)

As we appeal to the Lord and we acknowledge our sin, we then ask the Lord to restore us. Restoration includes these things:

Cleansing: David asks him to remove the sin. Hyssop was often used in ceremonial washing, an herb used to cleanse someone who had leprosy. With this in mind, David is asking that God would cleanse the leprosy of sin off of him. The moral uncleanness, the dirtiness he feels because of sin is one that hinders the believer. God promises to cleanse those that humble themselves before him.

Isaiah 1:18 ESV

18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Reset: The idea of praising God for his discipline on us is often foreign to popular Christianity today. But it is nonetheless true. We should welcome the discipline of God, for it is how he shows us His better way and removes that which does not glorify him. He brought judgment upon David, and he would have to bear the consequences of his own sin for a long time, but that doesn’t mean that God didn’t forgive him or continually hurt him. God uses the natural consequences of our sin to teach us, to show us the destruction of sin, so that we no longer do it and to teach others to not do it as well. He resets our bones towards joy, joy knowing that God does not hold my sin against me anymore because it was paid for by Christ!

IV. Renewal (10-13)

Inward renewal: The desire of David is that he would be renewed inwardly. A clean heart that can only be created by God. God promised a new heart in the new covenant, and David knows that it is only God who can reorient his heart, to cleanse his inward being. He needs a right spirit, a spirit that is no longer held down by guilt and shame, but cleansed and with a spirit towards righteousness and praise. David desires that the Holy Spirit doesn’t leave him like it left Saul. For us today, we cannot lose the Holy Spirit, but we sure can lose his power and guidance upon us if we fail to confess our sins. God desires cleans vessels for his use. This is why we must keep short accounts with God, that God can use us as His vessels, empowered by the Spirit to carry out His work for His glory.

Outward joy: Sin often removes our joy. Bearing its consequences, but also inwardly struggling with it. David asks God to restore joy to him. Know that when you confess to God and repent of sin, he has forgotten it because he has paid for it on the cross of His Son. Know that you no longer carry that sin anymore. You are clear of it. That should cause us great joy, thankful for what Jesus has done and the great salvation from our many sins he has paid for Himself. We should do what those exiles did when they were able to return to Jerusalem and rebuilt its walls:

Nehemiah 12:43 ESV

43 And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.

With that outward joy is what verse 13 says: To teach transgressors your ways. The purpose of forgiveness is to redeem us, yes, but it is also a call to proclaim that forgiveness to others around us. David was called to it. Every believer in Scripture was called to it. I’m called to it. You’re called to it. The church, God’s people, are called to proclaim the great grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to teach those in sin the ways of Jesus, that sinners would be reconciled to God!

V. Worship (14-17)

The turn then, after we have addressed the one true God, the only one who can forgive sins, acknowledged our sin to him, plead with him to cleanse us and restore us, then is the covenant to him that our lives will change. We will worship him. Because of his deliverance, we will be able to truly live as we were created to be. To worship and glorify Him.

We sing of his righteousness: Because of the forgiveness of God, we declare how righteous and good He is. We declare what was said in Exodus 34. We sing of the righteousness of Jesus and His wondrous cross. How righteous is God that he took that sin and paid its debt. He didn’t sweep it under the rug or overlook it. No, he could not overlook it, but he did everything necessary to remove it from us. Jesus, the completely righteous one took on our sin, died for it as the propitiation for our sins, rose from the dead three days later, and defeated sin and death in totality. How can we help but not sing of the righteousness of Jesus?

Our mouths declare his praise: Closely related is that our lips will declare the praise of God, the forgiving God, the holy and merciful God. What we speak is his praises. The forgiven child of God who is constantly confessing and repenting of sin will naturally sing the praises of the steadfast love of God. We will declare who He is, His character, and His works to save sinners such as us.

Our sacrifice is humble: And our worship won’t be sacrifices of religiosity, but rather, humility. We will come before God with great humility. David says that in order to worship God, we must first approach him with humility and brokenness over our sin. Let me ask you a simple question: Have you come to worship God today with humility, recognizing your sin, and your need for God’s grace and mercy today?

We cannot come with pride and with our accolades this week. We can come with praise for what God has done in our lives. That is good, for we give him the honor and glory for the good that was done this week. We should come with great humility, knowing that there were areas of our lives this week where failed to live the Christian life as we should, where we bore fruits of the flesh, not fruits of the Spirit.

But in that, we rest the finished work of Jesus. Yes, our sin is ever before us, we struggle with it still, but do not despair brother or sister in Jesus. Though our sins are many, Jesus is greater and has paid it all. Are you thankful today? Are you praising Him instead of yourself? What a great Savior we have! Praise him in song, by mouth, and humility!

Conclusion: Community (18-19)

To close this Psalm, David writes with the communal aspect in mind. He knows that as king, as shepherd of God’s people, his sin will affect God’s people. He knows his confession is needed. He desires that God continue to bless his people, despite his and their own sinfulness. That is the call of God’s people today. Remember that sin doesn’t just affect you. It affects everyone around you. And it may not be visible, but it certainly can affect the whole body.

Here comes the hard part for all of us, is that we must at times, or many times, admit that corporately we have sinned against God. When we focused to much on ourselves rather than our community, when we focused on this building more than we focused on the Great Commission, when we fought over a style of music or got angry at the way someone did something that you didn’t agree with. When we became the object of worship here rather than Jesus as the object of our worship. Oh God, would you forgive us when we have made gathering here or the mission of the church here about us rather than you.

But Church, Christian, let us not despair. Psalm 51 is the example for us. It is David showing his own confession and repentance. That same grace offered to him is offered to us, and it is fully realized for us because we know how it is forgiven in clarity and fullness: through Jesus, our gentle and lowly Savior who gave His life for us.

Do you know yourself to be dirty? A sinner? All that God asks of you is to bring the sacrifice of a “broken and contrite heart.” He gave His own Son as the final sacrifice so that your brokenness could be the only prerequisite to receiving God’s abundant mercy. Amid your dirtiness, you are free to breathe again. He is the God of abundant mercy. He proved it in Jesus. This is who he is. In Christ, you are rinsed clean—invincibly, permanently, irreversibly. - Dane Ortlund (In the Lord I Take Refuge, pp 144-145)

AMEN.