[0:00] Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, thank you for coming, and I also want to say thank you for the surprise luncheon last Sunday after the service.
[0:14] I appreciate that somebody thought of my birthday when it wasn't my birthday, and it was a couple other guys' birthdays in here. That was just hard to listen to you sing happy birthday when I know it was their birthday.
[0:28] But I appreciate it, and the cards and thoughts, and still celebrating. I give myself two weeks to get it all out of my system. And so still celebrating.
[0:38] If you want to keep the cards coming, that's fine. For another week yet. So let's find Psalm 51, please. Psalm 51. A few Wednesdays in this year, we did some study on the life of David, and going through the trials and the things that he had to deal with, with King Saul seeking to take his life.
[1:03] We were able to see some of the Psalms that David wrote during that time frame. And it was interesting to be able to correlate those words and how he was feeling with what he was dealing with and going through.
[1:15] And this is, in the same light, a little bit similar, but a different situation. We're going to read a Psalm of David, a Psalm that he wrote after a tragedy in his life, but really not the...
[1:30] It was one of his own making this time. Not one that he had to deal with because of Saul. And so this was his own fault. In 2 Samuel chapter 11, we can read of David using his kingly power, a time when he was supposed to go out to war.
[1:48] He stayed back at home, and he ended up fulfilling the lusts of his flesh and seeing and looking upon a woman, a beautiful woman, and committing an adulterous act with her, and then trying to cover it up, completely covering it up, by going so far as to have her husband Uriah killed in battle.
[2:09] And in chapter 12 of 2 Samuel, the prophet Nathan comes and confronts him about his sin. And David immediately admits his sin and repents, and he seeks to be restored with God.
[2:21] He says, I have sinned against the Lord. And at some point, I don't know when, if you read the passage in chapter 12 of 2 Samuel, you'll see that he was fasting because the child, God said he was going to take the life of the child.
[2:35] He's not going to live. And David is fasting. He's mourning, and he's laying on the ground all night praying. And then later on, he finds out the child is dead, and he gets up, and he cleans himself, and he goes into the house of the Lord, and the Bible says that he worshipped.
[2:52] And so I don't know if it was during the night of fasting, if it was in the temple of God, some place, some time around these events, David recorded his thoughts and his remorse over his actions, and he even wished for his words to be put to music.
[3:11] And you'll see here, if you have the heading in your Bible, underneath the title Psalm 51, it says, To the Chief Musician, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him after he'd gone into Bathsheba.
[3:23] And David wrote these words and then sought to have them put to music. And I find that a bit interesting because David here is exposing himself to the world, and he's being completely transparent in his thoughts, in his brokenness, in his guilt, and I'm glad that he was.
[3:44] I'm glad for one reason, because I've borrowed these words that David uses here, and I've used them myself. And I want to read through this psalm with you this morning and then preach a message here from Psalm 51 called The Sinner's Prayer.
[4:01] The Sinner's Prayer. Follow along from verse 1. The Bible says, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of Thy mercies, blot out my transgressions.
[4:13] Wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight, that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest and be clear when Thou judgest.
[4:32] Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
[4:43] Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.
[4:54] Hide Thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
[5:08] Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation and uphold me with Thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.
[5:25] O Lord, open Thou my lips and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise for Thou desirest not sacrifice else would I give it. Thou delightest not in the burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
[5:43] Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion. Build Thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering. Then shall they offer bullocks upon Thine altar.
[5:57] Psalm 51, The Sinner's Prayer. When I say that term, The Sinner's Prayer, it's a term that's often applied to a sinner calling on Christ and seeking to call upon the name of the Lord to have his sins forgiven and to be born of heaven and born again of the Spirit of God.
[6:16] It's often referred to as that, as the end of the sermon and the gospel message and receiving Christ as your Savior. I want us to see that it can be used for that as well, but today it's going to be aimed primarily at those that are saved and those that are sinners, just like David.
