Radical Repentance

Introduction

All true service to God, all true worship to God has two fundamental pillars involved in it. In fact, every aspect of our lives as children of God, these two things are essential for us. They’re indispensable to us. Number one is a true recognition of the high and holy God that we serve, reverence for Him, His greatness, His majesty, His glory. But along with that concept comes an understanding of our own unworthiness in light of that glory. This is very clear when you look at the commission, we might call it, of the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6, and the vision that he sees of the glory and the majesty and the holiness of God and his response as a representative of his people is we are an unclean people with unclean lips.

God cleansed them and then sent him into the work. When we talk about repentance, and I’m sure most of us have heard repentance defined, it’s really the change of mind that leads to a reformed life and the fruits therein. But when we talk about repentance and we talk about true confession of sins, we continue to seek our Lord even when we fall short. Those two things must be present.

If we claim to be confessing and acknowledging our sins, and yet these things are not present. A recognition of the holiness and greatness and majesty of God, along with an acknowledgement of my own unworthiness that I have not truly confessed my sin. The 51st Psalm offers us the record of David’s confession of his tragic sin against God. I hope that as we think about David and try to process this in our minds, perhaps some of the ideas, even about Abraham that we talked about the other night, will come to the surface. If Abraham is a towering figure, certainly David has to be in a similar category. When the Jews thought of their great kings, David was the first one that would have come to mind. We think of David’s victory and David’s faith early on in his life in the scenario with Goliath.

We see King Saul’s failures, and yet David serving God so well.

And yet, there is this section in David’s life, this period that challenges us. It seems like another man. It doesn’t seem like the David we read about who conquers by the power and grace of God, Goliath. Some have called it some kind of spiritual anomaly. How did he get to that place?

The scriptures accurately describe David as a man after God’s own heart, but brethren, this should show us that even those who have a heart after God’s heart can fail and have times in their life in which they don’t have a heart after God’s heart. In which they are disappointing their Lord. But for those who seek God, there’s always the hope of redemption and restoration. When we read the 51st Psalm and we think about repentance, and we think about confession. How can you read that psalm and not be touched by what you interpret there? By the deep amount of penitence on the part of David. The conscience, the tenderness of his heart. Even the radical repentance, the deep guilt, the penetrating remorse. Although many of us, I’m sure, have heard the story, I think it’s important to get a quick background here on what leads up to the 51st Psalm.

You can turn your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 12 if you would like. And really, you get a good picture here of what has taken place in 2 Samuel chapter 12, verses 1 through 7. What do we see in David? I mean, you talk about scandals. There was a scandal in their White House. A scandal of such proportions that it would have a ripple effect upon not only God’s people, but even on David’s family and children, and the events that would take place. When you look at 2 Samuel chapter 12, we begin to read about a prophet by the name of Nathan. And God is going to send Nathan to David to speak to him about his sin. Now let me try to put this in some context.

David has betrayed his God. He has betrayed his family. He has betrayed his people. All those loyal supporters. And as his men are fighting for him and the nation’s causes, he was indulging in the desires of his flesh and his appetite. He exploited his authority as king. He coveted his neighbor’s wife. He committed adultery with the beautiful Bathsheba. He attempts to manipulate and deceive Uriah, her husband, to cover up his wickedness. He then takes advantage, and think about this. He takes advantage of Uriah’s trust in him. You remember he has Uriah come back, and he thinks surely he’ll go and be with his wife, and we can cover this thing up. And Uriah is too loyal to do so as a soldier. And so he sends Uriah back to Joab.

And think about this Uriah has his own death sentence in hand as he goes back to Joab. And there is nothing but betrayal for Uriah, who had done nothing but be faithful and loyal to David. And Uriah is killed. And Bathsheba, of course, is pregnant. I mean, can you think of any other thing that you could present in this story today that would make it more scandalous than all of those facts. Nathan sometime later rebukes David. But notice how he does it. I’ve wondered about what might have been going through Nathan’s mind if it were me. I’m evaluating this situation and going, you know what? He’s already killed one man to cover this thing up. And I’m the lucky prophet today that gets the job of telling him that God knows what you’re doing.