[6:32] There's a few things I want to say and before we do that, let's pray and let's ask God to deal with our hearts today. Father, as we open up this book and we get a glimpse into the life of David and to his heart and to his sin and his repentance, God, I pray that you'd prick our hearts and our consciences for the sins in our life, for the sins that we've dismissed, that we've justified, that we've declared doesn't bother us or you.
[6:59] And Lord, help us to see that we're just as guilty and for those, Lord, that may have severed the relationship with you, maybe days, maybe weeks, maybe months or years, and Lord, I pray that you'll draw them to your mercy, draw them to repentance and help them to humble themselves and pray and reach out to you.
[7:19] God, thank you for this example of this man. While you call him a man after your own heart and while we look up to him, we also see his flaws and God, it's a help to us, it's a blessing to us to realize that we're just as guilty and these people, these stories, this man is somebody that we can relate to and so we thank you for that.
[7:38] Now, I pray you'll speak to our hearts and Lord, help me to preach this with conviction, with clarity and I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Psalm 51, the sinner's prayer.
[7:49] Let me say three things. The first one, the sinner's prayer here is coming clean. It's an admission of personal guilt.
[8:01] It's coming clean. Look at the first four verses and notice how this is personal guilt and this is David owning something here. In verse one, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according to thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
[8:17] Wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.
[8:27] Against thee, the only, have I sinned. David doesn't have any trouble here admitting his guilt. He's coming clean. The sinner's prayer is coming clean and it's owning up to the truth.
[8:41] A truth that, well, God already knows the truth. And in some cases there's a few other people in David's life that know the truth. But it's about time that David came clean about it.
[8:53] You realize that when it initially happened he sought to cover it up and he used his general, Joab, to do it. And there he tried, first of all, to get Uriah to come home and to go home to his wife.
[9:05] And he was too honorable of a man for that if you remember the story. Joab wouldn't go into his wife. He stayed out there at the gate or at the street. He's like, I can't do this when the armies of Israel is out there in their tents.
[9:18] I can't be at ease. I can't enjoy this. And so he refused. An honorable man. David had to do another, take it another step and take it another step until finally he got rid of the man completely. His first goal was just to get him to come home and maybe, you know, nobody will put two and two together and understand that it was me.
[9:35] But eventually, this isn't working. Last resort, have him murdered. Now David's guilty of murder and adultery. Now God knows this. A few people in this world knew this.
[9:47] Not too many knew this. But do you ever realize that if you read the story back in 2 Samuel 11, that the whole thing took place, she brings this son, brings forth this son, and then it says, and then the man's dead, it says, and David took Bathsheba to be his wife, and it says, the thing displeased the Lord.
[10:08] And then comes Nathan the prophet. Do you realize that it was nine months ago that this took place? Nine months ago, this sin of adultery took place and the murder of the man until all the way until the child's born, that he takes her to his wife, and then this thing's displeasing the God.
[10:27] For nine months, David has been hiding something. David has been trying to keep and preserve his reputation as an honest and upright man. He hasn't been letting everybody know his sin.
[10:40] But here, David's coming clean. Not just coming clean before God, but writing it down and giving it to the musician and saying, put this to music.
[10:51] David's wide open with this now. He's letting it all out, and I'm not suggesting that you tell everybody your sins, but this one was not a private sin for David. For a king, he was guilty.
[11:02] And the good saying is, if you sin privately, you repent privately. And if you sin publicly, then you repent publicly and get it clean. David's coming clean.
[11:13] He's admitting his personal guilt, something that God already knows. For David, this is releasing his pride and his attempt to preserve his reputation and dropping that facade of self-righteousness and saying, I have sinned.
[11:30] I have sinned. There's other men in the Bible like Pharaoh. A few times, Pharaoh admits, I have sinned. Balaam is another one that in the book of Numbers it says, I have sinned.
[11:43] You remember Achan in Joshua chapter 7 finally gets caught and says, I have sinned. King Saul admitted it a few times, but nobody admits it as much as David in this Bible.
[11:55] You look up those words, I have sinned, and you'll find it's David's voice more than anybody else's. As a matter of fact, I just thought of 41 verse 4.
[12:05] I said, Lord, be merciful unto me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee. David, more than anybody else, admits personal guilt. The prodigal son of Luke 15 says, I have sinned against heaven.
[12:23] Judas Iscariot admits, I have sinned. It's coming clean in admission of personal guilt, and to do this it takes humility because pride inside of man will not bow.
[12:35] Pride says, don't you dare. Pride says, they're going to laugh at you. They're going to think you're terrible. They're going to look down on you. They're not going to talk to you. They're going to talk behind your back. They're going to, and it's all these reasons why you shouldn't come clean and admit your guilt.
[12:49] The sinner's prayer is coming clean. When God sees a broken heart, God responds in mercy. And look back at Psalm 34 to another Psalm of David.
[13:03] Psalm 34. He said, a broken heart, a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
[13:24] In Psalm 34, look at verses 16 through 19, where the Bible reads, the face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
[13:36] The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles. Why is that? Because the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
[13:50] Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. When David humbles himself, when David comes before God with a broken and a contrite spirit, the Bible says, to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit.
[14:06] When David humbles himself, God sees it, and God responds with mercy. But the biggest obstruction and the biggest hindrance to a man humbling himself and getting right with God is his pride, is his hindrance to admitting his guilt, to getting that mercy that God has.
[14:25] And that can come hard for a king. I can imagine pride can, humbling yourself can come pretty hard for a king. Look back at 1 Samuel 13 with me.
[14:35] This is a passage we read last Sunday dealing with King Saul. 1 Samuel 13.
[14:53] The biggest hindrance to admitting one's guilt is pride. And here's a king who had plenty of excuses and too much pride, and he ended up losing his throne and being rejected of God.
[15:09] 1 Samuel 13, and notice this is verse 11, where Saul had offered this burnt offering when it wasn't his place to do it. It was Samuel's job, and Samuel showed up just after Saul forced himself, he says, to do it.
[15:23] Verse 11, Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that, number one, the people were scattered from me. It's not my fault, the people.
[15:34] They weren't staying here like they were supposed to. And that thou, Samuel, it's your fault, thou camest not within the days appointed. But he did, because he showed up the very day after Saul did this.
[15:47] And then thirdly, he says, And that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash. The people, you, the Philistines, I had to do it. Excuse, excuse, excuse, push the blame, push the blame, push the blame.
[16:01] There's a king there that lost his throne because of pride, because he wouldn't humble himself and come clean and admit his personal guilt. Other kings in the Bible, you read about Solomon.
[16:13] What a great king that he was. What a wonderful kingdom. Kingdom. Nobody reigned in a type of kingdom that he had. But there's no mention of his repentance anywhere in the book.
[16:24] When he, his wives that he has take his heart away from following the Lord, you never see anywhere where Solomon gets right. Don't tell me that Solomon didn't know what was happening and seeing himself fall away from God.
[16:38] There's no way that he just, it deceived him. that he just got tripped up and never caught himself or never saw it. That man did not humble himself to come back to the Lord and get right.
[16:53] Solomon, Jeroboam, in 1 Kings chapter 13, you remember this guy that when Solomon's kingdom was taken from him and split, given to his son Rehoboam and Jeroboam gets ten northern tribes and God said to Jeroboam, I will establish your kingdom and your throne and your seat after you if you'll follow me.
[17:10] He was making a covenant with Jeroboam saying, the way I did it with David, I'll leave David down there in Judah with his son Rehoboam, but I'll do with you up here in these ten tribes if you'll obey me.
[17:22] And Jeroboam just walks away from the Lord and he makes two golden calves and he sets one in Bethel and one in Dan and he says, these be thy gods, O Israel, worship them, don't go to Jerusalem to worship there. And this is a great sin.