How is he going to respond to me? But Nathan is sent by God and he goes to David. I think it’s brilliant under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, of course. How he approaches him. He’s not initially overt about this. Because often, if we don’t realize that we are the primary character in the story, we have more objectivity. It’s easier for me to see your faults than to see mine. And so he tells this story in chapter 12. And notice what he says. He says to David, there were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. And in verse 2, he says, the rich man had a great many flops and herds. But the poor man had nothing except one little you lamb, which he bought and nourished.

And he grew up together with him and his children. And it would eat of his bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom. And was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him. Rather, he took the poor man’s new lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him. Now this is what gets me. In verse 5, David still doesn’t get it. Because remember, he’s not in the story. He’s outside of the story in his mind. And it’s interesting to me that he says, or the scripture says, David’s anger burned greatly against the man.

Which was really him. We might call this righteous anger. Why? Because again, David doesn’t realize he’s in the story. He’s outside of the story. And he can see the injustice and the betrayal. And a story really that falls quite short of the heinous sins he’s committed. And he sees the need for acknowledgement. He sees the need for repentance. He sees the need to taste the consequences of the action. And then Nathan would say to David, Thou art, or you are the man. And all of David’s facade, all of his defense mechanisms, all of his denials come crumbling down, don’t they? And as we come into Psalms 51, David is expressing a broken and a contrite and a humbled heart. And I don’t think that we’ll ever see a glimpse into penitence and godly sorrow as potent and powerful as this one.

1. We Must See Sin for What It Is

There are three things involved in any true confession, and they’re all in the 51st Psalm. Number one, we must see sin for what it is. Secondly, we must see God for who he is, and thirdly, we must understand that there is an opportunity for us to be redeemed, to be restored. We don’t have to stay in this place. God can renew us. People come to him. Those three things always take place, and we’ll notice these together in the 51st Psalm. Let’s talk about this first issue. One must see sin. David had to see a sin. Early on, when Nathan is first telling this story, does David see his sin? He doesn’t see a sin. Now it’s not that he didn’t know. It’s not that he was absent-minded about what he had actually done, but he’s in denial.

He’s justifying himself. And as we notice the 51st Psalm, we see that if we’re going to see sin for what it is, we must identify the reality of the nature of sin. And that begins for David, and we’re going to look at verse 4. This isn’t in chronological order, but I want you to notice at the end of verse 4 of the 51st Psalm, that true penitence acknowledges God’s justice. It recognizes that God is just in condemning our sin. And if we say that we are confessing our sin, but we’re not willing to acknowledge that God is just in the condemnation of us for that sin, then we’re not really confessing sin. If we still have our defense mechanisms up, if we’re still defending, if we’re saying, yeah, I was wrong, I’m sorry about that, but it’s the but that gets us into trouble, because that betrays us.

That reveals what’s really going on. We’re still not there yet. Look at verse 4 of the 51st Psalm. He says, this is David, against you. You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight. Notice the second part of verse 4, so that you are justified when you speak and blameless when you judge. He said, You’re right to condemn me. If we’re talking about what I deserve, I deserve to be condemned. I’m deserving, David would say, of God’s judgment. I want you to come to Romans the seventh chapter with me. That’s exactly the argument that Paul makes regarding the need for the sinner for Christ and how he felt seeking favor with God, I believe living under the law. But I just want you to see the principle of the verses.

Romans 7 and verse 12, he says, so then the law is holy. And the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Even when you talk about the old law, that was an expression of God’s nature and truth. But he goes on to say, therefore, did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be. Rather, it was sin in order that it might be shown to be sin by affecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment, sin would become utterly sinful. The law revealed truth. And in the revelation of that truth, showed me how sinful I really am. We like to minimize and marginalize and deny.

What was ordained to be to life ended up being to my death because it revealed my condition. That’s what David had to understand. And so as we go back to the 51st Psalm now, you see him recognizing that God was just.

Once you get to that place, you understand where you are. There’s only one thing for you to do. These are not multiple options for us. The one thing left at my disposal is to throw myself before the throne of God. To beg for his mercy and to beg for his grace. This term loving kindness. Notice there in the 51st Psalm in the first two verses, he says, This is how David begins. Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loving kindness. According to the greatness of your compassion. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. He could not appeal to God upon the basis of his own merit. There was no merit to hold up to God. The scriptures say that kind of thing is like filthy rags before God.

And so true confession and repentance involves appealing to God’s mercy. But true penitence also understands personal guilt. And notice these verses with me in the 51st Psalm. There’s several. But I want you especially to note the personal pronouns in reference to them as he speaks here. And you’ll notice there’s no excusing. There’s no denying a personal guilt. I have to accept that I have been guilty. You know, there are a lot of books out there about how to get rid of guilt in the bookstore. Having a life, a guilt-free life. And the idea for some is basically kill your conscience so you don’t have one anymore, and then you won’t feel guilty about anything. Well, the Bible has terms for that. It’s called searing the conscience.

And that’s really what a lot of people in our culture and our society say. Well, if I remove God, then I won’t feel guilty anymore. Well, that’s a bad thing. Because you’re still in sin and you’re still lost and you’re still alienated from God. And now there’s nothing that’s been educated according to the truth of the scriptures that is telling you that. And so it’s living in ignorance as the Bible would describe it. That’s why the Bible speaks of a lost condition as being blind and ignorant and the blindness of the ignorance, Paul says to the Ephesians. That’s not the solution. We have to accept our guilt to seek God’s healing. Notice again in Psalms 51. In verses 2 through 4, we just read that he would mention his sin.

Look at verse 3. I know my transgressions. Look at the personal nature of this acceptance. And my sin, not somebody else’s, no defending this. My sin is ever before me. He says, Against you only I have sinned. I have done what is evil in your sight. He says in verse 7, purify me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be wider than snow. At the beginning of verse 10, create in me a clean heart. That implies he knew he did not have a clean heart. We could go on, but David understands where he is. Along this line, I want to show you something else David does in the 51st Psalm. I don’t know why I bring these up here, but I’m going to see if it works tonight.

There’s something, it’s subtle. You need to pick up on it. There’s notice there’s several different terms in the 51st Psalms that David uses to describe what he has done. Now, the first one, you think, well, that’s kind of a no-brainer, Bruce. He called, he uses the word sin. Sin. So what God would have had him to have done, he’s fallen short of that. He’s, we might say he’s missed the mark. 1 John 5 17 calls sin unrighteousness. Alright, that’s a pretty general term, though. We know that he’s sinned, but he doesn’t stop there. He also describes it as transgression. And the idea of transgression is really defection or rebellion or trespass, to be indifferent in my action toward God’s restriction and God’s truth. But he doesn’t stop there.

He uses a very powerful word. And even in our society, when people have used this word, there are those who get upset. Do you remember when President Bush, former President Bush, and talking about terrorism, do you remember the word that he used? And there were actually people that complained about it. He used the word evil. Evil. Well, terrorism is evil. But this is a, even for us, this is a powerful provocative kind of word. So David says, yes, I sinned. Yes, I transgressed God’s truth. But he goes even further. And if we look at this original term, it’s going to help us to see what a confession this was. He says he’s repenting of evil. And if you go back and look at the Hebrew word for this term, evil, originally it would mean to spoil, to break in pieces, being broken, being made worthless.

It is essentially something unpleasant, disagreeable, offensive, but this is what caught my attention. The last part of this particular lexicographer’s definition was that the word binds together the evil deed and the consequences of that action. That’s what makes it evil. It’s not just, yes, what I did in violating God’s truth was evil, but there are consequences. There are consequences of this. And David’s acknowledging what he’s done. And that there are and have been consequences. You remember in 2 Samuel 12, Nathan told him what some of those consequences are. And do not be deceived. It was a great obstacle, as ungodly as Absalom would become. And this is part of what Nathan was telling him. His example had been so undermined with his family and the disruption we see later and the sin we see later.

Credibility had been tarnished. And we know the story of Absalom and the grief that would end up bringing to David.

So here’s the thing that strikes me about this. It’s when he’s confessing his sin, do you see the different words and the different aspects of what his actions have really meant? That he’s getting it, that he’s not in denial. He’s saying it’s been evil, it’s sin, it’s transgression, it’s iniquity. And so that’s part of true confession. Let’s go back to verse 4. True penitence acknowledges God’s justice, God’s mercy, and understands personal guilt. True penitence accepts personal responsibility. These are very close.