[17:34] He caused Israel to sin before the Lord. And so God sends a man of God in 1 Kings 13 to come to preach. Jeroboam's standing there before this altar. He's worshiping with his priests there and his soldiers are around him and he's standing there and the preacher shows up and he cries against the altar and he prophesies against that king and against that altar for his sin.
[17:57] And the king doesn't repent. Oh God, forgive me, this is going to happen. He turns and he points and says, lay hold of him. Tells his men to get him and immediately his arm withers up as he's holding it out there.
[18:11] He can't draw it back again. And now he gets scared and he looks at the man of God and says, pray for me that my arm be healed. And he prays for him, his arm's healed, but he never repents.
[18:21] He never gets right. He just goes right on down that road. You know, that reminds me of Christians today. Christians today that get themselves in a mess, get away from God and have something happen to them.
[18:36] Their arms withered up and they don't say, God, forgive me, I've sinned, I've strayed, and they don't humble themselves to get right with God. Instead they say, pray for me.
[18:47] Pray for me, this hurts. Pray for me, I'm not happy. Pray for me and never see that this is corruption they've earned. They've walked according to their flesh, they're of their flesh reap corruption.
[18:59] It's just the wages of sin. It's just the law of sowing and reaping. God will not be mocked. And they say, pray for me, church, pray for me, this happened to me, help me, instead of humbling themselves.
[19:14] Too many Christians got prayer requests and they're not praying first the sinner's prayer, coming clean, admitting their personal guilt. Secondly, this sinner's prayer is giving up.
[19:28] Come back in Psalm 51 and notice the very first thing he says in verse 1, Psalm 51, verse 1, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
[19:46] The sinner's prayer is coming clean, admitting personal guilt, it's also giving up, which is an appeal for mercy. An appeal for mercy.
[19:57] We read in Luke 18 about the publican. There's the Pharisee that, we read it last week as well, the Pharisee that stands up and says, I fast, I give tithes of all, and the publican that wouldn't even lift up his head to heaven, he says, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
[20:16] Giving up. It's an appeal for mercy because David had nothing else to plead. You know that? There is no sacrifice prescribed in this law for what he has done.
[20:29] There is no sacrifice that can atone under the law of Moses that he lived by for adultery and for murder. He's guilty.
[20:41] He has nothing. He cannot offer sacrifices. He even says it later in the chapter. I can't do that for this. I can't atone for this. You won't accept this.
[20:51] But you will accept my broken heart and my contrite spirit. You will accept my repentance. David had nothing to please, so he pleas or appeals for mercy.
[21:05] He's got no cards to play here, no ground to stand on. He's literally at God's mercy. By pleading for mercy, David is acknowledging that he's in trouble and acknowledging that he deserves judgment and he's afraid.
[21:22] This king is afraid. The prophet came to him, thou art the man. And it hit him right between the eyes and in the heart. He's been shirking this for nine months.
[21:34] He's been guilty for nine months. He's been trying to pretend he's right. He's the king of Israel. He's still doing his duties as a king and the whole time. Guilt.
[21:46] The burden. And David finally is giving up. This appeal is from a heart of one who knows he's guilty and deserves punishment to the one who holds the power to judge and to execute punishment upon him.
[22:01] It's a humble approach of a sinner to the highest power, to Almighty God, an appeal for mercy. You realize the innocent, they don't appeal for mercy.
[22:13] The innocent appeal or plead their innocence. They say, I didn't do it. I didn't do it. It wasn't me. I'm innocent. But a guilty man, a guilty man, he'll just say, I know I'm guilty and appeal for mercy.
[22:31] That's all he can do. In the Bible, we read about Hezekiah in Isaiah chapter 48 who was a righteous king and Isaiah shows up and says, set your house in order.
[22:42] You're going to die. And he turns to walk away and Hezekiah turns and weeps and pleads with God and says, God, remember how I've walked before you with an upright heart.
[22:54] Remember how I've done and walked according to your ways. And God says to Isaiah, wait a minute, go back and tell him I'm going to give him 15 more years. You know what he was doing? He was telling him, I'm innocent. Why are you going to take me out?
[23:07] But a guilty man? You don't see David saying, God, you know how right I was. David's not pleading that. He's appealing for mercy. There's a couple reasons why a guilty person can plead with God for mercy.
[23:21] And I want you to see them from the scripture. Hold your place, but come to Micah chapter number 7. Micah 7. Right after Jonah.
[23:34] and right before Nahum. Micah chapter 7.
[23:52] The innocent don't plead for mercy, but the guilty sure can plead with God for mercy. And here's one reason why. All the way to the end of the book, chapter 7 and verse number 18. Notice something here about our God who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage.
[24:14] He retaineth not his anger forever. And here's the reason why. Because he delighteth in mercy. This is something that you don't, this is why you read your Bible from cover to cover.
[24:27] This is why you read the minor prophets. You get light about who your God is. About his nature, his attributes, his character, how he'll deal with you. When you learn he delights in mercy, this is something that he enjoys doing is showing mercy.
[24:46] That ought to encourage you to want some of it and to call out to him for it. He shows mercy to the humble. It's a, it must give him a great feeling. Some people are givers.
[24:58] They enjoy giving to others and seeing that they receive it. It just thrills their heart to be able to do things for other people. That's, that's something God has here for the sinner that comes before him guilty, humble, contrite.
[25:14] He delights in mercy. There's not, that's not all. Come back to the Psalms and look at Psalm 103. I can't talk about God's mercy without going to Psalm 103.
[25:26] There's not a chance. The guilty can plead for mercy with God because God delights in mercy, but God is also plenteous in mercy.
[25:47] That's the right source to go to when you're looking for mercy. He's got it all day long. Verse number 8, verse 8 of Psalm 103 says, The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.
[26:04] He will not always chide, neither will He keep His anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.
[26:18] As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Later on, it says in verse 17, The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.
[26:30] Not only does God delight in mercy, not only is He plenteous in mercy, but His mercy never ceases. It's from everlasting to everlasting.
[26:40] All over this book, the Bible says that the mercy of the Lord endureth forever. He's plenteous in mercy. The Bible says the Lord is of great mercy. He's abundant in mercy.
[26:52] The multitude of His mercies. It describes it as manifold mercies. That's God talking about Himself. He obviously has something for mercy to keep saying these things.
[27:03] I've got it for days. You won't exhaust my mercy. I'm looking for somebody to humble themselves. I'm looking for a man that's contrite. A guilty man, I've got mercy for if he'll humble himself.
[27:17] And David here gives up. And he appeals for God's mercy. There's somebody else and we got to see this guy because it's just, this one blows my mind. Come back to 2 Chronicles.
[27:28] I've got to set this up and let you understand it. 2 Chronicles 33. There is a man, the son of a good king, Hezekiah.
[27:41] Hezekiah. And his name is Manasseh. And if you don't know much about Manasseh, this king grew up, as we'd say, in a Christian home.
[27:57] He grew up under King Hezekiah. Hezekiah wrought some of the greatest revival in the land of Israel of any king. And he rid the land of the Sodomites and of the groves and of the high places and the things like that.
[28:10] He just ground them to powder and he said, this is not going to happen here. And he restored the observance of God's ways and laws and Sabbaths. I mean, he just changed, flipped it over on a head and got Israel back to serving God and then his son reigns in his stead and look what his son does.
[28:28] He brings all of it back in. In verse number 1 of chapter 33, Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem, the longest reign of any king in Jerusalem, but did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord like unto the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.
[28:52] For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down and he reared up the up altars for Balaam and made groves and worshipped all the hosts of heaven and served them.
[29:04] Also he built altars in the house of the Lord whereof the Lord had said in Jerusalem shall my name be He built these altars in the house of the Lord profaning the house of the Lord.