But again, this is important. David, go back to Psalms 51 and verse 3. He says, For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. When I look at my life, and I look at the consequences of what I’ve done, I see reminders of my sin. Even as one who would seek God’s forgiveness, my sin is ever before me.

The term confess, 1 John 1 9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive.

And let me tell you’re not giving God information he doesn’t already have. You know, this isn’t like, you know, I used to be able to say putting some corners into a coke machine. Now they want your like credit card and social security number or something. But whatever you have to do, it’s not that kind of exchange. Sometimes we get that idea about confession. God knows what I have done. He wants me to recognize what I have done so my relationship with him can be what it ought to be. And so you see that both in the New Testament and the Old Testament, and here he is. He says, I acknowledge, look there in verse 3, I acknowledge my transgressions. Very similar to 1 John chapter 1.

Now let me ask you a question as you look at Psalms 51 and verse 4. And he says, and listen to what he says. He says, Against you only have I sinned. Is that a true statement? We know it’s true. But if we’re going to get real technical, did David sin against anybody else? I mean, David sinned against Bathsheba, didn’t he? He sinned against his own body when he committed fornication. He sinned against his people. He certainly sinned against Uriah. He sinned against his entire nation. But here’s the powerful part of this. Yes, he sinned against others, but ultimately his sin was against God. You see, if I sin against you, or I were to sin against my wife Rachel, or any of my brethren, or my fellow man, I can still say, against you only have I sinned.

Because ultimately, and we like to categorize, you know, here’s how we deal with each other, and here’s how we deal with God. No. And so he says, against you only. He said, I understand the ultimate consequence here is that I’ve violated my relationship with my God. So it’s not even just about me trying to rectify relationships with other people. That may be part of this process. But I have to begin with my relationship with God. This is why Joseph, when tempted to commit sexual immorality, replied by saying, How then could I do this great evil and sin against God? Please hear him tonight. Do not undo your confession and acknowledgement of sin by minimizing your responsibility or by marginalizing the sin itself. Those who attempt to justify their sin or relegate their transgressions into less than the reality of the offense are not penitent.

We’ve had people before that would meet with our elders and agree confession ought to happen. And then turn around, and by the time they get done, watering this thing down and diluting it and diminishing it, there’s no confession left. And the bigger problem with this is someone’s heart. That’s the problem.

You can’t force me to repent. But when we’re not willing to repent, when we’re acknowledging and understanding that we’ve sinned, do you see that then it’s just a formalism kind of thing that we’re just going through the motions? When we turn those we have violated, deceived, and offended into the offenders, we not only are guilty of impenitence, but we have failed to see the truth of the sin which we committed and the path we’re on. And this happens often. So you come to me, and you say, Bruce, I believe you’ve sinned, and because I love you, I want to talk to you about that. And it’s clear, I mean, this is not a foggy thing. It’s not that I’m saying, well, I know that’s what you think, but I don’t conclude that.

It’s clear. But because we tend not to want to admit those kinds of things, what’s my next step? Once I really know that I’ve been guilty, but I don’t want to repent. It’s always the same thing. I turn the person who loves me into the offender. And so what we’re going to do now is we’re going to swap seats. What if with Nathan and David had done that when Nathan convicted him of his sin, I can just hear what some of us would have been saying. Well, yeah, I made these mistakes, but you don’t know what I’ve been through. And Nathan, I think you’re pretty self-righteous to come to me pointing your finger at me as if you’ve never made a mistake. And you can see how that cycles through sometimes with how people talk and how we think.

He understood that sin invaded the deepest recesses of his soul. Psalms 51 5 is a verse in Psalms 51 that many Calvinists have tried to use through the years to argue for total depravity. You know, babies are born inheriting Adam’s sinful nature and all of that kind of thing. They go to Psalms 51.5. Number one, I know there are other passages that would contradict, and therefore, from a Bible study standpoint, you’ve got these very literal passages that would tell us the son does not bear the iniquity of the Father. And there’s a message even in that prophecy, but certainly secondarily, it would show us that this is not the case. And there are other sections of Scripture I could use to disprove this notion. But it is a great abuse of poetry, which is highly secretive, and a distortion of disobedient context.