[29:15] In verse number 5 or verse number 6 He caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. That is child sacrifices. Also he observed times and used enchantments and used witchcraft and dealt with his familiar spirit and with wizards.
[29:31] He wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. I mean can you think of anything he hasn't done that's wicked. And in verse 7 he carved a he set a carved image the idol which he made in the house of God of which God had said that David to Solomon his son in this house and in Jerusalem which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel would I put my name there forever neither will I remove it.
[29:52] And he's just fallen further and further. Verse number 9 says so Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err and to do worse than the heathen from the Lord for whom the Lord had destroyed.
[30:04] What a statement about a man and his wickedness. He's worse than the heathen. He's just selling himself to all this sin so the Lord spake to him and in verse 10 they would not hearken.
[30:17] God gave him a chance he wouldn't do any of it. He wouldn't repent. Now verse 11 this is crazy to me. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria which took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with fetters and carried him to Babylon and when he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers and prayed unto him the sinner's prayer.
[30:46] And he was entreated of him and heard his supplication and look what God does. Brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.
[30:56] Did this king deserve that? The sin? The iniquity? I mean I don't know anywhere else in the scripture anyone else to point out to say that man is wicked.
[31:10] So wicked that God removed him. Of course. Of course he'd remove him. But he humbled himself greatly and he entreated God. He prayed. He said the sinner's prayer.
[31:22] He came clean. Admitted his guilt. He gave up. He appealed for mercy. The sinner's prayer is not a claim to mercy as if you deserve it or have a right to it but it's a plea.
[31:35] And it's appealing to the source that has it. The apostle Paul describes himself before he was saved. He said who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercy.
[31:51] He obtained mercy of the Lord. So the sinner's prayer is number one coming clean number two giving up and number three reaching out. Reaching out it's an action toward change.
[32:04] It's an aspiration of not staying the way this I am. I don't want this anymore. I want to be different. I want to be right. And notice in Psalm 51 in verse number five David praying he's reaching out and he says here that behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.
[32:23] This is who I am. This is why I act the way I do. Same here. I'm a sinner. But he's not content with that condition. He's not going to accept it because God doesn't accept it.
[32:38] And so he reaches out for a cleansing of the sin. In verses one and two we read him saying these words blot out my transgressions.
[32:49] Verse two wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. In verse seven he reaches out for a cleansing saying purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean.
[33:00] Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Verse nine blot out all mine iniquities. David is reaching out because he wants to be clean.
[33:12] It's an action toward change. He's dirty. He's guilty. And he wants to be clean. He's reaching out for the removal of the guilt. Look at verse number 14.
[33:25] After all this time he's still guilty. And he says God deliver me from blood guiltiness oh God. Deliver me from what I've done.
[33:36] All those months every time he'd see Bathsheba and she'd grow and into the second and the third trimester he'd see it and he'd know that's my sin. That's my guilt.
[33:47] That woman is not my wife. As it would get worse and worse the guilt would go and finally he cries out to God deliver me from the guilt.
[33:59] David is reaching out for a cleansing from the sin. He's reaching out for the removal of the guilt. And he's also reaching out for a renewing on the inside. That we see starting in verse six.
[34:13] David says behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. You're going to change me.
[34:24] You're going to make me know wisdom. In verse eight you'll make me to hear joy and gladness. I'm broken. David wants to change. He's reaching out. He's miserable.
[34:35] He wants to know joy and gladness. He wants to be able to rejoice. He wants to be restored in verse 12 the joy of his salvation. But he hasn't been able to do that for a while.
[34:47] He wants in verse 14 and 15 for his tongue to be able to sing. For his lips to be able to open. David's a musician. I don't guess he's touched that for a while. He doesn't have anything to sing about because he's guilty.
[35:01] And the guilt's been on him for so long it's got to go. There's one thing to be forgiven of your sins. It's another thing to have the guilt taken away. And guilt can stay with you. And guilt can destroy you.
[35:13] It can eat at you. And so David's reaching out here in this prayer the sinner's prayer reaching out it's his action toward change and toward getting the guilt removed and being renewed on the inside.
[35:26] Finally the renewal on the inside from verse 10 where David prays create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me. Reaching out for a renewal because he's sick of who he is and he wants out.
[35:44] And the only way that a sinner is going to get victory over sin is if God changes him on the inside. The Bible says in Romans 6 that we're servants of sin. The Bible says that we're enslaved or in bonds or being bound by the cords of his sin.
[36:01] It says that we're sold under sin. The only way for a man to get victory is for God to change him from the inside. The sinner's prayer is coming clean.
[36:13] It's giving up and reaching out. And I don't know if anybody here is this morning say you know I've lived a life here and I don't know if I'm saved.
[36:24] I don't know if I died I'd go to heaven. And you say I've never been saved from my sin. Well you need to say like David you need to say the sinner's prayer. You need to come clean and admit something to God that he already knows.
[36:40] But you need to come clean and admit your guilt that you're a sinner. You have sinned against God. And then you need to give up and appeal for mercy and stop trying to be good enough and stop trying to please others and stop making excuses.
[36:58] Just give up and seek mercy from the one who has mercy and delights in mercy. And then if you've never been saved you need to reach out.
[37:10] Reach out for a cleansing. The Bible says that the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sins. The Bible says in Colossians 1.14 in whom we have redemption through his blood even forgiveness of sins.
[37:24] You can know that forgiveness by reaching out. It's a removal of guilt. A renewing on the inside a new man God will change you and create in you a new creature and place his spirit within you.
[37:40] If you've never been saved you need to come clean and give up and reach out. You need to pray the sinner's prayer. But Christian the sinner's prayer is not just for salvation. As we see with David it's a prayer for restoration.
[37:53] It's a prayer for somebody that's carrying guilt. Somebody who's reaping and reaping and reaping the corruption of their carnality and their sin. They've severed their fellowship with Jesus Christ for days sometimes weeks sometimes months years.
[38:15] The sinner's prayer is coming clean. And it's humbling yourself before God admitting I'm guilty. I've sinned and owning up to it it's giving up.
[38:29] The Bible says sow to yourselves in righteousness reap in mercy. It's getting back where you belong. It's to the one that delights in mercy. It's giving God the opportunity to display that mercy to you.
[38:43] And it's reaching out if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He can cleanse you. He can renew a right spirit within you.
[38:55] He can restore unto you the joy of your salvation. But you'll have to humble yourself. And so whether you're saved or whether you're not saved this morning the biggest obstruction to you being restored or to you receiving salvation is going to be your pride.
[39:14] It's going to be whether you'll humble yourself or not. Pride can keep you from experiencing the joy of heaven. And pride can keep you from experiencing the joy of your salvation.
[39:27] David came to a place in his life and I'm glad he kept it written down for us because I've needed it more than once in my life. I've needed to be restored to the God of my salvation.
[39:40] And I've literally read these words to God with tears in my eyes praying for him to restore me because I'd strayed. Because I walked away.
[39:51] And it could be a daily thing. It could be a weekly thing. We're sinners. I'm not going to give an excuse for you or for me. I have no excuse for any sin.
[40:04] But I have a Savior who covered those sins and paid for those sins. And I have a God who's merciful who wants to forgive those sins. The sinner's prayer.
[40:15] David taught me how to pray. I wonder if you've ever said the sinner's prayer this morning. Have you ever come to a place in your life where you as a sinner reached out to God and said, God, I am guilty and I need you to forgive my sin and to wash me throughly in the blood of Jesus Christ.
[40:34] I believe on him. Have you ever believed on Jesus Christ who died for your sins? Well then, Christian, the question is to you. Have you ever prayed this prayer lately?