Do you really think David would be saying, yes, I’ve committed all these sins, I’m accepting all this personal responsibility, but I did inherit the sin of Adam, and that’s why I’ve done this. Does that make much sense to you? Now he would be in defense mode. He would be doing the opposite of the very thing he’s saying when he says, against you only have I sinned. Is he going to turn around and say, but you made me this way? Or I got this nature from Adam and I couldn’t help it. No. But in the process of dealing with that, sometimes we don’t spend very much time saying, what was David talking about? I know he’s not talking about total inherent depravity in the Calvinistic system.

But what does he mean? Now read along here in verse in verse 4 when he says, You only, against you only I have sinned. I’ve done what is evil in your side. You’re justified. You’re blameless when you judge. I need your mercy. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Well, let’s try to study here a little bit. I want you in your Bible, we’re in the 51st Psalm, but if you’ve got one of those nice markers, mark Psalms 58 in verse 3. There are two things used in Hebrew poetry and in the Old Testament that are good for us to know about. One is hyperbole, which is, and you’ll see, you see it all the time.

We even use it in English quite often. And it’s an exaggeration of something that we understand is an exaggeration. You wouldn’t literally mean it that way, but the exaggeration is to make a point. And secondly, there is what’s called parallelism. And there are all kinds of different types of parallelism. But usually what we notice is what’s called synonymous parallelism, where you have two lines. You see a lot in Proverbs, you see it in Psalms. You see it in the prophets too. You’ll see it in Isaiah and Jeremiah regarding idols and the worship of idols. But you’ll have a line that in synonymous parallelism, you’ll have a line that makes one statement, and you’ll have a second line, and while different words are used, it’s saying the same thing.

It’s a repetitive, it’s synonymous parallelism. There’s also other kinds of parallelism, antithetical, which would be they seem to be contrasting, but even then it’s to make a point. This is affirming and this is denying, but he’s still making the point. Now keep those two things in mind. Keep those two things in mind. Both of those things are going on here. Look at the similarity between Psalms 51.5 and Psalms 58.3. I want to ask you some questions. Psalms 51.5. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity as he’s confessing sin, and in sin my mother conceived me. In Psalms 58 3, he says, the wicked are estranged from the womb. Now I believe that’s hyperbole. It’s an exaggeration to make a point regarding how wicked they are. He doesn’t mean that an innocent child is actually wicked when it came from the womb.

But then these who speak lies go astray from birth. Now, let me ask you something. Three-week-old baby. We’re going to be literal with this. Can they even talk? I didn’t ask you if they jabbered at you. I said, can they talk? No. We understood. Cognitively, they cannot engage in that kind of communication. So if that’s true, how could they possibly be? I mean, if we’re just going to be literal with this, speaking lies from the womb. Okay, we can rule that out. Therefore, what we know he’s doing is he’s using hyperbole. He’s exaggerating something to make a point. He’s not saying that a six month old child or a three year old is actually wicked. He’s saying these people, from the earlier moments of life in which they cognitively could understand, were being inundated with sinful ideas around it.

Okay, that’s his point. What I want you to see is Psalms 58 3 basically sounds like Psalms 51 5. Now, in a minute we’re going to talk about what the point is behind the hyperbole, behind the exaggeration. But that’s just poetry. Let’s go further. We see this a lot in the Bible. For instance, in the Messianic Psalm, the 22nd Psalm in verse 6. But I am a worm and not a man. Now I know David wrote that, and if we want to use David as an example, that’s fine, but let’s use Jesus. If that’s prophetic of Christ, I am a worm and not a man. Was Jesus a man, literally? Yes or no? Sure he was. So what? That’s an exaggeration to make a point. What’s the point?

I don’t even feel human the way he was going to be abused and rejected and treated. That’s what he’s saying. And so this language you see, it’s an exaggeration to make a point. You see it a lot in Job. Job 17, 14. If I call to the pit, you are my father, to the worm, my mother and my sister. Job 25, 6. How much less man, that maggot and the son of man, that worm. I mean, we could go on and on. And so my point to you is to come to Psalms 51 and 5 and try to force some kind of systematic theology of men into a verse is to miss the point, but sometimes we don’t think about what the point is. Here’s the point.