[40:45] Have you needed to? Have you lost fellowship? Have you walked away? Have you been saying, my arm's shriveled up, pray for me. I'm suffering from my sins, pray for me.
[40:57] Instead of humbling yourself before Almighty God and coming clean and pleading for mercy and then getting up renewed on the inside and restored where you can breathe air again in your lungs and feel it clean and know I'm right with God and I've humbled myself and he lifted me up.
[41:20] Christians all over the place are out of fellowship with God, backslidden, frustrated, justifying themselves, pretending it's okay.
[41:32] The sinner's prayer is for you too, Christian. I don't come up with these sermons because I think, oh, I know somebody in the church that's wicked. I don't think this way at all.
[41:42] I just, I know I'm sinful. It's my wickedness that drives me to the Psalm 51 and causes me to want to preach about the mercy of God.
[41:54] I wonder today if there's anybody here that needs to get it right. Is there anybody here that's lost and needs to be saved? Then, like I said, by opening prayer, you can leave better than you came in.
[42:05] You can leave born again. You can leave restored. What do you need? Don't let pride keep you from getting it this morning. I'm going to close in a word of prayer. Before I do, let's bow our heads, please, and close your eyes and just humble yourself for a moment before God.
[42:29] I want to give you an opportunity, Christian, to be restored. I want to give you an opportunity, whoever you are, to be saved.
[42:43] Perhaps there's one, perhaps there's ten, perhaps there's somebody in here that's never been born again and never humbled themselves and received the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
[42:56] Please don't leave today without it. I urge you to humble yourself and pray the sinner's prayer.
[43:07] I urge you to admit your sin and to appeal for mercy, to reach out for that cleansing. Is there anybody in here that says, I'm not saved?
[43:19] I don't think I'm saved. I'm not sure. Would you slip your hand up quickly and put it down, just up and down so that I can see it and pray for you? I'm not going to call you up here. I'm not going to make a spectacle of you.
[43:29] I assure you of that. I just don't want you to leave here lost. I don't want you to be deceived and I don't want you to go to hell because you were afraid to do something about it. I want to make it easy.
[43:40] If you're too afraid to come forward, I'd invite you to come and see me after church and we can go into a room somewhere privately and just open up the Word of God and show you how easy it is to have your sins forgiven for eternity and to know it is no greater feeling than Christian.
[43:57] Let me ask you this. You're saying to me you're saved, you know it, God's your Father. Then how's the relationship? How's the fellowship? How's the transformation coming?
[44:09] Have you slipped back into sin? Have you been miserable for a while? Maybe nobody sees it but it's in your heart. It's not been right and you know it.
[44:20] Nobody saw it with David. He just kept on going and it's pretty easy to do that and keep up that facade of righteousness but inside your heart you know if you had to answer to God today you are guilty and he even told you what it is and you know what it is.
[44:38] Christian, will you humble yourself? Don't leave this building without being restored. Father, thank you for David's prayer. Thank you for the sinner's prayer.
[44:50] For the elements that we can read and study in this book here that gives us light as to how we need to be. God, I recall multiple times where I've humbled myself before your throne and came boldly to get that mercy and God, I want to thank you personally and thank you before these folks for how merciful you are and for how you've never turned me away and how you've never said get lost.
[45:15] You've crossed a line. I don't have enough for you. Thank you, Lord, for having mercy forever. God, I rejoice in knowing that you're my Father and that you have mercy for my sins and that you always restore me and bring me back into fellowship.
[45:32] And so, God, I pray for these today that if there's one, if there's several that have been dancing with the devil as they say, they've been playing a game, they've been allowing themselves to drift to get away from the sweet fellowship with you.
[45:47] God, if there's sin that's in their heart and it's growing and it's starting to control them, Lord, show them that sin. Show them how quick it is and easy it is to humble themselves.
[45:58] Lord, I pray that you'd receive the glory and that you'd restore somebody who's drifted away. I pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
[46:09] We're going to stand together. Please stand.