It’s not excusing sin. The point that David is making is that I have sinned against God, and sin has so enslaved me that I feel this way. This is how I feel. So much of Hebrew poetry is expressing how I feel. This is how I feel. Sin has invaded my life. He’s certainly not excusing it. He’s not saying it wasn’t his fault. But he says, this is the absolute condition that I have. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. It’s just hyperbole. He had a sinful environment around him, but I think his point is this. This is how I feel. I feel to the innermost part, and that’s going to make sense in a moment. The innermost part of me feels sinful.

2. We Have to See God

Now, we have to see sin. Excuse me. Psalms 51, verses 6 through 12. We have to see God. Because God is the solution to this condition. God is the solution to this condition. In Psalms 51, in verse 6, he says, Behold, you desire truth in the innermost being. Now I want to show you something. There in verse 5, he’s talking about the innermost being. In verse 6, he’s talking about God cleansing the innermost being. He says, and in the hidden part. You will make me no wisdom. Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. God’s holiness demands radical inner change. He mentions the heart. That’s again the innermost part of our being, the deepest recesses of our heart and soul.

We have to come to see God’s holiness and our need for cleansing. Psalms 51 and verse 8, he says, make me to hear joy and gladness. Let the bones which you have broken rejoice. If that’s not happening, if you’re not broken, you can’t be built back up. The psalmist would say, my sinful condition can be compared to someone who’s been physically crushed. I can’t navigate this thing on my own. I can’t just decide I want my sin to be gone. That comes from the Lord. This is not a superficial cleanup. This is not an easy fix. For some reason, we think that as long as somebody, and I’m not minimizing, there’s certainly a time for a public confession. But sometimes we think repeating words, if you’re sitting on the front pew, necessarily equates into true repentance.

And I think there’s some of us that think that’s all that’s required, and we never get to the place David gets to, and we end up in this cycle where our attitude really hasn’t changed, and our inner man really hasn’t changed. That’s not conversion. That’s not transformation. That’s not renewal. Now, someone who’s broken, who’s expressing themselves to the brethren in that way, that can be a very healthy thing and a good thing. This is a radical change of heart and mind. And there is no room for deception or dishonesty, but only true, genuine purification. Look at the passage again in Psalms 51. Look there in Psalms 51. Notice the use of the term truth. Behold, you desire truth.

He also uses another word that is revealing. You know, talk about putting all your cards out on the table. Can you find the word there in Psalms 51? You don’t have to repeat it out loud. But can you find the term that is very explicitly putting all his cards out on the table? I mean, he said he’s done evil and sin and transgression and iniquity, but he uses the word blood guiltiness.

That’s acknowledgement of betrayal and disloyalty and everything that David’s life as a whole had stood against. I mean, you’re talking about the one who, when King Saul, you remember when he gets close enough to King Saul that he cuts some of his garment off. And I’ll just say he had walked upon King Saul in some vulnerable situations. We’ll say that.

3. God's Power to Cleanse Our Soul and Heart

But here, he says, I’ve been guilty. In the worst way, it is a specific acknowledgement of the depths of his sin. Go further. Look there in Psalms 51 and verse 7. We see God’s power to cleanse our soul and heart. God has the power to radically change us within and to help us bring forth fruits meet for repentance. But he also has the power to cleanse my soul. Don’t think tonight that you can’t be cleansed, that you can’t be restored, that you can’t be redeemed. You can be.

Out all my iniquities, create in me a clean heart, renew a steadfast spirit within me. Have you ever seen someone broken? Have you ever seen someone who whatever sin they committed that’s brought shame on them, has been against everything else they’ve stood for, and that acknowledgement comes to them and they in tears and brokenness and contrition pour themselves out before God. I have I’ve seen people and perhaps you have as well who were just in absolute penitence. Repenting before God. You could look at them and even their physical appearance indicated that this brokenness from within had really dawned on them. It’s as if they had been in a spiritual stupor this whole time and now the light bulb has gone off and they’ve seen the consequences and they realize what they’ve done.

Listen to me. That’s painful. That’s like bones breaking that’s like being a crushed man but God can deal with a man that’s crushed. Do you think Peter wasn’t crushed when he denied Christ and yet is preaching the gospel on the day of Pentecost God can take us from the ashes and the dust and he can rebuild us and that’s what David pled for listen to what he says again he says, in this restoration process, make me to hear joy and gladness. Let the bones which you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a steadfast spirit within me. And I will tell you this I have known some people that while they have shamed themselves and humiliated themselves, when they came to that place and God has rebuilt them by his grace, he has restored them by his mercy.

You can see all of those sinful edges. They’re gone. There’s no room for arrogance, there’s no room for conceit. There’s only room for praise to God and service in his kingdom. David says, Do that for me. I want to be able to lay my head on my pillow tonight and know if I don’t wake up to see tomorrow, I will be with you. I want joy in my heart again. I want peace. I want confidence. And you’ll notice there.

Do not take your Holy Spirit from me. And joy. I had a friend of mine that believed in once saved, always saved, and he said, Well, I think you can lose your joy, but not your salvation. I said, So you’re saved and you’re not happy about it. Everybody’s saved. I can read about it in the Bible. I was kind of happy about it. His point here on the joy of salvation is that he lost his relationship, fellowship, and salvation. And that’s where his joy was coming from, and he wants all of it back. And then he says, sustain me with a willing spirit. And then look at what can happen. Look at what can happen. He says, then I’ll be evangelistic. Then I will share with my lips the good news of my God.

Then I will worship him. How could you worship him until this process has taken place? I’m not telling you to stop worshiping him. I’m telling you, make sure your heart is right with him. But then look at verses 16 and 17. He says, For you do not delight in sacrifice. Remember, he lived under the law of Moses here. He lived under that first economy. They had a sacrificial system in place. So what does he mean? Of course, God required that. He says, though, in verses 16 and 17, you do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it. You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, oh God, you will not despise. And then later in verse 19, he says, then you will delight in these whole burnt offerings.

In other words, it’s not about just going through the motions, brother. Those things are important, but my heart has to be right. He says, until I have a broken spirit and a contrite heart, you’re not going to receive my worship. And so what I want to do is be able to worship in an acceptable way because we have a relationship again.

Broken spirit. Comments from one biblical scholar that I thought were worthwhile. The inward part of a man is said to be broken and crushed when his sinful life is broken, his ungodly self slain, his impenetrable hardness softened, his haughty van glory brought low. And fine, when he is in himself, but come as nothing, and when God is everything of such a spirit and heart, panting after grace and favor consists the sacrifices that are worthy. But there’s one more thing we want to touch on, and the lesson be yours. And you see it’s implied. Look there in verse 18. After he talks about his confession and restoration and repentance, he says, by your favor, do good desion, build the walls of Jerusalem. I think we can draw from that what God wants is restored relationships.

You know, in Matthew 5, we find out when we’ve sinned against others, we need to seek reconciliation. We need to be transparent, we need to take responsibility. I will tell you, I’ve had people that said, I’m going to confess and I’m going to repent, and they’ve violated somebody else, they’ve offended somebody else, they’ve sinned against somebody else. And they will say, Okay, I can repent before God, but I just don’t think I can go to that person.

Chew all that. Then you’re not repenting. Because I will tell you, if we have any grasp of what it means to violate the loving God of heaven, and the anguish that has brought to him, and what the sacrifice of Christ should mean to us.

Going to someone I’ve heard and seeing the pain on their face is but a pale comparison and glimpse of the pain I have caused my God. So what that tells me, if we’re not willing to do that and restore that relationship by God’s grace, then we still don’t get it. Because when you get it, then you are going to want to go have that relationship restored because you’ve already faced in your own mind, in your own heart, what you’ve done, and you’ve seen the beauty of God’s mercy as he has restored you. You’ve listened so well tonight. Thank you. Thank you.

Conclusion

And that you do believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, but that you’ve not obeyed the gospel. Will you let God restore you? Will you permit God to redeem you in His Son Jesus? Will you believe in Christ? Repenting of your sin. Being transformed by His mercy. Confessing your allegiance to Him as the Son of God and being immersed in water for the remission of your sins. Let God create in you a clean heart. Come now. Together we stand in this.